- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 7, 2024
- Event Description
Koet Saray, President of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA), was today sent to pre-trial detention at Correctional Centre 1 prison by an investigating judge at the at Phnom Penh Capital Court following charges of “committing a misdemeanour after sentencing for a misdemeanour” and “incitement to commit a felony” under Articles 88, 494, and 495 of the Criminal Code. The charges relate to ongoing land conflicts in Preah Vihear province.
On 6 April at around 3:30pm, police officers confirmed that Saray had been transported to the Phnom Penh Capital Court from the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat, where he had been held overnight following his arrest on 5 April at around 4:00pm by approximately 10 mixed uniformed and plainclothes police officers outside of KSILA’s office in Phnom Penh. Saray’s arrest followed an order issued by the Office of the Prosecutor at Phnom Penh Capital Court on 5 April to bring Saray to Phnom Penh Capital Police for questioning on “incitement to cause serious chaos to social security”.
One monk and around a dozen individuals from various youth groups and civil society organisations had been present at the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat on 6 April to monitor the situation. A few plainclothes police officers had also been deployed nearby, where they took photographs and videos and prevented human rights defenders from bringing food to Saray.
In 2023, the Supreme Court upheld incitement convictions against Saray and nine other activists in relation to peaceful gatherings calling for the release of then-imprisoned union leader Rong Chhun. The lower court had sentenced Saray in October 2021 to 20 months’ imprisonment with six months of his sentence suspended for a period of two years, and fined him 2 million riel (US$500).
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to food, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- NGO staff, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: student leader arrested, investigated
- Date added
- Apr 11, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2024
- Event Description
Koet Saray, President of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA), was today sent to pre-trial detention at Correctional Centre 1 prison by an investigating judge at the at Phnom Penh Capital Court following charges of “committing a misdemeanour after sentencing for a misdemeanour” and “incitement to commit a felony” under Articles 88, 494, and 495 of the Criminal Code. The charges relate to ongoing land conflicts in Preah Vihear province.
On 6 April at around 3:30pm, police officers confirmed that Saray had been transported to the Phnom Penh Capital Court from the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat, where he had been held overnight following his arrest on 5 April at around 4:00pm by approximately 10 mixed uniformed and plainclothes police officers outside of KSILA’s office in Phnom Penh. Saray’s arrest followed an order issued by the Office of the Prosecutor at Phnom Penh Capital Court on 5 April to bring Saray to Phnom Penh Capital Police for questioning on “incitement to cause serious chaos to social security”.
One monk and around a dozen individuals from various youth groups and civil society organisations had been present at the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat on 6 April to monitor the situation. A few plainclothes police officers had also been deployed nearby, where they took photographs and videos and prevented human rights defenders from bringing food to Saray.
In 2023, the Supreme Court upheld incitement convictions against Saray and nine other activists in relation to peaceful gatherings calling for the release of then-imprisoned union leader Rong Chhun. The lower court had sentenced Saray in October 2021 to 20 months’ imprisonment with six months of his sentence suspended for a period of two years, and fined him 2 million riel (US$500).
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, NGO staff, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 11, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 4, 2024
- Event Description
Mondulkiri provincial court on Monday questioned NGO rights group Adhoc official and four Bunong natives after land brokers and fellow villagers filed a defamation and incitement complaint against them. The complaint was made after the suspects submitted evidence of chopped trees and encroachment by the plaintiffs, made up of land brokers and a few villagers.
According to the February 3, 2024 court summons, deputy prosecutor Seav Ngy Chhorn ordered the five people, Bi Vanny, Adhoc provincial coordinator, and minority indigenous people Chen Vanna, Sreng San, Rouen Heng, and Ngin Channa, to present themselves at the Mondulkiri provincial court from March 1 to 4, 2024.
The plaintiffs, who made the complaint, consist of Ploeun Pyin, Nhev Mao, and Soeun Sam, where one or two are known to the villagers as they are from the same village.
Vanny, who was in court on Monday, said the prosecutor asked him questions relating to the information and evidence he submitted about the alleged forest crime and land encroachment at the indigenous people’s land in Poulong village of Sen Monorom city’s Romnea commune.
He said community residents had requested his organization’s help to submit the evidence in court to seek justice as they lacked knowledge of the law.
The evidence was submitted in March 2023, following which the court asked him to appear in November that year. At the time, he said, he told the court that he was only doing what the villagers had requested of him.
On November 20, 2023, a week after Vanny appeared in court, the plaintiffs sued him for defamation and incitement to discrimination, which he denied being involved.
Vanny asked the court to drop all charges against him because he was only providing information to the prosecutor and had no intention of violating the plaintiffs’ rights or harming them.
“We ask the prosecutor to investigate the facts of the case. I hope that the court is an independent institution, a place where justice is upheld, to decide if there was an encroachment, and if it’s related to the three individuals who filed the complaint against me and the four indigenous people,” Vanny said.
He urged the court to quickly investigate and fairly decide on the case. “We are going to court because we all want justice,” he said.
Relating his experience, Chen Vanna, who was questioned on Monday, said the prosecutor questioned him about the land encroachment evidence, which was submitted to court. He said the evidence was submitted because they want to prevent deforestation.
“I answered that I want to intervene to protect our natural resources [forest],” he said.
The prosecutor questioned whether the community land had indeed been encroached, to which Vanna replied, “They [plaintiffs] cut it and if the court doesn’t believe, they can go and see it for themselves.”
“I am not the only one, the people of Poulong village have put in a [petition] everywhere to prevent the community land from being cut down and taken over by the [plaintiffs] as their own land. We want it retained as state property, a common property where we have a forest. But when I tried to stop this, they said I defamed them,” Vanna said.
According to him, the plaintiffs are also residents of Poulong village and the purpose of clearing the community land was because it would be included as indigenous people’s land before claiming that it was “an old plantation”.
“I ask people who are competent to help us preserve the forest and natural resources. The area is a public forest, it’s not owned by anyone. I do not want that land [for me], I just want us all to use it together,” he added.
Similarly, another suspect, Bunong native Ngin Channa, felt that the accusation was unfair because the land dispute happened in the community in Poulong village.
She told the court she was not involved in any incitement, but all the people in the Poulong village need to leave the community land so that it can survive.
“Because we, the Bunong people, go in there to collect resin and vegetables. There are also a lot of cattle there,” Channa said. If 500 to 1,000 hectares of the forest are cut down, there will be no forest, she shared. The trees are like fruits to the community, for instance, resin, which is available during dry and rainy seasons.
When the prosecutor asked who confiscated the land brokers’ machine used to cut the trees, she admitted that the community did. The machine was sent to the community representative and the commune forestry administration.
She said the community people volunteered to protect the land from being lost.
“I would like to request the court in Mondulkiri to find the perpetrators, as in who is behind those who dare to do this [clear the land]. There are efforts to prevent [encroachment] [via continuous patrolling], but how can they [land brokers] still do that?” Channa asked.
She requested the government and the relevant authorities to look into the issue, adding that the evidence has been submitted to the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
“Please intervene in this matter so that there is no further encroachment and please drop the charges so that no one is summoned again. Every day we have nothing. We are farmers, so it [the case] disrupts our activity and we cannot do any other work. I’m stuck with a bank loan,” Channa said.
According to Channa, she is now looking for additional evidence to submit to the court, asserting that encroachment is still ongoing.
Mondulkiri provincial deputy governor Cheak Mengheang told CamboJA on Wednesday afternoon that there was daily encroachment, but that it cannot be proven currently. He asked that the information be checked first because it was unclear.
Romnea commune chief Phy Ngouk could not be reached for comment.
NGO rights group Licadho operation director Am Sam Ath believed that citizens who understand and dare to file evidence relating to the protection of collective property, community or state property should be encouraged. They should not be prosecuted for any crime.
But if they are prosecuted, it breaks the spirit of the people who participate in the protection of the environment.
“It is akin to a restriction on the rights of civil society who work to protect the common interests of the forest, natural resources, and the environment,” Sam Ath said. “If this problem persists, no one will dare report problems at the local or community level,” he said.
He also called on the court officials to drop charges against Adhoc’s Vanny and the four local residents who are devoted to protecting the forests.
“I understand that when there is a complaint, the court must summon the people for questioning, but hopefully it will look at all the issues, and the rights and freedom of people,” Sam Ath said.
Deputy prosecutor Seav Ngy Chhorn told CamboJA that the court has yet to decide what is the next procedure after it finished questioning relevant parties involved in the case. The court needs to further question witnesses as both parties have submitted additional evidence.
Early this February, the ruling CPP also filed a lawsuit against outspoken human rights group Adhoc Soeng Senkaruna for allegedly making a comment believed to provoke unrest and incite hatred against them. The comment was also allegedly intended to affect the Senate election on February 25, 2024, according to the complaint published by Fresh News.
In the complaint, CPP asked the court to consider their request to indict and sentence Soeng Senkaruna in accordance with the law. A compensation of two billion riel (approximately $500,000) has also been demanded from him.
Political analyst Em Sovannara opined that in Cambodia today, the “justice system is only available for the influential and the wealthy”. He alleged that “ordinary people, advocates, and those who do social work seem to face the most problems”, which he sees as an unfavorable task for the democratic environment in Cambodia.
“In general, if we look at the characteristics of civil society organizations, advocates, activists and political parties, they seem to be shrinking. There is no space for political freedom and freedom of expression. The Cambodian society lacks a system of justice that gives us confidence,” he said.
In this aspect, he would like to see a return to the principles of democracy prescribed under the Constitution and by the United Nations Charter and Paris Peace Agreements. They clearly state the principles of multi-party liberal democracy where Cambodians can seek justice.
He added that if there is only a theoretical system of the policy, but without practical application, Cambodians would be affected by the injustice in a country that practices democracy.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Access to justice, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender, Land rights defender, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 22, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 27, 2024
- Event Description
Samrong Tbong Community members this morning reported injuries stemming from an altercation with authorities over the filling-in of the Boeung Tamok lake area in Phnom Penh. The lake has been parcelled off by the state and given away to politically connected institutions and individuals over the past several years.
Members of Samrong Tbong Community gathered at the area yesterday and this morning to protest the state’s excavation of the community’s land. Community members are facing legal complaints in at least four cases that have been opened since 2022 due to their land activism.
The most recent flare-up of the long-running conflict began yesterday, when three excavators accompanied by around 10 security guards were used to attempt to begin clearing land occupied by the community. Community members gathered and halted the work, after which police officers arrived to observe the community. The clearing resumed this morning with a far heavier police presence, as around 200 authorities – including around 50 police officers and the deputy governor of Khan Praek Pnov – arrived at the site to oversee the clearing. Around 100 community members gathered in the area to protest, who were photographed and filmed by police and plainclothes authorities.
Community members reported that at least one child and two women, one of whom is pregnant, were injured as a result of today’s altercation. Some people were sent to a nearby hospital for treatment, while other community members reported being forced to leave the area of the dispute.
This week’s clash followed a notice dated 18 February 2024 from the Praek Pnov district administration, which claimed that the disputed land is state land and instructed community members to cease residential activities and co-operate with the land clearing.
The Samrong Tbong Community and its 76 households have been settled in their current area since 1996. The community has long been at risk of losing their land as the government has parcelled off Boeung Tamok lake to private companies and individuals. So far, the government has given away around 80 parcels of land atop the lake, covering nearly 75% of the total area of what was once the capital’s largest lake.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Land rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 22, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 14, 2024
- Event Description
Chea Chan, union leader at the Wing Star Shoes factory, who was just elected into that post, was caught and charged with “conspiracy to commit theft” for an incident that allegedly happened two years ago.
He is said not to be involved in the case. Activists assert that his detention is meant to “pressure” union members to disband the independent union in the factory.
Prior to Chan’s arrest, an election for union board members was held in the factory where he and nine others were voted in, according to a statement by the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Union (CATU).
After Chan informed Wing Star Shoes about forming a union, the company sent warnings to him and the other union leaders, persuading them to cancel the union, but they refused to comply.
On February 14, Chan was detained at work by a group of Kampong Speu provincial police who allegedly failed to produce a summons or any proof to support the arrest.
Yang Sophorn, president of CATU, said the arrest of the union leader was a serious violation of the union rights, along with the absence of evidence or a summons.
“The company conspired with the police and called Chan to the stockroom saying someone wanted to meet him before five policemen caught him. They arrested him without a summons,” said Sophorn.
She said the factory allegedly sued him for conspiring to steal but the charge was allegedly “concocted with the police” as Chan and the others do not know anything about the two-year-old theft at the factory.
The company was not keen on an independent union, hence the reason they discouraged workers from starting one, she added.
“Yesterday, the court charged Chan for conspiring to steal, [an incident] which happened two years ago, not involving Chan. This is the real reason why the company wants to discourage my union leader,” said Sophorn.
In fact, two representatives from Wing Star Shoes met CATU to discuss the union issue as they failed to convince Chan to abort its setting up. “They gave us money to change his mind. When we refused to accept their request, they detained my union leader instead.”
Chan’s wife, Chhay Chanra, 35, told CamboJA that arresting and charging her husband was unfair because her husband did not commit any crime.
“They arrested my husband without a summons, which is a violation of workers’ and union rights. He worked there for almost 10 years. Why did they do that,” she asked.
She is also concerned about her family as they have three children and Chan is the sole breadwinner.
“This is unacceptable. I want the company to withdraw the lawsuit and the court to release him as soon as possible,” said Chanra.
Pheng Siphoan, Chief of Administrative Secretariat and Spokesman of Kampong Speu Provincial Court, said Chan has been sent to Kampong Speu provincial prison after being charged under Articles 29, 353 and 356 of the Penal Code.
According to Article 356 of the Penal Code, theft is punishable by six months to three years in prison and a fine of one million to six million riels.
“The court questioned him on February 17 and sent him to prison yesterday [Sunday],” he told CamboJA.
When asked why the court only questioned Chan two years after the alleged theft, Siphoan replied, “this is the court procedure”.
The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training 2023 annual report stressed that factories should respect the Labor Law and resolve labor conflicts where more than 8,000 cases have been recorded.
Chek Borin, director of the Kampong Speu provincial Department of Labor, said if Chan’s case is related to the violation of worker’s rights, his department will intervene. However, the company sued Chan under the criminal law, so he is not able to get involved.
“Had he [Chan] informed us regarding a labor case, we would have intervened but this is related to a criminal case,” said Borin.
The ministry report also noted that the government is open and encourages the right to organization and unions which is in accordance with the Labor Law and international labor standards.
In 2022, a report by Human Rights Watch mentioned that Cambodia does not have a designated labor court despite the Cambodian labor law stipulating the need for one. Owing to that, the Arbitration Council is the only body tasked to handle alternative dispute resolution for labor-related issues.
Meanwhile, CATU’s Sophorn raised concerns about union rights being trampled on a daily basis. “I can say the condition of union rights now is quite bad, even though we have special protection under the labor law but in reality it is the opposite. Our employees don’t even have the right to negotiate [with factory owners],” she lamented.
CamboJA reached out to Wing Star Shoes for comment via telephone, using a number provided on the company website but the person who picked up said he no longer works with the company.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 21, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 25, 2024
- Event Description
Two days after it opened to the public, district authorities ordered Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) to immediately desist their photo exhibition themed “House and Life” in a restaurant in Chbar Ampov on the afternoon of February 25. No reason was given for the shutdown order of the 10-day exhibition planned till March 4.
“The owner of the restaurant told us that the authorities instructed them to dismantle [the exhibits] and stop [the exhibition],” said STT executive director Soeung Saran. “We don’t know what is the reason for the shutdown.”
However, the authorities’ act is a violation of STT’s rights as a civil society organization and an abuse of power by pressuring the restaurant owner to take down the displays, Saran said. The requirement for NGOs to apply for a permit to hold an exhibition is not stipulated by the law.
“I think it affects the freedom of our work, and such impromptu decisions should be fully discussed with stakeholders,” Saran said, adding that he wants to see the authorities “open the door” for civil society organizations to freely organize events.
They should be more understanding towards the common purpose of the work before deciding to stop the exhibition, he remarked.
“Because of this, it affects, firstly, the performance of the institution and, secondly, the reputation of the leadership [Prime Minister Hun Manet] who is trying to reform inaction and persecutions,” he added.
Chbar Ampov district governor Cheng Monyra could not be reached for comment, while Niroth commune chief Tep Prommony claimed that she was busy and in a meeting before hanging up the phone. Prommony did not pick up follow-up calls despite numerous attempts to reach her on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Niroth commune police chief Hor Sylihov declined to comment as to why the authorities instructed the restaurant owner to stop the exhibition or if they had received any complaints. Instead, he referred the reporter to the restaurant owner.
However, Sorn Bormey, manager of Champei Garden Restaurant, declined to comment.
On February 23, 2024, STT launched a photo exhibition showcasing the life of urban poor communities, which revolved around issues of land insecurity and resettlements, lack of pre-arranged services and infrastructure and forced evictions.
The exhibition also highlighted the present condition of city lakes, where several have been filled up, and the environmental impact as a result of their alleged development by companies and public figures.
The event aimed to create awareness to the public, and enable stakeholders, including urban poor communities and the government, to work together to find solutions and promote the right to affordable housing.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- NGO
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 21, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2024
- Event Description
The Phnom Penh Appeal Court this morning upheld the 2021 decision of the Kampong Chhnang Provincial Court convicting three Lor Peang Community members of “obstruction of public official” and “intentionally causing damage” as part of a long-running land conflict. The three community members are Nhem Nhuen (also known as Snguon Nhuen), Reach Seima and Pul Sorn.
Lor Peang Community has resisted community members’ land being encroached by KDC International, a company owned by Chea Kheng, the wife of former Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem. The charges stem from an incident in 2013, when KDC International began establishing borders over the disputed land in Kampong Chhnang province. Members of Lor Peang Community arrived at the site to protest, during which a temporary security guard hut was destroyed.
Almost eight years later, the provincial court convicted the three Lor Peang Community members under Articles 503 and 410 of the Criminal Code. All received suspended sentences of 2 years and 6 months and were ordered to pay compensation of 2.8 million riel (approximately US$700), a decision that was today upheld by the Appeal Court.
None of the three community members were ordered to pre-trial detention pending final appeal. One of the defendants, Pul Sorn, has since died.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 21, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 29, 2024
- Event Description
The regional Court of Appeal in Battambang province on Thursday questioned three villagers from around Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, who were accused of incitement for allegedly posting an Apsara National Authority notice on social media.
Last year, Apsara authority filed a complaint against three residents Luy Socheat, Phan Salin and Sok Pov for incitement for allegedly posting the notice on the removal of illegal structures in Ampil commune’s Bakorng village last year. The three also urged other villagers to join a protest.
Some 100 villagers traveled by bus to the regional Appeal Court to protest on Thursday, calling court officials to drop all charges against three residents in Bakorng district.
The case against the three is an appeal by Apsara authority after a decision to hold their case by Siem Reap provincial deputy prosecutor Lay Nisay on November 30, according to the court warrant obtained by CamboJA. But, the court did not reveal a specific reason.
Sok Pov told CamboJA that prosecutor Kong Chamkhemrin questioned him regarding the information posted on Facebook in relation to Apsara authory’s notice to remove illegal structures of villagers.
