HRW Slams Hun Sen For Shutting Down Independent News Outlet

The Cambodian government effectively eliminated all vestiges of media freedom in Cambodia by shutting down one of the country’s few independent domestic news outlets, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

Photo Insert: On Feb. 12, Prime Minister Hun Sen unexpectedly announced the revocation of the operating license of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, the parent organization of Voice of Democracy (VOD).

On Feb. 12, Prime Minister Hun Sen unexpectedly announced the revocation of the operating license of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, the parent organization of Voice of Democracy (VOD).

The Cambodian government effectively controls all national TV and radio stations broadcasting in Khmer as well as national Khmer-language newspapers. VOD was created in 2003 as a local independent media outlet to produce radio programs and disseminate information to the public.

Publishing in both Khmer and English, it has taken on issues of corruption and government wrongdoing, human rights violations, targeted attacks on organized labor, land seizures, micro-finance scandals, and environmental destruction.

"VOD has served as an important mainstay of independent investigative reporting and objective criticism for years, even as the Cambodian government’s tolerance for critical views has markedly declined,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“Hun Sen’s closure of VOD is a devastating blow to media freedom in the country and will have an impact across Cambodian society.” The order to close VOD was issued on Hun Sen’s Facebook account.

The prime minister objected to a Feb. 9 VOD article alleging that Hun Sen’s eldest son and heir apparent, Lt. Gen. Hun Manet, had been the official, acting in place of his father, who approved a financial aid package for Turkey following a destructive earthquake.

Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have been criticized for sidestepping democratic principles in their announced support in 2021 for Hun Manet to succeed his father as prime minister. Constitutional amendments adopted in July 2022 make it easier for Hun Manet to be elevated to be prime minister.

On Feb. 12, the Cambodian Center for Independent Media sent a letter to Hun Sen, expressing “regret” and updating the article by noting that Hun Manet asserted he did not sign on behalf of the prime minister.

This was despite an admission by a government spokesperson, Phay Siphan, in the same article that “Hun Manet…is not wrong…to play this role.”

Hun Sen rejected the letter in a Facebook post, stating that he could “not accept the term ‘regretful’ … instead of an apology.” On that basis he ordered the Information Ministry to “cancel the license for VOD from now on and that it stops broadcasting.”

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