Cambodian Activist Monk Receives Swiss Human Rights Award

The country’s foremost campaigning monk, Loun Sovath, received the Martin Ennals Award in Geneva on Tuesday for his efforts to document the plight of people fighting against eviction in Cambodia. The award, which honors one human rights defender each year, is valued at $21,300, a purse that Loun Sovath said he would put toward  his work documenting evictions and protests. Winners of the award are chosen from a jury that includes members of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation of Human Rights. … The monk, who is often seen attending and documenting protests and disputes armed with an iPad or video camera, was himself arrested by police in May on the same day that 13 anti-eviction activists were sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail. Charges of incitement have been leveled against him in court, while the Buddhist hierarchy, many of whom are close to the ruling CPP, have warned him to stop his activism-an order he has refused. Monastic officials evicted Loun Sovath from Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh last year, and pagodas around the country have been ordered not to welcome him in to their sanctuaries because of his social activism.