![]() embassy officials met with government officials to promote religious freedom and the importance of fully integrating religious minorities into society, and to highlight the benefits of respecting the country’s religious pluralism. Indigenous community leaders continued to say individuals and companies used deceptive practices to acquire sacred forest that they then cleared for commercial use, and other companies continued illegally clearing sacred forests to profit from logging or to convert the land to commercial purposes. The government, however, did not use force against the leader or his followers to end the gathering. This prompted authorities to issue an order for the crowd of 15,000 to 20,000 individuals to disperse. In July and August, the leader of a doomsday cult called thousands of followers, including some from abroad, to his farm in Siem Reap to await a cataclysmic flood. The government continued to deny refugee status to 12 Christian Montagnards from Vietnam, despite an outstanding request from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Slow government registration of communal land grants hindered the ability of some Indigenous communities to protect forest land they considered sacred. As of year’s end, the Ministry of Cults and Religions (MCR) had not publicly released a draft law reportedly criminalizing “religious people” who participate in political acts, including “organized activity against any political party.” In February, the Prime Minister announced a campaign to appoint more Muslims to leadership roles in local governments serving significant Muslim populations, leading to the appointment of 12 deputy provincial governors and 32 deputy district chiefs across the country. On December 22, authorities sentenced former Buddhist monk Voeung Samnang to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit treason and incitement to commit a felony or cause social unrest for posting messages critical of Prime Minister Hun Sen to social media. A government directive restricts monks from participating in political protests and requires them to be politically neutral. The law does not allow non-Buddhist denominations to proselytize publicly. The law provides for freedom of belief and religious worship, provided such freedom neither interferes with others’ beliefs and religions nor violates public order and security. The constitution states Buddhism is the state religion.
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