“The court allowed us to return home after questioning, and he [Kong Chankhemrin] said [we] don’t need to be worried about an arrest,” he said. “I didn’t commit what they [Apsara authority] accused me of because I shared the information.”
Battambang Court of Appeal spokesperson Teang Sambo confirmed that three villages were questioned for incitement at the court but declined to comment further. She asked that questions be referred to the spokesperson for prosecutor Ream Chanmony. However, the spokesperson declined to comment.
Chea Kosal, one of villagers who came to support the three, said the accusation by Apsara authority is “unreasonable” as they had only shared information, which is not the same as incitement.
“The accusation is unfair because sharing information isn’t an offense. We are angry, which is why we have come here to support them,” Kosal said.
He called on the Battambang Court of Appeal to uphold the provincial court decision, which had correctly decided to hold the case.
Local NGO Licadho rights supervisor In Kongchet expressed disappointment that Apsara authority took the case to a higher level after the provincial court’s decision.
“They are not guilty of posting the notification letters of Apsara National Authority. It is like sharing information to their community, so it’s not an offense [or] did not commit a felony,” he said.
“[If] Apsara authority continues to sue them, it will cause them to live in fear due to the court process,” Konchet said. “It also affects their livelihood as they have to travel to court.”
He urged Apsara authority to stop suing the villagers and consider settling the issue.
Apsara National Authority deputy director-general Long Kosal could not be reached for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: villagers targeted with criminal charges
- Date added
- Mar 13, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 6, 2024
- Event Description
A group of mixed armed forces including gendarmes and police officers accompanied by forestry administration officials mobilised this morning to secure disputed land in Preah Vihear province, resulting in the use of live ammunition and arrests.
A number of villagers have reportedly been arrested and taken to Preah Vihear provincial capital. Their current location is unknown.
Villagers reported that mixed forces armed with automatic rifles had entered the area shortly before dawn, and were accompanied by tractors to clear the disputed land. Fearful of property destruction and forced evictions, villagers gathered to demand the forces leave the area. A confrontation ensued in which a video captured live ammunition being shot repeatedly by authorities as well as the use of a smoke grenade.
The land dispute in question involves Seladamex Co., Ltd., and impacts families from neighbouring Mrech, Srayang Tboung, and Kdak villages as well as families who have more recently migrated to the area.
Seladamex had been granted an Economic Land Concession in March 2011 in Srayang and Phnum Tbaeng Pir communes in Preah Vihear’s Kuleaen district. The concession led to land conflicts with hundreds of families who were already living in the area. In 2022, representatives of 131 impacted families reported that their belongings and crops had been destroyed by authorities on behalf of the company.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 13, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 8, 2024
- Event Description
Twenty-nine people were charged by the Preah Vihear Provincial Court on 8 March 2024 with “clearing forestland and enclosing it to claim for ownership” under Article 97(6) of the Law on Forestry. Four of the 29 people charged were released on bail, and the remaining 25 have been sent to pre-trial detention in Preah Vihear provincial prison. They include 13 men and 12 women.
The group was arrested earlier this month after mixed armed forces accompanied by forestry administration officials entered a disputed area with tractors intended to clear the land. Authorities fired live ammunition, used a smoke grenade, and arrested villagers.
The charges are the latest development in a longstanding land dispute involving Seladamex Co., Ltd., which affects families from Mrech, Srayang Tboung, and Kdak villages as well as families who have more recently migrated to the area. Seladamex was granted an Economic Land Concession in 2011 in Srayang and Phnum Tbaeng Pir communes in Kuleaen district.
- Impact of Event
- 29
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: local residents intimidated by armed forces over disputed land, few arrested
- Date added
- Mar 13, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2024
- Event Description
The Tbong Khmum Appeal Court yesterday suspended a two-year prison sentence given to four Srae Prang Community members, who were accused of intentional damage for blocking a private company from clearing their land.
The four community members are part of group of nine defendants who are alleged to have blocked machinery belonging to Harmony Win Investment Co. Ltd. from clearing their land in 2017 and 2020. They were convicted of intentional damage and sentenced to two years in prison in 2021 by a provincial court. The Tbong Khmum Appeal Court upheld the verdict in 2022, but the Supreme Court sent the case back to the appeal court in August 2023.
On Thursday 15 February 2024, the appeal court upheld the sentences of the four community members and suspended their two-year prison sentences. The community members are Chhork Chhey, Khem Sokcheang, Pum Pich and Veun Ver.
Srae Prang Community in Tbong Khmum has fought a decade-long dispute over their community farmland with Harmony Win Investment, which is a Chinese-owned rubber company. The company has routinely blocked village residents’ access to their farmland and cleared it, leading to frequent protests from community members.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Land rights, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 7, 2024
- Event Description
On 7 February 2024, provincial courts convicted two well-known activists in separate cases, continuing the trend of judicial harassment against human rights advocates in Cambodia.
The Ratanakiri Provincial Court earlier today announced its verdict convicting environmental activist Chhorn Phalla of defamation, insult and incitement to commit a felony under Articles 305, 502 and 495 of the Cambodian Criminal Code. The court sentenced Phalla to one year in prison and imposed a 10 million riel (around US$2,500) fine.
Phalla is an outspoken environmental activist who has been repeatedly prosecuted for his advocacy for the protection of natural resources and monitoring of deforestation. Phalla had been imprisoned since September 2021 for criminal charges arising from two other separate cases. Both cases were also based on his activism. Phalla was finally released from prison in October 2023 after his convictions in the other two cases were overturned, only to be again convicted today.
The Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court also today announced a verdict convicting political opposition official Chao Veasna of incitement to commit a felony and incitement to discriminate under Articles 494, 495 and 496 of the Cambodian Criminal Code. It is unclear at this time which person or group of people Veasna was found to have discriminated against contrary to the Criminal Code.
The court sentenced Veasna to three years in prison, imposed a 6 million riel (around US$1,500) fine, and ordered Veasna to pay 80 million riel (around US$20,000) in compensation. The court also suspended Veasna’s right to vote and his right to stand for election for five years.
Veasna, a Steering Committee member of the opposition Candlelight Party and Poipet District President, was arrested in July 2023 after allegedly posting a photograph of his spoiled National Election ballot on social media. This arrest came shortly after Veasna was released from Correctional Centre 3 (also known as Trapeang Phlong prison) in February 2022, having served a five-year sentence for multiple other convictions related to the exercise of his political rights. Veasna was at that time an elected commune chief and member of the former opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: environmental defender arrested
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 11, 2024
- Event Description
Kuy indigenous community in Bos Village and Preus Ka’ak Village, M’lou Prey II Commune, Chheb District in Preah Vihear Province urge the authorities to help them seek justice after being allegedly assaulted by a group of men. The villagers suspect they are sugarcane plantation workers who destroyed their farmland.
Community representative, Pean Sophat, told CamboJA that on February 11, 2024, villagers came together to stop three tractors known to belong to local Chheang Kong Nov from plowing the area which the villagers had long cultivated.
Sophat said when they arrived at construction site 11 to meet Kong Nov, his people allegedly closed the gate and assaulted the villagers. Three villagers were injured.
Another villager, Soeun Tha, a 30-year-old indigenous man, said Kong Nov “always” plows people’s land, so this was not the first time. Hence, the reason behind the villagers’ decision to stop the activity and get answers. Instead, Kong Nov’s team used violence on the villagers.
“When we arrived at the site, he ordered his team to close the door and use violence against us. He grabbed another villager’s collar and also beat three people,” Tha recounted.
According to Tha, the government allocated the land that was cultivated by the villagers to a Chinese firm in 2011. When the Chinese company collapsed in 2019, the locals continued to cultivate on the land again, they are planting potatoes and rice. But recently, a group of men with Kong Nov started plowing the land to plant potatoes and abused villagers.
“It is wrong and unfair, and the authorities in the province are not making any effort to help us,” said Tha.
In January, five Chinese companies signed 50-year lease contracts over the state land. The Cambodia-registered companies plan to operate sugarcane plantations and other agro-industrial crops on the land measuring 20,179 hectares in total.
However, Tha said those who came did not have a permit or a letter to prove that they had permission to clear the land.
The villagers are not interested in opposing the company, he added. “We just want to negotiate a solution because we have been farming on the land for a long time.”
Chief of M’lou Prey II commune Kan Sovankea told CamboJA that the local authority was aware of the matter, adding that it would be transferred to the district authority for intervention. He could not resolve the issue as it is “beyond his capacity”.
He explained that the people from his commune have been farming on the company’s land known as Hengfu group although the latter stopped planting in 2019. But, he did not know the exact number of families who had been doing that.
“Now I mediate for them [with Kong Nov]. In fact, the villagers have planted crops on the company land and want to continue to do more,” said Sovankea.
The villagers have filed a police report following the attack, said 37-year-old Nab Noeun, adding that they asked the commune authorities to help secure justice for those with land but are now “disturbed by unidentified people”.
“I have filed a complaint but I don’t know the outcome yet. It is unfair because our land has been used for a long time. There are plants there but they have come to plow and destroy our crops,” she added.
While the villagers do not know who the person was, she believed that there must be a “powerful person” behind the attack, as they dared to harm them.
“Maybe there was someone behind him. If not, he would never have dared to do so and the authorities are still silent,” she said.
There are 14 ethnic groups and 155 indigenous communities in Cambodia, according to a study on the demographic and socioeconomic state of indigenous peoples in the country published in 2021 by the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Rural Development.
A new code of environment and natural resources was enacted by the National Assembly in June 2023.
Another resident, Khat Sisophan, hoped that the government would stop giving away land used by the people to plant their crops to private companies, while asking them to withdraw the land from Rui Feng chinese sugarcane company.
He said villagers need farmlands to support their families as their livelihoods are in dire condition and they are in debt.
“The people of this village are facing difficulties and aren’t happy nowadays. It is not fair [that land is being privatized for companies].
“I want to see the new government reform the law and respect human rights, including those who live in remote areas, like us. Without farmlands, we would not be able to live comfortably,” Sisophan said.
Deputy Provincial Governor of Preah Vihear Province Nop Vuthy urged people to file a complaint with the authorities with regards to the violence. That is, “as long as they have evidence,” Vuthy told CamboJA.
He said Preah Vihear provincial authorities made a contract with villagers to “make them understand” that the land had been given to private companies.
The contract also mentioned that they should “stop planting on the investment land” but, “every year and every season”, villagers continue to grow crops on the land.
“We have given it to Chinese companies,” Vuthy said. “[Villagers] always say [it’s their land]. Obviously it’s not like that. The land is already registered as a state land.
“Now, we have a state land commission. We’re investigating the history of the land, whether they really own the land and if they have adequate documents. The provincial authority will take action accordingly.”
According to Article 25 of the Land Law, indigenous community land consists of lands where communities have established settlements and engaged in traditional agriculture. The lands are not only those regularly cultivated, but also those which are reserved for seasonal farming and are recognized by the administrative authorities.
Poek Sophorn, executive director of Ponlok Khmer, said the authorities should help the indigenous people acquire justice and calm the situation as they have been cultivating the land for a long time.
Indigenous communities are protected by the law and possess the right to access land.
“But the authorities don’t seem to care much about the people’s rights and they might lose their right to the land.
“Why not help them to register their land? At least help them secure land ownership for private use, this would be fairer,” said Sophorn.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Indigenous peoples' rights defender, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2024
- Event Description
Four indigenous Kuy residents of M’lou Prey II commune, Chheb district, have been summoned by the Preah Vihear provincial court for questioning on the obstruction of the company’s development, and inciting people to illegally occupy state land.
Last week, three villagers of M’lou Prey II commune were assaulted in a land dispute. The indigenous community is seeking justice from the authority following the assault by the group believed to be sugarcane plantation workers.
Four days after the conflict on February 11, M’lou Prey II community representative, Seun Tha, 31, received the summons issued by the commune police. Tha said he is very disappointed, noting that indigenous people are the victims as they lost their land and survive on low incomes.
In the summons reviewed by CamboJA, four community representatives will be questioned by Preah Vihear court prosecutor on February 27. The summons states that the court will question them for allegedly obstructing the company’s work and for inciting people to illegally occupy state land on January 16, 2024.
The summons did not name the company but people believe that it is the Chinese company which was granted land for development from the government in 2011.
Tha called it an injustice against indigenous peoples, who often suffered abuse by those in power, and the law. He hopes the government will reconsider the plight of indigenous people and that the court would render them justice.
“It is very unfair for indigenous people like us. We just cultivated our land and now we are being issued a summons,” Tha said. “I hope the court will drop the charges against the three of us and other community representatives.”
Nop Vuthy, spokesperson of Preah Vihear province, told CamboJA that the company was suing them, and claimed that the provincial authorities had tried several times to resolve the case out of court. However, the case was beyond the jurisdiction of the provincial authorities, he added.
“We mediated out of court, but now the company sued them. This case is not under the control of the local authorities,” Vuthy said.
Another community member, who is also a Kuy native, Pean Sophat, said they did nothing wrong as the people came to cultivate their land, not the company land.
“We oppose [the summons] because the land that the company is developing is not state land, it is our land which we have been cultivating for a long time,” he added.
The national policy on indigenous peoples’ development in 2009 recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples to land, traditions, culture and customs. The 2001 Land Law recognizes the rights of indigenous communities to their collective use of land.
Although Cambodia has a policy of recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples, there is little protection for their interests. Since 2001, only around five indigenous communities have received collective title deeds.
Preah Vihear provincial court spokesperson, Chum Kaniya could not be reached for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Indigenous peoples' rights defender, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jan 8, 2024
- Event Description
Ratanakiri Provincial Court has sentenced Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC), and two associates, Nhel Pheap and Thann Hach, to five years jail for “plotting and incitement”. However, the sentences have been suspended, according to court spokesperson Keo Pheakdey.
Pheakdey, also a deputy prosecutor at the court, said apart from the suspension of the sentence, there was no imposition of fines, adding that the court would give detailed verdicts for each individual later.
“I can tell you that they [Theng Savoeun and his colleagues] were sentenced by the court to five years jail, but their sentences were suspended with no fine for the crime,” he said.
In a quick response, Savoeun said the judgment was “unfair to him”, stating that he would file an appeal against the decision.
“As one of the victims, I will file an appeal with the Tbong Khmum Appeal Court against the verdict of the Ratanakiri Provincial Court,” he said. “The sentence is unfair to all of us because we have no purpose or intention to plot and incite, or cause serious social chaos. We work professionally and abide by the laws of the country.”
On May 18, 2023, Savoeun and 16 other CCFC members were arrested by Kratie provincial police at the behest of the Ratanakiri provincial police.
Nhem Sam Oeun, Ratanakiri governor, previously said Savoeun and his group were arrested for carrying out “suspicious” work in the province. Fourteen individuals were released, but three – Savoeun, Pheap, and Hach – were taken to the Ratanakiri Provincial Court.
Am Sam Ath, LICADHO operations director, who provided lawyers for the defendants, described the decision as a pressure on civil society organizations, adding that while the jail term has been suspended, Savoeun still remained under the court’s pressure.
Expressing frustration over the decision, Sam Ath felt that the government “should stop using the judiciary to place pressure on civil societies, which undermined their right to freedom of expression”.
“This is a pressure on civil society leaders, especially Savoeun, Pheap and Hach,” he remarked. If one were to look at them, one would see that they are working for the people, for the benefit of farmers. Therefore, there is no crime, and there should be no accusations against them, he said. “It’s [the verdict] a bad message for civil society. Even though the sentence was suspended, he [Savoeun] has still been convicted.”
He said the “pressure from the judiciary” also affects the activities of other civil society organizations. The government should drop any charges against civil societies “in whatever form” so that they can do their job transparently and independently.
On May 22, the Ratanakiri Provincial Court placed Savoeun, Pheap and Hach under pre-trial detention on two charges.
The arrests were made after a CCFC training session, attended by 39 staff members, from May 14 to 17 in Ratanakiri. Following the program on May 17, the participants who were heading back to Phnom Penh had their bus stopped by Kratie provincial authorities, allegedly upon the request of the Ratanakiri provincial authorities.
However, the Ratanakiri court released Savoeun, Pheap and Hach on bail. Later, Savoeun posted a message on his Facebook page which read, “Returning with both responsibility and additional obligations.”
The release by the court occurred after Savoeun issued a letter and video “acknowledging his guilt” on the alleged charge of conducting a “peasant revolution.”
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: three NGO staff interrogated, arrested
- Date added
- Feb 22, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jan 31, 2024
- Event Description
More than 100 garment workers at Shengbo Garment Factory Ltd in Kampong Speu province protested on Saturday, demanding the reinstatement of two workers, who were fired after their election as union leaders in the factory.
Seak Thong, vice president of the independent union, called his termination by the factory as unfair. Independent unions protect the interest and rights of workers, and prevent them from being discriminated against by factory owners, he said. “I’m sad that I cannot be with the workers anymore as I have lost my job for no reason.”
Chinese-owned Shengbo Garment, which produces women’s clothing for Spanish brand MNG and Italy’s Calliope for export to Europe, employs over 700 workers. It began operation in March 2023.
This is the second protest in the factory. The first time was on February 2, this year, where nearly 200 workers protested in front of the factory, according to Thong, who
claimed that the factory administration was aware of the election.
He was contacted by the administration, which urged him to “resign” from the independent union and join the factory-managed union with the bosses. He was told that he would enjoy increased benefits from the factory, but he declined the offer.
“I refused them and he [administration] threatened me that if I did not agree, I [might become] unemployed. He could not guarantee [my job] because [he said] if he had known earlier [about the union], he would have ended the contract faster.”
Thon Thy said on January 31, 2024 the assistant of line five told him that the president of the factory called him and Thong to meet at the office and told them “not to renew the employment contract”.
“I can’t accept this because I didn’t do anything wrong. This clearly shows union discrimination in the factory. We had already informed the factory owner about the election but they refused to accept an independent union.”
On January 9, 2024, the elected members directly informed the company of the election result through administration director Am Mony, but it was rejected. The same day, the members informed them again via post.
Two days later, the elected members applied for registration at the Department of Labor Dispute of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training.
However, the company only informed Thy and Thong on January 31 not to renew their employment contract.
Yet, Thy hopes that the factory owner would reinstate them, and not discriminate against local unions in the factory. They also asked relevant ministries to check on the enforcement of the labor law in the factory.
“I hope the ministry and the factory owner will resolve this problem by accepting us and other elected independent union [members] to work in the factory like normal to protect workers’ interests.
“We also urge the factory owner to respect the Kingdom’s labor law and union rights, and not harass the workers.” Mony, administrator of Shengbo factory, told CamboJA on Monday morning that protests will no longer be held. “All workers will return to work as normal.”
He also denied the workers’ allegations of union discrimination. “We don’t discriminate against unions. The termination of the contracts was a result of reduced production. “
When asked to reveal the name of the buyer, which apparently reduced orders, he declined to answer. “I can’t say the name as it’s confidential.”
Touch Soeu, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) said factories commit “serious mistakes by dismissing workers without prior notice”, which is illegal and discriminatory against post-election free trade unions.
Soeu alleged that Shengbo “always terminates workers” when they learn about employees who stand as candidates in union elections to protect workers’ interests. “It isn’t the first time the Shengbo factory threatened [workers] of unions, which aren’t under the factory.”
