As an international coalition of 163 expert and civil society organisations, we urge World Bank action on Cambodian government attacks on two prominent human rights groups, Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights and Equitable Cambodia.
International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, states that the private sector has a responsibility to respect human rights which includes the ability of communities and project stakeholders to raise issues about or to oppose development projects. In the recent two reprisal cases, we call on World Bank Group to use its leverage to ensure the consistent fulfilment of this value enshrined in its Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability (2012), Position Statement on Retaliation Against Civil Society and Project Stakeholders (2018) and Good Practice Note for the Private Sector: Addressing the Risks of Retaliation Against Project Stakeholders (2021).
Below is the full Statement:
We, the undersigned organizations, call upon World Bank President Ajay Banga to condemn the Cambodian government’s assault on human rights groups, including reprisals against World Bank project stakeholders.
In recent months, there has been a worrying escalation in the Cambodian government’s repression of critical voices. This has included attacks on two prominent human rights groups, Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL) and Equitable Cambodia. In both cases, the reprisals are linked to the groups’ legitimate human rights activities, and in particular to their efforts to ensure human and labor rights protections in projects supported by the World Bank Group.
We call on World Bank Group leadership to demand that these attacks be stopped and to use its leverage, consistent with its Position Statement on Retaliation Against Civil Society and Project Stakeholders, to ensure human rights defenders and civil society organizations in the country can continue their work without facing further reprisals.
Attack on leading labor watchdog
CENTRAL is one of Cambodia’s leading labor rights organizations. On June 28, 2024, the Ministry of Interior requested that the National Audit Authority of Cambodia (NAA) conduct an audit of CENTRAL and a “national security” audit was launched on July 15, 2024. The audit request came just weeks after CENTRAL published a report assessing the effectiveness of Better Factories Cambodia (BFC), a joint program between the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank aimed at improving working conditions in the garment sector by assessing the compliance of 660 participating factories with international labor standards. CENTRAL’s report found evidence that BFC was failing to identify freedom of association violations in participating factories and made several recommendations to improve BFC’s program, including by making their compliance reports available to workers and providing a grievance mechanism to allow workers to contest its findings.
The decision to launch a national security audit was preceded by escalating actions by government-aligned unions, including protests outside CENTRAL’s offices, legal complaints against CENTRAL’s staff, and petitions to the Cambodian government to investigate CENTRAL. The audit, which is clearly a response to CENTRAL’s report on the BFC project, has been roundly condemned by the American Apparel and Footwear Association and the Fair Labor Association (representing the apparel brands that source from Cambodia’s factories), United Nations Special Rapporteurs, and national and international civil society organizations. The ILO and IFC have yet to comment.
Attack on leading development watchdog
Eang Vuthy, Executive Director of the Cambodian land rights NGO Equitable Cambodia (EC), is facing baseless criminal charges due to his organization’s advocacy on behalf of communities affected by harmful development projects. At the end of March 2024, Mr. Eang received a summons informing him that he had been charged with Incitement to Commit a Felony or Disturb Social Security—punishable by up to two years in prison—and ordered to appear before an investigating judge at Phnom Penh Capital Court for questioning on 4 April 2024.
Since 2012, Equitable Cambodia has played a key role in helping communities seek redress for human rights abuses caused by large-scale development and private investment projects—including several World Bank-backed projects—through strategic advocacy and litigation. As a result, the organization and Mr. Eang has faced years-long attacks and judicial harassment, including a defamation charge against him in August 2016 and a six-month-long suspension of the organization in 2017.
The latest criminal complaint against Mr. Eang, filed by the Ministry of Interior, is the most serious attack so far. Moreover, the charges concern Equitable Cambodia’s legitimate activities and day-to-day work supporting communities to file formal complaints to international accountability mechanisms to seek recourse for harms that they have suffered. These include a high-profile complaint regarding predatory lending and human rights violations caused by microfinance institutions backed by the IFC. The IFC’s Ombudsman was conducting its investigation mission on the case in March-April 2024, when Mr. Eang received his court summons notifying him that he had been criminally charged. He has strong reason to believe that the charges are a reprisal for this work.
A trial and conviction of Mr. Eang would set a dangerous precedent and would have very serious and far-reaching consequences for civil society in Cambodia.
Cambodia’s closing civil society space
These attacks are part of a broader crackdown on civil society that must be stopped before the last remaining democratic space in the country is closed.
