Download this document  (PDF, 4.52 MBs)

The year 2013 began on a quiet note for Cambodia, with few of the shocking inci­dents that characterized an abysmal 2012 – one of the worst years for human rights in a decade.

By the end of June, however, that quiet start seemed like a distant memory.

Every single opposition party member had been expelled from the National Assembly just prior to the July National Assembly election, hundreds of land conflicts around the country continued to go unresolved, human rights is­sues continued to plague Cambodia’s burgeoning sugar sector, Boeung Kak Lake land activist Yorm Bopha remained in prison, labor unrest appeared to be on the rise, and opposition party leader Kem Sokha was the victim of what appeared to be a government-organized smear campaign, leaving him ac­cused of adultery, pedophilia, and the denial of Khmer Rouge crimes, among other things.