Stories written by Irwin Loy
Irwin Loy is a journalist based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he covers development issues throughout Southeast Asia. | Google+ |

Cambodian Opposition Plans to Wake Up

Cambodia’s fragmented opposition parties are promising to work together, rather than compete against each other for votes in the next election. All it took was another crushing victory at the polls by the country’s ruling party.

History teachers in Phnom Penh learning lessons to teach about the Khmer Rouge. Credit: Irwin Loy

Learning Lessons From the Khmer Rouge

For four years, Wan Preung toiled in the fields under the Khmer Rouge, unable to speak his mind. But after the regime fell in 1979, there was still one sensitive subject the teacher could seldom broach with his students: the Khmer Rouge.

CAMBODIA: Delayed Justice Begins Unconvincingly

Kim Vuthy has walked inside this courtroom on the outskirts of Phnom Penh three times. But it never gets any easier looking at the men she holds responsible for the deaths in her family.

CAMBODIA: Resignation Raises Doubts Over Khmer Rouge Tribunal

The United Nations must address a "crisis of confidence" at the beleaguered Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal in Cambodia following the resignation of a controversial judge, critics say.

Civil Society Unifies Position Ahead of Aid Summit

Civil society groups say they want to have a stronger voice in setting the development agenda ahead of a key global summit on aid effectiveness later this year.

Prisoners held at S-21, the Khmer Rouge regime's main torture centre, on display at what is now a genocide museum in Phnom Penh.  Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

CAMBODIA: Critics Fear War Crimes Court to Drop New Khmer Rouge Cases

There are no publicly named suspects, no defence lawyers and no official victims. And soon, court observers in Cambodia fear, there will be no further Khmer Rouge trials.

Rice fields outside the Cambodian capital.  Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

CAMBODIA: Understanding of Climate Change Sketchy, But Concern Real

The rains were kind to Cambodian farmer Tep Van last year, when the monsoon season doused his land with enough water to soak his fields and grow his precious rice crop. But he’s not sure he can count on the same luck this year.

CAMBODIA: Govt Plans to Tighten Noose Around Civil Society

A proposed law governing NGOs in Cambodia will impose severe restrictions on civil society groups and tighten control over public discourse, critics in this South-east Asian country say.

Fishermen's boats on the Mekong River in northern Laos. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

Uncertain Flows the Mekong

Countries around the lower Mekong have failed to reach a consensus on a controversial proposal that could see Laos build the first hydropower dam on this part of the vital river.

A de-miner holds fragments from an exploded cluster submunition. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

CAMBODIA: Cluster Bombs Cloud Prospects for Peace

Allegations that Thailand used controversial cluster munitions during recent border clashes with Cambodia have become the latest wedge driving tensions between the two neighbours.

Tourists look at photos of prisoners held at the Khmer Rouge detention centre, S-21. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

CAMBODIA: Convicted Khmer Rouge Prison Chief Appeals Sentence

The only Khmer Rouge figure to be prosecuted by a United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal here is arguing that his conviction should be overturned.

Cambodia Struggles to Stem Domestic Worker Abuse

Cambodia’s fledgling domestic worker export industry continues to come under scrutiny amid allegations that women have been forcibly detained in privately run training centres.

Tile floors are all that remain of homes that once stood on the eastern shore of Boeung Kak lake. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

CAMBODIA: Botched World Bank Project Leads to Thousands of Evictions

The World Bank botched the handling of an ambitious multi-million-dollar land- titling project in Cambodia and has done little to protect thousands of people in a lakeside slum from eviction.

UN Rights Envoy Faces Balancing Act in Cambodia

A United Nations rights envoy says Cambodia must accelerate the pace of its democratic reforms, but it’s unclear how much sway he holds with a government that has become increasingly resistant to international criticism.

CAMBODIA: Refugees Face New Risks

Cambodia must ensure it offers a safe haven to asylum seekers, rights groups say, following the government’s closure this week of a United Nations-run refugee centre, home to dozens of Montagnards from Vietnam.

Khmer Rouge Leaders Seek Release Before Trial

Standing in an air-conditioned courtroom on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital, an aging former Khmer Rouge figure accused of genocide offered few words as he asked for his release.

Intellectual property provisions could put ARV pills out of the reach of Cambodians who need them. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

CAMBODIA: EU, India Trade Deal Could Hurt Access to Anti-Retrovirals

Every day, twice a day for the last seven years, Men Thol has swallowed a set of pills that gives him the strength to lead a normal life.

CAMBODIA: EU Trade Access Goes A Long Way

When the European Union slapped crippling anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese bicycle exports in 2006, one factory’s Taiwan- based owner decided enough was enough.

Somphong Chanthavong of the group Norwegian People's Aid in southern Laos shows deadly shrapnel retrieved from exploded cluster submunition. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

POLITICS: Cambodia, Vietnam Differ from Laos in Cluster Bombs Ban

On a windy morning in southern Laos in November, a team of deminers built a makeshift bunker out of sandbags and piled the barrier around a tiny explosive.

Ta Doangchom beside homemade prosthetic limbs in the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) National Rehabilitation Centre Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

LAOS: For Cluster Bomb Survivors, War Far From Over

Eighteen-year-old Phongsavath Manithong rubbed his eyes with the back of his arms as he described how his life changed forever.

Monks like Thorn Vandong have gotten involved in bringing key HIV services to rural Cambodians. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

CAMBODIA: Access to Drugs A Life Saver for People with HIV

The monsoon rains soaked the ground beneath Mon Hol’s home until it turned to ankle-deep mud. The aged thatched-leaf roof of his hut, badly in need of replacement, provided little protection.

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