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	Cambodian authorities are not doing enough to stop scamming compounds by Amnesty International, OHCHR, agencies   June 2025   The Cambodian government is ignoring a litany of human rights abuses including slavery, human trafficking, child labour and torture being carried out by criminal gangs on a vast scale in more than 50 scamming compounds located across the country, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.   Survivors interviewed for the report, “I Was Someone Else’s Property”, believed they were applying for genuine jobs but were instead trafficked to Cambodia, where they were held in prison-like compounds and forced to conduct online scams in a billion-dollar shadow economy defrauding people around the world.   “Deceived, trafficked and enslaved, the survivors of these scamming compounds describe being trapped in a living nightmare – enlisted in criminal enterprises that are operating with the apparent consent of the Cambodian government,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said.   “Jobseekers from Asia and beyond are lured by the promise of well-paid work into hellish labour camps run by well-organized gangs, where they are forced to scam under the very real threat of violence.   “Amnesty’s research reveals the horrifying magnitude of a crisis the Cambodian authorities are not doing enough to stop. Their failures have emboldened a criminal network whose tentacles extend internationally, with millions of people impacted by the scams.”   In the most comprehensive documentation yet of the issue, Amnesty’s 240-page report identified at least 53 scamming compounds in Cambodia and interviewed 58 survivors of eight different nationalities, including nine children. Amnesty also reviewed the records of 336 other victims of Cambodian compounds. Those interviewed had either escaped from compounds, been rescued or had a ransom paid by their families. The interviewees’ testimony gives a detailed insight into a sprawling, violent criminal operation that is taking place.   As part of its 18-month long research, Amnesty International visited all but one of the 53 scamming compounds located in 16 towns and cities across Cambodia, as well as 45 similar sites also strongly suspected to be scamming compounds. Many of the buildings were formerly casinos and hotels repurposed by criminal gangs after Cambodia banned online gambling in 2019.   Compounds appeared designed to keep people inside, with features such as surveillance cameras, barbed wire around perimeter walls and large numbers of security personnel, often carrying electric shock batons and in some cases firearms. Survivors reported that “escape was impossible”.   Most victims had been lured to Cambodia by deceptive job advertisements posted on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. After being trafficked, survivors said they were forced to contact people using social media platforms and begin conversations aimed at defrauding them. These included fake romances or investment opportunities, selling products that would never be delivered, or building trust with victims before financially exploiting them.   All but one of the survivors interviewed were victims of human trafficking, while everyone had been subjected to forced labour under the threat of violence. In 32 cases, Amnesty International concluded the survivors were victims of slavery as defined under international law, with compound managers exerting a level of control over them that amounted to de facto ownership. Survivors also reported being sold into compounds or witnessing the sale of other people. Many others were told they owed a debt to the compound which they had to work to repay.   Forty of the 58 survivors interviewed had suffered torture or other ill-treatment. Some compounds had specific rooms – often known as “dark rooms” – which were designated places for torture of people who did not or could not work or meet work targets, or who contacted the authorities. Survivors frequently mentioned deaths inside the compounds.   Amnesty International’s report found that the Cambodian government has failed to adequately investigate widespread human rights abuses at scamming compounds despite being repeatedly made aware of them.   The government has claimed to be addressing the scamming crisis through its National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCT) and a number of ministerial task forces, which have overseen a series of police “rescues” of victims from compounds. However, more than two thirds of the scamming compounds identified in the report continued to operate even after police raids and “rescues”.   The authorities have targeted those speaking out about scamming compounds. Several human rights defenders and journalists working on the issue have been arrested.   “Cambodia’s authorities must ensure no more jobseekers are trafficked into the country to face torture, slavery or any other human rights abuse. They must urgently investigate and shut down all scamming compounds and properly identify, assist and protect victims. Slavery thrives when governments look away.”   