The Delusion of Progress: Cambodia's Legislative
Assault on Freedom of Expression

• “On a number of occasions and especially in high-profile political cases, the judiciary seems to have allowed itself to be used or manipulated for political or purely private purposes.”

  - UN Special Rapporteur Surya Subedi

   Crime 
  - Defamation of Institution (Penal Code, Article 305)
  
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• “The International Labour Organization (ILO) expresses its grave concern regarding the decision of the Appeals Court on 12 April to uphold the convictions against Born Samnang and Sam Sok Oeun.”

  - ILO

   Crime 
  - Discrediting a Judicial Decision (Penal Code, Article 523)

• “The kickbacks have been an open secret for months […] The employees who are paying the kickbacks are benefiting. No one is inclined to talk on the record and lose their job. There is a very real fear of retaliation.”

  - ECCC Whistleblower

   Crime 
  - Defamation or Disinformation (Law on Anti-Corruption, Article 41)

• “I would like to request the court to drop charges against workers and the trade union leaders and to request all factories to take the workers back to work.”

  - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen

   Crime 
  - Published Commentary Intending to Coerce Judicial Authority (Penal Code, Article 522)

• “Why are you [the police] helping thieves! You are criminals worse than Pol Pot!”

  - Dispossed Cambodian During Forced Eviction

   Crime 
  - Offense against State Authorities: Insult (Penal Code, Article 502)

• “[W]hereas the strategy of Cambodia’s ruling party is to use a politically subservient judiciary to crack down on all government critics”

  - European Parliament Resolution 20.10.2010

   Crime 
  - Defamation of Institution (Penal Code, Article 305)

• “[W]hereas the Cambodian Government is often complicit in the sex trade industry and endemic corruption has exacerbated the problem of human trafficking”

  - US Congress Resolution H.RES.820

   Crime 
  - Defamation of Institution (Penal Code, Article 305)

• “They [Born Samnang & Sok Sam Oeun] were convicted in August 2005 without any substantial evidence; the ‘confession’ of one of them, allegedly secured under duress, was retracted [...] the two were picked in order to hide the killer in a murder that seemed politically motivated.”

  - UN Special Rapporteur Yash Ghai

   Crime 
  - Discrediting a Judicial Decision (Penal Code, Article 523)

• “OHCHR believes that the conviction of Tout Saran and the three other men is a miscarriage of justice and that the court appears to have decided this case not on its merits but under political influence.”

  - UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

   Crime 
  - Discrediting a Judicial Decision (Penal Code, Article 523)

• “Corruption continues to undermine the Cambodian court system.”

  - UN Special Rapporteur Yash Ghai

   Crime 
  - Defamation of Institution (Penal Code, Article 305)

Legislating Silence

Five Cambodian laws proposed or enacted since 2008 include dangerously vague or oppressive provisions that undermine freedom of expression, according to a new report from LICADHO.

This web supplement to LICADHO's latest report, “The Delusion of Progress: Cambodia’s Legislative Assault on Expressive Rights”, further demonstrates the sweeping scope of vague provisions in this new legislation. As shown by a small sample of recent statements from sources ranging from the European Parliament, to UN Special Rapporteurs, to Cambodian government officials themselves, the broad reach of the new laws threatens to criminalize all critical expression.

The report analyzes provisions in five laws that improperly restrict – or threaten to restrict – fundamental expressive freedoms: the new Penal Code, the Anti-Corruption Law, the Law on Associations and NGOs (LANGO), the Law on Peaceful Assembly (the Demonstrations Law), and the Law on Unions of Enterprises (the Trade Union Law). The report also offers dozens of examples of how the laws have been misapplied and abused in the past year.