Amnesty: Cambodia’s war on drugs led to systemic human rights abuses
Cambodia’s three-year-long “war on drugs” campaign has led to a litany of human rights abuses and the overcrowding of prisons and detention centres, human rights watchdog Amnesty International has announced in a new report.
Released during the weekend, the report titled “Substance Abuses” documents the government’s anti-drug crackdown since January 2017, which Amnesty says has failed to reduce drug use and related harms in the country.
“Cambodia’s ‘war on drugs’ is an unmitigated disaster – it rests upon systematic human rights abuses and has created a bounty of opportunities for corrupt and poorly-paid officials in the justice system while doing nothing for public health and safety,” Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty’s regional director, said in a statement.
The South-East Asian country has long been a transit nation for methamphetamine and other illicit substances, with crystal meth among the most abused drugs.
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