Survivors interviewed for Amnesty International’s report were from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Taiwan and Ethiopia, but Amnesty International also had access to records of hundreds of others who are nationals of India, Kenya, Nepal and the Philippines among many more.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/06/cambodia-government-allows-slavery-torture-flourish-inside-scamming-compounds/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/05/un-experts-urge-immediate-human-rights-based-action-tackle-forced http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/cambodia-un-expert-alarmed-disturbing-human-rights-situation http://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/25/beatings-torture-and-electric-shocks-freed-scam-compound-workers-allege-horrific-abuse   Aug. 2023   Hundreds of thousands of people are being forcibly engaged by organised criminal gangs into online criminality in Southeast Asia - from romance-investment scams and crypto fraud to illegal gambling - a report issued today by the UN Human Rights Office shows.   Victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security; and many have been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses, the report says.   “People who are coerced into working in these scamming operations endure inhumane treatment while being forced to carry out crimes. They are victims. They are not criminals,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.   “In continuing to call for justice for those who have been defrauded through online criminality, we must not forget that this complex phenomenon has two sets of victims.”   The enormity of online scam trafficking in Southeast Asia is difficult to estimate, the reports says, because of the clandestine nature and gaps in the official response. Credible sources indicate that at least 120,000 people across Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams, with estimates in Cambodia similarly at around 100,000.   Other States in the region, including Lao PDR, the Philippines and Thailand, have also been identified as main countries of destination or transit where at least tens of thousands of people have been involved.   The scam centres generate revenue amounting to billions of US dollars each year.   The COVID-19 pandemic and associated response measures had a drastic impact on illicit activities across the region. Public health measures closed casinos in many countries and in response, casino operators moved operations to less regulated spaces including conflict-affected border areas and Special Economic Zones, as well as to the increasingly lucrative online space, the report says.   Faced with new operational realities, criminal actors increasingly targeted migrants in vulnerable situations – who were stranded in these countries and out of work due to border and business closures – for recruitment into criminal operations, under the pretence of offering them real jobs.   As COVID-related shutdowns saw millions of people restricted to their homes, spending more time online, there were more ready targets for online fraud schemes and more people susceptible to fraudulent recruitment.   Most people trafficked into the online scam operations are men, although women and adolescents are also among the victims, the report says. Most are not citizens of the countries in which the trafficking occurs. Many of the victims are well-educated, sometimes coming from professional jobs or with graduate or even post-graduate degrees, computer-literate and multi-lingual.   Victims come from across the ASEAN region (from Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), as well as mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Asia, and even further afield from Africa and Latin America.   While some countries in Southeast Asia have put in place legal and policy frameworks relevant to counter trafficking, in some cases they fall short of international standards. In many cases their implementation has failed to respond adequately to the context and sophistication of these online scams, the report says.   Victims of trafficking and other human rights abuse are erroneously identified as criminals or as immigration offenders and, rather than being protected and given access to the rehabilitation and remedy they need, they are subjected to criminal prosecution or immigration penalties, it says.   “All affected States need to summon the political will to strengthen human rights and improve governance and the rule of law, including through serious and sustained efforts to tackle corruption. This must be as much a part of the response to these scams as a robust criminal justice response,” said Türk.   “Only such a holistic approach can break the cycle of impunity and ensure protection and justice for the people who have been so horrifically abused.”   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/08/hundreds-thousands-trafficked-work-online-scammers-se-asia-says-un-report http://bangkok.ohchr.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ONLINE-SCAM-OPERATIONS-2582023.pdf http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/10/sold-to-gangs-forced-to-run-online-scams-inside-cambodias-cybercrime-crisis http://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-11-01/i-was-a-slave-up-to-100-000-held-captive-by-chinese-cyber-criminals-in-cambodia
