Overview

Human rights violations continued unabated. Slavery, forced labour, human trafficking and torture flourished in scamming compounds across the country, with the full knowledge of authorities who failed to shut many of them down. Repression of freedom of expression continued, as demonstrated by the alleged assassination abroad of a political critic. Journalists, civil society leaders and government critics continued to face unfounded and politically motivated criminal charges. Thousands of families living at the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage site faced ongoing threats of forced eviction, while those already evicted were denied remedy and left in inadequate housing, struggling with debt and unemployment.