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Cambodia: Europe Should Denounce Rights Abuses at ASEM Summit

The Hun Sen Regime is Committed to Dismantle the Political Opposition Ahead of Scheduled Elections

(New York)  – On November 25-26, Cambodia will host the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit. This is a big deal for the Cambodian government, which is determined to change the often-overlooked summit into a big media event to…
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during a handover ceremony at Phnom Penh International Airport in February 2021.
News

Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child Concerning Cambodia

89th Session, 2021

This update submission relates to articles 2, 9, 23, 28, and 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and focuses on access to education during the Covid-19 pandemic and shackling and discrimination against children with disabilities. Access…
News

Evicted from Their Office, Al Jazeera Works from a Front Yard in Tunisia

Authorities Arbitrarily Target Media and Critics

I first met Lotfi Hajji some 15 years ago, after Tunisian authorities under President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had refused a request by Al Jazeera, the Qatar-funded pan-Arab television station, to accredit the Tunisian journalist as their local…
Al Jazeera correspondent Lotfi Hajji reporting from Tunis after Tunisian authorities evicted the pan-Arab television network from its offices, November 5, 2021. 
News

Cambodia: Political Prisoner Releases Just a Start

EU Should Press for Freeing All Activists Ahead of ASEM Summit

(Bangkok) – The Cambodian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Cambodia’s more than 60 political prisoners remaining in custody, Human Rights Watch said today. Between November 5 and 12, 2021, the authorities released 26…
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Thailand: Cambodian Refugees Forcibly Returned

Thai Government Facilitates Hun Sen’s Persecution of Political Opposition

(Bangkok) – Thai immigration officials forcibly returned two Cambodian refugees on November 9, putting them at risk of unfair trials in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch said today. Cambodian authorities should immediately drop the politically motivated…
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News

Tunisia: Attack on Director of LGBT Group

Police Officers Suspected; Investigation Needed

Two police officers apparently brutally attacked the director of a Tunis-based LGBT rights group on October 21, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. The attack on Badr Baabou took place against a backdrop of mounting abuses targeting LGBT activists by…
Badr Baabou, director of Damj Association for Justice and Equality, following his assault by suspected police officers in Tunisia. © 2021 Badr Baabou
News

Cambodia: Vaccine Mandates Raise Rights Concerns

Covid-19 Vaccination Drive Should Focus on Access, Comprehensive Support

(Bangkok) – Cambodian authorities have imposed Covid-19 vaccine mandates that threaten people’s basic human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The government’s approach risks violating the rights to health, education, and social security, and…
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News

UN Rights Body Should Increase Scrutiny of Cambodia’s Rights Crackdown

Item 10 Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia

Cambodia’s human rights situation has dramatically worsened since the last Council resolution on Cambodia in 2019. Human Rights Watch has condemned draconian laws adopted in the past two years under the guise of the Covid-19 pandemic that are among…
Delegates sit at the opening of the 41th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 24, 2019.
News

Tunisia: President’s Repressive Policies Abrogate Rights

Dozens Placed Under Arbitrary House Arrests

(Tunis) – Arbitrary and politically motivated acts of repression have proliferated in Tunisia since July 25, 2021, when President Kais Saied suspended parliament, Human Rights Watch said today. He also lifted parliamentary immunity, dismissed the head…
Tunisian President Kais Saied raises his fist to bystanders as he walks along the avenue Bourguiba in Tunis, Tunisia, August 1, 2021.
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Left With Fish Too Small to Sell in Cambodia’s Mekong River Basin

How a China-Built Dam Destroyed an Ecosystem and Livelihoods

Thousands have lost their homes and livelihoods since the completion of one of Asia’s widest dams, the Lower Sesan 2, in Cambodia’s Mekong River Basin. Built as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the dam, which spans well over six kilometers…
Aerial shot of the Lower Sesan 2 dam.
News

Cambodia: China’s ‘Belt and Road’ Dam is a Rights Disaster

Indigenous and Ethnic Groups Coerced, Poorly Compensated

(Bangkok) – A large-scale, Chinese-financed hydroelectric dam in northeastern Cambodia, completed in 2018, has undermined the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Indigenous and ethnic minority people, Human Rights Watch said in a report…
An aerial view of a village partially underwater
Report

Underwater

Summary “Dao,” an ethnic Lao man in his 40s, previously lived a largely self-sufficient life in the village of Srekor in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung Treng province. He fished on the Sesan River and farmed rice and fruit on the fertile soil along…
News

Tunisia: President’s Seizure of Powers Threatens Rights

A Dangerous Move Capitalizes on Popular Frustration

(Tunis) – Tunisian President Kais Saied should safeguard the human rights of all Tunisians and reverse any repressive measures taken since announcing July 25 measures that largely concentrate powers in his office, Human Rights Watch said today. On…
Kais Saied during the sworn ceremony in Bardo, Tunis, Tunisia on October 23, 2019.
News

Cambodia: No Justice At 5-Year Anniversary of Kem Ley’s Death

July 9, 2021 Today, in advance of the fifth anniversary of the unlawful killing of prominent political commentator and human rights defender Kem Ley, the 45 undersigned organizations reiterate their call for the Cambodian authorities to create an…
Cambodian people mourning the death of political commentator and human rights defender, Kem Ley, who was shot on July 10, 2016 (credit: LICADHO)
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Cambodia: Free Environmental Activists

End Persecution of Peaceful Campaigners

(Bangkok) – The Cambodian government should immediately drop baseless conspiracy and “insulting the king” charges against four environmental activists affiliated with the Mother Nature Cambodia environmental group and release the three in pretrial…
Mother Nature Cambodia activist Sun Ratha waves to her family as she is brought to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on June 19, 2021. (c) 2021 LICADHO
News

Cambodia: Lockdowns Hit Low-Income Families Hard

Adopt Short-term, Long-term Social Protections to Safeguard Rights

(Bangkok) – The Cambodian government should urgently address the economic and social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disproportionately harm Cambodia’s low-income population, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent severe lockdowns especially…
A resident of a Red Zone carries bags of rice donated to his house during the coronavirus pandemic.