With UN Ban in Cambodia, Eviction Protests Banned, Rights Are Internal Matter?

UN Ban in Cambodia, those facing eviction not shown

By Matthew Russell Lee
Inner City Press

UNITED NATIONS, October 27 -- After leaving Thailand where political gatherings were banned during his stay, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is now in Cambodia, where people facing mass eviction for the political elite were banned from protesting along Ban's route.

Inner City Press for the second time asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban will meet with those threatened with eviction, or just take a letter as he did in Thailand.

Nesirky said that “if there is some kind of written communication these people who are protesting would like to hand over, I'm sure that would be possible.”

But the written petition was already delivered, and Ban was aware of it, without impact. It was reported that “Aimee Brown, a spokeswoman for the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Phnom Penh, said Ban knew of the requests, but said his office had not yet decided on whether he would meet them. 'He's definitely aware that there are protestors, and he is aware of the petitions that have been received,' Brown said.” So what's the answer?

It's already reported that Cambodian “Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered [Ban] to remove the head of the local UN human rights office, accusing him of acting as a 'spokesman' for opposition groups. During a meeting with Ban at his offices in Phnom Penh this morning, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said the premier had 'proposed' that Christophe Peschoux, head of the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, resign his post.”

Inner City Press asked Nesirky if Peschoux will keep his post. “That's an internal personnel matter,” Nesirky replied. He added that Ban stands behind the office and, by implication, it's staff. Video here from Minute 5:04.

It does not appear that Ban raised the issue of violent anti-drug programs, highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. And Ban's human rights tour goes on.

From the UN transcript of October 25, 2010 --

Inner City Press: I want to ask about the Secretary-General’s impending trip to Asia. There is a report to the Third Committee by the Special Rapporteur on the right to health about, among other things, what he sees as the violated practices in anti-drug programmes in many of the countries that Ban Ki-moon is going to be visiting — Cambodia, Viet Nam, Thailand — and he calls very strongly for the UN to move against people who are incarcerated. This is all according to his report. I just wonder: of the many issues obviously on the Secretary-General’s agenda as he visits these countries, is he aware of that? And there is a separate issue in Cambodia, where people has said that they are going to try and rally in front of Ban Ki-moon about evictions, forced evictions, in Cambodia. Are these… Can you sort of… Can we get a run-down of what issues he is planning to raise, and I just wonder whether these two are among them?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Sure. And again, I seem to recall that Farhan gave you a bit of a run-down on the trip last week, sitting here. As the trip progresses, we will be giving details. The Secretary-General and his delegation are en route at the moment to Thailand where, as you know, the visit starts. They then move to Cambodia and on to Viet Nam for this UN-ASEAN [Association of South-East Asian Nations] meeting and then to China, where, as you know, the Secretary-General will be visiting Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing. On the question of health, the very specific point that you raised, we can find out and probably tell you as the visit progresses. The same goes for the second part that you mentioned.