Jack Brook

Two sellers meet on the former site of Chhnok Trou village on the Tonle Sap, where villagers were evicted in 2018. Many have returned to the area to maintain their livelihoods.

Human Rights -

Despite Massacres and Evictions, an Ethnic Vietnamese Community Endures

31 Oct 2023 5:14 PM|
Jack Brook|

Beneath the waters of the Tonle Sap lies a little girl. Her name was Dang Thy, and even as she was bleeding to death from the bullet in her waist, she asked about the health of her mother, who was also dying from gunshot wounds following an attack by Khmer Rouge militants in 1998.

Human Rights ·

Despite Massacres and Evictions, an Ethnic Vietnamese Community Endures

31 Oct 2023 5:14 PM|
Jack Brook|

Pu Lu villager farmer Maly Kim stands on his three hectare farm which Socfin had cleared and planted with rubber trees, which Kim now farms; however, the company demands he pay back the costs of planting and preparing the land. (CamboJA/Jack Brook)

National ·

Years-Long Mediation Leaves Bunong Farmers Indebted to Multinational Rubber Firm

27 Sep 2023 3:16 PM|
Jack Brook|

More than a decade after subsidiaries of multinational rubber firm Socfin Group forcibly cleared and seized the farms, burial grounds and sacred forests of Bunong indigenous communities in Mondulkiri province, the company now seeks to collect tens of thousands of dollars from these farmers for the cost of “land preparation” and other fees.

Ith Sothoeuth, director of the Media Department of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM), gives an interview to the media in front of VOD's office in Phnom Penh on February 13, 2023. (CamboJA/ Pring Samrang)

Journalists ·

Voice of Democracy To Resume Broadcasting Overseas, Unaffiliated with CCIM

20 Sep 2023 6:00 PM|
Jack Brook|

The government-shuttered media outlet Voice of Democracy (VOD) announced it will resume broadcasting from the United States beginning in October, according to a Tuesday press release posted on the VOD Khmer Facebook page.

A Phnom Penh office of Prasac Microfinance Institution Plc, which as of February had an active loan of $10 million from Dutch social investor Oikocredit, photographed on December 9, 2022. (CamboJA/ Pring Samrang)

National ·

Complaint Advances Against Investor Oikocredit For Role in Microfinance Sector’s Abuses

19 Sep 2023 2:50 PM|
Jack Brook|

A Dutch government watchdog group accepted a complaint last Friday alleging that social investor Oikocredit contributed to abuses in Cambodia’s microfinance sector.

Human Rights ·

Burning Homes in the Name of Conservation: NGO Wildlife Alliance Cracks Down on the Poor

5 Sep 2023 11:18 AM|
Jack Brook|

An investigation into home destruction and other tactics of the NGO Wildlife Alliance's ranger patrols as they crack down on poor farmers in and around the Cardamom National Park.

The title graphic of the Licadho and Equitable Cambodia-produced quantitative study "Debt Threats" of microloan borrowers in Kampong Speu province. (Licadho and Equitable Cambodia)

Business ·

New Study Records Impacts of Overindebtedness in Kampong Speu

29 Aug 2023 2:37 PM|
Jack Brook|

A quantitative study of microloan debt in Kampong Speu province published Tuesday by two human rights NGOs highlights the impacts of “widespread overindebtedness,” including coerced land sales, child labor and families limiting their food consumption.

Police display a group of arrested suspects who allegedly helped the Taiwanese drug trafficker Chen Hsin Han escape from prison, during a press conference on August 23, 2023. (BTV)

National ·

Escaped Drug Trafficker Re-Captured, But “His Influence Was Everything” Inside Prison

23 Aug 2023 7:18 PM|
Jack Brook|

On Tuesday evening police captured a Taiwanese drug trafficker who had escaped from prison with the help of a group of masked gunmen last week during a supervised visit to a dentist’s office.