LIBRARY

26 January 2014

Today, a CNRP forum has been disrupted in Kampong Cham following hours of intimidation.

Yesterday afternoon, dozens of trucks carrying military police and soldiers drove around Kampong Cham town into the evening, focusing on the CNRP headquarter offices. CNRP leader Kem Sokha arrived late in the evening following a forum in Prey Veng. This morning, entrances to Kampong Cham town were blocked to prevent CNRP activists from attending the forum. Kem Sokha was prevented from leaving his hotel, Leap Vireaksa, by over one hundred civilians wearing CPP logos and carrying CPP flags tied to large wooden batons who surrounded the building. At the same time, another group of civilians similarly dressed surrounded the CNRP office in Kampong Cham where Kem Sokha was due to speak. At around 8.30am, the group outside the hotel joined those outside the office, creating a crowd of over 2,000 people waving flags tied to large wooden batons and shouting anti-CNRP and anti-Kem Sokha slogans with loudspeakers. Inside the office, other CNRP MPs are speaking to about 1,000 CNRP supporters who had managed to pass the blocks into the town.

26 January 2014

A union and association gathering inside Freedom Park this morning has been violently blocked as hundreds of military police and riot police armed with guns and electric batons joined municipal security guards and thugs wielding slingshots, rocks and batons, with both groups indiscriminately targeting union supporters, journalists and rights observers. So far, at least eight people are known to have been injured.

The peaceful gathering, organised by 9 unions and associations including IDEA, CATU, CITA, CICA, CFSWF, NTUC, BWTUC, FTUWC and CYN, called for the release of 23 workers and rights defenders arrested earlier this month, a rise in the minimum wage to $160 a month, and end to violence against human rights defenders and justice for the deaths during the Jan 2 and 3 clashes. The gathering was blocked by at least 400 riot police and municipal security guards in Freedom Park, who forced hundreds of union organisers and supporters from Freedom Park and surrounding streets to Dragon Bridge, Wat Phnom and Preah Aung Dong hospital. During sporadic bouts of violence from 9.30am, security guards threw rocks in to the crowd and shocked and hit participants with electric batons. Two people believed to be undercover authority have been beaten by the crowd. Two people have reportedly been arrested during the clashes.

26 January 2014

Ahead of the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) hearing for Cambodia on 28 January 2014, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and Amnesty International call on UN member states to address the country’s current human rights crisis.

22 January 2014

FIDH and the OMCT, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC), the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) express their concern over the Cambodian authorities’ ongoing harassment, arbitrary arrest, and detention of human rights defenders.

21 January 2014

On the evening of January 19, 2014, civil society groups gathered nearby the Royal Palace to call for the release of the 23 workers and rights defenders arrested earlier this month, and for an increase in the minimum wage. Security guards and police interfered with the peaceful assembly and one association leader was detained overnight.

21 January 2014

The eleven human rights defenders detained this morning during an embassy march to petition diplomatic intervention to release the 23 protesters held in CC3 have been released from the Phnom Penh municipal police station. They were released without charge, but only after signing a letter promising not to participate in future demonstrations.

21 January 2014

Eleven people have been detained following a gathering outside the US embassy in Phnom Penh this morning to deliver a petition signed by 182 groups calling for the release of the 23 jailed during violent crackdowns earlier this month. The arrested people are: Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA), Boeung Kak lake activists Tep Vanny, Yorm Bopha, Song Sreyleap, Pan Chunreth, Bov Sorphea, Erm Sreytouch, and Ngoun Kimlang, as well as Choung Sopheap, activist from Thmor Kaul airport-area community, Long Kim Heang, staff member of Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), and Cheang Thida, activist of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU).

Additionally, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court just informed NGO lawyers that the 22 of the 23 arrested earlier this month and detained in CC3 have been refused bail release. The Phnom Penh Appeal Court deadline for announcing the bail decision for Vorn Pao, president of Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), is February 3, 2014.

20 January 2014

At 10:20AM, Sokchhun Oeung, Vice President of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), was released from Phnom Penh municipal police station where he had been detained 17-hours overnight following his arrest during yesterday's gathering.

The 23 rights defenders and workers arrested earlier in January remain detained in CC3 prison. They include Vorn Pao, President of IDEA.

19 January 2014

A gathering this afternoon calling for the release of the 23 workers and rights defenders arrested earlier this month, and for an increase in the minimum wage, has ended with the arrest of Sokchhun Oeung, Vice President of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA). Vorn Pao, President of IDEA, was among the 23 rights defenders and workers arrested earlier in the month.

At 4pm, before the gathering began, media and human rights observers waiting at Wat Ounalom for the main group to arrive were forced out of the grounds by about 50 security guards and civilians wearing black motorcycle helmets. The group moved to Preah Ong Dongkau spirit house in front of the Royal Palace, closely followed by the guards and civilians. At about 5pm, there were multiple standoffs which involved the guards intimidating and pushing demonstrators for over an hour. Organisers and rights observers responded by linking arms, singing the Cambodian national anthem and songs of peaceful resistance. During this period, at least two trucks of riot police arrived at the palace. At 5.30pm, they arrested Sokchhun Oeung, who was standing towards the back of the gathering. He has been taken to the Phnom Penh municipal police station. Lawyers are currently on their way there to try and secure his release. According to Cambodian law, he can be detained for up to 24 hours without seeing a lawyer and up to 48 hours without charge.

