Open letter from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights to the Secretary General of the UN congratula​ting him on his re-electio​n and calling on him to review the nature of the UN’s relationsh​ip with Cambodia

Dear all,

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) today, 30 June 2011, releases an open letter written by CCHR President Ou Virak, in his capacity as a civil society leader and as a victim of the Khmer Rouge, to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, congratulating him on his re-election and calling on him to review the nature of the UN’s relationship with Cambodia.

Please find attached this open letter in English. A Khmer translation will follow shortly.

For more information please contact CCHR President Ou Virak at +855 12 40 40 51 or

ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org

Thank you and kind regards,

CCHR

CCHR Open letter to the Secretary General of the UN congratula​ting him on his re-electio​n and calling on ...
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SRP MP Mu Sochua's RIGHTS TALK in Hong Kong on 25 March 2011

Ban Ki-moon Expected Later This Month

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC Wednesday, 20 October 2010

"The impression about this trip is that it is to focus on the Khmer Rouge tribunal."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to make an official visit at the end of the month, and observers say they hope he will address human rights issues as well as the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

“The impression about this trip is that it is to focus on the Khmer Rouge tribunal,” said Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

However, if Ban is traveling with the vice chairman of the UN's Human Rights Commission, rights abuse could be on the agenda, he said.

The UN may be pushing for more funding at the tribunal, which has struggled financially all year, while it must also push for independence at the court, he said. The court also needs a proper mechanism to fight allegations of corruption, Ou Virak said.

Koy Kuong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Ban was expected Oct. 26 through Oct. 28, but he did not outline details for meetings.

Earlier this year, Ban made an appeal to donors to fund the UN-backed court, which has tried one former Khmer Rouge, and is preparing a case for four more.

Further indictments have proven difficult, and critics say the government has hampered the work of the court, especially with the refusal of six senior government officials ignoring summonses from the international investigating judge.

A diplomat in New York said donors are waiting to see a strategy for winding down the court before they commit to more funding.

Seng Theary, founder of the Center for Justice and Reconciliation and a participant in the trials so far, said she hoped Ban's visit would relieve the pressures of funding, as well as political interference, for the court.

Third BarCamp Tech Conference Sees Attendance Rise

An attendee views VOA Khmer Facebook Page at Puthisastra University in Phnom Penh, where more than 800 computer enthusiasts gathered last week to exchange Information Technology knowledge. (Photo: Bun Tharum, VOA Khmer)

Tharum Bun, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 04 October 2010

“The social media of this Internet generation is modern and enables us to publicizie information about human rights. Old media like radio, TV or print newspapers can be controlled by someone in power, or not aired or broadcast freely. But over the Internet, we can publish news for the public. So that's the best means to advocacy and to post breaking news on human rights issues, in particular.”

Technology is playing a much greater role in the lives and businesses of Cambodians. In response, some 800 tech enthusiasts gathered at a conference in September in an event that has grown steadily over the years.

The two-day event, called BarCamp, brought togehter experts and novices alike, who shared information on a range of topics, from information on applications for computers and mobile devices to access of human rights information.

“The social media of this Internet generation is modern and enables us to publicizie information about human rights,” Chor Chanthida, a project officer for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, told VOA Khmer at the conference. “Old media like radio, TV or print newspapers can be controlled by someone in power, or not aired or broadcast freely. But over the Internet, we can publish news for the public. So that's the best means to advocacy and to post breaking news on human rights issues, in particular.”

This BarCamp was Cambodia's third annual gathering, but it has seen a doubling in attendance since 2008. The idea, a free exchange of information, originated with tech fans in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2005 and has since become an international network of events.

“There are many participants and they are keen to share,” said Dara Saoyuth, a student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. “Our break-out session rooms are not enough to accomodate them.”

Dara Saoyuth attended a session on time management, which, though short, was informative.

“What I'm impressed by is that the presenters are willing to share and are open,” he said. “They are experts, and they can actually make money offering training, but they want to share their skills with young people for free. And even though it's free, they do their best to explain and help answer questions from the audience.”

Be Chantra, a lead organizer for this year's BarCamp, said he hoped partipants learned something new from presenters and more about Cambodia's software industry.

Feed the future of human rights in Cambodia: CCHR

Click on the statement in Khmer to zoom in

Cambodian Center for Human Rights

PRESS RELEASE
Phnom Penh – 25 May 2010

Feed the future of human rights in Cambodia

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) welcomes the announcement by the United States (“US”) Embassy in Cambodia that the Kingdom will be included in the “Feed the Future” initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (“USAID”). This initiative provides an important opportunity for the US Government to remind the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) of its human rights obligations under Cambodian and international law by including human rights conditions in this aid package.

Cambodia has received billions of dollars in aid from democratic countries since the intervention of the United Nations (“UN”) in the early 1990s. Yet the RGC has continued to violate the fundamental human rights of Cambodians, while senior officials have pilfered national resources for their own personal benefit. The crack down on freedom of expression continues, land and livelihoods are lost by the day, minorities remain excluded, and the judicial system remains corrupt and non-independent. It is time for democratic donor countries and their taxpayers to demand improvements in human rights and governance in Cambodia, in exchange for the assistance that supports those that the RGC has failed and serves to prop up the regime.

