I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4659 
To promote free and fair elections, democracy, political freedoms, and human 
rights in Cambodia, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 14, 2023 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mrs. TRAHAN) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 
in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To promote free and fair elections, democracy, political free-
doms, and human rights in Cambodia, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cambodia Democracy 
and Human Rights Act of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) On October 23, 1991, Cambodia and 18 
other countries signed the Comprehensive Cam-
bodian Peace Agreement (commonly referred to as 
the ‘‘Paris Peace Agreements’’), which committed 
Cambodia to a democratic system of governance pro-
tected by a constitution and free and fair elections 
and stated that the people of Cambodia ‘‘shall enjoy 
the rights and freedoms embodied in the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant 
international human rights instruments’’. 
(2) Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power 
in Cambodia since 1985 and is the longest-serving 
leader in Southeast Asia. Despite decades of inter-
national attention and assistance to promote a plu-
ralistic, multi-party democratic system in Cambodia, 
the Government of Cambodia continues to be 
undemocratically dominated by the ruling Cam-
bodian People’s Party. 
(3) In 2015, the Cambodian People’s Party- 
controlled National Assembly adopted the Law on 
Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations, 
which gave the Government of Cambodia sweeping 
powers to revoke the registration of nongovern-
mental organizations in the name of ‘‘national 
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unity’’, and which the government has used to re-
strict the legitimate work of civil society. 
(4) On August 23, 2017, Cambodia’s Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs ordered the closure of the Na-
tional Democratic Institute office in Cambodia and 
the expulsion of its foreign staff. On September 15, 
2017, Prime Minister Hun Sen called for the with-
drawal of all volunteers from the United States 
Peace Corps, which has operated in Cambodia since 
2006 with approximately 500 United States volun-
teers providing English language and healthcare 
training. 
(5) The Government of Cambodia has taken 
several measures to restrict its media environment, 
especially through politicized tax investigations 
against independent media outlets that resulted in 
the closure of The Cambodia Daily and Radio Free 
Asia in early September 2017. Additionally, the Gov-
ernment of Cambodia ordered several radio stations 
to stop the broadcasting of Radio Free Asia and 
Voice of America programming. 
(6) Cambodia’s small number of independent 
trade unions and workers have the right to strike, 
but many face retribution for doing so, according to 
Freedom House. 
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(7) Each of the 6 elections that have taken 
place in Cambodia since 1991 was conducted in cir-
cumstances that were not free and fair, and were 
marked, to varying degrees, by fraud, intimidation, 
violence, and the misuse by the Government of Cam-
bodia of legal mechanisms to weaken opposition can-
didates and parties. The 2017 local elections were 
marked by fewer reported irregularities, however, 
which helped the opposition Cambodia National Res-
cue Party (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘CNRP’’). Hun Sen responded to those improve-
ments in elections, resulting in part from inter-
national assistance and observers, by banning the 
CNRP, the primary opposition party, which was 
growing in popularity, on November 16, 2017. 
(8) On September 3, 2017, Kem Sokha, the 
President of the CNRP, was arrested on politically 
motivated charges, including treason and conspiring 
to overthrow the Government of Cambodia. While he 
was released on bail, he has been tried in a Cam-
bodian court and is facing a 27-year sentence. 
(9) In the most recent general election in July 
2018, following the dissolution of the CNRP, the 
Cambodian People’s Party secured every parliamen-
tary seat, an electoral victory that the White House 
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Press Secretary stated was ‘‘neither free nor fair 
and failed to represent the will of the Cambodian 
people’’. 
(10) In the 2022 local elections, the Candlelight 
Party, founded in 1995 as the Khmer Nation Party 
and renamed the Sam Rainsy Party in 1997, won 
22 percent of seats. The United Nations Human 
Rights Office reported pre-election threats, intimida-
tion, and obstruction, including the imprisonment of 
some candidates. In February 2023, the government 
charged several Candlelight Party leaders with defa-
mation and writing bad checks, which some analysts 
view as politically motivated in advance of the 2023 
national elections. 
(11) The widespread crackdown by the Govern-
ment of Cambodia on the political opposition and 
other independent voices has caused many CNRP 
leaders to flee abroad. 
(12) Since 2021, Cambodian courts have con-
victed more than 115 former CNRP politicians and 
opposition activists, including Sam Rainsy (in 
absentia) and Cambodian-American lawyer Theary 
Seng (jailed in Cambodia), of crimes against the 
state. Other convicted opposition figures living in 
exile include Rainsy’s wife, Tioulong Saumura, Mu 
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Sochua, Eng Chhay Eang, Men Sothavarin, Ou 
Chanrith, Ho Vann, Long Ry, and Nuth Romduol. 
