No progress in Phnom Penh as Hun Manet marks one year

The conviction of ten environmentalists for “lèse majesté” and the campaign against one of the only two independent trade unions that still exist confirm that the repression has not ended with the transfer of power from his father, Hun Sen. And precisely the lack of charisma of the young heir seems to have indirectly increased corruption and abuse of power.

Phnom Penh () – Almost a year after the elections on 27 July 2023 – after 43 years of control over Cambodia – which led to the handover of power from Hun Sen to the current head of government, his son Hun Manet, political repression in Phnom Penh continues, with trials, convictions, arrests or exile of opponents and human rights activists, bloggers and trade unionists.

The latest example, two days ago, was the first instance sentencing of ten activists from the Mother Nature Cambodia movement, committed to protecting the environment and supporting local communities in defending their rights, to between six and eight years in prison. Significantly, once again, the law of lèse-majesté was used, which is intended to protect the dignity of the royal house but is in fact subject to the will of the Cambodian People’s Party headed by the Prime Minister. In this way, three of the activists were able to receive the highest sentence, while seven others were charged with conspiracy. Of those convicted, seven were minors at the time they allegedly committed the crime. The appeal will hardly be able to overturn this sentence, which critics define as “politically motivated” and “aimed at further intimidating any form of dissent in relation to power.”

The hopes for change generated by the appointment of Hun Manet – although it was the result of elections with the opposition banned or silenced – have largely faded in the area of ​​human rights and civil liberties, despite some progress in terms of development economics and foreign investment. Constrained by his father’s lack of charisma and the fear he had managed to instill in the country, Manet has been forced to expand the system of patronage to gather as many supporters as possible, at the cost of increasing corruption and abuse of power. And the need, therefore, to prevent dissent and unbiased information from spreading among the population.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights yesterday condemned the new sentences and warned that legislation that criminalises freedom of expression, peaceful protest and association is incompatible with Cambodia’s obligations under international law and, in particular, with the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the country has adhered.

Before the environmental group, one of the two surviving independent unions, the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, came under the regime’s crosshairs for the report it published on June 4 on freedom of association in the textile industry. It is a crucial productive sector for Cambodia, but also one where – with the complicity or disinterest of the major international brands that produce in the country – the limits on workers’ possibilities to enforce regulations and protections according to recognized standards are most evident. The union’s “white paper”, which also criticizes the program to improve conditions in Cambodian factories drawn up by the International Labor Organization, is now being examined by the Ministry of the Interior.