Cambodia: UN Review Should Insist on Respect for Rights

Dey Kraham demolition (Photo: John Vink/Magnum)

November 30, 2009
Source: Human Rights Watch

Crackdown on Dissent, Lack of Accountability, Forced Evictions Marr Country’s Record

(Geneva) - United Nations member states should express concerns about the dramatic deterioration of freedom of expression, assembly, and association in Cambodia at today's review of the nation's human rights record, Human Rights Watch said today.

Cambodia is undergoing its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Under the process, the rights record of each member state is reviewed once every four years. In its submission to the Council, Human Rights Watch highlighted political violence, the lack of punishment for senior government officials involved in serious rights abuses, forced evictions and land confiscation, arbitrary detention of drug users, and substandard prison conditions.

"In the past year there's been a sharp regression in Cambodia's respect for basic rights, with major setbacks in press freedom and a harsh crackdown on government critics," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Countries should ask Cambodia why it uses repressive tactics to silence peaceful dissent, while thrusting the poor even further into poverty by condoning illegal land grabbing."

In addition to intimidation, threats, and violence, the government increasingly uses the judicial system to muzzle journalists, human rights defenders, and opposition party members, who increasingly face unwarranted charges of criminal defamation and disinformation, Human Rights Watch said.

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