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Biography of Ms. Horm Soeum Forest Activist Ms. Horm Soeum, 62, was born in Trapeang Tras village, Anlong Samnar commune, Chi Kraeng district, Siem Reap province. She now lives in Sralao Sroang village, Lumtong commune, Anlung Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province with her son, and is a widow. She studied until Grade 3 at the primary school in her hometown. During the Khmer Rouge regime, Ms. Horm Soeum was assigned as a youth mobile team member and moved from place to place. Each youth team member had to transport 25 cubic meters of soil per day. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge arranged for Ms. Horm Soeum to get married to a person from Kampong Cham province that she did not know. The ceremony was conducted with 51 other couples. When the Khmer Rouge regime ended, Ms. Horm Soeum and her husband went back to her hometown village in Chi Kraeng district, Siem Reap province. Due to unfavorable living conditions there, in 1998 Ms. Horm Soeum and her family moved to Varin district, Siem Reap province and continued to Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province in 2000, where she is living and farming today. Her family, along with the others in the district, were granted resident land on arrival. Furthermore, the local authority gave each family 15 hectares for agricultural use. However, after enjoying the land for six years, it was seized by the Oddar Meanchey provincial governor for a company to plant a rubber plantation, without any compensation to the families. As a result, the “O’Sophy Kiri Prey Srong” community was established in 2004. This community was recognized by the relevant ministries in 2008, who authorized it to protect forests covering 6,300.33 hectares of land. As a result of her prominent role in the community, Ms. Horm Soeum was elected to be a community committee member. Ms. Horm Soeum has been invited to attend various training courses on the protection of forest organized by the Forestry Administration (a government authority under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) and NGOs working in the environmental sector. Her training has provided her with a concrete basis to use in her area. Since the establishment of the community in 2004, its members have worked hard to protect the forest day and night, often confronting illegal loggers. This sometimes involves educating them, and sometimes involves sending offenders to the authorities. On occasion, the forest patrollers have been surrounded by offenders and trapped until the authorities intervened. Ms. Soeum says that her community works hard to protect the forest for the whole of society, but the forest on their 6,300.30 hectares of land in O’Sophy Kiri Prey Srong is gradually disappearing. She suggests that there may be powerful persons behind the destruction, extracting resources for their own financial benefit. Ms. Horm Soeum observes that the human rights of Cambodian people have been violated, particularly those who are active in protests against the infringement of land rights in rural areas. These activists are often questioned by the local authority when they travel. Ms. Soeum requests that the government of Cambodia cooperate with civil society organizations to promote rights and freedoms and protect the forest for the next generations. .