Mr Björn Häggmark, Sweden’s Ambassador to Cambodia​ on Pride & IDAHOTB 2021 Celebration

From Swedish Embassy​ in Cambodia, we have the Ambassador, Mr Björn Häggmark who had also answers some of our questions regarding their support toward LGBT rights in Cambodia.

  1. What did you do to support LGBT rights?

The Swedish Embassy in Phnom Penh and Sida have been supporting the LGBT community in Cambodia in many different ways. We have through the Swedish organisation RFSU financially been supporting the work of RoCK, of CCHR and of RHAC.  These organisations have been fundamental in moving forward the rights of the LGBT community. Each of these organisations works on this in its own way and with different focus. We have supported the work of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for equal rights of LGBT people. We have invited individuals from the community to take part in different discussions in order to raise challenges for the LGTB community and outline ways forward. We have through the years supported RoCK in celebrating different PRIDE activities.  The Embassy and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs have also had a reoccurring human rights dialogue with Cambodian authorities which has included equity and respect for everybody regardless of their sexual orientation.

2. How are LGBT Cambodians’ situation in the last 1-2 years? 

Same-sex relations are not criminalised in Cambodia but are not protected nor recognised by law. The law does not specifically prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and there are no sanctions for violations of the human rights of LGBT persons. But the Royal Government of Cambodia has recently shown commitment and initiative to include LGBT persons in various plans and programs and this progress has a lot do with the consistent work of the LGBT community and its organisations. In spite of more and more challenges to political and civil rights in Cambodia, the respect for LGBT persons rights has been slowly improving.

3. Why is it important for you to support LGBT rights?

For Sweden it is a fundamental issue to support the right to be who you are. It is a human right!

Sweden is one of the top 10 most gay-friendly countries in the EU, and people in Sweden continue to fight for further improvements. It should be an obvious thing to support LGBT people to enjoy the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. Everybody should have the right to love and the right be loved. This should not have anything to do with sexual orientation or gender identity.

4. How do you plan to further progress LGBT rights?

We aim to continue to support organisations working for equal rights of the LGBT community. Non-discrimination and participation are key components of the human rights-based approach which is fundamental in Sweden´s development cooperation. Here we will continue to and also strengthen our work on explicitly including LGBT.  We will do it through financial support, we will do it through our social media channels, and we will do it in dialogue with Cambodian authorities and other development partners.