Border Ceasefire Leaves Thousands of Cambodians Waiting to Go Home
Border Ceasefire Leaves Thousands of Cambodians Waiting to Go Home
PHNOM PENH, August 20, 2026 — More than 5,300 Cambodian civilians remain unable to return to their homes in two border villages where observers found dozens of shipping containers deployed at multiple locations, Cambodia’s Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said.
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page today, Pheaktra said observers from the AOT inspected five locations in the Chouk Chey village area of O’Bei Choan commune, O’Chrov district, where 62 containers had been deployed.
He said 3,951 people from 1,045 families, including 1,155 children, remained unable to return home.
In nearby Prey Chan village, the AOT inspected another five locations where 10 containers had been deployed, Pheaktra said. A further 1,435 people from 404 families, including 414 children, were unable to return.
The two areas therefore accounted for 72 containers across 10 locations and 5,386 people from 1,449 families who remained displaced, according to the minister.
Pheaktra said around 650,000 people had been displaced during fighting with Thailand in December 2025, with about 20,000 still unable to return to their homes and living in temporary shelters or displacement sites in Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear and Pursat provinces.
The figures, he said, raised questions about whether a cessation of fighting could be considered genuine peace while thousands of civilians remained unable to return home.
The minister also cited a visit by Tom Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, to border areas and meetings with people displaced by the conflict.
According to Pheaktra, Andrews said more than 20,000 of the roughly 650,000 Cambodians displaced at the end of 2025 had still been unable to return. He also reported accounts from displaced civilians who said their villages and towns were occupied by Thai soldiers.
Andrews emphasized that people displaced by armed conflict have a right to return to their homes, Pheaktra said.
The Cambodian minister argued that the presence of both international observers and the U.N. official meant the situation could no longer be viewed simply as competing claims between Cambodia and Thailand.
He described the issue as involving humanitarian concerns, a border dispute, alleged human rights violations and questions of compliance with international law.
Pheaktra also argued that a ceasefire should do more than halt gunfire and should prevent actions that change conditions on the ground.
He accused Thai forces of using shipping containers, barbed wire and roads to establish new facts on the ground that could later be used in territorial claims.
“Shipping containers are not boundary markers,” Pheaktra said, adding that barbed wire could not replace a treaty, convention or international agreement.
Thailand has not been quoted in the statement responding to the allegations.
Pheaktra further said reports that some homes had been destroyed and property taken during the continued military presence and related operations should be independently documented and verified.
He said the most significant evidence of the continuing crisis was not the number of containers but the civilians who remained unable to return to their homes, including 1,569 children in the two villages.
“The gunfire has fallen silent, but if homeowners still cannot return home, the crisis is not over,” Pheaktra said.
He called for an end to what he described as a fait accompli created through force and asked when Cambodian civilians would be able to return safely and with dignity to their homes, land and communities.
