The locked gate and barbed wire fencing of Prey Speu, on 6 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.

The two recent deaths of a woman and a man were confirmed by LICADHO as occurring after detainees fell ill at the centre and were not provided with adequate medical care. Witnesses to both deaths described that seriously ill detainees were left on the floor of detention rooms, where they eventually died in front of other detainees. Their bodies were later removed by the centre’s staff.

A witness at a pagoda that is responsible for cremating bodies from Prey Speu confirmed an increase in the number of bodies sent by the centre for cremation during August 2022. Evidence points to more than 10 detainees’ deaths during July and August 2022, but restricted access to the centre makes it difficult to confirm those reports.

While Prey Speu claims to be a vocational training centre and is managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY), it functions as an unlawful detention facility to hide from view Phnom Penh’s most marginalised and at-risk citizens, while denying them their legal rights and basic necessities such as adequate food and medical care.

People detained at the centre, who are not charged with crimes but are held indefinitely and not allowed to leave, have overwhelmingly been from marginalised groups, including people who were homeless, begging, using drugs, and sex workers.

“These two deaths add to nearly two decades of abuse, torture, and unnecessary loss of life at Prey Speu,” said Naly Pilorge, outreach director of LICADHO. “Each day Prey Speu remains open causes further abuses and the risk of more preventable deaths. The government must permanently close this centre, and put an end to this horrible and needless suffering.”

The latest deaths occurred amid a spike in the arbitrary detention of marginalised men and women in the centre, where more than 400 people were detained as of August. Witnesses described hellish conditions, including severely overcrowded detention rooms, a lack of food, beatings for not following instructions, and medical care limited to paracetamol, even for grave illnesses.

After receiving information about the recent deaths, LICADHO requested permission in late October to send a medical team including doctors to assess and treat the centre’s detainees. That request to the Phnom Penh Department of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation remains unanswered, and access to the centre remains restricted.

Prey Speu, together with all other places of arbitrary detention, must be immediately and permanently closed, with those accused of negligence or abuse brought to justice. The history of abuses and deaths at Prey Speu is far too long, and is set to grow longer if the centre is not shut for good. Prey Speu must be closed.

“Terror under oppression” – A History of Abuses at Prey Speu

Prey Speu opened in 2004 under the guise of a vocational training centre, but has always been used as an arbitrary detention site for marginalised people snatched off the streets of Phnom Penh. LICADHO, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the UN human rights office have repeatedly raised concerns over abuses and preventable deaths at the centre.

In 2008, LICADHO called for the detention centre’s closure. Later that year, after the centre was temporarily shuttered due to reports of abuse, LICADHO documented detainee messages written on the walls of the centre describing detention and abuse. One prisoner wrote “This is to mark that I lived in terror under oppression.” Another carved into the stone wall, “Hell life,” while another etched, “Pity me. Help me.”

In 2010, LICADHO assisted parents whose children were forcibly taken from them by MOSAVY and sent to Prey Speu, where they were beaten by staff.

In 2014, LICADHO and Human Rights Watch reported incidents of staff abusing detainees, including by whipping, beating, shocking and sexually abusing them, as well as forcing them to work. They also confirmed preventable deaths of detainees who were denied medical treatment.

In 2015, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said they had received reports of two deaths at Prey Speu, and noted a lack of systematic registration of detainees, meaning the number of people detained at the centre was unknown.

In 2017, OHCHR reported a young man had died, yet another unexplained death at the centre. OHCHR representatives confirmed the centre lacked “appropriate professional medical support” and had “problems of ventilation, limited water and sanitation facilities, and overcrowding issues.”

In 2020, Amnesty International released a report documenting widespread abuses in Prey Speu, including beatings, deaths, suicide, overcrowding, inadequate food as well as escape attempts by detainees.

For more information, please contact:
▪ Am Sam Ath, Operations Director of LICADHO, on Signal at (+855) 10 327 770 (Khmer)
▪ Naly Pilorge, Outreach Director of LICADHO, on Signal at (+855) 12 214 454 (English)

PDF: Download full statement in English - Download full statement in Khmer
MP3: Listen to audio version in Khmer