A prominent Cambodian trade union leader, Chhim Sithar, has been released from prison after serving a 15-month sentence for organizing a strike at the NagaWorld casino resort in Phnom Penh. Despite her imprisonment, Sithar has vowed to continue her fight for labor rights.
Chhim Sithar, the president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), was apprehended in November 2022 as she returned from a labor conference in Australia. She was subsequently sentenced to two years in prison, charged with incitement to commit a felony. Her arrest came on the heels of leading a year-long protest over workers’ rights at NagaWorld, Cambodia’s largest casino resort.
The strike, which was the longest in Cambodia’s history, saw significant police intervention. In February 2022 alone, over 200 protestors were arrested as authorities violently disrupted the strike.
“About our advocacy fighting for union rights at NagaWorld, we will continue holding strike action until we get a solution. That’s the position we have determined since the first strike,” Sithar told the Associated Press. She emphasized the ongoing nature of their struggle, noting, “Unfortunately, as of today, after nearly three years, our workers have still not gotten justice. Therefore, as long as there’s no justice, our struggle continues.”
The labor dispute began in April 2021 when 373 workers were laid off. The casino’s owner, NagaCorp, claimed the layoffs were necessary to reduce costs due to the financial pressures of the pandemic. However, workers argued that the layoffs were illegal and refused to accept the offered severance packages. Protests ensued, and participants were arrested under the pretext of breaching COVID-19 protocols.
Sithar’s arrest drew criticism from the U.S. government, which urged Cambodian authorities to respect the rights of union leaders to freedom of association and peaceful assembly. The United Nations also condemned the Cambodian government’s actions, calling for respect for the right to peaceful assembly and advocating for dialogue to address the strikers’ demands.
Human Rights Watch has reported increasing suppression of civilian activists and critics by Cambodia’s autocratic government in recent years. The government adopted a state-of-emergency law during the pandemic, granting the prime minister and others extensive authority to surveil private telecommunications, ban the dissemination of information, and broadly restrict rights to peaceful assembly and association.
“No one wants to be in prison, and I can say that we were afraid,” Sithar remarked this week. “But I want to make a comparison. Which one is scarier? For me, the fear of losing the rights to a union, the fear of losing the right to unionize, is scarier than putting me in jail.”
This sentiment underscores Sithar’s unwavering commitment to her cause despite the formidable challenges she faces.
