This short project aimed at contributing to the promotion of fundamental rights, defending internet freedoms, and safeguarding democracy in Cambodia. Its activities addressed the contemporary challenges faced by the Country’s Civil Society and Media while the Cambodian government worked on new restrictive regulatory instruments and invested in surveillance capacities (e.g.: National Internet Gateway, Cyber Crime Law, Domain Name Law), which increased risks of arbitrary and disproportional restrictions to freedom of expression and freedom of the media via the internet.
The Project utilized and built on API’s experience with the iMAP project (Internet Monitoring and Action Project), which monitored closure or censorship, according to non-transparent and apparently arbitrary criteria, of dozens of the Country’s websites.
The Project’s Activities focused on enhancing knowledge of the rights to information, internet freedom, digital rights, freedom of online expression, and freedom of the media linked to the context of Cambodia’s restrictive regulatory framework. API utilized the Open Observatory of Network Interference (called OONI Probe), a free software used to identify specifically which websites are blocked by the government. Internet censorship monitoring was operated by the project’s target groups including CSOs’ Working Group members, youth network members, and community youth volunteers, who were trained by API. Based on the data collected from the OONI probe running, API produced two annual Internet Censorship Monitoring Reports (2022-23) and initiated dialogues with concerned government ministries and working groups as well as CSOs and Media working groups including youth networks, and, more importantly, using the report as an evidence base for policy influence.
