The timeline below offers a visual representation of some of the key human rights violations and restrictions which have occurred in the Kingdom of Cambodia from 2013-2023, and follows our previous timeline covering 1993-2012 which can still be accessed here. The incidents recorded on the timeline from 2013-2023 represent human rights violations by the Royal Government of Cambodia as well as third parties, cover a wide range of issues including extrajudicial killings, convictions of human rights defenders, land grabs, forced evictions, restrictions of the rights to peaceful assembly, association and expression, torture, arrests, arbitrary detention and legislative and institutional developments relevant to human rights. The information is gathered from the Khmer and English media, CCHR’s own Fundamental Freedoms Monitoring Project, and from the commentary and analysis of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working on these issues. Each entry is accompanied by a short description and provides links to media articles reporting on the event or to the work of CSOs active in the field. It should not be forgotten that the cases included in the timeline are those that have garnered the attention of the media or CSOs, and are as such particularly emblematic or high-profile. The timeline is therefore only representative of a small fraction of the actual number of human rights violations occurring in Cambodia.
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Phnom Penh
Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association
Twin brothers, Chum Huot and Chum Hour, who are Khmer Patriot Party officials and active environmental and human rights activists were staying at a rented room in Phom Penh's Boeung Tumpun district when 10 men dressed in civilian clothes and one dressed in a police uniform came to their room and threatened them. When then men arrived, they allegedly stormed into the room and confiscated the phone from the twins, took a picture of the twins, and threatened to take it to the commissioner. The men also threatened to arrest them and hand them over to the police chief. Several days prior, civilians also purportedly took pictures of the twin's rented room. The pair believe that these threats stem from their active participation in an opposition party as this is not the first time they have faced intimidation and threats. They have filed a petition to the Ministry of Interior to seek a resolution in the case.
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Kandal
Land rights and forced evictions
Hundreds of police and military personnel were deployed to the new Phnom Penh International Airport land dispute site to begin clearing land, despite the ongoing dispute over compensation with the local villagers. To date, no settlement has been reached with the local villagers on the adequate amount of compensation to be offered to them for losing their farmlands and no compensation has been given to the villagers. In the early morning of 7 September, the company started to clear the villagers farmland. The villagers fear that their homes will be demolished next and they have vowed to continue protesting for proper compensation.
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Kandal Stueng
Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association
A Voice of Democracy reporter was allegedly harassed by authorities when trying to cover an ongoing land dispute between villagers and Phnom Penh's new International Airport land development project. This is the second one of VOD's journalist who has been threatened when attempting to cover this dispute. Pok Kheuy, VOD's intern reporter, said when he attempted to interview the villagers at the site of the land dispute, plain clothes authorities approached him, took picutres of him and his motorbike. As he was driving his motorbike back to Phnom Penh, Kheuy noticed two people following him and later five uniformed police officers attempted to pull him over, but Kheuy continued to drive away. The police then shouted at him to pull over to talk and when Kheuy refused to do so, they allegedly called him a 'thief'. Kheuy is now concerned over his safety.
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Phnom Penh
Land rights and forced evictions
On 22 July 2021, local authorities dismantled 44 houses on the banks of the Tonle Sap river in Tuol Sangke I commune, Russey Keo District, Phnom Penh without prior notice and without compensation. Approximately 50 families were affected by this demolition and most of the families were traders who collected construction materials in the area to earn a living.
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Oddar Meanchey
Land rights and forced evictions
After four villagers from Samraong in Oddar Meanchey were temporarily arrested for land protests on 24 August, the provincial court has now summoned 11 of them for questioning, which is to take place on 1 and 2 September. The land dispute is triggered by a conflict over an area claimed by almost 300 families, which is said to have belonged to Angkor Sugar which is the same site as an ongoing class-action lawsuit based in Thailand with the owner of the company Mitr Phol. The company evicted many local residents in 2007, but after it closed in 2015, most of them returned. Now the defendants are accused of falsifying documents entitling them to use the land. On the first day of the hearing on 1 September 2021, an additional 10 villagers were summoned for questioning for allegedly clearing forest land in Samraong city. These villagers hearings are set for 7 September 2021.
