In a recent report to the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights, a group of NGOs highlight a growing pattern of human rights violations across Southeast Asia involving trafficking rackets that are fuelled by scam online employment schemes. The report echoes recent information that the Global Detention Project has received from sources in Cambodia about […]
Cambodia: Covid-19 and Detention
Cambodia has had few confirmed cases of Covid-19, numbering just over 100 as of mid-May. The country has taken a number of measures to prevent the spread of the disease. On 20 March, the border with Vietnam was closed and general entry restrictions were implemented for foreign travelers. On 30 March, it suspended the issuance […]
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DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
LENGTH OF DETENTION
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOs)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
ICPED, International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
2013
2013
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2007
2007
OPCAT, Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2007
2007
CTOCSP, Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
2005
2005
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1992
1992
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 14/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on Enforced Disappearance
48. The Committee recommends, taking into account its general comment No. 1 (2023) on enforced disappearance in the context of migration, that the State party adopt the necessary measures to prevent the disappearance of migrants, strengthen mutual legal assistance to facilitate the exchange of information and evidence for the search for disappeared migrants and for the investigation, and provide support services to them and their relatives ...
51. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the State party regarding the existence of 10 different registers for prisons, as well as similar registers for social service centres and correctional facilities. ... Nevertheless, the Committee is concerned at: (a) The inconsistency of the elements listed in article 17 (3) of the Convention that appear in the registers, and the lack of information on registration procedures in other places of deprivation of liberty, such as military or immigration detention facilities;
2024
2024
2024
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
§ 36. The State party take all measures to ensure the full respect of the principle of non- refoulement . Recalling its general recommendation No. 22 (1996) on refugees and displaced persons in the context of article 5 of the Convention, the Committee recommends that the State party ensure judicial appeals procedures for asylum seekers and allow asylum seekers and refugees to have access to basic rights.
2020
2020
2020
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
Cambodia has had few confirmed cases of Covid-19, numbering just over 100 as of mid-May. The country has taken a number of measures to prevent the spread of the disease. On 20 March, the border with Vietnam was closed and general entry restrictions were implemented for foreign travelers. On 30 March, it suspended the issuance of visas for all foreign nationals. In April, travel between provinces and districts was restricted.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many businesses have closed in Thailand and in consequence, more than 90,000 Cambodian migrant workers have lost their employment and many have returned to Cambodia. UN agencies report that they are working with the Cambodian Government to ensure that migrant workers and their families receive assistance in terms of shelter and food. The UN and partners are working to include migrants in the social protection support package being proposed as part of the exceptional measures created by the Government to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 among vulnerable groups.
IOM Cambodia has printed and distributed information, education and communication materials developed by the Ministry of Health and the WHO. The organisation is also collaborating with UNICEF to manage a hotline providing returning migrants with information regarding access to essential healthcare and psychological support. In addition, IOM Cambodia says that it is working with border authorities to monitor migrants’ cross border movement in order to understand their mobility, respond to their needs, and inform preparedness and response strategies.
Human Rights Watch says that Cambodian authorities are using the Covid-19 pandemic to carry out arbitrary arrests of opposition supporters and government critics. At least 30 people, including 12 linked to the now dissolved Cambodian National Rescue Party have been arrested on charges of spreading “fake news” and other offences. HRW has urged the government to immediately and unconditionally drop the charges against all those accused of crimes in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and association.
Human rights groups have called on the government to take measures in the country’s prisons, which reportedly have nearly 40,000 inmates despite a capacity of just over 25,000. Due to overcrowding, social distancing measures are effectively impossible in the country’s prisons. Human Rights Watch called on the government to “immediately release people who should not be in custody, including pretrial detainees held for minor offenses, and political prisoners.” According to Amnesty International, Cambodian detention facilities “are a ‘ticking time bomb’ for a potentially disastrous coronavirus outbreak.” Footage releases by the organization revealed terrible conditions in which inmates are being held. The Director in the Office of the Secretary-General at Amnesty International called out the government to “urgently ease this overcrowding crisis while giving all detainees access to appropriate healthcare without discrimination.”
ICRC reports that it has been working in prisons to prevent the spread of Covid-19. On 10 April, the organisation signed an agreement with the General Department of Prisons for the donation of 20 tonnes of medical materials including 50kg of calcium hypochlorite powder, protective clothing, boots, gloves, goggles, water spray buckets, sanitisers and medical face masks. On 20 April, it organised training on disinfection of prisons with chlorine for 28 different prisons. The Ministry of Health insisted that prisoners must wash their hands regularly, not touch their faces and wear masks.
In late March, HRW reported that Cambodian Muslims had been facing discrimination since the beginning of the pandemic. They were accused by the Health Ministry of spreading the virus, which led to “led to an outburst of discriminatory and hateful comments online, and discriminatory daily interactions at markets, shops, and community areas against Cambodia’s minority Muslim communities.”
Government Agencies
Ministry of the Interior, http://www.interior.gov.kh/
International Organisations
International Organisation for Migration Cambodia, https://www.iom.int/countries/cambodia
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Cambodia Country Information Page, http://www.unhcr.org/cambodia.html
NGO & Research Institutions
Cambodian Human Rights Action Coalition, http://www.chrac.org/en/
Media
The Phnom Penh Post, http://www.phnompenhpost.com/
The Cambodia Daily, https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/
