Industrial production
Economic land concessions and plantations
Koh Kong locals seek land’s return
Representatives of 526 Koh Kong families hopped on their motos on 25 March to deliver petitions to their district town halls calling for the return of land taken from them by a 2006 economic land concession (ELC), as well as compensation for lost crops. In 2006, a ...
Kingdom's sugar exports to EU plummet
New figures show that Cambodia’s sugar exports to the European Union fell by 94.8 per cent between 2013 and 2015, amid accusations of rights abuses and land grabbing in the Kingdom’s industry. Keep reading ...
Samrin sends questions over Vietnam’s army ELCs to PM
More than a month after rejecting a letter from an opposition lawmaker pressing the government for answers about plantations in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province controlled by the Vietnamese army, National Assembly President Heng Samrin this week forwarded a revised version to Prime Minister Hun Sen. Keep reading ...
Controversial study says violence works
Indigenous peoples fighting economic land concessions (ELCs) in Cambodia are more likely to get results with violent protest than lodging their complaints through legitimate channels, a controversial study published this month argues. The paper, published by Young Sokphea in the Asian Journal of Social Science, concludes ...
Company denies illegal logging allegations
A company owned by a tycoon accused of logging vast stretches of forest in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park on 28 January fired back at its detractors, claiming that it paid the state more than $1 million in taxes and was cleared by a recent anti-illegal logging ...
Vietnam army concessions are ‘unconstitutional’
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has levelled further criticism at the Vietnamese army’s alleged control of 40,000 hectares of economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, claiming that the grants are in violation of the Cambodian constitution. Transferred over 2011 and 2012 to Vietnamese companies Veasna Investment, ...
Villagers face court over ELC protest
The Preah Vihear Provincial Court has ordered nine villagers to appear on 9 December to respond to allegations that they dismantled the office of a Malaysian rubber plantation company five months ago. The nine villagers and 300 protesters allegedly pried the wooden walls off of a building ...
Koh Kong reps deliver UDG petition
Ten representatives of 318 families in Koh Kong on 12 November filed a petition with the Senate and the National Assembly, asking the government to intervene in their land dispute with Chinese company Union Development Group. Keep reading ...
Rights report decries Thai sugar firm’s tactics
Asia’s largest sugar producer, Mitr Phol, is responsible for violating the rights of hundreds of villagers in Oddar Meanchey who saw their land grabbed, homes destroyed and livestock killed to make way for plantations, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT). The Thai ...
Mandalay farmers battle municipal committee
Angry farmers in Mandalay have hit back at local officials by launching a court action against those they say destroyed huts and signboards on their land. A private company, Phwit Phyo Thit, has signed an agreement with Mandalay City Development Committee to build a golf resort ...
