The Cambodian government is failing to provide support to hundreds of thousands of migrant workers with microfinance debts who returned from Thailand because of hostilities in mid-2025, Human Rights Watch said today (26 November).

Since taking office, Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has adopted a hardline stance against Cambodia, culminating in the move to suspend the two-week old peace agreement over the latest landmine casualties. What is behind this move? And most importantly, how much influence does a powerful domestic driver like the military have in shaping the government’s decision?

Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is delaying the approval of an Interior Ministry announcement extending the stay in Thailand for Cambodian migrant workers whose work permits have expired.

Defence Minister Gen Natthaphon Narkphanit has said that Thailand is delaying the release of Cambodian Prisoners of War (POWs) as two Thai soldiers were injured this morning (10 November) after stepping on a landmine.

Cambodian authorities have arbitrarily arrested and charged at least 16 people for expressing their views on social media about the Thai-Cambodia border conflict in July and August 2025, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday (5 November).

Thai Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit and Sunai Phasuk, Senior Researcher at Human Rights Watch, received online death threats and hate speech in response to their public comments on the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict, and the Government of Thailand must protect them and all human rights defenders from harassment and threats, Fortify Rights said today (21 October). The two prominent human rights defenders filed a petition on October 18 with the Royal Thai Police seeking protection.

Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit, former human rights commissioner, and Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher Sunai Phasuk filed a petition with the police chief on Saturday (18 October) requesting police protection after they received death threats and online harassment for criticising a social media influencer’s activities in areas along the Thailand-Cambodia border.

The UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders has raised concerns for a Thai senator and human rights defender after she received death threats over her criticism of the broadcasting of ghost sounds intended to disturb Cambodians along the border.

With Thailand and Cambodia embroiled in an ongoing territorial disputes, many Cambodians working in Thailand left the country as several have faced violence and many more felt threatened. As workers try to find new jobs in Cambodia, their employers in Thailand are facing a labour shortage. Both are bracing for substantial losses if the splintered economic relationship isn’t fixed.

The recurring clashes between Thailand and Cambodia are often described as the residue of colonial-era boundary disputes. This explanation, however, obscures the real dynamic: the Thai military’s repeated exploitation of anachronistic disputes to preserve its political dominance.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has announced as part of his policy statement that the government plans to hold a referendum on whether to repeal the two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) on border demarcation between Thailand and Cambodia.

Exposing the Thai-Cambodian conflict area finds landmines abandoned from old wars over 17 km2 of land with no end in sight, especially during this serious conflict when Thailand only has 1 year left under the Ottawa Treaty to clear all mines. If there are still landmines, the border cannot be demarcated and this will become an endless loop.