Khmer Krom in Cambodia Mark Loss of Their Homeland

Khmer Krom monks pray at a pagoda in Phnom Penh at a 2007 rally to demand the release of a monk arrested for allegedly organizing an anti-Vietnam demonstration in Cambodia.
 AFP

Radio Free Asia, June 4, 2013

Nearly 1,000 ethnic Khmer Krom living in Cambodia on Tuesday marked the 64th anniversary of the loss of their territory to Hanoi amid calls to protect the rights of the remaining members of the group in Vietnam.

Thach Setha, president of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community (KKKC) in Cambodia, spoke at a rally in Phnom Penh urging the Vietnamese government to “end the persecution of Khmer Krom” and to protect the group’s indigenous rights.

More than 1 million Khmer Krom live in southern Vietnam’s lower Mekong delta region, which Cambodians sometimes call "Kampuchea Krom," or "Lower Cambodia." As Khmers, they are ethnically similar to most Cambodians, and are considered outsiders in Vietnam, where they face social persecution and strict religious controls.

The group contends that its traditional homeland was part of Cambodia before it became part of French Cochin-China and was later handed over to the Vietnamese following the French withdrawal from the area following the Indochina war in 1955.

But Thach Setha, who is also a member of parliament for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) in Cambodia, told RFA’s Khmer Service that the Khmer Krom were not asking for their territory to be returned to them.

“This is what not what we are asking from the Vietnamese government, which always says that the Khmer Krom want to claim Khmer Kampuchea Krom back," he said.

He said that any discussions regarding the return of Kampuchea Krom to Cambodia would have to take place between the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments.

One of the most important seaports of Kampuchea Krom was once called Prey Nokor, but is now known as Ho Chi Minh City—the financial hub of Vietnam and one of the most bustling metropolises in Southeast Asia.

SRP lawmaker Son Chhay, who participated in Tuesday’s gathering, said that Cambodia must use its close relations with Vietnam to persuade Hanoi to provide greater rights to the Khmer Krom.

“[Cambodia’s] government must ensure the protection of the country’s territory and the rights of the people,” Son Chhay said.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia could not be reached for comment.

International protests

The gathering in Cambodia came as around 300 Khmer Krom in Australia and 250 in the U.S. staged protests in front of the Vietnamese embassies in Canberra and Washington, respectively, demanding the release of two Khmer Krom Buddhist monks and two laymen who were arrested last month following accusations of anti-state activity.

According to the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, monks Lieu Ny and Thach Thuol were arrested along with laymen Thach Phum Rich and Thach Tha on May 16 at the Ta Set temple in Vietnam’s Soc Trang province.

The state-controlled Patriotic United Buddhist Association of Soc Trang province had announced two days before that they would force the monks to defrock, declaring in a statement by Buddhist leader Duong Nhon that the two men had used phones and the Internet to give interviews and transmit “fabricated information” about Vietnamese state policy toward the Khmer Krom minority.

The whereabouts and well-being of the four men from Ta Set temple are unknown.

The Khmer Krom protesters in Australia and the U.S. also called for the reinstatement of a third Khmer monk, Ly Chanh Da of Vinh Chau’s Prey Chop temple, who was defrocked by local police on May 16 and thrown unconscious into the street, according to the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation.

Persecution

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said the Khmer Krom face serious restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, association, information, and movement in Vietnam. 

The Vietnamese government has banned Khmer Krom human rights publications and tightly controls the Theravada Buddhism by the minority, which sees the religion as a foundation of their distinct culture and ethnic identity.

In 2007, the Vietnamese government suppressed protests by over 200 ethnic Khmer Buddhist monks in Suc Trang who were calling for religious freedom and more Khmer-language education.

On the other side of the border, the Khmer Krom who leave Vietnam for Cambodia remain one of the country’s “most disenfranchised groups,” HRW said.

Because they are often perceived as Vietnamese by Cambodians, many Khmer Krom in Cambodia face social and economic discrimination.

They also face hurdles in legalizing their status in the country, as despite promises to treat them as Cambodian citizens, authorities have failed to grant many Khmer Krom citizenship or residence rights, according to HRW.

Reported by Tin Zakariya for RFA’s Khmer Service and by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

An interview with Senators Ho Vann and Nuth Romduol

Senators Ho Vann and Nuth Romduol are former SRP members of parliament

The ‘ill-willed’ spark cyber law: officials

By Bridget Di Certo and Kim Yuthana, The Phnom Penh Post
Thursday May 24, 2012

A woman types a text message on a mobile phone at an office in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Will Baxter/Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia is drafting its first cyber law, a move designed to prevent “ill-willed groups or individuals” from spreading false information, government officials said yesterday.

Press and Quick Reaction Unit spokesman Ek Tha said the law is not intended to restrict media, but to ensure that the “common interest is protected”.

“The government right now is drafting the first-ever cyber law, given the mushrooming of … modern technology like Twitter and YouTube and email and all sorts of technology activity,” Ek Tha said.

“We need to prevent any ill-willed people or bad mood people from spreading false information, groundless information that could tend to mislead the public and affect national security or our society. We need to control this,” Ek Tha said.

An article posted to the PQRU website yesterday reported that the cyber law had been discussed during a meeting on Tuesday between Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and EU Ambassador Jean-Francois Cautain.

The posting referred to an example used by Sok An to illustrate the need for a cyber law.

“For instance, there was a mobile phone message saying that there was a violent clash near the Cambodia-Japan Friendship Bridge between supporters of the [Cambodian People’s Party] and the [Sam Rainsy Party] yesterday evening, but it was totally false,” the deputy prime minister was quoted as saying.

“[P]eople use modern technology to spread false information, so we need a law to regulate them.”

In February, 2011, the Post reported on the minutes of a meeting at which the minister for post and telecommunications requested that internet service providers including Metfone and Ezecom block the blog KI-Media, an opposition website that posts content often highly critical of government officials.

Cambodian Center for Human Rights president Ou Virak told the Post yesterday the government had been working on internet censorship laws for some time, but no draft had been produced.

“We are pretty cautious about how it could be used and abused,” Ou Virak said, pointing to Cambodia’s disinformation law as something widely used to silence opposition voices.

“We already see exposure of human-rights abuses going viral, like when the police are beating protesters.

“International 3G was a major contribution for the population. Any laws to restrict it become a major threat.”

