Cambodia passes law to strip citizens of nationality for foreign collusion

Cambodian parliamentarians have passed legislation allowing people who collude with foreign countries to be stripped of citizenship – a law that rights groups fear will be used to banish dissent.

All 120 lawmakers in attendance at the National Assembly session, including Prime Minister Hun Manet, voted unanimously to approve the bill on Monday.

Human rights monitors have long accused Cambodia’s government of using draconian laws to stifle opposition and legitimate political debate.

A coalition of 50 rights groups issued a statement on Sunday warning that the law “will have a disastrously chilling effect on the freedom of speech of all Cambodian citizens”.

“The potential for abuse in the implementation of this vaguely worded law to target people on the basis of their ethnicity, political opinions, speech and activism is simply too high to accept,” it added.

“The government has many powers, but [it] should not have the power to arbitrarily decide who is and is not a Cambodian.”