Cambodia faces worrying human rights trends: UN

"In a tolerant political environment, differences of opinion should not be dealt with through threats, intimidation or criminal action, but through public debate" - Christophe Peschoux, head of the UN's office of the high commissioner for human rights in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Dec 10 (AFP) - Rising land disputes and crackdowns on government critics are "worrying trends" in Cambodia, a UN representative said Thursday in a speech marking international human rights day.

Christophe Peschoux, head of the UN's office of the high commissioner for human rights in Cambodia, said there had been some improvement in human rights but urged the government to behave in a "tolerant manner" towards the issue.

"We have also observed some worrying trends in recent years," he said in his speech at a rally where thousands of people gathered to mark international human rights day.

He mentioned people being forcibly evicted from their property in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh as well as ethnic minorities who have been robbed of their land in northeastern areas of the country.

"As land has become a new source of wealth, they (minority people) are being dispossessed of their lands," Peschoux said.

"And day after day villagers are robbed of their land by powerful economic interests, often with the support of the authorities," he added.

The Cambodian government has faced mounting criticism for a spate of forced evictions throughout the country over the past few years at the hands of army and police.

The Cambodian administration has also been heavily criticised by rights groups over the past year for launching a number of defamation and disinformation lawsuits against critics and opposition members.

Peschoux's speech also criticised recent crackdowns on government critics who have been sentenced to jail or fined for their comments.

"In a tolerant political environment, differences of opinion should not be dealt with through threats, intimidation or criminal action, but through public debate," he said.

In a joint statement marking international human rights day, 18 local rights groups also called on the government to open more space for the freedom of expression and to stop forced evictions around the country.

CAMBODIA: Concern over UN human rights role

Many of Cambodia's urban poor are in danger of eviction - a significant human rights concern for many activists today (Photo: Geoffrey Cain/IRIN)

PHNOM PENH, 30 October 2008 (IRIN) - A week after UN rights envoy Yash Ghai resigned his post in September, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) downgraded the special representative position in Cambodia to Special Rapporteur, sparking fears the UN is reducing its commitments in the country.

Under the new system, the rapporteur reports to the HRC, not to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"The rapporteur position is slightly downgraded, but the mandate remains essentially the same as the special representative," Christophe Peschoux, director of the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia, told IRIN.

Former envoy Ghai, a Kenyan lawyer, had experienced repeated personal attacks from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen after his criticisms of the government.

"This is a question of personality, and interpretation about how to conduct this sensitive mandate, not of the mandate itself," Peschoux said. "The Prime Minister said he will never receive Yash Ghai but will receive his successor, who is to be appointed by the Council."

Rather than being limited only to Cambodia, Peschoux said the change was part of a wider consolidation trend among member states to simplify UN human rights procedures.

Human rights concerns

According to a report by Ghai, land laws are "regularly" violated "with impunity by influential individuals, companies and government entities".

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith could not be reached to comment on Ghai’s report despite repeated phone calls.

Adhoc, a Cambodian human rights watchdog, estimated 50,000 people were evicted for development in 2006 and 2007. Licadho, another Cambodian NGO, said 30,000 have been displaced by evictions in the past five years.

"It appears that the office [OHCHR] is not holding the Cambodian government ... to its promises on UN conventions," Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, told IRIN. "The government has failed to file its human rights report to the [UN] Human Rights Committee in the past."

"The new programme [the special rapporteur] means the UN and government are making weak compromises on human rights," Pa Ngoun Teang, secretary-general of the Cambodia human rights working group for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), told IRIN.

But Peschoux said cooperation made more sense than stirring controversy.

"My experience with several major international human rights and humanitarian organisations, with different approaches to human rights protection," he said, "has taught me that there is no effective rights protection without effective dialogue and practical engagement with those who have the power to effect changes, [which are] government authorities."

Embattled history

The UN special representative and Cambodian government have been at loggerheads over rights issues since 1993, after the UN peacekeeping force (UNTAC) completed its mandate.

"The law of the gun has been replaced with the law of the dollar," Peschoux said, having worked for OHCHR from 1993 to 1999 before he returned in 2007. "The 1990s was a decade that was heavily influenced by the previous 30 years of conflict. This really was a post-conflict situation."

This decade, Peschoux said, is "marked by peace and its consolidation" and issues of development have taken over from issues of violence.

"Another form of violence has appeared, generated by unregulated economic development practices, violence against the poor and the most vulnerable," he said.