On Thursday 5 May, MEPs adopted a resolution (526 votes in favour, 5 against and 63 abstentions) calling on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to put an immediate end to all forms of intimidation and harassment of political opponents, trade unions and others who express their opinions.
The European Parliament particularly condemns the dissolution of the first opposition party, the CNRP, by the country’s Supreme Court in 2017. It also calls for the charges against opponents Kem Sokha, Sam Rainsy, Mu Sochua and others to be dropped immediately.
Furthermore, the elected representatives ask the European Commission to be prepared to use “all available tools” in case the next local elections turn out to be rigged. This, they argue, requires a complete suspension of the tariff preferences granted to Cambodia under the ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) general preference system.
The European Commission withdrew some of these preferences from Cambodia in 2020 because of “serious and systematic human rights violations” in the country (see EUROPE 12424/17).
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/1ij (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)