Freedoms of Expression, Association and Assembly: A Shrinking Space in Cambodia - FIDH/OMCT Report

I am coming to believe more strongly by the day that part of the human rights education conducted by civil society must include a pointed, highlighted, bold communication to the potential / current abusers about the perpetual infamy of their crimes, which can be documented, stored and culled with the click of a finger by the world's people... now, or tomorrow, or next year, or 3 decades from now! (Ask Khieu Samphan and his ECCC Gang of Four. And their crimes were pre-Internet age!)

I believe these individuals who are human rights abusers in their heart of hearts care for their reputation and name. Again, think of the ECCC Gang of Four wilting away in detention under the weight of condemnation by history and the current population of the world. Let them try erasing all the odor and vulgarities attached to their names; assuming they can do it in Cambodia, but what about the world - the Human Rights Watch / Amnesty International reports will live forever in cyberspace, in the US, in Japan, in India - forever and ever?

So human rights abusers - take note. You are not invisible or invincible - even if you have temporary impunity. Remember, the long arc of moral history bends toward justice, to paraphrase the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Theary Seng, Phnom Penh, 10 Sept. 2010

Alerted by numerous reports concerning increasing restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly in Cambodia, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, decided to conduct an international fact-finding mission on the situation of human rights defenders in the country. The mission was composed of Mr. Jens Tinga, trade union representative (the Netherlands), Ms. Emilie Cuq, lawyer (France), and Mr. Will Fitzgibbon, researcher (Australia) (hereinafter “the Delegation”).

The main objectives of the Delegation, which visited Cambodia between February 14 and 24, 2010, were to investigate the general human rights situation and the environment in which human rights defenders carry out their work, and to assess the impact of the existing legal framework and bills announced or proposed by the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia on human rights defenders: the draft Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations, the draft Law on Trade Unions, the Anti-Corruption Law1, as well as the new Criminal Code and the recently-adopted Law on Peaceful Demonstrations (December 2009).

The Delegation paid particular attention to the situation of human rights defenders active in the areas of forced evictions, labour and trade unionism as well as the media.

The mission was prepared with cooperation from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

During its 10-day mission, the Delegation met with representatives of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC), with journalists, land activists, trade union leaders, international and national NGO leaders, foreign diplomats and representatives of international organisations such as the European Union, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as well as with members of the Cambodian judiciary (prosecutors, judges, lawyers and the Secretary-General of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia), provincial governors and senior officials of the Ministry of Labour. These meetings took place in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Ratanakiri. The Delegation wishes to thank ADHOC and LICADHO for their invaluable help in preparing this mission. The Delegation also wishes to thank the Cambodian authorities who accepted to meet with the mission members.

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