4. “Burundi: Free five rights defenders, drop charges; end civil society crackdown”, 14 March 5. “Public debt, tax reform and the right to health in Burundi”, 27 June CAMBODIA Kingdom of Cambodia Human trafficking remained widespread and rescued survivors were held in poor conditions in immigration detention centres. Mass forced evictions of thousands of families from the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site took place. Freedoms of expression and association were further restricted as the licence of one of the last independent news outlets was revoked and the only remaining opposition party was barred from contesting national elections. A major political opposition figure received a lengthy prison sentence after an unfair trial. Unfair trials of labour activists also resulted in convictions. Rampant illegal logging and mining operations continued in forests in violation of the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. BACKGROUND The government crackdown on civil society organizations and political opposition that began in 2017 continued. National elections on 23 July were won by the ruling Cambodia People’s Party after the disqualification of the only viable opposition party, the Candlelight Party. In August, the National Assembly endorsed Hun Manet as prime minister who replaced his father, Hun Sen. HUMAN TRAFFICKING Despite a government crackdown, the human trafficking crisis continued. According to credible reports, migrant workers recruited by deceptive means and trafficked for forced labour continued to be held in fortified compounds where they were forced to work in cyber scams and online gambling operations run by criminal gangs. It was also reported that compounds that had previously been closed in the city of Sihanoukville had 116 reopened, calling into question the effectiveness of the taskforce set up by the Ministry of Justice in 2022 to coordinate investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for human trafficking of migrant workers to Cambodia. Trafficking victims had their passports confiscated and were forced to work under threat of violence in illegal operations which emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the year the authorities released more than 100 trafficked people from illegal compounds and transferred them to immigration detention centres. However, rescued survivors, some of whom had been subjected to rape and other physical violence, often spent months detained in overcrowded state-run detention centres, where they were required to pay for food and water and did not have access to legal counsel.1 FORCED EVICTIONS The authorities continued a process started in 2022 of mass forced evictions of a reported 10,000 families from the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor, home to the Angkor Wat temple. Although many families had lived in the complex for several generations, the government claimed they were there illegally and were being relocated as part of a “voluntary relocation programme”. However, there was a lack of genuine consultation and many of those evicted or who faced eviction were subjected to threats and intimidation. Evicted families, who left behind livelihoods as well as homes, did not receive adequate compensation, forcing many into debt. The government resettlement sites of Peak Sneng and Run Ta Ek lacked adequate housing, drinking water and sanitation.2 Hun Sen, the prime minister at the time, said the relocation programme was necessary to prevent Angkor from losing its World Heritage status. UNESCO had neither publicly condemned the government’s actions nor set up an investigation into the allegations by year’s end, despite being informed by Amnesty International in March The State of the World’s Human Rights