Original report from Phnom Penh
04 September 2009
The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission issued a statement Friday calling for the government to end its threats against rights defenders in the courts and to instead focus on rights protection in the interest of the public.
The public call comes following the ejection of Pen Bunnar, an advocate for the rights group Adhoc, from Ratanakkiri province, under threat from the provincial court, and charges of incitement against two rights workers in Bantheay Meanchey province.
“The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly urges the Cambodian government to honor all its international human rights obligations, and, in particular, to support the rights of all its citizens, human rights defenders and NGOs to undertake activities that promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia,” the group said. “The government and its agents must provide adequate protection to all human rights defenders.”
Pen Bonnar was forced from Ratanakkiri province after the court threatened to charge him with defamation, disinformation and incitement, “apparently under pressure from powerful persons interested in the exploitation of the resources that are supposed to belong to the indigenous people in the area,” the group said.
Om Yienteng, head of the government’s rights commission and a senior adviser to Prime Minsiter Hun Sen, welcomed the message, saying it showed the rights group “believes in the Cambodian government.” However, he said, the group’s concerns were not based on fact.
The rights commission said advocates had “not been secure in their work,” citing 2008 figures from Adhoc of “63 cases of threats of various forms, including arrests, against hundreds of defenders.”
The public call comes following the ejection of Pen Bunnar, an advocate for the rights group Adhoc, from Ratanakkiri province, under threat from the provincial court, and charges of incitement against two rights workers in Bantheay Meanchey province.
“The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly urges the Cambodian government to honor all its international human rights obligations, and, in particular, to support the rights of all its citizens, human rights defenders and NGOs to undertake activities that promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia,” the group said. “The government and its agents must provide adequate protection to all human rights defenders.”
Pen Bonnar was forced from Ratanakkiri province after the court threatened to charge him with defamation, disinformation and incitement, “apparently under pressure from powerful persons interested in the exploitation of the resources that are supposed to belong to the indigenous people in the area,” the group said.
Om Yienteng, head of the government’s rights commission and a senior adviser to Prime Minsiter Hun Sen, welcomed the message, saying it showed the rights group “believes in the Cambodian government.” However, he said, the group’s concerns were not based on fact.
The rights commission said advocates had “not been secure in their work,” citing 2008 figures from Adhoc of “63 cases of threats of various forms, including arrests, against hundreds of defenders.”
2 comments:
They're not losing their livelihood, They're losing their corrupt livelihood.
We made $1.00 a day just eat and die. We don't have any tv, karaoke, liquor, computer, internet, toy, bike, car, moto, laptop, running water and etc.
Our toilet would be digging dirt spot by spot for our poop around our shack. We worked sunrise till sunset and 7 a days a week to feed our whole family.
WORK, EAT, SLEEP, AND DIE..........
Dear all,
Now, we should wake up and identify who we are and what we do because individual or interested group who created this English website (KI media)in which almost information provided only in favor of opposition party, but it is not so helpful to the public interest in terms of sensibility, creativity, contructivity, productivity, and neatral judgement. If u say that Cambodia is not a demoncratic country, u a 100% wrong.
By the way, if u say that the demoncracy in Cambodia is not fully applied or partially carried out, of course your idea or judgement is sensible and valuable. However, for some extents, the demoncracy in Cambodia is still acceptable because Cambodia case is not as the same as other countries cases, we need sometime to make change.
In this regard, if I were u, anyway, I may be very shame due to the fact that information provided seems to be only one side attack individual person that lead to conflict of interests (your own problem). My suggestion is that u should provide fair and neatral information that would help our country and people. Especially; foreigners shall not be able to look down our nation due to the fact that we a in a unique unity. Why? Because it does not matter even we fight. We attack each other just in the purpose of progress and future develpment of our own nation. If we try to attack individual, we can not make thing change because of conflict of interest between supporters and oppositors. We can achieve a goal and do thing change unless we break the differences and combine those into commond interest, goal and vision.
We should learn from the past experiece, we lost when we broke, we won when we united.
From Thana
I am sorry, I am not intellectual person. My education backgrownd is little and my English is poor too.
Post a Comment