(Bangkok) – The Cambodian authorities ought to instantly cease abusing public well being measures to repress staff’ proper to strike and different primary rights, Human Rights Watch stated right now.
Because the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Staff of NagaWorld (LRSU) went on strike in December 2021 to name for the reinstatement of staff laid off earlier within the yr, Cambodian authorities have arbitrarily arrested, detained, and prosecuted union activists. Most not too long ago, the authorities have sought to justify these prison costs as Covid-19-related measures. On February 5, 2022, the police arrested six union members at Phnom Penh’s NagaWorld on line casino as they left a Covid-19 testing web site and baselessly charged three of them with obstructing the federal government’s Covid-19 efforts.
“The Cambodian authorities are stooping to new lows by bringing prison costs within the guise of public well being measures to finish a strike,” stated Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The federal government’s persecution of union activists seems aimed toward blunting the rising unity and energy of Cambodia’s union motion and their help for the NagaWorld strikers.”
On February 4, Cambodia’s Well being Ministry ordered a number of hundred staff engaged in a strike motion outdoors the NagaWorld on line casino to take a Covid-19 check, after one placing union member (who had final participated within the strike on January 15) examined constructive. The authorities stated that anybody who examined detrimental must self-isolate for seven days, and that in the event that they examined constructive, they’d be despatched to a Covid-19 remedy middle. Between February 5 and 6, over 400 protesting staff appeared as ordered on the designated testing web site on Phnom Penh’s Diamond Island (Koh Pich). Because the strike started, protesters have protected themselves and others by sporting masks and sustaining social distancing.
The six arrested on February 5 had been Seng Vannarith, Choub Channath, Sao Sambath, Ouk Sophorn, Contact Danet, and Em Kunthea. The police launched Sophorn, Danet, and Kunthea later that night time, however held Vannarith, Channath, and Sambath on the Phnom Penh police headquarters. On February 9, the Phnom Penh courtroom charged the latter three with “obstruction of Covid-19 measures” (article 11 of Cambodia’s Covid-19 regulation), which carries a penalty of as much as 5 years in jail. The courtroom ordered their pretrial detention at Phnom Penh’s Police Judiciaire jail facility, which in November 2020 was at about 170 percent capacity.
On February 5, the authorities issued summonses for 4 different staff for questioning about alleged obstruction of Covid-19 measures. The 4 had adopted authorities orders by getting examined for Covid-19 and self-isolating after testing detrimental. One of many 4 told VOD Information that she was “shocked” to obtain a summons as a result of she stated she “didn’t incite individuals to dam testing.” One other feared that she can be present in violation of Covid-19 measures if she left self-isolation to seem in courtroom.
“Throwing staff into overcrowded jails which can be hotbeds for Covid-19 as they await prison trial exhibits that the federal government’s concern is just not about public well being however about ending one in every of Cambodia’s longest industrial actions in years,” Robertson stated.
On December 18, LRSU started the strike in accordance with worldwide labor regulation, calling for the reinstatement of 365 staff beforehand dismissed as a part of the mass layoff of 1,329 staff by Phnom Penh’s NagaWorld on line casino in April 2021. Amongst these dismissed had been union leaders. The authorities called the strike “unlawful” on the premise of a courtroom order issued on December 16 that violated the fitting to strike protected below worldwide regulation. The authorities ordered protesters to renew work, contending that if they didn’t, NagaWorld can be permitted to terminate them. The federal government has failed in reaching a good decision within the labor disputes between NagaWorld and the union.
Since December 31, the authorities have arrested dozens of LRSU members who participated within the strike, and already jailed eight, together with the union president, Chhim Sithar, on “incitement” costs. They’re held at Phnom Penh’s Correctional Facilities 1 and a couple of.
The Cambodian authorities adopted the Law on Measures to Prevent the Spread of Covid-19 and other Serious, Dangerous and Contagious Diseases in March 2020. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly highlighted the threat the law poses to human rights in Cambodia as a result of the authorities can simply abuse its overly broad and obscure provisions. The regulation additionally fails to supply any unbiased oversight and procedural safeguards, and supplies disproportionate fines and penalties of as much as 20 years in jail for alleged violations of Covid-19 associated measures.
The United Nations particular rapporteur on Cambodia reported that, between March and October 2021, the police arrested over 700 individuals based mostly on allegations of getting violated Covid-19 measures. Among the alleged violations of the Covid-19 regulation concerned individuals making crucial commentary on social media concerning the authorities’s dealing with of the pandemic.
Cambodia is sure by Conference No. 87 of the Worldwide Labor Group (ILO) and the UN Worldwide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects the fitting to strike. The ILO tripartite Committee on Freedom of Affiliation held that prohibitions of strikes throughout a nationwide emergency, such because the Covid-19 public well being disaster, must be restricted in time, strictly needed, and proportionate. The committee additionally acknowledged that the “duty for suspending a strike on the grounds of public well being mustn’t lie with the federal government, however with an unbiased physique which has the arrogance of all events involved.”
The LRSU protesters’ precautionary well being measures made the denial of the strike and the next arrests pointless, extreme, and disproportionate, violating their internationally protected proper to strike, Human Rights Watch stated.
“Utilizing public well being measures to repress staff undermines the general public’s religion within the authorities’s actions towards Covid-19,” Robertson stated. “UN businesses in Cambodia, the ILO, and international embassies ought to press the federal government to instantly and unconditionally launch the detained union activists and cease abusing well being measures for political ends.”