In the years that followed the Paris Peace Agreements in 1991, which ended over two decades of war and horrific atrocities in Cambodia, a vibrant civil society and free press took hold and helped to advance a new era of democracy and human rights in the Southeast Asian nation. This began to change with the adoption of highly restrictive NGO and telecommunications laws in 2015. This was followed by a string of politically motivated prosecutions of opposition party leaders and elected officials, trade unionists and human rights defenders over the past decade, alongside the shutdown of over thirty independent news organizations. Since Hun Manet became Prime Minister last year, this crackdown on critical voices has escalated to target Cambodia’s leading non-partisan human rights organizations.
While the Cambodian government has a history of repressing and jailing members of the political opposition, the Ministry of Interior’s attempt to criminalize the otherwise legal day-to-day work of registered human rights NGOs and their leaders represents a new level of repression, that threatens the existence of all remaining independent NGOs in Cambodia that provide critical support to the most vulnerable people in the country.
The World Bank Must Speak Out
There are numerous international institutions that provide development assistance to Cambodia, and which have a responsibility to intervene in defense of Equitable Cambodia and CENTRAL, but perhaps none more than the World Bank Group. That is because the recent attacks are believed to be in retaliation for the organizations’ work addressing World Bank programs.
In 2018, IFC adopted a Position Statement on Retaliation Against Civil Society and Project Stakeholders, where it states that it does not tolerate any action by a client that amounts to retaliation – including threats, intimidation, harassment, or violence – against those who voice their opinion regarding the activities of IFC or its clients. In this statement, the bank notes that “respect for human rights includes the ability of stakeholders to engage freely with IFC and its clients.”In 2021 IFC also published a “Good Practice Note for the Private Sector, Addressing the Risks of Retaliation Against Project Stakeholders”, which outlines the steps that IFC’s clients should take to screen for, prevent and address reprisals.
We call upon World Bank President Ajay Banga to make clear to the Cambodian government that the Bank will enforce its policy of zero tolerance for retaliation. This means that, before approving any new investments in Cambodia, the World Bank Group Board should verify that the legal harassment of CENTRAL and Equitable Cambodia has stopped and its staff are able to continue to freely engage in their legitimate human rights activities in support of project-affected communities and workers.
Signed by:
1 Accountability Counsel Global / USA
2 Action Labor Rights Myanmar
3 African Law Foundation ( AFRILAW) Nigeria
4 AFWA International INDONESIA
5 Altraqualità Soc. Coop. Italy
6 ALTSEAN-Burma Myanmar
7 Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) Philippines
8 Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE) Philippines
9 Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders Regional
10 Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Regional, Asia
11 Asian NGO Coalition Philippines
12 Association romande des Magasins du Monde Switzerland
13 BALAOD Mindanaw Philippines
14 Bank Information Center USA
15 Batani Foundation USA/Russia
16 Brücke Le Pont Switzerland
17 BUILDING AND WOOD WORKERS INTERNATIONAL ASIA PACIFIC MALAYSIA
18 Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation Uganda
19 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre United Kingdom
20 Campagna Abiti Puliti Italy
21 CAOI Colombia
22 Care For Environment Cameroon
23 CEDHA US/Argentina
24 CEE Bankwatch Network Georgia
25 Center for Civic Governance and Environmental Justice Kenya
26 Center for Human Rights and Environment USA
27 Center for International Environmental Law United States
28 Centre for community mobilization and support NGO Armenia
29 Centre for Financial Accountability India
30 Centre for Human Rights and Development Mongolia
31 Centre for the Politics of Emancipation Serbia
32 Centro Nuovo Modello di Sviluppo Italy
33 CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation South Africa
34 Civil Rights Defenders Sweden
35 Clean Clothes Campaign International Office Netherlands
36 Clean Clothes Campaign, East Asia East Asia (we are regional)
37 Climate Activist Defenders (CAD) Germany
38 Coalition for Equality-Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan
39 Collectif Ethique sur l’Etiquette France
40 Community Resource Centre Thailand
41 COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peace building Nigeria Nigeria
42 Consumers’ Association of Penang Malaysia
43 Corporate Accountability Lab USA
