LIBRARY

7 February 2014

This morning, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court granted bail to two garment factory workers: Bou Sarith, 27 years old, and Yon Sok Chea, 17 years old. The two belong to the group of 23 workers and rights defenders arrested in early January during the garment worker strike.

Their families and lawyers are currently on their way to CC3 prison and Kampong Cham provincial prison.

All 23 men were refused bail at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on January 21. The bail hearing at the Phnom Penh Appeal Court for the remaining 21 workers and human rights defenders is still set for February 11.

7 February 2014

This morning about 100 civil society members and monks gathered at Preah Ong Dongkau on Riverside to call for the release of 23 detained workers and rights workers in anticipation of their bail hearing, set for Tuesday, February 11.

23 monks prayed for the release of the 23 men, who were arrested during the garment protests in early January, as the group released birds and balloons into the air. This gathering comes ahead of a planned Global Day of Action which will see global unions including IndistrALL Global Union, UNI Global Union and the ITUC mobilising workers around the world to protest at Cambodian embassies on February 10, the day before the bail hearing, to demand the release of the 23.

1 February 2014

This afternoon, about 80 people, including 20 monks, gathered on Veng Sreng street, the site of the Jan 2 and 3 clashes, to call for a release of the 23 imprisoned workers and human rights defenders and for justice for those injured and killed during the violence.

The ceremony took place in front of Canadia business park, where the two days of violence resulted in more than 40 people hospitalized and four people confirmed dead.

29 January 2014

This morning, unions, associations, communities and other civil society groups submitted petitions to six embassies and two UN offices calling for the release of the 23 human rights defenders and workers arrested earlier this month, an end to violence against protesters, an inquiry into the violent clashes of Jan 2 and 3 and reparations to victims of the clashes.

Shortly after their first stop at the embassy of Singapore, the group of about 80 people was briefly obstructed by about 15 municipal guards and a line of riot police. Once they were allowed to continue, the protesters successfully submitted the petitions to the UNDP and UNFPA offices and the embassies of Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, and China. The petitions have 197 civil society signatories so far.

28 January 2014

Today, the United Nations will conduct a Universal Periodical Review (UPR) of Cambodia to look into some of the key human rights issues affecting the country, from systematic attacks against human rights defenders to labour trafficking and obstacles against basic freedoms such as right to assembly and expression. LICADHO, by itself and with partners, has contributed to this process by submitting a number of documents.

28 January 2014

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a Bangkok-based regional human rights NGO representing 47 member organisations from 16 countries across Asia, registered its strongest condemnation of the Cambodian government’s violent suppression of demonstrators, rights observers and media personnel at a mass rally held in Phnom Penh on 26 January 2014 which left at least 8 people injured.

27 January 2014

Violent suppression of peaceful protests continued today as municipal security guards, civilians wielding electric batons as well as military police and riot police blocked Mam Sonando supporters from protesting in Freedom Park and at the Ministry of Information, leaving at least ten people injured including six hospitalised.

Mam Sonando, owner of Beehive radio station, and approximately 1,000 supporters were prevented from entering Freedom Park by municipal security guards and civilians carrying electric batons early this morning. The guards and civilians attempted to block their route from the park to the Ministry of Information, where protesters demanded that Beehive - one of the few independent broadcasters in Cambodia - be allowed its own TV station and nationwide broadcasts. Arriving at the Ministry at about 10am, they were met by locked gates and about 800 military police and riot police. Soon after, more security forces emerged from nearby City Hall, blocking Monivong Boulevard to the crowd. Authorities warned supporters and journalists to vacate the area. Within minutes, more than 1,000 security forces advanced in formation on the group. In a 20-minute period, forces detonated smoke grenades and used electric batons on the supporters and bystanders, severely beating and shocking at least eight people. At least two civilian thugs carrying slingshots similar to those used in previous protests were beaten by some in the crowd. At about 10.30am, protesters re-grouped outside the nearby US embassy and were forced away by riot police, pushing a small group to march towards Independence Monument on Norodom Boulevard. At about 11am, about a hundred riot police armed with guns dispersed the crowd for a final time, chasing protesters from the Boulevard.

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.

24 January 2014

On Jan 24, 2009, Dey Krahorm community was razed to the ground in a violent eviction carried out by company 7NG and state authorities. Hundreds of families were left homeless. Some residents were sent to a relocation site 45 kms from Phnom Penh.

This morning, communities, including Boeng Kak lake, Borei Keila and Thmor Kol, unions and other civil society groups joined former Dey Krahorm residents in solidarity to mark the 5-year anniversary of their brutal eviction. Outside the Dey Krahorm land, where new buildings have just started construction, communities spoke of their own eviction experiences and their determination to continue fighting forced relocation. The groups also called for the release of the 23 workers and human rights defenders imprisoned in early January. One of the detainees, Chan Puthisak, is a leader of the Boeung Kak Lake community.

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.