*This article is originally published in the Asia Pacific Policy Observatory May 2024 Report.
The 2024 Election
On February 25, 2024, Cambodia held its Senate elections. The ruling party, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won 55 of the 58 electoral seats with only three seats going to the opposition following an election that was marred by physical intimidation, threats, and bribes used against anyone who opposed the CPP.
The Presidency of the Senate was taken over by Hun Sen, who served as the Prime Minister for 36 years. Hun Sen took control of the senate only after handing over the role of Prime Minister to his son, Hun Manet in September 2023. It is believed that Hun Sen hopes to change the world’s perception of Cambodia by engaging in international relations. In reality, these changes allow Hun Sen and his family to control both the executive and legislature, monopolize decision-making in the country, force continuity in the regime’s policies whether they are good or bad, and block all opposition to their governance.
Following allegations of threats and intimidation along with bribery of opposition party candidates in the Senate elections, international organizations have written to the National Election Committee seeking a response on the actions they have taken and intend to take. Additionally, they have called for ‘accountability and to reject the subversion of Cambodia’s remnants of democracy.
Jurisdiction Overview
Cambodia is a country dominated by its children and youth, who make up 46.5% of the total population. The Internet in the country is predominantly used by its youth with a high reliance on social media.
The government’s focus has been to move the country from a Least Developed Country (LDC) to a Developing Country, which it hopes to achieve by pushing for youth-led digital innovation and attracting more start-ups into the country. In the United Nations’ 2024 Triennial Review, its Committee for Development Policy (CDP) recommended Cambodia for graduation from its LDC status, with the entire transition process expected to be completed in 2027.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Cambodia is governed with the collective efforts of different authorities. The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) is a legislative authority and government ministry that governs the telecommunication systems in the country. The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) is an independent entity and regulator for the operation and provision of telecommunication networks and services. It also acts as an arbitrator for disputes between licensees and for their disputes with end users. While the MPTC previously served as both the legislator and regulator, the TRC was specifically established with the mandate to take over the regulatory powers of the MPTC. Additionally, the National Digital Economic and Social Council is responsible for digital economic and social development in accordance with the Digital Economy and Social Policy Framework of Cambodia 2021-2035. However, there is no transparency or accountability in the exercising of authority but a lack of independence in the online regulatory environment with power maintained by the MPTC or the Prime Minister’s office which circumvents TRC to order Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or other stakeholders to take certain actions, such as ordering ISPs to block access to independent media platforms prior to and immediately following national elections.
Cambodia’s Digital Policy Landscape and Challenges Faced by the Youth
With the Senate elections allowing for the complete takeover of all forms of government by CPP, there are no changes in the government’s policy stance, with all laws and policies having been developed when the current Senate President Hun Sen was Prime Minister of the country.
The government of Cambodia is working towards the digital transformation of its economy through policy changes and practical steps that would benefit the youth of the country. The Digital Technology Strategic Plan of 2023-2027 was introduced as part of the 2023 national election strategy. It included aspects that could impact youth such as training and increasing knowledge of digital technology, building technological infrastructure, strengthening cybersecurity and prevention of cybercrime, and implementing technology governance. However, when implementing this digital transformation, some of the challenges that Cambodia’s youth faces as a result of these policies are:
New Laws Threatening Fundamental Freedoms
In the lead up to the 2023 national elections, the government of Cambodia drafted several laws that would likely undermine the right to privacy, freedom of expression and information and violate the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, and non discrimination, in violation of its international obligations. These laws were created to give the government legal cover to intensify its crackdown on any form of opposition. With the latest election results, these policies are expected to be promulgated and maintained, as with the human rights and fundamental freedoms they might hinder, if not already.
- Sub-decree on the National Internet Gateway (NIG): On February 26, 2021, Cambodia enacted the Sub-decree No. 23 on the Establishment of the National Internet Gateway. The Sub-decree would allow Cambodian authorities to conduct surveillance of online activity; to collect, retain, and share the personal data of individuals; and to censor online content. Article 6 permits government authorities to block online connections or content based on broad criteria. This provision can be misused to carry out mass surveillance and censorship. Article 14 authorizes retention of traffic data for a year along with provision of other network information as requested by the authorities, which could lead to online censorship of those critical of the government. Article 16 places extensive penalties on telecommunications operators that do not comply with any provision of this Sub-decree. Over 30 civil society organizations and tech companies have called on the Cambodian authorities to revoke this law. While the plan to implement the NIG remains delayed to an unspecified date, it continues to be an imminent threat to the rights of Cambodians and an open Internet.
