Mon, 10 Dec 2007
DPA
Phnom Penh - The UN special envoy for human rights in Cambodia on Monday chastised the Cambodian government's rights record at a rally in Phnom Penh that was called to mark International Human Rights Day. Yash Ghai, accompanied by members of 15 local human rights groups, told the gathering that fear still governed Cambodia.
"Fear - fear of the state, fear of political and economic saboteurs, fear of greedy individuals and corporations, fear of the police and the courts - describes the plight of numerous communities and families in Cambodia as they do in many other parts of the world," he said in a speech.
"The lesson, therefore, is that the struggle for human rights and human dignity is unending as became so sharply and painfully obvious to me as I met the embattled communities in Dey Krahorm and the Group 78 villages," he added, referring to two communities where residents are involved in bitter land disputes and are faced with evictions.
"People threatened with eviction ... reminded me that the National Assembly sits only a few metres away from them and yet has long turned a blind eye to their suffering," the envoy said.
He urged Cambodia's people to be custodians of human rights and justice.
The government has refused to cooperate with Yash Ghai since soon after his 2005 appointment, claiming he refuses to acknowledge its progress on human rights in recent years.
Government representatives have refused to see him, and Prime Minister Hun Sen has said on state radio that he should return to his native Kenya and fix the problems there before "coming to lecture us in Cambodia."
Despite predictions in local media that the crowd at the rally might top 20,000 people, unofficial estimates by participants put figures at about 4,000, and police said 1,000 people at the most attended.
Yash Ghai was scheduled to give a press conference later Monday to end his current 10-day visit.
"Fear - fear of the state, fear of political and economic saboteurs, fear of greedy individuals and corporations, fear of the police and the courts - describes the plight of numerous communities and families in Cambodia as they do in many other parts of the world," he said in a speech.
"The lesson, therefore, is that the struggle for human rights and human dignity is unending as became so sharply and painfully obvious to me as I met the embattled communities in Dey Krahorm and the Group 78 villages," he added, referring to two communities where residents are involved in bitter land disputes and are faced with evictions.
"People threatened with eviction ... reminded me that the National Assembly sits only a few metres away from them and yet has long turned a blind eye to their suffering," the envoy said.
He urged Cambodia's people to be custodians of human rights and justice.
The government has refused to cooperate with Yash Ghai since soon after his 2005 appointment, claiming he refuses to acknowledge its progress on human rights in recent years.
Government representatives have refused to see him, and Prime Minister Hun Sen has said on state radio that he should return to his native Kenya and fix the problems there before "coming to lecture us in Cambodia."
Despite predictions in local media that the crowd at the rally might top 20,000 people, unofficial estimates by participants put figures at about 4,000, and police said 1,000 people at the most attended.
Yash Ghai was scheduled to give a press conference later Monday to end his current 10-day visit.
7 comments:
Sad, isn't it? The Cambodian government bring us shame again; why didn't they meet Mr. Yash Ghai and talk to him like a real man? Instead they resort to personal attack. Will that solve anything?
That will solved the problem of Ah Khmer-Yuon grabbing Khmer's land.
HUN SEN GROUP INSTILL FEAR IN OUR COUNTRY WITH THE HELP OF SHIHANOUK TOO!
hUN SEN CAN EVEN SCARED THE PRINCE AND KING, KILLED GENERAL, PRISON FAMOUS POLITICIAN HOW ABOUT ORDINARY PERSON?
YOU ARE IN DEEP VIETNAMESE SHIT VICTIMES!
Nope, only Ah Khmer-Yuon slave is in deep Viet shits.
Your Father as Hun Xen is Vietnamese's shit 2:21AM and your mother Me Kachrouk is shit stuffer!
Bullshit, we are not living in Vietnam and being slaved like Ah Khmer Yuon.
I say let this imbecile Viet troller bitch that pretends to be Khmer speaking for Khmer @1:07 AM, @2:21 AM and @4:48 AM runs out of air and drops dead miserably because no Khmer in the right mind would never ever derogatorily calls Khmer names "Ah Khmer-Yuon" and no Khmer in the right mind would never ever be swayed or influenced by this Viet troller bitch
nonsensical, trash talking and writing.
[khmer unicode]មីសំផឹង យួនឯងនឹង ពូជអាយួន ឈ្លានពាន នឹងត្រូវខ្មែរ ស្នេហាជាតិ សំឡាប់អោយផុតពូជមិនខាន៕
Post a Comment