Ministry spokesman Kata Orn acknowledged that a request to form and register a union was received from Shengbo workers. On January 7, 2024, 10 union members were elected to form a union, in which Thon Thy was elected as union president, Seak Thong vice president and Preng Chealy as secretary.
On January 11,2024, the union submitted a registration form to the Dispute Department. On January 25, 2024, the department received a letter from Shengbo stating that the company was against the registration of a free trade union as the leadership, founder and secretary had “resigned from the union”.
On January 1, 2024, the ministry’s Fourth Labor Dispute Office received a complaint from Thy and Thong, the elected union president and vice president, respectively.
Orn said employers will provide information regarding the issue on February 13, 2024, he said, adding that the case is being processed.
“The ministry mediated and explained the union side and the workers. So far, the workers have not protested and are back to work. Separately, the ministry continues to coordinate and resolve the issues of the two [Thy and Thong].”
Khun Tharo, program manager for the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL), said this was the second time Shengbo factory has persecuted independent unions during nomination and post-election stage.
Due to the continued persecution of workers and suppression of workers’ rights, the new union members initiated the idea of forming an independent union in the factory to protect workers’ interests.
“This is the second time the company has terminated employment contracts after an independent union was formed in the factory. The first was in November 2023 and the worker has not returned to work in the factory yet.”
“It also highlights the discrimination against local unions, which are protected by union privileges, and the factory’s lack of respect for labor rights in the Kingdom,” Tharo said.
In November 2023, ex-union leader Roeun Kolap was fired after she joined the independent union. Her labor dispute over her dismissal is pending at the Kampong Speu Provincial Court, he added.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Labour rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 22, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Event Description
Around 12 youth and environmental activists and a foreign national were taken into custody and questioned for several hours by local Phnom Penh and immigration authorities after peacefully advocating for the preservation of a coastal island in Koh Kong province.
The activists were exercising, holding banners and taking photographs on Phnom Penh riverside this morning while being monitored by non-uniformed security personnel. As they were leaving the area, Daun Penh district security guards forced them onto a truck and took them to the district office for questioning.
The authorities took them in because they were holding banners reading, “Sunday for Koh Kong Island”. All 13 people were held and questioned all afternoon before being released around 6 pm.
Youth and environmental activists have consistently advocated for the Cambodian government to protect the Koh Kong Krao island off the coast of Koh Kong province. The island is slated for development, including a special economic zone developed by ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat.
Environmental activists were harassed, held for one day and blocked from cycling from Koh Kong to Phnom Penh in 2020 as part of their campaign to “Save Koh Kong Krao.”
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 22, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jan 15, 2024
- Event Description
Hundreds of Siem Reap residents marched to the provincial hall this morning to submit a petition asking for intervention from the national government and UNESCO to stop newly enforced restrictions on buildings and repairs implemented by the APSARA Authority, the government agency which oversees the Angkor Archaeological Park.
Around 500 people from Puok district’s Khnat commune and Siem Reap city’s Tuek Vil commune marched with banners to Siem Reap Provincial Hall to submit a petition asking Prime Minister Hun Manet, former Prime Minister Hun Sen, and the United Nations agency UNESCO to stop APSARA from causing fear and preventing any new construction or renovations in Khnat commune, which the petition says is very far from the Angkor structure.
The residents were temporarily blocked by around 20 military police and Puok district governor Sin Chanthol, who wanted only 4 to 5 people to submit the petition, but villagers refused and continued their march to the provincial hall, reaching the hall’s main entrance with their banners. One of the banners held by a community member said, “We must not allow the Apsara Authority to continue to oppress our community.”
The petition, which was accepted by Siem Reap Governor Prak Sophoan, also reads, “From this day forward, we do not recognise APSARA authority, and in addition, all of us do not allow APSARA to come manage us anymore.” Residents left the provincial hall after submitting the petition.
The Apsara Authority, in conjunction with various government ministries, have overseen the mass eviction of at least ten thousand people living in the Angkor Archaeological Park since 2022, relocating them to underdeveloped and inadequate relocation sites where families are provided little to no services or employment opportunities.
The government claims the evictions have been spurred by UNESCO and has said that UNESCO spoke of revoking the temple complex’s heritage status if park residents were allowed to remain on the site. UNESCO has claimed in response to research published by Amnesty International that it has not called for “population displacements,” but also did not acknowledge the government's actions as forced evictions.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 22, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 5, 2024
- Event Description
Former Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party on Monday sued the spokesperson of human rights group ADHOC, accusing him of defamation in his recent criticism of the ruling party’s legal actions toward a leading opposition figure.
Party lawyers demanded 2 billion riel (US$500,000) in damages in the lawsuit against Soeng Senkaruna filed in Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
The complaint signed by three lawyers for the Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, said that Senkaruna commented last week to The Cambodia Daily that the party has used its influence with the courts to put pressure on its political opponents.
The lawsuit is the latest to target a critic of powerful Cambodian politicians. In November, a Banteay Meanchey man was sentenced to three years in prison for comments he made on Facebook over the CPP’s inability to prevent illegal immigration from Vietnam and drug use.
Last year, the Supreme Court upheld a US$1 million defamation judgment against Son Chhay, the vice president of the opposition Candlelight Party.
A lower court in 2022 ordered Son Chhay to pay the amount to the CPP and the National Election Committee following comments he made about local commune elections, which he said was marred by irregularities.
According to the lawsuit, Senkaruna told The Cambodia Daily that the CPP should seek to compete with opposition politicians in the political realm, such as through free and fair elections, rather than through court complaints.
The Cambodia Daily newspaper closed in Phnom Penh in 2017. It has since been relaunched as a Khmer- and English-language online news outlet based in the United States.
The outlet cited Senkaruna's paraphrased comments in a Khmer-language article on Friday. He was not directly quoted.
Hun Sen’s online threat
The lawsuit claims that Senkaruna's remarks seriously damaged the CPP's reputation and deliberately harmed the upcoming Feb. 25 Senate election.
It was filed the day after Hun Sen made remarks on Facebook threatening to sue Senkaruna for commenting on the Son Chhay case. After stepping down as prime minister in August, Hun Sen was named president of the CPP.
Senkaruna declined to comment about the CPP’s lawsuit when contacted by Radio Free Asia.
However, on Facebook he said his comments in the article were aimed at promoting “respect for human rights, law, social justice and democracy” without serving any particular political party.
“Any paraphrasing of my words to add or leave out [the meaning] in order to attack directly on the name of a political party was not my intention and goal,” he wrote on Facebook.
Senkaruna has been actively involved in the promotion of human rights in Cambodia for more than 20 years, Am Sam Ath of human rights group Licadho told RFA.
“He is always active in helping people with land grabbing and other rights violations, and in asking the relevant authorities to intervene to find a solution for the people,” he said.
On Facebook, Senkaruna added a note of thanks to friends and supporters.
“Thank you very much for the kind words, greetings and concerns from my family, friends, media, civil society, international partners and foreign diplomatic friends for my safety,” he wrote. “I’m fine.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 20, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jan 5, 2024
- Event Description
The Cambodian authorities should drop all charges against Ny Nak, an outspoken critic of the government who was arrested on January 5, 2024, in response to comments he posted on Facebook, and immediately release him, Human Rights Watch said today. Nak is being held in pretrial detention on politically motivated charges of incitement to discriminate and criminal defamation concerning his criticism of Cambodian Minister of Labor Heng Sour.
“Cambodia’s new government has picked up where the previous government left off in its persecution of government critics,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should respect the right to free expression and immediately and unconditionally release Ny Nak.”
Nak said that his recent arrest is related to comments he made on December 17, 2023 on his Facebook page, in which he referenced the government’s decision to grant 91 hectares of land in Kampot province to the labor minister. He had written: “What achievements has Heng Sour done for the Khmer nation, that the government gave him forest land as his personal property? RIP Khmer forests.”
Nak is well-known for his criticism of the previous government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. He served 18 months in prison on charges of incitement to discrimination and public insult for a satirical post that the authorities alleged was an offense for mocking a speech by Hun Sen. He was released in June 2023 after he completed his sentence.
Human Rights Watch previously reported on an assault against Nak on September 12, 2023 when men with metal batons viciously attacked him and his wife in broad daylight in Phnom Penh. He was hospitalized with serious wounds to his head and extremities. Nak alleged that two days before the attack, on the evening of September 10, members of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party approached him to join their party and warned him to not be so publicly critical of the government. The authorities failed to seriously investigate the attack or to make progress in identifying those responsible.
Sok Synet, Nak’s wife, posted on Facebook on January 13 that her husband’s health is “now weak. He has headaches, dizziness, and itchy hands and feet.”
The attack shared similarities with assaults reported earlier in 2023 against members of the opposition Candlelight Party, which the authorities also never seriously investigated.
“Prime Minister Hun Manet is continuing down the same rights-abusing path as his father, and outspoken dissidents like Ny Nak will bear the brunt of that abuse,” Robertson said. “Cambodia’s aid and trade partners should ensure that their future engagement with the government is based on tangible and systematic improvements in human rights.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 14, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Dec 19, 2023
- Event Description
The Preah Sihanouk Appeal Court this morning upheld the defamation convictions of two Koh Kong land activists, Phav Nheung and Seng Lin, under Article 305 of the Criminal Code. The court also dropped incitement charges under Articles 494 and 495 against them, partially upholding the decision of the Koh Kong Provincial Court from August.
Nheung and Lin were the target of a complaint launched by Chhay Vy, a former community representative whom the women had accused in 2019 of seizing land. The activists were each fined 4 million riel (approximately US$1,000) and ordered to pay 40 million riel (approximately $10,000) in compensation to Vy.
Both Nheung and Lin were jailed in pre-trial detention between 30 June and 6 October this year over the incitement charges, with Nheung detained alongside her infant son.
The prosecutor argued in favour of dropping the incitement charges during the appeal trial, making a further appeal to the Supreme Court from the prosecution unlikely.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: three land rights WHRDs convicted
- Date added
- Jan 30, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Dec 5, 2023
- Event Description
Another two villagers were allowed to return after being questioned on Tuesday by the Siem Reap provincial court following a lawsuit by APSARA authority on villagers, accused of inciting others to commit felony and obstruct public work.
A total of nine villagers, including a commune police level officer, have been questioned so far in relation to APSARA’s legal case against the locals, which was reported by CamboJA.
Siem Reap Court spokesperson Yin Srang confirmed that siblings Kert Reachkol and Kert Yan have been allowed to return home.
According to Hang Touch TV online video which was live, some 100 villagers gathered in front of the provincial court to support their neighbors who showed up for questioning at the court on December 5.
In the footage, some villagers were seen lighting incense and praying to Buddha, a religious practice among Cambodians, hoping that the court would drop the charges against the villagers and not destroy their dwelling.
“I told the court that I didn’t incite [anyone],” Reachkol told CamboJA on Wednesday. “In my opinion, I shouldn’t be accused [of it] because I did not commit any act of incitement and obstruct public work,” he said.
He explained that in 2022, he fixed an additional iron front structure, and changed the roof from tarpaulin to zinc to protect the house when it rains but APSARA ordered him to remove it.
The authority came to remove it in June but was unsuccessful as the villagers gathered around and protested. “We begged them not to remove it as it would affect our livelihood,” Reachkol said.
APSARA National Authority spokesperson Long Koksal said the authority decided to file a lawsuit as the villagers refused to remove their construction, which was illegally built around Angkor heritage sites.
“When there was no cooperation [to demolish them] after we tried our best to resolve the issue [previously], we had no choice but to go with this method [lawsuit],” he said.
He said when APSARA Authority saw the illegal constructions, their officers informed house owners that they had illegally built them on the Angkor site.
“We gave them time to remove [the structures] depending on the timeframe they requested – one, two or three weeks – and reminded them when they didn’t follow the first notice,” Kosal said.
Prasat Bakong district administrative chief Din Dong said he was not aware that villagers were summoned for questioning but said that villagers had built additional front structures, and made a roof for parking which is prohibited by APSARA.
“Local authorities have compromised but importantly the area is under the control of APSARA authority,” Dong said, noting that there are six communes in Prasat Bakong where villagers live within the APSARA authority jurisdiction.
NGO rights group at Licadho Banteay Meanchey coordinator Phun Chhin urged APSARA to be more considerate of the villagers’ livelihood instead of taking legal action on them.
“He did not build a huge construction. He just fixed [a front structure] which is needed to support his daily livelihood but we are seeing a restriction by APSARA authority,” he said.
He felt that APSARA should not file a complaint against people who were fixing small things. “Accusing someone of incitement is a serious offense for villagers,” Phhin said. “We noticed that APSARA filed the complaint as a deterrent to other villagers who dare to come out and protest against their [APSARA] work.”
Previously, APSARA spokesperson told CamboJA that some 10,000 families, who volunteered to move to relocation sites of Run Ta Ek and Peak Sneng, remain under construction.
The Cambodian government is working to clear settlements around Angkor Archeological Park in an effort to retain the temple’s UNESCO World Heritage status. While thousands of people inside the Angkor Archaeological Park have been displaced on conservation grounds, communities have been allowed to stay but with restrictions. Apsara authority prohibits them from expanding their houses.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: villagers targeted with criminal charges
- Date added
- Jan 2, 2024
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 22, 2023
- Event Description
A Cambodian man who criticized the country’s longtime ruling party on Facebook over its inability to prevent illegal immigration from Vietnam and drug use was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison.
Kang Saran told Radio Free Asia that he was convicted by the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court on charges of defamation, incitement and insulting the king.
“I ask the Royal Government or government leaders to fully respect the rights and freedoms of the people and the right to life and movement. Don’t just send [people] to go to Prey Sar prison like this,” he told RFA.
“Why can’t people express their opinions? Why do you always use arrests and charges like this, even though I have no political affiliation at all?” he said, addressing his comments toward court officials across Cambodia who have charged numerous government critics in recent years.
Kang Saran’s remarks about the Cambodian People’s Party came in a Facebook live video on July 2, just three weeks before the CPP won a sweeping victory in the general election.
In the video, he asked whether the CPP would do anything after the election to stop the flow of Vietnamese immigrants into the country – a sensitive political issue in Cambodia for many years.
He also noted that drug use, government corruption and economic insecurity remain society-wide problems in the country.
Banteay Meanchey authorities arrested Kang Saran within hours and held him for 10 days. He was released on bail on July 11.
Phon Chhin, the Banteay Meanchey coordinator for human rights group Licadho, said the court should carefully consider whether Kang Saran should be sent to prison to serve his sentence.
“Kang Saran tried to defend himself in court proceedings,” he said. “He asserted that he had no such intention as charged.”
Kang Saran said he was not immediately re-arrested following Wednesday’s verdict. He told RFA he has no plans to flee the country and insisted that he did nothing wrong in making the comments.
RFA wasn’t able to contact Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court spokesman Roeun Lina on Wednesday to ask about the case.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 24, 2023
- Event Description
Siem Reap Provincial Court questioned four villagers, including a commune police officer for allegedly obstructing public work, and for intentionally causing damage and violence.
Provincial court spokesperson Yin Srang confirmed that the four people have been allowed to return home after questioning.
“They have just been questioned by the prosecutor, and we don’t know what the next procedure is yet,” he said, declining to comment further.
In August, APSARA National Authority filed two separate lawsuits against six villagers and a commune police chief. While one of the summonses was against the four villagers including the policeman, another was issued to the villagers for allegedly inciting other villagers.
The lawsuits were brought by APSARA after hundreds of villagers protested against its attempt to demolish illegal structures on August 8, following a notice that was issued in Prasat Bakong district’s Meanchey commune.
Villagers in the second summons for incitement had already been questioned on October 23, and now await the next procedure in court.
About 100 villagers gathered outside the court to support their neighbors on Friday.
Suong Seak, one of four villagers who was questioned, called on court officials to drop the charges against him because he did not obstruct public work or cause any violence against the authority.
“The court asked [me] about the use of violence against APSARA authority, but I did not use any violence,” he asserted.
“I don’t agree with what they have accused me of because I did nothing,” Seak said. He added that APSARA failed to demolish his tent and a front structure measuring four by six meters when he and other villagers protested against them in August.
“The additional front structure for my house was built to prevent leakage when it rains, otherwise what do I do [when it rains]?” Seak said.
Rolous commune police chief Rai Vanna declined to elaborate after being questioned by the court on Friday.
“It is just normal questioning but I can’t tell you because the leader is not allowed to provide information to you [the media],” he said. “I am not concerned because I didn’t commit what they have charged [me with].”
Two other villagers, Var Chamnab and Klork Kuyba, who were named in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.
APSARA National Authority spokesperson Long Kosa declined to comment on the court case as court officials are working the procedure.
“I don’t have any comment relating to the court procedure because the court is an independent institution and we have to respect its jurisdiction,” he said.
“[According to] our principle any construction or building which is illegal is a topic for demolition,” Kosal said, when asked how APSARA would resolve the issue involving the construction of the structures by the villagers.
NGO rights group Licadho coordinator for the northern province Ing Kongchet said the court should drop the charges because the villagers did not commit any violence against the authorities.
“According to my interview with them, they claimed to not have committed those offenses because they were just gathered there to voice their opinion and request the authority to help fix old roofs or tents.
“They didn’t use violence or damage the properties of the authorities. APSARA authority angered hundreds of villagers, who were gathered there to protest which stopped [the authority] from carrying out its work,” Kongchet said.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: villagers targeted with criminal charges
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 8, 2023
- Event Description
Over 10 employees had their contracts terminated for allegedly protesting against irregular wage payments by ML Intimate Apparel (Cambodia) Ltd in O’Neang Special Economic Zone in Banteay Meanchey province on November 08, 2023.
ML Intimate Apparel produces for global brands, such as RougeGorge (France), Hunkemöller (the Netherlands) and Damart (UK), according to NGO Central.
Chea Chanthy, a single mother of a two-year-old, who was among the full-time employees whose contract was terminated on November 13, told CamboJA that she found it difficult to believe the reason given by the company for her termination, which was that there were no orders from buyers.
She said many other full-time and short contract employees are still working there but she and her colleagues, who have worked for the company for about eight years, were terminated after they joined the protest and held placards.
“It is not possible for there to be a problem with no orders because people are still working there,” she said. “I think, because we were holding the [protest] placards, they terminated us. We have been working for eight years and even though the economy is declining, we can [still] do [manufacture] a little.”
Chanthy lamented that due to her lack of knowledge of the law, she did not know how to decline the “instruction to resign” from work.
“When we entered the [employer’s] room, they told us to put our thumbprint and we did what they asked. We could not say anything,” she said.
“They said they will allow us to sue them and that [they] are waiting to receive [our complaint]. But we don’t know the law, and we don’t have any money to sue them.” “ We [know] we will not win, so we took the little compensation they gave us. We are not happy to put our thumbprint. We feel like crying because we want to work so that we’d at least have a small salary for daily expenses.”
Chanthy said she is applying for a job at another place but has not received any answer. In the meantime, the $1,140 compensation she received from the company has almost been spent for her toddler’s milk, water and electricity, and a private loan.
Another worker, Lonh Sary, who also held banners with Chanthy, charged that her termination was a result of her participation in the protest, and not due to an alleged drop in her work performance for “several months in a row” as claimed by the company.
She said for about two months, every worker was doing the same work but there were times, when many of the workers had nothing to do for almost 20 minutes in an hour due to the lack of raw material.
