LIBRARY

1 June 2024

We stand strong with the thousands of children and minors across Cambodia who are locked up in overcrowded and under-resourced prisons. We call on the relevant authorities to stop the excessive detention of children and minors in prison, and to immediately and consistently use alternatives to detention before resorting to imprisonment.

30 November 2023

The Cambodian government’s endorsement of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in domestic violence cases – without ensuring access to courts and support services – is putting women’s and children’s lives at risk. Despite this, the government has now further entrenched this approach in a new Royal Decree.

Bopha and Sothy,* whose stories are shared with this article, are among these women. During this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, LICADHO stands with them in demanding justice and safety.

20 November 2023

Debt bondage and child labour plague Cambodia’s brick factories, as decades of inaction by the Cambodian government and construction and real estate sectors have allowed these human rights abuses to continue unchecked.

Today, on World Children’s Day 2023, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) is renewing its call for all actors to immediately end these shameful practices. “Bound by Bricks: An Opportunity to End Debt Bondage and Child Labour in Cambodia’s Brick Factories" is a report based on information documented by LICADHO from 21 brick factories across Kandal province and the capital Phnom Penh.

20 November 2023

International brands’ garment waste is contributing to human rights and environmental harms in Cambodia’s brick factories. During visits to brick factories from April to September 2023, LICADHO found pre-consumer garment waste this year at five operational and two permanently closed brick factories. These factories in Phnom Penh and Kandal province burnt pre-consumer garment waste to fuel brick kilns. LICADHO found waste marked with 19 international brands as evidenced by the photographs below.

29 August 2023

Equitable Cambodia (EC) and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) today are releasing Debt Threats: A quantitative study of microloan borrowers in Cambodia’s Kampong Speu province. The report features findings from a survey of 717 households.

The research shows that widespread over-indebtedness has led to significant numbers of serious human rights abuses – including hunger, child labour, and coerced land sales – across Kampong Speu province. Borrowers are making unacceptable sacrifices to repay loans that are overwhelmingly collateralised with land titles, and that often far exceed borrowers’ incomes and ability to repay.

30 June 2023

At least nine land activists from four communities in Koh Kong province were arrested on 29 June 2023 and charged with incitement under Articles 494 to 495 of the Criminal Code for attempting to submit a petition to the Ministry of Justice.

On 29 June 2023, authorities blocked land community members in Sre Ambel district from travelling to Phnom Penh to deliver their petition. Community representatives from four land communities were questioned, after which 11 of the activists remained in custody and were transferred to Koh Kong provincial police station in Khemarak Phoumin town. The land activists were held overnight, in addition to the six-year-old child and 18-month-old baby of two of the activists, both of whom slept at the police station alongside their mothers. The six-year-old child’s father was called to collect the child this morning, when the 11 activists were transferred to the Koh Kong provincial court. Ten were ordered to be held in pre-trial detention in Koh Kong prison. Other community members were prevented from gathering outside the court in support of their representatives.

Around 100 community members had planned to travel to the capital yesterday to submit a petition asking Minister of Justice Koeut Rith to intervene for charges to be dropped against 30 land activists from five communities. Four vans were initially prevented by police from travelling that morning, with only one van able to continue to Phnom Penh.

28 June 2023

We, the undersigned organisations, call on the Cambodian and Italian governments to immediately halt the reopening of intercountry adoptions. Cambodia has not enacted safeguards that will sufficiently protect the best interests of the child or prevent reoccurrences of the severe fraud and corruption that marked intercountry adoptions in the past.

Multiple countries banned intercountry adoptions from Cambodia throughout the 2000s following widespread evidence of illegal and unethical practices. These included Cambodian authorities and orphanage staff falsifying documents to declare some children orphaned or abandoned, often altering their names and birthdates. Children were then adopted abroad without their parents’ knowledge or informed consent. As a result, Cambodia itself suspended intercountry adoptions in 2009.

1 June 2023

On Children’s Day 2023, amid a soaring number of minors detained behind bars, LICADHO calls on the Cambodian government, including the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior and courts, to immediately address the ongoing crisis of children unnecessarily growing up in Cambodia’s inhumane prisons.

The number of minors detained in the 19 prisons monitored by LICADHO has soared by more than 30% over the last year according to information provided by prison administrations, reaching 1,658 minors in April 2023. More than 96% of them are boys, 52% of them were in pre-trial detention, and a further 37% were awaiting a final verdict.

14 September 2022

A study commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) provides further evidence of widespread over-indebtedness in Cambodia, resulting in an “alarmingly high” and “unacceptable” number of distressed land sales. The study’s findings indicate that more than 167,000 Cambodian households have had to sell land to repay loans over the past five years. FIAN as well as Cambodian NGOs LICADHO and Equitable Cambodia call on the German government and other donors of the microfinance sector to fulfil their responsibilities and take immediate and concrete action to address this untenable situation.

1 August 2022

Online money lending networks are targeting Cambodian women on Facebook and Telegram, trapping them into growing debts and extorting them using naked photographs and videos. Social media companies and Cambodian authorities are failing to act, allowing these predatory groups to exploit women with impunity.

In the last year, LICADHO has provided services to three women who have been harassed by informal online lenders. Each with similar experiences, the women first borrowed sums as small as $50 to pay for daily expenses or medical care from groups advertising on Facebook, but ended up being blackmailed and extorted after sending naked photographs and videos in an attempt to escape the cycle of debt.

