06/11/2021
Quote attributable to Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, on visit of Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne to Cambodia – November 7, 2021
“Foreign Minister Marise Payne should place human rights front and center in her dialogues with PM Hun Sen and the Cambodian government when she visits on November 7-8. Cambodia is in the midst of a human rights crisis that requires urgent action. The government has imprisoned more than 90 political prisoners, including human rights and environmental activists as well as political opposition members, for simply exercising their civil and political rights. Independent media has been harassed and shut down, mass trials of political activists held, and democracy undermined with the dissolution of the main opposition party.
Just ahead of Payne’s visit, the government oversaw the outrageous, politically motivated prosecution and imprisonment of a 16-year-old autistic boy because he is the son of a detained opposition party activist. Penalizing a boy with mental disabilities because of the activities of his father shows just how far the human rights situation in Cambodia has deteriorated.
Payne should raise specific harassment cases during her meetings with Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn and Prime Minister Hun, including demanding the dismissal of the trumped-up treason case against opposition leader Kem Sokha, and demand the release of other imprisoned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) members. With COP26 in mind, Payne should also call on the government to drop all charges and release detained environmental and youth activists, including those affiliated with the youth Khmer Thavrak and the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia, who have been imprisoned for over a year based on their peaceful activism.
With the commune and national elections in Cambodia just around the corner in 2022 and 2023, the Australian government, should press the Cambodian government for clear commitments to democratic freedoms, including respect for media freedom, an end to politically biased decisions on party registration, and reinstatement of the legal status of the dissolved .
Australia should also publicly state that it stands with and supports community and land rights activists, human rights defenders, human rights NGOs, independent trade unionists, and independent journalists, and call for an immediate reversal of the deteriorating rights situation.
Such support should also translate into Australia’s effective engagement with civil society concerning the government’s efforts to legally establish a national human rights institution. Serious concerns exist that the Cambodian government is not serious about creating an institution that fully complies with the Paris Principles. discussions with the government should be totally transparent, with clear and consistent messaging on what advice, if any, is being provided to the government on this issue.
Beyond Minister Payne’s two-day visit, the Australian government should adopt a strong and clear human rights agenda towards , which includes among other things the need to issue more public statements condemning the human rights crisis; regularly visit political prisoners as well as their family members; and designate high-profile government officials and their allies who committed serious rights abuses under any forthcoming Magnitsky-type sanction regimen. Considering the significant number of senior Cambodian People’s Party officials holding Australian dual nationality or having business interests in Australia, the Australian government should also adopt strong regulations for overseas supply chains of Australian companies or companies trading in Australia to hold these private actors to account for their serious rights abuses committed in Cambodia; protect Khmer diaspora living in or present in Australia from attacks and harassment by allies of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party on Australian territory; and ensure that trade relations with the Cambodian government take into consideration respect for labor and human rights.”