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ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship 121. Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee in advance of its review of Cambodia, (1 February 2022), available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/02/01/ human-rights-watch-submission-un-human-rightscommittee-advance-its-review-cambodia. 122. Human Rights Watch, List of arrests and persons in detention for COVID-19 related offenses, (23 March 2020), available at: https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/interactive/2020/03/23/list-arrests-and-persons-detention-covid-19-related-offenses. 123. Radio Free Asia, Cambodian Activist Arrested For Criticizing Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine, (15 March 2021), available at: https://www.rfa.org/english/ news/cambodia/vaccine-03152021183359.html. 124. Voice of Democracy, News Site Blocked, Journalist Jailed After Quoting Hun Sen, (9 April 2020), available at: https://vodenglish.news/news-site-blockedjournalist-jailed-after-quoting-hun-sen/. 125. Reporters without Borders, Cambodia: Hun Sen uses Covid-19 crisis to tighten his grip, (9 April 2020), available at: https://rsf.org/en/news/cambodia-hunsen-uses-covid-19-crisis-tighten-his-grip. 126. UCA News, Cambodia expands monitoring of ‘fake news’’, (19 January 2021), available at: https:// english.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-expands-monitoring-of-fake-news-171922/. 127. United Nation Cambodia, Gender Equality Deep-Dive for Cambodia, (1 March 2022), available at: https:// cambodia.un.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/ Gender%20Deep%20Dive%20-%20CCA%20Cambodia_V6_010322_LQ.pdf 128. OpenDevelopment Mekong, Draft Law on Cybercrime (Khmer), (16 February 2022), available at: https://data.opendevelopmentmekong.net/laws_record/draft-cybercrime-law/resource/ef0154d37998-494f-9817-dca2d14d2d03 129. The Royal Cambodian Government, Digital Economy and Society Policy Framework 2021-2035, (May 2021), available at: https://mef.gov.kh/download-counter?post=7116 130. United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Keeping children safe online during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, (13 February 2022), available at : https://www.trc.gov.kh/wp-content/uploads/doc/covid-en.pdf 131. Ideas for Peace, THE CURRENT SITUATION OF ONLINE GBV HARASSMENT IN CAMBODIA, (n.d.), available at: https://ideasforpeace.org/ content/the-current-situation-of-online-gbv-harassment-in-cambodia/ Cambodia 132. United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Safer Internet Day: UNICEF calls for concerted action to prevent bullying and harassment for the 85.7 per cent of young people online in Cambodia, (5 February 2019), available at: https://www. unicef.org/cambodia/press-releases/safer-internet-day-unicef-calls-concerted-action-prevent-bullying-and-harassment-857. 133. Licadho Cambodia, Status Update: Harassment on Social Media in Cambodia, (25 November 2021), available at : https://www.licadho-cambodia.org/reports/files/235Status_Update_Report_ EN_25112021.pdf. 134. Asia Network for Free Elections, JOINT STATEMENT: MEDIA AND CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS DEEPLY DISTURBED BY GOVERNMENT’S DECISION TO REVOKE VOD’S MEDIA LICENSE AND THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF A FEMALE REPORTER, (23 February 2023), available at: https://anfrel.org/ joint-statement-media-and-civil-society-groupsdeeply-disturbed-by-governments-decision-to-revoke-vods-media-license-and-the-sexual-harassment-of-a-female-reporter/ . 135. Cambodia’s Constitution of 1993 with Amendments through 2008, available at: https://www. constituteproject.org/constitution/Cambodia_2008. pdf?lang=en. 136. Human Rights Watch, Cambodia: Internet Censorship, Control Expanded, (18 February 2021), available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/18/ cambodia-internet-censorship-control-expanded. 137. Voice of Democracy, Rapper, TikTok User Arrested for Airing Critical Views, (10 September 2020), available at: https://vodenglish.news/rapper-tiktok-user-arrested-for-airing-critical-views/. 138. American Bar Association, Cambodia: Freedom of Expression and the Case of Rap Artist Kea Sokun, (13 June 2021), available at: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/human_rights/reports/kea-sokun/. 139. Voice of Democracy, Rapper’s Jail Sentence Upheld by Battambang Appeal Court, (16 June 2021), available at: https://vodenglish.news/rappers-jailsentence-upheld-by-battambang-appeal-court/. 140. Cambodian Human Rights Committee, Press Release: Launch of Consultation Process of the Draft Law on the Organization and Functioning of the National Human Rights Commission of Cambodia, (8 July 2021), available at: https://www.facebook.com/ chrc.gov.kh/photos/pcb.4110938555650045/4110 795588997675/.; Phnom Penh Post, CHRC to hold 60 meetings on national rights commission, (12 July 2021), available at: https://www.phnompenhpost. com/national-politics/chrc-hold-60-meetings-national-rights-commission. 69

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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Topic

Digital Rights
Digital Surveillance
Information Operation
Internet Restrictions

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MANUSHYA

Date Published: Mar 8, 2024

Abstract: Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024 Whether we like it or not, we are living through a pivotal moment for the future of human rights. This includes the issue of our digital rights, and the question of our online freedoms. In places like Southeast Asia, where the majority of its peoples are experiencing immense threats to their online and offline freedoms, at the hands of opportunistic governments and corporations, this is especially prevalent. The digital space has become an integral part of human life, and is still growing in its influence over our world. Accordingly, if our freedoms in the digital space are endangered, our freedoms overall are endangered as well.

It is understandable to feel powerless while possessing this knowledge. But it is not enough to just know about the forces acting against our human rights, and understand that they are dangerous. If we truly want to create a safer, more equitable, more liberated world - which we all know, deep down, is possible - we must understand these forces, and act accordingly. We must equip ourselves with knowledge about what governments, corporations, and other powers that be are doing, alongside demanding our rights to freedom. The powers that be have weaponised the online and digital space, as well as the law, against the people that these things are supposed to serve and protect. It is our right to protect ourselves with research, knowledge, advocacy, and the power of the people. When we understand the powers we are up against, fighting back will become less daunting.

This is what our report, titled Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia, is for. Join us in powering ourselves with knowledge, in order to compel ourselves to action!

As always, our work is rooted in decolonial, feminist, intersectional values, with historically marginalised people at the centre. Thus, this work was a collaboration between a coalition of groups oriented in these values: ALTSEAN-Burma, Cambodian Center for Human Rights, ELSAM, Free Expression Myanmar, Foundation for Media Alternatives, ILGA Asia, Manushya Foundation, The Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, SAFEnet, Viet Tan, and Women’s Peace Network. What is the ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship? The ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship was established in 2020, by human rights and digital rights activists from Southeast Asia, on a mission to decolonize digital rights and restore our online democracies.

Together, we stand in solidarity with one another, with people from the Global Majority, resisting and pushing back against authoritarian governments and complicit tech companies.

We tell our realities from the ground, and we develop solutions together.

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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