I. US and EU policies: Why they wanted to put sanction on Cambodia?

The United States and European Union have threaten to put sanctions on
Cambodia for several times since the country was seem to move toward
authoritarianism. The European Union has called for the parliament’s 13 point votes
to decide on possible sanction since September 2018. The motion included a debate
on the dead of democracy in Cambodia in term of Human Rights, Democracy, and the
rule of law [CITATION Nie18 \l 1033 ].
In the last September, the opposition leader Khem Sokha was accused of treason
on scant evidence and the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was terminated
for attempting to overthrow the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) with the support
from American government by the Supreme Court two month later [ CITATION
Dav18 \l 1033 ]. Prior to the National Election, the government imposed strict
restriction on local and international civil society groups’ operations and it had
slowed down their work. The government of the ruling party had arrested many
activists, pressured the independent media outlets to close down, and limited civil
society freedom of speech. Thirty radio stations were shut down and the English
language newspaper like Cambodia Daily was force to cease operation due to the
alleged on huge amount of taxation, and other independent newspaper; particularly,
the Phnom Penh Post was brought by another owner who was believed to be the
prime minister’s friend.
Consequently, according to ASIA Times (2018), “the United States responded by
imposing visa sanctions on Cambodian officials, withdrew some aid commitments,
stopped its financial support of the National Election Commission, and refused to
send monitors for the upcoming general election in July”. In August, the prime
minister announced that he had won a landslide victory, which the Cambodian
People’s Party has won all the 125 seats in the parliament. The international
community such as Human Rights groups and political observed widely condemned
as a sham and that the general election was deemed illegitimate Furthermore, there
are multiple reports regarding intimidated tactics such as threating to factory workers
of losing their jobs, water and electricity cut of, and evicting from their home if not
go to vote by the ruling party. Also, the report by the government was that the number
of voters was 82.71%, which was higher than in 2013; however it was quite unusual
as there were 17% of invalid votes in Phnom Penh. There were 4,623 armed polices
and military personnel had taken to the street in the capital, Phnom Penh that was
seemed as a warming for the protest. Prior to the election two day, the government of
the ministry of information to prevent voters seeing material deemed provocative by
blocking a total of seventeen major news websites such as Voice of America, Radio
Free Asia, Voice of Democracy, and the Phnom Penh Post [ CITATION Han18 \l
1033 ].
One of commander of Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit, Hing bun Heang, who was
believed to keep vast fortunes abroad was blacklisted by the United States. This
forced Americans as well as companies with a U.S. presence to freeze Bun Heang’s
assets and cease doing business with him [ CITATION Ale18 \l 1033 ]. What is more,
the European parliament had called for the body to vote on a 13-point resolution,
which includes the dropping of all charges against the opposition leader, Khem
 Sokha, and visa sanctions and assest freezes on high ranking officials and those who
violated human rights and those responsible for the dissolution of the opposition
party, CNRP. They also called the Commission to carry on their investigation about
land grabbing issues and make their reports to the European Parliament. The
European Union won’t suspend its sanction regarding the Everything But Arms
(EBA) for Cambodia if the government continues to breach human rights in the
kingdom. The newly nominated UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle
Bachelet also called for the charge against the opposition leader to be dropped and the
release of all journalists and citizens [ CITATION Nie18 \l 1033 ].

Reference:

Alex, W. (2018, 06 25). Retrieved from NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Hun-Sen-s-Cambodia/US-and-EU-bolster-threat-
of-sanctions-before-Cambodian-elections

David, H. (2018, 09 19). Retrieved from ASIA TIMES: http://www.atimes.com/what-

is-the-end-goal-of-americas-sanctions-on-cambodia/

Hannah, E. (2018, 07 29). Retrieved from The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/29/cambodia-hun-sen-re-elected-
in-landslide-victory-after-brutal-crackdown

Niem, C. (2018, 09 13). Retrieved from The Phnom Penh Post:

https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eu-parliaments-13-point-vote-decide-
possible-sanctions

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhutt/2017/11/03/why-the-eu-is-dallying-over-
possible-cambodia-sanctions/#7155743f61a0

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Hun-Sen-s-Cambodia/US-and-EU-bolster-threat-of-
sanctions-before-Cambodian-elections

http://www.atimes.com/what-is-the-end-goal-of-americas-sanctions-on-cambodia/

https://www.voacambodia.com/a/civil-society-groups-in-cambodia-suppressed-
report/4495078.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/29/cambodia-hun-sen-re-elected-in-
landslide-victory-after-brutal-crackdown

https://www.voacambodia.com/a/eu-approvies-resolution-targeting-cambodia-ruling-
party/4571948.html
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eu-parliaments-13-point-vote-decide-possible-sanctions