As the pandemic spreads through workplaces, income loss and mounting debt are shocking households now and could hold longer-term adverse effects for Cambodia’s economy, according to a series of reports.
An NGO officer said three young environmental activists were taken into custody in Phnom Penh and a fourth detained in Kandal province on Wednesday, but authorities have not confirmed the reported arrests, with National Police referring reporters to a Covid-19 committee.
Eight people have been charged for extortion in Preah Vihear province after allegedly extorting the owner of a woodworking workshop as journalists.
A senior U.S. diplomat asked the Cambodian government to release political prisoners and restore democratic norms ahead of the 2022 and 2023 elections, she said during a conference call Wednesday.
An Interior Ministry official said it closed a sexual abuse investigation against a Kampong Thom police chief after the accusers did not go to court, defending the ministry for failing to respond to three high-profile sexual assault and harassment cases in the past year.
Civil society observers welcomed the justice minister’s call to root out corruption in the courts, but said challenges could remain to remove politics from the country’s judiciary.
A former vice president of the outlawed opposition CNRP has broken with the strident wing of the party in asking the government to be reinstated to politics this week, a course of action that a party co-founder has previously criticized as effective betrayal.
Prime Minister Hun Sen is setting the stage for heightened repression with his message over the weekend that there are opposition plans “to sabotage the upcoming elections,” civil society groups say.
The government has renewed its promise to give cash aid to low-income people living in the capital’s most restrictive “red zone” lockdown areas, of about $39 to $78 for families and $40 to garment workers, following a string of protests over livelihoods.
The Health Ministry is withholding Covid-19 case details under leaders’ instructions, as they are kept at the provincial level, preparing them nationally could take too long, neighboring countries also give only broad totals, and officials want to do more analysis, a spokesperson said.
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