LIBRARY

8 March 2022

Women unionists have faced targeted harassment in an attempt to intimidate them into stopping their strike. LICADHO is releasing a video featuring several of these brave women to mark International Women’s Day.

7 March 2022

The 10 human rights defenders (HRDs) whose profiles are outlined below are leaders and members of the Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU). The unionists are all former employees of NagaWorld, a highly profitable, Malaysian-owned casino with an exclusive operating license in Phnom Penh.

These men and women are currently imprisoned in Correctional Center 2 (CC2) and Phnom Penh’s PJ prison.

24 February 2022

We, the undersigned civil society groups, communities and trade unions, are dismayed by recent incidents of state-sponsored violence, including sexual harassment, against Cambodian women engaged in peaceful strikes and assemblies. Members of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) – most of whom are women – have been subjected to violence, imprisonment, and arbitrary application of COVID-19 measures in response to their peaceful strike since December 2021.

Authorities have repeatedly pushed, dragged and carried peaceful strikers onto buses to take them to a COVID-19 quarantine centre in Prek Phnov district, Phnom Penh this week. On 22 February 2022, a male officer grabbed and squeezed the breast of one woman as she was being forced onto a bus. Similarly, on 29 December 2021, state authorities used vulgar sexual language toward a striker and threatened to sexually assault her.

23 February 2022

Brigade 70 soldiers and workers hired to clear forested land used violence, beat villagers and fired weapons into the ground yesterday morning in Aoral district, Kampong Speu province, as part of an ongoing land conflict around a forest granted to a military unit. Three villagers were left injured, including a 23-year-old man, a 41-year-old man and a 59-year-old woman.

Villagers had gathered in Trapeang Chour commune in an effort to defend their community's forested land from being cleared. Today, six community members also appeared for questioning at the Kampong Speu provincial court after being summonsed by a prosecutor.

The land conflict began after the government granted 262 hectares of protected land within the Aoral Wildlife Sanctuary to the armoured vehicle military unit “ACO” through a sub decree dated 20 August 2021. The conflict involves more than 253 families, many of whom have mobilized for months to protect their forested land. In April 2003, the Ministry of Environment declared part of the land a community protected area. Since the recent giveaway, soldiers have been seen using heavy machinery in an attempt to clear the forest.

21 February 2022

Authorities detained as many as 64 striking workers from the Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) this afternoon as they continued their peaceful strike, forcing 56 women and 8 men into crowded buses and bringing them to a Covid-19 quarantine center run by Cambodian Women for Peace and Development in Prek Phnov district, Phnom Penh.

The use of Covid -19 measures to crackdown on the striking workers has been ongoing for weeks, despite no such public health measures being applied to any other group of citizens. Hundreds of workers have submitted to multiple Covid-19 tests and completed government-mandated quarantine measures at home prior to today's arrests. On 9 February, three workers were charged under the Covid-19 law with obstructing enforcement measures, marking a total of 11 union members and leaders charged and imprisoned since the strike began in December 2021. Eight others have been charged with incitement.

On 16 February, five UN special rapporteurs decried the use of Covid-19 quarantine measures on the striking workers, noting a “general inconsistency and lack of transparency” in the country’s Covid-19 measures, calling the three arrests “unjustified, unnecessary and disproportionate.”

10 February 2022

We, the undersigned civil society groups, trade unions and communities are extremely disappointed and concerned over the conviction of Mr. Chhorn Phalla, who was sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Ratanakiri Provincial Court on 10 November 2021 after a hearing on 29 September 2021. During that hearing the prosecutor changed the charge against Chhorn Phalla from “fell trees, encroached and cleared forest land, set forest fire, and bulldozed forestlands to claim ownership” under Article 62 of the Law on Natural Protected Areas to “clear forestland and enclose it to claim for ownership” under Article 97 (6) of the Law on Forestry, without substantial evidence to support this change. The change of the charges violated Chhorn Phalla’s fair trial rights, as it affected his right to have adequate time to prepare his defense. The court nevertheless convicted Chhorn Phalla under the new charges and sentenced him to five years imprisonment. During the trial, witnesses stated that Chhorn Phalla did not clear forestland and enclosed it to claim for ownership. Chhorn Phalla himself confirmed that he does not own any piece of land in that area.