	Democratic institutions offer the best framework for addressing social injustices by PBS, Education International, agencies   On 1 May 1925, with Benito Mussolini already in power, a group of Italian intellectuals publicly denounced his fascist regime in an open letter. The signatories – scientists, philosophers, writers and artists – took a stand in support of the essential tenets of a free society: the rule of law, personal liberty and independent thinking, culture, art and science.   Their open defiance against the brutal imposition of the fascist ideology – at great personal risk – proved that opposition was not only possible, but necessary. Today, 100 years later, the threat of fascism is back – and so we must summon that courage and defy it again.   Fascism emerged in Italy a century ago, marking the advent of modern dictatorship. Within a few years, it spread across Europe and the world, taking different names but maintaining similar forms.   Wherever it seized power, it undermined the separation of powers in the service of autocracy, silenced opposition through violence, took control of the press, halted the advancement of women’s rights and crushed workers’ struggles for economic justice.   Inevitably, it permeated and distorted all institutions devoted to scientific, academic and cultural activities. Its cult of death exalted imperial aggression and genocidal racism, triggering the second world war, the Holocaust, the death of tens of millions of people and crimes against humanity.   At the same time, the resistance to fascism and the many other fascist ideologies became a fertile ground for imagining alternative ways of organising societies and international relations. The world that emerged from the second world war – with the charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the theoretical foundations of the EU and the legal arguments against colonialism – remained marked by deep inequalities.   Yet, it represented a decisive attempt to establish an international legal order: an aspiration toward global democracy and peace, grounded in the protection of universal human rights, including not only civil and political, but also economic, social and cultural rights.   Fascism never vanished, but for a time it was held at bay. However, in the past two decades, we have witnessed a renewed wave of far-right movements, often bearing unmistakably fascist traits: attacks on democratic norms and institutions, a reinvigorated nationalism laced with racist rhetoric, authoritarian impulses and systematic assaults on the rights of those who do not fit a manufactured traditional authority, rooted in religious, sexual and gender normativity.   These movements have re-emerged across the globe, including in long-standing democracies, where widespread dissatisfaction with political failure to address mounting inequalities and social exclusion has once again been exploited by new authoritarian figures.   True to the old fascist script, under the guise of an unlimited popular mandate, these figures undermine national and international rule of law, targeting the independence of the judiciary, the press, institutions of culture, higher education and science, even attempting to destroy essential data and scientific information.   They fabricate “alternative facts” and invent “enemies within”; they weaponise security concerns to entrench their authority and that of the ultra-wealthy 1%, offering privileges in exchange for loyalty.   This process is now accelerating, as dissent is increasingly suppressed through arbitrary detentions, threats of violence, deportations and an unrelenting campaign of disinformation and propaganda, operated with the support of traditional and social media barons – some merely complacent, others openly techno-fascist enthusiasts.   Democracies are not flawless: they are vulnerable to misinformation and they are not yet sufficiently inclusive. However, democracies by their nature provide fertile ground for intellectual and cultural progress and therefore always have the potential to improve.   In democratic societies, human rights and freedoms can expand, the arts flourish, scientific discoveries thrive and knowledge grow. They grant the freedom to challenge ideas and question power structures, propose new theories even when culturally uncomfortable, which is essential to human advancement.   Democratic institutions offer the best framework for addressing social injustices, and the best hope to fulfil the post-war promises of the rights to work, education, health, social security, participation in cultural and scientific life, and the collective right of peoples to development, self-determination and peace.   Without this, humanity faces stagnation, growing inequality, injustice and catastrophe, not least from the existential threat caused by the climate emergency that the new fascist wave negates.   