“In fact, there has been a problem of no luggage for more than two months in the factory, so the workload was low for everyone,” Sary said, reiterating that the termination was due to the protest. “It’s because all those who protested were named.”
Although Sary does not want her job back with ML Intimate Apparel, she wants them to justify the $1,140 compensation paid to her.
“I don’t want to go back but I want to ask the company where I worked at for almost seven years why they only paid me $1,140, which includes my salary and annual salary. I want to know if it is in line with the law or not. I just want to know that.”
According to a worker, who declined to be named, irregular salary payments have occurred since the company was established and workers have carried out protests several times.
But each time protests are organized, there is always termination. “Around 400 workers protested this time, and more than 10 workers including full time and short contract employees were terminated after that,” the worker added.
When contacted, ML Intimate Apparel administration chief Ngoun Syvutha denied that the termination was due to the protest, rather it was a result of declining orders. He said the company needed to reduce the number of workers so that it can continue operating.
“As an administration, we see the reality … in November and December, the orders are really declining. For instance, this November, we only have 60,000 orders [..] on the factory side, we have a strategy to keep [operations] going, otherwise the factory won’t be able to sustain and this would affect workers. This is in accordance with the fixed duration contract [FDC] and undetermined duration contract [of the Labour Law].”
Regarding the consistent delay of wage payments, Syvutha said it was due to the global economy and late payments made by their customers to ML Intimate Apparel’s head office in Hong Kong.
He added that the compensation of $1,140 dollars was in accordance with the law, and that around 20 workers had been laid off as of November.
There are currently 551 employees, including administrative staff and garment workers in ML intimate Apparel, which produces women’s undergarments for export to the US and Europe.
Meanwhile, Khun Tharo, labor program manager for Central, told CamboJA that the factory had allegedly violated workers’ rights by forcing them to work overtime, delaying the payroll for a whole month without prior notice, requiring pregnant workers to work for eight hours like other employees, and restricting workers’ freedom of association.
“This factory has a history of persecuting and discriminating against unions. It has very bad working conditions in relation to the usage of FDC to dismiss workers,” Tharo said, adding that going by the labor law, the employer was wrong in delaying the payroll.
He shared that workers who joined protests to demand for regular salaries are “always targeted” for dismissal by employers, even though they possess undetermined duration contracts. Two of the workers who were dismissed had worked there since 2017.
According to Cambodia’s labor law, employment contracts should not extend beyond two years. If they do, they are automatically converted to UDCs.
Tharo pointed to Article 74, paragraph two of the law, which stated that “no dismissal can occur without a valid reason related to the worker’s aptitude or behavior, or the needs of the enterprise, establishment or group.”
After a complaint was filed with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, a union was established in the company but the workers were still “persecuted” and dismissed without proper solutions, Tharo alleged.
“The company does not have a proper way to resolve the problem, and continues to violate the rights of workers,” he said. “The inspection by the labor department has not compelled the employer to abide by the law.”
Noun Sina, director of the Labor Department in Banteay Meanchey, told CamboJA on Monday that he only just received information regarding the termination of an employee by ML Intimate Apparel, and had instructed an inspector from his department to visit the company on Tuesday.
He explained that he was not able to provide any information as yet or determine which party had wronged, suggesting that the press wait while the unit conducts an investigation.
“The department has already assigned an inspector to investigate the case. In relation to this dismissal case, we don’t know yet whether the company or the workers are wrong. Thus, regarding his [the worker] dismissal, we have not determined whether the company fired him illegally.
“We also need to investigate whether the dismissal is related to the economy or not because we know that due to the economy, some enterprises are facing declining orders [which] caused them to reduce the number of workers,” Sina said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 23, 2023
- Event Description
Cabinet officials rejected a new petition brought by former NagaWorld employees Thursday, stating that the petition did not meet administrative requirements. Protesters were hopeful that Prime Minister Hun Manet and his new government might solve the dispute that has dragged on for nearly two years.
Kim Sokha, 35, worked at NagaWorld as a card dealer for over 10 years before being laid off by the company in 2021. As many previous petitions filed before the July elections were unsuccessful, he said this new petition was an attempt to see if Prime Minister Hun Manet would help them find a solution.
“I want him [Hun Manet] to know about the suffering of the workers. He is like a parent who knows the suffering of his children,” he said. “I want him to know that Nagaworld’s workers were unfairly dismissed which violates the law of Cambodia.”
Around 30 members of the Labour Rights Supported Union (LRSU) of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld gathered at Wat Botum Park Thursday morning, as district workers prepared decorations for the upcoming Water Festival. After entering the nearby Cabinet building, an official refused to accept the petition, claiming that it did not meet certain specifications, such as listing the names of the certain officials and the union members involved in the dispute.
“If what I said is not followed, I cannot do anything,” the Cabinet official told the group.
Around 1300 workers began their strike in December 2021 following mass layoffs without full severance pay at the Phnom Penh casino. The company claimed the Covid-19 economic downturn necessitated the layoffs. But rights groups like the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (Central) and Human Rights Watch have said the layoffs were an attempt to quash NagaWorld’s independent union.
The strikers have faced detention, threats and violence. One striker said she had a miscarriage last year because of rough handling by authorities who rounded strikers onto a bus. A NagaCorp chief CEO’s son was accused of throwing a traffic cone at protestors and chucking a union member’s phone to the ground.
The president of NagaWorld’s union Chhim Sithar was found guilty in May and sentenced to two years in prison for inciting social unrest, while other convicted members have been handed suspended sentences. In October, the Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s verdict for Sithor.
Strikers say that the Labor Ministry has unfairly sided with the company and supported its interests, while the government has suppressed union members’ right to strike.
LRSU Vice President Chhim Sokhorn said he was disappointed when the petition was rejected based on an administrative issue instead of getting a substantive response to their request.
“I request that he [Hun Manet] help us regarding our criminal lawsuit and our leader who is also now in prison,” he said. “Even though we follow all the procedures, we all suffer and the government has not taken action on this issue.”
Labor Ministry spokesperson Katta Orn said the company was forced to lay off the 1300 workers due to the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that a majority of the workers have already accepted compensation offered by the company.
“We observe that only 22 to 30 people are on strike. If the workers really want to end the dispute, they should contact the ministry to continue finding a solution,” he said.
Government spokesperson Pen Bona declined to comment.
The workers have suffered “all forms of intimidation, all forms of violence,” said Central’s program manager Khun Tharo. He added that the government has used Covid-19 restrictions to prevent protests and the judicial system to combat the workers’ cause.
If the new government creates judicial reform, this could help the workers seek justice, he said, but only if these reforms help ”real victims” and not “perpetrators of violence.”
“We see the new government has visited garment factories, while the NagaWorld workers continue their strike and are seeking the solution after being laid off,” he said.
Sokha, the union member at the protest, said the former NagaWorld employees’ strike is within their legal rights.
“We strike in accordance with the Constitution and follow all legal procedures. If what we have been doing is illegal, we would not be here now” said Sokha.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Event Description
A 20-year-old Cambodian man who was thrown out of a state-run school because he was too short has again been assaulted by security forces as he staged another protest against his expulsion.
Keo Sovannrith told Radio Free Asia that he was demonstrating alone in front of the Ministry of Education on Monday when local authorities in civilian uniforms pulled him into a car and beat him, leaving him with a torn shirt.
“I am very upset for a society with such authority,” he told RFA. “I was slapped in the face. I was dizzy. I could not get up.”
Keo Sovannrith gained admission to the National Institute of Physical Education last November despite standing 162 centimeters (5 foot 4 inches) tall, under the 165 centimeter (5 foot 5 inch) minimum requirement for applicants.
But in December, shortly after participating in an entrance ceremony at a Phnom Penh stadium, he was removed from enrollment with no explanation, along with 11 other prospective students.
In July and August, Keo Sovannrith and several others protested each Monday in front of the ministry to demand readmission to the teacher training program. They said the institute’s enrollment requirements were too opaque and randomly applied.
Police surrounded and beat them on Aug. 21. Video of the incident was widely viewed on Facebook.
Plans to sue authorities
On Monday, Keo Sovannrith said he protested alone at the Ministry of Education because the other 11 former students are either too afraid to demonstrate or can’t afford to travel to Phnom Penh.
He added that the Ministry of Education recently offered him a government job so that he would stop protesting. He told RFA that he turned them down because he prefers to be a physical education trainer and wants justice for his expulsion.
“I understand that violence is against the law. I will sue them,” referring to the officials in the Phnom Penh district of Daun Penh who assaulted him.
RFA wasn’t able to reach Daun Penh district Inspector Teang Chansar and Ministry of Education spokesman Kan Puthy for comment on Monday. Daun Penh district Gov. Chea Khema told RFA he was too busy to answer questions.
Monday’s beating of Keo Sovannrith is just the latest example of Cambodian authorities using violence against non-violent protesters, said Am Sam Ath of human rights group Licadho.
“We as civil society organizations do not support any act of violence, no matter which side it is on,” he said. “Authorities should especially be tolerant in all these matters.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to education, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 24, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Oct 28, 2023
- Event Description
A lawsuit has been filed by APSARA National Authority against seven villagers, including a commune police chief, who live around Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for allegedly inciting and obstructing public work in August.
Two separate court summons issued against the villagers were obtained by CamboJA One summon was against four villagers, including the local police officer, who allegedly obstructed public work and intentionally caused damage and violence. Another summon was issued to the villagers for allegedly inciting other villagers.
On August 8, hundreds of villagers protested against an attempt by APSARA to demolish allegedly illegal structures after issuing a notice in Prasat Bakong district’s Meanchey commune.
Although the authority failed to demolish the structures, the villagers have been restricted by APSARA from constructing additional structures in front of their house or fixing their roofs.
“I don’t know why they have filed a suit [against me]. I only went to see [the protest],” said 38-year-old Var Chamnab, who is being sued along with three other villagers by APSARA.
“I wasn’t the only one [there] on that day … hundreds of people protested,” he said, adding that he was aware that villagers do not have permission to build, but that they had sought for permission several times but were denied.
Rolous commune police chief Rai Vanna said he cannot offer any details or comment as yet as he has not testified in court as to what he witnessed during the protest. He was supposed to give evidence on October 18 but it was postponed.
He said he had gone to the protest to monitor the situation and ensure public order.
“On behalf of the authorities, we have to give evidence on the case – villagers who were protesting – but the questioning has been deferred. So, I can’t say more as I am an official and I need to get approval from my boss before I can say anything,” Vanna said.
A villager, 36-year-old Sok Pov, was accused of incitement for allegedly posting APSARA’s notice on the removal of “illegal” structures in Bangkorng village on August 14 and 15. He is alleged to have asked villagers living inside and outside the village to “please join the protest”.
“I just posted [the notice] to inform people to come and appeal against the demolition,” he told the court when questioned on October 23, before being allowed to return home.
“I think it [the legal suit] was unreasonable. It is like restricting our freedom of expression when [all we did was] post the notice,” Pov said.
He said villagers living in Zone 2, which is a world heritage site, are not allowed to build new structures and extend the front portion of their house as it would impact the Angkor temples.
“There are a lot of difficulties [restrictions] … we can’t fix our house roof or build any extension in front. Within the authorities’ land, there are a lot of restrictions.
“They require us to seek permission [for construction] but when we request, they do not give us permission,” Pov said.
Earlier, a letter was sent by APSARA to village chiefs and representatives to inform them about the demolition of illegal structures, such as new shelters or cottages and new additions to front portions of old houses, from August 14 to 15, 2023.
APSARA spokesperson Long Kosal confirmed that his officials had “demolished” several illegal structures and houses but he could not specifically identify which ones needed to be removed.
“[New] constructions are not allowed within the world heritage site and they would need to get permission to build them. When it’s built without permission, it is [an] illegal [structure],” Kosal said.
“But, it doesn’t mean that when you apply for permission you will get an approval,” Kosal said, adding that there are legal requirements and conditions that should be satisfied when applications are reviewed.
Before the authority removed the structures, APSARA issued a notice in advance, he confirmed, but denied that there were restrictions on the rights of people who live within the world heritage sites.
“I think that some of our people have different levels of knowledge about the law. We can review how many people are living at the world heritage site, who are allowed to to fix houses or remove old houses and build new houses,” he said.
“We have to review the situation as a whole, not by looking on a case by case basis,” Kosal said.
NGO Licadho rights coordinator Ing Kongchet, who investigated the issue, called on the court officials to drop the charges against the villagers. He also urged UNESCO to intervene to protect the fundamental rights of the villagers and improve their living conditions.
“It is an issue that violates human rights. We appeal to APSARA and UNESCO to reconsider this case. APSARA has restricted people’s rights in requesting to fix or build houses.
“We support conservation but people’s livelihoods are important as well. People need security and safety. If their houses have no gates or toilets, and their roofs leak when it rains, they should give permission to fix it,” Kongchet said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson with the UNESCO World Heritage Center asserted that UNESCO has “never requested, supported, or was a party to the relocation program” and that any questions relating to it should be conveyed to the national authority.
In response to CamboJA’s questions via email on Friday evening, the spokesperson said for all the sites in the world, UNESCO underscores that conservation measures decided by the authorities “must necessarily involve, take into account the opinion and respect the rights of local communities, and comply with human rights”.
The importance of the inclusion of local communities has been officially included in the World Heritage Convention’s Operational Guidelines since 2015.
According to the spokesperson, the center has already conveyed the concerns raised by international NGOs regarding the relocation program to the Cambodian state party and the World Heritage Committee, a 21-member intergovernmental body. (A state party is a country, in this case Cambodia, which has adhered to the World Heritage Convention).
At its last session in September 2023, the committee requested the state party to “take into consideration the living conditions and the rights of local communities and inhabitants affected by these relocations”, the spokesperson mentioned.
The state party was also requested to submit an updated report on the state of conservation of the property demonstrating the implementation of its suggestions to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, by December 1, 2024.
The spokesperson reminded that despite UNESCO’s resolute commitment to rights-based management of World Heritage Sites including the inclusion of rights holders and local communities in the conservation strategies of the properties, it does not have the mandate to impose measures on member states. “The conservation and management of World Heritage Properties are under the sole authority of the concerned state parties, which are sovereign over their territories.”
In the meantime, Siem Reap provincial court spokesperson Yin Srang confirmed that the court has postponed the questioning of the four villagers, including the policeman and that the next date has not been fixed yet.
Srang claimed that he does not know who the prosecutor of the case is, when asked to comment on those who have been questioned.
Last week, CamboJA reported that 700 villagers from seven villages in Pouk district and Siem Reap City protested against APSARA for attempting to demolish the illegal structures.
Kosal said there are about 10,000 families who voluntarily moved to relocation sites, while the Peak Sneng site remains under construction.
Update: This story was updated on November 4 at 10:40 a.m. ICT to include comments received from UNESCO World Heritage Center after publication.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to property, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 1, 2023
- Event Description
The activists, dressed in clothes made of plastic bags and carrying signs emblazoned with environmentalist slogans, marched to the rallying point where they would submit their petition to Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment.
It was supposed to be a peaceful march to urge the government to raise taxes on plastic bags and charge customers more for using them, in a bid to protect Cambodia’s environment.
But plainclothes officers blocked the way of the 20 marchers, pushed them, snatched their phones, and attempted to confiscate their banners.
“They didn’t listen to us. We are holding banners to request the government to listen to our two requests,” Ream SreyMech Rathana, one of the marchers, told Radio Free Asia.
“Where is democracy? [We are] people [just] walking on the streets who speak their mind but they outlaw us and the authorities are resorting to violence and unethical behavior,” said Ream SreyMech Rathana.
The authorities choose violence as their response, regardless of what the activists are asking for, said Hum Sok Keang, another activist.
“We have observed that authorities don’t allow us to work freely even though our work is beneficial to the country but they think we are polluting the society,” Hum Sok Keang said.
After the encounter, a representative from the Ministry of Environment accepted their petition.
To combat plastic pollution, the Ministry of Environment in 2016 issued a sub decree ordering provincial, city and district authorities to properly handle trash. But critics say authorities have failed to resolve the trash issues, forcing the people to pick up plastic litter from public places.
RFA attempted to reach the ministry’s spokesperson Phai Bun Chhoeun and the Phnom Penh police spokesperson Sam Vicheaca, but neither could be reached for comment.
Plastic pollution pollutes the environment and will discourage tourists from visiting Cambodia, said Chhin Chorvin, another activist.
“Plastic affects humans and animals and pollutes water,” he said. “When we use too much plastic, we burn it and it pollutes the atmosphere.”
- Impact of Event
- 20
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 19, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Oct 2, 2023
- Event Description
The Phnom Penh Court has blocked three environmental activists, currently on probation for convictions related to their advocacy, from leaving the country to receive a prestigious international award.
In a letter published on Monday, the court’s prosecutor Chroeng Khmao stated that the trip was “not necessary” and that the activists were “not allowed to go abroad.”
Last week, Thon Ratha, Long Kunthea and Phoun Keoreaksmey with the Cambodian environmental activist group Mother Nature received an invitation to a November ceremony in Sweden to accept the Right Livelihood Award, known as the Alternative Nobel. The group has worked to expose environmental destruction in the country over the last ten years, including logging and sand mining.
“Undeterred by threats, harassment and arrests, Mother Nature Cambodia has emerged as a powerful voice for environmental preservation and democracy in Cambodia,” a press release from Right Livelihood states.
The three activists were arrested in 2020 and convicted with incitement for their involvement in planning a one-woman march to raise awareness of the impact of filling in lakes for development. They were released in 2021 after serving 14 months in prison, but are still under court supervision until 2025.
They were also handed a new charge of ‘plotting’ in 2021 in connection with an ongoing case concerning the documentation of sewage being released into the Tonle Sap River.
“This is a cruel thing for the judiciary in Cambodia to deny us as young people working on the protection of natural resources and the environment,” said Ratha, one of the award winners. “The reason that the prosecutor gave, ‘not necessary,’ that’s a ridiculous reason because we were going to go abroad to get a global award that is not easy for any group or individual or country to get.”
He believes the decision will give the international community the impression that Prime Minister Hun Manet is following in the footsteps of his father, and will negatively impact Cambodia. While “liberal countries” are getting along with the new government now, he said this could change when restrictions on freedoms continue.
“The case against us as Mother Nature is clearly a political issue,” he said “It is a restriction on the rights and freedoms of young people who dare to tell the truth, dare to be angry with their own national wealth, dare to expose corruption and the inactivity of officials on the extraction of natural resources.”
Appearing on stage to receive the award could have been a source of inspiration for young Cambodians, he said, showing that people from a small country can do great things. The activists plan to have representatives accept the award in person on their behalf.
“Right Livelihood awards, supports and honours Laureates regardless of whether they can attend the Award Presentation,” said Sydney Nelson, a communications officer for the organization.
Soeng Senkaruna, the human rights group Adhoc’s senior investigator, said Adhoc was very sorry to see the court’s rejection of the request and still insists that the court should be more open-minded.
“This decision is one that discourages young people who love natural resources and actively participate in their defense,” he said. “We are all Cambodians, but we do not value the Cambodian youth who protect all natural resources.” Y Rin and Plang Sophal, spokespeople for Phnom Penh Municipal Court, both declined to comment.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, NGO staff, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 31, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Oct 19, 2023
- Event Description
The Phnom Penh Appeal Court today upheld the convictions of eight current and former unionists from the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU).