- Draft Law on Cybersecurity: A leaked draft of the Cybersecurity Law dated September 2, 2022, which the government intended to release ahead of the July 2023 national elections was obtained by news media outlets. Action with respect to this draft law has been put on pause indefinitely. The draft law would prohibit the provision of cybersecurity services by anyone without a license from the MPTC, limiting access to digital security tools. The law grants broad powers to the Digital Security Committee (DSC) and cybersecurity inspectors without clear limitations, allowing for executive overreach. With vague provisions, the law could also lead to self-censorship as a result of over-compliance by those who fear they would violate the law. Additionally, the law violates the principles of necessity and proportionality by placing heavy criminal sanctions of up to 1-year imprisonment and penalties of up to KHR 150 million or $37,000 on those that fail to meet administrative requirements. There is no independent, impartial or effective mechanism for oversight in the law.
Lack of Independent Information Sources
As announced by Hun Sen in February 2023, the government revoked the media operating license of Voice of Democracy (VOD)’s parent organization, the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, effectively shutting down one of the independent news agencies of Cambodia. VOD’s website was also blocked over its reporting of his son, Hun Manet’s role in the government, after which the website was forced to remove the article and issue a public apology.
Along with this, the Minister of Information, Khieu Kanharith shared a post on Facebook suggesting this step by the government should be a lesson for other media organizations. Hun Sen also suggested that VOD journalists can join state media institutions instead. Subsequently, in March 2023, the government threatened CamboJa news with legal action if it did not correct its alleged wrongful reporting of the revocation of the licenses of three Khmer language news outlets by the government.
In July 2023, a week before the general election, TRC blocked news outlets Radio Free Asia and Cambodia Daily, along with Kamnotra, a public information portal, claiming they “make confusion, affect the government’s honor and prestige, and fail to govern the operating conditions of the Information Ministry.” The order issued directed ISPs to block the websites and nine social media accounts, including the X/Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube accounts belonging to the three news outlets. In September 2023, CamboJa news was again threatened with closure for reporting an attack against a government critic comparing it to politically motivated attacks against the political opposition, Candlelight party.
As a result of these actions by government authorities, journalists are cautious when reporting on public interest aspects and self-censor to prevent retaliatory action taken against them, as addressed in the subsequent section. Additionally, several journalists have fled the country when their news outlets were targeted by the government due to fear for their personal safety. NGOs have called on the government of Cambodia to review vague and overbroad laws that are used to imprison journalists and censor information online.
This revocation of licenses and threats to journalists to limit their independence leads to lack of independent information sources, which is particularly damaging for the country’s youth. They rely on the media and journalists for information which is essential for their civic knowledge and awareness to support their political engagement. When youth are not engaging with the news, their ability to understand and engage in civic life suffers, which in turn weakens democracy.
Restrictions to Free Speech
As a result of intimidation, threats, and criminal sanctions against activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and political opponents, they resort to self-censorship to avoid being targeted. The general public fear retaliation and also censor themselves by avoiding the sharing of information with journalists, leading to an overall impact on information availability. State officials took legal action against more than 16 journalists and 100 human rights defenders for their posts online, including being summoned, questioned, detained, forced to sign a pledge, arrested, charged or convicted, before and after the 2023 national elections. Self-censorship is practiced specifically with respect to public interest issues such as corruption, land rights, environmental aspects, protests, and politics in general.
An illustration of this is the case of government critic and human rights defender, Ny Nak, who was arrested in 2023 for incitement and defamation for his social media comments critical of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. He was previously attacked and beaten up for his activism. Another example is the recent arrest and detention of student activist and president of the Khmer Student Intelligence League Association (KSILA), Koet Saray on April 8, 2024 for raising his voice against the land rights abuse in Preah Vihar province. In this case where the local authorities were accused of corruption and the government of neglect, Koet Saray visited the indigenous communities affected and shared about their living conditions with media outlets and posted pictures to his social media.
