Location: Phnom Penh, Koh Kong, Cambodia
Language: Khmer, English
Duration: 00:04:35
Source: A24 Agency
Restrictions: A24 Agency subscribers
Dateline: 22-04-2022
Storyline:
After staging protests against the establishment of a $400 million Chinese dam project in the Chhay Areng region in 2015, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson was deported from Cambodia. The incident led to the rise of a new generation of young Khmer activists to demand against building the dam, as well as promoting other environmental causes. Phay Siphan, the Royal Government Spokesman, explained that the authorities had arrested and deported Gonzalez-Davidson and not workers with the “Mother Nature” NGO, refuting accusations of a crackdown on environmental activists. He said the authorities only arrested persons who would have operated under the title of environmental activists, but in reality, they would have been opposing the country’s monarch. Ly Chandaravuth, who was a former Mother Nature activist said he was charged with treason for unsubstantiated allegations, adding that the interrogations were “vague.”
Shot list:
– (Soundbite) Ly Chandaravuth – Environmental activist (former Mother nature activist):
“When we were working for the ‘Mother Nature’ NGO, we were involved in dangerous topics because we wanted to realize transparency in our country. We are against corruption, and that is a thing that would upset some powerful persons. Our freedom was restricted, and we were under persecution; we were thrown in jail.”
– (Soundbite) Em Sovannara – professor of politics and analyst):
“In my opinion, I’m not trying to embarrass our government, the dam project was canceled not because the government valued the environment but because the electricity that we would have gotten from the Chhay Areng dam was too little and not an a-year-round energy source. We would only get power during the rainy seasons.”
– (Soundbite) H.E. Phay Siphan – Royal Government Spokesman:
“The government arrested him [Alejandro Gonzales-Davidson] and not workers with the Mother Nature because the association is no longer in Cambodia anymore. So, those kids are doing things that are unrelated to nature preservation. They oppose the king. They said something bad about the king, and our constitution prohibits opposing the king or doing something against his interest.”
– (Soundbite) Ly Chandaravuth – Environmental activist (former Mother nature activist:
“For me, I was charged with treason. This charge has nothing to do with my environmental work. When they interrogated me at the police station, the officer there was asking vague questions; so, it appeared to me that the charge against us had no clear basis or evidence. Instead, they had a video of our private online meeting that they acquired illegally.”
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