Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday urged UN member states to press the Cambodian government to enact significant reforms amid the ongoing deterioration of the human rights situation in the country. According to the organization, Prime Minister Hun Manet’s government continues to impose increasing restrictions on freedom of expression and of the press, labor rights and labor unions, and civil society.
Recent events within the Southeast-Asian country appear to lend credence to HRW’s concerns. Since the beginning of this year, 11 political opposition figures have been arrested on politically motivated forgery charges. In the lead-up to local elections scheduled to take place this month, political opposition leader Kem Sokha’s request to review his house arrest was denied. The decision comes after a previous arrest in March 2023 on a politically motivated treason conviction. On May 3, Cambodia’s Supreme Court upheld a conviction against Chhim Sithar, the leader of the Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, and seven other union activists. In January of this year, Ny Nyak, an outspoken Cambodian critic, was arrested on charges of defamation regarding posts he made on Facebook criticizing the country’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at HRW, asserts that Cambodia’s government, under Manet, has become an increasingly defacto single-party system, “without meaningful elections, no media freedom, and a ruling party-controlled judiciary.” Lau urged UN member states operating within the UNHRC to condemn these violations.
HRW’s call comes ahead of Cambodia’s appearance before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on May 8, for its fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council, the main UN body responsible for addressing human rights violations, mandating every UN member to undergo a peer review of its human rights performance every 4.5 years. In its 2019 review, Cambodia accepted 173 out of 198 recommendations made by the council. However, it has reportedly failed to honor these recommendations, which are binding once accepted.
This is not the first time HRW has criticized Cambodia for its unsatisfactory treatment of human rights. In October 2023, in its submission to Cambodia’s UPR, it raised similar concerns, citing government crackdowns on freedom of expression and condemning the use of threats, violence, and repressive laws to subdue dissidents. The UN also reported in early August 2023 that Cambodia’s national elections had been ‘extremely disconcerting’ amid heavy media restrictions, harassment of opponents, and an outright ban of the opposition party.
