Source: Khmer Times
Protesting villagers. KT/Chor Sokunthea
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday ordered the Phnom Penh governor to speed up the process of ending Boeung Kak Lake land dispute, which has dragged on for nearly a decade and has seven families still awaiting a resolution.
The order was made after representatives of Boeung Kak Lake submitted a petition requesting intervention from the Prime Minister.
Source: Phnom Penh post
Buildings are demolished by excavators during forced evictions in Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak community in 2010. Touch Yin Vannith
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday directed Phnom Penh Governor Khoung Sreng to quickly resolve land dispute claims by seven families residing in the Boeung Kak area, an order that flies counter to City Hall’s announcement in April that it had officially closed the resolution process for the decade-long dispute.
Continue reading
Source: Phnom Penh Post
Security guards hold hands to block Koh Kong community members protesting outside the Land Management Ministry in Phnom Penh. Pha Lina
About 100 protesters clashed with Chamkarmon district security forces after blocking the street in front of the Land Management Ministry yesterday in an attempt to get the attention of its top official.
The protesters, from four villages in Koh Kong province’s Dang Paeng and Chikor Krom communes, have been locked in a long-running land dispute with the owners of Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company.
Continue reading
Source: Phnom Penh Post
Logs are smuggled into Vietnam via a clandestine crossing in O’Tabok, in the Virachey National Park, in February this year. EIA
The Environment Ministry has contested Vietnamese customs data suggesting the trade in illegal timber remains vast, though Cambodian authorities will not release their own export records to show how much wood is flowing to the Kingdom’s eastern neighbour.
In a recent statement, the ministry expressed “disappointment” with “NGOs” and “some media” for “distorting, exaggerating and misleading” the public about the current state of natural forests in Cambodia.
Continue reading
Source: Phnom Penh Post
Felled logs found earlier this week in the protected area of Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo supplied
A group of villagers and activists in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district are alleging that 30 to 40 hectares of protected forest have been cleared in the past month, even after a suit was filed in July against local officials accused of turning a blind eye to logging in the area. Another group of villagers, meanwhile, protested the activists over the weekend, accusing them of working on behalf of the opposition.
Continue reading
Source: Phnom Penh Post
Apsara Authority officials dismantle an allegedly illegally constructed house within the protected area of Siem Reap’s Angkor Archaeological Park. Photo supplied
The Apsara Authority and Siem Reap provincial officials, as of Saturday, have demolished 171 homes out of 520 set to be removed from the Angkor Archaeological Park, an Apsara official said yesterday.
Long Kosal, spokesman for the Apsara Authority – which oversees the park – said a total of 171 buildings have been pulled down since August 10, of which 140 were dismantled by officials, with the remainder voluntarily brought down by the owners.
Continue reading
Source: Khmer Times
Ms Smith said peaceful demonstrations did not threaten public order. KT/Chor Sokunthea
Cambodia is on the edge of a precipice, according to UN rights official Rhona Smith, who condemned violent rhetoric by the government.