(13) According to Freedom House, Hun Sen 
uses the police and armed forces as instruments of 
repression. The military has stood firmly behind 
Hun Sen and his crackdown on opposition groups 
and Hun Sen has built a personal bodyguard unit in 
the armed forces that he reportedly uses to harass 
and abuse Cambodian People’s Party opponents. 
(14) Beginning in December 2021, the Govern-
ment of Cambodia has restricted the labor rights of 
workers protesting working conditions and illegal 
dismissals at the NagaWorld Casino, including using 
the COVID–19 pandemic as an excuse to limit the 
ability of workers to protest. In February 2022, offi-
cials of the Government of Cambodia arrested 6 
workers of the casino after leaving a COVID–19 
testing center, claiming that they had obstructed 
testing. 
(15) In 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported 
that Cambodia had signed a deal with the Govern-
ment of the People’s Republic of China to allow that 
Government access to and use of the Ream Naval 
Base on the Gulf of Thailand, even though the Con-
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stitution of Cambodia prohibits the establishment of 
foreign military bases. 
(16) In 2019, the New York Times reported 
that a company described by the Department of the 
Treasury as being a state-owned company of the 
People’s Republic of China had secured a 99-year 
lease to build an airport capable of supporting mili-
tary aircraft at Dara Sakor, raising concerns that 
Beijing intends to use this facility for its military, 
despite the prohibition against the establishment of 
foreign military bases contained in the Constitution 
of Cambodia. 
(17) In section 401 of the Asia Reassurance 
Initiative Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–409; 132 
Stat. 5407), Congress expressed serious concerns 
with the rule of law and civil liberties in Cambodia 
and made the finding that the promotion of human 
rights and respect for democratic values in the Indo- 
Pacific region is in the United States national secu-
rity interest. 
(18) The 2022 Country Reports on Human 
Rights Practices of the Department of State stated, 
of Cambodia, ‘‘Corruption was endemic throughout 
society and government. There were reports police, 
prosecutors, investigating judges, and presiding 
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judges took bribes from owners of both legal and il-
legal businesses . . . Citizens frequently and pub-
licly complained about corruption. Meager salaries 
contributed to ‘survival corruption’ among low-level 
public servants, while a culture of impunity enabled 
corruption to flourish among senior officials.’’. 
(19) Cambodia currently occupies a Tier 3 
ranking on the Department of State’s Annual Traf-
ficking in Persons Report, indicating that Cambodia 
does not meet the minimum standards for pre-
venting trafficking in persons and is not making sig-
nificant efforts to do so. Human trafficking is ramp-
ant across a number of industries in Cambodia and 
is often linked to Chinese-organized crime networks. 
For many years, members of the ruling elite, includ-
ing personal family members and advisors of the 
Prime Minister, have been individually linked to 
businesses implicated in trafficking in persons into 
Cambodia. Many of the trafficked persons are forced 
to work in scamming operations that target United 
States citizens. 
(20) Section 7043(b) of the Department of 
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs 
Appropriations Act, 2023 (division K of Public Law 
117–328) restricts assistance to the Government of 
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Cambodia until ‘‘the Secretary of State certifies and 
reports to the Committees on Appropriations that 
such Government is taking effective steps to— 
‘‘(i) strengthen regional security and 
stability, particularly regarding territorial 
disputes in the South China Sea and the 
enforcement of international sanctions with 
respect to North Korea; 
‘‘(ii) assert its sovereignty against in-
terference by the People’s Republic of 
China, including by verifiably maintaining 
the neutrality of Ream Naval Base, other 
military installations in Cambodia, and 
dual use facilities such as the runway at 
the Dara Sakor development project; 
‘‘(iii) cease violence, threats, and har-
assment against civil society and the polit-
ical opposition in Cambodia, and dismiss 
any politically motivated criminal charges 
against critics of the government; and 
‘‘(iv) respect the rights, freedoms, and 
responsibilities enshrined in the Constitu-
tion of the Kingdom of Cambodia as en-
acted in 1993.’’. 
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(21) Section 201(f) of the Asia Reassurance 
Initiative Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–409; 132 
Stat. 5392) restricts assistance to Cambodia until 
the Government of Cambodia takes effective steps 
to— 
(A) strengthen regional security and sta-
bility, particularly regarding territorial disputes 
in the South China Sea and the enforcement of 
international sanctions with respect to North 
Korea; and 
(B) respect the rights and responsibilities 
enshrined in the Constitution of the Kingdom 
of Cambodia as enacted in 1993, including 
through the— 
(i) restoration of the civil and political 
rights of the opposition Cambodia National 
Rescue Party, media, and civil society or-
ganizations; 
(ii) restoration of all elected officials 
to their elected offices; and 
(iii) release of all political prisoners, 
including journalists, civil society activists, 
and members of the opposition political 
party. 
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