Ou Virak said it would be “pretty scary” if Cambodia adopted the Thai model of internet censorship.

Nguon Teang Pa, executive director of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said a cyber law could have a detrimental affect on development.

“There has been lots of money from donors [invested in] Cambodia, and if the government makes such a law, it would mean all the money invested so far is wasted and the government has set back democracy,” he said.

Phu Leewood, secretary-general of the National Information Communication Technology Development of Cambodia, which is spearheading the draft, declined to comment.

Chem Sangva, director-general of the inspection department at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, said Cambodia had exchanged experiences with other countries in the region to learn from them in drafting the law.

“This law would help prevent such crimes as terrorism or from other ill-willed people stealing state secrets,” Chem Sangva said.

Defrocked Monk Decries ‘Biased’ Decision

It is not okay for SRP monks to observe the debate...But it is okay for CPP monks to kill and beat up Khmer Krom and SRP monks???

RFA, May 22, 2012 
A Cambodian monk is thrown out of his pagoda after observing a political debate.

Ung Kaing speaks with rights groups at the Suriya Rongkor pagoda, May 21, 2102. RFA

A monk in western Cambodia who was defrocked on Monday after observing a political debate ahead of local commune elections has accused his superiors of being politically biased.

Ung Kaing, 25, said he was defrocked after attending a debate along with an activist from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), of which he was previously a member. He had left the SRP after taking his vows of monkhood.

According to Cambodia’s commune election law, monks are allowed to vote, but may not participate in political activities or run as candidates. Commune elections will take place on June 3.

The young monk told RFA’s Khmer service on Tuesday that 68-year-old Pot Pun, the chief monk of the Suriya Rongkor Pagoda in Siem Reap province’s Sort Nikum district, had dismissed him from the fold because he did not agree with the policies of the SRP.

“I didn’t agree with his decision to defrock me. I opposed it,” Ung Kaing said.

“He was putting pressure on me because he was biased toward political parties.”

Ung Kaing said that before being defrocked, Pot Pun had also questioned him about his involvement with the SRP in an earlier political debate.

Pot Pun told RFA that he made the decision to defrock Ung Kaing because he had lied to him about going to retrieve medicine from outside of the pagoda when he had really attended the debate.

But he admitted that he had been pressured by higher level monks to kick the monk out of the pagoda.

“The top monks told me that he had breached the law and must be defrocked,” he said.

“Top officials had asked me [about the monk], so in order not to make trouble for myself, I did it.”

SRP District Director Porm Pung confirmed that Ung Kaing had been a party activist, having initially joined the party in 2010.

He said that local party leaders had volunteered the monk as a candidate in Sort Nikum district for the position of commune councilor in Khjash commune, though Ung Kaing maintains that he had never asked to run, which he is prohibited from doing by law.

Monks and politics

According to Cambodia’s commune elections law, anyone, including monks, can vote for commune councilors as long as they are a Cambodian citizen, 18 years of age by the day of the election, and reside in the commune. Only convicts are unable to register to vote.

But the Sangha community has been increasingly divided over politics since monks were given the right to vote in 1993 during the country’s first elections since the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Currently, a small group of politically active monks known as the “young monks”—most of whom are members of the SRP—voice public opposition to the current government, while some senior monks have opposed this activism and called for their arrest or defrocking.

In August last year, Cambodian environmental activist monk Luon Savath was barred by the official Buddhist Sangha Council from entering pagodas in his home province of Siem Reap after participating in protests against rainforest destruction.

Pagodas customarily host traveling monks who are in need of a place to stay.

He was told that the ban would only be lifted if he agreed to end public support for the protesters and “confess his wrongdoings” to the council.

The order followed an earlier one in April, when Luon Savath was banned from entering pagodas in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh for participating in land protests. 

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights said at the time that the ban represented a political abuse of Buddhism, which does not prohibit social activism.

In June 2011, the New York-based Human Rights Watch awarded Loun Sovath with the Hellman/Hammett grant for his work supporting communities facing forced evictions and land-grabbing in Cambodia.

Luon Savath told RFA that no pagoda has been willing to host him since the ban.

Reported by Hang Savyouth for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Protest in Chikreng, Siem Reap

Videos of land disputes protest in Chikreng, Siem Reap (re-mixed with sad and beautiful songs) by Venerable Loun Sovath, Human Rights Activist

Cambodian troops seal off village after land clashes

Human rights workers denied entry after 15-year-old girl dies in latest confrontation over land development

Associated Press in Phnom Penh
guardian.co.uk, May 17, 2012

Rice farmers near Phnom Penh: Cambodia’s system of commercial 
land concessions has been criticised as corrupt and prompted a UN inquiry. 
Photograph: Heng Sinith/AP

Security forces have sealed off a village in eastern Cambodia and denied entry to human rights workers after the fatal shooting of a teenager in the latest violent eviction aimed at clearing land for development.

Soldiers said they needed to secure the area around Proma village, in eastern Kratie province, to continue the search for five accused ringleaders involved in a clash with security forces a day earlier, said Chan Soveth, a prominent investigator with Cambodian human rights group Adhoc.

He said journalists and human rights activists were initially moved to an area half a mile (1km) from the village but then pushed farther back, raising concerns about the soldiers' conduct and the safety of the villagers.

The interior ministry, meanwhile, issued a statement alleging the protesters were an "anarchic group" trying to set up a self-governing zone outside the law. It accused demonstrators of abducting two soldiers and seizing their weapons.

Cambodia's system of commercial land concessions, decried by activists as opaque and corrupt, has become a volatile issue nationwide and prompted a UN inquiry. Last month, a high-profile activist was shot dead by a military police officer after investigating illegal logging in a forest concession.

On Wednesday, hundreds of police and soldiers raided the settlement in Kratie province after community leaders rejected demands to vacate their farmland, officials said. Security forces clashed with about 200 villagers armed with axes, crossbows and sticks. A 15-year-old girl was critically wounded in the confrontation and later died at a hospital, said the provincial governor, Sar Chamrong.

"The soldiers told us we were not allowed to go inside to see the situation, "Chan Soveth said on Thursday. "We don't know what is happening inside. We are concerned for the safety of the villagers."

He said villagers who left the security perimeter were searched before being allowed to return home.

