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.

Filter Timeline on Human Rights Violation

Timeline on Human Rights Violation

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    Six men accused of using violence at a CNRP led demonstration, which resulted in one death and several inuries, are questioned by a Phnom Penh municipal court.

    CAM | ADHR | CAM | ADHR

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    Four people who were apprehended while trying to distribute flowers (misspelt peace) to military personnel are alleged to have handed out leaflets encouraging a military coup, and are charged with incitement by Phnom Penh municipal court, despite a total lack of evidence.

    PPP | CAM | PPP | CAM

  • Preah Vihear

    Preah Vihear

    Land rights and forced evictions

    Dozens of farmers in a Preah Vihear village are threatened with eviction after supporting the CNRP in the previous month's election.

    CAM | PPP | CAM | PPP

  • Kampong Speu

    Kampong Speu

    Assassinations and extra-judicial executions of prominent figures, journalists, celebrities or outspoken dissidents

    Sann Soeun, a 67-year-old prominent CNRP activist in Kampong Speu, is murdered.

    VOA | PPP | VOA | PPP

  • Koh Kong

    Koh Kong

    Land rights and forced evictions

    More than 100 families living in Koh Kong's Kiri Sakor and Botum Sakor districts are ordered to vacate their land in less that two months. The communities are to be relocated to land devoid of any public infrastructure and covered in forest, considered by many to be unlivable.

    PPP | PPP

  • Kom-pong Cham

    Kom-pong Cham

    Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association

    A police officer threatens to, “blow up”, five CNRP supporters accused of obstructing a road with motorcycles.

    CAM | CAM

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association

    Military police are stoned and trucks are torched after a demonstration against voting irregularities erupts in a riot.

    CAM | RT | CAM | RT

  • Kandal

    Kandal

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    Bun Sokhorn, a CNRP supporter, is charged with intentional violence by a Kandal provincial court following a clash between CPP and CNRP supporters.

    CAM | PPP | CAM | PPP

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Land rights and forced evictions

    Mr. Seang Heng, a 70 year old man involved in a land dispute with Phnom Penh city officials, is attacked. Mr. Heng believes that the vehicle involved in the attack is one that followed him on a previous occasion.

    CAM | CAM

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    A Boeung Kak lake activist has a miscarriage after being kicked in the stomach by a police officer during a land rights protest in front of Phnom Penh City Hall.

    PPP | Cambodia Herald | PPP | Cambodia Herald

  • Kompong Speu

    Kompong Speu

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    16 union representatives are charged with various offences following a protest outside a garment factory.

    CAM | CAM

  • Kandal

    Kandal

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    After a second violent clash in two weeks, eight trade union leaders are arrested at a Nike supplier.

    PPP | PPP

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association

    Authorities use water cannons on peaceful protestors from Boeung Kak, Borei Keila, and airport communities calling for a resolution to their land disputes.

    LICADHO-Video | LICADHO

  • Pursat

    Pursat

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    Kuch Veng, a well known opponent of economic land concessions, arrested on fraud accusations.

    PPP | PPP

  • Ratanakkiri

    Ratanakkiri

    Land rights and forced evictions

    Jarai minority villagers in the Ratanakiri's O'Yadav district protest against a Vietnamese company accused by community leaders of clearing protected land and forcing villagers to accept inadequate compensation.

    PPP | PPP

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Convictions of human rights defenders

    Ten unionists from the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) were given suspended six-month prison sentences. The sentences related to violence at the E Garment factory in Kandal province almost three years before.

    PPP | LICADHO | PPP | LICADHO

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Convictions of human rights defenders

    Supporters of imprisoned Boeung Kak lake activist Yorm Bopha commence a hunger strike in advance of her appeal hearing. Bopha was also refusing food in PJ prison.

    LICADHO | PPP | VOA | Video | LICADHO | PPP | VOA

  • Kandal

    Kandal

    Physical and judicial threats against journalists and or human rights defenders

    Seven members of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union were beaten with sticks, pipes, and stones after a protest outside a garment factory in the Sa'ang district.

    PPP | PPP

  • Kandal

    Kandal

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    Seven strikers, including a pregnant woman, were injured by police outside a garment factory. About 200 workers at E Garment protested to demand the reinstatement of 41 union members, sacked in 2007.

    CCHR | PPP | CCHR | PPP

  • Phnom Penh

    Phnom Penh

    Torture, arrests and illegal detentions

    Authorities detained two monks after they blessed striking garment workers at a Phnom Penh factory. The chief at the monks' pagoda spoke out against the monks, in line with the Buddhist hierarchy's approach of tightly controlling monks’ involvement in politics.

    RFA | CCHR | RFA | CCHR