Nine activists, including union President Chhim Sithar, were convicted of incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in May 2023. Eight of the activists appealed the verdict. They included Sithar, who received the maximum sentence of two years in prison; Chhim Sokhorn, Hay Sopheap, Kleang Soben, Sun Srey Pich and Touch Sereymeas, who were sentenced to 18 months in prison; and Sok Narith and Ry Sovandy, who received one-year suspended sentences.
The Appeal Court trial started this morning. The court announced its verdict upholding the lower court’s judgment in full this afternoon after deliberating for 30 minutes. Sok Kongkea, who was also convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and received a suspended sentence, did not appeal the lower court’s verdict.
LRSU members have been on strike since December 2021, after the NagaWorld casino laid off the entire LRSU leadership and many of its members. The unionists were arrested in December 2021 and January 2022, and held in pre-trial detention until March 2022. Sithar was arrested again in November 2022 for allegedly violating judicial supervision conditions. She has since been detained in Prey Sar’s Correctional Centre 2. The other activists will remain under judicial supervision until all appeal avenues are exhausted.
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Labour rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 20, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Sep 29, 2023
- Event Description
The Phnom Penh Appeal Court today announced its verdict upholding criminal charges against four out of 10 people who were arrested in front of Phnom Penh's Yak Jin garment factory on 2 January 2014, one day before the violence that took place along Veng Sreng Boulevard in January 2014. The strike was notoriously shut down on 3 January 2014 when mixed government forces opened fire on the striking workers.
The 10 workers were convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in 2014 of instigating intentional acts of violence with aggravating circumstances, contrary to Articles 28 and 218 of the Criminal Code. Out of the 10 defendants, only four (Chan Puthisak, a Boeung Kak Lake land activist; Theng Savoeun, President of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC); Sokun Sambath Piseth, a former staff member at Center for Labor Rights of Cambodia; and Vorn Pao, President of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA)) appealed their sentences.
The Appeal Court upheld the Municipal Court’s decision to sentence Theng Savoeun to four years’ imprisonment, as well as its sentences of four years and six months for Chan Puthisak, Sokun Sambath Piseth, and Vorn Pao, all of which were suspended by the lower court. All four had already spent between 3 January and 30 May 2014 in prison. The Appeal Court also dropped the 8 million riel fine (around US $2,000) imposed by the lower court on all four defendants.
In the violence on Veng Sreng Boulevard in 2014, mixed government forces shot dead at least four civilians, wounded at least 38 others, and arrested 23 workers and human rights defenders. Khem Sophath, a 15-year-old garment worker, was tragically wounded and then disappeared from Veng Sreng Boulevard. Sophath remains missing to this day, and civil society continues to call for accountability for the violence and his disappearance. To date, the government has failed to provide any kind of thorough, independent and impartial investigation. Arrests of other workers have also been met with farcical appeals in recent years.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Labour rights defender, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 12, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Sep 15, 2023
- Event Description
Independent online news outlet CamboJA removed the name of a government minister from an article about a public beating of a government critic after the Ministry of Agriculture threatened it with legal action, the outlet’s executive director told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.
CamboJA – short for Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association – reported on Thursday that agricultural expert Ny Nak criticized Minister of Agriculture Dith Tina on Facebook over the minister’s handling of a report on rice prices.
The Facebook post doesn’t mention the minister’s name. It went live the day before the Sept. 12 assault, which left Ny Nak initially unconscious and bleeding from the head after several unidentified men beat him with metal batons.
The ministry responded to the article in a letter to CamboJA on Friday that said their reporting “speculates that the attack on Ny Nak was politically motivated based on his recent baseless posts criticizing government officials and institutions.”
The article also includes the minister’s name “even though the minister has never been mentioned by name in any of Ny Nak’s recent Facebook posts,” the letter said.
The ministry urged CamboJA “to rectify these serious breaches of journalistic ethics by removing unsubstantiated claims and speculations” that hurt the reputations of ministry officials.
It also demanded that the publication remove the minister’s name from the article and that it “ensure that such malicious intentions and defamatory speculations do not recur in the future which would result in legal actions that could lead to the same outcome” of Voice of Democracy, an independent media outlet that was closed by the government in February.
Posting under a pseudonym
CamboJA, a network formed by former reporters of The Cambodia Daily and Phnom Penh Post, deleted the minister’s name from the article and added an editor’s note on Monday.
It also added the name of Associate Editor Jack Brook as a contributor to the article and corrected the spelling of the name of an investigator for human rights group Adhoc who was quoted in the article.
“We think the Ministry of Agriculture’s request is acceptable and we’ve removed [ the minister’s] name because Ny Nak's Facebook posting didn’t mention the minister by name, only his picture,” CamboJA Executive Director Nop Vy told RFA.
Ny Nak was recently released from an 18-month jail term for criticizing Cambodia’s COVID-19 restrictions. Since his release, he has posted comments critical of the government on Facebook under the pseudonym IMAN-KH.
His post last week about the minister came a day after he said he was approached by two members of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party asking him to join the party. He said he had refused the invitation, saying he is “neither a member of the ruling party or the opposition.”
He was traveling with his wife Sok Sinet in Phnom Penh on Sept. 12 when a motorbike crashed into them and unidentified men began beating them.
Ny Nak was taken to a local hospital and pledged on Friday to join the CPP – but only if Prime Minister Hun Manet can arrest his attackers.
On Monday, Minister of Interior Touch Sokhak told Voice of America that the suspects were probably using the accident as a pretext to rob Ny Nak and his wife.
“Until we arrest them we will see what they will answer about their intentions. We will know what this case is all about,” he told VOA. “But for the preliminary [assessment] this is a violent action and intended to rob the victim’s motorbike.
‘Ny Nak won’t run away’
Sok Sinet denied that her husband’s attack was a robbery.
“To me, I observed their actions. They intended to kill my husband,” she said. “It was an assassination attempt. I didn’t lose any handbag, money, phones or a motorbike.”
RFA was unable to reach Touch Sokhak for comment on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Tuesday that the attack “shares similarities with assaults reported earlier in 2023 against members of the opposition Candlelight Party, which were never seriously investigated.”
Ny Nak said on Facebook on Monday that he will be released from the hospital soon, and he promised not to run away from Cambodia.
“This is my part as a Cambodian. I will continue to help the country until I die,” he wrote. “Ny Nak won’t run away, doesn’t hide, sell out or seek asylum in a third country but will continue to stay with Cambodian farmers forever.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 6, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Sep 12, 2023
- Event Description
Phnom Penh police say they are investigating a brutal assault against a vocal critic of government policies, as civil society groups say the incident is the latest in an ongoing crackdown on critical voices.
Baton-wielding assailants attacked Ny Nak on Tuesday afternoon as he and his wife Sok Sreynet were driving their motorbike along street 369 from their organic fertilizer warehouse in Chbar Ampov district’s Prek Pra commune on Tuesday, Sreynet said.
Around 1:10 p.m., a group of three or four men in black uniforms and helmets rode their motorbike into Nak’s motorbike and began beating him with a baton until he was “bleeding from his head,” his wife says.
“It was a case of attempted murder, it is not a coincidence,” she said. “My husband and I have never had any argument with anyone.”
The style of assault echoed a series of attacks against opposition Candlelight Party activists documented by Human Rights Watch in the months leading up to July elections earlier this year.
Nak was released from prison in June last year after being incarcerated for 18 months on charges of incitement after making a satirical post criticizing then-Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Covid-19 restrictions.
Nak remains bruised and bed-ridden in a private hospital and his wife said she filed a complaint to authorities on Thursday.
“Commune police told me that they have seen camera security, there are eight people [suspects] with four motorbikes, and they will follow the procedure of the investigation,” Sreynet said. “I hope they can arrest suspects and provide justice to my husband.”
Chbar Ampov District Police Chief Mao Soeut and Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Chuon Narin both said police are working on the case.
“We are not leaving the case, we are continuing to arrest perpetrators. Please take a look at the situation, currently there are a lot of gangsters taking their motorbikes to beat [others]. Let the police investigate,” said Narin, before hanging up the phone.
Nak, a fertilizer producer and fruit tree seller, has frequently criticized the Agriculture Ministry on his Facebook page IMan-KH, which has 413,000 followers. His wife denied he had any political ties.
On Monday, Nak wrote on his Facebook: “Agriculture is my breath…I am not silent about agriculture officials who have just work to get a salary. Ny Nak will always be in competition with agriculture officials.”
In the hours before he was assaulted on Tuesday, Nak made a Facebook post directly criticizing the current Agriculture Minister.
“As the minister has more than 60 secretaries of state and uses drones for surveillance, but can not find a secretary to make official documents and notes are handwritten like this, who knows who wrote it? Which factory miller? Which company? They do not have, so they only write on Facebook,” Nak posted.
“We were saddened by the news, to be honest, when we heard it we were shocked by the attack,” Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Im Rachna told CamboJA. “As you may know, the Cambodian government highly respects the freedom of expression and we believe it is the core value of democracy. We wish him well.”
“I do not comment on speculation,” Rachna said, when asked if there was any connection between Nak’s critical comments on the minister and the assault. The current Agriculture Minister could not be reached for comment.
Government spokesperson Pen Bona also denied that the assault was a signal of broader repression against free speech.
But Soeng Senkaruna, a senior investigator at rights group Adhoc, said that the assault appeared to be tied to Nak’s critical public statements.
“We can say it came from expression of opinion,” Senkaruna said. “The beating is a crack down on spirits who dare to exercise their opinion to criticize the government’s institutions.”
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 22, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Aug 17, 2023
- Event Description
After an indigenous Bunong community publicly voiced concerns about a World Bank-funded project repurposing their customary forest and burial grounds, authorities convened a meeting last Thursday between communal and provincial authorities — but the community members were excluded.
The meeting was held in Mondulkiri province’s capital, Senmonorom, to discuss Social Land Concessions under the World Bank’s $93 million LASED III Project across three districts — Koh Nheak, Pech Chreada and O’Reang — according to an invitation letter obtained by CamboJA.
In July, the Roya Leu Bunong community in Koh Nheak previously showed a LASED III consultant that the project’s plans to allocate land to poor families overlapped with more than half of their 6,000 hectare community forest and multiple ancestral burial grounds, CamboJA reported earlier this month.
Lin Lan, a Roya Leu resident, and other community members say they have repeatedly expressed concerns ever since LASED III signs were posted near the community in March last year with no further explanation. But the project had already been greenlit in 2021, despite the World Bank’s stringent policies to prevent negative impacts on indigenous communities.
Lan, who has been active in defending the community forest, said she and other community members heard about the meeting and tried to attend, but authorities prevented them from entering when they arrived at Senmonorom. The community is seeking a communal land title to gain legal recognition of their customary use of the forest and culturally significant sites.
“We went to the provincial capital in order to attend the meeting because we wanted to know what it was about, yet we were not allowed to get in,” Lan said. “We want the authorities to hold a meeting with us, so that we can meet face to face for solutions.”
Phleouk Phearum, another Bunong activist who attempted to attend the meeting, which also planned to discuss a land conflict in her community, said she was barred from attending.
“If they discuss with their own officials, and do not allow people to attend like this, how can people know what they do or what solutions should be sought between us, how can conflicts be solved?” Phearum said. “Before they discuss with their officials, they had better discuss with us.”
The LASED III project is funded by the World Bank but implemented by the Ministry of Land Management. Ministry official Thol Dina was made the new project director for LASED III last week. He told CamboJA he had not heard about the meeting nor had he met with the community or any authority on the ground over this issue.
Former LASED III project director Roth Hok, Under Secretary of State for the Land Management Ministry was no longer in the position as of last week.
Lan said she submitted her latest letter seeking a resolution to the land conflict with the provincial department for the Ministry of Rural Development on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9. In response, the ministry promised to send an official to better understand the situation on August 25, Lan says.
“We are not sure whether the ministry will grant us the legal collective title, nonetheless, they have promised to appraise our land on site,” Lan said. “We put our faith in them after their promise. Our community has strived so hard.”
Ministry of Rural Development spokesperson Chan Darong did not respond to requests for comment. The Ministry was not listed on the invitation letter.
Nuon Monichenda, the head of the ethnic minority development department within the Rural Development Ministry, said via Telegram on Monday that the provincial ministry “might work on it.”
“The authorities talked about the case and now they are working on it to study it in depth for more information,” said Roya commune chief Pil Deth.
He did not specify a timeframe for the investigation, and confirmed no Roya Leu community members were invited. He declined to provide further information but said the best way forward was to find a resolution with the Land Management Ministry.
The meeting also addressed a completed survey of social land concessions in relation to Bunong communities’ land claims and several ongoing land conflicts.
Memom village chief Chan Moeun, who is Bunong and has jurisdiction over Roya Leu attended the meeting. But Roya Leu community members have pointed out that he does not live in the Roya Leu community and four residents told CamboJA they believe Moeun is selling the community’s land for personal profit, though he has vehemently denied these accusations.
World Bank spokesperson Saroeun Bou referred CamboJA to the Ministry of Land Management but did issue a brief statement over email reiterating the goals of the LASED III project.
“The project’s goal is to support land titling support to 15 Indigenous Communities (ICs). The project implementation team has posted signs in Mondulkiri province to communicate dates associated with project implementation,” stated Saroun, indicating implementation was ongoing. It remains unclear how the concessions will affect the Roya Leu communities’ ongoing attempt to obtain a communal land title.
“I hope the government helps our community and we get the solution soon after the officials study the effect [of LASED III],” Lan said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Indigenous peoples' rights defender, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 6, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Sep 14, 2023
- Event Description
After the bus company Giant Ibis Transport delayed concluding negotiations with 30 laid off union employees, the workers continued protests at the company’s Sen Sok district station in Phnom Penh on Monday.
Giant Ibis has repeatedly delayed the deadlines to complete negotiations, which were initially set to conclude in late May.
The union members estimate they are collectively owed more than $100,000 by the company, according to the labor law, or around $7,000 to $8,000 per person, union leader Siem Morady says.
However, the company delayed negotiations three times since the originally agreed-upon date in late May, provoking the union to resume its protests to demand long-standing benefits after being suspended from work in April 2020, Morady says.
“We came here to maintain our stance requesting the company take us back to work, settle full payment of our long-standing severance and seniority benefits and we also urge the company to stop intimidating our union,” Morady told CamboJA.
Morady also appealed to tycoon Kith Meng, whose conglomerate Royal Group launched Giant Ibis Transport without indicating any sale or change in ownership status, according to Royal Group’s website.
Kith Meng and the Royal Group did not respond to requests for comment.
During the protest, Giant Ibis Transport representative Ou Phanny — who signed agreements on behalf of the company at the negotiation at the Labour Ministry, allegedly shouted and behaved aggressively towards the union members, Morady says.
“He ranted with offensive remarks to our union members,” Morady claims. “He completely crossed the line.”
Giant Ibis Transport and Ou Phanny, the company’s representative in the negotiations, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Labor Ministry, which had been mediating the negotiations, asked the union in June to wait until after the July 23 national elections to resolve the negotiations, but no solution has been reached since, Morady says.
“A person who acts on the company’s behalf did not have the competence to make a definitive resolution for use,” said Morady, who said he has grown wary of what he considers the company’s ploy to indefinitely delay negotiations.
“We do not have any other ability to confront the company since we already have done so based on the law,” he said. “We can merely keep protesting in vain.”
The union has been protesting on and off since April, but has struggled to fund their gatherings as many workers are unable to stay inside the city and are surviving on temporary construction jobs and other day labor in their home provinces. A few share food or stay at Morady’s small home in Phnom Penh
“Everyone has taken other side jobs to survive, so the protest can only take place only on the weekends,” Morady said.
Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, which helped the Giant Ibis employees unionize in 2020, said that the company’s claims of repeatedly miscalculating the severance and seniority payments for laid-off employees was becoming a tired excuse. The problem, he said, was “not hard to solve.”
“The Labour ministry must work to reinforce the law and if a company makes an excuse to avoid settlement, the ministry has the capacity to hold them accountable,” he said. “Otherwise it indicates that the labor law has been diminished.”
Labor Ministry spokesperson Heng Sour did not respond to requests for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 30
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 5, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Aug 15, 2023
- Event Description
The Koh Kong Provincial Court this afternoon convicted 10 Koh Kong land activists of malicious denunciation and incitement to disturb social security, including three activists who have been detained in prison since June on separate cases. Around 60 community members from 197 Land Community and 955 Land Community gathered outside the court in support of the activists as the verdict was read.
The 10 convicted activists are Chhan Chheurn, Det Huor, Erb Vy, Erp Teung, Heng Chey, Inn Thou, Kert Nov, Kong Men, Puo Houn, and Sok Chey. All 10 were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and ordered to collectively pay 40 million riel (approximately US$9,600) in compensation to tycoon Heng Huy. Erb Vy’s sentence was fully suspended, while the remaining nine intend to appeal the verdict.
Det Huor, Heng Chey and Sok Chey were already detained in Koh Kong Provincial Prison as a result of separate cases, and were transported to the court in a blacked out police van. They will remain in prison on those separate charges, while no arrest warrants were issued for the six other activists whose sentences were not suspended, indicating they will remain out of prison pending appeal.
These convictions follow other convictions of Koh Kong land activists in recent weeks. On 4 August, the Supreme Court upheld additional convictions of malicious denunciation and defamation against Det Huor. On 2 August, the provincial court found two women activists, Phav Nheung and Seng Lin, guilty of defamation and incitement to disturb social security. Both were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and ordered to pay 40 million riel (approximately US$9,600) in compensation. In addition to this arrest warrant from 2 August, another warrant was issued on 29 June sentencing Nheung and Lin to pre-trial detention.
- Impact of Event
- 10
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: three land rights WHRDs convicted
- Date added
- Aug 22, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Aug 2, 2023
- Event Description
Three Koh Kong land activists were this week found guilty of criminal charges including defamation, incitement, and malicious denunciation for their peaceful activism in defence of their communities’ land rights.
On 2 August 2023, the Koh Kong Provincial Court found two women activists guilty of defamation and incitement to disturb social security. Phav Nheung and Seng Lin were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment each and ordered to pay 40 million riel (approximately US $9,600) in compensation to the plaintiff. Both were the target of a complaint launched by former community representative Chhay Vy, whom the women had accused in 2019 of having seized land. The charges were dropped against a third woman, Khorn Phun.
In a separate case this morning, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the Sihanoukville Appeal Court against a third land activist from Koh Kong, Det Huor. Huor was convicted of malicious denunciation and defamation following a complaint made by tycoon Heng Huy about Huor’s Facebook post dated September 2021. Huor was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and a 2 million riel fine (approximately US $500), which was reduced to 6 months’ imprisonment and a 1 million riel fine both suspended by the Sihanoukville Appeal Court in October 2022. The Supreme Court’s judgment upholds this decision.
Huor and Nheung have been in pre-trial detention since 29 June 2023 – Nheung alongside her 18-month-old son – after being charged with incitement in a separate case alongside nine other land community members. The charges followed their attempt to peacefully travel to Phnom Penh to submit a petition to the Ministry of Justice.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Agricultural business
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: land rights WHRD sentenced to jail
- Date added
- Aug 13, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jul 12, 2023
- Event Description
The government ordered internet service providers to block the websites and social media pages of several independent media outlets and a public database in a July 12 document obtained by CamboJA on Monday.