In our hyper-connected world, democracy cannot exist in isolation. As national democracies require strong institutions, international cooperation relies on the effective implementation of democratic principles and multilateralism to regulate relations among nations, and on multistakeholder processes to engage a healthy society.   The rule of law must extend beyond borders, ensuring that international treaties, human rights conventions and peace agreements are respected. While existing global governance and international institutions require improvement, their erosion in favor of a world governed by raw power, transactional logic and military might is a regression to an era of colonialism, suffering and destruction.   As in 1925, we scientists, philosophers, writers, artists and citizens of the world have a responsibility to denounce and resist the resurgence of fascism in all its forms. We call on all those who value democracy to act:   Defend democratic, cultural and educational institutions. Call out abuses of democratic principles and human rights. Refuse pre-emptive compliance.   Join collective actions, locally and internationally. Boycott and strike when possible. Make resistance impossible to ignore and costly to repress.   Uphold facts and evidence. Foster critical thinking and engage with your communities on these grounds.   This is an ongoing struggle. Let our voices, our work and our principles be a bulwark against authoritarianism. Let this message be a renewed declaration of defiance.   Nobel laureates: Eric Maskin, Roger B Myerson, Alvin E Roth, Lars Peter Hansen, Oliver Hart, Daron Acemoglu, Wolfgang Ketterle, John C Mather, Brian P Schmidt, Michel Mayor, Takaaki Kajita, Giorgio Parisi, Pierre Agostini, Joachim Frank, Richard J Roberts, Leland Hartwell, Paul Nurse, Jack W Szostak, Edvard I Moser, May-Britt Moser, Harvey James Alter, Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun, Barry James Marshall, Craig Mello, Charles Rice   Leading scholars on fascism and democracy: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Timothy Snyder, Jason Stanley, Claudia Koonz, Mia Fuller, Giovanni De Luna and Andrea Mammone.   http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/13/nobel-laureates-fascism http://stopreturnfascism.org/ http://zenodo.org/records/15696097 http://www.nokings.org/news/nearly-7-million-people-attend-overwhelmingly-peaceful-no-kings-day-of-action http://www.nokings.org/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/millions-turn-out-nationwide-for-no-kings-protests-against-trump-administration http://www.ei-ie.org/en/item/29988:educators-families-and-activists-unite-against-trump-policies-in-one-of-the-largest-demonstrations-in-us-history http://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr-ryan/our-work/carr-ryan-commentary/one-governments-efforts-dismantle-accountability http://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/opinion/trump-checks-balances.html http://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-condemns-president-trumps-threats-to-use-the-military-in-cities-across-the-country http://www.pramilaforcongress.com/the-resistance-lab http://www.ucs.org/resources/science-and-democracy-under-siege http://www.lawfaremedia.org/projects-series/trials-of-the-trump-administration/tracking-trump-administration-litigation   http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/pressreleases/statement-diane-yentel-condemning-escalating-dangerous-rhetoric-against-nonprofits http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/pressreleases/over-1000-charitable-nonprofits-launch-national-sign-letter-defend-nonpartisanship http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/press-releases-statements http://nonprofitquarterly.org/what-is-civil-society-and-how-is-it-under-threat/ http://nonprofitquarterly.org/legal-defense-funds-protect-nonprofits-under-political-attack-by-trump-administration/ http://nonprofitquarterly.org/category/nonprofit-news   http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/26/us-trump-targets-opponents-in-sweeping-memorandum http://humanrightsfirst.org/library/presidential-memo-purporting-to-counter-domestic-terrorism-and-political-violence-threatens-constitutional-protections/ http://tinyurl.com/3ad4ucsk http://www.philanthropy.com/article/nonprofit-rights-are-under-attack-heres-a-7-part-playbook-to-fight-back http://www.philanthropy.com/article/kirks-killing-is-unleashing-new-attacks-on-civil-society-we-must-respond-with-bravery http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/statement-on-politically-motivated-attacks-on-open-society http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/standing-for-what-s-right-in-a-world-gone-wrong http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom   http://www.fordfoundation.org/news-and-stories/big-ideas/people-powered-solutions-connecting-local-communities-and-global-challenges/ http://www.fordfoundation.org/news-and-stories/news-and-press/news/foundations-commit-36-5-million-in-emergency-funding-to-protect-public-media-in-vulnerable-communities/ http://www.fordfoundation.org/news-and-stories/big-ideas/   http://www.aclu.org/defend-free-speech-letter-kimmel http://www.aclu.org/news