- Journalist Gerald Flynn was barred from Cambodia on January 5th, 2025, due to an alleged error in his visa extension application, despite the extension being approved and valid. Immigration officials claim he applied for a visa to work as an electrician, which contradicts his years of work as a journalist in Cambodia.
- Flynn’s deportation appears to be retaliation for his journalistic work, specifically his involvement in a France24 documentary critical of Cambodia’s carbon offsetting efforts. This documentary aired on November 22nd, 2024, and the Cambodian government issued a statement condemning it.
- This incident highlights the increasing hostility towards journalists in Cambodia and the need for continued scrutiny of environmental issues. The text emphasizes the importance of press freedom in addressing the climate crisis and the challenges faced by journalists working in Southeast Asia.
We can now confirm that on the evening of Jan. 5, 2025, Mongabay journalist Gerald Flynn was denied entry to Cambodia while returning from a vacation. Immigration officials at the airport told Flynn that he was permanently banned from Cambodia because there had been an error on a document submitted as part of his last visa extension application. He was subsequently forced onto a plane and flown to Thailand.
According to documents produced by immigration officials at Siem Reap International Airport, Flynn was placed on Cambodia’s blacklist as of Nov. 25, despite his visa extension being approved and valid from Feb. 6, 2024, to Feb. 15, 2025. Flynn’s visa agent, who acquired the visa extension on his behalf, has assured him that if there had been any irregularities, the visa would not have been issued, nor would Flynn’s work permit. Flynn had traveled many times on this visa without issue.
Now, three weeks after being deported, immigration officials have refused to provide information to Flynn directly or through the British Embassy in Phnom Penh regarding his options for appeal. Instead, the government maintains that Flynn applied for a visa to work as an electrician, despite having worked as a journalist in Cambodia – and represented himself as such – since June 2019. He has consistently held a valid government-issued press pass during his five years in Cambodia, was elected president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia in 2023 and 2024, and frequently interviewed public officials.
Flynn’s blacklisting came just three days after a France24 documentary scrutinizing carbon offsetting efforts in Cambodia aired on Nov. 22, 2024. Flynn featured as a source in the documentary, representing himself as a journalist working for Mongabay, and had no editorial input into the documentary. Other sources also faced arbitrary detention after the documentary aired, and the government issued a statement claiming the documentary used “old footage” to mislead the public, which is wholly untrue.
For more than five years, Flynn has reported from Cambodia, and despite the increasing hostility towards journalists, it’s a country that he’s grown to love, full of people he deeply admires. As such, it’s both a professional and personal blow to be uprooted from the country Flynn has called home in what appears to be direct retaliation for his journalistic work.
The climate crisis is no longer an abstract, distant threat; it is a bleak reality for many living across Southeast Asia, and there is an urgent and pressing need for scrutiny of the management of natural resources. As extreme weather events proliferate throughout the Mekong region, journalists will continue to play a critical role in understanding how human activity is altering the ecosystems we all depend on. This may mean facing some uncomfortable truths, but silencing journalists will not bring back the forests, nor will it restore fish or wildlife populations, nor will it undo the harm inflicted upon countless communities in the name of development.
Now, more than ever, Cambodia needs journalists who are able to freely scrutinize environmental matters, and while Flynn may no longer be able to join them in bringing this important issue to the forefront, we have no doubt that there are many who will continue to report on such issues diligently.
Credits
