Cambodia's land-grabbing crisis has taken a disturbingly violent turn in the last two months, with at least five incidents involving armed forces opening fire during protests.A total of 19residents were injured at the protests, including seven from gunfire.

Each of the incidents has been documented in video footage or photographs, but the perpetrators have to this day uniformly escaped punishment, exemplifying Cambodia's notorious system of impunity.
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On January 18, 2012, military personnel acting as security guards for TTY Co. Ltd opened fire on a group of villagers who had gathered to prevent clearing of their farmland by company's excavators in Kratie's Snuol district.

Four villagers were injured by bullets. None of the authorities present during the shooting proceeded to arrest the perpetrators.
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On January 3, 2012, the well-connected Phan Imex Corporation proceeded, with the help of armed state forces, to destroy the homes of some 300 Borei Keila families. This forced eviction was in violation of a legal agreement between the corporation and the Borei Keila residents that entitled all families living in the area to obtain on-site apartments.
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We, the ten undersigned civil society organizations, call for the immediate release of Borei Keila residents detained yesterday and since unlawfully detained at the Prey Speu Social Affairs Center. We also call for the permanent closure of the Prey Speu center, which has been proven time and again to be nothing more than an extra-judicial detention facility.
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HRTF, CYN, IDEA, BABC, CLEC, BKLW, ACRP, CCFC, FADP, PLCN and LICADHO strongly condemns today's violent destruction of the homes of some 300 families living in Phnom Penh's Borei Keila settlement.

The destruction of these homes marks yet another sad turn for a development that was once promoted as a model alternative to the eviction and off-site relocation of the Phnom Penh's urban poor.
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Donors, who provide approximately half of Cambodia's national budget, should make clear to the Cambodian government that the fourth draft of the Law on Associations and NGOs (LANGO) must be revised to protect civil society or be withdrawn, a group of concerned international human rights organizations said today. Any revisions should involve meaningful consultation with civil society organizations and aim to support their activities instead of creating a legal framework allowing for arbitrary closure of organizations or the denial of registration.
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On the morning of December 20, 2011, at 8:30 AM, over 100 Cambodian citizens from Phnom Penh and 23 provinces peacefully unrolled a 230 meter long blue kramar petition in front of the National Assembly. The petition addressed in Khmer to the Royal Government of Cambodia from the citizens of Cambodia calls on the government to: '... halt its intention of passing the Law on Associations and Non governmental Organizations, the Law on Trades Union and the Law on Farmers' Cooperative which restrict the basic rights and freedoms of Cambodian citizens."
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LICADHO condemns the National Assembly for its decision today to lift the parliamentary immunity of opposition party lawmaker Chan Cheng.

The vote, which took place Tuesday morning, was a politically-motivated attack against Cheng, who is a member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP)representing Kandal Province.

"Cambodia's democracy is already foundering, and this brings the system one step closer to becoming a total farce," said LICADHO's Director, Naly Pilorge. "The suspension of Chan Cheng's immunity renders the concept of parliamentary immunity meaningless. This is yet another disgrace for Cambodia's democracy."

The National Assembly is dominated by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and has previously stripped the immunity of opposition politicians under dubious circumstances.
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On Dec. 12, 2011, the Royal Cambodian Government released the fourth draft of its proposed Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations (LANGO). The release comes almost exactly one year after the first draft was introduced in mid-December 2010.

The contents of the three earlier drafts provoked extensive criticism from local and international civil society organizations, donor governments, and legal analysts. Twice previously the government has acknowledged these criticisms and promised to come up with a better draft. Twice previously they have failed.

With the fourth draft, they have failed again.
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More than 52,000 Cambodians - including community groups, trade unionists, land activists, students, farmers, fishermen, musicians,entertainment workers, tuktuk drivers, motorcycle drivers and NGO workers - will gather in their communities on December 10 to celebrate International Human Rights Day (IHRD) this year.

These celebrations are tied together with the common theme "We All Need Rights, Decent Living Wages & Justice!" and a common symbol ‐ the blue Kramar to represent the important role of human rights defenders in Cambodia.
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We, the undersigned civil society organizations, deeply regret the Phnom Penh authorities' decision to bring criminal charges against four Boeung Kak Lake residents following their participation in a protest on Nov. 28.

We do, however, commend Investigating Judge Chhay Virak's decision to release the accused under court supervision today.

