Cambodge

While Cambodia was not directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in the former year, 2021 saw the first death from the virus. Sanitary measures were reinforced with little attention to human rights in the isolation of positive cases in prison-like camps. The economic situation started to unravel due to the absence of the tourist, and different kinds of trafficking appeared, including smuggling across the Thai border or the abuse of foreigners as online workers for illegal money-grabbing on social media. While Cambodia celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements, which had put an end to the civil war, critics called out the lack of application of a multiparty democratic system agreed upon by all parties in 1991. These criticisms as well as the authorities’ close links with China are an embarrassment to Cambodia in the year of its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2022.