"U.N., E.U. Call for Government to Cease Escalating Attacks on Activists", 12 September 2020

The European Union … expressed serious concern over the recent spate of arrests and detentions of youth and rights advocates, linked to a government crackdown on protests emanating from the arrest of trade unionist Rong Chhun…

The Interior Ministry has pointed to the controversial Law on NGOs and Associations to label Khmer Thavarak and Mother Nature Cambodia as “illegal” groups …

“The E.U. is seriously concerned about the continuous deterioration of democracy and human rights in the country, including about recent reports of arrests of human rights defenders, activists and trade union leaders,” said the E.U.’s foreign affairs spokesperson Nabila Massrali in an email to VOA Khmer.

“We continue to call on the Cambodian government to take concrete action to reopen the political space in the country, to reverse the shrinking space for civil society and to ensure the respect of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” she added.

Massrali’s comments came a month after the economic bloc enforced a partial suspension of trade privileges given to Cambodia, on account of “serious and systematic” rights violations by the Hun Sen government, …

The United Nations’ human rights office in Geneva also highlighted the arrest of some 24 activists, human rights defenders, and environmentalists…

“The current situation marks a deepening of the government’s intolerance to dissent and repression of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N.’s Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, in a statement released ...

“It is mainly directed at human rights organizations, environmentalists and human rights defenders,” she added...