9 February 2022

Three more unionists from the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) were charged on Wednesday with obstructing authorities’ health measures and sent to pre-trial detention in Phnom Penh’s PJ prison. Deputy prosecutor Seng Heang has also issued an “order to bring” for four additional LRSU unionists, which compels authorities to forcibly take them in for questioning.

Choub Channath, Sao Sambath and Seng Vannarith were charged under Article 11 of the Covid-19 law, with authorities accusing them of obstruction of enforcement measures. The charges carry between six months and three years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million riel – though the penalty increases to between two and five years in prison and a fine of up to 20 million riel if the act leads to Covid-19 infections or has “serious impact” on public health.

The three men were arrested on Saturday around 7:30 pm as they were leaving a Koh Pich Covid-19 testing site in a tuk-tuk. Earlier that day, the government ordered LRSU strikers into buses to go to the testing center and take multiple Covid tests. Strikers had complied with the order, including the three detained individuals who had all tested negative. A total of six people were arrested that evening, but three were later released.

7 February 2022

We, the undersigned civil society organizations working on the promotion and protection of human rights labor rights, land rights , environmental activists, independent analyst and social researcher in the Kingdom of Cambodia, wish to inform His Excellency of our deep disappointment at the authorities’ abuse of the Cambodian legal framework to wrongly arrest, detain and charge eight union leaders and continues to arrest more union activists for their peaceful exercise of freedom of association and freedom of assembly, both of which are protected in domestic and international law.

Therefore, we, the undersigned civil society organizations working on the promotion and protection of human rights and labor rights in Cambodia, request His Excellency to intervene in order to have the eight jailed union leaders and activists released and all charges against them dropped and to find a just and fair resolution to this labor dispute.

7 February 2022

LICADHO staff support and show solidarity with employees of NagaWorld by calling for the immediate and unconditional release of eight unjustly imprisoned union representatives. We also call on NagaWorld to enter negotiations to address and end this labour dispute peacefully and reinstate the 365 employees, as well as stop all harassment against the union. Joining a union and peaceful strikes are not crimes.

24 January 2022

The UK-based “sustainable sugarcane” certification body Bonsucro violated its international human rights responsibilities, according to a statement released by the UK National Contact Point (UK NCP), a government body that handles complaints against British multinational enterprises. The NCP found that Bonsucro breached the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises when it admitted the Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol as a member after thousands of families were violently thrown off their land to make way for the company’s sugarcane plantations in Cambodia.

18 January 2022

Today marks one month since workers from the Labor Rights Supported by Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) began striking and holding daily peaceful demonstrations in central Phnom Penh. Workers continue to strike to oppose the casino’s mass layoff of union members and leaders and improper compensation packages for longtime employees, among other issues.

5 January 2022

Today the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ordered LRSU union leader Chhim Sithar to be sent to pre-trial detention in Correctional Centre 2 (CC2) prison, while union activist Sok Narith was ordered to be sent to Correctional Centre 1 (CC1) prison, and a third activist, Sok Kongkea, was ordered released on bail and placed under judicial supervision.

All three face charges of incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code, the same charges faced by six other members of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) who were arrested on 31 December 2021. The other six detained unionists currently held in CC2 prison are Chhim Sokhorn, Kleang Soben, Sun Sreypich, Hai Sopheap, Ry Sovandy, Touch Sereymeas.

Sithar was violently arrested yesterday while trying to join hundreds of other LRSU members at a strike site near the NagaWorld casino in Phnom Penh. 119 local groups have called for all 9 unionists immediate release and for the incitement charges to be dropped, and for the company and government to address workers’ demands peacefully.

4 January 2022

We the undersigned civil society groups, including union federations, confederations, and associations as well as NGOs, are dismayed by the measures taken by authorities, led by the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat, to detain 9 union leaders and members on the night of December 31, 2021, and to further violently arrest LRSU union leader Chhim Sithar on the afternoon of January 4, 2022. We call for all arrested unionists’ immediate and unconditional release.

