RSF urges Cambodia to better protect environmental journalists, who routinely face violence and threats

In Cambodia, 88% of journalists covering environmental issues have already faced violence and threats linked to their work, or attempts to obstruct them from reporting. This alarming finding comes from a survey conducted by the press freedom organisation CamboJA, RSF's local partner, of 74 Cambodian journalists.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents - 64% - reported attempts to directly intimidate them, while 57% said they had been denied access to information, locations or sources. Almost half (46%) had been threatened with legal action or faced actual prosecution. The report, published in late April, also documents more serious abuses: 14% of journalists reported online harassment, while 5% experienced physical violence and another 5% reported sexual harassment.

The dangers are particularly acute for reporters covering deforestation, cited as the most sensitive topic by 85% of respondents. Land conflicts and land grabbing ranked second (69%), followed by climate change and Indigenous communities' rights (37%).

These findings come amid an escalation of violence against journalists covering environmental issues in Cambodia. In December 2024, environmental journalist Chhoeung Chhoeng, from the online news outlet Kampuchea Aphivath, was shot dead by an illegal logger whom he had exposed in his reporting on deforestation.

Journalists are also facing growing judicial and administrative pressure. In May 2025, journalist Uk Mao, from the online media outlet Eagle News, was arbitrarily detained for several days and became the subject of 22 complaints linked to his investigations into deforestation.

In addition, the adoption by the government of new press card regulations in November 2025 prevented many journalists from obtaining or renewing their press cards due to particularly stringent eligibility criteria.

In light of this situation, RSF calls on the Cambodian authorities to:

• Guarantee the physical safety of journalists and end impunity for crimes committed against them by establishing a national protection mechanism responsible for taking emergency measures to protect journalists at risk, providing legal support to journalists who have been victims of violence, and monitoring judicial proceedings to ensure that crimes against journalists do not go unpunished.
  
  
• Put an end to abusive legal proceedings (strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs) by adopting legislation providing for the swift dismissal of manifestly unfounded complaints, based on objective criteria defined by law, as well as sanctions against those responsible for filing them.
  
  
• Guarantee journalists' access to public environmental information by adopting an access to information law requiring government agencies responsible for environmental management and natural resources to proactively publish their data and public policy documents.
  
  
• Remove administrative barriers by revising the Ministry of Information's Prakas on the conditions governing the issuance and renewal of press cards, which currently prevent many independent journalists from covering environmental issues.

Cambodia, where the state of press freedom is considered "very serious", ranks 151st out of 180 countries and territories in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index.