World Movement for Democracy
The World Movement for Democracy joins with Cambodian civil society organizations in expressing its deep concern of the proposed NGO legislation that, if passed, will severely limit the space for civil society to operate freely. The proposed law grants extensive power to the government to control civil society and is very vague in the rights allowed to civil society. Under this law, registration is mandatory for associations or NGOs, and unregistered groups are banned from operating. The proposed law does not include provisions to safeguard objective application of the review process, nor does it define an appeal process in case of rejection of registration. Similarly, there are many terms in the law that are undefined or vague, which could be threatening in protecting an objective application of the law.
Civil society organizations have attempted to work with the government in providing inputs into the drafting of the legislation, but have been consistently ignored in each round of drafting the bill. The World Movement calls on the government of Cambodia to incorporate the interests of civil society into the final law and to be transparent in this process by making the final draft public for consultation before it is made into law.
In its "Defending Civil Society" report, the World Movement defines six principles that govern and protects CSOs from government repression. The first principle is the Right to Entry, and states that "International law protects the right of individuals to form, join and participate in civil society organizations" and that "freedom of association includes the right to associate informally, that is, as a group lacking legal personality." This principal is drawn mainly from and protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 2 (1)) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (Article 14, 22), both of which the government of Cambodia has signed and ratified.
The World Movement urges participants to take action by signing the Joint Statement petition issued by the NGO Core Group and the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia found here by sending a "Yes" email to joint-statement@ccc-cambodia.org.
For more information, go to:
- www.wmd.org/projects/defending-civil-society/updates-ngo-laws/sign-cambodias-civil-society-joint-statement
- www.demdigest.net/blog/2011/08/ngo-law-threatens-cambodias-honest-brokers/
- www.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/International-Experts-Add-to-Worries-on-NGO-Law-127835678.html
- www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011081551053/National-news/ngo-incitement.html
- www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/ngo-08122011171923.html
2 comments:
why some NGOs seemed to think that they can just do anything they want in cambodia without respect of local rule of law, customs and etiquette, culture, etc, etc! hey, in even in cambodia, there are law and peace officers, you know! so, respect that, ok! be civilized and understand cambodia, before you become unruly, ok! be professional and have ethical code of conduct in cambodia, ok!
3:58 AM, your comment is like Vietcong/Yuon's idea. Who is the fuck are you?
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