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Battambang
Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association
The Battambang Provincial Court sentenced, Nguon Ly, a farmer, to 10 months in prison for incitement to commit a felony under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code over videos he posted on Facebook in which he alelgedly criticized the government over its efforts to buy longan from farmers affected by export blockades from Thailand. Ly had released a series of videos which criticized the government intervention, claiming that the buyers would not actually buy the longan which caused the farmers to lose money they desperately needed. He also allegedly stated that "The government doesn't want to buy. They [want to] decieve." Nguon Ly was arrested jon 21 August 2021 and convicted just a few days later, in an unprecetended and fast-tracked act by the authorities and Cambodian courts. Ly was also forced to issue a public apology video which was publicized on the Battambang's Provincial Police's Facebook page.
VOD | VOA | ThmeyThmey
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Ratanakiri
Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association
Sam Pisey, a 32-year-old teacher from Banlung town in Ratanakiri province, was summoned to the municipal police station on 21 August after she criticised the actions of vaccination station officials on Facebook. She had observed people donating drinking water to the officials being given priority in the order of those wanting to be vaccinated and subsequently wrote an ironic post. The police did not deny this behaviour, but described it as a compromise. Following her summons, Pisey had to sign a statement that she will not pick on the way authorities operate in her social media behaviour in the future. She also wrote a lengthy letter of apology, which she posted on her account.
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Phnom Penh
Convictions of human rights defenders
On 18 August, union leader Rong Chhun was convicted of incitement and sentenced to two years in prison for comments he made in July 2020 on Cambodia’s demarcation line with Vietnam. Alongside Rong Chhun, the activists Ton Nimol and Sar Kanika both received sentences of 20 months in jail for incitement to cause social disorder after they protested to call for Rong Chhun's release. All three convicted were additionally fined 2 million riel per person and ordered to pay a compensation fee of 400 million riel to the Cambodian Border Affairs Committee, which is the institution overseeing demarcation lines of Cambodia. Rong Chhun stated that the decision was politically influenced, while all defendants considered the convictions unjust.
CamboJa | VOD | RFA | PPP | Cambodianess
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Preah Sihanouk
Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association
On 16 August 2021, Van Chandy, a fisherman living in Preah Sihanouk province was arrested for a TikTok video he made in which he criticized the government's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, said that officials who do not support Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son taking power had died from being injected with vaccines, and claimed that Hun Sen had signed a secret deal with China to protect his son's power. The video was also posted on Facebook. Van Chandy was questioned and charged on 17 August with public insult and incitement to disturb social security under Articles 307, 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code.
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Phnom Penh
Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association
On 18 August 2021, farmer Ny Nak was sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to 18 months in prison and to a fine of $500 for public insult and incitement to disturb social security under Articles 307, 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code. Ny Nak was arrested and charged in December 2020 after he made a Facebook post in which he mocked Prime Minister Hun Sen's speech on the state of emergency law and the COVID-19 outbreak.
Khmertimes | VOD | VOD | RFA | VOA
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Kandal
Physical and judicial threats against journalists and or human rights defenders
Authorities in Kandal province arrested Pav Ravi, an activist of the former CNRP in Sithor commune, Khsach Kandal district on 6 August and remanded him in custody. The Kandal Provincial Court had earlier charged the activist with inciting serious social unrest. According to his wife, he was arrested by the police without any warrant and without giving any reason and taken to the provincial court. She suspects that his arrest was due to an article critical of the government that Ravi had written.
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Phnom Penh
Land rights and forced evictions
After the Phnom Penh’s Meanchey District Authority sent letters on 6 August 2021 to multiple families living near the Boeng Tompun lake development ordering them to dismantle their houses within a week to make way for the construction of a new reservoir or otherwise face legal and administrative action, over 100 district authorities came to the site and attempted to demolish the homes of 10 families on 13 August 2021. They claimed that the residents were living illegally on state land and that there would be no compensation. Following the villagers’ protest, authorities ended up demolishing only two houses. In September 2021, the affected residents rebuilt their demolished homes, stating that they had been living there for over 20 years and had nowhere else to go.
