LIBRARY

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.

24 February 2022

We, the undersigned civil society groups, communities and trade unions, are dismayed by recent incidents of state-sponsored violence, including sexual harassment, against Cambodian women engaged in peaceful strikes and assemblies. Members of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) – most of whom are women – have been subjected to violence, imprisonment, and arbitrary application of COVID-19 measures in response to their peaceful strike since December 2021.

Authorities have repeatedly pushed, dragged and carried peaceful strikers onto buses to take them to a COVID-19 quarantine centre in Prek Phnov district, Phnom Penh this week. On 22 February 2022, a male officer grabbed and squeezed the breast of one woman as she was being forced onto a bus. Similarly, on 29 December 2021, state authorities used vulgar sexual language toward a striker and threatened to sexually assault her.

21 February 2022

Authorities detained as many as 64 striking workers from the Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) this afternoon as they continued their peaceful strike, forcing 56 women and 8 men into crowded buses and bringing them to a Covid-19 quarantine center run by Cambodian Women for Peace and Development in Prek Phnov district, Phnom Penh.

The use of Covid -19 measures to crackdown on the striking workers has been ongoing for weeks, despite no such public health measures being applied to any other group of citizens. Hundreds of workers have submitted to multiple Covid-19 tests and completed government-mandated quarantine measures at home prior to today's arrests. On 9 February, three workers were charged under the Covid-19 law with obstructing enforcement measures, marking a total of 11 union members and leaders charged and imprisoned since the strike began in December 2021. Eight others have been charged with incitement.

On 16 February, five UN special rapporteurs decried the use of Covid-19 quarantine measures on the striking workers, noting a “general inconsistency and lack of transparency” in the country’s Covid-19 measures, calling the three arrests “unjustified, unnecessary and disproportionate.”

9 February 2022

Three more unionists from the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) were charged on Wednesday with obstructing authorities’ health measures and sent to pre-trial detention in Phnom Penh’s PJ prison. Deputy prosecutor Seng Heang has also issued an “order to bring” for four additional LRSU unionists, which compels authorities to forcibly take them in for questioning.

Choub Channath, Sao Sambath and Seng Vannarith were charged under Article 11 of the Covid-19 law, with authorities accusing them of obstruction of enforcement measures. The charges carry between six months and three years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million riel – though the penalty increases to between two and five years in prison and a fine of up to 20 million riel if the act leads to Covid-19 infections or has “serious impact” on public health.

The three men were arrested on Saturday around 7:30 pm as they were leaving a Koh Pich Covid-19 testing site in a tuk-tuk. Earlier that day, the government ordered LRSU strikers into buses to go to the testing center and take multiple Covid tests. Strikers had complied with the order, including the three detained individuals who had all tested negative. A total of six people were arrested that evening, but three were later released.

28 August 2021

Two land community representatives in Svay Rieng province were sent to pre-trial detention today on charges of disobeying administrative measures and obstructing against the implementation of prevention measures, under Articles 10 and 11 of the recently passed Covid Law, which carry up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to 20 million riels each.

Ms. Yous Sophorn and Ms. En Soth, two representatives from Samaki Chek Meas community in Svay Chrum district, were summonsed by provincial police on Friday morning and were arrested after arriving at the police station. The summons related to a community protest in a rice field involving more than 100 villagers that took place on 2 August 2021, during which authorities accused the two women of not following proper health measures and fined them 2 million riels each. The Svay Chrum district governor told local media at the time that if the women did not pay the fine within one month, they would face additional legal measures.

UN experts in April raised concerns about the “excessive prison sentences and fines” in the government’s Law on Preventive Measures Against the Spread of Covid-19 and other Severe and Dangerous Contagious Diseases, or the Covid Law, which was hastily passed and enacted without proper consultations in March 2021.

28 June 2021

Right to Relief is a call for immediate action to be taken by microloan providers - both microfinance institutions (MFIs) and banks - as well as their international investors, including state development banks from Europe and the United States, to investigate the scope of human rights abuses and provide relief to borrowers who have suffered from predatory lending and collection practices. The research spans eight provinces in Cambodia, with each community profile featuring information about the community’s formation in response to a land conflict, and the threat to land tenure security and other human rights now posed by over-indebtedness.

A website features highlights from the 14 community profiles, while a PDF of the report contains more complete profiles and additional information about the project.

10 June 2021

We, as representatives of trade union confederations, federations, associations and civil society organisations working to promote human and labour rights in the Kingdom of Cambodia are extremely disappointed with attempts to dissolve trade union leadership and the plans to systematically, unreasonably and unacceptably lay off workers during the COVID-19 crisis.

On 18 April 2021, representatives of NagaWorld Limited announced the plan to lay off 1,329 of the more than 8,000 workers at the company claiming reasons related to the COVID-19 crisis. At the end of April, company representatives confirmed that for those workers to be laid off, the company would contact each of them individually, as well as call them for a personal meeting on company premises.

1 June 2021

The government must begin treating children’s rights and well-being as a central issue in its ongoing efforts to contain the pandemic. Children’s lives have been radically altered by the extended closure of all in-person learning and drastic lockdown measures, and more must be done to support and defend their rights and needs.

This Children’s Day, LICADHO is releasing a series of quotes from children and their families whose lives have been impacted by the response to COVID-19. They have decided to share their experiences and detail how measures to contain the pandemic have affected their education, as well as their physical and mental health, particularly for children caught in harsh lockdowns.

1 June 2021

This Children’s Day, LICADHO is releasing a series of quotes from children and their families whose lives have been impacted by the response to COVID-19. They have decided to share their experiences and detail how measures to contain the pandemic have affected their education, as well as their physical and mental health, particularly for children caught in harsh lockdowns.