44 Defence of Human Rights Pakistan
45 Defenders in Development campaign Global
46 Diakonia Sweden Sweden
47 dressedandstripped.fr
France
48 Ecolur informatioanal NGO Armenia
49 EILER Philippines
50 Environmental Defender Law Center Brazil
51 Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC) Inc. Philippines
52 Equo Garantito Italy
53 Ethical Consumer Research Association United Kingdom
54 FAIR ITALY
55 Fédération romande des consommateurs FRC Switzerland
56 FEMNET e.V. Germany
57 FIAN Germany Germany
58 Focus on the Global South Philippines
59 Fondazione Finanza Etica Italy
60 Forest Peoples Programme UK
61 ForumCiv Sweden
62 Front Line Defenders (The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) Ireland / Global
63 Future Light Center Myanmar
64 GAIA Asia Pacific Asia pacific
65 Gender Action Global
66 Global Labor Justice United States
67 Green Advocates International (Liberia) Liberia
68 Green leaf Advocacy and Empowerment Center Nigeria
69 Growthwatch India
70 GSBI – Gabungan Serikat Buruh Indonesia Indonesia
71 Haine Curate Romania
72 Human Rights Watch International
73 Inclusive Development International Global / USA
74 Indian Social Action Forum India
75 Indigenous Women Legal Awareness Group (INWOLAG) Nepal
76 Initiativ Kambodja Sweden
77 Initiative for Green Planet (IGP) UGANDA
78 Institute for Critique and Social Emancipation Albania
79 Instituto Maíra Brazil
80 International Accountability Project Global / USA
81 International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Global
82 Jamaa Resource Initiatives Kenya
83 JUHUDI Community Support Center Kenya
84 Just Ground The Netherlands
85 Kampagne für Saubere Kleidung Deutschland e.V. Germany
86 KASBI Indonesia
87 Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law Kazakhstan
88 Kilusan para sa Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan (KATARUNGAN) Philippines
89 KRuHA Indonesia
90 Labour Behind the Label UK
91 Large Movements APS Italy
92 Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) Nepal
93 Liga Ng kababaihang manggagawa sa cavite economic zone Philippines
94 London Mining Network United Kingdom
95 Lumière Synergie pour le Développement SENEGAL
96 MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture) Malaysia
97 Manushya Foundation Thailand
98 MAP Foundation Thailand
99 Maquila Solidarity Network Canada
100 Marian Women Producers Cooperative Philippines
101 McCain Institute U.S.
102 Mekong Watch Japan
103 MENA Fem Movement For Economic, Development, and Ecological Justice Egypt
104 MenaFem Movement for Economic Development and Ecological Justice Mena
105 Migrant CARE Indonesia
106 MiningWatch Canada Canada
107 Natural Resource Women Platform Liberia, West Africa
108 NaZemi Czechia
109 NGO Forum on ADB Regional
110 No Business With Genocide USA
111 North South Initiative Malaysia
112 Not1More UK / International
113 OECD Watch Netherlands
114 Oil Refinery Residents Association Uganda
115 Oil-Workers Rights Protection Organization (OWRPO) Azerbaijan
116 Oyu Tolgoi Watch Mongolia
117 PA’Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan” Kyrgyzstan
118 Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Pakistan
119 Partners for Dignity & Rights United States
120 Peace Point Development Foundation-PPDF Nigeria
121 Peregrine Environmental Consulting United States
122 Policy Action Initiative Kenya
123 PROGRESS Indonesia
124 Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research (PODER) Mexico
125 Protection International (PI) Belgium
126 Psychological Responsiveness NGO Mongolia
127 Public Association “Dignity” Kazakhstan
128 Public Eye Switzerland
129 Pusat Komas Malaysia
130 ReAct Asia Limited China, Hong Kong SAR
131 Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific Philippines
132 Recourse Netherlands
133 Rivers without Boundaries Coalition Mongolia
134 Schone Kleren Campagne the Netherlands
135 SETEM Spain
136 SOLIFONDS Switzerland
137 SOMO – The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations Netherlands
138 SPN Indonesia
139 Steps Without Borders NGO Mongolia
140 Stiftung Asienhaus Germany
141 Students for International Labor Solidarity United States
142 SÜDWIND-Institut Germany
143 Swedwatch Sweden
144 TENAGANITA Malaysia
145 The Bretton Woods Project United Kingdom
146 The Circle United Kingdom
147 The Oakland Institute United States
148 TRADE UNION RIGHTS CENTRE INDONESIA
149 Trend Asia Indonesia
150 Unen khatamj NGO Mongolia
151 Unia Trade union Switzerland
152 UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTY (UCL) Bangkok
153 Urgewald Germany
154 USB Automotive
155 VIHDA Cebu, Philippines
156 VPOD Schweiz Schweiz
157 Witness Radio Uganda
158 Work Better Innovations UK
159 Worker-driven Social Responsibility Network USA
160 workers assistance center, inc. philippines
161 World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Switzerland
162 Youth for Green Communities (YGC) Uganda
163 ZICET Zimbabwe
