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Photo provided to RFA United Nations human rights and environmental officials called on Wednesday for an end to Cambodian authorities’ use of “punitive measures” against protectors of the country’s environment, following the arrests this month of four young environmental activists. The four activists, members of the Cambodian environmental protection group Mother Nature, were arrested on June 16 after three of the group Sun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth, and Sith Chhivmeng were arrested while filming the drainage of sewage into the Tonle Sap River in front of Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace. Separately, authorities in Kandal province arrested Mother Nature activist Yim Leang Hy at his hometown in the province’s Koh Thom district. Sith Chhivmeng was later released after 24 hours of questioning by police in Phnom Penh. ....
Human rights and environmental work are not criminal offenses, the UN says in a June 30 statement.
United Nations human rights and environmental officials called on Wednesday for an end to Cambodian authorities’ use of “punitive measures” against protectors of the country’s environment, following the arrests this month of four young environmental activists.
The four activists, members of the Cambodian environmental protection group Mother Nature, were arrested on June 16 after three of the group Sun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth, and Sith Chhivmeng were arrested while filming the drainage of sewage into the Tonle Sap River in front of Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace. ....
AFP Cambodia-based rights groups say they are hoping that a newly appointed UN envoy to Cambodia for human rights will bring results in talks with the government of the Southeast Asian country, where years of diplomatic dialogue have failed to halt a crackdown on democracy and civil society. Thai academic Vitit Muntarbhorn, who replaced former UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia Rhona Smith earlier this year, spoke on Wednesday in a first virtual meeting online with Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng. Writing next day on his Facebook page, Sar Kheng said the talks with Vitit promised “frank dialogues and discussions” in the future on a range of issues of concern, including government measures taken to control the spread of COVID-19, the country’s crowded prisons, democracy, and the reform of the country’s NGO laws. ....
AFP Cambodia should immediately release inmates who are most at risk from the coronavirus and pre-trial detainees eligible for bail amid the risk of “mass outbreaks” in the country’s overcrowded prisons and detention centers, a rights group said Monday. While the coronavirus made few inroads into Cambodia in 2020, the country’s latest outbreak in February has led to nearly 180 deaths and the number of people infected with COVID-19 the disease caused by the virus has climbed to nearly 25,800. The drastic rise in infections recently led Prime Minister Hun Sen to issue crippling lockdown measures as part of a bid to curb the spread of the virus. While such measures in addition to increased testing and vaccinations have helped to protect the public, rights groups on Monday warned that a recent rash of COVID-19 cases in prisons in the capital Phnom Penh and Sihanouk province shows inmates are particularly susceptible to infection and current mitigation ....