CAMBODIA 
Hun Sen branded him a traitor. He fled the country but thugs found him

By Michael Ruffles
January 2, 2020

Walking out of a convenience store in suburban Bangkok one evening, Chamroeun Suon nearly became the latest in a long line of south-east Asian refugees, activists and journalists to disappear in Thailand.

The Cambodian opposition figure was buying medicine and as he stepped out of the store he was confronted by two men who had a van waiting not five metres away.


Chamroeun Suon, inset, was among 18 figures Cambodian leader Hun Sen, main, branded traitors.CREDIT:

“I am police,” one told him in Thai, but soon revealed himself to be Cambodian. “The boss asked me to get you,” Chamroeun was told now in Khmer, the official language of Cambodia.

He ran back to the store. “They came after me and they used a Taser on me twice,” he said.

On his knees, he tried to resist but the two larger men overpowered him and continued to use the handheld stun device. They dragged him towards the van and it was only when an old man asked who they were was Chamroeun able to slip their grip.

On entering the store again, the men found staff speaking up and pointing to security cameras. The batteries in their device were drained. They got in the van and left.

“When I took off my shirt there were so many itches because of the Taser,” he said. “The shocks made me weak.”

Chamroeun, 37, a former official for the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party who was active in Battambang province, fled to Thailand in October. He was among 18 figures Cambodian leader Hun Sen branded traitors and 39 whose passports were revoked. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expedited his refugee status after the December 22 attack. His next step is to seek resettlement in a third country, possibly Australia or the US, as it is no longer safe in Thailand.

“They are brave enough to get me in the middle of Bangkok,” Chamroeun said.

Had he been abducted, Chamroeun would have been added to the growing list of cases of enforced disappearances and refoulements in south-east Asia.

At the heart of most is Thailand: one of the most popular tourist destinations not only for Australians but the world, but a place that's no longer safe for refugees.


Human rights advocates believe Thailand, one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, is helping Cambodia's strongman Hun Sen persecute his opponents. CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES

The soldiers and strongmen who rule the region have come to treat the country as a "swap mart" for refugees, activists and journalists, argues Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson.

"It's like the officials from these various different governments are boys with sports playing cards. I'll trade you this one for that one."

Proof of co-ordination among governments is difficult to obtain, and rights activists rely on insiders and leaks, but the litany of examples shows a clear pattern.


Free Lao group activist Od Sayavong, 34, disappeared in Bangkok in August.

Free Lao group activist Od Sayavong, 34, vanished from a home in suburban Bangkok on August 26, his whereabouts unknown. His suspected abduction came weeks after Thai dissident folk band Faiyen were spirited out of Laos after months of threats that they were the target of a cross-border "assassination squad".

Robertson, who met Od shortly before his disappearance, said previous examples had been confined to remote provinces or border areas. That it took place in Bangkok was particularly chilling, he said. "That should give everyone pause."

A Vietnamese blogger was snatched from a busy mall on the outskirts of the Thai capital early in 2019, only to reappear in court in Danang, Vietnam. About the same time, three Thais vanished in Vietnam and were thought to be detained. They were known to be critics of the monarchy; their disappearance came shortly after the mutilated bodies of two Thai exiles washed up on the Mekong river, with a third believed to have been murdered also.

As evidence of co-operation with Cambodia, aside from notoriously blocking opposition figures while in transit, Robertson cites Thailand returning a man who worked with a Russian TV crew on a documentary about child sexual abuse. The next day, a member of Thailand’s shadowy “black shirts”, a deadly force in more than a decade of political violence, handed himself in at the border.

“Obviously, getting documentary evidence of this co-operation is very difficult but clearly these governments are scratching each other’s backs when it comes to asylum seekers and refugees,” Robertson said. “Since these arrangements are hidden behind closed doors and publicly denied, we’re operating in the shadows to try and stop these exchanges. The only way we’ve found to do this is by exposing them in the media and seeking to build a coalition of diplomats, UN agency staff and activists to pressure the Thai government to back off. But often time is the enemy as we race the clock to build outrage to block a planned or suspected refoulement or forced handover.”

The successful cases include footballer Hakeem al-Araibi’s return to Melbourne and Saudi teen Rahaf al-Qunun’s safe passage to Canada, both after international outcry. They are, however, the exception. Since the 2014 coup, Thailand has sent 109 Uighurs back to China and a further 52 have languished in detention for about five years, while Gulenists have been refouled to Turkey and others to repressive regimes in the Middle East.

Elections have done nothing to help, said Thailand’s Justice for Peace Foundation director Angkhana Neelapaijit. A bill to manage cases of enforced disappearance and torture had been considered by the junta-appointed legislative assembly in 2017, and watered down the following year. The bill was listed as pending when the body dissolved and has not been revived under the new parliament.



"This means now there is no mechanism to investigate cases of torture and enforced disappearance in the country," Angkhana told a forum in Bangkok recently.

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As the wife of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit – who was last seen dragged from his car on March 12, 2004 – Angkhana understands both the pain family members endure and the official pressure they come under to stay silent. She said people who had approached a UN working group on disappearances in 2018 had been coerced into withdrawing their accounts.

There was “tremendous fear among families of the victims”, who were left to cope with the "ambiguity between existence and non-existence". Enforced disappearance was different to other rights violations because it was a continuing crime.

“I remain a victim while those in power remain indifferent,” she said.

Speaking out was the only way to respond, she said. Otherwise “even the disappearance disappears”.

Seven years after land rights activist Sombath Somphone was last seen at a police checkpoint in Laos, some in the government are still watching his wife Ng Shui Meng. She organised a prayer ceremony at a nearby temple, but family members and neighbours were contacted and scared into staying away.

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"That is the tactic they use, they continue to use fear, they continue to spread rumours, and that's enough for the Lao people,” Shui Meng said. “It's enough to know the police are following you."

Officially, the case has gone nowhere. "Unfortunately, in the case of Sombath and also all of the other victims, there has been no new information. For me, there's been zero, nothing, nada, zilch, nothing."


In the face of official denials or silence, governments such as Australia’s had a responsibility to speak up, Robertson said. Of late, however, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has conducted most discussions behind closed doors.

“What’s important is Canberra must recognise not everything must remain private all the time and that it’s more effective to mix both public and private criticism,” Robertson said.

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A withdrawal of US leadership on human rights issues was only compounding the problem.

“The Trump retreat on human rights has been an unmitigated disaster for rights in Thailand and throughout south-east Asia,” Robertson said. “Australia is not at the same sorry low level as the Trump White House but there are fears that without constant interventions by activists, trade and financial deals will overwhelm any concern for human rights as a core part of Australian foreign policy.”

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