The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of Cambodia on 20 January 2023. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. Regrettably, the Government did not reply within this time frame. If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
At the time of publication, Chhim Sithar is still detained. Her trial opened before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on 21 February 2023 on the charge of “incitement to disturb social security” and is currently ongoing.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: detention of woman human rights defender Chhim Sithar upon her return to Cambodia.
Ms. Chhim Sithar, 34, is a woman human rights defender and the president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), an internal trade union created by staff of the large casino and hotel complex called NagaWorld. She has been an employee of this company since 2007, and in 2009 she joined with other workers in actively demanding the rights and better working conditions for the workers. She was elected the Union Vice President in 2012 and then elected as the President of NagaWorld Union in 2014.
ALLEGATIONS
In December 2021, thousands of NagaWorld employees walked off their jobs demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of eight jailed union leaders and nearly 370 others they said were unjustly fired from the casino in the wake of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cambodian authorities said the strike was illegal and threatened public security. On 3 January 2022, Ms. Chhim was charged with ‘incitement to commit a felony’ under articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code. She was violently arrested on 4 January 2022, being dragged by her neck and pulled into a car by undercover police while trying to join a strike in Phnom Penh. She spent 72 days in pre-trial detention before being released on bail in March 2022.
Around 10.30 a.m. on 26 November 2022, Chhim Sithar was detained by immigration police at the Phnom Penh International Airport for violating bail conditions that allegedly prohibited her from leaving the country. Ms. Chhim had been on a 12-day trip to Australia to attend an International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) World Conference where she had met with other labour leaders and during which time a Human Rights Watch report was published that featured her speaking out against the Cambodian government’s repressive tactics. Previous to her trip to Australia, she had left the country to travel to Thailand on two occasions without issue. Neither Ms. Chhim nor her lawyers were informed of any judicial supervision or probation conditions, such as travel restrictions upon her release, as is required by Cambodian law. They reportedly requested a review of the file to see if it included bail conditions, but the court allegedly denied the request in violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Ms. Chhim’s lawyer was not allowed to accompany her during questioning.
Ms. Chhim is being held at Correctional Centre 2 at Phnom Penh Women’s Prison. The detention facilities are reportedly extremely overcrowded, with access to and the quality of necessities such as food, water, hygiene supplies, medical care, daylight and fresh air being determined on a prisoner’s capacity to pay bribes to prison staff.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our concerns about the Cambodian authorities’ repeated interference with the exercise of workers’ rights by detaining union leaders and workers protesting the wrongful termination of NagaWorld employees. It is also concerning that charges brought against Chhim Sithar have not been dropped and that they appear to have been motivated because of her leadership of the LRSU and their ongoing strike actions against NagaWorld. The allegations that the conditions of bail were reportedly never provided to the woman human rights defender, and that she was previously allowed to leave the country freely indicate that the arrest of Ms. Chhim appears to be related to her ongoing work, exercising her right to freedom of speech and to freedom of association and peaceful assembly while in Cambodia and Australia, and may be part of an attempt to intimidate NagaWorld employees from continuing their strike.
