Rong Chhun and
Sar Kanika amid a COVID-19 outbreak in many Cambodian prisons. Mr. Chhun, a prominent labour rights defender, is the President of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), and a member of the Cambodian Watchdog Council (CWC)[1]. Ms. Kanika is a member of the youth group Khmer Thavrak[2]
and an ex-member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).
On June 8, 2021, Rong Chhun and Sar Kanika were denied bail by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which claimed that the crime for which they have been detained affects social security and is therefore unbailable. Rong Chhun and Sar Kanika were not present at the bail hearing as prison officers requested the court to suspend the transportation of inmates to tribunals due to public health concerns. Since mid-May 2021, many Cambodian prisons have been affected by an outbreak of COVID-19. These prisons include Phnom Penh’s Correction Centre 1 (CC1) and Correction Centre 2 (CC2), where the two human rights defenders rema
The Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) has finished the first draft of the law on the establishment of the National Human Rights Institution and will continue discussions with other relevant parties soon to finalise the bill.
Arrested last year with two of his fellow environmental activists, Thun Rotha has barely seen his baby who is now 14 months old.
“He was arrested when our son was six months old,” Rotha’s wife Pat Raksmey told Al Jazeera.
“It’s a smear campaign of the powerful. He has not incited anyone. He questions those who are in power.”
Rotha is one of three members of the environmental NGO Mother Nature who were arrested in 2020 after they organised a march to the house of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to express their concern about a plan to fill in Phnom Penh’s largest lake, Boeung Tamok and develop the site.
A two-week curfew from 8pm to 5am starts today in Phnom Penh, a day after a sub-decree detailing administrative measures to contain Covid-19 was issued by Prime Minister Hun Sen.
“Travelling in Phnom Penh is temporally banned between 8pm and 5am,” said Phnom Penh governor
The Covid-19 situation in Cambodia has reached a critical point, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Cambodia warned, as cases surge with two more deaths and 265 infections reported over the weekend.
On March 28 alone, the Ministry of Health recorded 86 Covid-19 cases linked to the February 20
The recent curfew and restrictions imposed in the capital and other Covid-19 hotspots were intended to break the chain of transmission, Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine said as municipal and provincial authorities issued new directives banning certain activities during the upcoming Khmer New Year