It’s risky to try to protect the environment in authoritarian Cambodia. In July, 10 young activists from the Mother Nature environmental group were given long jail sentences. Two were sentenced to eight years under the Criminal Code on charges of plotting and insulting the king. Another seven were sentenced to six years for plotting, while one, a Spanish national banned from entering Cambodia, was sentenced in absentia.

Four of the activists were then violently dragged away from a peaceful sit-in they’d joined outside the court building. The five who’ve so far been jailed have been split up and sent to separate prisons, some far away from their families. They now face the prospect of spending precious years of their youth locked away.

This is the latest in a long line of state attacks on Mother Nature activists, which have included threats and harassment alongside criminalisation. Mother Nature is being punished for its work to try to protect natural resources, prevent water pollution and stop illegal logging and sand mining.

An autocratic regime

Cambodia’s de facto one-party regime tolerates little criticism. Its former prime minister, Hun Sen, was one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, ruling the country from 1985 until 2023, when he handed over to his son, Hun Manet. This came shortly after a non-competitive election where the only credible opposition party was banned. It was the same story with the previous election in 2018. This suppression of democracy required a crackdown on dissenting voices, targeting civil society as well as the political opposition.

The authorities have weaponised the legal system. They use highly politicised courts to detain civil society activists and opposition politicians for long spells before subjecting them to grossly unfair trials. Campaigners for environmental rights, labour rights and social justice are frequently charged with vaguely defined offences under the Criminal Code such as plotting and incitement. Last year, for example, nine trade unionists were convicted of incitement after going on strike to demand better pay and conditions for casino workers, and their leader was jailed.

On top of this, in 2015 the government introduced the restrictive Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations (LANGO), which requires civil society organisations to submit financial records and annual reports, giving the state broad powers to refuse registration or deregister organisations. In 2023, Hun Sen threatened to dissolve organisations if they failed to submit documents.

The state also closely controls the media. People close to the ruling family run the four main media groups and so they mostly follow the government line. Independent media outlets are severely restricted. Last year the authorities shut down one of the last remaining independent platforms, Voice of Democracy, after it published an article on Hun Manet. Journalists face harassment, surveillance and violence. Self-censorship means topics such as corruption and environmental concerns remain largely uncovered.

This extensive political control is closely entwined with economic power. The ruling family and its inner circle are connected to an array of economic projects that exploit environmental resources. Landgrabs by state officials are common. These means land and Indigenous people’s rights activists are among those targeted.

In 2023, courts sentenced 10 land activists to a year in jail in response to their activism against land grabbing for a sugar plantation. That same year, three people from the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, a farmers’ rights group, were charged with incitement and plotting. In 2022, a court sentenced five Indigenous forest activists to five to six years in prison for trying to defend their land from illegal logging; fortunately the five had charges dropped on appeal. The authorities have also used the LANGO to prevent unregistered community groups taking part in anti-logging patrols.

The activity that saw the Mother Nature activists charged with plotting involved documenting the flow of waste into a river close to the royal palace in the capital, Phnom Pen. It’s far from the first time the group’s environmental action has earned the state’s ire. The government feels threatened by the fact that Mother Nature’s activism resonates with many young people.

Three of the group’s activists were convicted on incitement charges in 2022 after organising a protest march to the prime minister’s residence to protest against the filling in of a lake for a construction project. In 2023, Mother Nature delivered a petition urging the government to stop granting land to private companies in Kirirom National Park; there’s evidence of licences going to people connected to ruling party politicians. In response, the Ministry of Environment said Mother Nature was an illegal organisation that had been dissolved, that it had committed ‘illegal acts’ and that its actions were ‘against the interests of Cambodian civil society’.

Last September, three Mother Nature representatives serving suspended sentences were denied permission to travel to Sweden to receive the Right Livelihood Award – a prize recognising activism for a just, peaceful and sustainable world.

Media also get in trouble if they report on the sensitive issue of land exploitation. In 2023, the authorities revoked the licences of three media companies for publishing reports on a senior official’s involvement in land fraud. In 2022, two teams of reporters covering a deforestation operation were violently arrested.

Regional challenges

Repression of environmental activism isn’t limited to Cambodia. In neighbouring Vietnam, the one-party communist state is also cracking down on climate and environmental activists, who previously enjoyed some degree of freedom compared to the rest of civil society. But that’s no longer the case, in part because, as in Cambodia, climate and environmental activism is increasingly shining a light on the environmentally destructive economic practices of authoritarian leaders.

Cambodia’s creeping use of the charge of insulting the king to stifle legitimate dissent also echoes a tactic frequently used across the border in Thailand, where the authorities have jailed several people for violating an archaic lèse majesté law that criminalises any criticism of the king. Thailand, which was under military rule and where the army still plays a major role in government, has in recent years increasingly used this law against young people calling for democracy and curbs on royal influence. Other repressive states have followed its lead – including Cambodia, where the law on insulting the king was introduced when the crackdown was well underway in 2018.

Cambodia provides ample evidence of how the denial of democracy and the repression that comes with it enable extractive and exploitative policies that also adversely affect people’s lives and rights. The solution to protect the environment and prevent runaway climate change is less repression, more democracy and a more enabled civil society.

Cambodia’s international partners should emphasise this in their dealings with the state. They should press the authorities to release the jailed Mother Nature activists. They should be seen as part of the solution, not the problem. They should spend the coming years helping make their country a better place, not rotting in prison.

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