Press Release: 2009

December 9, 2009 - More than 10,000 Cambodians from communities around the country, including trade unionists,students, farmers, fishermen, musicians, youths, tuk tuk drivers, motorcycle drivers and NGO workers, will celebrate International Human Rights Day (IHRD) in their communities this year.

These celebrations are tied together with the common theme "We All Need Freedom of Expression and Justice!" and a common symbol - the blue Kramar to represent the important role of human rights defenders in Cambodia.

The community initiatives will mark the achievements made in human rights in Cambodia, but also focus on critical issues still facing the country's citizens - including exploitation of land and natural resources; restrictions to the freedoms of expression, association and assembly; and violations of labor rights.

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December 2, 2009 - The first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Cambodia was conducted by the UN Human Rights Council in its Working Group session held on Tuesday 1 December 2009 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The UPR is a new mechanism that allows a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN member States once every four years. During the 3-hour proceedings of yesterday, the Cambodian delegation led by Mr. Ith Rady, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice together with Ambassador Sun Suon of the Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the UN in Geneva, presented the achievements and developments with regard to the human rights situation in the country, extensively focusing on its poverty reduction strategies and plans in particular. The Cambodian delegation, however, attempted much to emphasise ‘its own historical and socioeconomic context’ as a least developed country in a post-conflict setting, rather than recognising the reality of its human rights challenges in a frank and substantive manner.

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November 16, 2009 - We, the undersigned members of Cambodian civil society, condemn the lifting of parliamentary immunity from Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) President Sam Rainsy by the National Assembly on November 16, 2009. The Assembly's action is yet another blow to Cambodia's faltering democracy, and continues the government's disturbing trend of using the courts to intimidate and weaken political opponents.

Rainsy is the third SRP member to be stripped of parliamentary immunity - the second time this year only - in the past five months. Fellow SRP Parliamentarians Mu Sochua and Ho Vann were stripped of their immunity by the National Assembly on June 22, 2009. The latter was acquitted by the Phnom Penh court on September 22, 2009; yet, the National Assembly has failed to restore his parliamentary immunity back.

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September 2, 2009 - The Cambodian League for Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) jointly condemn the decision by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to acquit former National Military Police Deputy Chief of Staff General Chea Ratha and her accomplices accused of an acid attack on Ya Soknim. The August 31 verdict, issued by judges Sin Visal, Din Sivuthy and Sem Sakola came after several inexplicable delays in the case over the past months.

Human rights activists believe the attack on Ya Soknim, that left her severely mutilated, was an act of revenge against her and her niece, the TV celebrity In Solyda, who has been estranged from Chea Ratha since early 2008.

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August 4, 2009 - LICADHO condemns this morning's court verdict convicting opposition MP Mu Sochua of defamation and ordering her to pay a total of 16.5 million riel (US$4100) in fines and compensation.

"This verdict is a significant blow to freedom of expression and will have serious ramifications on the ability of National Assembly members to publicly speak their minds," said LICADHO director Naly Pilorge. "It is yet another example of the perilous state of democratic freedoms in Cambodia."

Mu Sochua, a Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) MP for Kampot province, was convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen and ordered to pay 8.5 million riel in fines and 8 million riel in compensation to Hun Sen. Mu Sochua was tried on July 24 but the verdict was delayed until today.

The Prime Minister filed a defamation lawsuit against Mu Sochua in response to her attempting to sue him for defamation for comments he made during a public speech in April. The court threw out Mu Sochua's lawsuit against the Prime Minister but proceeded with his counter-suit against her.

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July 26, 2009 - LICADHO deplores the authorities' renewed campaign to unlawfully arrest homeless persons, beggars, sex workers and other "undesirables" from the streets of Phnom Penh. In recent days, such arrests have led to women and children being sent to stay in a government social affairs center whose staff include alleged rapists and murderers, and to sex workers who have HIV/AIDS being detained at an NGO shelter where they were denied their life-sustaining anti-retroviral medicines.

"Once again, the government is treating poor people who live and work on the streets as though they are criminals," said LICADHO director Naly Pilorge. "This has nothing with to do with actually trying to help these people - it is simply intended to drive them off the streets in order to 'beautify' the city."

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July 17, 2009 - Joint civil society organizations strongly condemn the 3-years-long coercion campaign of Group 78 residents to leave their homes and land, culminating in this morning's final eviction of the area. Over the years, Group 78 families were served with a number of eviction notices by local authorities while witnessing two violent forced eviction that took place in the same area, namely Dey Krahorm and Sambok Chap.

