Human Rights Situation Still Poor: US

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh

Cambodia remains a country with a poor human rights record and endemic corruption, whose citizens can face extrajudicial killings or abuse in detention, the US State Department said in a report released Friday.

Land disputes, forced evictions and a lack of democratic freedoms remained problems, according to the 2009 Human Rights Report.

“Although civilian authorities nominally controlled the security forces, in many cases security forces acted under directives of the [Cambodian People’s Party] leadership,” the rights report says. “Security forces committed extrajudicial killings and acted with impunity. Detainees were abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh.”

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