The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) on Tuesday outlined four recommendations for the authorities when dealing with peaceful assembly concerning land disputes.

In a five-page document, CCHR said its Fundamental Freedom Monitoring Project had recorded 99 incidents that involved violations of the freedom of peaceful assembly. This, it said, indicated a systematic misapplication of the Law on Peaceful Demonstration.

“Notably, 30 per cent of all land dispute-related incidents recorded between April 2018 and March 2019 resulted in violations of fundamental freedoms, including through the use of force and judicial harassment,” the document said.

The most common breaches, it said, included peaceful assemblies being prohibited, demonstrators removed from peaceful gatherings by security personnel, legal action being threatened, beatings and arrests.

Ministry of Justice spokesperson Chin Malin said the CCHR document appeared to put the onus on the police without having looked at the situation regarding each protest.