A proposed amendment to Cambodia’s constitution would allow the government to revoke the citizenship of Cambodian dissidents — a step that critics say would suppress internal dissent and eliminate political competition.
Hun Sen, the former Cambodian prime minister who now leads the country’s Senate, has framed the legislation as part of a call for public unity amid a border dispute with neighboring Thailand.
“There may be a need to amend the constitution again,” he said in a speech on June 27. “I’ve instructed the Justice Minister to study the possibility of revoking citizenship from Cambodians who side with foreign nations to harm our country.”
Tensions between Cambodia and Thailand spiked in recent weeks, resulting in a deadly shooting incident and closures at the border and a political fracas that contributed to a Thai court suspending the country’s prime minister.
Cambodia’s legislature is expected to take up the citizenship measure on July 11.
Cambodia’s Constitutional Council affirmed the proposed amendment’s legality on July 2. But Eng Chhai Eang, vice president of the pro-democracy Cambodia National Rescue Party, said that Cambodia has no law that allows for the revocation of birthright citizenship.
“This is something granted by nature,” he said. “Even if a Khmer child is born abroad to Khmer parents, they automatically hold citizenship. Trying to undo that is absurd. I see this as a manipulative political strategy.”
Article 33 of the Cambodian constitution says that “no Khmer citizen shall be deprived of their nationality, exiled, or extradited to another country except through mutual agreement. Khmer citizens living abroad are protected by the state. The acquisition of Cambodian nationality is determined by law.”
It’s not the first time that Cambodian dissidents have faced threats to their citizenship. In 2019, the government revoked the passports of at least 30 dissidents who pushed for democracy and criticized the ruling Hun family.
Vann Dara, a former provincial leader now living in exile in Australia, told RFA that losing her passport in 2020 has left her stateless and unprotected, unable to travel or receive support from any government.
“I’ve never done anything to harm my country. I only helped the people,” she said. “I didn’t cut down forests, sell land, gems, or minerals. Yet Hun Sen hunts me down, abuses and arrests us without fault, and even strips us of citizenship and passports.”
Edited by Greg Barber
