Resisting Human Rights Erosion in Cambodia (Cambodia, 2013-2014)
With the peace accord that brought an end to the civil war in 1991 and the surrender of the Khmer Rouge in 1998, Cambodia seemed to be leaving its past behind it. Thanks to a UN peace mission, democracy was established in the first half of the 1990s, although that proved to be largely in name only: premier Hun Sen has been in power since 1985, making him the longest-sitting head of government in the region. His long tenure can be credited to his autocratic, corrupt and often violent policies. The rapid economic growth, the corrupt legal system, and a fundamental change in the social structures have created an enormous gap between the rich and poor. Independent civil rights organizations, in most cases a result from unlawful land expropriation, resist the daily erosion of Cambodians’ human rights.