The four female activists - Tep Vanny, Bo Chhorvy, Heng Mom and Kong Chantha - appeared before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court today, and were charged with insult and obstruction of public officials, respectively, under articles 502 and 504 of the new penal code. If tried and found guilty, they face up to one year in prison and fines of up to 2 million riel.
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On November 22, 2011, Boeung Kak Lake resident Chea Dara leaped to her death from a bridge in Phnom Penh. She was actively involved in the lake residents' struggle against their wrongful eviction from the site. Although a deal was reached earlier this year to resettle most of the remaining families, Chea Dara's family was arbitrarily excluded. After years of fighting for justice, she lost hope. This video commemorates her life.
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In early November, some 300 Prey Lang network activists traveled deep into the Prey Lang Forest to observe land clear-cut by the CRCK Development Rubber Company, which had been granted an economic land concession in the area. The activists' goal was to prevent further illegal logging of the area. The journey took several days on foot. This slideshow documents their walk.
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Since 2008, the Cambodian government has embarked upon a furious campaign to propose and enact a wide range of new laws. While this new legislation is typically touted as evidence of Cambodia’s progress toward the rule of law, a new LICADHO report has found that in many cases, it actually marks the opposite.

In the report, “The Delusion of Progress: Cambodia’s Legislative Assault on Expressive Rights,” LICADHO analyzes five key laws proposed or enacted since 2008: the Penal Code, the Anti-Corruption Law, the Law on Associations and NGOs, the Law on Peaceful Assembly, and the Law on Unions of Enterprises. Overall, the analysis reveals several disturbing trends: Legislation is littered with improper restrictions on freedom of expression, provisions are misapplied, and vast sections are deliberately drafted to be used as weapons against those who speak out against the political and financial elite.
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Through Cambodia's infamous Boeung Kak Lake land grab, this LICADHO video takes a look at three incidents showing the impacts on women within communities affected by forced evictions. These abuses are perpetrated in the name of "development".

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A draft prison law which is set to go before the National Assembly is a positive step for Cambodia's prison system, but falls short of fully protecting prisoners' rights in several key respects.

The draft law's shortcomings are detailed in a new briefing paper from the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO). The paper also highlights a handful of the law's positive provisions.
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On the morning of October 18, 2011, over 200 Boeung Kak lake residents peacefully gathered in front of the Phnom Penh court to show support for six of community representatives who were summoned by the court. The summons were in relation to complaints filed by local authorities, who accused the six of defamation and of making unlawful threats and insults.
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Cambodian recruitment agencies continued to send domestic workers to Malaysia on Monday morning, despite the Prime Minister's written order on Saturday imposing a complete ban on the practice.

LICADHO monitors at Pochentong Airport observed at least 25 Cambodian maids checking in for an Air Asia flight AK 273 to Kuala Lumpur on the morning of October 17, 2011. The maids were identifiable by their short haircuts and shirts, which were emblazoned with the name of their recruitment agency. LICADHO monitors also confirmed the women's destination by speaking to recruitment agency staff who accompanied the women.
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Yesterday, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sent an open letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Alain Juppé. The two organizations urges France, co-chairman of the Paris Conference, to pressure the Cambodian Government to drop its efforts to enact the widely criticized Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations in Cambodia.
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Yesterday witnessed the most violent forced eviction of Boeung Kak lake residents to date. Early in the afternoon, a hundred “anti-riot” intervention police officers and Daun Penh district security guards positioned themselves nearby homes of lake residents. Two excavators, protected by the armed group, proceeded in destroying homes of families arbitrarily disqualified from the 12.44 hectares of land given to the remaining lake families.

Later in the afternoon, as the excavators were on the move to destroy more houses, lake activist Suong Sophorn was savagely assaulted by a mob of intervention police officers who left him for dead after kicking and beating him with bricks and batons.
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The Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF) strongly condemns Phnom Penh's wilful misinterpretation of the government plan to resettle nearly 800 families threatened by redevelopment at Boeung Kak Lake. The municipality has arbitrarily excluded of over 10 percent of the threatened families, while simultaneously granting nearly two dozen land titles to CPP senator Lao Meng Kim - owner of lake developer Shukaku - within the dedicated "resettlement zone."
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CCHR, LICADHO and CLEC condemn efforts on the part of Kampong Thom province and Sandan district officials to impose conditions on human rights activities above and beyond that provided for in law. Such conditions have no basis in law and any attempts to impose such conditions are in flagrant disregard of the human rights of the people of Kampong Thom province as well as others who travel to that province to participate in activities in the promotion and protection of human rights.

On the afternoon of 7 September 2011, representatives from CCHR, LICADHO and CLEC as well as the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR) Cambodia attended a meeting with district officials in Sandan district, Kampong Thom province. The meeting was called after a training event organized by CCHR and the Natural Resource Protection Group (NRPG) was disrupted by officials accompanied by armed police.
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Cambodia's recently-enacted sub-decree on migrant labor is a "dismal failure" for workers and should be scrapped in favor of a new law, according to an analysis by LICAHDO.

