The human rights situation in Cambodia has deteriorated significantly since the last national elections in 2018, Amnesty International’s Acting Deputy Regional Director of Research, Montse Ferrer, said today ahead of Sunday’s polls which are expected to are dominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party after the only viable opposition group. participation has been blocked.
“The Cambodian authorities have spent the last five years picking away at what is left of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. There is a growing crackdown on human rights in Cambodia. Many people feel compelled to participate in these elections even though their chosen party is not on the ballot.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen, the authorities have shut down or increased pressure on independent media; political opponents harassed, intimidated, beaten and imprisoned in mass trials; and restricted the rights of candidates to form political parties and contest the vote. Opposition party activists have been attacked in the streets with metal batons on several occasions, and a political activist was stabbed to death in public in 2021. in what many believe to have been a targeted attack.
“Hun Sen has led calls for violence, as seen in a video streamed live from his official Facebook account in January, that led to attacks on political opponents, prompting the Meta Supervisory Board to order the removal of the video and recommend the immediate removal of the video. suspension of the Prime Minister’s official account for six months.
“Repression of human rights has increased dramatically in the years following the last national elections. The authorities used the Covid-19 pandemic to further stifle human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, with journalists, human rights defenders and government critics to hold opposing views.
“The attempt to form and register the new opposition party Candlelight Party was quickly quashed in what amounted to a politically motivated decision not to allow its registration. Several members of the Candlelight Party they have been arbitrarily detained and some have been sentenced to years in prison on trumped-up charges. In the run-up to the elections, new regulations came into force aimed at punishing people who called for a boycott of the vote, making yet another mockery of the right to freedom of expression.
“The Cambodian authorities must immediately drop all false and politically motivated charges against members of the Candlelight Party, former opposition leader of the disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Party. Kem Sokha, trade unionist Chhim Sithar and their colleagues, as well as anyone imprisoned solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. The authorities must immediately stop using the judicial system as a tool to suppress peaceful dissent and stop the ongoing crackdown on independent media and journalists.”
Background:
This Sunday, Cambodia holds its seventh general election since a vote administered by the United Nations in 1993. The Cambodian People’s Party is widely expected to sweep all the seats, as it did in 2018 in a vote widely seen as unfair by election monitors All Amnesty International’s work on Cambodia, including research, press releases and other country-specific outputs, can be found on our website here.
Amnesty International is a global human rights movement, independent of any government, political ideology or economic interest. Raising concerns about human rights violations against candidates, members or supporters of a political party or advocates of a particular political position does not imply that Amnesty International endorses the platform of that party or candidate.