Authorities say the land is owned by the government, but the activists claim the previously state-owned land already has been awarded to a Russian company to be developed as a plantation. Villagers who have been farming the land for years say they have nowhere else to go.

The incident is the latest fallout from widespread evictions and land grabs that have sparked unrest nationwide, with deadly force sometimes employed by both public and private security forces.

The Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, issued a directive last week suspending new land concessions to private companies and ordering a review of existing deals. The move was announced during a visit by a UN human rights envoy who warned that land disputes in Cambodia must be resolved fairly and peacefully.

Activists: Cambodian girl killed in mass eviction

NBC29.com May 16, 2012

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodian activists say a 13-year-old girl was shot to death Wednesday in the latest of several clashes between villagers and authorities trying to evict them to make room for development.

Hundreds of armed police and soldiers tried to sweep out villagers in northeastern Kratie province from what authorities claim is state land, villager and activist Bun Ratha said. The villagers say the land has been ceded to a Russian company as a concession to be developed as a plantation, but they have been farming it for years and have nowhere else to go.

Bun Ratha said the teen was shot as 10 policemen tried to force a family out of their house. He said the girl died en route to hospital. At least 500 people are believed to live on the property.

National Police spokesman Lt. Gen. Kiet Chantharith said he did not know of any girl being shot to death. He said the government had repeatedly ordered the villagers to leave, but they had defied efforts to push them out and fought back with homemade weapons such as axes and crossbows. He described the situation as "anarchy."

The incident comes days after Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a directive suspending new land concessions to private companies and ordering a review of existing ones. The directive was announced during a visit by a special U.N. human rights envoy who warned that land disputes in Cambodia must be fairly dealt with so that they do not provoke violence and social unrest.

The issue garnered worldwide attention last month after Chut Wutty, a prominent Cambodian environmentalist, was shot dead by a military policeman as he was returning from investigating illegal logging in a concession area.

Chan Soveth of the Cambodian human rights group Adhoc said about 200 police, soldiers and military police had taken part in the raid. He said villagers and a staff member of his group told him that the girl died after being shot in the chest.

He said the villagers were being confined to their houses while the authorities searched for the protest leaders. In recent months, the villagers had protested several times and blocked roads twice, he said.

Chan Soveth said the government had accused the villagers of trying to establish an "autonomous zone" - self-governing and outside of Cambodian law. But he said the villagers merely sought to be allowed to stay on the land they had been farming.

U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi said Friday after an eight-day visit that Cambodia's system of land concessions appears riddled with problems, including low transparency and minimal consultation with affected communities.

Subedi, who is due to make a formal report on the land issue later this year to the U.N. Human Rights Council, said the violence attached to the land issue was a major concern, and that a workable solution must be found.

"If a concession seeks to take individual's land and property, the right to a remedy should be accessible and appropriated compensation must be offered," he said.

Two who made a real difference

Dorothy I. Height
Brian Betts (District of Columbia Public Schools)

April 28, 2010
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

Thought is the ancestor of every action, as American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson said. Imagination is the beginning of creation, according to playwright George Bernard Shaw. Physicist Albert Einstein echoed: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

To repeat what I have written for years in this space -- and repetition is not without importance for many -- first, you imagine what you desire (a goal), and you believe it is reachable, then you create a will to reach it, and finally you take action to attain it. American engineer Charles F. Kettering said, "Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail." What emerges is change.

Any individual can contribute to bringing about change. Recall Japanese poet Ryunosuke Satoro, who said: "Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean." There are many heroes -- and "sheroes" -- in unsung roles who help bring change.

Last Friday, reporter Griff Witte wrote from Kabul in The Washington Post, "The Afghan parliament, long a bastion of dysfunction and docility, has emerged this spring as a robust check on President Hamid Karzai's power, giving the United States an unlikely ally as it tries to persuade the government here to clean up its act."

The article speaks of the Afghan parliament, "a rogues' gallery of drug barons, criminals and warlords, ... many are uneducated and even illiterate," as shifting in complexion, as "reformers -- including many women -- coalesced into a working group of approximately 30 that increasingly drives the body's agenda."

Witte quoted the director of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies as saying the parliament can have a significant impact on Karzai's agenda: "The only way to have checks and balances in Afghanistan is through the parliament."

As Bernard Shaw said, "The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react," and the Afghan lawmakers are taking action.

In the same vein, many were saddened on April 20 when Dorothy I. Height, 98, passed away. Though some had little or no familiarity with who she was or what she did, those who recall her strong-willed grace know that she will be remembered as "the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans," as she was eulogized by President Obama.

Though the world is familiar with the story of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., The Washington Post editorialized a day after her death that for 40 years "Ms. Height and her work often went unnoticed and unpraised."

"To appreciate Dorothy Height," it stated, "is to understand the slights she endured and the obstacles she encountered both as an African American and as a woman, and how they only spurred her life-long campaign" for racial justice and gender equality -- a campaign she carried out "with such tenacity, dignity and resolve."

Height was "marginalized in the civil rights movement because of her gender" and "marginalized in the feminist movement because of her race," the editorial stated, but she "had fought, ... not with anger or bitterness but with determined grace." It quoted Height: "I've ... learned that getting bitter is not the way."

She was not just a civil rights fighter.

That the American Civil Rights Movement was successful in transforming America owed so much to Height, whom the Post's front page article, "A movement's matriarch," described as "the 'glue' that held the family of black civil rights leaders together."

She "was widely connected at the top levels of power and influence" in government and business, the article noted, and she "did much of her work out of the public spotlight, in quiet meetings and conversations."

Another who made a difference, in a relatively short time, also was eulogized last week in the U.S. capital. The popular white principal in a predominantly black and Hispanic middle school in the District of Columbia, 42-year-old Brian Betts, was found shot dead in his home in Montgomery County, Md., on April 15. Betts was a popular principal among students and colleagues -- in his 18-month tenure he successfully transformed an underperforming school and built self-esteem in his students.

The Post wrote, Betts "raised expectations for his students, recruited strong teachers and fired those who were not performing well."

The emotional wake at a funeral home speaks much of Betts: two thousand mourners, among whom were eight busloads of students, who grieved for and remembered Betts. Students found in Betts not just "the best principal ever," but "a best friend," "a father," "a mentor." A group of ninth-graders learned from and loved him so much they asked the school system to let them stay on as ninth-graders for another year in their middle school with Betts rather than go to a high school. Unbeknownst to his family, Betts had put several of his former students through college.

