Sopheap Chak

By Chak Sopheap, Guest Commentary to UPI Asia Online Published on 2010 Jan 21 Niigata, Japan — After decades of isolation due to genocide and political conflict, Cambodia has integrated with regional groups like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and adopted a free market system. However, the right to movement in the country is [...]

By Chak Sopheap Published on UPI Asia, December 23, 2009 Niigata, Japan — Phorn Sarith, a 37-year-old Cambodian logger, died when Thai soldiers reportedly fired indiscriminately on 25 loggers working in the Dangrek mountains in Oddar Meanchey, a Cambodian province on the Thai-Cambodian border, last Saturday. Since September Thai soldiers have killed six Cambodian loggers, [...]

By Chak Sopheap Published on UPI online, December 02, 2009 Niigata, Japan — This year’s theme for Human Rights Day on Dec. 10 is “non-discrimination,” based on the concept that all human beings are born free and are equal in dignity and rights. However, much needs to be done before this concept will be a [...]

By Chak Sopheap Guest Commentary, Published on UPI Asia Niigata, Japan — One of the untold tragedies of U.S. policy has been the forced repatriation of young Cambodians, mainly men, who went to the United States as refugees after escaping the Khmer Rouge genocide of the late 1970s. The United States took in 130,000 Cambodian [...]