Social development
Civil society
Civil society organisations to hold rally on 10 December
Civil society groups, unions, monks and activists are planning a thousands-strong march in Phnom Penh to deliver petitions to the National Assembly and Ministry of Justice to mark International Human Rights Day on 10 December. Keep reading ...
Cambodian CSO coalition letter ready for climate talks
A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) has produced a document laying out in detail the projected dire effects of climate change on Cambodia, in the hopes it will help their voice be heard among the 25,000 delegates attending the upcoming Paris Climate Talks in ...
ASEAN integration concerns aired at grassroots event
Hundreds gathered on 16 November in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park for the fifth Cambodian Grassroots People’s Assembly, where they called for issues ranging from deforestation to democracy to be addressed ahead of ASEAN integration. About 700 people from the Cambodian Cross Sector Network, a group made up ...
Mekong locals seek a voice on Don Sahong
More than 6,400 residents of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia have signed and thumb-printed a statement on the Don Sahong Dam project, airing concerns ranging from the river’s diminishing fish stocks to the lack of transparency of the Mekong River Commission. The statement, presented last week at ...
Cambodia uses terror as pretext: report
Cambodia has been named among states accused of using counter-terrorism measures to clamp down on human rights and civil society in a report released this week by the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism. Speaking in New York on 26 October, the British ...
Laos refuses to host meeting of ASEAN civil society groups
Laos will not host a meeting of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Southeast Asia on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit next year, a local official said, citing potential criticism by participants against governments in the region and inadequate resources as among reasons for the ...
Police block marchers on World Habitat Day
More than 1,000 demonstrators from about 50 communities across the country gathered Monday to mark U.N. World Habitat Day and protest against widespread land and housing evictions, but found their march blocked by municipal authorities, who claimed the protesters posed a risk to security. Beginning the ...
Lao Government promoting CSO involvement in national development
The government wants to encourage more involvement of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in Laos in a bid to boost government policy in the fields of national construction and development. The government sector and representatives of CSO in Laos began meeting at a seminar in Vientiane on ...
Proposed Lao curbs on NGOs seen as choking development projects
The Lao government’s changes to regulations on domestic nonprofit associations will hinder the work of the groups and slow down development projects in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, an NGO official said 11 September. Keep reading ...
Anti-dredging activists refuse to meet with government
Activists have continued their campaign to drive out sand dredging companies from Koh Kong province’s Botum Sakor district, refusing a meeting with local authorities and instead holding a 100-strong protest outside the district hall. Keep reading ...