NCF UN Oral Statement UNHRC63 Session
Next Century Foundation’s Research Officer Manisha Shrivastava addresses the United Nations Human Rights Council in person on freedom of expression and political imprisonment in Cambodia, welcoming the pardon and release of opposition leader Kem Sokha while highlighting how environmental campaigners, journalists and potentially more than one hundred others remain imprisoned for peacefully expressing their views, and calling for the country to release all those detained as a matter of law rather than exception and to restore open political space before the elections of 2027 and 2028.
Transcription:
Mr. Vice President,
The Next Century Foundation is concerned that people in Cambodia continue to be imprisoned for peacefully expressing their views.
This year, Cambodia pardoned and released the opposition leader Kem Sokha. We welcome that decision. But the release of one man is not justice for the many, and others remain in prison for similar peaceful acts.
The environmental campaigners of Mother Nature Cambodia have been imprisoned for more than two years for documenting environmental harm. Journalists are serving long sentences for their reporting. And the Special Rapporteur has reported that more than one hundred people may be held in Cambodia for exercising their rights to expression, assembly and association.
No one should be imprisoned for peacefully expressing their views. As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Cambodia is bound to protect that freedom, and to guarantee every person a fair hearing before an independent court.
The Next Century Foundation encourages Cambodia to release all those imprisoned for peaceful expression, and to do so as a matter of law rather than exception, restoring open political space before the elections of 2027 and 2028.
Thank you.
