Cambodian lawmakers amended the constitution Friday, paving the way for people charged with foreign collusion to be stripped of their citizenship, despite concerns such a law could be used to silence government critics.

Rights groups have long accused Cambodia’s government of using draconian laws to stifle opposition and legitimate political dissent.

All of Cambodia’s 125 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Hun Manet, voted unanimously to change the wording of the constitution to say “receiving, losing and revoking Khmer nationality shall be determined by law”, AFP journalists saw.

The constitution previously read “no Khmer citizen shall be deprived of their nationality, exiled, or extradited to another country except through mutual agreement”.

Justice Minister Koeut Rith told reporters that the amendment would pave the way for authorities to pass laws enabling the government to strip citizenship from anyone who colludes with foreign powers against the state.

“If you betray the nation, the nation will not keep you,” he said, adding a new citizenship revocation law would soon be submitted to the National Assembly for approval.

But human rights activists fear any such law would be used to target government critics and opposition figures.

Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement Friday that revocation of citizenship would be a “heinous violation of international law”.

“We are deeply concerned that the Cambodian government, given the power to strip people of their citizenship, will misuse it to crack down on its critics and make them stateless,” Amnesty International’s regional research director Montse Ferrer said.

– Border dispute –

Citizenship can be revoked on grounds of treason or disloyalty in 15 European Union countries, and only for naturalised citizens in eight of those, according to a European Parliament briefing in February.

Influential former leader Hun Sen, Hun Manet’s father, last month called for the constitution to be amended to enable Cambodians who “side with foreign nations to harm our country” to be stripped of nationality.

He made the call after exiled opposition figures criticised the government amid an ongoing border dispute with Thailand.

Koeut Rith brushed off concerns of abuse.

“If they (government critics) do not commit any treason crimes or any act that harms the national interest, they are not subjected to citizenship revocation, but they might face other charges,” he added.

Scores of opposition activists have been jailed or face legal cases filed by Cambodian authorities.

Opposition leader Kem Sokha was sentenced in 2023 to 27 years in prison for treason – a charge he has repeatedly denied- and was immediately placed under house arrest.