No justice for Indigenous community taking on a Cambodian rubber baron
KAMPONG THOM, Cambodia — The mood outside the Kampong Thom Provincial Court had grown tense on the afternoon of July 26. Some 12 residents of Ngon village, an Indigenous Kuy…
Articles by Gerald Flynn
Gerald Flynn is a freelance journalist based in Cambodia investigating political, environmental and social issues.
Alleged macaque-smuggling ring exposed as U.S. indicts Cambodian officials
PHNOM PENH — Eight people, including two Cambodian Forestry Administration officials, have been charged by U.S. federal prosecutors for their alleged involvement in an international monkey smuggling ring. One of…
Cambodia’s elites swallow up Phnom Penh’s lakes, leaving the poor marooned
PHNOM PENH — On the edges of Boeung Tamok, Phnom Penh’s largest lake, 25-year-old Kong Khun sheltered from the late June heat in a bamboo hut. Despite clear skies, Khun…
Cambodian mega dam’s resurrection on the Mekong ‘the beginning of the end’
STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — A long-dormant plan to build a mega dam on the mainstream of the Mekong River in Cambodia’s northeastern Stung Treng province appears to have been revived…
In the Mekong Basin, an ‘unnecessary’ dam poses an outsized threat
SIEM PANG, Cambodia — “I remember seeing a buffalo, its head tied to a floating barrel, drifting down the river,” says Pheng Sisuwath, gesturing to the Sekong River from his…
Mining the Mekong: Land and livelihoods lost to Cambodia’s thirst for sand
ROKA KOANG, Cambodia — Some 45 kilometers, or 28 miles, up the Mekong River from Phnom Penh, Voi Thy sat and watched as 12 boats pumped sand from the riverbed.…
Fisheries crackdown pushes Cambodians to the brink on Tonle Sap lake
CHHNOK TRU, Cambodia — From her sun-bleached wooden houseboat in the floating village of Koh Tapov, on the southeastern side of the Tonle Sap lake in Kampong Thom province, Hai…
Cambodian government cancels development of Phnom Tamao forest amid outcry
PHNOM TAMAO, Cambodia — Prime Minister Hun Sen has stepped in to cancel all development projects slated for the Phnom Tamao forest, near the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, following…
The great Koh Kong land rush: Areas stripped of protection by Cambodian gov’t being bought up
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — In July, conservationists in Cambodia sounded the alarm over a regulation that saw eight protected areas in Koh Kong province collectively lose territory twice the size…
USAID redirects funding in Cambodia as future of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary hangs in the balance
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — More than a month has passed since the Cambodia branch of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it would be ending its assistance…
Outrage as Cambodian court convicts activists for inciting ‘social chaos’
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — In a move that has prompted outrage in Cambodia and beyond, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on May 5 sentenced five activists from the environmental group…
‘What other country would do this to its people?’ Cambodian land grab victims seek int’l justice
“It started when some people from the government came around the community telling us that we were illegally occupying the land,” Chhae Kimsrour said in June 2020. “I’ve lived here…
Cambodians fight the ‘cancer’ eating away at Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary
“It was the same court, the same actors, the same script — it was just like the sequel,” laughed Ouch Leng as he recounted what is now his second arrest…
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