Restriction of free speech on the Internet in Cambodia also extended across an entire platform. In January 2023, former Prime Minister Hun Sen used his Facebook account to broadcast a video of his speech threatening violence against his political opponents in the lead up to the national election. The case was sent to the Meta’s Oversight Board after complaints were made claiming that Hun Sen’s video violated Meta’s rules on incitement to violence. Following the Oversight Board’s decision for the video and Hun Sen’s account to be taken down, he threatened to block the social media platform in the country and banned all Oversight Board members from entering its borders. While Meta did not follow through on the Oversight Board’s decision to block Hun Sen’s account, in case it did, he could have retaliated by following through on his threats and blocking the platform across the country, causing other social media platforms to operate with extra caution
Prevalent Digital Harm and Abuse
In February 2023, after the closure of VOD, the news outlet was targeted online through its social media accounts with its journalists facing personal attacks. A female VOD journalist that authored an article critical of then-Prime Minister-designate Hun Manet faced sexual harassment at the hands of a social media personality, Pheng Vannak. In response to a joint statement by 40 civil society organizations condemning this action, Hun Sen dismissed their comments, instead threatening the civil society organizations with an investigation into the source of their funding. Additionally, the Ministry of Women Affairs asked the civil society organizations to remain politically neutral. Prior to the national election in July 2023, it was reported that CPP’s Cyber War Room was coordinating an online disinformation campaign attacking civil society organizations and news outlets that were critical of the government.
Cyberbullying, and online sexual harassment and exploitation are some of the biggest challenges that Cambodia’s youth and children face online. Cyberbullying and digital harassment are faced by 85.7% of Cambodian youth between 15 to 24 years old that use the Internet. There is also an increased risk of gender-based violence in the country. Its impact is particularly damaging, as there is no law that provides data protection and protects the right of Cambodia’s youth to privacy, to be forgotten, to anonymity and encryption of communication. In addition to this, 11% of the children aged 12-17 that use the Internet faced online sexual exploitation and abuse in Cambodia, including through blackmail. Children facing online sexual exploitation and abuse often did not report it through formal mechanisms, either because of the stigma and taboo attached to the subject or they did not know where or how to make a report. Often associated with shame, embarrassment, and fear, the willingness of online sexual exploitation and abuse victims to report is also a barrier to tackling this. Moreover, the absence of digital literacy and digital safety education for Cambodian youth makes it more difficult to protect themselves against digital harms.
In response to this, the government launched the Guidelines on Child Online Protection for the Digital Technology Industry responding to current and future harms that could arise. These guidelines encourage a response to addressing and preventing harms from industry actors like social media platforms, Internet services providers, mobile operators, data hosting companies, software and app developers, and content creators.
Recommendations for Cambodia’s Digital Future
In the lead-up to the Senate election, the government announced the Digital Government Forum that was held in March 2024 bringing together domestic and international experts to share experiences on policy formulation and implementation, trends in digital technologies, best practices in accelerating digital transformation and in the usage of emerging technologies.
Despite these positive steps, the challenges faced by the youth as highlighted in the previous section continue. Therefore, to meet Cambodia’s goal of changing its status from a Least Developed Country and to achieve the objectives under the Digital Technology Strategic Plan of 2023-2027, this paper presents the following recommendations to the government of Cambodia in line with their international human rights obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
- Repeal or amend laws and regulations that restrict freedom of expression and the independent media, including but not limited to criminal defamation under the Sub-decree on the National Internet Gateway, the draft Law on Cybersecurity, the Criminal Code, and defamation provisions under the Press Law. Consult with relevant stakeholders on the amendment of laws.
- Ensure a free, safe and secure environment for all journalists and media outlets to perform their professional role without restriction and fear, particularly before, during and after national or local elections.
- Stop all forms of harassment against activists, human rights defenders, journalists, political opponents, and the general public, who share information on social issues, release all those who have been prosecuted or are being detained for this reason.
- Enhance efforts to eliminate all forms of violence perpetrated against the general public, youth, and journalists on the Internet.
The Senate election in 2024 has resulted in the power being concentrated and retained by the same individuals maintaining the status quo of all policy and actions including with respect to the Internet. This government and its actions can only be legitimized if the government follows these recommendations to support an ecosystem in cyberspace that protects and promotes the rights and fundamental freedoms of all its citizens, particularly its youth.
Written by Ananya Ramani (Edited by Pham Thu Ngan)