The Telecommunications Regulator of Cambodia-issued document sought to cut off access inside the country to the Cambodia Daily, Radio Free Asia and the newly launched public database Kamnotra, run by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM).
The media and database had “broadcast information to make confusion, affect the government’s honor and prestige, and failed to fulfill the operating conditions of the Information Ministry,” an unofficial translation of the document stated.
Service providers were told to block access to the Instagram and Twitter accounts of the Cambodia Daily, the Twitter account of Kamnotra, and the Youtube channel of the Cambodia Daily.
The document also referenced a July 11 letter from the Information Ministry, whose spokesperson Meas Sophorn confirmed to CamboJA over Telegram that the ministry had initiated the order.
Regarding Kamnotra, Sophorn stated that “[We] found that this website operated as a newspaper but did not fulfill its obligations in accordance with legal procedures and legal documents as a news agency.”
He did not elaborate further or respond to additional requests for comment or phone calls.
Following Kamnotra’s launch, the Information Ministry claimed that Kamnotra did not have an authorized media license.
CCIM media director Ith Sotheouth denied the database was a news outlet, explaining it was intended to compile existing public information, such as documents released in the Royal Gazette such as land grants, honorific titles and analysis of election data.
“Through our observation, some news websites which are critical of the government are blocked for the election, but unfortunately, even though Kamnotra’s sole purpose is to compile all the public records for everyone to access, it was still blocked,” Sotheouth said. “It is a loss to the benefit of the public.”
“Our goal at CCIM is to provide the Cambodian people with the information they need to make informed decisions,” Kamnotra stated on its website.
On Monday, Kamnotra released a statement on Twitter stating that the platform could not be accessed by some users, noting that the organization is “looking into the issue and working on ways for you to get data and insights from Kamnotra soon.”
CCIM launched Kamnotra at the end of June, after CCIM’s Khmer and English language news outlet Voice of Democracy (VOD) had its license revoked in February.
After VOD’s shutdown in February, the Telecommunications Regulator of Cambodia swiftly ordered all internet service providers to block access to the English and Khmer language sites. But internet service providers lagged to comply with the order, leading to sporadic access depending on the service provider. This appears to be the case with accessing Kamnotra and other sites as of Monday afternoon.
In March, three Khmer language news websites also had their license revoked for alleging land fraud connected to government officials.
In June, a former government official turned social media commentator issued death threats via his Facebook page against a Cambodia Daily reporter.
Major internet service providers such as Metfone, Sinet, Cellcard, WiCam, and Smart did not respond to requests for comment.
Post and Telecommunications Minister Chea Vandeth told CamboJA he was busy and could not answer questions.
The Secretary of State for the Ministry of Post and Communication received questions sent by CamboJA via Telegram but did not respond.
Telecommunications Regulator of Cambodia spokesperson Sithy Sieng did not respond to requests for comment.
RFA and 17 other media had their websites temporarily blocked before the 2018 elections. The Cambodia Daily was forced to close due to a large tax bill in 2017.
“RFA condemns the order from the government of Cambodia for internet service providers to block RFA content on online platforms – which is in clear violation of Cambodian law and an attempt to censor the free flow of information ahead of the July 23 election,” said Radio Free Asia Chief Communication Officer Rohit Mahajan.
Governments across Southeast Asia have sought to block websites, posts and individuals to stifle “critical dissent,” notes Dhevy Sivaprakasam, Senior Policy Counsel at digital rights NGO Access Now.
“In these cases, blocking these sources of independent information not only denies members of the public their rights to access such information, associate and participate in political discussion — it creates an air of trepidation, where people start to self-censor to protect themselves from any negative repercussions,” she said. “Even if groups jump to other platforms to continue their work, they lose time and followers — all while having to look over their back in their operations.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Censorship
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 4, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 15, 2023
- Event Description
Thirteen employees at a Puma-supplying factory have lost their jobs after participating in a union election earlier this year.
The Kandal province-based supplier, Eastcrown Footwear Industries, has repeatedly engaged in union-busting practices and harassment of workers, say labor rights activists and union members.
“I think this is union discrimination, not a layoff following labor law,” said the union’s president, Soeng Votum.
Elected to be the union’s president in February, Votum was not rehired by the factory when her short-term, three-month contract expired on May 15. Since April, 13 of the factory’s 16 union members have not had their short-term contracts renewed.
Nine of the union members, including Votum, had previously lost their jobs at the factory last year when they tried to form a union in August.
“The first time and the second time, they dismissed us. They are still persecuting us,” Votum said. “I think if [Puma’s] customers pressure the company, they will bring us back.”
Last year, the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (Central) appealed to German footwear brand Puma, which led to Votum and her colleagues regaining their jobs in early January.
Cambodia’s Trade Union Law expressly prohibits “discrimination on ground of union activities” including as “an employment renewal condition.”
The use of short-term contracts has been identified by Human Rights Watch and labor rights groups as a key way for garment factories to exercise control over workers, including as a threat against union organizing and advocacy.
Ann YouSa, a vice union leader, first lost her job in October last year and then failed to have her contract renewed on April 11. She and her husband, the factory’s elected union treasurer Em Sambath, came back to their hometown in Prey Veng province. YouSa has returned to farming and Sambath has taken jobs as a truck driver, but their combined pay is still not enough to support them.
“I did not earn any money because I was at home,” she said. “And my husband has been transporting dirt for a week, but he did not get any tasks to do because it was raining.”
On May 5, Votum said the union members met with the company and the Labor Ministry but no solution was reached. Votum said she has little faith that the Labor Ministry’s efforts to facilitate negotiations will lead her to get rehired by the company. She remains in Phnom Penh and said without work she has difficulty paying rent.
Union members also say they have faced harassment in the months after they formed the union. According to worker reports compiled by Central, union members have been closely monitored by other staff members at the factory, including being filmed, photographed and followed to their homes. Other union workers report they were restricted from working overtime.
One staff member has reportedly shouted at union members, yelling insults such as “cheap woman” and “useless woman.” Votum and another union member allege that staff members have pushed and physically assaulted Votum and snatched union documents from her hands.
Central’s program manager Khun Tharo said that the elected union leaders and founders are entitled to special protection from being dismissed before, during and after the union election. He added that the conduct of the staff who have harassed the union members is considered serious misconduct and that those employees should be terminated according to Cambodia labor law.
“Central demands that those persons who were involved in threats, intimidation and harassment against the elected union leaders/founders shall be held accountable with concrete actions to be taken immediately,” Tharo said.
Eastcrown’s management attended a 2021 workshop facilitated by Puma and the U.N.’s Better Factories Cambodia, which covered “the rights and obligations of employers, unions and worker representatives and workplace relations,” a Puma representative told CamboJA in an email.
Van E Hong, an Eastcrown Footwear Industries administrator, denied allegations that the factory was discriminating against union members. He said the dismissals were due to downturns in the global economy leading to mass layoffs across the garment industry.
“This is the accusation of the plaintiff, but in fact, the company has announced that the company is facing a global economic crisis,” Hong said. “So, based on the contract, the person who reaches the end of their contract, we do not continue to give him [employment].”
He added that if the factory receives good orders then the company will rehire the workers.
“If there are goods to make, we will call experienced workers. The company will still need [them],” he said.
As for the report of physical assault from Votum, Hong said the company handed the matter over to the police.
Neng Sotheany, a commune police officer, said that he did not follow up on the report of the alleged assault because union workers did not file any complaint to him.
Votom said she chose not to file a complaint with the police because she believes the alleged assault fell within the purview of the Ministry of Labor and should be dealt with by the ministry, not the police.
Labor Ministry spokesperson Heng Sour did not respond to requests for comment.
Kerstin Neuber, Puma’s senior head of communications, told CamboJA via email that since April the brand has received the factory’s retrenchment plan indicating anticipated job losses, interviewed three trade union leaders and conducted an on-site visit.
“The selection of workers for retrenchment [lay-offs] was based on employment contract expiry date, however Better Factory [sic] Cambodia conducted an assessment early May and the results are still being discussed with factory management,” Neuber wrote.
Neuber said the Labor Ministry is aware of the union members’ request for reinstatement and that the ministry’s report on the dispute was expected to be finished by late June.
The factory’s owner, Chinese conglomerate Xinlong Group, “remains a key partner” for Puma and “Cambodia remains a key production country,” Neuber said.
Votum, the union leader, said the union members would continue to fight for reinstatement even if the Labor Ministry and Puma did not help them get their jobs back.
“We will continue to file a complaint without giving up,” she said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Labour rights, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 14, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jul 3, 2023
- Event Description
A Boeng Tamok resident received a summons to appear in a Phnom Penh court on Monday following a clash with district authorities over a community bridge.
The Phnom Penh deputy prosecutor summoned Am Phoeun in response to a criminal complaint that she had illegally appropriated private property and used violence against rightful real estate owners. The court names the plaintiffs as Thai Ouy, Tang Kim and Ngoun Mong — whom Phoeun said she did not know.
Phoeun said she believed the summons was a response to a May altercation with authorities. Phoeun said she and her neighbors blocked dozens of Prek Pnov district government-employed security guards when they came to dismantle a small bridge Boeng Tamok residents had built to improve their access to fishing locations.
The residents successfully prevented the security guards from destroying the bridge by gathering around 100 people to block them, Phoeun said, claiming no violence had been used by protestors.
“I am not guilty of anything, but they came to sue me for using violence on their property, even though I was the owner of the land,” she said.
She said after the incident she did not file any complaint to the police or higher authorities as she thought there was no one who wanted to help her community.
The summons was delivered to Phoeun on Sunday afternoon by a district police officer, Phoeun said. She requested a delay because did not yet have a lawyer to represent her.
Phoeun, a 54-year-old mother of four, said this was the third court summons she had received.
In February, nine other Boeng Tamok residents faced charges for protesting when authorities allegedly prevented them from repairing their homes.
The areas’ current residents like Phoeun lack nationally-recognized land titles and are slated for eviction as the development projects spread out around the Boeng Tamok lake.
Residents of Phoeun’s village of Samrong Tbong in Prek Pnov district support themselves by fishing, even as the lake around them is being filled in as numerous plots of land given to well-connected individuals.
There are around 200 families and 77 houses at Boeng Tamok lake, Phoeun said. They have been seeking land titles or alternative places to live and 31 families have been resettled by the government.
“As a victim, I propose [to the court] to drop all charges [against me] and I ask [the government] for living and development on the spot,” Phoeun said.
Court spokespersons Plang Sophal could not be reached and Y Rin declined to comment. Deputy prosecutor Sorn Mony could not be reached.
Licadho operations director Am Sam Ath urged for authorities to handle the matter peacefully and with empathy towards the residents at Boeng Tamok.
“I feel that there is still no solution for the people living in Boeng Tamok,” he said. “Therefore, as a civil society organization, we want to insist and ask for a peaceful and sustainable settlement.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 14, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jun 29, 2023
- Event Description
At least nine land activists from four communities in Koh Kong province were arrested on 29 June 2023 and charged with incitement under Articles 494 to 495 of the Criminal Code for attempting to submit a petition to the Ministry of Justice.
On 29 June 2023, authorities blocked land community members in Sre Ambel district from travelling to Phnom Penh to deliver their petition. Community representatives from four land communities were questioned, after which 11 of the activists remained in custody and were transferred to Koh Kong provincial police station in Khemarak Phoumin town. The land activists were held overnight, in addition to the six-year-old child and 18-month-old baby of two of the activists, both of whom slept at the police station alongside their mothers. The six-year-old child’s father was called to collect the child this morning, when the 11 activists were transferred to the Koh Kong provincial court. Ten were ordered to be held in pre-trial detention in Koh Kong prison. Other community members were prevented from gathering outside the court in support of their representatives.
Around 100 community members had planned to travel to the capital yesterday to submit a petition asking Minister of Justice Koeut Rith to intervene for charges to be dropped against 30 land activists from five communities. Four vans were initially prevented by police from travelling that morning, with only one van able to continue to Phnom Penh.
Police threatened to arrest around 20 community members who gathered in front of the provincial police station to support their representatives this morning. Police were also deployed between Tani village to Praek Chik village, where the community members live. Other community members reported difficulties travelling to Koh Kong province. The reasons for questioning the land activists are currently unclear.
- Impact of Event
- 11
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Family of HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 7, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jun 6, 2023
- Event Description
Three Bunong indigenous family members were arrested by Mondulkiri provincial police on Sunday over a land dispute in Chamkar Te Village, Spean Thmor Commune. They were sent to Mondulkiri provincial court for questioning on Tuesday afternoon, according to the human rights organization ADHOC.
Police first contacted the Bunong relatives on Wednesday, when the Mondulkiri provincial police commissioner issued a summons to Nhev Mloeung, and his family members Meung Sotek and Kreuk Try. The police asked them to come to the Office of Minor Criminal Police in Mondulkiri to discuss a complaint filed by Non Phally. Phally alleged that the Bunong relatives had destroyed and stolen fence posts on his land.
Mloeung said the 12-hectare piece of land has belonged to his family since 1979, but until now it has not been registered with the government. In order to prevent cattle from entering the farmland, Mloeung said he built a fence around the land in early April.
“I received a summons [on Wednesday] and I agreed to go to the police and make a record of the land. I described the story of my ancestral land that was left to the next generation to take care of,” he said. “The police said both sides have no right to do anything on the disputed land, wait for a solution.”
But, according to Mloeung, people who claimed the land was theirs did not listen to the police and instead continued to destroy the fence and clear the land on Sunday.
“I came in and forbade them to continue, but they filed a complaint,” he said. “The police came to arrest my grandfather, brother and sister and sent them to the Mondulkiri provincial police commissioner immediately. ”
Even though he himself was not arrested, Mloeung said police officials forced him to be fingerprinted and sign an agreement to end the conflict; they told him if he did not agree he would have to go to court.
The forcible and warrantless arrests were unjust, Mloeung said.
“I am a victim, it is not fair for us, I did nothing wrong, just go and see peacefully. Why did the owner of the land get arrested and put in a car to the provincial commissioner?” he said. “And why is the person who came to encroach on our land not wrong?”
CamboJA did not reach Non Phally for comment in time for publication of this story.
So Sovann, Mondulkiri provincial police deputy, told CamboJA that the three relatives were sent to the police because they were the ones who destroyed and stole the fence posts. He said the land title belonged to someone else, not the arrested family members.
The police will release the three indigenous people after they accept the truth that the land does not belong to them, Sovann said.
“After they [the Bunong family members] agree to give the land to the owner’s who have the [land title] documents, and after we finish the negotiation, they can go back home,” he said.
Kroeung Tola, ADHOC monitoring officer in Mondulkiri Province, said the three indigenous people had tried to stop others from clearing their land on Sunday. They wanted to settle the disagreement peacefully, and did not do anything violent or illegal, he said.
“They just wanted to negotiate a proper solution and ask them to stop clearing their burial land, but another group said they had the land title and all the documents. But the indigenous people did not agree to give up their land or have it cleared by others,” he said. “Then the person who claimed he was the landowner called the police to catch [the Bunong family members].”
The 12-hectare piece of land includes a plantation and burial grounds of the Bunong ethnic group, according to Tola.
“[Bunong people] protected this land since 1979, but during Pol Pot’s regime they were taken to another place,” he said. “After the war ended, they came back in 1983 and continued to protect the land until today, but the land title is with other people.”
Arresting people without a warrant is wrong and this case is not a criminal offense, he said. He added that the authorities should deal with this situation in accordance with Cambodian law, whether these three individuals are right or wrong about the land belonging to them.
Am Sam Ath, operations manager with the NGO LICADHO, said that the authorities should have properly investigated this case before making the arrests.
“If there is a directive from the authorities, both sides should wait for a peaceful settlement and should not touch the disputed land,” Samath said. “But if only one party goes to record the actions of the other party peacefully, and then there are arrests, it is a violation of their rights and unreasonable.”
Mloeung hopes that Mondulkiri authorities help to intervene in this land dispute and that his relatives will be let go immediately.
“I urge the authorities, relevant officials at all levels and the Ministry of Justice to help resolve the land issue and release my three relatives,” he said. “We, the indigenous people, are very alarmed when family members are arrested.”
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Indigenous peoples' rights defender, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 14, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 30, 2023
- Event Description
The Interior Ministry issued a statement warning that it would take action against the Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies (CPSC) right before the organization was going to hold a conference in Siem Reap on May 30 and 31.
The title of the event was “Review of Current Humanitarian efforts, and seeking effective ways forward.”
The Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies (CPSC) is an NGO based in Siem Reap that focuses on peacebuilding and conflict resolution in Asia.
The ministry’s statement said the CPSC’s conference would be “an unjustifiable intervention” in ASEAN member states and would go against the ASEAN Charter. The charter was adopted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2007 and outlines the purpose and principles of the intergovernmental organization.
The ministry’s statement said the meeting would also violate “the rules of associations and non-government organization” in Cambodia according to requirements of the Interior Ministry.
CPSC issued a statement on May 30 confirming that the meeting “would be called off to comply with the ministry’s letter.”
When CamboJA called CPSC, the person who answered declined to comment on the issue before hanging up. The NGO did not respond to further requests for comment.
Am Sam Arth, operations director for Cambodian human rights NGO Licadho, said it is not illegal for these organizations to hold meetings as part of their work.
“For me, I think the Interior Ministry made such a fast decision to stop their meeting,” he said. “They should have considered the main purpose [of NGOs].”
He added that Cambodian NGOs already have to register with the Interior Ministry, and international NGOs must sign the memorandum of understanding with the Foreign Affairs Ministry. CPSC did not do anything wrong, he said.
“The government must provide protection, respect and appreciation for the work NGOs are doing in developing our nation,” he said. “They are good partners with the government that help fulfill certain criteria and address shortcomings.”
Interior Ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak claimed in an interview with CamboJA that CPSC admitted that it was wrong to hold the meeting and that what they did was against the ASEAN regulations.
“[CPSC] did activities that are against the ASEAN charter,” he said. “This is the work of ASEAN, they [NGOs] cannot intervene in the internal affairs.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- NGO
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 6, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 31, 2023
- Event Description
The Supreme Court this morning rejected the appeals of nine current and former political, social, and youth activists. The court upheld the incitement convictions against current and former Khmer Thavrak activists Chhoeun Daravy, Hun Vannak, Tha Lavy and Eng Malai; Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA) activists Koet Saray, Moung Sopheak and Mean Prummony; and former Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) members Chhour Pheng (also known as Chhou Pheng) and Chum Puthy (also known as Tum Vuthy, or Chhum Vuthy).
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s sentencing of the activists to 20 months in prison with between five to six months of their sentences suspended. Daravy, Vannak, Pheng and Puthy were sentenced to serve 15 months in prison, while Saray, Sopheak, Prummony, Lavy and Malai were sentenced to serve 14 months. All nine defendants were also each fined 2 million riel (US$500).
The activists were arrested in August and September 2020 and held in pre-trial detention, which was credited to their sentences. All nine activists were released from prison in early November 2021, but remain under a two-year probation period with restrictive conditions until November 2023.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted the nine activists, along with five other co-defendants, of incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code on 26 October 2021. Ten of the defendants appealed their convictions, which were upheld by the Phnom Penh Appeal Court on 22 August 2022. Nine defendants subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, as reflected in today’s verdict. The criminal charges were brought against all the activists in relation to peaceful demonstrations following the July 2020 arrest of former union leader and labour rights activist Rong Chhun.
