Sebastian Strangio and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post
PRIME Minister Hun Sen announced Tuesday that the government has moved ahead with drafting a law to regulate the activities of NGOs, prompting fresh concerns that the proposed legislation will be used to clamp down on the activities of advocacy groups.
At a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the cooperation between NGOs and the government, Hun Sen said the presence of 3,000 NGOs in Cambodia requires new rules to weed out groups engaged in “opposition” politics.
“NGOs demand that the government shows transparency, but they can’t show the same to us,” he said.
“We respect the local and international NGOs whose activities serve humanity and help the government of Cambodia.... They will not be threatened by this draft law. But we believe that some NGOs whose activities seem to serve the opposition party will be afraid of it.”
Hun Sen also said that after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, very few NGOs came to Cambodia’s assistance due to an aid embargo among Western nations, but that now there were thousands of groups, some of which used their NGO status as a cloak to “play politics and support the opposition party”.
The premier’s comments echoed statements made at a cabinet meeting in September last year, in which he expressed concerns that NGO funding could come from “terrorist groups”.
Despite Hun Sen’s assurances that the new law will not restrict the scope of NGO activities, some civil society activists are concerned it could conflate advocacy with political affiliation.
“Some associations and NGOs are mandated to do national and international advocacy on human rights and other issues, but it should not be concluded that these groups are affiliated with any political parties,” said Naly Pilorge, director of rights group Licadho. “NGOs are by nature nongovernmental and non-political.”
She said that from communications with the ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs, Licadho had learned that the draft law will cover both international and local associations.
“I do not understand why a law for associations and NGOs needs to be drafted to combat terrorism and other crimes when existing laws already cover such crimes,” she added.
Sin Somuny, executive director of Medicam, a national umbrella organisation for health-sector NGOs, said it was fair to ask that NGOs practice what they preach in terms of transparency, but that the potentially broad definition of “political interference” made the new law a hazard for advocacy groups.
“In America, NGOs advocate for policy change – are these kinds of things considered ‘politics’? If they are, what kind of role can civil society play?” he said.
Sin Somuny, a speaker at Tuesday’s ceremony, said that though NGO activists and opposition politicians often fall on the same side of arguments, their relationship is “ambiguous” and did not indicate any allegiance.
Chith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said he “welcomed” the premier’s comments that the law would not restrict the NGO activities but could not comment further, as he had not read the draft law.
At a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the cooperation between NGOs and the government, Hun Sen said the presence of 3,000 NGOs in Cambodia requires new rules to weed out groups engaged in “opposition” politics.
“NGOs demand that the government shows transparency, but they can’t show the same to us,” he said.
“We respect the local and international NGOs whose activities serve humanity and help the government of Cambodia.... They will not be threatened by this draft law. But we believe that some NGOs whose activities seem to serve the opposition party will be afraid of it.”
Hun Sen also said that after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, very few NGOs came to Cambodia’s assistance due to an aid embargo among Western nations, but that now there were thousands of groups, some of which used their NGO status as a cloak to “play politics and support the opposition party”.
The premier’s comments echoed statements made at a cabinet meeting in September last year, in which he expressed concerns that NGO funding could come from “terrorist groups”.
Despite Hun Sen’s assurances that the new law will not restrict the scope of NGO activities, some civil society activists are concerned it could conflate advocacy with political affiliation.
“Some associations and NGOs are mandated to do national and international advocacy on human rights and other issues, but it should not be concluded that these groups are affiliated with any political parties,” said Naly Pilorge, director of rights group Licadho. “NGOs are by nature nongovernmental and non-political.”
She said that from communications with the ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs, Licadho had learned that the draft law will cover both international and local associations.
“I do not understand why a law for associations and NGOs needs to be drafted to combat terrorism and other crimes when existing laws already cover such crimes,” she added.
Sin Somuny, executive director of Medicam, a national umbrella organisation for health-sector NGOs, said it was fair to ask that NGOs practice what they preach in terms of transparency, but that the potentially broad definition of “political interference” made the new law a hazard for advocacy groups.
“In America, NGOs advocate for policy change – are these kinds of things considered ‘politics’? If they are, what kind of role can civil society play?” he said.
Sin Somuny, a speaker at Tuesday’s ceremony, said that though NGO activists and opposition politicians often fall on the same side of arguments, their relationship is “ambiguous” and did not indicate any allegiance.
Chith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said he “welcomed” the premier’s comments that the law would not restrict the NGO activities but could not comment further, as he had not read the draft law.
7 comments:
of course, everyone needs law to function ethically, really! ngos aren't god either, you know! there must be law to regulate everyone, really! god bless cambodia.
Yes but what kind of laws that help only the crooks,the power and the rich?
That is not laws and if this Government dare put pressure on GNO there will be way around to help Cambodian people from the dictator Hun Sen.
The devil Hun Sen destroy every thing on it way to bring Cambodia direct to youn slavery.
It is about time that the NGOs have to follow rule of laws. There are alot of NGOs are working to help Cambodian people, but a few are working for the benefit of the political parties. NGOs should be neutral, they should not support any particular political party.
measthes@yahoo.com
This law will allow any NGO that criticizes Hun Sen or the CPP to be labeled as a "terrorist" organization. Transparency in NGOs is all well and good, but it's the other stuff in this bill that is incredibly scary. If you're an NGO worker in Cambodia, watch what you say.
952 AM
Can you tell me how many Ngos that worked for political parties!
And also can you tell me why we have a lot of Ngos and Human right come to Cambodia to help out Khmer government? Who made all these happened to help the poor Khmer Country!
I agree there must be law for NGO. But this law must protect and promote and support NGOs not to restrict NGOs. For example, NGOs should have some budget from the national budget for its social and advocacy work.
Hun Sen now wants to restrict NGOs because non of political party can challenge him. He sees NGOs as big threat to him. So he must restrict NGOs. Evil man!
This evil try to make another pretext for vietcong's benefits.last time he try to make problem with thailand and let vietnam encroach into Khmer farmers' s lands,now with the NGO activities for youn benefits.
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