LICADHO has documented horrific abuses in the industry over the past two years, including the use of debt bondage, deaths inside pre-departure training centers, the recruitment of underage workers, illegal detention of workers, the facilitation of forged documents, and the failure to pay salaries. None of these areas are addressed in the new law. Worker protections, meanwhile, are vague, limited in scope, and in many cases less stringent than the 1997 law it superseded, Sub-Decree 57.
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We, representatives of the undersigned members of civil society and private sector groups, support national development that is equitable, inclusive, and sustainable. We believe national development should contribute not only to the growth of commerce and industry but also to the welfare of the wider population. Civil society actors, both local and foreign, play a vital role in this development through monitoring, community development, poverty alleviation, humanitarianism, research, and advocacy. In promoting equitable development and good governance, we also have a right and a responsibility to speak out when development projects have harmful effects.

We condemn the suspension of STT in the strongest possible terms. The suspension of STT is completely arbitrary and a violation of the constitutional right to freedom of expression and association, and an assault on human rights defenders. We demand its immediate reversal. We regard this act to silence STT as an act of oppression against us all. The use of a vague administrative technicality to suspend an organization is an alarmingly clear sign of how the Cambodian government intends to use the Law on Associations and Non Governmental Organizations (LANGO) to curb the activities of all associations and NGOs that advocate for the rights of marginalized groups within Cambodian society.
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CCHR, CLEC and LICADHO condemn today's mass detention of peaceful activists in Phnom Penh, in which police detained over 100 villagers for distributing environmental fliers.

The activists, who mostly hail from Cambodia's Prey Lang forest, gathered in 14 provinces and Phnom Penh to raise awareness over deforestation and economic land concessions that have been granted inside the forest. The Prey Lang network maintains that the preservation of Prey Lang is critical to the preservation of wildlife habitat and flora that is sacred to indigenous communities. They also claim that deforestation would contribute to climate change and ultimately affect their livelihoods.

Approximately 300 Prey Lang members gathered in front of the Royal Palace to conduct a religious ceremony early on Thursday morning. The network members then dispersed in small groups throughout the city to distribute fliers advocating for the preservation of the forest. Police and local officials immediately descended on each of the locations, confiscated the leaflets and detained participants in local commune offices for questioning and "re-education."
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On July 29, 2011, the government released a third draft of its widely criticized Law on Associations and on-Governmental Organizations (NGO Law), once again claiming that the newest draft addresses the litany of concerns that have been raised by civil society. One needs look no further than the first chapter of the law, however, to discredit the government's reassurances. Registration is still mandatory, meaning Cambodians cannot exercise their fundamental rights of assembly, expression and association without navigating complex registration procedures and securing the blessing of government officials, who would be given absolute power to create or dissolve civil society groups.

The majority of LICADHO's comments in its briefing papers discussing the first and second drafts of the law are still relevant. As with the second draft, the remaining changes in the third draft are almost entirely cosmetic. The third draft does, however, make one significant improvement in that it expressly mentions a right to appeal a denial of registration. This welcome addition is not without its own issues - namely the lack of a timeline and legal standards for assessing an appeal - but it is an important reflection of the impact that advocacy efforts have had to date.

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The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) strongly denounces the Appeals Court's decision to uphold Leang Sokchouen's two-year prison sentence and to change the conviction using legal provisions that were non-existent at the time of the alleged offense.

On August 30, 2010, the Takeo provincial court sentenced Sokchouen to two years in prison on charges of disinformation. The prosecution did not present any in-court witness testimonies or credible evidence. The trial judge only relied on written statements by four dubious witness statements from police officers, ignoring in-court testimony in favor of Sokchouen's innocence.

On Thursday, July 14, 2011, the Appeals Court judge Pol Sam Oeun issued a verdict upholding the lower court's verdict against Sokchouen after a two-hour long trial that took place on June 30, 2011, which failed to present any evidence of Sokchouen's guilt.
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One year after LICADHO warned that Cambodia's prisons were in danger of becoming the world's most overcrowded, the country's inmate population continues to spiral out of control.

In late April 2011, Cambodia's total prison population stood at 15,001, a 12.6% increase over March 2010. That figure brought prison occupancy to 179%, keeping Cambodia's prison system among the 25 most overcrowded in the world. The system could overtake the top spot by 2019 if current trends continue.
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On April 26, Buddhist Supreme Patriarch Non Nget banned Venerable Sovath from all pagodas in Phnom Penh on the grounds that these actions "[had] caused villagers to think badly about Buddhism." This was the latest threat by Buddhist authorities against Venerable Long Sovath, a monk who decided to actively defend the rights of Cambodians.

