Civil and political rights

Political campaigning in Cambodia’s local elections began on Saturday and has so far passed without incident. Cambodians in Phnom Penh on Monday said they hoped that the election could be conducted fairly and free of violence. Sim To, a second-year student at Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia, ...

The CPP has filed a complaint to a commune election committee in Takeo province alleging that a group of CNRP supporters obstructed a ruling party parade of about 400 supporters on Saturday, officials said yesterday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen used a news conference at Thursday’s World Economic Forum on Asean in Phnom Penh to warn that two foreign-owned news outlets, including The Cambodia Daily, were “against” the government and that journalists who did not report “properly” would be seen as ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday released a strongly worded, albeit vague, rebuttal to a harsh report released by ASEAN parliamentarians on Monday, which chided the government for its legal onslaught against the opposition and alleged the “systematic dismantling [of] democracy” in the Kingdom. ...

Every Cambodian will be assigned a 10-digit identification number under which information from various government departments, as well as the private sector, will be collected in a central database, Interior Minister Sar Kheng announced on Thursday.   ...

Many of the news media’s favorite political analysts aren’t picking up their telephones. They say they are busy with work, traveling abroad or focusing on their studies. ...

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy has denounced current world governments’ surveillance legislation, calling for respect for citizens’ rights to privacy.   ...

Cambodia ranked 157th in the world and last in Southeast Asia, according to the report, released on Tuesday by NGO Open Data Watch, dropping four points since last year to a total score of 22 out of 100.​​ ...

The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Frederica Mogherini, yesterday released a letter outlining Europe’s continued concern with what it perceives as a deteriorating political situation in Cambodia. ...

Besieged by color revolutionaries, agitators and criminal politicians, the Interior Ministry kept the country safe from encroaching instability—at least, that was the ministry’s boast on Wednesday at its annual meeting. ...

A U.S. congressman on Wednesday called on the CPP to abandon an imminent vote on legislation that would give the Cambodian government sweeping new powers to abolish its political rivals, the same day the U.S. ambassador met with CNRP acting President Kem Sokha to discuss ...

The senators say they wrote as friends of Cambodia, who wish to see a strong relationship between the two countries but who are troubled by the increased social and political turmoil in Cambodia. ...

Undeterred by the $500,000 lawsuit filed against him by Prime Minister Hun Sen, political commentator Kim Sok returned to the radio waves on Tuesday to say that the government could settle the case against him by releasing video footage of Kem Ley’s murder. ...

Political commentator Kim Sok’s worldly possessions—two iPhones, an iPad and $200 in savings—may soon become Prime Minister Hun Sen’s property after the premier filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the commentator for allegedly claiming that the CPP killed Kem Ley. ...

A number of young people were detained in 2016 for making social media posts deemed to be inciting violence. The opposition has said freedom of expression among its youth wing is limited compared to more seasoned activists. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered authorities to arrest any politicians pledging to clear the debts of voters with micro-finance institutions (MFIs) and banks if their party wins the elections. ...

Unless there are fundamental changes to the dynamics of politics in Cambodia—with the government suppressing dissent and the opposition often relying on racially charged attacks—disenchantment following next year’s election is likely to lead to violence, a think tank warned in a political analysis released on ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on all media institutions in the country to disseminate accurate news and avoid immoral acts and commentary that could sway public opinion or that of the judiciary. ...

Cambodia fell four spots in a 2016 ranking of internet freedom across the world released yesterday, with the organization behind it tying the drop to a spate of arrests for nothing more than Facebook posts and a much-maligned telecommunications law that critics say gives the ...

Pen Sovann, Cambodia’s first prime minister after the Vietnamese invasion in January 1979 that swept the Khmer Rouge from power and a serving opposition member of parliament, passed away at his home in Takeo province’s Duan Keo town on Saturday evening aged 80. ...

The UN’s special rapporteur for human rights yesterday told Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn that Cambodia is the top ranking country in terms of freedom of expression in the Asean region, but must improve in other areas of human rights which have been raised by the ...

Rhona Smith, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, who is on a three-day trip to the Kingdom, yesterday voiced her concern about overcrowding in prisons caused by an increase in temporary detentions before trials. Ms. Smith, on her third visit to Cambodia, raised ...

Cambodia’s ambassador to the United Nations pulled no punches in his response to a joint statement from almost 40 countries condemning the government’s recent actions and threats against peaceful protests, implying in his own letter that the opposition party was participating in “unlawful and anarchic ...

In a joint statement released yesterday, 38 nations came together to express their concern about the political situation in Cambodia and demanded the government ensure a safe environment for human rights defenders and civil society groups. The statement, delivered by United States Ambassador to the UN ...