About 100 people joined in prayer on 3 January 2024 in remembrance of the victims of the 2014 Veng Sreng massacre.

Around 100 people gathered at Solidarity House in Phnom Penh this afternoon to mark 10 years since the fatal violence that took place at the capital’s Veng Sreng Boulevard, when mixed government forces opened fire on striking workers, killing at least four and wounding 38. Khem Sophath, a child at the time, was shot and remains missing to this day.

The remembrance was attended by union, association and NGO leaders and members, and began with prayers by monks. Vorn Pao, president of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), who was beaten and arrested in 2014 while observing a strike in front of the Yak Jin factory the day before the shootings, spoke at the event.

“The second of January was a tragic day… Before the police arrested us, they did not tell us about the charges and we could not meet with a lawyer. We were protesting for increasing the salary for the worker,” Pao said.

A joint statement signed by civil society organisations, unions and associations was also read, which called for the Cambodian government to respect workers’ rights and grant compensation to the victims of the massacre and their families, including those persons who were wrongfully detained.

The violent crackdown on Veng Sreng was a brutal and disproportionate response to a strike by garment workers calling for an increased minimum wage. A brief investigation failed to hold any authorities accountable for the shooting and deaths of Kim Phaleap, Sam Ravy, Yean Rithy and Pheng Kosal, or the wounding and disappearance of then-15-year-old Khem Sophat.

Instead, 23 workers and human rights defenders were arrested on site and later convicted on multiple, baseless criminal charges. Those convictions were upheld by the Phnom Penh Appeal Court earlier this year.