3 January 2022

We, the undersigned civil society groups, stand in solidarity with the families of the victims killed, injured, and disappeared eight years ago today when security forces opened fire on striking workers on Veng Sreng Boulevard in Phnom Penh. We continue to call for accountability for the violence and the disappearance of then-15-year-old Khem Sophath, who remains missing today.

On 3 January 2014, mixed government forces shot and killed at least four people and wounded at least 38 others when shutting down peaceful strikes on Veng Sreng Boulevard. The government’s response to the strikes of garment workers calling for a fair minimum wage was brutal and disproportionate. The eventual investigation into the shooting was reported to last just three weeks and failed to hold anyone accountable for the deaths of Kim Phaleap, Sam Ravy, Yean Rithy and Pheng Kosal. In contrast, 23 workers and human rights defenders were arrested and later convicted in a farcical trial on charges of aggravated intentional violence, aggravated intentional destruction of property, obstruction and insult related to the protests.

20 December 2021

We, as civil society organisations, trade union federations, confederations and associations working to promote and protect labour and human rights in Cambodia express our firm solidarity with striking employees at NagaWorld Limited who are currently exercising their fundamental rights to peacefully strike according to the Labour Law, the Law on Trade Unions and their statutes previously registered with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. We are extremely disappointed with the provisional disposition issued by the Phnom Penh Court of First Instance on 16 December 2021 which declared this strike to be illegal and call on NagaWorld to engage with its employees and their representatives directly and in good faith to resolve this dispute.

18 December 2021

More than 700 current and former employees of NagaWorld went on strike this morning in front of the Phnom Penh casino, and continued their strike after a Phnom Penh Court official informed them that the court had ruled it illegal.

The group of workers from the Labor Rights Supported Union of khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) were surrounded by hundreds of police, para-police and company security guards as they gathered this morning to reiterate nine demands, including the reinstatement of 365 workers who were among the more than 1,300 workers laid off by the company in April 2021.

Those layoffs unfairly targeted union members and leaders, and union leaders have filed complaints to the Ministry of Labour and Arbitration Council arguing the company violated Cambodian law and several ILO conventions. The layoffs were also often accompanied by improper compensation, according to LRSU leaders, who said in a press release that support for the strike action stood at 97% of the 1,653 members who voted.

10 December 2021

Environmental and land rights groups, indigenous communities, and other civil society organisations gathered to celebrate International Human Rights Day in 11 provinces and the capital between the 5th and 10th December 2021.

Despite ongoing intimidation and restrictions from authorities, more than 2,400 people joined together in public forums, discussions, marches and religious ceremonies to call on the government to respect human rights and address long-standing land grabbing cases, as well as to release and drop all charges against imprisoned human rights defenders.

1 December 2021

We, as representatives of trade union confederations, federations, associations and civil society organisations working to promote human rights and labour rights in the Kingdom of Cambodia are extremely disappointed with the intention and attempts to dissolve the union leadership structure and the unreasonable and unacceptable planned systematic reduction of staff during the COVID-19 crisis at NagaWorld Limited.

30 November 2021

On each day of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, which runs from 25 November to 10 December, LICADHO is sharing key findings from its new report “Status Update”. The report details the findings of a survey of over 700 people, and shows that Facebook, the Cambodian government and other social media companies must do more to protect human rights online.

25 November 2021

Facebook dominates Cambodia’s social media space and, through inaction and neglect, has created a platform that is too often a site of government surveillance and harassment, as well as sexual harassment, discrimination, threats, and other harassment from private individuals.

In a new report, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) is calling on Facebook, the Cambodian government, and other social media companies to do more to protect human rights online. “Status Update: Harassment on Social Media in Cambodia” is a report detailing the findings of a survey of more than 700 people conducted by LICADHO. More than one-third (38%) of respondents had experienced online harassment, with LGBT+ people, youth, and activists facing such harassment at even higher rates. Moreover, 20% percent of women respondents had experienced sexual harassment online.