Statements
Statement | LICADHO Celebrates International Human Rights Day in Cambodian Prisons
8 December 2013
As thousands of people gather across Cambodia to celebrate International Human Rights Day (IHRD), LICADHO will also be celebrating with prisoners in 18 prisons across Cambodia.
LICADHO will organize basic food package distribution to more than 13,000 prisoners in 18 Cambodian prisons,1 including nutrient drinks and snacks. LICADHO will provide a more comprehensive care package to four prisoners that LICADHO considers human rights defenders. LICADHO will also organize entertainment for prisoners, such as traditional dancing and music.
Statement | Thousands of monks and citizens march to celebrate International Human Rights Day in Cambodia
29 November 2013
Over 500 Cambodian monks will march from Dec. 1 to Dec. 10 to celebrate the 65th International Human Rights Day (IHRD). Joining them will be communities, associations, networks, federations, unions and NGOs, as well as residents of communities along the designated routes.
Statement | End Violence Against Women Everywhere
27 November 2013
As the international community celebrates the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Violence from November 25 to December 10th, we, the undersigned civil society groups, call on the government to end violence against women perpetrated by its agents.
Statement | On the International Day to End Impunity, LICADHO Publishes Data on 10 Fatal Shootings by the Cambodian Police and Military
23 November 2013
On November 12, 2013 a street vendor, Eng Sokhum, was killed and nine others wounded by police gunfire during a garment workers’ strike in Phnom Penh. On September 15, 2013 Mao Sok Chan was shot in the head and killed when trying to make his way home through a violent clash at a roadblock at the end of a day of post-election protest. As yet, neither incident has been properly investigated and no one has been held responsible. Investigations by LICADHO show that these recent tragedies were not exceptional and were in fact illustrative of a pervasive tendency to the unlawful use of excessive force, fueled by failure to investigate or punish.
Statement | Vigil to end impunity against journalists in Cambodia
21 November 2013
On November 23rd, 2013, the international community will mark the Third International Day to End Impunity. In Cambodia, impunity continues to be one of the greatest obstacles to strengthening the rule of law and allowing citizens of the country to receive Justice. We are inviting reporters, media workers and victims who have been denied justice as a result of impunity to express their solidarity by joining together where journalist Khim Sambo was killed in 2008 and call the government to provide Justice.
Statement | One Dead, Seven Injured Amid Violent Clashes in SL Garment Workers Strike
12 November 2013
Earlier this morning, a violent clash between striking garment workers and armed forces, followed by two additional clashes between the growing number of armed forces and a crowd of citizens, resulted in the death of one bystander and at least nine injured in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district.
Statement | Childhood behind bars - Growing up in a Cambodian prison
15 October 2013
In Cambodia there are currently 38 young children living in prison with their mothers in the prisons monitored by LICADHO. Whilst these children are not prisoners, they are too often treated as such.
LICADHO’s latest report “Childhood behind bars: Growing up in a Cambodian prison – Sokun’s story” details the experiences of one such child, ‘Sokun’ (not his real name), who lived with his incarcerated mother in Phnom Penh’s Correctional Center 2 (CC2) prison until he was six years and ten months old.
Statement | Cambodia’s Supreme Court Declares Two scapegoats of Union Leader’s Murder Not Guilty
25 September 2013
We, the undersigned organisations, welcome the long overdue decision made by the Supreme Court this afternoon to free Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun and drop all charges against them .
Statement | Cambodia’s Government and Donors Must Act Now to Prevent Escalation of Violence
25 September 2013
Gravely concerned at the Cambodian authorities’ repeated use of excessive force to prevent and suppress the people’s exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, the undersigned non-governmental organizations call on the Cambodian and foreign governments to take immediate action to prevent the human rights situation from deteriorating further.
Statement | Indiscriminate Police Brutality and Death amid Mass Post-Election Protest Condemned by Civil Society
16 September 2013
We, the undersigned organizations, condemn in the strongest terms the indiscriminate police brutality last night that left one young person dead and several more injured when armed forces were given the green light to use live ammunition in a crowd of commuters, local residents and demonstrators.
After a largely peaceful day of demonstrations marking the first day of a planned three-day protest by opposition party CNRP, tensions escalated late on Sunday night. Barbed wire barricades had cut off major arteries of the city throughout the day, resulting in traffic chaos at key locations in the capital.
