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Young activists from Mother Nature Cambodia
Photo: Right Livelihood Foundation / dpa
They are campaigning against the destruction of nature in their country and are being prosecuted: The activists of the environmental organization "Mother Nature" from Cambodia were awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize this year for their work. Now the dictatorship in Cambodia is even preventing three members of the organization from traveling to the award ceremony in Sweden.
A court recently ruled that the three were denied permission to travel from Cambodia to Stockholm to receive the Right Livelihood Award, the Right Livelihood Foundation said. The foundation called for a review of the decision.
The Right Livelihood Award is commonly known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. The foundation announced last week that this year's award will go to the Cambodian environmental activist group "Mother Nature Cambodia", among others. In addition, this time
the European aid organisation SOS Méditerranée,
Eunice Brookman-Amissah, a women's rights activist from Ghana
and environmentalist Phyllis Omido from Kenya.
The awards will be presented at a ceremony on 29 November in Stockholm.
Again and again verdicts against the group
According to a spokeswoman for the foundation, the activists are Phoun Keo Raksmey, Thon Ratha and Long Kunthea. According to the Swedish news agency TT, they have all received suspended prison sentences for their commitment to the protection of natural resources in Cambodia. They were convicted of incitement to serious crimes in the summer of 2021.
"You are working in a dictatorship," said Ole von Uexküll, director of the Right Livelihood Foundation, about this year's award winners, "and many members are paying a high price for their efforts." Among other things, the Cambodian organization has campaigned against the construction of a dam and sand mining in the province of Koh Kong. Last year, one of the "Mother Nature" activists had already reported on his commitment in an interview with SPIEGEL.
col/dpa