Do we like them?Do we like Hun Sen?
Our score: 2 out of 10. A pattern of threatening opponents, thin real good on the pages we could open, and no clean record on harm.
The best-documented black mark we could open is a video from January 2023. Meta's Oversight Board judged his language could incite violence, ordered the clip removed and recommended a six-month suspension of his Facebook and Instagram accounts. It cited “Hun Sen's history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents”. He responded by threatening to ban Facebook in Cambodia if exiled opponents kept attacking him there.
The Thailand row shows the temper. In June 2025 he said of Thailand's then prime minister: “I cannot work with this type of prime minister.” He accused her of being dishonest with the Thai people, and urged Cambodian workers in Thailand to come home. He also said it was “better to share candy than to share bullets”, which is a nice line from a man in the middle of a border stoush. Thai officials had pointed to a UN report calling Cambodia a scam hub.
On scams, his line is that Cambodia is a victim, not a host. In May 2026 he went further, calling for officials who fail to enforce government orders to be removed and for prosecutions and seizures of property. Critics, including exiled opposition figures, say the scam industry has links to powerful people in Cambodia. We could not open reporting that settles that, so treat it as unproven.
The real good on the page is landmines. He has pushed to clear Cambodia of anti-personnel mines, setting a 2025 target and saying “we must not let war happen again”. In 2022 he said about $8 million of $10 million raised for demining remained available and asked the public and the wealthy to give more. He also admitted the job had dragged on for 30 years. That is public service, not a personality transplant.
On the harm test we're stuck in the middle. We couldn't open his statements on LGBTQ+ people, women or climate, and a pass or fail needs his own words. The bigger issue is how he treats people who disagree with him. Where you land depends on whether you weigh a landmine-clearing legacy against that, but on nice, he fails.