"Foreign governments urged to act on Cambodia human rights", 24 July 2020

Foreign governments are being urged to follow the lead of the European Union (EU) and pressure authorities in Cambodia to take action to address the human rights situation in the country.

The EU will partially suspend Cambodia's Everything But Arms (EBA) trade benefits from 12 August in response to the Cambodian government's "serious and systematic violations" of four human and labour rights conventions.

Now 33 leading human rights organisations and multi-stakeholder initiatives want governments in Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States to echo the EU in its call for the respect for human rights.

"Our organisations are saying these governments need to urge the Cambodian government to take meaningful measures that reverse the deterioration of Cambodia's human rights situation in order to restore trade preferenes or lift suspension of bilateral aid," they say in a join open letter...

Among their demands, they want the Cambodian government to take immediate action by releasing all political prisoners, cease harassment against union leaders, drop treason charges against opposition leader Kem Sokha, investigate attacks against critics of the government, repeal the Law on the Management of the Nation in State of Emergencey, and cooperate with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Special Procedures so that they can fulfill their mandates without interference...