Since 2009, Venerable Sovath has supported communities forcibly evicted from their land. In the video, he explains that his actions are in line with Buddhist teachings that advocate helping and saving people's lives. Buddha, he says, would also go where there is misery.
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LICADHO strongly condemns the violent confrontation yesterday in Kampong Speu province, where hundreds of armed police and villagers clashed over a land dispute. At least 10 people were injured on both sides, including seven seriously.

Regrettably, the incident may be a sign of things to come, as more and more ordinary Cambodians are pushed aside by a development agenda designed to enrich the elite.
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I gave up school for a job as domestic worker when I was very young. I earned just 100,000 Riels (approximately USD 25) per month, which was already advanced by my mother. In addition to housework, I was also assigned to sell fried crickets at night at various beer gardens and bars. Just three months after I came to work for the family, the male house owner raped me while I was in the house alone. I was subsequently raped on further occasions, and intimidated into not disclosing the information. The owner also gave me contraceptive injections.

- A 13-year-old girl from a remote province fell into bonded labour as a domestic worker for a family.

LICADHO and World Vision Cambodia will mark World Day Against Child Labour on June 10 and June 12 by organizing two community events to raise public awareness and actions on the worst forms of child labour.
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On May 25 2011, demonstrators came to Phnom Penh to protest the destruction of Prey Lang forest. Recent economic concessions have put at risk the livelihood of thousands of people.
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HRTF urges the organisers of the Bayon Challenge to find an alternative venue for the football tournament planned to be held at Phnom Penh's 7NG Field this weekend. The field sits on land that was illegally and violently seized from the Dey Krahorm community in 2009. If an alternative venue cannot be found, we call upon participating teams and sponsors to withdraw from the tournament.
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Phnom Penh - LICADHO and friends will mark International Children's Day on June 1, 2011 by distributing food and materials to children and pregnant women in 14 of Cambodia's prisons.

In cooperation with prison department at Ministry of Interior, LICADHO will also hold special Children's Day events at Correctional Center 2 ("CC2") and Takhmao prisons. The events at CC2 and Takhmao will include games, prizes and guest speakers who will discuss children's issues.

Some 730 juvenile prisoners were incarcerated in Cambodia's 25 prisons as of April 2011, according to government statistics. The General Department of Prisons defines juvenile prisoners as those who were between ages 14 and 17 when they committed their crime; they may continue to be classified as juvenile prisoners if they reach their 18th birthday in prison. Fourteen is the age of criminal responsibility in Cambodia.
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ADHOC, CLEC and LICADHO strongly condemn the government's brutal dispersal of union garment workers in Phnom Penh on Sunday morning during an ongoing strike over a labor dispute that begun with the recent burning of the workers' factory. The protest left at least eight workers injured, some seriously.

Approximately 2,000 workers from Mithona garment factory gathered on Sunday morning at the burnt factory on Ponchentong Road near the capital's airport. The group intended to temporarily block the road to draw the attention of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was scheduled to return from abroad via the airport, to their situation. The action was organized by a local wing of the Free Trade Union Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC).
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On May 1, 2011, some 3,000 Cambodians gathered in Phnom Penh to celebrate International Labor Day. This photo album documents their march from near Wat Phnom to the National Assembly.
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The Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF) strongly condemns the violence used earlier today against peaceful Boeung Kak lake protesters and the arrest of 11 villagers - including young children - in front of the Phnom Penh municipal cabinet.

At around 8:30AM, about 100 villagers from the Boeung Kak lake gathered in front of the Phnom Penh municipal cabinet to attempt once again to meet authorities to discuss two issues: i) to stop the lake filling causing flooding in the area, and ii) to stop evictions until authorities enter into negotiations with the villagers and reach an agreement with the affected residents.
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More than 100 Boeung Kak villagers gathered at Phnom Penh municipal cabinet, demanding a resolution to their land dispute. A group of armed anti-riot police forces used violence against villagers, arresting 11 people including women and two children.
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Bangkok - Cambodia's draft law regulating associations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should be abandoned because it will undermine rather than promote civil society in the country, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Forum-Asia, Global Witness, Southeast Asia Press Alliance, Frontline Defenders, and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders said today. On April 6, a total of 62 international organizations working in Cambodia called upon the country's international donors to make strong public and private statements opposing passage of a law that poses the most significant threat to the country's civil society in many years.
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The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) is an international organization that provides technical assistance, research, and education to support the development of appropriate laws and regulatory systems for civil society in countries around the world. ICNL has worked on civil society law reform projects in over one hundred countries; in Asia, ICNL has worked in China, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Lao P.D.R., Mongolia and Vietnam. ICNL has worked with the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Volunteers, the Community of Democracies Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United States Agency for International Development, New Zealand AID, the Swedish International Development Agency, human rights groups, private foundations, and scores of in-country colleagues.
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