Mr. President,
Human Rights Watch thanks the Special Rapporteur for his report, which highlights the shrinking civic space and throttling of the political opposition in Cambodia, as well as the government’s acts of transnational repression.
Opposition members, activists, and journalists continue to face fabricated charges of plotting, incitement, and treason, which the Special Rapporteur has described as “judicialized lawfare.”
In July, Cambodian authorities charged two journalists with treason for reporting on border clashes with Thailand. Others who reported on cyber-scam compounds or environmental destruction have faced arrest, intimidation, or coerced confessions.
Human Rights Watch urges the authorities to immediately release those detained simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, opinion, and assembly; and to drop politically motivated treason and incitement cases.
We are alarmed by recent amendments to the Citizenship Law that allow the government to revoke nationality on vague grounds such as treason or “acts against national interests.” These provisions are not aligned with international standards because they could be used arbitrarily against critics, dissidents in exile, and human rights defenders. We urge Cambodia to urgently repeal these amendments.
The Special Rapporteur’s report also addresses how Cambodia’s predatory microfinance sector fuels over-indebtedness, coerced land sales, and possible debt-related suicides. These harms have been especially severe for Indigenous peoples, where the use of land as collateral has eroded collective land rights without free, prior, and informed consent.
We ask the Special Rapporteur: what steps could the government take to better enforce applicable law and policies to regulate the microfinance sector and hold it accountable for abusive lending and collection practices?
Thank you.
