Civil society groups on Nov. 24 called on the government to reduce defense and security spending and instead focus on Cambodia’s economic and social sectors. A collection of 11 NGOs submitted their proposal to the government regarding the draft budget law on finance for 2021.
For Cambodia’s largest swath of intact rainforest, the most important line of defense against the logging companies and vested political interests that are seeing it deforested is the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN), a local activist group of volunteer forest rangers that has been risking their lives to peaceably protect the area from illegal logging and large-scale land-grabbing since 2007.
The Environmental Ministry has this year stopped sharing environmental and social impact assessments for new development projects with NGO Forum, the civil society network said.
On November 24, Transparency International TI Cambodia released a report on its 2020 global Corruption Perceptions Index which reflected the views and experiences of people concerning corruption in 17 countries in Asia, including Cambodia. Senior government officials have disputed the results of a Transparency International (TI) survey that measured corruption in Cambodia, saying it failed to reflect the realities.
