On December 26, 2025, the Club of Cambodian Journalists distributed body armour and safety helmets to 57 journalists from 36 organisations. The equipment was intended to help protect journalists covering events along the Cambodia–Thailand border and in other vulnerable locations during Thai military attacks on Cambodia. Armour and helmets marked with the word “journalist” or “PRESS” provide essential identification for journalists at work.
Club president Puy Kea said this distribution of body armour and helmets did not cover all journalists who had been or were reporting along the conflict-affected border or in other vulnerable locations. The club would seek further help from donors to meet journalists’ urgent needs in these circumstances.
Puy Kea also thanked donors for supporting Cambodian journalists’ reporting assignments in the locations described.
The club president said journalists reporting during wartime were protected as civilians under international law because they informed the world about events that had happened or were happening, without serving as soldiers or bearing arms. He also said they were prohibited from supplying information about trenches, troop movements, military strategy or espionage, or any information that could harm civilians, among other things.
According to a Ministry of Interior report, Thai military attacks on Cambodia from December 7 to yesterday, December 25, 2025, killed 30 Cambodian civilians and injured almost 100 others, including journalists.
Adapted by: Chinda Titi
