ADB backs suspended NGO in Cambodia

People sit along railroad tracks outside their shanty homes in the Boeng Kak slum area of Phnom Penh (AFP/File, Nicolas Asfouri)

ADB backs under-fire campaigners in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The Asian Development Bank on Friday defended two land rights organisations in Cambodia that have been rapped by the government for criticising an ADB-funded railway redevelopment project.

The attacks on the two groups, who monitor the relocation of families living near the railway tracks, come as the government is preparing a controversial law to regulate the activities of campaigners and charity workers.

"ADB views recent developments with the utmost seriousness," the bank said in a statement after the local Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) charity was slapped with a five-month suspension and international group Bridges Across Borders Cambodia (BABC) was given a government warning over a critical report.