LIBRARY

26 April 2024

Youths from the Mother Nature Movement and other activists today led a commemorative walk in honour of murdered environmental activist Chut Wutty. Wutty was shot dead on 26 April 2012 whilst patrolling a protected forest area with two journalists in Koh Kong province. A military police officer, In Rattana, was also fatally shot on the same day and blamed for Wutty’s killing following a flawed investigation.

Around 20 youth activists from Mother Nature and six monks gathered in front of Phnom Penh’s Night Market this morning to begin the march. Participants painted messages on their faces and wore white headbands, conducted chants, held a short performance, and carried banners calling for justice for the murder. The march concluded at Hotel Cambodiana, where participants submitted a petition calling for an independent investigation into the killing to authorities from the Ministry of Justice.

8 April 2024

We, the youth, local communities, unions, associations, and local civil society organisations mentioned below are deeply disappointed by the arrest of Mr. Koet Saray, the President of the Khmer Student Intelligence League Association (KSILA).

Note that Mr. Koet Saray was arrested by plainclothes police officers in Phnom Penh and sent to the Phnom Penh Capital Court at 3:45pm on April 5, 2024, while he was working at the office. Mr. Koet Saray, the President of the Khmer Student Intelligence League Association (KSILA), was arrested and sent to Phnom Penh Capital Court without clarification of the exact charge or notice to his family. The arrest was made on the order of Mr. Seang Heang, Deputy Prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Capital Court, on April 5, 2024 under the charge of incitement to commit a felony or to disturb social security. According to a press release issued by the Phnom Penh Capital Court Prosecutor's Office, he faces an additional charge of committing a misdemeanor after sentencing for a misdemeanor, and was sent to pre-trial detention at Prey Sar Prison during the afternoon of April 7, 2024.

20 November 2023

International brands’ garment waste is contributing to human rights and environmental harms in Cambodia’s brick factories. During visits to brick factories from April to September 2023, LICADHO found pre-consumer garment waste this year at five operational and two permanently closed brick factories. These factories in Phnom Penh and Kandal province burnt pre-consumer garment waste to fuel brick kilns. LICADHO found waste marked with 19 international brands as evidenced by the photographs below.

10 October 2023

We are the undersigned association, unions, civil society organization, active youths, are deeply concern after receiving information about Angkor Plywood Co. Ltd's request for a five-year extension of timber exports from 2022 to 2026. Based on reported by RFA, on July 7, 2023, titled “Angkor Plywood Company Continues to Export Rare Timber for Sale Abroad,” the Office of the Council of Ministers granted permission to postpone the export of timber until the end of 2023 in response to the company's request to export timber for five years.

To maintain sustainable natural resources in Cambodia, we, as associations, NGOs, unions, local communities, and youth groups, call on the Cambodian government to take serious action. Specifically, we urge the authorities to revoke Angkor Plywood Co. Ltd's timber export license and investigate their illegal export of rare timber species abroad. Such actions are in violation of Cambodian law and pose a significant threat to the country's valuable natural resources.

26 April 2023

Youth members from Mother Nature Cambodia today led a commemorative walk and ceremony to mark the murder of environmental activist Chut Wutty, who was shot dead in 2012 whilst accompanying two journalists on a patrol of protected forest in Koh Kong province. Military police officer In Rattana, who was also fatally shot on the same day as Wutty, was blamed for the killing after a flawed investigation.

Around 25 youths from Mother Nature, the Cambodian Youth Network, and the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association this morning gathered at Botumvatey Pagoda to walk to the Ministry of Justice. They displayed photographs of Wutty and commemorative slogans, and dressed as Wutty to symbolise the continuation of his mission to safeguard the environment and natural resources.

On arrival, representatives delivered speeches about ongoing damage to Cambodia’s forests and called for the ministry to deliver justice for Wutty. They handed a petition to police for delivery to the ministry. The youths were monitored throughout the event by around a total of 15 Daun Penh para-police and plainclothes authorities.

16 January 2023

The government approved a new Economic Land Concession (ELC) in March 2022, - nearly a decade after the prime minister signed a moratorium on new ELCs - leading to an ongoing land conflict in Stung Treng province.

It is the first known ELC granted since 2014, when the government approved several ELCs it said had been submitted prior to the May 2012 moratorium.

Dozens of families have already been impacted by the construction of a road leading to the ELC. The lack of transparency around the exact size and location of the concession has led local authorities to estimate that up to 400 families could eventually be affected across Borei O Svay Seanchey, Siem Pang, and Sesan districts in the province’s northeast.

23 February 2022

Brigade 70 soldiers and workers hired to clear forested land used violence, beat villagers and fired weapons into the ground yesterday morning in Aoral district, Kampong Speu province, as part of an ongoing land conflict around a forest granted to a military unit. Three villagers were left injured, including a 23-year-old man, a 41-year-old man and a 59-year-old woman.

Villagers had gathered in Trapeang Chour commune in an effort to defend their community's forested land from being cleared. Today, six community members also appeared for questioning at the Kampong Speu provincial court after being summonsed by a prosecutor.

The land conflict began after the government granted 262 hectares of protected land within the Aoral Wildlife Sanctuary to the armoured vehicle military unit “ACO” through a sub decree dated 20 August 2021. The conflict involves more than 253 families, many of whom have mobilized for months to protect their forested land. In April 2003, the Ministry of Environment declared part of the land a community protected area. Since the recent giveaway, soldiers have been seen using heavy machinery in an attempt to clear the forest.

