<p>The Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC) – a coalition of 21 NGOs working on the promotion of Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law in Cambodia deplores the decision of the Thai junta to deport Cambodian migrants en masse and demands that their deportation is carried out in a manner which respects their human rights</p>

<div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2007 by Time magazine, Youk Chhang turned the misfortune and suffering of his childhood under the Khmer Rouge into a documentation centre detailing genocide under the Pol Pot regime which took around 2 million lives.&nbsp;</div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and Media Defence Southeast Asia (MD-SEA) are gravely alarmed by the 20-year prison sentence imposed on Mr. Mam Sonando, 70, and owner and director of an independent radio station in Phnom Penh. We believe Mam Sonando is the victim of a grave injustice arising from his consistent opposition to the ruling party, as well as independent broadcasting of social and political issues plaguing the country through his radio station, Beehive (105 mhz. FM).<br /></p>

<p><em>Verdict a Serious Blow to Freedom of Expression and Judicial Independence as Web of Attacks on Activists and Journalists Widen</em><br /><br />(Bangkok, 2 October 2012) Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a regional human rights organization representing 49 non-governmental organizations across Asia, strongly condemns the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in Cambodia for its conviction of independent radio station owner Mam Sonando yesterday, to a 20-year jail sentence for allegedly inciting a purported “secessionist movement” in the Kratie province in Cambodia. The guilty verdict was made despite the lack of credible evidence, bringing to question the political motivations and the independence of the Cambodian judiciary.</p>

<p>(Bangkok, 13 September 2012): Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation against Torture), WITNESS, Amnesty International and Freedom House call for the immediate release of land and housing rights activists, Yorm Bopha and Tim Sakmony, who were arrested on 4 September and 5 September, respectively, on dubious charges.</p>

<p>ARTICLE 19, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), and Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister of Cambodia to protest the recent arrest of Mam Sonando, the director of Beehive Radio, a Cambodian independent radio station.</p>

<p>Four workshops organized by civil society organizations were forced late last night to move their workshops to La Palaranda hotel, away from the main venue of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ASEAN People&rsquo;s Forum (APF), the Lucky Star Hotel (on Street 336, Phnom Penh). Three of the workshops dealt with land rights, eviction and environment issues and the fourth focused on Burma&rsquo;s currentpolitical and human rights situation and the challenges this poses to the country&rsquo;s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014.</p>

<p><em>FBI, French Inquiries Crucial; Donors Should Demand Accountability</em></p> <p>(New York, March 29, 2012) &ndash; The Cambodian government has made no effort over the last 15 years to bring to justice those responsible for a bloody grenade attack on an opposition party rally, Human Rights Watch said today.</p>

<p>The Cambodian authorities must immediately release 24 women and six children detained yesterday while peacefully protesting their forced eviction.</p>

<p>Paris, Phnom Penh, San Francisco, 1 December 2011 &ndash; On the eve of the hearings dedicated to the examination of evidence in the trial in Case 002 and after the first week of hearings of the Case 002 trial before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), dedicated to opening statements, FIDH, ADHOC and CJA welcome the opening of this historic trial &ndash; a trial that will shed light on the grave international crimes committed by three former Khmer Rouge senior leaders, Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.</p>

<p><em>Trade Partners Need to Warn Phnom Penh Now</em></p> <p>(New York, November 29, 2011) &ndash; The Cambodian government should urge the Senate to strike a provision of the draft Law on Prisons that would permit prison labor to be used for producing goods for private firms, Human Rights Watch said today. The draft law, which was passed by the lower house of the National Assembly on November 7, 2011, is expected to be sent to the Senate soon.</p>

<p><em>This article is published as the first in a series to mark the ILO's Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeeting to be held 4-7 December in Kyoto, Japan.</em></p> <p><strong>Siem Reap, Cambodia</strong> &ndash; Nit&rsquo;s family lives in a shaky thatch hut a short walk from the magnificent Ta Prohm ruins in the Angkor World Heritage Site. Her grandfather abandoned his family 15 years ago, and with no farm land, everyone has done their bit to stay together. Like her mother, aunt and grandmother, Nit now sells bracelets, postcards and magnets to tourists. </p>