In our world there are formidable human beings who imagined change, believed in change and acted to bring about change.

In Lord Buddha's words, "Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death, can erase our good deeds."

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

Cambodia: Legal Foundation And Framework For The Country's Judiciary Required

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring to the attention of the Human Rights Council a major lacuna that constitutes one of the most fundamental obstacles to the enjoyment, protection and promotion of human rights in Cambodia. The lack of the required laws on the statute of judges and prosecutors as well as the lack of the legal underpinning to the organisation of the judiciary are resulting in the judiciary not functioning effectively. This crucial institution is fundamental to the actualisation of human rights and remains ineffective and lacking in independence and capacity to function. It is imperative for any discussion on human rights in Cambodia, for these issues to take centre-stage. Without an effective, legally established and independent judiciary, human rights violations have no effective deterrent and impunity is guaranteed.

By virtue of the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991, Cambodia is bound to all relevant international norms and standards of human rights. It is to set up an independent judiciary so that, as §2 of Annex 5 on the “Principles for a New Constitution for Cambodia” to the “Agreement in a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict,” aggrieved individuals will have the courts adjudicate and enforce their rights.

Cambodia has since honoured many of its international obligations as it has adhered to international human rights instruments and has enshrined many human rights in its 1993 Constitution. As spelled out clearly in the preamble to this Constitution, Cambodia is supposed to be a pluralistic liberal democracy governed by the rule of law and respecting human rights. Its Art.31 states that “The Kingdom of Cambodia shall recognize and respect human rights as stipulated in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the covenants and conventions related to human rights, women’s and children’s rights.” In its decision dated 10 July 2007, Cambodia’s Constitutional Council declared that all recognised human rights have become an integral part of Cambodian law.

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy and, according to Art.8 of its Constitution the king is the guarantor of the rights and freedoms of his people. To perform this duty he has the assistance of the judiciary which, for its part, is also the protector of the rights and freedoms of the Cambodian people (Art.128 if the Constitution).

The Constitution has specifically stipulated a number of laws that need to be enacted, namely, the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors and also the law on the organization of the judiciary (ART. 135 of the Constitution). However, since the creation of the Constitution, these two important laws have not seen the light of day. Amongst the main reasons for this are corruption and executive control of the judiciary. As a result, Cambodians are not in practice entitled to be tried by an independent, competent and impartial tribunal established by law under Art.14-1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Cambodia is a State party.

Over this relatively long period of time, tens of thousands of people have been tried by judges whose status have not been defined by the required law and by courts of law whose establishment has never been based on a law on the organization of the judiciary, although both of these laws that have been specifically stipulated in the Constitution of 1993.

The Cambodian government has delayed, the enactment of these two important laws for what will be 16 years this coming September 24th; a delay that should by itself amount to an unconstitutional omission on the government’s part, although the country’s Constitution is silent on this omission. The delay in the enactment of these two laws stands in stark contrast to the law on the statute of civil servants and the law of members of the armed forces, both of which were enacted more than ten years ago, in the mid-1990s.

The government has preferred to continue to apply the old law on the nomination of judges and the activities of courts, enacted in the communist days on the eve of the country’s pluralistic liberal democracy. This particular law no longer befits the new system of government that abandoned communism and embraced liberal democracy, in order, purportedly, to be governed by the rule of law. This new system adopts the principles of separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy as an independent body belonging to the judiciary, and as the supreme judicial body of the judiciary, whose jurisdiction is the nomination and discipline of judges and prosecutors. Furthermore, this particular pre-liberal democracy law is not among laws and regulations that should continue to apply under the transitional provisions of the country’s constitution (Art.158 of the Constitution).

The Constitution’s transitional provision only recognizes the validity of past laws and standard documents pertaining to state properties and the rights and freedoms pertaining to lawfully acquired properties in the past. Art 158 on this transitional provision says: “Laws and standard documents in Cambodia that safeguard State properties, rights, freedom and legal private properties and in conformity with the national interests, shall continue to be effective until altered or abrogated by new texts, except those provisions that are contrary to the spirit of this Constitution.”

The absence of the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors ensures that there are no guarantees concerning the independence of individual judges and prosecutors. The Supreme Council of the Magistracy belongs to the independent judiciary and is chaired by the king. It nominates and disciplines judges and prosecutors, both of which belong to this Council. This Council assists the king in ensuring the independence of the judiciary.

Due to the absence of this law, no age of retirement of judges and prosecutors has been fixed and there have been charges of favouritism levelled about older judges or prosecutors (including four of them recently), who have wished to remain in active service. Furthermore, there have been cases of infringement by the Ministry of Justice and even the government itself on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy. The Ministry of Justice controls the Secretariat of the Council, and has made nomination proposals and got the Council to approve them and submitted them to the king for signature, without the Council having much say at all in the process.

A couple of recent examples have illustrated the government’s infringement upon the jurisdiction and independence of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy. On June 21, 2009, the government ignored the Supreme Council of the Magistracy altogether when it retired and replaced four out of eight (two-ex officio and two (of three) appointed) members of the Council and submitted the whole proposals for the king for signature. More recently, on August 4, the Minister of Justice proposed the appointments of over 32 judges and prosecutors (including four over the de facto age of retirement of 60), and had the Council approve them and submitted these to the king for signature.

This practice is very much indicative of the executive’s control over the judiciary. It is unconstitutional, but there is no procedure for constitutional review of acts of government by the country’s Constitutional Council in the same way as the constitutional review of laws operates. This loophole should be removed, lest Cambodia continues to be ruled by decree instead of the rule of law, and the government continues to exercise control over the judiciary.

The prolonged absence of the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors poses a problem concerning the legitimacy of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy as well as of the Constitutional Council itself. Due to necessity during its formative years beginning in 1994, and the then-inability to enact the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors in time, an interim arrangement was made to appoint three judges as members of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, pending the enactment of that law through which they would be elected by their peers. Since 1994, the law in question has not been passed despite the government’s repeated promises to do so. The election of these three judges has been upheld and they have continued to be appointed. As time passes by the legitimacy of the composition of the Council is becoming increasingly questionable.

