Category Archives: Cambodia

‘Wage theft’ in Primark, Nike and H&M supply chain – report

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No laws were broken but brands failed to ensure workers were paid properly during the pandemic, says Clean Clothes Campaign

Campaigners claim to have found evidence of “wage theft” in the supply chains of Primark, Nike and H&M in a report that outlines the devastating consequences of the pandemic on garment workers in Indonesia, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

Research by the Clean Clothes Campaign found that, while none of the brands had broken any laws, they had failed to ensure that their workers were properly paid throughout the pandemic.

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Pet lion seized from home in Cambodia capital after appearance on TikTok

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Authorities investigated after defanged and declawed animal was seen in TikTok videos in Phnom Penh

Cambodian authorities have confiscated a defanged and declawed pet lion that appeared in TikTok videos taken at a Phnom Penh villa.

The 18-month-old male, weighing 70kg (154lbs), had been imported from overseas by the owner, a Chinese national, to be raised in his home, environment ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said.

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Factory workers making goods for the west bear brunt of virus surge in south-east Asia

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Migrant labourers tell of being forced to isolate in brutal conditions as Covid wave grips region

It was around mid-May when workers at the Cal-Comp factory in Phetchaburi, central Thailand, heard a small group of their colleagues had tested positive for Covid-19. It soon became clear the virus had ripped through the production lines. A cluster associated with the electronics factory has since been linked to thousands of infections.

Hwan Htet Paing*, a worker from the factory, said he was not told the results of his Covid test, carried out on 19 May. Despite this, he was instructed to quarantine inside a vast hall at his workplace. The floor was covered with tarpaulin sheets and lined with rows of mosquito nets for each worker. Everyone was given a bucket and a cup, and bedsheets to lay across the floor. Fans were handed out to help ease the heat – until the vast numbers of people testing positive meant there were none left.

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Magawa the mine-sniffing rat in Cambodia retires – video

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Magawa, an African giant pouched rat is retiring from his job sniffing out landmines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia after five years. 'Although still in good health, he has reached a retirement age and is clearly starting to slow down. It is time,' said Apopo, the Belgian nonprofit that trained him

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Ny Nourn: the woman convicted of murder and pardoned – who now fights for other battered women

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Nourn moved from Cambodia to the US as a child, and ended up in an abusive relationship that led to a man’s murder. After years in prison, she is now a powerful voice for those who face incarceration and deportation

When Ny Nourn entered Central California Women’s Facility, the largest women’s prison in the world, there was every reason to believe she would never walk free on American soil again.

She was just 21, and had been sentenced to “life without parole” for her part in a hauntingly brutal murder – a part she was forced into. Even if, at some distant date, a successful appeal commuted that sentence, her conviction made Nourn deportable – so when she had served her time, she was likely to be transported to another prison and ultimately to Cambodia, the country of her parents’ birth, a country she had never set foot in.

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Thousands of Cambodians go hungry in strict lockdown zones

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Rights groups say government and UN inaction has left people lacking food and medicine for weeks

Tens of thousands of Cambodians are going hungry under the country’s strict lockdown as Covid cases continue to rise amid criticism from human rights groups that the government and the UN are being too slow to act.

The south-east Asian country had recorded one of the world’s smallest coronavirus caseloads, but infections have climbed from about 500 in late February to 20,695 this week, with 136 deaths.

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Yemen, Myanmar and George Floyd: human rights this fortnight in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Peru

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Thailand and Cambodia rush to halt waves of Covid cases

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Two south-east Asian neighbours face a challenge after keeping infection numbers low last year

After managing to control the coronavirus for much of 2020, Thailand is battling a fresh outbreak of Covid-19, with officials setting up thousands of beds in field hospitals and warning the public to stay at home.

A cluster of Covid cases emerged in Bangkok’s nightlife venues last month, just before the Songkran new year holiday, when many Thais travel across the country to celebrate with their families. Following record daily increases last week, tighter measures were introduced from Sunday, including the closure of schools for two weeks. Bars have been shut, restaurants banned from serving alcohol and the opening hours of shopping malls have been reduced in areas such as Bangkok.

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Cambodia accused of using Covid to edge towards ‘totalitarian dictatorship’

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New law means people could face 20 years in prison for lockdown breaches, as campaigners warn of ‘human rights disaster’

Cambodians who break Covid rules could face 20 years in prison under a new law that human rights groups say takes the country “a step towards a totalitarian dictatorship”.

Prime minister Hun Sen warned that Cambodia was “on the brink of death” as a two-week lockdown was imposed in Phnom Penh on Thursday to try to control the spread of the virus.

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Cambodia condemns Vice for edited photos of Khmer Rouge victims smiling

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Colourised images from Tuol Sleng prison during 1970s genocide were manipulated, media group says

Cambodia has condemned images published by Vice media group that featured victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide, colourised and with some apparently edited to add smiles to their faces.

The artist Matt Loughrey modified images taken at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, where thousands of people were tortured and interrogated before they were sent on to the killing fields of Choeung Ek.