Statement | Respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly
5 September 2013
As the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) prepares to hold a peaceful “meditative” assembly on 7 September 2013 to demand an independent investigation into what it alleges are irregularities, including fraud, around the national election of 28 July, the undersigned non-governmental organizations and civil society groups make the following statement.
Statement | 2013 Elections Fraught with Fraud, Irregularities and Intimidation
24 August 2013
In a brief released today, LICADHO has compiled key observations and serious discrepancies witnessed during Cambodia’s 2013 National Assembly elections. Problems were documented in an alarming percentage of the stations visited; ranging from voter roll irregularities, to indications of intentional fraud or vote rigging, to intimidation. While the briefing is not a quantitative representation, it reveals problematic trends and ongoing issues that must be addressed.
Statement | A Symbol of Peace Turned Inside Out: Two Students Entrapped
19 August 2013
The Cambodian Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) and Cambodian League for the Promotion & Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) call on the authorities to drop all charges against students Tut Chanpanha and Sok Dalis. We similarly call for charges against small shop owner Lim Lypaeung and Hiv Borin to be dropped.
Statement | Keep Media Free: Unrestricted Access to Social Media
7 August 2013
We, the undersigned civil society groups, urge Metfone, an Internet service provider (ISP) registered and operating in Cambodia, to issue a full explanation of today’s temporary blocking of Facebook, as well as the ongoing unavailability of the Ki-Media website.
Earlier this morning, at about 9 AM, Metfone users began to report that they were denied access to Facebook. The outage lasted for more than three hours.
Statement | Child Labor on Sugar Plantations in Cambodia is Well Documented
23 July 2013
The Guardian newspaper recently ran a damning expose of child labor on the KSL Group sugar plantations in Cambodia that supply the sugar giant Tate & Lyle Sugars. Rather than acting quickly to address the abuses, the companies seem to have resorted to a strategy of denial and legal bullying in an attempt to defend their tarnished reputations.
Statement | Continued Violence Intensifies the Need for Resolution to Ongoing Land Conflicts in Phnom Penh
3 July 2013
In the wake of another two days of protests by members of the Boeung Kak community in Phnom Penh, who are demanding just resolution to a long-standing land conflict affecting their community before the national election on 28 July, we the undersigned non-governmental organizations (NGOs) wish to condemn the use of disproportionate force against protesters by the municipal police and other security forces. These protests are just the latest in a series of protests which have resulted in the use of violence or disproportionate force against protesters calling for an end to land disputes.
Statement | We All Need Voices and Choices: Civil Society Urges Government to Keep Media Free
1 July 2013
We, the undersigned civil society organizations, welcome the government’s decision to rescind shocking measures issued last week to censor Cambodia’s local news media in the final weeks before the July 28 National Assembly elections, and condemn the decision ever to implement such measures. We remain deeply concerned about an order to ban foreign news reporting of election polling which will come into force five days before the vote.
We condemn this ban in the strongest possible terms and urge the government to remove all restrictions on the news media during this critical pre-election period. We also call for the government to guarantee that it will not repeat its attempts to censor the airwaves or any other media, including social media on the internet.
Statement | Ex-Governor’s Slap on Wrist for Shooting a Stark Contrast to Harsh Penalties for Human Rights Defenders
25 June 2013
Cambodian Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) and Cambodian League for the Promotion & Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) welcome the conviction of former Bavet governor Chhouk Bandith for shooting three garment workers last year, but condemn the light sentence – one-and-a-half years in prison – for actions that amounted an attempted triple-homicide.
The sentence is little more than a slap on the wrist, and is emblematic of Cambodia’s pervasive culture of impunity for the well-connected elite.
Statement | Cambodia’s Legislature Dismantled on the Eve of the National Elections
10 June 2013
Cambodia’s National Assembly – its key legislative organ – has been thrust into a Constitutional crisis less than two months before the country’s national elections. Last week, the National Assembly’s Permanent Committee, which is comprised entirely of ruling Cambodia People’s Party members, stripped all 29 opposition party members of their parliamentary status. Because this expulsion took place within 6 months of a national election, the seats left empty by the purged parliamentarians were effectively terminated and will remain so under until after the election.
Statement | Cambodian NGOs allege serious abuses linked to Thai sugar giant, Mitr Phol Sugar Corporation
31 May 2013
Two Cambodian NGOs, LICADHO and Equitable Cambodia filed a petition on behalf of 602 complainants about serious human rights violations linked to large sugar concessions held by Thai sugar giant, Mitr Phol Sugar Corporation.
