LIBRARY

13 February 2023

We, the undersigned media and civil society organizations, are deeply disturbed by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s order to revoke the license of Voice of Democracy (VOD), one of the last remaining independent media outlets in Cambodia. We also condemn the recent sexual harassment and intimidation of a female VOD journalist.

The closure of VOD and the harassment of a female VOD journalist undermine the government’s own claims regarding respect for the free press in Cambodia and appear to reflect a failure to uphold the 1995 Law on the Press. The decision to revoke VOD’s media license ahead of the July 2023 national elections represents a fresh wave of intimidation tactics against the country’s dwindling independent media that mirrors the 2017 closure of the Cambodia Daily and the 2018 sale of the Phnom Penh Post.

13 February 2023

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.

3 January 2023

On 9 January 2023, officers from the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat informed LICADHO’s operations director during an interview that refusing to remove the music video titled “Workers’ Blood” from social media and the organisation’s website would result in further legal action by authorities.

To avoid further legal action, LICADHO removed the music video from Facebook last night and from the website today. A censored page remains in its place.

22 December 2022

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court this morning convicted 36 former leaders, members and supporters of the forcibly dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) of plotting under Article 453 of the Criminal Code. The former opposition activists each received sentences ranging from five to seven years in prison, with only three activists receiving suspended sentences. Political rights of 11 activists were also suspended for a period of five years.

The political activists were convicted on the basis of their Facebook posts and recorded private phone calls regarding an attempt by Mu Sochua and other former CNRP leaders to return to Cambodia in January 2021 to stand trial in a separate mass trial. Sochua was denied boarding because the Cambodian government cancelled her passport and refused to issue her a visa for her country of birth.

12 December 2022

Three NGOs today filed a complaint to the Dutch government’s National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct accusing Oikocredit, a global social investor based in the Netherlands, of failing to conduct proper due diligence on its investments in Cambodia’s microfinance sector since at least 2017, despite evidence of harms directly linked to those investments.

Oikocredit has made large and increasing investments in Cambodian microfinance institutions (MFIs) from 2017 through 2022, at a time when overwhelming evidence of widespread over-indebtedness and negative social impacts was being produced by local NGOs, journalists, international NGOS and even Oikocredit itself. Despite this evidence, Oikocredit increased its investments in Cambodian MFIs, rising from 50 million Euros in 2017 to more than 67 million Euros as of September 2022 – making Cambodia the country with the second-largest exposure in Oikocredit’s portfolio.

7 December 2022

Two people died while being arbitrarily detained at the state-run Prey Speu Social Affairs Centre in August 2022, with evidence pointing to more than 10 deaths among the centre’s detainees during July and August 2022.

LICADHO has documented abuses at Prey Speu since it opened in 2004 and has publicly called for its closure since 2008. Today, we renew that call. Close Prey Speu, and put an end to the horrors faced by the people detained there.

26 November 2022

Union leader Chhim Sithar was detained by immigration police at the Phnom Penh International Airport today after returning to Cambodia following a 12-day trip to Australia. She was detained at immigration at around 10:30 am and has been sent to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Sithar’s lawyer, who was present at the airport, has not been allowed to accompany the union leader during questioning and has been unable to contact her for several hours.

Sithar, the president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), was charged with incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code in January 2022 after the union began a strike action. She was violently arrested while trying to join fellow strikers and spent over two months in pre-trial detention alongside other union leaders and members before being released on bail in March this year. Upon her release, neither Sithar nor her lawyers were informed of any judicial supervision or probation conditions, such as travel restrictions.

10 October 2022

Members of communities affected by land conflicts gathered across Cambodia in the weeks leading up to and following World Habitat Day to call on the government to ensure the right to adequate housing, and to call for a solution to their long-running land disputes.

7 October 2022

Son Chhay, vice president of the opposition Candlelight Party, was convicted of defamation in two cases by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court this afternoon following his public criticism of Cambodia’s June 2022 Commune Elections. He was ordered to pay 3 billion riel (about US$750,000) in compensation to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and two fines totalling 17 million riel (about US$4,250).

The CPP and the NEC filed separate criminal complaints against Chhay in June 2022, alleging that he damaged their reputations after he commented on the fairness of the election results in a media interview. Chhay had claimed that the NEC was controlled by one political party, and that there were irregularities before and during the elections, including intimidation and vote-buying and stealing.

