Why are abuse claims in Cambodia’s war on drugs being ignored?
Hun Sen’s campaign may not feature the violence of Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown in the Philippines, but advocates still warn of ‘gradual but deadly’ rights abuses
On New Year’s Day, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen launched a six-month crackdown on the drug scourge that he said had become an increasing grievance for the country’s people.
His announcement came shortly after a state visit by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who in 2016 launched a violent anti-drugs campaign in his own country that went on to kill 7,000 people in seven months.
Given that Duterte’s crackdown was suspended after rogue police officers kidnapped and killed a South Korean businessman, it is perhaps not surprising that Hun Sen, after the first spike in detentions in February, rushed to assure Cambodians that his campaign would not be bloody.
And, sure enough, while Duterte’s crackdown made headlines the world over, Hun Sen’s has escaped such scrutiny. Yet while it is true that Cambodia’s crackdown has avoided the kind of violence associated with Duterte’s campaign, that has not allayed fears of serious abuses.
Such crackdowns are only one aspect of the region’s struggle against drugs – ministers and delegates from six Mekong countries (Cambodia, China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand) agreed a regional drug policy with representatives from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime last Wednesday – but they are its most visible.