The dubious legitimacy of the composition of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy in turn puts into question the legitimacy of the composition of the country’s Constitutional Council, whose jurisdiction is to ensure the constitutionality and interpretation of all laws and to serve as the court of final appeal for election conflicts. Three of the nine members of the Constitutional Council are appointed by the Supreme Council of the Magistracy whose composition lacks legitimacy. When the legitimacy of latter’s composition is also dubious, it is very doubtful whether the Constitutional Council’s authority has its full weight.

With the absence of the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors, and also of the law on the organization of the judiciary, both of which have been specifically stipulated in the country’s constitution, the whole of Cambodia’s justice system do not have any legal foundation and framework.

Recommendations

There is still a long way to go before anyone in Cambodia can be guaranteed being tried by an independent, competent and impartial court established by law. However, it should not take very long to enact a law on the statute of judges and prosecutors and another law on the organization of the judiciary, in order to ensure that a trial court is at least established under the law and that judicial officers in charge of investigations and trials have proper legal status as judges or prosecutors. The Cambodian judiciary can no longer function as a judiciary without a proper legal foundation and framework.

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) therefore recommends that the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia and the members of the Human Rights Council pay special attention to the need for an effective, independent judiciary with a proper, constitutionally legal foundation and framework. Without this, all discussions about and work on human rights in Cambodia is unrealistic and unlikely to lead to successes.

The ALRC recommends that the government of Cambodia enact the two laws on the statute of judges and prosecutors and on the organization of the judiciary, if it has any pretence of being serious about the protection and promotion of human rights and democracy in the country. This would greatly improve the conditions of nominations of judges and prosecutors, their independence, the prohibition on their political affiliation, the prohibition on their removal without their consent, their competence and impartiality, salaries, promotion, discipline and removal from judicial services under grave circumstances, and the age of retirement.

With these two laws, the judiciary would become one of the three branches of government with an equal footing with the legislature and the executive and could ensure a system of checks and balances befitting a pluralistic liberal democracy, which Cambodia is under its Constitution. The two branches of government should respect the principle of separation of powers and also the independence of the judiciary as enshrined in Articles 51 and 128 of the Constitution.

# # #

About the ALRC: The Asian Legal Resource Centre is an independent regional non-governmental organisation holding general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is the sister organisation of the Asian Human Rights Commission. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at the local and national levels throughout Asia.

Authoritarian regimes must be opposed

Click here to read the PDF report

"The Chinese government is Cambodia's largest provider of military aid, most of which goes to antidemocratic security forces that are used as a political weapon by Prime Minister Hun Sen." - Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians

August 26, 2009
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

In an authoritarian regime, political power is concentrated in an authority not responsible nor responsive to the people. Such a system is the polar opposite of a democracy.
In a June posting in Foreign Policy Online, Freedom House executive director Jennifer Windsor, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Jeffrey Gedmin and Radio Free Asia president Libby Liu warned in "Authoritarianism's New Wave," that our current international system based on the rule of law, human rights and open expression, is being confronted by a "most serious challenge" from modern authoritarian regimes in "updated, sophisticated, and lavishly funded ways."

In the 94-page study, "Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians," experts from the three institutions analyze strategies and methods used by China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and Venezuela "to impede human rights and democratic development" in their countries and abroad. Windsor, Gedmin and Liu expressed their concerns that "policymakers do not appear to appreciate the dangers these 21st century authoritarian models pose to democracy and rule of law around the world."

The study reveals that the 21st century authoritarians, like the traditional ones, manipulate the "legal system, media control, and outright fear" and protect their power by "rewarding loyalists and punishing opponents without regard to due process."

To domestic audiences, they "redefined and heavily distorted" the concept of democracy, stressing their achievements and belittling what is "Western." To overwhelm, distract and disrupt legitimate Internet discussions which they deemed undesirable, the new authoritarians subverted "legitimate online discourse ... enlisted loyal commentators and provocateurs" and used "draconian laws to punish outspoken online critics and discourage any who might emulate them."

They undermined or crippled democracy, human rights and rules-based organizations, including the United Nations, and actively promoted or encouraged strong "nationalist or extremist" views of history to imprint in the younger generation hostile attitudes toward democracy and suspicion of the outside world.

To advance their interests internationally, authoritarian regimes are using "soft-power methods ... particularly, through billions of dollars in no-strings-attached development aid."

As Russia, Iran and Venezuela use "oil wealth to build foreign alliances and bankroll clients abroad," China, a country that aspires to world power status, has adopted a "doctrine of win-win (shuangying) foreign relationships" and encouraged Latin American, African, Asian and Arab states "to form mutually beneficial arrangements with China based on the principle of noninterference."

This brings to mind Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to Asia late last month. On a mission to re-engage the United States in Asia, Secretary Clinton signed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation that is guided by the principle of "Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another." In other words, "Live and let live."

In the June 4 London Economist Online article, "An (iron) fistful of help," the article begins with, "China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela have been doling out largesse. Should Western democracies be worried?"

The significance of "authoritarian aid" does not lie just in its total value -- China does not publish aid figures, but the World Bank says China gives Africa $2 billion a year -- but "autocracies offer an alternative to western aid," which demands "good governance," while China and others do not, says the Economist.

The "Undermining Democracy" study says Chinese aid "now outstrips that of democratic donor countries" in many Southeast and Central Asian states. It says, "The Chinese government is Cambodia's largest provider of military aid, most of which goes to antidemocratic security forces that are used as a political weapon by Prime Minister Hun Sen." It says Beijing has pledged $600 million to Phnom Penh while Washington gives Cambodia about $55 million a year -- less than a tenth the aid from Beijing.

It says each year Beijing trains at least 1,000 Central Asian judicial and police officials, "most of whom could be classified as working in antidemocratic enterprises."

Writes the Economist: "Naturally, help from harsh regimes is rarely encumbered with pesky demands for good governance. This makes it welcome to corrupt officials and even to those merely sick of being lectured by Westerners. Alas, it can encourage bad governance."

"This unconditional assistance -- devoid of human rights riders and financial safeguards required by democratic donors, international institutions, and private lenders -- is tilting the scales toward less accountable and more corrupt governance across a wide swath of the developing world." The study states: "An absence of institutional accountability, leads to repressive and arbitrary governance, and to entrenched, rampant corruption."

It says authoritarian regimes "are eroding the international rules and standards," but that the democracies are "uncertain" about how to respond.