At 4 am this morning, dozens of armed police took up positions around Group 78 in order to enforce a municipal order that they dismantle their homes or be forcibly removed. This followed 53 families yesterday “agreeing” to the authorities’ demand that they accept an offer of $8,000 compensation or their homes would be forcibly destroyed. Negotiations this morning with the remaining 7 families who had not “agreed” led to a final offer to them of up to $20,000 in compensation which they all accepted, except for one family whose home was destroyed against their will.

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June 22, 2009 - We, the undersigned members of Cambodian civil society, condemn the lifting of parliamentary immunity from SRP members Ms. Mu Sochua and Mr. Ho Vann by the National Assembly today, Monday 22 June 2009. The National Assembly’s action is a significant blow to democracy and freedom of expression in Cambodia.

In addition to the decision to lift Ms. Mu Sochua’s parliamentary immunity, which was made to allow Prime Minister Hun Sen’s criminal defamation lawsuit against her to proceed, the National Assembly also made a surprise decision to lift Mr. Ho Vann’s immunity this morning. In his case, the decision clears the way for a lawsuit, filed by a group of military officers, for criminal defamation, disinformation and incitement to be made against him.

The manner in which the lifting of the two SRP MPs’ immunity was conducted this morning leaves no doubt that the government understands that this process was unfair. The decision to include Mr. Ho Vann’s immunity in the vote was made in secret and only known at the last minute. National and international observers - including foreign diplomats - were refused access to the National Assembly to observe the vote. One open handed vote, rather than separate ones, was used to lift the immunity of both MPs.

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June 11, 2009 - We, the undersigned organizations, are strongly concerned about the perilous state of freedom of expression in Cambodia. Since the end of April 2009, Cambodian government officials have filed complaints of defamation, disinformation or incitement against several Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) lawmakers as well as a lawyer, a journalist and an NGO president. In addition, Phnom Penh authorities have taken harsh action to suppress freedom of expression by residents of Boeung Kak lake. Such events have serious negative impacts on the freedom of expression in Cambodia.

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June 10, 2009 - A concert to raise awareness about child domestic workers’ rights will be held at Provincial Stadium of Kampong Cham, on June 12, from 4:30pm to 9:30pm.

Organized by human rights organization LICADHO and World Vision Cambodia (WVC), the concert aims to highlight the rights of child domestic workers to education, health-care, and protection from physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and exploitation. The 12 June event coincides with the World Day against Child Labor, the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the landmark International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention Number 182 which requires signatory countries to take action to end the worst forms of child labor.

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June 6, 2009 - Cambodia's epidemic of land-grabbing - often committed in the name of so-called "development" - is fueling poverty and jeopardizing the government's claimed development goals. LICADHO's latest report entitled Land-grabbing and Poverty in Cambodia: The Myth of Development, concludes that: "The Cambodian government's policies and practices on land management have failed. Rather than contributing positively to the development of the country, they are swelling the ranks of the landless, the unemployed and the poverty-stricken".

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May 2, 2009 - Cambodia's media is often described as one of the freest in the region, especially relative to the likes of Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos or China where the media is all but controlled by the government. But the reality is that Cambodia's media still exists in a repressive environment where the government controls the majority of the media. Those that it does not control, it is not afraid to attack, threaten or censor.

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April 29, 2009 - Cambodian civil society organizations condemn the reported threat to lift the parliamentary immunity of National Assembly member Mu Sochua.

The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) MP last Thursday announced her intention to sue the Prime Minister for defamation, in connection with comments he made in a public speech in Kampot province on April 4. Within 24 hours of this, a pro-government television station quoted a Prime Ministerial advisor as saying the government would counter-sue Mu Sochua and that all Cambodian People's Party (CPP) MPs would support the lifting of her immunity.

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March 27, 2009 - LICADHO today called upon the Royal Cambodian Government to take urgent action in response to the unjustified violence by authorities against villagers involved in a land dispute in Chi Kreng district of Siem Reap province last weekend.

"This was extremely serious violence against villagers committed by government armed forces, and it demands a strong response by the government," said LICADHO president Kek Galabru. "The police and other officials who committed this violence must be punished, and there must be a fair resolution to this land dispute."

Four villagers were wounded when members of a joint force - including police, military police, border police and soldiers - opened fire on a crowd of farmers in Anlong Samnor commune on Sunday, March 22.

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March 22, 2009 - LICADHO condemns the Kampong Thom Provincial Court's conviction of former Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) commune chief Tuot Saron on a charge of kidnapping and illegal confinement. This prosecution and conviction is baseless and politically-motivated, LICADHO believes.

On Friday, March 20, Tuot Saron was convicted and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. Three other provincial SRP officials, who have all fled and are in hiding, were convicted in absentia of the same charge; two of them, Men Vannak and Hour Sarath, were also sentenced to three years' imprisonment, while the third, Thorn Rithy, was sentenced to five years in prison.

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