Doem Kundy is an environmental rights defender and a member of Mother Nature Cambodia, a grassroots organisation advocating and fighting against land-grabbing and to defend environmental rights. The group has worked to expose the corruption and systematic fraud behind the extraction and export of sand in the country, along with the ensuing environmental and ecological damage.
The Cambodian authorities use legislation and the judicial system, and threats of arrest or legal action, to restrict free speech, jail government critics, and disperse workers, trade union representatives and farmers engaging in peaceful assembly. The authorities routinely forcibly and often violently disperse public protests. In August 2015, King Norodom Sihamoni signed in effect the Law on Associations and Non-governmental Organisations (LANGO), under which severely hampers local rights groups ability to operate and permits the government to arbitrarily terminates partnerships with international organizations.