Authoritarian regimes that are "already well-practiced in the art of allowing economic activity while protecting their political prerogatives ... are vigorously advancing their own, illiberal values. ... Why they would abandon this approach when dealing with foreign governments?"

Though the study notes, "In a 21st century context, isolation or disengagement from these authoritarian regimes are not viable options," it warns against falling into "authoritarians' trap," because authoritarians "would prefer engagement ... but only on their terms" in order to advance their economic interests.

Because democracies are rules-based, accountable and open systems, grounded in human rights and rule of law, "It is therefore in the democracies' interest to safeguard and promote the very qualities that set them apart from the authoritarians."

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

Cambodia Stepping Backward in Rights: Monitor

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington
03 August 2009

Cambodia is taking steps backward in its pursuit of human rights and democracy, as attacks on journalists and politicians continue, a rights monitor said Thursday.

Defamation cases against Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarians Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, as well as opposition journalists were “a step backward that we are really concerned about,” Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, told “Hello VOA.”

The government has made it hard for democracy and rights activists to hold demonstrations to express their opinions or dissent, he said, allowing instead mainly social, economic or health assemblies.

“Nowadays it is really hard to organize any demonstration that the government is not happy with,” he said.

Those restrictions combined with people’s trauma from the Khmer Rouge, wars and economic hardships contributed to low turnout for demonstrations, he said.

Meanwhile, the Sam Rainsy Party has announced it will shift its strategy away from street demonstrations and court cases against the government.

“I hope that this strategy change is part of an understanding with each other, or an exchange by the opposition policy for [Cambodia’s] betterment other than what is being done by the government,” he said.

Profile: Giving hope for two decades

Licadho founder and President Kek Galabru aims to promote respect for human rights in throughout the Kingdom and its institutions. (Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG)

Monday, 23 February 2009
Written by Sarah Whyte
The Phnom Penh Post

NGO FOCUS Licadho

• Founded 1992
• Personnel 160 staff and volunteers working in Phnom Penh office and 12 provincial offices
• Mandate Licadho works with victims of human rights abuses, especially focussing on women and children who fall victim to domestic violence, rape and trafficking.
• Funding The group is funded by a wide range of donors, including Operation a Day's Work (Finland), Danchurch Aid, Diakonia, ICCO, Danida, German Agro Action, USAID/EWMI, and the governments of Finland, Australia, Malta and the Netherlands, as well as private donors.

As one of the first NGOs in Cambodia, Licadho has seen the landscape for civil society evolve - and says things are worse now than in 1992.

THE Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights (Licadho) was founded in 1992, just after the thawing of the Cold War and the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements brought to an end a decade of one-party rule by the People's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea - the forerunner to today's Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

Kek Galabru, the organisation's founder and president, remembers well the difficulties of operating in the overly bureaucratic and unstable climate of the early 1990s.

The organisation was one of the first nongovernmental organisations to be established under the UN's transitional administration, but even the presence of the international community could not prevent Licadho's early efforts from being mired in communist-era red tape.

"We had to sometimes wait eight months before we could get permission to visit the prisoners in jail," Galabru said. "It was only because the UN were in Cambodia that we got permission at all." In spite of the obstacles, Licadho had over 130 employees and had expanded into 12 provinces by 1998, and today it continues to work relentlessly with victims of illegal trafficking, domestic violence, land grabbing and forced evictions.

But as Galabru says, there is an endless amount of work still to be done. Licadho is still occasionally subjected to anonymous threats when dealing with high-profile cases involving well-connected authorities, she said, and in the aftermath of the Dey Krahorm eviction case last month, two members of staff were threatened via anonymous mobile phone messages.

"After 1993, we were given some freedom to operate as an NGO, but now in 2009 our democratic space is shrinking," she said, adding that the absence of democratic mechanisms in the country has meant that if these limits are overstepped, there can sometimes be serious ramifications.

"We do get very tired from our work, but if we give up on these people, what else will they have. ... we can provide assistance to the victims and give them a little more hope," she said.

Licadho provided legal, medical and financial support to such victims, explaining their rights under domestic law and the international agreements to which Cambodia is signatory. Licadho has also recently drawn attention to what it calls the "wrongful" 1,799-day imprisonment of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, convicted of the 2004 murder of union leader Chea Vichea. The pair have been freed on provisional release.

The group also advocates free education for all children, government-provided medical care and full compensation for communities facing eviction - all goals the organisation hopes will move Cambodia towards a more democratic form of government.

"We need to see freedom of access to information, freedom of assembly and a freedom of expression in Cambodia before we can call ourselves a democracy," she said.

Growing up, Galabru said she was surrounded by strong female role models who left a strong imprint on her human rights work. In 1958, her mother, Pung Peng Cheng, became the first woman to be elected to government in Cambodia.

"When I saw my mother working and serving the people of Cambodia, I knew I wanted to serve the people," she said. "But I did not want to work in the government, so I began studying medicine." Years later, with the help of her mother and late husband, she set up Licadho. In 2005, Galabru was one of 1,000 women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of the organisation's work in Cambodia.

"I was very grateful to my Cambodian colleagues who nominated me," she said.

"I hope that I can continue to serve the Cambodian people and not disappoint them."

UN official urges Cambodia to address rich-poor divide

Tuesday, December 09, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - The top UN official in Cambodia on the government Tuesday to step up efforts to halt what he described as a "widening gap" between the rich and the poor.

UN resident coordinator Douglas Broderick said recent economic growth had brought "much hope and optimism" to all Cambodians, but added that prosperity was "not evenly spread."

"Turning Cambodia's sense of hope and optimism into tangible results like better education, quality health services, the freedom to be heard and to feel safe are among the most significant human rights challenges facing Cambodia today," Broderick, said at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Broderick said narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor was crucial to upholding human rights in Cambodia.

"As legislators you carry the hopes of your constituents. You have the power to ensure that their rights are preserved and respected. And, you have the power to intervene on their behalf when human rights are violated," he said.

Political Cartoon: "Ah": Cambodia Daily

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

The Astonishing Double Standards of the CCP

(Teh Eng Koon/AFP/Getty Images)

Apr 28, 2008
By Zhang Tianliang
Epoch Times Staff

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has often accused Western countries of having a double standard concerning human rights issues, when in fact the CCP should really be blaming itself.

