Summary Report Human Rights Situation 2022

Summary Report

Human Rights Situation 2022

Today, Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) issue the report on Human Rights Situation 2022, in which present about the situation of human rights, the situation of land rights and the situation of women & child rights happened from January to December 2022.

In 2022, ADHOC has conducted its investigating and intervening activities for 921 cases, of which the human rights section accounted for 594 cases; the land rights section, 84 cases; and the women’s and children’s rights section, 288 cases by benefiting 107,898 beneficiaries, of whom the human rights section accounted for 46,810 (33,845 female); the land rights section, 36,766 (13,015 female); and the women’s and children’s rights section, 24,322.

1. Human Rights Section: The case of human rights violation was deteriorating in 2022. ADHOC has performed its activities achieving at 104.5% comparing with its annual plan. Through its investigation, it proved that the cases of human rights violation totally numbered 549 increased by 392 cases measured against the figure in 2021 numbering 157 cases of which politically motivated threaten rose to 218; restrictions to freedom of assembly numbered 118; restrictions to freedom of demonstration amounted 65. Through its analysis, it illustrated that more than 50% of human right activist and political activist threatening cases as well as restriction to fundamental freedoms case remained unresolved.  Apart, most victims in those cases decided not to file their complaints because they did not confide in the country’s judicial system.

• Political Freedom Space: According to a report on the political environment of the 2022 election, ADHOC noted 81 cases of irregularities which happened in 17 provinces, in 50 districts/municipalities, and in 60 communes/sangkats in a different ways such as threats of legal action, objection to the National Election Committee’s removal of candidates of the party running for election, threats (on social media) to inflict injury, intimidation of candidates in run-up to elections to resign from their candidacy for their parties, obstructing party’s logos installation, and restriction to freedom of assembly against the political activists.
• Irregularity behind Marking Thumbprints on Petitions in Support: An aspect for social justice to be performed by local authorities – Through the information received, there were 33 cases reported from 160 councilors from the Candlelight Party who had won the communal/Sangkat election seats in 63 communes/Sangkats, in 11 provinces including Kandal, Battambang, Takeo, Kampot, Kampong Speu, Kampong Cham, Koh Kong, Stung Treng, Prey Veng, Preah Sihanouk, and Siem Reap province.
• Torture and Impunity Cases:​ An aspect for social justice to be performed by judicial police officer – ADHOC received information on tortures for 14 cases accounted for 27 victims, one of whom is a woman. The torture was committed in place which are the government’s public administrative buildings like communal/Sangkat police stations, district/municipal/Khan police inspectorates, provincial police commissariats, prison (Trapeang Thlong prison), and torture perpetrators were judicial police in-service such as police officers of administrative police stations, police officers of district/municipal/Khan police inspectorates, police officers of provincial police commissariats, provincial gendarmeries (PM), prison guards and the peer prisoners jailed in prisons. The torture is committed in the purpose of force to make confession, force to pay money back, deterrent crackdown.
• Defamation Complaint:  By 2022, ADHOC received information from community representatives from 2015 till 2021 from 5 provinces that there were 19 cases of defamation lawsuits lodged to the courts over irregularities committed by sub-national officials and against the rich (Okhna) over reclaiming the government’s forestry land for their private​ ownership and over purchasing and selling economic concessionary land as well as over the irregularities of forging public documents to register land titles for more than twenty thousand hectares of land.

2. Land Rights Section:Based on observation, the land disputes were increasing relentlessly while a large number of chronic land disputes were remained unresolved as the new land disputes were emerging continually in 2022. ADHOC discovered that the land disputes numbered 84 cases, 50% of which was the land grabbed by the powerful people impacting directly 7,141 households, equivalent to the victims of 36,766 persons and to 9,831.11 hectares of land. More than 97% of the conflicts were on-going for solutions until the end of 2022.

3. Women’s and Children Rights Section: ​ In 2022, ADHOC found that there right abuses against women and children numbering 288 cases increasing by 64 cases compared with its discovery in 2021 of 224 cases only. Those cases include sexual trafficking, accounted for 61 (57 of which were forced marriage to live in China); labour exploitation, accounted for 17 (10 of which were domestic helpers going to work in Malaysia); domestic violence, accounted for 78 (22 of which resulted in the death of victims); and rape, accounted for 132 (06 of which were raping and killing).

ទាញយករបាយការណ៍ស្ថានភាពសិទ្ធិមនុស្សឆ្នាំ២០២២_KH

ទាញយកសង្ខេប_របាយការណ៍ស្ថានភាពសិទ្ធិមនុស្សឆ្នាំ២០២២_KH

ទាញយករបាយការណ៍ស្ថានភាពសិទ្ធិមនុស្សឆ្នាំ២០២២_EN

ទាញយកសង្ខេប_របាយការណ៍ស្ថានភាពសិទ្ធិមនុស្សឆ្នាំ២០២២_EN

For more information, please contact to:

Mr SOENG Senkaruna, Spokesperson & Deputy Head of Human Rights and Land Rights Section

Tel: 086 324 666 / 016 662 645