10 February 2022

We, the undersigned civil society groups, trade unions and communities are extremely disappointed and concerned over the conviction of Mr. Chhorn Phalla, who was sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Ratanakiri Provincial Court on 10 November 2021 after a hearing on 29 September 2021. During that hearing the prosecutor changed the charge against Chhorn Phalla from “fell trees, encroached and cleared forest land, set forest fire, and bulldozed forestlands to claim ownership” under Article 62 of the Law on Natural Protected Areas to “clear forestland and enclose it to claim for ownership” under Article 97 (6) of the Law on Forestry, without substantial evidence to support this change. The change of the charges violated Chhorn Phalla’s fair trial rights, as it affected his right to have adequate time to prepare his defense. The court nevertheless convicted Chhorn Phalla under the new charges and sentenced him to five years imprisonment. During the trial, witnesses stated that Chhorn Phalla did not clear forestland and enclosed it to claim for ownership. Chhorn Phalla himself confirmed that he does not own any piece of land in that area.

9 February 2021

We, the undersigned groups, urge the Ministry of Environment to stop their campaign of harassment against local forestry activists and community members. On Friday morning, local officials working for the Ministry of Environment arrested five forestry activists who were wrapping trees in Buddhist cloth and collecting evidence of widespread illegal logging occurring inside Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary.

The five were detained without charge for three nights in the Kratie provincial police station and environmental department office before being released on Monday morning. The activists were released only after thumb-printing a contract ordering them not to undertake further conservation activities inside the protected area, or to share footage, photos or information with other organisations, without permission from authorities.

31 July 2020

We, the undersigned youths, civil society groups and grassroots communities, are very concerned by the Royal Government of Cambodia granting Koh Kong S.E.Z Col, Ltd, a company publicly known as being owned by Ly Yong Phat – a powerful tycoon widely known for his involvement in human rights abuses, land rights violations and the destruction of natural resources – the license to develop Koh Kong Krao island in Koh Kong province. The authorization given to this company will potentially be a serious threat to natural resources on the island and biodiversity in the sea, including deforestation, wildlife extinction, illegal buildings constructed on the beach, water pollution in the sea, loss natural beauty of the island and loss the benefit for Cambodian people, etc.

For example, in the case on Koh Rong Samloem island, there is illegal construction on the beach land and polluted water draining into the sea. Another case is Songsaa island; after the development, most Cambodian people cannot afford to stay on the island, because the price of accommodation is too expensive. Therefore, we are very concerned about the planned development of the island by the company, and call for the government to remove the development license for Koh Kong Krao island from the company and to take all effective measures to preserve the national resources and biodiversity in the sea surrounding the island.

16 March 2020

Four environmental activists, including Goldman Environmental Prize-winner Ouch Leng, have been released by the Kratie provincial prosecutor after the four men were beaten on Friday by guards of Think Biotech Co, Ltd, a joint Taiwanese-Khmer company repeatedly accused of illegal logging, before being handed over to local authorities for more than two days of questioning. Throughout their detention, dozens of local community members, activists and monks peacefully gathered in front of the provincial court to call for their freedom.

Leng was arrested alongside Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) activist Khem Sokhy and Srey Thei as well as forestry activist Man Mat while investigating ongoing reports of illegal logging inside the protected Prey Lang forest. Think Biotech, which has been granted a 34,000-hectare concession, has been repeatedly accused by local communities of illegally harvesting timber within the protected forest as well as resin trees owned by local villagers.

Although none of the activists have been charged, all four remain under investigation as suspects, leaving them vulnerable to being summonsed by the police at any time.

25 February 2020

We, the undersigned, are outraged and appalled at the restrictions placed on hundreds of community members, monks and environmental activists who were prevented by authorities from entering parts of Prey Lang protected area over the weekend. The Ministry of Environment’s use of masked armed rangers to prevent members of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) from conducting an annual tree-blessing ceremony in the forest is an indefensible restriction on the community’s freedom of movement and harms conservation efforts in the forest.

The PLCN has proved itself to be the most effective and courageous advocate and monitor of the Prey Lang forest over the past 20 years. The group is made up of community members whose lives and livelihoods are intertwined with the forest, and they require unhindered access to the area in order to protect it. Despite the community group taking the courteous step of informing authorities of the intent to hold an annual ceremony inside the forest, officials from the Ministry of Environment blocked members from entering the forest without providing proper legal justification.

21 February 2020

Hundreds of community members, environmental activists, monks and civil society members were stopped by authorities from entering parts of the Prey Lang protected forest this afternoon. Several different groups of participants were stopped while traveling to the intended site of an annual Buddhist ceremony, which is held to raise awareness about illegal logging and conservation of Cambodia’s largest protected area.

Authorities from the Environment Ministry and local officials, some armed with guns, told several different groups across four provinces that they required permission from a “higher level” to be allowed to enter the forest and asked for “official permission letters” from participants. Such permission is not required by law.

Several participants also reported that local authorities threatened local villagers to pressure them not to allow participants to sleep in their villages during their travel or participate in the ceremony, which lasts for several days.

2 October 2015

This morning, monks from the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ) gathered in Battambang town to call for an end to deforestation in Prey Lang forest.

The group of monks, led by Venerable But Buntenh, urged authorities to conserve Cambodia’s natural resources, particularly the endangered Prey Lang forest. The event was the latest in an ongoing campaign to protect Prey Lang. In July, monks from IMNSJ, together with other land activists, had submitted a petition to the Forestry Administration demanding an end to illegal logging in the forest.

28 February 2012

In mid-November 2011, approximately 300 villagers from four provinces surrounding Prey Lang forest marched through the endangered woods for more than a week. They were patrolling the forest to protect it from further illegal logging and deforestation, and to protest the escalating threat posed by economic land concessions and other exploitation.

18 August 2011

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."

3 June 2011

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.