While branding many other governments as holding "hegemonic foreign policy and domestic democracy," the CCP takes care to implement a completely opposite policy: They are servile with foreigners and relentless with its own people.

Take for instance the regulations the CCP promulgated governing the prevention and control of AIDS at ports and border checkpoints. The regulations stipulate that Chinese citizens who stay overseas for longer than one year are subject to an AIDS examination upon their arrival in China. However, foreigners and the Chinese with acquired foreign citizenship are exempted from these quarantine procedures.

In addition, in China's official report on national food safety and quality published on August 17, 2007, it indicated that over 99 percent of exported food products were up to standard, while for domestic food products the same rate was only 77.9 percent. This is another striking example of the regime's discrimination against its own people.

During the great famine of 1958 that lasted until 1962, over 30 million Chinese people starved to death. During the famine, the CCP spent 2.3 billion yuan (US$ 328 million) as aid to other communist countries. Had the money been used for food, many could have been saved.

The CCP has also implemented double standards over its foreign policies. It often harshly criticized democratic countries while siding with rogue countries. China has published documents concerning the human rights situation in the U.S., but it has never published anything about human rights conditions in North Korea, the Sudan or Myanmar. On the contrary, the CCP has often sided with Serbia and Iraq totalitarian governments at critical moments. However, when some 200,000 Chinese in Cambodia were massacred by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and in 1998 when many Chinese in Indonesia were killed, raped and had their homes set afire by rioters, the CCP just remained silent.

Not only does the CCP adopt double standards, many Chinese people have been trained to embrace a similar ideology when expressing their patriotism.

For instance, some Chinese have frequently showed strong resentment for the "Tibetan Separatists" as though safeguarding the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity was their supreme mission, regardless of the fact that the Dalai Lama has repeated over and over again that he has no intention of having Tibet declare independence. Contrary to that, the same group of Chinese people have never expressed any rejection to Mao Zedong's handing over Mongolia (1.5 million square kilometers in size) and Jiang Zemin's giving the northern frontier to Russia (1 million square kilometers in size).

Another example is the fury and rage some Chinese have cast towards CNN commentator Jack Cafferty after his so-called "anti-China" remarks. In contrast to this, they have remained silent about the announcement made by the Xinhua News Agency, mouthpiece of the CCP, that starting from February 22 this year, Beijing would begin issuing "temporary residence permits" to ensure the security of the upcoming Olympic Games. Without such permits, any Chinese who are not Beijing permanent residents will be swept out of the city like garbage. It seems that these Chinese people haven't realized that such a permit is actually a more severe form of discrimination against their fellow countrymen whose humble wish is just to watch the Olympics in Beijing.

When Japan invaded China during World War II, it led to twenty million Chinese casualties. Nowadays, many Chinese people still get all worked up and upset when talking about Japan. Nonetheless, ever since the CCP seized power in 1949, repetitive political movements in China have caused the unnatural deaths of at least 80 million Chinese. Even though that death toll is four times as high as that caused by the Japanese, it is totally ignored by the "angry Chinese" who seem to have a form of selective amnesia.

Many Chinese were particularly unhappy with the apparent betrayal of Empress Dowager Cixi of Qing Dynasty who issued the order "Please the invaders using everything we have" to settle the Eight-Nation Allied Army's Invasion in 1900. However, Cixi's wrongdoing is just the tip of the iceberg when compared to what the CCP has done since its takeover. According to a recent article by Chinese economist Zuo Dapei titled "Chinese Banks Have Become the Super Cash Dispensers for Foreign Investors," the selling of 13 Chinese banks and insurance firms to foreign investors at very cheap prices caused losses of more than a trillion yuan (US$142 billion) worth of national assets during 2006 alone. In the face of such betrayal, the "angry Chinese" have pretended to be blind again.

When facts like the ones above are brought to light, we cannot help feel deeply worried about the future of our country. Many people's thinking may not be sufficiently rational to analyze and make an effort to understand all of the facts before making their judgments. Some may seem to suffer from Schizophrenia, venting their sentiments in the name of "patriotism." Others may be just trying to please the CCP in hopes of political gains. If the "angry Chinese" do not really care about China's future or their fellow countrymen's welfare, their "patriotism" has no constructive meaning at all. Instead, it can only hurt the nation.

Let’s Vote, Hun Sen: a Goat or a Monkey?

March 21, 2008
Op-Ed by Kok Sap
http://neokhmer.wordpress.com

The raised concern in Cambodia under Hun Sen long rule is the serious human rights violation. It is a very broad topic that handicaps Cambodian society in all aspects. Ironically all courts in Cambodia is nowhere independent and apolitical. This is a pulse of a contentious concern of Yash Ghai entire report.

The striking point of Cambodia tragedy and poverty rooted out from leadership incompetence since 1954. The total accumulated debt is up to $2,250 million under Hun Sen belt, said Ambassador Ek Sereivath. This is a staggering burden for a country ranked 162 out 180 in poor governance under the person leadership for the past 20 years. This is how the world sees Cambodia in adaptive challenge and learning aptitude. It is despicably poor and backward. Next to Sihanouk, Hun Sen loves to brag in crude diplomacy and vulgarity. He lacks total sense of self respect and dignity.

Surely it is clear and a UNTAC $2 billion done deal, few days ago Monarchy is belonged to Prorcheachon [people], boasted Hun Sen. The same time he accuses the oppositions attempt to do away from monarchy. Not enough he berates the Republic idealism as something unsavory for Cambodia although he himself was a poster child of Hanoi Republic adoption. He is invoking fear and hatred to infringe democratic spirit and freedom of choice in belief. He indirectly shrugged off Sihanouk to test out voter confidence in the present King. This is a purely concerted hypocrisy in the government house.

King Sihamoni knows he is trapped between dictatorship and communism. With Beijing commands, the man who wanted to be king, Hun Sen, had to accept and swallow his evil nature. No option, China leases monarchy from Hanoi control in high prices. In his individual, King Sihamoni clearly understands his fate. He already appealed, as long as people allow two weeks of notice and a safe passage, he would gladly oblige to leave the evil throne.

Apparently Hun Sen is using Norodom Ranariddh against his corruptive and former legal wife as decoy to wipe out Sihanouk FUNCINPEC and control other royalties. In records, all Ranariddh flaws are no where near Hun Sen own baggages. He has not been known killer or traitor as of his father type. So as it seems this is a clear intent to scapegoat Ranariddh for Hun Sen own malfeasances. Now the inept and unrepentant Hun Sen puts fear in King heart to hold his brother as an outcast.

