• Violence against human rights and other activists in Cambodia increased in the run-up to national elections in July 2013. Prime Minister Hun Sen has kept himself in office more than 27 years through force and intimidation, making him one of the world’s leaders longest in power. Violence involving state security forces occurred amidst increasing land grabs by powerful business and security interests, often through official corruption in unbridled foreign investment. Labor unrest grew as workers’ rights were suppressed. The opposition party leader remains exiled in France rather than face prison in Cambodia on politically motivated charges. Cambodian judicial officers continue to implement Hun Sen’s pronouncements by refusing to investigate additional Khmer Rouge suspects for the Khmer Rouge special tribunal.
  • Boeung Kak Lake resident Yorm Bopha (L) gestures to her supporters as she attends a hearing in the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh on March 27, 2013.
    The Cambodian Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the trumped-up imprisonment of a land-rights activist should prompt Cambodia’s donors to demand her unconditional release, Human Rights Watch said today.

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Cambodia

  • Mar 29, 2013
    The Cambodian Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the trumped-up imprisonment of a land-rights activist should prompt Cambodia’s donors to demand her unconditional release, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Mar 14, 2013
    The death of Ieng Sary, on trial before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia after indictment for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, means that another senior leader of the Khmer Rouge has not been held accountable for his crimes.
  • Mar 3, 2013
    A United Nations report about torture and other abuses in healthcare settings points to the need for donors to withdraw funds to compulsory drug detention centers, Human Rights Watch and Harm Reduction International said today.
  • Feb 11, 2013
    The Cambodian government and bar association should drop their efforts to prohibit lawyers from giving media interviews without the permission of the national bar association.
  • Feb 1, 2013
  • Feb 1, 2013
    Cambodia’s human rights situation deteriorated in 2012 with increased violence and scripted trials against political and civil society activists, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.
  • Jan 2, 2013
    If Obama wants to bolster his legacy in his second term, he can and should get tough on some of the United States' most unsavory friends and allies. Here are eight leaders to start with.
  • Dec 27, 2012

    Two criminal cases decided in Phnom Penh on December 27, 2012, demonstrate the Cambodian government’s flagrant misuse of the justice system to undermine rights.

  • Dec 22, 2012

    The Cambodian government should appoint an independent commission to investigate allegations that a ruling party municipal governor shot and wounded three women workers, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 14, 2012, the Svay Rieng provincial court closed the case against then-Bavet Municipality Governor Chhouk Bandit for allegedly firing into a crowd of striking factory employees at an industrial park in Bavet’s Special Economic Zone for foreign enterprises on February 20.

  • Nov 19, 2012
    Disregarding the deep concerns expressed by senior United Nations officials, human rights experts and hundreds of civil society and grassroots organisations at the national, regional and international levels, ASEAN leaders nonetheless adopted yesterday an “ASEAN Human Rights Declaration” that undermines, rather than affirms, international human rights law and standards.