Tough Love: CCHR commends US decision to cancel shipment of military vehicles

Cambodian Center for Human Rights

PRESS RELEASE
Phnom Penh, 6 April 2010

Tough Love:
CCHR commends US decision to cancel shipment of military vehicles, calls on international community to use leverage to promote and protect human rights in Cambodia

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) welcomes the decision by the United States (“US”) to suspend a military shipment of 200 vehicles to Cambodia, following the deportation by the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) of 20 ethnic Uyghurs to the People’s Republic of China (“China”) in December 2009. The CCHR commends the US’s stance and calls on all countries that value democracy and human rights to use their leverage to promote and protect human rights in Cambodia.

The US was following up on its promise that there would be consequences to the RGC’s decision to deport the Uyghurs before the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) in Cambodia had completed its assessment of their refugee status. The Uyghurs were deported to China days before an announcement was made that the government of China and the RGC had concluded an agreement that included an aid and soft loans package reported to be worth US$1.2 billion. It is widely considered that the Uyghurs are likely to be subject to ill-treatment or worse in China. The deportation of the Uyghurs takes on an added poignancy when considered in light of the fact that hundreds of thousands of Cambodians sought and received refuge in other countries in the late 1970s and 1980s.

The RGC has stated that it is unconcerned by the US military sanction. This response echoes the RGC’s recent reaction to the call by the United Nations (“UN”) for sufficient time for consideration of and debate on the new anti-corruption law: the RGC described these comments as “interference” and threatened to expel the UN Resident Coordinator. CCHR President Ou Virak commented: “The international community should not be bullied by the RGC, buoyed as it is by unconditional aid from countries that have little concern for human rights at home let alone in Cambodia. The RGC needs foreign aid, trade and investment to develop and rule Cambodia. Those countries that value democracy and human rights and care about safeguarding the fundamental freedoms of the Cambodian people are therefore in a strong position to speak out when these freedoms are threatened, and put real conditions on their dealings with Cambodia that encourage the RGC to respect human rights. Ou Virak added: “As respect for civil and political rights in Cambodia deteriorates and land grabbing resulting in mass displacement continues unabated, history could judge silence and inaction as complicity.”

The CCHR calls on the RGC to honour its international and constitutional obligations to respect human rights. Further, the CCHR urges the international community – including those signatories to the Paris Peace Agreements that have undertaken to “promote and encourage respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia” – to take a tougher line on imposing human rights conditions on aid and to speak out when the RGC fails to respect human rights.

For more information, please contact:
Mr. Ou Virak, President, CCHR
Tel: +855 12 404051
Email: ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org