10 January 2014

On Thursday, January 2, 2014, Special Command Unit 911 violently cracked down on demonstrating garment factory workers near South Korean/U.S.-owned Yak Jin factory in the Pursenchey district of Phnom Penh, using knives, pipes, slingshots, batons and high-powered rifles, including AK-47 machine guns, to intimidate and injure civilians. The next day, state authorities used live ammunition to clear out the Canadia Industrial Area on Veng Sreng Road of civilians, resulting at least four civilian deaths and 38 hospitalized, 25 of whom suffered from bullet wounds. On Saturday, January 4, authorities then drove out CNRP supporters, including monks, women, and children, from Freedom Park with batons and metal rods. Amidst the chaos, state forces prevented media and rights workers from entering the park.

8 January 2014

At 10 am, Sem Sakola, a Phnom Penh investigation judge, called LICADHO lawyers to confirm that six clients arrested and charged during the violent crackdown of garment protesters in the Canadia Industrial Area on Veng Sreng Road last week are being held in CC3 prison. The six clients include Vorn Pao, president of union Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer’s Community (CCFC), and Chan Puthisak, a land activist from Boeung Kak Lake.

As well, the CC3 prison director has permitted a LICADHO doctor to treat all 23 individuals this afternoon. CC3 prison is an isolated prison located two hours from Kampong Cham town northeast of the capital, Phnom Penh. As of December 2013, CC3 prison held 1,496 male prisoners.

7 January 2014

Year 2014 has opened to a sustained campaign of violence and arrests in Cambodia. This video looks back at events which occurred on January 2,3, and 4, 2014.

6 January 2014

Five female representatives of Boeung Kak Lake community were arrested this morning as they prepared to protest in front of the French Embassy for the release of other imprisoned human rights defenders.

Meanwhile authorities continue to refuse to disclose the place of detention of at least 23 other people who were arrested and charged during recent brutal crackdowns in Phnom Penh. One of them is 17 year old boy. For the past three days their families, lawyers and independent medical professionals have been denied information about their location and health condition. Some were savagely beaten during arrest in Phnom Penh and are in urgent need of medical attention.

Those arrested this morning are Tep Vanny, Yorm Bopha, Pan Chunreth, Bop Chorvy and Sok Srey Leap. They are currently held at a police station on National Road 5.

4 January 2014

This morning state forces put a violent end to CNRP supporters’ long-standing occupation of Freedom Park, also known as Democracy Plaza, an area in central Phnom Penh specifically designated for protest.

This action follows two days of violence, which included the shooting yesterday at the Canadia industrial zone which left at least four civilians dead and dozens wounded.

3 January 2014

LICADHO has confirmed that at least four civilians were shot dead and 21 injured in the worst state violence against civilians to hit Cambodia in fifteen years.

Amid risks of growing civil unrest in Phnom Penh in the aftermath of the shootings, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC) call on security forces and protestors to exercise urgent restraint on both sides to avoid any further bloodshed.

3 January 2014

Yesterday, January 2, 2014, ten men, including Vorn Pao, President of IDEA, Theng Savoeun, Coordinator of CCFC, and Chan Puthisak, community leader from Boeung Kak Lake, were arrested by Cambodian soldiers in front of the Yak Jin factory on National Road #4. This morning they were taken to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court t and charged with two offences: intentional violence with aggravating circumstances and intentional damage with aggravating circumstances. The men were finally given access to medical attention before being sent to CC1 prison.

The ten men are represented by lawyers from four organizations. They face up to 18 months of pre-trial detention and up to 5 years’ imprisonment as well as fines from $1,000 - $2,500.

2 January 2014

The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC) are outraged by today’s violent crackdown on striking workers by a military special command unit and the consequent violent arrest of union leaders, garment workers and monks.

13 December 2013

On the morning of Tuesday, December 10, 2013, groups celebrated International Human Rights Day around the city. Monks and civil society peace marchers converged in front of the National Assembly after a 10-day march from various provincial locations. A group of about 1,000 people, largely consisting of garment workers, celebrated at Wat Phnom. Meanwhile, the CNRP held an event in Freedom Park attended by about 5,000 supporters. The day ended with tension as a 15-person protest in front of the US embassy was forcibly stopped with the deployment of hundreds of military police.

9 December 2013

Starting December 1st, civil society groups and monks started long marches on five national roads to highlight the need for justice and peace in the country. The groups will converge into Phnom Penh on December 10, International Human Rights Day, and deliver to the National Assembly hand-written petitions by citizens across the country.

6 December 2013

On Sunday, December 1, 2013, civil society groups, led by monks, began marching from five different provincial locations down five National Roads towards Phnom Penh to commemorate the 65th anniversary of International Human Rights Day. Their goal is to march 20km per day and converge en masse in front of the National Assembly on December 10 to present complaints, concerns and recommendations from people they meet to elected officials. Along the way, marchers are also promoting human rights and educating communities on the teachings of Buddhism.