Chhay was charged with defamation under Article 305 of the Criminal Code in August 2022 on the basis of both complaints. Following separate trial hearings, the municipal court announced its judgements related to both complaints this afternoon. Chhay was fined 8 million riel (about US$2,000) and 9 million riel (about US$2,250) in relation to the CPP’s and NEC’s complaints respectively. The judge further announced additional penalties under Article 310 of the Criminal Code, including that the judgements must be posted publicly at Chhay’s residence, his local commune office, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and all polling stations in Phnom Penh for two months, as well as publicised through the media for eight days at Chhay’s expense.

29 September 2022

The Covid-19 Law, officially titled the Law on Preventive Measures Against the Spread of Covid-19 and Other Severe and Dangerous Contagious Diseases, was hurriedly passed on 11 March 2021 without consultation with civil society and other stakeholders, and took immediate effect. The law, reinforced by two hastily drafted sub-decrees on health and administrative measures, grants the government extraordinarily broad powers and discretion to significantly interfere with fundamental social, political and economic rights. There are inadequate provisions for independent oversight of authorities’ measures, and a lack of meaningful limits on the duration and scope of oppressive restrictions. Over half the text of the Covid-19 Law is devoted to penalties, including prison sentences of up to 20 years for vaguely phrased violations.

29 September 2022

Cambodia’s repressive Covid-19 Law has resulted in serious rights violations against human rights defenders, land rights demonstrators, unionists, and other citizens over the past year due to authorities’ discriminatory application of the law’s overly broad scope and powers, and the imposition of excessive penalties. Authorities can charge individuals under the law effectively at any time, despite decreasing case numbers. The potential misuse of the law to suppress criticism and fundamental freedoms is an ongoing threat, and serves as an example of harms caused by rushed legislation granting new, unfettered powers to the government.

14 September 2022

A study commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) provides further evidence of widespread over-indebtedness in Cambodia, resulting in an “alarmingly high” and “unacceptable” number of distressed land sales. The study’s findings indicate that more than 167,000 Cambodian households have had to sell land to repay loans over the past five years. FIAN as well as Cambodian NGOs LICADHO and Equitable Cambodia call on the German government and other donors of the microfinance sector to fulfil their responsibilities and take immediate and concrete action to address this untenable situation.

13 September 2022

The Phnom Penh Appeal Court this morning upheld the March 2022 convictions and prison sentences of 12 former Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) members and one former Interior Ministry official on charges of plotting and incitement.

The case was one of several mass trials launched against former supporters and leaders of the CNRP since November 2020. It centred on alleged support for the “Cambodia National Rescue Movement” abroad and opinions regarding the government’s response to COVID-19 that were made in private online and phone chats and conversations.

The 13 individuals – Chhon Bunchhat, Long Phary, Khut Chroeb, Ngin Khean, Yim Sareth, Khoem Pheana, Thai Sokunthea, Keo Thai, Nhaem Van, Chum Chan, Sok Chantha, Peat Mab, and Sun Thun – were convicted on 17 March 2022 by Phnom Penh Municipal Court and sentenced to 5 years in prison, with a portion of their sentences suspended. The 13 men were detained throughout their trial in the lower court – some were held in detention for over two years – and all are currently serving their remaining sentences of 3 years and 8 months in prison. Last month, at least 12 of the convicted activists were transferred to remote Correctional Centre 3 prison in Tbong Khmum province, as part of a larger group of imprisoned CNRP activists transferred from Phnom Penh to the prison.

1 August 2022

Online money lending networks are targeting Cambodian women on Facebook and Telegram, trapping them into growing debts and extorting them using naked photographs and videos. Social media companies and Cambodian authorities are failing to act, allowing these predatory groups to exploit women with impunity.

In the last year, LICADHO has provided services to three women who have been harassed by informal online lenders. Each with similar experiences, the women first borrowed sums as small as $50 to pay for daily expenses or medical care from groups advertising on Facebook, but ended up being blackmailed and extorted after sending naked photographs and videos in an attempt to escape the cycle of debt.

10 July 2022

Civil society groups and political parties have gathered at multiple events to call for justice for Kem Ley and his family in recent days. Events and ceremonies were held in Phnom Penh and Takeo – Kem Ley’s home province – to mark the sixth anniversary of the political analyst’s murder.

About 70 unionists, youth activists and civil society members gathered this morning outside the Star Mart at the Caltex Bokor service station in central Phnom Penh where Kem Ley was shot dead while drinking his morning coffee on 10 July 2016. Participants laid flowers and held a monk blessing ceremony. The mart was shuttered as commemorators began to gather, while about 20 plainclothes security monitored the event.

