Reports

Underwater

Human Rights Impacts of a China Belt and Road Project in Cambodia

The 137-page report, “Underwater: Human Rights Impacts of a China Belt and Road Project in Cambodia,” documents economic, social, and cultural rights violations resulting from the Lower Sesan 2 dam’s displacement of nearly 5,000 people whose families had lived in the area for generations, as well as impacts on the livelihoods of tens of thousands of others upstream and downstream. Cambodian authorities and company officials improperly consulted with affected communities before the project’s start and largely ignored their concerns. Many were coerced into accepting inadequate compensation for lost property and income, provided with poor housing and services at resettlement sites, and given no training or assistance to secure new livelihoods. Other affected communities upstream and downstream of the dam received no compensation or assistance.

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  • “Paying for a Bus Ticket and Expecting to Fly”

    How Apparel Brand Purchasing Practices Drive Labor Abuses

    This report identifies key practices by clothing companies that fuel abusive cost-cutting methods by factories that harm workers.

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  • “What Hell Feels Like”

    Acid Violence in Cambodia

    This report documents the use by private actors of nitric or sulfuric acid to inflict pain and permanently scar victims, and efforts by survivors to get justice and medical care.

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  • Cambodia’s Dirty Dozen

    A Long History of Rights Abuses by Hun Sen’s Generals

    This report spotlights 12 senior security officers who form the backbone of an abusive and authoritarian political regime. Each of these officers owes his high-ranking and lucrative position to political and personal connections with Hun Sen dating back two decades or more.

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  • Dragged and Beaten

    The Cambodian Government's Role in the October 2015 Attack on Opposition Politicians

    This report shows that the three officials charged in the mob attack were not acting alone. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) transported protesters to the National Assembly in Phnom Penh a day after Hun Sen threatened to retaliate against the CNRP for demonstrating against him in Paris.

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  • Persecuting “Evil Way” Religion

    Abuses against Montagnards in Vietnam

    This 33-page report is based on official Vietnamese media reports and Human Rights Watch interviews with Montagnards seeking asylum abroad. It describes religious and political persecution of Montagnards, highlanders who practice De Ga and Ha Mon forms of Christianity that the government calls “evil way” religions.

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  • At Your Own Risk

    Reprisals against Critics of World Bank Group Projects

    This  report details how governments and powerful companies have threatened, intimidated, and misused criminal laws against outspoken community members who stand to be displaced or otherwise allegedly harmed by projects financed by the World Bank and its private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (

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  • 30 Years of Hun Sen

    Violence, Repression, and Corruption in Cambodia

    The 67-page report chronicles Hun Sen’s career from being a Khmer Rouge commander in the 1970s to his present role as prime minister and head of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

  • "They Treat Us Like Animals"

    Mistreatment of Drug Users and "Undesirables" in Cambodia’s Drug Detention Centers

    The 55-page report documents the experiences of people recently confined in the centers, who described being thrashed with rubber water hoses and hit with sticks or branches.

  • “Tell Them That I Want to Kill Them”

    Two Decades of Impunity in Hun Sen’s Cambodia

    This 68-page report documents key cases of unsolved killings of political activists, journalists, opposition politicians, and others by Cambodian security forces since the 1991 Paris Agreements, which were signed by 18 countries, including the five permanent United Nations Security Council members.

  • Torture in the Name of Treatment

    Human Rights Abuses in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR

    More than 350,000 people identified as drug users are held in compulsory drug "treatment" centers in China and Southeast Asia. Detainees are held without due process for periods of months or years and may be subjected to physical and sexual abuse, torture, and forced labor.

  • “They Deceived Us at Every Step”

    Abuse of Cambodian Domestic Workers Migrating to Malaysia

    This report documents Cambodian domestic workers’ experiences during recruitment, work abroad, and upon their return home. It is based on 80 interviews with migrant domestic workers, their families, government officials, nongovernmental organizations, and recruitment agents.

  • Off the Streets

    Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers in Cambodia

    This 76-page report is based on more than 90 interviews and group discussions with female and transgender sex workers in Phnom Penh, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, and Siem Reap.

  • “Skin on the Cable”

    The Illegal Arrest, Arbitrary Detention and Torture of People Who Use Drugs in Cambodia

    In this 93-page report Human Rights Watch documents detainees being beaten, raped, forced to donate blood, and subjected to painful physical punishments such as "rolling like a barrel" and being chained while standing in the sun.

  • On the Margins

    Rights Abuses of Ethnic Khmer in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

    This report documents ongoing violations of the rights of the Khmer Krom in southern Vietnam and also abuses in Cambodia against Khmer Krom who have fled there for refuge.