3 May 2021

On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, we - the undersigned non-governmental organizations – recall that freedom of expression includes the right to a free and independent media as well as the rights to hold opinions and to seek, receive or impart information and ideas of all kinds. The press plays a fundamental role in ensuring a healthy and prosperous democracy. We are, therefore, deeply concerned about the continued deterioration of the media environment in Cambodia and urge the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) to cease the ongoing harassment of independent media outlets and journalists for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression, to end the rampant impunity against attacked and murdered journalists, to immediately repeal repressive legislation undermining fundamental freedoms – including press freedom - and to ensure that any future legislation is drafted in line with Cambodia’s human rights obligations and through a transparent and consultative process with civil society.

17 April 2021

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, are deeply concerned about the heightened risks of gender-based violence that the COVID-19 pandemic poses. We call on all relevant officials of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) to increase their vigilance and take action to prevent all forms of violence against women, children and LGBT+ individuals that may occur during mandatory quarantine and in areas under lockdown.

On 9 April, the RGC put some areas of Phnom Penh in lockdown, including Khan Meanchey, Khan Sen Sok, and Khan Por Senchey. The government also recently decided to place Phnom Penh in lockdown for two weeks effective from midnight on 14 April Lockdown measures similarly began today in several communes of Siem Reap city. All people are request to implement the “3 dos, 3 don’ts” to control of the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

6 April 2021

We, the undersigned groups, are calling on the government to direct all microfinance institutions (MFIs) and banks in the country to suspend all loan repayments and interest accrual for at least three months in order to give borrowers the opportunity to stay home and stay safe during the current COVID-19 outbreak without needing to fear losing their land or homes if they cannot repay their debt.

8 March 2021

This International Women’s Day, LICADHO is calling for immediate improvements to the conditions faced by women and girls who are detained in Cambodia’s disastrously overcrowded prison system.

Last month, nine women shared stories with LICADHO about life within Correctional Centre 2 (CC2), the country’s only prison designated for women and children. Five of these women - Sokha, Bopha, Sopheary, Sreyleak, and Chanmony - are currently imprisoned or have recently been released. Their names have been changed to protect their identities. Others are family members of imprisoned women human rights defenders Chhoeun Daravy, Eng Malai, Long Kunthea and Phuon Keoraksmey.

All of these women have faced deplorable prison conditions. Yet rights violations behind bars are avoidable, and the government has a responsibility to urgently resolve this crisis by implementing best-practices from both domestic and international laws and regulations.

9 December 2020

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) call on the Royal Government of Cambodia to take urgent action to safeguard the right to health of people in detention, prison officials and the wider community by conducting rigorous testing of those in prisons for COVID-19, implementing effective hygiene and physical distancing measures in prisons and taking immediate steps to reduce prison overcrowding.

23 July 2020

Amnesty International and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) call on the Royal Government of Cambodia to follow through with its commitment to address prison overcrowding by releasing prisoners accused of non-violent crimes, including those at heightened risk of COVID-19 and people held for minor offenses, as well as women incarcerated with their children and detainees who are under 18.

In May, Cambodia’s new Minister of Justice Koeut Rith announced a range of reforms to Cambodia’s justice system. These promised reforms were intended to address the severe backlog of pending cases in Cambodia’s courts and the extreme overcrowding in its prisons through the expansion of alternatives to incarceration, including bail and suspended sentences, in addition to early and conditional release for current prisoners.

30 June 2020

Tens of thousands of garment workers in Cambodia will struggle to repay microfinance debts during work stoppages and factory suspensions caused by COVID-19, creating a mounting human rights crisis as they struggle to feed their families and hold onto their land under immense pressure from microfinance institutions (MFIs). Without immediate debt relief, many of these workers will resort to selling their land or their homes, eating less food or taking out even more loans to repay their debts.

In Worked to Debt, a joint briefing paper between the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL) and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), researchers surveyed more than 150 workers – most of them women – from three factories in Phnom Penh and Kampong Chhnang to investigate how workers were coping with their debts as hundreds of factories suspended operations as a result of the global pandemic.

18 May 2020

We, the undersigned civil society groups, urgently call on the government to drop all charges against imprisoned journalists Sok Oudom and Sovann Rithy and to halt all harassment of other journalists in Cambodia facing prosecution for their critical reporting. We also urge the government to immediately restore the broadcasting licenses of all media outlets revoked before and during this latest assault on press freedom.

Police arrested local radio station owner Sok Oudom in Kampong Chhnang province on Wednesday on charges of “incitement to commit a felony”. Oudom regularly reported on longstanding land disputes between local farming communities and powerful district officials. The day before Oudom’s arrest, the Ministry of Information revoked the media license of his Rithysen Radio Station and its website, despite the fact that Oudom had yet to be charged with any crime. He remains in pre-trial detention.

10 May 2020

Six members of Cambodian youth group Khmer Thavrak including human rights activist Hun Vannak were arrested in Battambang last night while returning from a peaceful protest calling on banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to suspend loan repayments amid the economic crisis caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Five monks who joined the protest were also threatened with expulsion from their pagodas unless they thumb-printed an agreement pledging to stop their activism on behalf of Cambodian borrowers.

4 May 2020

We the undersigned groups decry the harassment of community representatives from across Cambodia on Tuesday, April 28. These community representatives were arbitrarily detained for seven hours and interrogated while trying to submit a petition asking for additional government assistance to vulnerable communities during the Covid-19 crisis.

More than 30 community representatives from across Cambodia gathered in Phnom Penh to submit the petition, which has life-saving requests such as asking the government to distribute medical supplies to vulnerable communities; suspend debts from microfinance institutions (MFIs) and private money lenders; and provide direct economic assistance, including suspending rental fees for poor and informal workers and providing stay-at-home payments.