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, NGO staff, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 6, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 24, 2023
- Event Description
The Ministry of Environment condemned the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia after its youth activists delivered a petition Monday to halt state land grants to private companies in Kirirom national park, according to a statement.
Mother Nature activist Thoun Sreypov, 21, said the petition had urged the government to stop granting land to private companies in Kirirom National Park, a popular tourist destination in Kampong Speu province.
On June 27 last year, a state sub-decree granted a private company, One More Ltd, 221.94 hectares of forest land within Kirirom. One of the company’s directors is Choeung Sokuntheavy, daughter of tycoon Choeung Sopheap, whose husband is senator Lao Meng Khin.
The activists’ petition requested the government “withdraw the licenses from private companies” in the national park and return the land to the state.
The Ministry of Environment said that the group had been committing “illegal acts” and was not an officially recognized NGO. The Ministry’s statement added that anyone who participated in the movement would be held “accountable” and that the group’s activities were “against the interests of Cambodian society.”
“There is nothing illegal whatsoever about young Cambodian citizens exercising their rights and participating in peaceful public events,” said Mother Nature’s co-founder, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, who was deported in 2015.
Ministry of Environment spokesperson Neth Pheaktra declined to comment further.
When asked whether the group’s petitioners would face legal consequences, National police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun said “Why did you ask me this question?”
“Any organization or anyone doing illegal activities will face arrests,” he said. “Do not ask me like this, now I am busy.” He hung up the phone.
The Ministry of Environment established a new government-supported NGO, also called Mother Nature, in February. A range of prominent environmental activists have publicly aligned themselves with the ruling CPP in the past months, as July elections approach.
Sreypov, the activist, said she thought the Ministry of Environment should focus on responding to the social and environmental issues raised by her group rather than attempting to discredit the activists.
“This is real intimidation and the threats thwart youth involvement with us,” she said. “They are violating our freedom of speech to raise concerns in society, while using the law to attack us.”
“We voice what we see that is wrong,” she added. “They must not stop our activities.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Land rights defender, NGO
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 30, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 22, 2023
- Event Description
After withholding years-worth of owed wages from employees, the bus company Giant Ibis Transport reached an agreement earlier this month to comply with the labor law and pay compensation to 30 laid off union workers who have been protesting for months.
But the company has since failed to deliver the compensation by the agreed upon May 22 deadline following an agreement signed by the company on May 13, according to union leader Siem Morady and documents seen by CamboJA.
“The company was due to pay us laid off workers by May 22,” Morady says. “However, the company now seems in total silence.”
The 30 Giant Ibis Transport union members say they are legally owed severance and seniority payments — allegedly amounting to well over $100,000 — which have not been provided since 80 employees were laid off in April 2020.
In negotiations, Giant Ibis Transport representative Ou Phanny — who signed the agreement on behalf of the company — told the laid off union members they would receive their withheld wages but would not be reinstated, Morady said.
Phanny allegedly shouted and behaved aggressively towards the union representatives during the negotiation process at the Labor Ministry, Morady said.
“He ranted and threatened to provoke violence against employees,” Morady said. “This image looks brutal in Cambodia. He did not care, while he leaned on power from the powerful person.”
Morady referred to tycoon Kith Meng, whose conglomerate Royal Group launched Giant Ibis Transport. Morady and others say Meng is the company’s real owner, even though the connection between Royal Group and the bus company is not identified in public records.
Royal Group did not respond to requests for comment. Kith Meng could not be reached.
Morady and other union members accuse Giant Ibis Transport of effectively engaging in union-busting behavior. The company has also been actively recruiting new workers instead of rehiring the laid off union drivers, Morady added.
“We have urged the company to take us back to work, but the company’s representatives failed to do so,” he said. “This is real discrimination against union members”.
Ou Phanny, who identified himself as a Giant Ibis Bus manager, denied the company was discriminating against union members and said he had not acted aggressively.
“Who said I used violence?” Phanny said, laughing. “It is not like that.”
The company claimed this week that it had miscalculated the payments owed to workers and needed more time, pushing back the deadline until June 7 which the union reluctantly agreed to, Morady said.
Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, which helped the Giant Ibis employees unionize in 2020, said that miscalculating the severance and seniority payment to laid-off employees was an excuse.
“This is real intimidation,” Thorn said. “The workers have agreed to take the money, although they are not taken back to normal work.”
“If the company claims that they need to calculate again, why do they take so long to just recalculate?” he added.
While non-union members have already been accepted back into the workforce, the union members have been required to renounce their legally owed benefits to resume working at the company, Morady said.
The exact payment for workers was not specified in the agreements, but Morady, a bus driver with the company, said the 30 workers are each owed around $7,000 to $8,000 including back pay since their suspension.
Cambodian labor law states that suspensions more than two months require permission from the Labor Ministry. The Labor Ministry did not respond to requests for comment as to whether this permission had been granted.
“The Labor Ministry works as a specialist to solve problems related to labor disputes, so if the company said they are unable to calculate, what about the ministry?” Ath Thorn said. “Unless they are biased towards the employer”.
Morady said he and representatives met with the Labor Ministry and the company on Thursday to discuss the payments workers were owed.
“The company is transparently seen to be holding out on this negotiation for their own benefit,” Morady said. “They said they need to project the total payback for the settlement with us. It’s just a company ploy.”
A letter shared with CamboJA shows that, as part of the negotiations, workers are prevented from protesting until the settlement was concluded.
More than a dozen other workers were unable to sign their names because they remained at their homes in the provinces and could not afford to travel to the city, Morady said.
“Now the negotiation is pushed back to June 7 and we do not know what will happen,” Morady added. “It has not come to an end yet. If they still do not comply, we will continue to protest.”
- Impact of Event
- 30
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Labour rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 30, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 25, 2023
- Event Description
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court this morning issued incitement convictions for nine current and former union activists from the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), including imprisoned union President Chhim Sithar. The convictions under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code are related to the union’s ongoing peaceful strike.
The court sentenced Sithar to the maximum prison sentence of two years and she was immediately detained following the verdict. Sithar and the other unionists were previously arrested and imprisoned in December and January 2022, before being bailed in March 2022. Sithar was re-arrested and imprisoned on 26 November 2022 for allegedly violating judicial supervision conditions, despite the fact that neither she nor her lawyers were ever informed of any conditions.
Five other LRSU unionists – Chhim Sokhorn, Hay Sopheap, Kleang Soben, Sun Srey Pich, and Touch Sereymeas – were each sentenced to one year and six months in prison, but the five women will remain out of prison and under judicial supervision until all appeal routes are exhausted.
The remaining three defendants – Sok Narith, Sok Kongkea, and Ry Sovandy – received one-year sentences that were suspended. The court provided no reasoning in its judgment.
LRSU members have been on strike since December 2021 following mass layoffs at the NagaWorld casino, which included LRSU’s entire leadership and a significant number of its members. Members have faced judicial harassment, physical attacks, and sexual assaults by authorities during the course of their peaceful strike.
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 30, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 23, 2023
- Event Description
Independent researcher Chan Vibol has been charged with plotting and incitement after participating in a May workshop run by the land rights group Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community (CCFC), according to a Tuesday evening statement from the Ratanakiri provincial court.
Vibol, who is not a CCFC employee, is the fourth person to face charges for attending the multi-day workshop in Ratanakiri. The court has issued a warrant for Vibol’s arrest, according to court spokesperson Keo Pisoth, Ratanakiri court spokesperson.
After reviewing the evidence, the prosecutor described the workshop as a “secret gathering which discussed political issues to cause incitement in farmers to rise up and cause turmoil in society, leading to the overthrow of the government,” according to an unofficial translation of the court’s Tuesday statement.
“The investigating judge is further investigating their computers and some documents,” Pisoth said. But he declined to share further information about the specific evidence underpinning the court’s allegations.
The several dozen CCFC workshop attendees had their phones collected and put in a box of drinking water bottles, while a security camera was turned away to avoid recording the workshop’s activities, according to the court’s statement.
On Monday, the court brought the same charges of plotting and incitement against CCFC president Theng Savoeun and two colleagues, who have been in custody since May 17 and were placed in pretrial detention earlier this week.
Last week, Interior Ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak accused workshop participants of plotting a “peasant revolution” which CCFC representatives and supporters have repeatedly denied.
The charges for the four detained workshop participants are under articles 453, 494 and 495 of Cambodia’s criminal code. Plotting carries a five to 10 year prison sentence and a 4 million riel fine — approximately $972.
Senior investigator for human rights group Adhoc, Soeng Sankaruna, said he was disturbed by the court’s characterization of CCFC’s workshop as a “secret” gathering as opposed to a routine internal discussion.
“It is very concerning because usually civil society groups have cooperated together in monitoring and training citizens on their rights,” he said. “In general meetings, they don’t want to reveal what they are discussing to the public and I believe other institutions who have a meeting also don’t want everybody to know about their meetings too.”
“It will make other civil society groups concerned about organizing assemblies as any accusation might happen,” he added.
Vibol earned a PhD in political science from the Royal Academy of Cambodia in 2013.
As a freelance researcher, Vibol has produced reports that include surveying the Kingdom’s NGO operations and providing recommendations for improving civil society work in the Kingdom.
Vibol could not be reached for comment.
Vibol wrote on his Linkedin that he is “envisioning to see all live in peace and dignity.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: three NGO staff interrogated, arrested
- Date added
- May 30, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 19, 2023
- Event Description
Members of land communities from Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Svay Rieng, Kampong Speu, and Kandal provinces gathered to demand the release of three Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC) staffers who were arrested on 18 May.
Theng Savoeun, the association’s president; Nhel Pheap, senior organizing officer; and Thann Hach, community facilitator officer, were charged by the Ratanakiri Provincial Court with plotting against the nation and incitement under Articles 453 and 494-495 of the Criminal Code, respectively. Say Kouhav, the investigating judge, sent all three CCFC staff members to pre-trial detention in Ratanakiri prison at approximately 6:30 pm today. If convicted, they face between 5 and 10 years in prison.
While hundreds of community members gathered outside the Ministry of Interior to demand the three men’s release, many others were blocked by authorities from travelling to the capital. On 19 May 2023, community members from Koh Kong province were blocked by local authorities at 2 am as they attempted to drive to Phnom Penh. They were stopped for around two hours and threatened with arrest if they continued their journey. After they returned home, authorities warned community representatives that any further efforts by community members to gather in Phnom Penh would be met with arrests.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: three NGO staff interrogated, arrested
- Date added
- May 30, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 17, 2023
- Event Description
Three staffers at the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC) have been arrested and are expected to be sent to court, a day after police in Kratie province stopped a bus carrying 37 people and detained several people for questioning overnight.
This morning, police formally arrested Theng Savoeun, CCFC president; Nhil Pheap, a senior officer at the NGO; and Thann Hach, a project officer. Reasons for stopping the bus and the arrests are not clear. The three were among those detained overnight, while the remaining 34 people left the police station in their own bus this morning.
Authorities confiscated computers, mobile phones, and written documents from the group, and the Ministry of Interior’s Anti Cyber Crime Department were seen entering the police station following the staffers’ detention.
CCFC is a membership-based organisation established in 2011 to address land rights and issues affecting Cambodia’s farmers. Savoeun was previously arrested alongside other NGO staffers and community members in January 2014 following a violent crackdown on demonstrators in Phnom Penh, and spent five months in prison prior to receiving a largely suspended sentence of four years.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Land rights defender, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 19, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 25, 2023
- Event Description
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday threatened to fire the relatives of a popular Cambodian online activist based in France who has been highly critical of the longtime leader and the government.
Thousands of viewers watch Sorn Dara’s talk shows on Facebook during which he routinely attacks Hun Sen and calls for his removal from office. His father is a military officer and a longtime supporter of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and and his sister-in-law works at the Ministry of Interior.
“You want to try me if your parents don’t teach you lessons. I will fire your parents – including your relatives – from their jobs,” Hun Sen said at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh. “You are so rude. I will invite your father and your sister-in-law to learn some lessons and don’t complain that I am taking your relatives as hostages,” an apparent reference to firing them.
Sorn Dara lives in exile in France and is seeking asylum there. He most recently criticized Hun Sen for promising free admission to people and participants during the upcoming Southeast Asia Games, which are being held in Cambodia next month.
The move has been criticized as a way to curry favor with voters ahead of July’s parliamentary election.
Following his threats on Tuesday, Hun Sen posted videos of Sorn Dara’s mother and brother on Telegram saying they were disappointed that Sorn Dara hasn’t joined the CPP.
‘You insult your parents’
Hun Sen also spoke publicly about Sorn Dara in February, saying that he wasn’t a good son because he didn’t listen to his parents.
“You insult your parents to whom you owe gratitude saying they have less education than you,” he said. “Your parents gave birth to you. You still look down on them. How about the regular people? If you don’t recognize your parents, then you are not human.”
Sorn Dara is a former official of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was dissolved by the Supreme Court in November 2017. He said his father disowned him that same year because he had refused to join the CPP.
Sorn Dara’s father, Col. Sok Sunnareth, deputy chief of staff of the Kampong Speu Provincial Operations Area and a ruling party working group official, publicly implored his son on Feb. 22 to stop criticizing Hun Sen and his government, according to a Khmer Times report.
On Tuesday, Sorn Dara responded to Hun Sen’s latest angry threat with a Facebook post that said the prime minister should act in a more mature manner and lead the country with dignity.
Speaking to Radio Free Asia, Sorn Dara noted that Hun Sen has recently been using threats and tricks against political opponents as the election looms.
“I don’t want to be associated with my family. They are different from me,” he said. “No one can stop me from doing something.”
‘I will try to advise my brother’
Sorn Dara’s parents appeared in a short video in February posted by the pro-government Fresh News, saying they had severed ties with their son.
His brother, Sorn Saratt, told RFA on Tuesday that he has also cut ties with him. But he said he will try to convince his brother to defect from the opposition party and join the CPP.
“I will try to advise my brother to stop attacking the King, the government and Samdech [Hun Sen], to stay away from traitors and return to the family and the country,” he said.
Ros Sotha, executive director of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, told RFA that Hun Sen’s threat isn’t legitimate. He urged the prime minister to be patient and to avoid violating human rights and the law.
“As a leader, he shouldn’t be afraid of being criticized,” he said. “There is no law that [Sorn Dara’s relatives] will be fired because they are related to members of the opposition party.”
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation, Right to work
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 26, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 16, 2023
- Event Description
The Information Ministry revoked the licenses of three media outlets on Thursday after they published reports exposing a senior government official’s role in land fraud.
The Ministry stated that online Khmer language media outlets Federation of Cambodia-ASEAN Journalists, Raksmey Kampong Cham and Dumnong Knong Srok had “committed serious violations of journalistic ethics” and “not followed the instruction of the ministry.”
Chea Lyheang, president and publisher of the Federation of Cambodia-ASEAN Journalists, expressed disappointment that the Ministry revoked his outlet’s license without clear explanation.
“We regret this, please show the exact issue and what mistake we have made,” Lyheang told CamboJA.
Lyheang said the Information Ministry had called him for a meeting in February and requested that he remove articles alleging that government officials had forged documents in a land dispute and, in another case, involved in the extortion of poor families.
One report, published in all three outlets, revealed that senior ruling CPP National Assembly member Sar Chamrong, former deputy governor of Banteay Meanchey, allegedly forged documents to gain more than 60 hectares of land in Banteay Meanchey.
“After seeing forged documents and thumb prints, I have published this information and Sar Chamrong has complained to the Information Ministry,” Lyheang said.
Chamrong heads the National Assembly’s Commission on Human Rights, Complaints and Investigations. In February 2020, Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith led a delegation to pay respects at the funeral of Chamrong’s mother.
Chamrong could not be reached for comment by CamboJA.
The Information Ministry claimed the articles damaged the honor of the officials named in the report, according to Lyheang.
“I replied that I cannot remove the information because it is real information, especially a lie to Prime Minister Hun Sen,” Lyheang said.
Another article published in the three outlets revealed that a Takeo provincial deputy prosecutor had seized property from three families who bought it from Ratanakiri province and demanded they pay him money to get it back.
Chea Saren, publisher of Dumnong Knong Srok, published the same reports into land disputes and land fraud this year, including in a video segment receiving more than 169,000 views on Facebook. He said the Information Ministry requested he remove the articles, which he refused to do.
“They [Information Ministry] had requested to remove those two articles but I didn’t follow [their request] because we have enough documents and are interviewing villagers,” he said. “We have published the real information of villagers, which might have impacted other people’s interests.”
Information Ministry spokesperson Meas Sophorn denied the Ministry had asked the media outlets to remove articles.
“It isn’t true,” Sophorn said. “The decision to revoke licenses came because those media outlets have broadcasted disinformation with no verification of sources from relevant parties related to information they have published, and they didn’t make a correction to disinformation they had published.”
The spokesperson claimed that the land dispute in Banteay Meanchey province was already resolved and so there was no need to report further on it. He added the outlets had “violated journalistic professional ethics…stated in the Press Law.”
The Press Law states that anybody who believes they have been subject to a false report damaging them may file a civil suit to resolve the matter in court.
“For me, I want to see a thorough investigation of the cases before closing [the publications],” said Nop Vy, executive director of Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association (CamboJA).
Press freedom in Cambodia has worsened as a result of the closure of these outlets, he said.
“From my perspective, if [the closure of media outlets] continues, it will not be a good image for our society, it could have a lot of impacts, especially impacting the push for transparency and [ability] to root out corruption in our society,” Vy said.
The government has previously censored the media for reporting information that it deems to damage the reputation of officials.
In February, the government shut down independent media VOD and blocked access to its website for a report alleging the Prime Minister’s son Hun Manet had signed a document in place of his father to provide aid to Turkey.
“It is a lesson learned for other media institutions,” Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said on his Facebook page after the announcement of VOD’s closure. “The media institutions that do not agree to publish clarifications, [they] will face the revocation of their licenses.”
The revocation of VOD’s license was condemned by a range of foreign embassies, the United Nations and human rights groups. But Prime Minister Hun Sen brushed off those concerns and said VOD’s shut down strengthened the Kingdom’s journalism by punishing what he claimed to be unprofessional reporting.
Following the loss of its license, outlet Dumnong Knong Srok posted a goodbye to followers on its Facebook page.
“Farewell to the professional journalists all over the Kingdom of Cambodia who are in love with the field of journalism,” Dumnong Knong Srok said in a Friday post. “Wish them good health and continue to spread true information to the society for the motherland.”
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Censorship
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 19, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 9, 2023
- Event Description
Venerable Soy Sat was arrested on 9 March 2023 in Battambang province and detained overnight at the provincial police station. The monk was defrocked and released on the evening of 10 March, and consequently forced back into civilian life.
The arrest occurred during Venerable Soy Sat’s ongoing religious march, which started on 1 March 2023 in the capital and was set to end roughly 350 kilometres away in the border city of Poipet.
Venerable Soy Sat marched to highlight seven demands, including calling for monks who join social actions to not be expelled from pagodas; for courts to not be improperly used against activists; for respect for all citizens’ freedom of expression; for the fair resolution of land conflicts; and for the release of politicians, civil society members, and youths currently detained in prison.
