Minority groups from throughout Rattanakkiri join together in Banlung to protest land grabbing and illegal logging of ancestral lands, in this fiile photo taken earlier this year. (Photo: Tracey Shelton)Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Written by Christopher Shay
The Phnom Penh Post
Two rights groups last week identified a worsening pattern of intimidation against activists in which the justice system is used as a tool of persecution
CHHEA Ny was arrested without warrant, held in isolation and shackled in chains normally used to restrain elephants in a dark Phnom Penh prison cell. His crime? He had confronted local officials in Battambang province over a land rights dispute.
An intensifying pattern of intimidation among local human rights activists, in which the criminal justice system is used as a tool for the rich and powerful to threaten any who oppose them, was identified by two independent briefing papers released last week by local and international rights groups.
The government is failing to protect its citizens from such attacks despite the fact that in frequency and strength, the persecution is getting worse, both reports say.
In an attempt to draw attention to the mounting crisis, local rights group Licadho, in its report "Attacks and Threats Against Human Rights Defenders in Cambodia 2007", highlights some of the worst abuses against rights defenders.
They describe the plight of Khmer Krom monks, and in particular that of Tim Sokhorn, whose efforts to protest an ambiguous citizenship status at home and support of his ethnic counterparts in Vietnam led to his arrest and deportation to Vietnam where he remains under house arrest.
Not quite citizens
Jason Barber, an advocacy consultant at Licadho, told the Post: "Cambodia considers them [Khmer Krom] Cambodian citizens ... but they would certainly dispute they're treated the same as other Cambodian citizens."
Amnesty International's (AI) report "Cambodia: A Risky Business - Defending the Right to Housing" documents a growing trend in which the Kingdom's rich and the powerful are "increasingly using their leverage to silence their adversaries through the criminal justice system".
According to research from the local rights group Adhoc, arrests of land activists have almost doubled from 78 in 2006 to 149 in 2007.
"The rapid increase in the number of peaceful land activists in prison is a serious concern in its own right. But every imprisoned human rights defender becomes a tool for intimidation of other activists," Brittis Edman, AI's Cambodia researcher, said in a statement on Friday.
Rights organisations argue that cases like Chhea Ny's harsh imprisonment and Tim Sakhorn's deportation have an impact beyond the individuals and communities immediately involved.
Chhea Ny's wife, Oeun Sarim, told AI: "The case against Chhea Ny was an attack against the minds of people in all 21 provinces who share the same problems, to scare them. Arresting one man is to threaten hundreds of thousands of people, scaring them from struggling and advocating.... I see this as an injustice for the Cambodian people."
CHHEA Ny was arrested without warrant, held in isolation and shackled in chains normally used to restrain elephants in a dark Phnom Penh prison cell. His crime? He had confronted local officials in Battambang province over a land rights dispute.
An intensifying pattern of intimidation among local human rights activists, in which the criminal justice system is used as a tool for the rich and powerful to threaten any who oppose them, was identified by two independent briefing papers released last week by local and international rights groups.
The government is failing to protect its citizens from such attacks despite the fact that in frequency and strength, the persecution is getting worse, both reports say.
In an attempt to draw attention to the mounting crisis, local rights group Licadho, in its report "Attacks and Threats Against Human Rights Defenders in Cambodia 2007", highlights some of the worst abuses against rights defenders.
They describe the plight of Khmer Krom monks, and in particular that of Tim Sokhorn, whose efforts to protest an ambiguous citizenship status at home and support of his ethnic counterparts in Vietnam led to his arrest and deportation to Vietnam where he remains under house arrest.
Not quite citizens
Jason Barber, an advocacy consultant at Licadho, told the Post: "Cambodia considers them [Khmer Krom] Cambodian citizens ... but they would certainly dispute they're treated the same as other Cambodian citizens."