29 March 2022

We are deeply alarmed by Cambodia reopening intercountry adoptions and the Italian government’s apparent disclosure that at least nine potential adoptions from Cambodia are being processed by Italian adoption agencies. We fear these decisions will lead to more families being irreparably torn apart by a poorly regulated system that has failed to protect children’s best interests in the past.

Cambodia reports having sent 3,696 children abroad for adoption between 1998 and 2011. The country suspended intercountry adoptions following evidence of fraud and corruption. Cambodian officials forged documents to falsely change some children’s names or ages or claim they were orphaned or abandoned, before children were adopted abroad without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

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.

1 November 2021

This morning the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced a 16-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder to eight months in prison over content he shared on Facebook and Telegram. The child, the son of a detained political opposition member and an activist, was convicted of incitement and insult of public officials under Articles 494, 495 and 502 of the Criminal Code. He will serve four months and 15 days in prison, with the remainder of the sentence suspended.

The child is due to be released from prison this month but he will remain under probation for two additional years, during which time he will be required to appear before the court whenever summoned; inform the court if he changes address; and obtain permission to leave the country, among other conditions.

The trial hearing was open to the public and this morning monitors were permitted to enter the courtroom in which the child was present. Monitors were then ordered to leave the courtroom before the verdict was read. When leaving the courtroom after the verdict announcement, his mother was escorted out of the court building by officials as she attempted to inform monitors and the media who were waiting outside the courtroom about the verdict.

13 October 2021

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court indefinitely delayed the scheduled reading of a verdict in a case involving a 16-year-old child who is the son of a jailed former political opposition member, giving the reason that the judge in the case was “busy”.

The child, whose mother says has autism spectrum disorder, was charged with incitement and insult of public officials after being arrested on 24 June 2021. Evidence in the case included messages sent over Telegram. The charges under Articles 494, 495 and 502 of the Criminal Code carry a maximum of two years in prison as well as fines.

The child was previously denied release under court supervision on 3 August 2021 and has now been detained 111 days without access to his family. He was previously the target of violent attacks, including an incident in April 2021 when a brick was thrown at his head, requiring stitches.

1 June 2021

The government must begin treating children’s rights and well-being as a central issue in its ongoing efforts to contain the pandemic. Children’s lives have been radically altered by the extended closure of all in-person learning and drastic lockdown measures, and more must be done to support and defend their rights and needs.

This Children’s Day, LICADHO is releasing a series of quotes from children and their families whose lives have been impacted by the response to COVID-19. They have decided to share their experiences and detail how measures to contain the pandemic have affected their education, as well as their physical and mental health, particularly for children caught in harsh lockdowns.

1 June 2021

This Children’s Day, LICADHO is releasing a series of quotes from children and their families whose lives have been impacted by the response to COVID-19. They have decided to share their experiences and detail how measures to contain the pandemic have affected their education, as well as their physical and mental health, particularly for children caught in harsh lockdowns.

12 May 2021

As stated above, we, the undersigned people and civil society organizations working to promote women’s human rights and gender equality in the Kingdom of Cambodia are dismayed that relevant authorities failed to take proper and effective measures in accordance with legal principles in cases of sexual gender-based violence and sexual harassment. As a result, justice has not yet been delivered to the victims and survivors. This has seriously impacted the effectiveness of law enforcement in the Kingdom of Cambodia, and serves as a breeding ground for increased violence and sexual harassment against women and girls. The measures taken so far to dismiss and demote powerful officials from their positions do not provide justice for women survivors, and only reinforce the culture of impunity. Perpetrators of domestic violence, sexual harassment and attempted rape must be punished according to the law. It is already distressing that a woman has to live with the harm caused by gender-based violence. When she comes forward and speaks out about those experiences, with the only purpose being to seek justice for herself and other women and girls, she must be supported.

17 April 2021

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, are deeply concerned about the heightened risks of gender-based violence that the COVID-19 pandemic poses. We call on all relevant officials of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) to increase their vigilance and take action to prevent all forms of violence against women, children and LGBT+ individuals that may occur during mandatory quarantine and in areas under lockdown.

On 9 April, the RGC put some areas of Phnom Penh in lockdown, including Khan Meanchey, Khan Sen Sok, and Khan Por Senchey. The government also recently decided to place Phnom Penh in lockdown for two weeks effective from midnight on 14 April Lockdown measures similarly began today in several communes of Siem Reap city. All people are request to implement the “3 dos, 3 don’ts” to control of the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

11 March 2021

We, the undersigned civil society groups, are dismayed at reports that a police officer faced disciplinary action for posting on her personal Facebook account a picture of herself nursing her baby while in uniform. Sadly, this occurred only a day after International Women’s Day, exemplifying the challenges that must be overcome in order for women’s rights to become a reality in Cambodia.

8 March 2021

This International Women’s Day, LICADHO is calling for immediate improvements to the conditions faced by women and girls who are detained in Cambodia’s disastrously overcrowded prison system.

Last month, nine women shared stories with LICADHO about life within Correctional Centre 2 (CC2), the country’s only prison designated for women and children. Five of these women - Sokha, Bopha, Sopheary, Sreyleak, and Chanmony - are currently imprisoned or have recently been released. Their names have been changed to protect their identities. Others are family members of imprisoned women human rights defenders Chhoeun Daravy, Eng Malai, Long Kunthea and Phuon Keoraksmey.

All of these women have faced deplorable prison conditions. Yet rights violations behind bars are avoidable, and the government has a responsibility to urgently resolve this crisis by implementing best-practices from both domestic and international laws and regulations.