http://www.democracycollaborative.org/tracking-the-crisis/free-speech http://www.democracycollaborative.org/tracking-the-crisis http://www.citizen.org/news/new-memorandum-is-an-unamerican-attack-on-free-speech/ http://www.commondreams.org/news/miller-says-criticism-of-trump-is-violence http://carnegieendowment.org/europe/strategic-europe/2025/09/a-less-democratic-america-implications-for-europe http://www.justsecurity.org/121193/authoritarian-logic-trump-executive-orders/ http://www.justsecurity.org/106653/collection-trump-administration-executive-actions/   Sep. 2025   UN Special Rapporteur warns of intensifying repression in Russia aimed at silencing dissent. (OHCHR)   There is an alarming escalation in repression targeting human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, political opponents and anti-war activists and others who express dissent in the Russian Federation, a UN expert said today, warning that the targeting is not incidental but coordinated and central to State policy.   “The policy is used to manufacture so-called internal and external “enemies of the motherland”, against whom the Russian State justifies repression at home and aggression abroad,” said Mariana Katzarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Russian Federation.   “This strategy deepens discrimination, normalises violence, and emboldens impunity. Russia is now the world’s third-largest jailer of journalists, with 50 currently behind bars on lengthy sentences,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, in her latest report to the Human Rights Council.   “Among them is journalist Olga Komleva, sentenced to 12 years on charges of “extremism” and “fake news” about the Russian army for reporting on anti-government protests and Russia’s war against Ukraine. Political detainees like Ms. Komleva face torture and ill-treatment in harsh penal colonies—denied adequate medical care, subjected to psychological abuse, and placed in solitary confinement (SHIZO) for speaking out,” she said.   Katzarova said extremism-related charges continue to be applied against individuals affiliated with the name of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Four journalists—Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin, and Artyom Kriger—each received prison sentences of five and a half years simply for reporting on Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.   The report documents the growing weaponisation of counter-terrorism legislation to silence dissent to the war. “These prosecutions rarely assess any real public danger. Instead, courts focus on the political message ascribed to the accused,” the expert said. In July, novelist Boris Akunin was sentenced in absentia to 14 years on “justifying terrorism” charges. His real crime was dissenting against the war and supporting Ukraine.   The crackdown has reached even lawyers, especially those working on politically sensitive cases. In Kaliningrad, lawyer Maria Bontsler was detained on spurious charges, denied counsel of her choice, and forced into a sham process for defending clients accused on politically motivated grounds.   “Despite the dangers, human rights defenders, lawyers, independent media, and civil society continue their work under constant threat both inside and outside the country”, the Special Rapporteur said.   Katzarova’s report found that torture remains “systematic and widespread” in the Russian Federation, with 258 documented cases in 2024–2025. The Special Rapporteur expressed concern over the revival of punitive psychiatry, including the sentencing of journalist Maria Ponomarenko to prison and compulsory psychiatric treatment for her anti-war stance.   Particularly shocking is the participation and complicity of doctors and medical personnel in the torture of Ukrainian detainees, documented first-hand by the Special Rapporteur from a number of victims and witnesses. Prisoners of war and civilians reported starvation, use of electric shocks, rape and sexual violence, and killings in detention. At least 206 Ukrainian prisoners of war have died in Russian captivity, their bodies showing signs of torture.   The report also raises the alarm over the escalated targeting of LGBT communities, Indigenous Peoples, ethnic minorities, migrants and asylum-seekers, and normalised gender-based violence against women and girls..   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-special-rapporteur-warns-intensifying-repression-and-widespread-torture http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/02/no-justice-alexei-navalny-and-more-lives-risk-russia-warns-un-special http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/02/russias-repression-home-and-aggression-against-ukraine-demand-justice-no http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/01/russia-special-rapporteur-appalled-prison-sentences-punish-navalny-lawyers http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/08/20/human-rights-watch-briefing-paper-on-the-human-rights-situation-in-the-russian http://freedomhouse.org/article/justice-shackles-global-persecution-judges-and-lawyers Visit the related web page
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