UN Special Envoy for human rights in Cambodia must have hit Hun Sen right where it hurts the most. As a proof to that, Hun Sen had been howling in pain and anger in the last 2 days. (Photo BBC)Cambodian leader blasts UN's 'gods without virtue'
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen launched a second day of angry attacks on the United Nations in an ongoing row over a UN envoy's scathing assessment of the country's human rights reforms.
Hun Sen described rights envoys as "gods without virtue" and "long-term tourists", and criticized the United Nations for its silence during the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s.
"Talking about human rights, isn't the right to live considered the top right? At the time the Khmer Rouge were killing people why didn't you bark?" he said.
His comments at a gathering of university students came a day after he demanded special envoy Yash Ghai be sacked for criticising the government's lack of reform.
"When we were in trouble did you come to check human rights in Cambodia? You can only come to bark at us," Hun Sen said.
Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork and execution between 1975 and 1979 as the ultra-left Khmer Rouge erased all vestiges of modern life in their drive to create an agrarian utopia.
The genocide was largely ignored by the rest of the world, and the Khmer Rouge continued to be recognized by the United Nations as Cambodia's legitimate government throughout the 1980s.
Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge military commander who has enjoyed tight control over the country since ousting his co-premier in a 1997 coup, has frequently clashed with the UN over reform.
Previous envoys have taken the government to task for everything from land seizures to the jailing of dissidents, but have been stonewalled by Cambodian leaders claiming to be victims of personal vendettas by the world body.
Ghai's predecessor Peter Leuprecht resigned early from his post last year over repeated attacks by the government for his critical reports to the UN.
Ghai, a well-known legal academic from Hong Kong who was appointed in November, said Tuesday on his second visit to Cambodia that nothing had been done to speed reforms and criticized donors for not pushing the government over rights violations.
UN human rights chief Louise Arbour defended Thursday Ghai and his predecessors saying they had all been "mandated by the international community to monitor respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."
Their role was to "cooperate with the Government and civil society in order to ensure that the standards accepted by the Government are observed," said Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"I trust that they will continue to receive the full cooperation of the Government," she said in a statement.
Hong Kong's Asian Human Rights Commission condemned Hun Sen's attack against the envoy, saying "democracy in Cambodia remains stillborn" and that Ghai should be allowed to do his job.
"In order to move away from the present framework of repression, it is ... necessary that such comments be made strongly," it said in a statement.
"This attack calls for international condemnation, as well as a response from the United Nations itself."
The commission also accused Cambodia's international donors, who contribute half of the national budget, of wasting time and money by refusing to take a stronger stand against Hun Sen's government.
Hun Sen suggested Thursday that Cambodia was being unfairly singled out because worse abuses were being committed in other Asian countries.
"You can only bark in Cambodia. If you dare do so in Myanmar, surely you will be hit. And if you go scream in the Philippines, you would probably be hit there too," he said.
"You know nothing of Cambodian history ... I hate some foreigners who always come here to give advice" about things they are ignorant of, he said.
Ghai, a Kenyan, vowed to return to Cambodia despite Hun Sen's threats that he would be ignored by the government.
"I am appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations under an agreement that was endorsed by the Security Council and, indeed, all the particular factions in Cambodia," he was reported as saying.
"And so I have all these obligations to report and therefore I will go," Ghai added.
Hun Sen described rights envoys as "gods without virtue" and "long-term tourists", and criticized the United Nations for its silence during the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s.
"Talking about human rights, isn't the right to live considered the top right? At the time the Khmer Rouge were killing people why didn't you bark?" he said.
His comments at a gathering of university students came a day after he demanded special envoy Yash Ghai be sacked for criticising the government's lack of reform.
"When we were in trouble did you come to check human rights in Cambodia? You can only come to bark at us," Hun Sen said.
Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork and execution between 1975 and 1979 as the ultra-left Khmer Rouge erased all vestiges of modern life in their drive to create an agrarian utopia.
The genocide was largely ignored by the rest of the world, and the Khmer Rouge continued to be recognized by the United Nations as Cambodia's legitimate government throughout the 1980s.
Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge military commander who has enjoyed tight control over the country since ousting his co-premier in a 1997 coup, has frequently clashed with the UN over reform.
Previous envoys have taken the government to task for everything from land seizures to the jailing of dissidents, but have been stonewalled by Cambodian leaders claiming to be victims of personal vendettas by the world body.
Ghai's predecessor Peter Leuprecht resigned early from his post last year over repeated attacks by the government for his critical reports to the UN.
Ghai, a well-known legal academic from Hong Kong who was appointed in November, said Tuesday on his second visit to Cambodia that nothing had been done to speed reforms and criticized donors for not pushing the government over rights violations.
UN human rights chief Louise Arbour defended Thursday Ghai and his predecessors saying they had all been "mandated by the international community to monitor respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."
Their role was to "cooperate with the Government and civil society in order to ensure that the standards accepted by the Government are observed," said Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"I trust that they will continue to receive the full cooperation of the Government," she said in a statement.
Hong Kong's Asian Human Rights Commission condemned Hun Sen's attack against the envoy, saying "democracy in Cambodia remains stillborn" and that Ghai should be allowed to do his job.
"In order to move away from the present framework of repression, it is ... necessary that such comments be made strongly," it said in a statement.
"This attack calls for international condemnation, as well as a response from the United Nations itself."
The commission also accused Cambodia's international donors, who contribute half of the national budget, of wasting time and money by refusing to take a stronger stand against Hun Sen's government.
Hun Sen suggested Thursday that Cambodia was being unfairly singled out because worse abuses were being committed in other Asian countries.
"You can only bark in Cambodia. If you dare do so in Myanmar, surely you will be hit. And if you go scream in the Philippines, you would probably be hit there too," he said.
"You know nothing of Cambodian history ... I hate some foreigners who always come here to give advice" about things they are ignorant of, he said.
Ghai, a Kenyan, vowed to return to Cambodia despite Hun Sen's threats that he would be ignored by the government.
"I am appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations under an agreement that was endorsed by the Security Council and, indeed, all the particular factions in Cambodia," he was reported as saying.
"And so I have all these obligations to report and therefore I will go," Ghai added.
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