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Tate & Lyle accused of betraying Cambodia families whose land was allegedly taken

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UK company says it will keep trying to use leverage to get compensation from local supplier

Tate & Lyle has been accused of betraying 200 families in Cambodia who have fought for years to secure compensation for land they say was taken from them to make way for a sugar plantation.

Residents in Koh Kong, Cambodia, say their livelihoods, and their children’s futures, were devastated when their land was taken from them in a process that began in 2006. The land was later used to supply sugar to Tate & Lyle.

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Cher greets ‘world’s loneliest elephant’ in Cambodia

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US star joined campaign for Kaavan to be moved from Islamabad zoo accused of substandard care

An elephant described as the “world’s loneliest” has landed in Cambodia after a seven-hour flight from Pakistan, receiving a warm welcome from Cher, who will accompany him to a sanctuary housing potential mates.

The case of Kaavan – an overweight, 36-year-old bull elephant – prompted global uproar from animal rights groups, who petitioned for him to be moved from an Islamabad zoo accused of substandard care and conditions.

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‘I can’t breathe’: the Thai dissident, his disappearance and a sister’s fight for justice

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Sister of Wanchalearm Satsaksit, a critic of Thailand’s government whose disappearance has spurred national protests, says ‘the truth must come out’

“I heard the sound ‘bang, bang, bang’. Personally, I thought there had been an accident. Then, he said: ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe’.”

These are the words of Sitanan Satsaksit, who can recount in detail the alleged abduction of her brother Wanchalearm, a critic of Thailand’s military-backed government whose disappearance has helped spur pro-democracy protests across the country. It all happened while she was on the phone to him.

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Drones, fever goggles, arrests: millions in Asia face ‘extreme’ Covid surveillance

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Coronavirus tracking measures handing ‘unchecked powers’ to authoritarian regimes, experts warn

Draconian surveillance measures introduced during the Covid-19 epidemic are handing “unchecked powers” to authoritarian regimes across Asia, human rights experts are warning.

In a report out today, risk analysts warn that “extreme measures and unchecked powers” brought in to tackle Covid-19 could become permanent features of government across the region, and have an impact on the rights and privacy of millions of people.

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‘World’s loneliest elephant’ allowed to leave zoo for better life

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Kaavan, who lives in a Pakistani zoo, lost his partner in 2012 and is now medically clear to travel

An elephant who has become a cause célèbre for animal rights activists around the world will be allowed to leave his Pakistani zoo and be transferred to better conditions, the animal welfare group helping with the case has said.

Dubbed the “world’s loneliest elephant” by his supporters, Kaavan has languished at a zoo in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for more than 35 years.

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Comrade Duch, Khmer Rouge chief executioner, dies in Cambodia

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Figure who ran Cambodia’s most notorious prison during genocidal regime of Pol Pot died on Wednesday

The chief jailer of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime, known as Comrade Duch, who oversaw the mass murder of at least 14,000 Cambodians at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, has died.

Related: Life for Comrade Duch, a milestone for international justice | Mark Vlasic

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Covid led to ‘brutal crackdown’ on garment workers’ rights, says report

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Brands including Primark, Zara and H&M accused of failing to protect workers at factories in Asia from ‘union busting’

Some of Europe’s biggest retailers, including Primark, Zara and H&M, are failing to stop Covid-19 being used as a pretext for union busting, human rights activists are warning.

Millions of garment workers in some of the poorest parts of Asia have lost their jobs since coronavirus shutdowns hit the retail industry worldwide.

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One million Cambodians under threat from development of vital wetlands – report

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New sprawling development near Phnom Penh could prompt environmental catastrophe, including for the capital’s water systems

The destruction of critically-important wetlands by politically-connected developers in Cambodia threatens to flood more than one million Phnom Penh residents, ruin the city’s wastewater system, force hundreds of families from their homes, and trigger environmental devastation, a new report has warned.

The sprawling Tompoun/Cheung Ek wetlands, just south of Phnom Penh, play a vital role in sustaining the Cambodian capital, acting as a natural store of 70% of its rain and wastewater and providing livelihoods for the more than 1,000 families who live, farm and fish in the area.

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Jailed for a Facebook post: garment workers’ rights at risk during Covid-19

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Global fashion brands urged to speak out after arrest of factory employee fuels fears that rights are eroded during pandemic

On the evening of 31 March, at the height of the Covid-19 epidemic, Soy Sros, a young Cambodian garment worker, took out her phone and posted a message on Facebook.

The Cambodian garment sector was in freefall with billions of dollars of clothing orders cancelled and factories closing.

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Cambodia scraps plans for Mekong hydropower dams

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Campaigners welcome decision which allays fears for fragile biodiversity and communities dependent on river for livelihood

A Cambodian government decision to postpone building new hydropower dams on the Mekong river has been welcomed by campaigners, who say it will provide welcome relief to the tens of thousands of people whose livelihood depend upon its rich resources.

Cambodia announced on Wednesday that it would not build any new hydropower dams on the mainstream Mekong for the next decade, allaying fears that the river’s fragile biodiversity could be further devastated by development projects.

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