Cambodia: Denial of entry and harassment against British journalist Gerald Flynn

The Observatory has been informed about the denial of entry and harassment of Mr Gerald Flynn, a British journalist who has been reporting on the intersection between human rights, ecosystems, and natural resource governance, and has investigated illegal logging networks across Cambodia, where Mr Flynn had been based since 2019.

On 5 January 2025, upon arriving at Siem Reap airport, Gerald Flynn was refused entry to the country, even though he was in possession of a valid visa. Mr Flynn and his wife were returning from a holiday in Thailand. Immigration officers at Siem Reap airport stopped him and took him and his wife aside for questioning. During their interrogation, immigration officials repeatedly took photos of them. Mr Flynn was then notified that he had not been allowed to enter Cambodia since 25 November 2024 and that he had been permanently blacklisted and banned from entering the country. He was subsequently accompanied to a plane bound for Bangkok, Thailand. Cambodian immigration officers justified this decision by claiming that Mr Flynn had lied on his latest visa extension application, an accusation that Mr Flynn has categorically denied.

Before leaving Siem Reap to travel to Bangkok by air on 2 January 2025, Mr Flynn had been stopped by Cambodian immigration and informed that there was an issue with his visa, as a document had allegedly been incorrectly submitted as part of his visa application. Mr Flynn explained that he had not encountered any issue with his visa application process and the immigration officers eventually allowed him to board his flight, without giving him further explanation, nor specifying that he would not be allowed to return to Cambodia.

The Observatory notes with concern that the decision to ban Mr Flynn from entering Cambodia from 25 November 2024 came shortly after Mr Flynn was featured as a primary source in a France24 documentary on deforestation in Cambodia’s Cardamom forest, which was aired on 22 November 2024. On 23 November 2024, six environmental activists, including two who were featured in the documentary, were arrested as they were investigating an illegal logging operation in Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park. They were released on 25 November 2024. On 27 November 2024, Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment issued a statement declaring that the France24 documentary presented “a distorted and misleading narrative about the impact of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) projects on deforestation and indigenous communities’ access to land.”

The Observatory recalls that Mr Flynn’s denial of entry comes against a backdrop of increasing repression of human rights defenders, and in particular environmental rights defenders, in Cambodia. On 6 November 2024, Koet Saray, Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA)’s President, was sentenced to four years in prison for “incitement to commit a felony” and “committing a misdemeanour after sentencing for a misdemeanour” for speaking to reporters about the plight of villagers evicted in Preah Vihear Province. On 2 July 2024, 10 environmental rights defenders with Mother Nature Cambodia were sentenced to between six and eight years in prison on charges of “plotting” and “insulting the King” for their participation in a Zoom meeting.

The Observatory strongly condemns the harassment of Gerald Flynn and the arbitrary ban on his entry into Cambodia, which seem to be a direct retaliation to his legitimate human rights activities and journalism.

The Observatory urges the Cambodian authorities to immediately and unconditionally lift the entry ban on Gerald Flynn and allow him to travel to Cambodia and to put an end to all acts of harassment - including at the administrative and judicial levels - against him and all other environmental human rights defenders and journalists in the country.

The Observatory further urges the Cambodian authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the right to freedom of expression, as enshrined in international human rights law, and particularly in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Cambodia is a state party.