Human rights

Cambodia’s courts remain politicized and opaque, reinforcing impunity for those who target activists and government critics, rights group CIVICUS said Wednesday. ...

More than 100 unionists, youth activists and opposition members gathered at a Phnom Penh gas station on Thursday where political analyst and rights activist Kem Ley was shot dead nine years ago while drinking his morning coffee. ...

Recently, several social media users have shared images of a boy holding his little brother, alongside a picture of their mother who had supposedly passed away, claiming to raise money for humanitarian efforts to help orphans. ...

The amendment to the Constitution to revoke the citizenship of Cambodians who collude with foreigners against the Kingdom’s national interests is imminent. Today, both the prime minister and the president of the Senate emphasised the necessity of this law, comparing it to similar laws already ...

Over 1,200 foreigners were denied entry to Cambodia in the first six months of 2025, while the number of national and international travellers entering and exiting through Cambodia’s international checkpoints reached 3.6 million, a nearly 15 per cent increase compared to the same period in ...

One year after five Mother Nature Cambodia activists were imprisoned, civil society groups and families are calling for their immediate release. To mark the anniversary of their detention, rights groups launched a five-day campaign demanding justice, highlighting how their continued detention harms environmental protection efforts ...

Two Korean-owned commercial banks in Cambodia have been accused of human rights abuses against vulnerable borrowers, where they allegedly used aggressive debt practices, according to a new report by a Korean NGO. ...

In recent months, the Ministry of Information has recorded a significant spike in fake news, particularly surrounding the Cambodian-Thai border issue. ...

Independent media outlets worldwide are facing an unprecedented crisis, as revealed in an in-depth report released Friday, which found that the 2025 U.S. aid cuts—removal of $150 million in annual support—triggered widespread closures, layoffs, and a surge in disinformation across dozens of countries. ...

Amnesty International accused the Cambodian government of deliberately ignoring widespread human rights abuses—including human trafficking, forced labor, child labor, slavery, and torture—carried out in more than 50 scamming compounds across the country. ...

Press freedom in Cambodia continues to deteriorate amid rising legal threats, shrinking funds, and tighter restrictions, a report by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) revealed, indicating a landscape of fear for media practitioners. ...

A series of alarming reports from Thai media outlets have painted Cambodia as a prime “scam hub”, but an insight documentary by Channel News Asia (CNA), featured Thailand’s pivotal role as a transit point for trafficked victims heading to scam centres across the region. ...

Despite five men pleading guilty in the US to being involved in a multi-million dollar scam and money laundering operation in Cambodia, according to the US Department of Justice, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Interior refutes claims that scam centres exist in the country, arguing that ...

A prominent human rights advocate Seng Theary, who is serving a six-year prison term, halted her 14-day hunger strike on the ninth day due to health concerns, as civil society groups called for her release. ...

Some 40 indigenous people celebrated World Environment Day, while calling on the authorities and stakeholders to address an unresolved compensation demand lasting nearly 10 years. ...

Cambodia witnessed a sharp rise in cases of harassment against journalists in 2024, according to the latest report by the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association (CamboJA), with a notable 28 percent increase in total incidents compared to the previous year. ...

An online publisher and two others have been charged with three criminal charges, related to the impact on the morality of the army, including a comment to discriminate against the force. ...

When the possibility of military action raises its head, the role of journalists becomes more crucial than ever. ...

A Ministry of Information spokesperson has reminded all media representatives — professional, non-professional and social media users — to avoid publishing information that could harm national security, damage relations with other countries or endanger law enforcement officials and personnel as they carry out their duties. ...

The Court of Appeal of Phnom Penh on Tuesday upheld the conviction of a lower court against union leader Morm Rithy — a decision which has been condemned as unjust by his lawyer and unionists who attended the trial. ...

UN experts are sounding the alarm over a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Southeast Asia, urging immediate, human rights-based action to dismantle scam compounds—including in Cambodia—where hundreds of thousands of people are “trafficked, trapped, and forced into online criminal operations”. ...

The Ministry of Information has criticized non-governmental organizations and press groups for “pursuing their own political agendas”, portraying negative press freedom in Cambodia, in relation to jailed environmental journalist Uk Mao’s case. The ministry claimed that Mao “violated journalistic ethics”. ...

Former Okhna Heng Sithy, who has levelled accusations of corruption and complicity in online scam operations at senior members of the Cambodian government, has been extradited from Russia to face charges of “aggravated blackmail”. He arrived in the Kingdom last night, May 24. ...

Journalists and editors from leading Cambodian media outlets gathered today, May 23, for a landmark training session on the ethical and responsible portrayal of children and youth in media coverage. ...