The arrest in Battambang followed an earlier disruption on 7 March 2023, when authorities from neighbouring Pursat province briefly stopped the activist monk and questioned him.
This is the second time this year that Venerable Soy Sat took part in a national march across multiple provinces. In late January, the monk joined a march headed by then-union leader Rong Chhun, who is now a Vice President of the Candlelight Party. Upon returning to his home in Plaoch pagoda in Kampong Speu, Venerable Soy Sat was told he could no longer reside there. He has been living in a nearby forested area since.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 19, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 25, 2023
- Event Description
Nine Boeng Tamok lake residents face charges of “intentional acts of violence and obstruction of public officials” and were placed under court supervision following a February 21 warrant issued by the Phnom Penh Municipal court.
The residents received the warrant in the morning and were ordered to appear in court by the afternoon. They did not attend because their lawyer from human rights NGO Licadho was unavailable, they said.
Court spokesperson Y Rin said there was no further information to share and Lim Sokuntheara, the judge who issued the warrant, could not be reached for comment.
For years, the outspoken residents of Samraong Tboung village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh have protested the filling-in of Boeng Tamok, one of the capital’s last remaining natural lakes. They are also on the verge of being evicted from their homes and losing their livelihoods fishing and harvesting vegetation from the lake as a series of land giveaways to well-connected elites and developers transform the landscape.
Prak Sophea, a prominent activist and resident of Samraong Tboung village along the lake, denied the allegations. She said the charges likely arose after an altercation between authorities and residents in October last year.
Local authorities had barred residents from making home repairs on the grounds they were illegal squatters and gave them packs of noodles as compensation. A group of frustrated villagers later burned the donated gifts in front of village security officers, who kicked the embers at them. In response, the villagers threw rice. The embers burned Sophea and forced her to visit the hospital for treatment, she said.
“Should we stand for the authorities to beat us, can we not defend ourselves?” said Sophea, a 43-year-old mother of three. “Does the law allow us to protect ourselves or let the authorities beat people?”
Committing an “intentional act of violence” carries a maximum of three years imprisonment and a six million riel fine, while “obstruction of public officials” could lead to a one year prison sentence and two million riel fine, according to the Cambodian criminal code.
Sophea and at least 10 villagers have already been ordered to appear in court a combined three times since 2022.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court previously issued a court summons in August 2022 for seven representatives of Samraong Tboung village, including Sophea. The Prek Pnov district head of security claimed the residents had committed obstruction of public officials, incitement and public disorder.
Soeun Sreysoth, 32, said herself, her husband and her brother were named in the most recent court summons. She added that she is disappointed as they had merely sought to raise their voices to secure legal land ownership of property they have occupied for years.
“It is injustice for citizens because we are just advocating, fighting for our housing rights, but the authorities issued a warrant to threaten us,” she said.
According to urban poor NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), at least 2,244.45 hectares of the lake’s 3,239.69 hectares have been filled in with sand, following a 2016 sub-decree allowing the government to rent or sell land in and around the lake.
In recent years, filled-in areas around Boeng Tamok lake have been distributed to wealthy and powerful individuals and companies. Recipients include ruling party CPP senator Kok An, Chea Sophalen, the daughter of Land Minister Chea Sophara, military commanders Vong Pisen and Sao Sokha and the famous singer Preap Sovath.
Out of many companies, the director of Orkide Villa, Nuth Ton also received 67 hectares of Boeng Tamok lake in September last year. Orkide is chaired by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s daughter Hun Mana, while his other daughter Hun Maly and daughter-in-law Pich Chanmony are also directors in Orkide-brand firms.
Samraong Tboung villagers have not received any land titles or been classified as legal residents but they have always been able to vote for elections, they say.
Soeung Saran, STT’s executive director, said he appreciated development around Phnom Penh but not without consideration of its impact.
“Before developing, we should think about the long-term impact on society and the environment,” he said. “I would like to see more assessments of the social, economic, and environmental impacts before making a decision to modify the land.”
Am Phoeun, a mother of four named in the August 2022 court summons, said that while she has making a living fishing from the lake since 2007, she is now preparing to migrate to Thailand to find another source of income.
“Due to the development and landfill of the lake, We don’t have an income except to decide to migrate,” she said. “We used to depend on fishing, but when the authorities landfill the lake, my family and I got a big effect from it.”
Sophea, she asked the government to find justice for citizens and to let them live where they are because she thought that she would get enough income by living here, such as by selling drinking water.
“We have lost income from development, so we want to live in the development area,” she said. “We can do business [there].”
“We are deeply hurt and frustrated by the authorities,” she continued. “It is one of the most unfair things that the people of the lake have no right to live there while only high officials, companies and institutions have the right to live there.”
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: seven WHRDs summoned for protesting evictions
- Date added
- Mar 6, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2023
- Event Description
Following a BBC profile of prominent VOD reporter Mech Dara titled “Cambodia: ‘Every newsroom I worked in gets silenced’”, Dara’s former employer The Phnom Penh Post sought to undermine Dara’s credibility by negatively portraying his mental health..
In a February 17 editorial titled “The Post: “Shut down” and “silenced”?” The Post claimed they had not had the right to reply to BBC and disputed the characterization that Dara had left because the paper had changed ownership to a PR firm with close ties to the government in 2018.
But they also included a section titled “about Dara’s personality” where the unsigned editorial described Dara as a “coward”, “mentally impacted” with “prominent personality flaws.”
Dara declined to comment.
“All this probably seems childish to a global audience and is highly unlikely to negatively impact Dara’s glowing reputation abroad,” wrote J. Daniel Sims, Cambodia director for anti-trafficking NGO International Justice Mission, in a Twitter thread. “However, coordinated attacks like this carry serious weight locally and have the potential to dramatically alter public opinion about him.”
Sims noted that Dara had been one of the VOD reporters leading the publication’s sustained exposé into Cambodia’s human trafficking and scam industry.
“This is the most pernicious and dangerous form of propaganda as it effectively reduces the net political cost of any potential violence against him [Dara],” Sims added. “In a context like this one, the risks of such a horrifying outcome are anything but theoretical.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: leading independent news got licence revoked
- Date added
- Feb 27, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 13, 2023
- Event Description
Following the government-ordered shutdown of VOD last week, the outlet has been the subject of vulgar social media memes and its reporters continue to face personal attacks online and in government-aligned media.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has stated the VOD report which led him to revoke the outlet’s license last week was “fake news” and a political attack on the government.
“This is not the first time, and this time is too serious,” Hun Sen said Monday. “They intentionally attack both father [him] and son [Hun Manet] and destroy the government, you are trying to destroy me, it should be enough.”
Amidst the framing of VOD as fake news, Adhoc spokesperson Soeng Senkaruna said that there are few remaining media in Cambodia willing to report on negative issues. Freedom of press had been on the decline since the dissolution of the CNRP in 2017, he added.
“Now we see that the situation has gone backwards, which is worrying,” he said. “We do not want to see images of restrictions on the press and civil society in a democratic society, and this event has made journalists fearful of fulfilling their role to serve society and the people.”
PM defends sexual harassment of journalist
On Monday, Hun Sen rebuked a group of more than 40 civil society organizations after they released a joint-statement last week condemning the sexual harassment of a female VOD reporter on social media.
The letter was addressed to the Minister of Information, Minister of Women’s Affairs, Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, and the Minister of Post and Telecommunications, urging the ministries to take action against social media personality Pheng Vannak for verbally attacking a female reporter.
The letter stated that Pheng Vannak, who runs a self-titled social media news page, wielded misogynistic language against a female VOD reporter and demanded he apologize and attend gender sensitivity training. But the Prime Minister appeared to downplay Vannak’s comments.
“These NGOs were established only to oppose the government and not to do anything to protect women’s equality,” Hun Sen said during a February 20 speech to Phnom Penh university students. “When my sister [sister-in-law] died, she was insulted, my wife was insulted, my family was insulted, but you [NGOs] did not come out to defend, so next time don’t talk about double standards with me.”
Regarding the insults, Hun Sen was likely referring to statements made by exiled opposition figure Sam Rainsy, who mocked the death of the Prime Minister’s sister-in-law in early February.
“I am waiting to see if all civil society organizations are taking action to protect my family as well,” Hun Sen said, warning he could order investigations into the NGOs’ financing.
“If it is necessary to audit [the NGOs] to find out where the money came from, we have the right to do so and the Ministry of Interior or the Anti-Corruption Unit could investigate,” he added.
While no other ministry responded directly to the civil society statement as of Monday, the Ministry of Women’s affairs released a statement Monday which urged civil society organizations to remain neutral and not pursue political interests.
“We call on civil society organizations to adhere to professional ethics and display impartiality in the conduct of their work, avoiding the application of biased and double standards,” the statement read.
Chim Channeang, secretary general of the Cambodian NGO Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, signed the statement. She said the aims of the organizations signing the statement were not political.
“The role of civil society organizations is that we work in line with the government, our job is to work together as a government partner, and our role is to monitor the government,” she said. “For political parties, we do not interfere.”
Channeang said civil society organizations often receive money from abroad because Cambodia is a developing country with limited resources. She noted some government ministries also receive funding from foreign institutions.
“It does not mean…doing daily activities to serve foreign interests or doing whatever the foreigner wants, we bring that money just to contribute to the government and it helps develop the country and benefit the poor or minority groups in our community,” she said.
She said that condemning the harassment of the female VOD journalist was not a political act but was intended to promote greater protection of women.
“We are not taking sides, but the fact is that the girl who reported the news was insulted, and it is such a serious threat to make,” Channeang said. “It destroys her reputation, especially it affects her mental health.”
Backlash against VOD reporters
While international media, foreign embassies and numerous Cambodians mourned and condemned the closure of VOD in a series of articles, editorials and social media posts, VOD staff came under attack on social media and in government-aligned news outlets.
The day VOD’s license was revoked on February ,13 a series of Twitter users — many appearing to be fake accounts — began posting identical cartoons and messages applauding VOD’s closure with the hashtag #VODshithead.
The Twitter accounts shared cartoons which portrayed VOD as a tool of foreign agents such as “foreign embassies” and “NGO[s]”.
In one cartoon branded with the vulgar hashtag, a figure resembling the American icon Uncle Sam, in a tophat with the VOD logo, has a thought bubble attached reading “You must adhere to the strategies I have established” while painting Cambodia with paint labeled “human right” and “democracy.”
A group of white journalists stands watching and one says “Each of us must follow our boss’s instructions regarding fake reports. Our boss gives us money and protects us.”
Few of the comments received more than 100 views, according to Twitter.
The attacks on VOD reporters extended to government-aligned media.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: leading independent news got licence revoked
- Date added
- Feb 27, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 21, 2023
- Event Description
NagaWorld union leader Chhim Sithar and eight co-defendants appeared for their first day of trial in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday. Sithar and all her colleagues, except for one, denied the incitement charges against them.
Prosecutors claim that Sithar and her fellow union members are guilty of incitement to disturb security for leading a union strike for more than a year after Phnom Penh authorities declared the labor movement illegal.
Over the course of the three and a half hour hearing, Presiding judge Soeung Chakriya focused on questioning Sithar about the union’s funding, especially from international donors.
Sithar acknowledged she had requested and received funds to support the union’s activities from three international donors: U.S.-based non-profit East West Management Institute (EWMI), feminist NGO JASS and North American union Unite Here.
The three organizations could not be reached for comment.
Sithar said the union received $10,000 from EWMI, $15,000 from JASS and $5,000 from Unite Here as “humanitarian funds” to aid members laid off during Covid-19.
“I made proposals for receiving funds to support the union’s operations and humanitarian funds in helping members during COVID-19, and layoff jobs,” Sithar said.
Deputy prosecutor Seng Heang said that Sithar had led the illegal protest without permission from Phnom Penh municipal authorities and that international funds support the union’s illegal activities.
“I have observed they [workers] have protested [from] morning till evening with no other job [to support their livelihood],” he said.
“They’re volunteers who come [to strike] and they’re willing to do so,” Sithar replied.
She said the strike was peaceful, legal and protected by the Cambodian constitution’s right to freedom expression.
Approximately 1,300 workers initiated the strike on December 18, 2021 to demand the reinstatement of 365 laid off NagaWorld employees following mass lay-offs and lack of full severance pay. More than one year later, 100 employees still protest their lay-offs.
Sithar, president of the Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employee of NagaWorld (LRSU), has stated the union has followed all legal protocol for the strike. The union has said it only launched a strike after all viable efforts at mediation were exhausted.
But Sithar and her eight fellow union members — Chhim Sokhorn, Hay Sopheap, Kleang Soben, Ry Sovandy, Sok Kongkea, Sok Narith, Sun Sreypich, and Touch Sereymeas — were arrested in January last year and placed in pre-trial detention. They were released from Prey Sar prison on bail in March.
Sithar was re-arrested in November last year and detained for allegedly violating bail.
Only one defendant, Kongkea, accepted the charges of incitement in court but later declined to speak with reporters.
Senior Adhoc investigator Yi Soksan said the government, Ministry of Labor and NagaWorld had unfairly dismissed efforts to resolve the strikers demands by instead handing the issue to the system.
“I see that the Royal Government as well as the Ministry of Labor does not seem to care about this labor dispute, they are [Nagaworld staff] laid off unfairly by the company and then the court charges with accusing them of inciting unrest and undermining social security.”
Ministry of Labor spokesperson Heng Sour said in a Telegram message to CamboJA that labor conflicts between former employees of NagaWorld have been settled at the court stage.
“However, he ministry will continue to mediate through the mechanism of the strike and demonstration commission at the request of the conflicting parties,” he said.
NagaWorld could not be reached for comment.
President of Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions Yang Sophorn attended the trial and said she believed LRSU members had legitimate reasons and legal cause to strike but this was ignored by the court.
“Prosecutor questioned tried to place blame, it isn’t about finding justice for Sithar only protecting the interests of the company,” Sophorn told CamboJA News. “[The court] does not mean to find justice for parties involved.”
“I think that the incitement charge was exaggerated because Sithar has tried to explain the root cause of striking and workers’ demands that they have a right to disagree with the employer,” Sophorn added.
Laid off NagaWorld union member Nop Tithboravy and around 100 fellow union members protested outside the court on the day of the hearing.
Tithboravy said she and her colleagues had received numerous threats from the government and struggled to support their families financially after more than one year of striking, refusing to accept the company’s terms.
“I hope the court will bring justice to everyone because we are doing a strike to seek freedom at our workplace and want to go back to work,” she said. “ We don’t have income to support our family, we want to go back to work.”
Tithboravy said the strikers would not end their strike unless the company reinstated all workers and the court dropped all charges against the union members.
The trial is scheduled to resume on February 28.
Outside the court following the hearing, Sithar’s younger brother Chhim Pros said his sister had only followed the law in leading the strike.
“[Sithar] has always helped people from a young age,” he said. “She is just an ordinary girl, she has no ability to destroy the peace in our country.”
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 27, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 13, 2023
- Event Description
The government this morning revoked the media operating licence of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM), parent of the bilingual outlet Voice of Democracy (VOD), one of Cambodia’s few remaining independent media outlets.
The Ministry of Information revoked the licence after Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son, army commander Hun Manet, took issue with a 9 February VOD article that featured reactions from various people. This included a comment from government spokesperson Phay Siphan regarding the claim that Hun Manet had signed an agreement providing financial assistance to Türkiye. Both Manet and the prime minister later took to social media to deny that Manet had signed the document.
On 11 February, Hun Sen wrote on his Facebook page that VOD had 72 hours to apologise to the government and Hun Manet, or else he would direct the Ministry of Information to revoke VOD’s media operating licence. He later shortened this arbitrary deadline to expire on 10am on 13 February. Article 10 of the Press Law specifies the right of public figures who believe media have published false allegations with malicious intent to demand a retraction and sue in court to demand retractions, compensation, or both.
Following a meeting with Ministry of Information officials on 12 February, CCIM issued a letter addressed to Hun Sen expressing VOD’s “regret” and requesting “forgiveness [for] any unintentional wrongdoing”. VOD Khmer also published an article that evening outlining Hun Sen and Hun Manet’s denials.
Hun Sen rejected the apology via a Facebook post, stating that he was unable to accept the words “regret” and “forgiveness” in place of the word “apologise”, and ordered the Ministry of Information to revoke VOD’s licence. CCIM issued an additional letter of apology. Hun Sen again rejected the apology on Facebook in the early morning of 13 February. Several internet service providers had blocked access to VOD’s websites as of this morning.
VOD has become one of the most important independent media outlets in the country in recent years, publishing in Khmer and English. VOD journalists have written more than 60 stories over more than a year documenting widespread slave compounds where trafficked people are forced to conduct cyberscams. In August last year, five VOD journalists were detained and one was struck by the prime minister’s bodyguard unit while reporting on the recently deforested Phnom Tamao forest. The outlet also published dozens of stories from across the country documenting the repressive political space in the lead-up to the 2022 Commune Elections.
The shutdown of an independent media outlet is similar to the crackdown on journalists ahead of the last national election in 2018. In late 2017, the Cambodia Daily was shuttered over an arbitrary tax bill and in 2018 the Phnom Penh Post was sold to a firm with links to the government while facing pressure following a similar arbitrary tax bill. The government also shuttered dozens of radio frequencies carrying broadcasts of Radio Free Asia (RFA), Voice of America (VOA) and VOD.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Censorship
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 13, 2023
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 6, 2023
- Event Description
Around 900 workers at a Phnom Penh factory said the owner won’t let them resume work after a two-month suspension and alleged most of the suspended workers support a pro-worker union.
Of the around 1,700 workers at Zhen Tai factory in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district, around 900 were affected by a factory-requested suspension because there was a drop in orders, said Kim Sophen, president of the Workers’ Spirit Union at the factory.
Sophen said workers were paid $30 a month for the two months and returned to work on Monday but were not allowed into the factory nor were they told if the suspension was extended. They protested outside the factory and demanded to return to work, suggesting a rotation policy with workers still working at the factory.
“If there is no order or work, the factory should allow workers who have been suspended for two months to resume their work and move those who are working to relax in order to help everyone survive,” he said.
Mech Seanghai, deputy president of the union, said she had worked at the factory for 11 years and alleged that most of the suspended workers were supportive of the union.
She said the curtailed pay given to suspended workers was making it hard to live.
“The cost of renting a room alone is between $40 and $100. And the cost of food is also increasing. Therefore, $30 is definitely hard for us to make a living. We also need money to spend on our children’s studies and to pay back our debt to the bank,” she said.
Sin Thy, the factory’s deputy director of administration, declined to comment and directed questions to head of administration Oun Sophea, who could not be reached.
Vong Sovann, the Labor Ministry’s deputy director for dispute resolution, said the ministry had yet to hear from the factory but it was his understanding that the factory would continue the suspensions.
“I looked at the suspension document, the factory said it will suspend work until February 6. So, we will wait and see. We contacted the factory but they have not responded yet,” he said.
According to Sophen, Zhen Tai previously threatened the union when it sought to protect workers’ benefits when the suspensions were first announced, suing three union representatives. An investigating judge at Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a summons calling Sophen, Kum Vandeth, secretary of the union, and Seanghai, for questioning on December 19, 2022.
The summons accused the three union representatives of leading workers to protest and asked for $37,500 in damages.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 12, 2023