Ranariddh was accused of stealing $30 million and adultery. It is a lot of money for anyone standards, but let’s be honest; it is still a lot lesser than Hoc Lon Di who makes $375,000 monthly from being the most ruthless national police commissioner. In fairness, according to constitutionality, Ranariddh has the right to represent himself in court if it was not for Hun Sen pulling strings on courts to deliver sentences in absentia. Frankly, he is the monarchy political liability and black sheep with Sihanouk consents.

For the worst, Ranariddh name was unlisted in Global, International Amnesty or UN Human Rights reports. The joke was because of his political rivalry, so he is not allowed to stay in and reenter Cambodia. He is banished from Cambodia. Hun Sen treats himself with a plush Fortress with thousands of well paid guard and hundreds of million of dollars deposited offshore the Kingdom.

To date Cambodia is so wrapped in a hopeless and beggar in competition with upper-hand treatment 4.5 million Viet Nam citizens. As a leader for a long time, he sees to make sure Cambodia will be not be progressive as long as he remains in position.

Delusional Om Yentieng: Yash Ghai's report is "sensational and exaggerated"

Cambodia dismisses UN human rights envoy's report as sensational, exaggerated

Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia dismissed a U.N. envoy's report criticizing its government for human rights abuses and corruption as sensational and exaggerated, saying the country is on the right track for democracy.

Om Yentieng, head of the government's human rights committee, said the report ignored the progress his government has made in improving rights and the rule of law.

He said the government is disappointed with Yash Ghai, the U.N. secretary-general's special envoy on human rights in Cambodia, who submitted the report to a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

Many issues described in Ghai's report "are selectively made for sensational purposes and/or overly exaggerated," Om Yentieng said in a statement received Thursday.

His response is the latest shot in the Cambodian government's long-running war of words with Ghai, a Kenya-born professor, whom Prime Minister Hun Sen has called "deranged" for accusing his administration of poor governance.

Om Yentieng, who is also a senior adviser to Hun Sen, described as "unacceptable" Ghai's assertion that the country's justice system has failed to function independently from the executive branch.

"Legal guarantees and security associated with the rule of law are largely missing in Cambodia," Ghai said in a statement on the release of his report.

Ghai said the government's control of the judiciary has bred a "high level of corruption" resulting in victimization of the poor across Cambodia and "legal impunity for ministers, officials and friends of the government."

Cambodia's judicial system is widely regarded as corrupt and susceptible to political manipulation.

The U.N. envoy also slammed the government on the issue of land and property rights.

Thousands of urban and rural dwellers have been "illegally and inhumanely" evicted from land that has been appropriated by corporations and influential individuals, he charged.

He warned that, in the long run, the inability of courts to settle disputes in a fair manner will "aggravate tensions, conflicts and the risk of violence that will be hard to manage."

Om Yentieng responded that Ghai's evaluation "does not fairly reflect the reality in the country" which "is moving on the right track" of democratic and economic progress.

Yash Ghai's statement is welcomed by US embassy ... but disappoints Hun Sen's regime

UN Envoy Disappoints Government

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
19 March 2008

"[T]he Cambodian government and people should draw on UN resources to develop a culture of dialogue and national reconciliation, particularly on issues related to rule of law" - Jeff Daigle, US Embassy spokesman

The Cambodian government expressed strong regret in the findings of a new report expected to be delivered by a UN human rights envoy in Geneva Wednesday.

UN special rights representative Yash Ghai was scheduled to deliver an address on the human rights situation in Cambodia to the UN Human Rights Council Wednesday.

In his Rights Council report, alrady available online, he sharply criticized the government's commitment to rights and the international communities continued financial contributions.

Sim Bun Thoeun, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told VOA Khmer Wednesday the government expressed "strong regret and disappointment" in Ghai's report.

The government would release a full statement following Ghai's address, he said.

The Rights Council report states, in part, that Cambodia's widespread abuse of human rights continues even as the international community continues to pledge aid to the country.

US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle said the US "welcomes the report."

"Cambodia has stated that it wants to improve its human rights record, and has cooperated with the UN in permitting a Special Representative to visit, and in hosting the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights," Daigle wrote in an e-mail. "We applaud the government’s commitment, and encourage it to maximize its use of these tools."

Ghai was not permitted to meet government officials on his last visit, in December, something the US "was disappointed to learn," Daigle wrote.

"We understand that the two parties may not always agree on human rights remedies, but it is essential that they have an open dialogue characterized by mutual respect," he wrote. "Given the tragic events of Cambodia’s recent history, the Cambodian government and people should draw on UN resources to develop a culture of dialogue and national reconciliation, particularly on issues related to rule of law."

Cambodian National Assembly approves ASEAN Charter

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian National Assembly here on Monday unanimously approved the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asia Nations) Charter.

"The ASEAN Charter will bring our country into the economic and social integration with other ASEAN countries and also into the ongoing process of globalization," said Pen Pagna, chairman of the legislation and justice committee of the parliament.

"It can help us rule by law and walk to democracy and development, too," he added.

The charter has 13 chapters with 55 articles. All ASEAN member countries have to ratify it.

The ASEAN Charter aims to transform ASEAN into a rules-based legal entity like the European Union and paves the way for closer integration within the group.

Under the charter, all ASEAN member states will have equal rights and obligations. They will also be legally entitled to sue one another.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia joined ASEAN in 1999.

Son Chhay requests Hun Sen to answer questions directly on the NA floor

Cambodian PM urged to attend parliament

29/01/2008
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

A Parliamentary committee in Cambodia has requested Prime Minister Hun Sen to attend parliament to answer questions directly.

Mr. Son Chhay a member of the parliament from the opposition party and who is also the chair of the 5th Committee of the parliament has submitted the written request to the Prime Minister.

The letter calls for answers on issues including the implementation of the four-angle economic policies, revenue collection from Angkor Wat, land disputes, corruption and human rights.

Hun Sen hasn't been to Parliament during question time during the third term of government which is due to expire soon.

The constitution and parliamentary internal regulations, stipulate that the Prime Minister is supposed to attend question time every Thursday morning.

A senior advisor to the PM comments says the request is ridiculous and queries the motives behind it.