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Phnom Penh
Physical and judicial threats against journalists and or human rights defenders
On 13 August, Phnom Penh police and security agents harrassed two journalists who were covering a land dispute between authorities and residents along Boeng Tompun lake. An Vichet, a freelance journalist working with CamboJA, and Lors Liblib, who works for VOA Khmer, were both approached by the forces. The police confiscated both of their smartphones and deleted the pictures they had taken on site. Additionally, An Vichet's press card was taken away from him. Both journalists were threatened with further legal action if they would not immediately leave the area.
CamboJa | Cambodianess | VOD
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Svay Rieng
Land rights and forced evictions
On 2 August 2021, authorities offered 900 riels (0,23$) per square meter to villagers in Svay Rieng province as compensation for them to give up their land to make way for a state reservoir. According to two community representatives, in the following days, authorities pressured villagers to accept the compensation. A village chief rejected the claims, saying villagers had willingly signed the compensation deal.
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Kandal
Disproportionate measures or punishments for breaches of the COVID-19 law
Four protesters seeking compensation from Phnom Penh’s new international airport development have been put in Covid-19 quarantine without cause, according to their wives. Bat Sok Khoeun, 49, a resident of Kandal Stung district’s Boeng Khyang commune, said district police, commune police and commune officials arrived on Monday and gave the four protesters — including her husband — no choice but to enter Covid-19 quarantine for 14 days. A local official, however, says the men were quarantined because they were in contact with a Covid-positive person when they submitted a petition at Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet office.
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Siem Reap
Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association
CHR TV online journalist Sous Chamroeun claimed that he was threatened on the phone by an anonymous caller after reporting on land clearing of protected forest by a local businessman in Chi Kreng district's Lveng Russei commune in Siem Reap province. Sous Chamroeun reported that the anonymous caller told him to remove the story he posted online about the land dispute. He also said that he recorded the conversation but had not filed a complaint to the authorities as he was waiting to see if there were further developments.
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Svay Rieng
Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association
Two representatives of a farming community that has been embroiled in a land dispute with authorities in Svay Rieng province were fined a total of $1,000 by district officials for gathering protests. In Soth and Yos Sophorn were ordered to pay fines of $500 each for the violation of administrative measures of the Law on the Prevention of COVID-19. The two representatives were summoned on 4 August 2021 and accused of incitement and illegal gathering without wearing a mask and keeping social distance. They were forced to thumbprint a document, pledging to pay the fine within a month. One of the representative said authorities were using the pretext of COVID-19 to threaten them and restrict their freedoms.
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Tboung Khmum
Physical and judicial threats against journalists and or human rights defenders
On 4 August 2021, the Tboung Khmum Court of Appeal upheld the Provincial Court's decision to convict Kong Sam An, a former CNRP official, of "conspiracy" for his alleged support of Sam Rainsy's return to Cambodia in November 2019. The Court of Appeal also upheld his sentence to seven years in prison. The family of Kong Sam An considers the Court of Appeal's decision to be unacceptable and to amount to political persecution.
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Phnom Penh
Legislative and institutional developments relevant to human rights
On 2 August 2021, a decision issued by the Information Ministry announced the creation of a new committee tasked with promoting "journalism ethics and professional standards" and empowered to discipline reporters, was launched by the government. The Monitoring Committee for Journalism Ethics Practice will review reports and complaints against journalists and news organizations, resolve disputes over journalistic ethics and professional standards, and will have the power to summon any journalist or media outlet. The recommendations of the committee - majoritarily composed of government representatives - can influence the Information Ministry's decisions to punish violations of ethics and professional standards. Rights groups and journalists have questioned the transparency of the committee and expressed fears it could be used as a tool to further persecute journalists in Cambodia.
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Phnom Penh
Land rights and forced evictions
On 3 and 4 August 2021, local authorities dismantled the houses of the remaining 20 families living in Russey Keo District’s Boeung Chhouk A community to make way for the construction of a road. Residents had only been given a week's notice and were not offered any compensation. Residents reported that the police came to demolish their homes with hammers, axes, saws and a drill motor, with one family physically removed from their home by the police before it was torn down in front of them.
VOD | RFA | Cambodianess