On the occasion of the 3rd year of Wanchalearm Satsaksit’s enforced disappearance, Cambodian youth activists will organize a public campaign in front of Mekong Garden Condominium and Thai Embassy to commemorate the incident and to demand justice for Wanchalearm’s family.
Wanchalearm Satsaksit was a Thai political activist who fled to Cambodia after the coup d’etat in 2014 and was forced to disappear in broad daylight in front of Mekong Garden Condominium, in Phnom Penh on June 4, 2020. Since then, it has been 3 years that his family never heard from him again. Sitanun Satsaksit, Wanchalearm’s sister, continues to search for the truth about the incident and his whereabouts since day 1, she had gone to file complaints at the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), the Office of Attorney General (OAG), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rights and Liberty Protection Department, Ministry on Justice, parliament, and the Embassy of Cambodia. She had also submitted her testimony and all evidence she had gathered herself to Phnom Penh Municipal Court, who has not provided any information or update about the investigation to Sitanun.
Therefore, on Sunday 4 June 2023, Cambodian youth activists will organize a public campaign with the objectives to 1) Commemorate the 3rd anniversary of Wanchalearm Satsaksit’s enforced disappearance and 2) to request an exhaustive investigation into the case and to return justice to his family while the Cambodian government must be held accountable for its human rights violation as enshrined in Article 31 of the ICPPED that Cambodia is a party to. In contrast, Thailand has not yet ratify ICPPED but has criminalizing the act of enforced disappearance effective since 22 Feb 2023.
All in all, to demonstrate our solitary among networks of human rights defenders and to ensure that the Cambodian government respect and protect the activists’ rights to freedom of expression and assembly, we encourage CSOs, general public, media and press, as well as the international communities to be informed, participate, and to monitor the campaign process freely.
Schedule of the activities
9:30 AM – in front of The Mekong Garden Condominium
5:00 PM – in front of the Thai Embassy
