When they comeback, the question will not be how many, it will be what condition
They said they will return two. The rest, sixteen, remain inside.
No timeline. No joint announcement.
No confirmation of third-party presence.
No ICRC. No medical briefing.
No documentation promised.
And yet, the ceasefire was signed. The world has moved on. And Cambodia is waiting. Again.
But this time, the question is no longer how many. It is how.
Will they come back whole. Will there be hospital records. Will their health be independently verified. Will there be observers at the point of return.
Or will we receive men in silence again
Returned not to close the chapter
But to soften the questions
International law is not ambiguous. Under humanitarian principles, after hostilities cease, detainees must be
Returned promptly
Returned with dignity
Returned with verification
Not selectively.
Not symbolically.
Not to de-escalate the optics.
But to uphold the law.
So when these two men are returned, if they are,
The world should not just watch for handshakes.
It should ask
Where are the documents
Where are the observers
What does their condition reveal about their treatment
Why only two
Because in post-conflict memory, what matters is not the announcement.
It is what their bodies carry back.
And what they are not allowed to say
Cambodia has waited without accusation.
We have held back without retaliation.
But this is no longer about dignity alone.
It is about record
When they come back
If they come back
What they carry will not just be wounds or silence
It will be evidence
Let the world be ready to see
#Cambodia #ICRC #PrisonerReturn #Ceasefire #GenevaConventions #Verification #InternationalField #HumanDignity #UNStandards