Agence France Presse
Phnom Penh - Rights abuses in Cambodia worsened in 2006, as the country's leaders continued consolidating their power at the expense of free speech and political dissent, a leading rights group said Wednesday.
New York-based Human Rights Watch, in its annual Cambodia report, also said mass evictions and land grabs marred last year, as well as pillaging of natural resources through illegal land concessions.
"The year saw the jailing of government critics; attempts to weaken civil society, independent media, and political dissent," the group said.
At the start of the year, several key rights leaders and government critics were arrested for defamation after their vocal opposition to the government's policies towards Cambodia's neighbour Vietnam.
The crackdown hobbled political activism at a time when Prime Minister Hun Sen was systematically dismantling Cambodia's multi-party government by co-opting or discrediting his opponents, the group said.
"Opposition leader Sam Rainsy's reconciliation with his former foe Hun Sen led to a noticeable decline in his party's traditional role as government watchdog and advocate for the poor," Human Rights Watch said.
The royalist Funcinpec party, which had been a coalition partner with Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) since 1993, was purged of officials and lawmakers opposing the premier.
While the democratic process was being quashed, those with ties to the CPP flourished through illegal land deals done at the expense of tens of thousands of Cambodia's poor, many of whom lost their homes in what one UN envoy called a "humanitarian emergency."
"The rural poor continued to lose their land to illegal concessions controlled by foreign firms, senators, and people with connections to government officials," the group said.
"In Phnom Penh, the government forcibly evicted thousands of families, claiming the land was owned by private companies or needed for public projects," it added.
The year also saw increasingly hostile clashes between the premier and international rights monitors.
"Hun Sen in March demonstrated his contempt for human rights by labeling United Nations human rights monitors as 'human rights tourists'," the group said.
While Cambodia's donors, including the United States, Australia, Britain and France, condemned crackdowns on dissent, they "were less vocal about other serious, ongoing abuses by the government," it said.
"Such behavior sent mixed signals to the Cambodian government."
New York-based Human Rights Watch, in its annual Cambodia report, also said mass evictions and land grabs marred last year, as well as pillaging of natural resources through illegal land concessions.
"The year saw the jailing of government critics; attempts to weaken civil society, independent media, and political dissent," the group said.
At the start of the year, several key rights leaders and government critics were arrested for defamation after their vocal opposition to the government's policies towards Cambodia's neighbour Vietnam.
The crackdown hobbled political activism at a time when Prime Minister Hun Sen was systematically dismantling Cambodia's multi-party government by co-opting or discrediting his opponents, the group said.
"Opposition leader Sam Rainsy's reconciliation with his former foe Hun Sen led to a noticeable decline in his party's traditional role as government watchdog and advocate for the poor," Human Rights Watch said.
The royalist Funcinpec party, which had been a coalition partner with Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) since 1993, was purged of officials and lawmakers opposing the premier.
While the democratic process was being quashed, those with ties to the CPP flourished through illegal land deals done at the expense of tens of thousands of Cambodia's poor, many of whom lost their homes in what one UN envoy called a "humanitarian emergency."
"The rural poor continued to lose their land to illegal concessions controlled by foreign firms, senators, and people with connections to government officials," the group said.
"In Phnom Penh, the government forcibly evicted thousands of families, claiming the land was owned by private companies or needed for public projects," it added.
The year also saw increasingly hostile clashes between the premier and international rights monitors.
"Hun Sen in March demonstrated his contempt for human rights by labeling United Nations human rights monitors as 'human rights tourists'," the group said.
While Cambodia's donors, including the United States, Australia, Britain and France, condemned crackdowns on dissent, they "were less vocal about other serious, ongoing abuses by the government," it said.
"Such behavior sent mixed signals to the Cambodian government."
3 comments:
There are no such things as mixed signals.
The signal sent and received is rather clear: in the absence of credible oppositions, the government can do what they like.
SiS
Fuck New York, This is not the US
and we have no obligation to be
westerner.
I don't know how Hun Sen can remove the mafia from his team.
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