Amnesty International's (AI) report "Cambodia: A Risky Business - Defending the Right to Housing" documents a growing trend in which the Kingdom's rich and the powerful are "increasingly using their leverage to silence their adversaries through the criminal justice system".
ARRESTING ONE MAN IS TO THREATEN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.Nowhere is this more evident, according to AI, than in the issue of land rights, where some 150,000 Cambodians are currently at risk of forced eviction.
According to research from the local rights group Adhoc, arrests of land activists have almost doubled from 78 in 2006 to 149 in 2007.
"The rapid increase in the number of peaceful land activists in prison is a serious concern in its own right. But every imprisoned human rights defender becomes a tool for intimidation of other activists," Brittis Edman, AI's Cambodia researcher, said in a statement on Friday.
Rights organisations argue that cases like Chhea Ny's harsh imprisonment and Tim Sakhorn's deportation have an impact beyond the individuals and communities immediately involved.
Chhea Ny's wife, Oeun Sarim, told AI: "The case against Chhea Ny was an attack against the minds of people in all 21 provinces who share the same problems, to scare them. Arresting one man is to threaten hundreds of thousands of people, scaring them from struggling and advocating.... I see this as an injustice for the Cambodian people."
16 comments:
We can certainly recruite them for people power REVOLUTION movement.
Spread the word!
This is how HUN SEN respect human rights.
Now we have the same old crooks control srok Khmer again.
HUN SEN should do the same like Japan and Thailand. When that individual can't have the ability to lead the country the only solution is to resign. But not HUN SEN, why is he really addicted to Power?
Is it YOUN plan to put all its old comrades or agents in the Khmer's government?
Khmer we must do something not to lead these crooks suck our blood and national treasures, resources anymore.
Please wake up!
Please stand up!
People Power is the only solution!
People Revolution is the only way!
Khmer PP,
There is no such thing as "Justice: a tool for the Poor" on this planet. Stop dreaming, motherfuckers!
My beloved Khmers!
In our beloved miserably sufocating country the comsumption of time and money necessary to know what is law is more than the poor people can not financially afford to fight for their right and justice, and evidently speaking Samdech Hun SenVarman and his cold-blood sucking parasites' have repeatedly wanted to let the poor people know who is a master!
It's good to keep the poor informed with the truth.
So stop fucking us up with your stupid lies and theories, asshole (10:36)!
I think 10:35PM is an animal. He doesn't seem to fit in this world. Every time he is open his mouth only trahs comes out.
People have the right to dream. Just like a guy have the right to dream of f**king you sisters and mom.
Khmer PP,
Who give a fuck about your stupid dream, fool?
My beloved friends, above!
Forgive me for speaking nothing, but only the truth!
I myself obviously know that I am an animal that not generally fit in the Khmer's modern society of corruption, and I am become dead to all sensations of sympathy of the poor and powerless Khmer people who mentally and psychologically could not fight to protect their land and life!
I think 12:08 is a retarded person.
We can be fee only if the mother fucker Royal Army, Police, and justice is fucking refoemed!!!!
Do I right UN????? and ah Prets?
LOL, very nice English fool 1:49AM..
Don't make people laugh so hard with your English.
When you want to post something in public like this place please correct your English or grammars.
You don't want to make yourself look like a fool.
Peace out!
Oh sad faces ,may God bless these Cambodian ppl!
First, he fucked someone's spouse, following by this preposterous law that was introduced by Ah Kwack in an effort to nab the prince -- his archrival. Subsequently, nearly 18 months later, this son-of-bitch struck a deal quietly, and now this son-of-bitch in Cambodia with a position guaranteed by Ah Kwack Sen.
Hey, we could use these people for the revolution movement.
We need to initialy educate these people, and then inform them the truth about the real regime in which they're living under; these people deserve to know. I say: these people are great tool for the upcoming recruitment for the revolution movement.
Revolution Kaduy Mer Veer-Oversea ey?
SAY 'YES' TO THE PEOPLE POWER "REVOLUTION!"
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