Civil society groups continue to call for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry, tasked with conducting an independent, impartial and effective investigation into Kem Ley’s death. The investigation into the killing was widely considered inadequate and failed to identify those beyond the shooter who may have been responsible for the murder.

8 July 2022

The Ratanakiri Provincial Court today convicted five forest activists, including long-time environmental defender Chhorn Phalla, for allegedly instigating damage to forestland to claim ownership of it on Phnom Art in Samot Kraom village, Seda commune, Lumphat district, Ratanakiri province.

Phalla was sentenced to six years in prison. Sithan Nhan, Kham Masok, Lat Branh and Tvae Hok, who are all Tampuon indigenous people, were sentenced to five years in prison. The charges relate to a meeting the five men attended in 2017 in an effort to protect their forests and land and raise awareness about illegal logging.

The five were convicted under Articles 56(4) and 62(1) of the Law on Natural Protected Areas and Article 28 of the Criminal Code. They were not initially charged as instigators, with the charge added as the judge read the verdict today. There was not sufficient evidence presented during the trial to support the charges.

21 June 2022

Recently elected Candlelight commune chief Nhem Sarom was arrested this afternoon and detained in Kampong Thom province for an alleged robbery committed twenty years ago. He is one of four opposition party commune chiefs nationwide who were elected in Cambodia’s commune elections earlier this month.

The alleged robbery occurred in 2002 and Sarom was charged five years later in 2007 under Article 6 of the Law on Aggravating Circumstances of Crimes. An arrest warrant was later issued in 2012. Sarom was convicted in absentia in 2014 alongside three others for allegedly stealing a generator and sentenced to 5 years in prison. The plaintiff had withdrawn her complaint prior to the conviction.

Sarom was elected less than a month ago to become the chief of the Chamna Leu commune council in Stung district, Kampong Thom province and was set to take the position following certification of the election results on 26 June. He previously served as a commune councillor in that commune in 2017 with the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) prior to the party’s dissolution, after which his seat was handed to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

15 June 2022

The Supreme Court this morning upheld the conviction of land community representative Hoeun Sineath from Tbong Khmum province. Sineath was convicted by the Tbong Khmum Provincial Court in December 2020 of intentionally causing damage with aggravating circumstances of acting as a co-perpetrator under Articles 410 and 411(1) of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to two years in prison, a decision upheld by the Tbong Khmum Appeal Court in August 2021 and the Supreme Court this morning.

Multiple communities in Dambe district, Tbong Khmum province have faced a decade-long dispute over community farmland with Harmony Win Investment Co. Ltd., a Chinese-owned rubber company. Sineath, along with eight other villagers who are not in detention, were convicted after they protested the company blocking access to and clearing their land. Sineath was the only one to appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court. He has spent more than 1 year and 10 months in Tbong Khmum prison since his arrest in August 2020.

Sineath was also convicted in a separate case following his arrest. In that case, he was convicted alongside 14 other people for obstructing public officials with aggravating circumstances under Articles 503 and 504 of the Criminal Code after they filmed authorities implementing a court order related to the disputed land. He was sentenced to spend one year in prison and fined 1 million riel (US$250). The other 14 people received fully suspended six-month sentences. Sineath has also appealed that case to the Supreme Court, with proceedings ongoing.

23 May 2022

The Phnom Penh Appeal Court this morning upheld the baseless September 2018 convictions of four current and former ADHOC staffers - Ny Sokha, Nay Vanda, Yi Soksan, and Lim Mony - and National Election Committee official Ny Chakrya, all of whom were previously imprisoned and convicted on spurious charges of bribery.

Sokha, Vanda, Soksan, and Mony were convicted on 26 September 2018 for bribery of a witness under Article 548 of the Criminal Code. Chakrya, who was serving as deputy secretary-general of the National Election Committee at the time of his arrest, was convicted as an accomplice to bribery of a witness under Articles 29 and 548 of the Criminal Code. The arrests came during a broader crackdown on civil society and the political opposition in Cambodia. All five human rights defenders served 14 months in pre-trial detention before being released on bail in June 2017, and were later sentenced to five years in prison with the remaining time suspended.

Both the defendants and the prosecutor filed appeals, with the defendants seeking to be exonerated and the prosecutor appealing to have the five human rights defenders serve the full five years in prison. The Appeal Court rejected both appeals, upholding the original convictions and suspended sentences of all five defendants.

1 May 2022

Several events were organised by labour unions and civil society organisations to celebrate International Labour Day 2022 in Phnom Penh on Sunday. There are approximately one thousand of workers participating in this morning celebration.