New UN human rights envoy to Cambodia targets "serious shortcomings"

Thu, 06/25/2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - The United Nations' new human rights envoy to Cambodia said Thursday he believed the government was willing to move on from its strained relationship with his predecessor and address a number of "serious shortcomings" in the country's rights record.

At the end of his first two-week visit, Surya Subedi, special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, said establishing an independent judiciary and ensuring freedom of expression were two crucial steps in the path towards democratization.

"This is a country that has so many human rights issues and I would like to cooperate with the government in this respect," he said. "In my discussions I found that senior ministers recognized there were some shortcomings and room for improvement."

His predecessor, Yash Ghai, resigned from the post in frustration in September, citing a lack of support from the Cambodian government amid a series of personal attacks by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

But Subedi, a Nepali national who was previously professor of international and human rights law at Leeds University in Britain, said his two-hour meeting with the prime minister was "highly constructive."

"We discussed the possibility of putting in place new institutions to ensure human rights standards," he said. "There was a willingness to work with me in a concerted manner."

The UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights appointed Subedi to the post in March.

Subedi said at a press conference Thursday that forced land evictions, corruption and the lack of an independent judiciary were among his most serious concerns but he declined to go into detail about specific human rights issues.