In April 2010, the CCHR welcomed the “tough love” by the US Government when it announced the suspension of a shipment of military vehicles to Cambodia following the deportation by the RGC of 20 ethnic Uyghurs to China in December 2009. That announcement was met with indifference by the RGC, and China stepped in to provide a military aid package that included a fleet of vehicles. However, despite the indifference of the RGC and Chinese opportunism, such a principled approach to aid is to be applauded. Donor governments must not be induced into a race-to-the-bottom in a battle for influence in Cambodia.

The RGC has shown increasing belligerence towards donors and development partners in recent months. Perhaps buoyed by the unconditional financial support of countries such as China, the RGC threatened to expel the UN Resident Coordinator in March over a UN statement on the rushed adoption of the Anti-Corruption Law by the National Assembly and Senate without adequate time for genuine debate. In April, the RGC also warned diplomats to “avoid interfering in the internal affairs of the host country,” claiming somewhat unconvincingly that Cambodian is not a “BANANA REPUBLIC”.

It is important to recall that the US, along with a number of other donor countries, pledged in the Agreements on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict to “promote and encourage respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia… in order, in particular, to prevent the recurrence of human rights abuses.” With this in mind, the CCHR welcomes the draft bill put before the US House of Representatives yesterday which seeks to hold the RGC responsible – through the preclusion of US trade benefits to the Cambodian garment industry – for its deportation of the Uyghurs in December 2009. A statement from the office of William Delahunt, a Democratic Representative who, along with Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher, sponsored the bill stated that “[n]ations that expect economic benefits from the United States need to be accountable for their human rights records”.

Commenting on the obligations of donors, CCHR President Ou Virak stated: “the sun has set on unconditional aid; it is no longer enough to throw money at problems and hope that this government will act in the interests of the people. If the international community really wants to honour its commitment to Cambodia and to promote and encourage respect for human rights, they must make it clear to the RGC that rights violations are an expensive business and will hit them in the pocket. Doing nothing is tantamount to complicity.”

The CCHR urges the US government to continue its principled approach and ensure that the RGC undertakes to respect their human rights obligations under domestic and international law before finalising this substantial aid package. Moreover, the CCHR calls on all international donors – including China, France and Japan - to speak out when human rights violations occur in Cambodia, and ensure that the provision of aid to the RGC is not unconditional but includes safeguards that make continued financial support conditional on the respect for human rights.

For more information, please contact:

Ou Virak, President, Cambodian Center for Human Rights
Tel: +855 12 40 40 51
Email: ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org
Rupert Abbott, Director of Development, Cambodian Center for Human Rights
Tel: +855 17 50 07 78
Email: rupertabbott@cchrcambodia.org

Tom Lantos Human Rigths Commission's Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Cambodia Hearing Announcement

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) Hearing Announcement:

Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Cambodia

1-3 p.m.
Thursday, September 10
Location TBD

On July 29, The Washington Post reported “a heightened crackdown on journalists and opposition activists…has provoked new concern that the government [of Cambodia] is engaging in widespread abuse of the nation’s legal system to muzzle its detractors.” On August 4, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court found opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua guilty of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen.

According to the 2008 State Department Human Rights report, current labor law in Cambodia provides only private-sector workers the right to join a trade union without prior authorization, but the government’s enforcement of the law has been selective. Additionally, despite the 2001 law requiring land titling for communal lands of indigenous peoples, little was done to implement this law and there have been several reported incidences of indigenous peoples being forced to leave their land without compensation. These issues are part of a concerning trend in the Cambodian government’s overall human rights record.

To discuss these issues, we will welcome as our witnesses:***

Panel I

• State Department-Invited

Panel II

• Mu Sochua, member of Parliament, Sam Rainsy Party
• Pung Kek, founder, LICADHO
• Moeun Tola, head of labor program, Community Legal Education Center

***Witness list subject to change.

If you have any questions, please contact Elizabeth Hoffman (Rep. Wolf) or Hans Hogrefe (Rep. McGovern) at 202-225-3599.

Frank R. Wolf, M.C.
Co-Chairman, TLHRC

James P. McGovern, M.C.
Co-Chairman, TLHRC

New UN rights envoy in Cambodia

Rights groups have criticised the government over forced evictions

Tuesday, 16 June 2009
By Guy DeLauney
BBC News, Phnom Penh

The new UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia, Surya Subedi, is making his first visit to the country.

Professor Subedi has said he wants to establish fruitful and constructive dialogue with the Cambodian government.

But his predecessors struggled to do that, and Prof Subedi's visit comes as civil society groups have said they are concerned about the rights situation.

The government has consistently defended its human rights record, noting recent democratic elections.

This is a chance for a fresh start in the relationship between the Cambodian government and the UN's human rights organisation.

But that may require diplomacy and patience on both sides.

UN concern

Prof Subedi's predecessor resigned last year after enduring months of snubs and insults from the government.

Ministers declined requests for meetings, and one called the envoy a long-term tourist.

The new rapporteur is keen to avoid a repeat of that situation.

He has indicated that his first visit will concentrate on establishing contacts with key officials and it seems the government has been receptive.

But Prof Subedi will also be meeting the leaders of local organisations who say they are worried about recent developments in Cambodia.

The UN's human rights office in Phnom Penh has just issued a statement expressing concern about the use of defamation and disinformation laws to silence government critics.

Other organisations have criticised land grabs and corruption.

But the government has consistently defended its human rights record, pointing to the success of several democratic elections since the return of peace in the 1990s.