Rights in Cambodia's COVID fight

Hello friends!

Cambodia’s not-quite-totally-restricted-but-not-totally-free press rules are leaving us in a weird spot when it comes to checking in on the country. World Health Organisation data via the Google widget is giving me a current confirmed case list of 122, with 96 recovered and no deaths but I am struggling to find more information on testing or how the community is responding. 

Its instances like this where I’m very interested in further expanding the scope of this project and commission more original pieces. While COVID-19 coverage will remain free, premium members are supporting new work. Join them for $6 a month or $60 a year here:

Thank you so much and stay safe,Erin Cook 

Overcrowding is an issue in prisons across the region and conditions are in the spotlight again with the pandemic. In Cambodia, Amnesty International has obtained footage of a cell in an unidentified prison with at least 25 inmates jammed in. The Interior Ministry has acknowledged overcrowding as an issue and told Al Jazeera new measures, like hand sanitiser and a suspension of visits (a different sort of problem) have been introduced as the country deals with the outbreak. 

"At the moment, there hasn't been any reported case. But every day is like a ticking time bomb. We never know. We don't have the luxury for testing everyone. It costs a lot of money, and that money needs to be saved or kept for emergency," ministry spokesman Nouth Savna told AJ. 

I think we ought to take a dedicated look at prisons and the response across the region, because this is fitting into a trend that has become violent elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

What are you doing on Saturday? For Khmer all over the world, usual New Year festivities are taking a different shape moving online. This is a great read and I hope anyone who celebrates has a great time!

IKARE President Sek Kosol said that the virtual celebration would create space for Cambodians not only in the U.S., but also in Australia, Europe and New Zealand, and Cambodia itself to be together during the New Year.

“We all know that the coronavirus is hurting our Khmer people, some inside and outside the country,” he said. “We wanted to create this program so we can give them hope.”

Sek Kosol said holding virtual Khmer New Year celebrations was especially important given Cambodia’s past.

“Our country experienced war and genocide all over the country [between 1975 and 1979], so in 2020, we don't want our Cambodian people to miss the opportunity to celebrate New Year again,” he said.

The garment industry has already been having a rough year with the pointy end of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s beefing with the EU poking hard. Now, for those who still have their jobs fear of getting sick or a further slowdown in exports looms. The government has passed stimulus spending and ordered the closure of casinos and schools, but those employed in the garment sector must continue to work in cramped conditions. "Please, we are not animals; we are not machines. Will anyone take the time to consider our safety?" Sim Samphor, a seamstress in the capital, told Thomson Reuters. 

Will Prime Minister Hun Sen use the state of emergency to grant himself huge new powers and further erode freedoms? Yes, duhhh. That’s not the exact words human rights groups used when raising the alarm after the declaration last Friday made it possible for easier arrests and detentions based on vaguely defined measures. “This is a blatant exploitation of public panic around Covid-19 and threatens to eviscerate the human rights protections which are guaranteed by the Cambodian constitution and international human rights law,” said David Griffiths, director of the office of the secretary-general at Amnesty International, as reported by the Guardian.