1 May - International Workers Day: Remembering slain trade unionist Hy Vuthy

Tuesday May 1st, 2007
1 May - International Workers Day

by Amnesty International

Workers around the world are being threatened, harassed, even killed for standing up for their basic rights. According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, at least 100 trade unionists are killed every year for trying to promote better pay and working conditions for employees. Many states have signed international laws safeguarding the right of trade unionists to act freely, yet some states are consistently failing to uphold their responsibilities under these laws.

Trade unionist gunned down in Cambodia

Hy Vuthy, a prominent member of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTU), was shot dead while riding his motorbike home on 24 February. The FTU president at the Suntex garment factory had just finished his night shift when he was gunned down within a kilometre of his workplace in the Dangkao district of the capital, Phnom Penh. To date, no one has been arrested for the killing.

He is the third FTU official to be killed in three years. Chea Vichea, president of the FTU, was shot dead in January 2004 in a contract-style killing. Two men, Born Samnang, 25, and Sok Sam Oeun, 38, were arrested for the crime and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in 2005 after a grossly unfair trial (see Worldwide Appeal September 2006). Their appeal against the conviction was rejected in April 2007. In May 2004, Ros Sovannareth, FTU president at the Trinunggal Komara factory, was murdered.

In recent years, attacks on FTU activists have intensified, with perpetrators going unpunished and the government failing to take any action to reverse the trend of violence. The FTU is one of the largest trade unions in Cambodia and is especially active within the garment industry, campaigning against the exploitation and sub-standard working conditions of garment workers. With high profits at stake, FTU’s actions have been met with a ruthless counter-campaign of harassment and intimidation.

Throughout 2006, FTU representatives at Suntex and the neighbouring Bright Sky factory, lobbied the owner of both sites for improvements in employment conditions, particularly contract periods. Violent assaults on FTU officials at both factories ensued. In May 2006, Chey Rithy, FTU vice-president at Suntex, was attacked while he was riding home from work. In October, Em Chhay Tieng, FTU vice-president at the Bright Sky factory, was hit in the face and threatened with arrest during a strike there. They were just two of several FTU officials to be targeted that year.

Such a disturbing pattern of violence sends a chilling message to trade union activists across Cambodia. “Firstly, the killings spread fear among our members,” FTU President Chea Mony told AI. “Secondly, perpetrators of such violence can just continue since no one is brought to justice.”

One result is a stifling of union activity with workers prevented from demanding their basic rights. “As members of civil society we don’t have the means to protect our people, so many local FTU leaders don’t dare to stand up against malpractices in the factories,” he added.

Probe urged into Cambodian labour leader's killing

30/04/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Cambodian unions backed by dozens of foreign companies have demanded an investigation into the killing of a labour leader.

The AFP news agency reports the call comes amid growing concerns over violence against factory organisers.

In an appeal to mark the upcoming May Day, unions are urging the government to conduct a "thorough and impartial investigation" into the February assassination of union boss Hy Vuthy, the third top labour leader killed since 2004.

His death followed the murders of labour organiser Ros Sovannareth and Chea Vichea, who was president of Cambodia's largest union, and occurred during an escalation of attacks against workers' rights advocates.

In a statement the unions say this pattern of violence and the climate of fear it creates for trade union leaders and workers must be stopped.

The statement was endorsed by at last 80 overseas companies and groups -- including international labour organisations and rights watchdogs -- as well as hundreds of Cambodian unions.

It followed demands last week by several international clothing manufacturers for Hy Vuthy's killings to come under greater official scrutiny.

Cambodia's never ending investigations ... especially when it comes to those who oppose the Phnom Penh regime

Union Murder Investigation Already Underway, Government Says

Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27/04/2007

The proper authorities are already investigating the murder of a union activist killed in February, the government said Friday, in response to a letter of concern from several well-known international manufacturers.

Eddie Bauer, the Gap, Hennes & Mauritz, Liz Claiborne and Phillips-Van Heusen urged Cambodian authorities to investigate killings of labor activists in recent years in what they said "appears to be a pattern of violence against union leaders in the country."

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the proper authorities were already investigating the murder of Hy Vuthy, who was killed in February. They had identified two suspects who are now on the lam, he said.

Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh was not available for comment Friday.

Mao Thoura, undersecretary for the Ministry of Commerce, said he had not seen the letter, but said the deaths of the labor leaders were just some of many.

"Many people have died," he said. "Sometimes there were causes. We have to ask the police. We don't know how important the people are, or the causes of the murders. Some person walked outside and died, and it was said the person was ill. People say this (death) has influence."

Only the politicians' deaths influnece other events, he said.

Slain Union President’s wife concerned about her own safety

02 March 2007
By Mayarith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Va Sopheak, the wife of the slain Suntex union president, said that she is currently worried about her own safety and she is calling for assistance from international human rights organization.

The wife of slain Hy Vuthy, said that she is currently in hiding outside Phnom Penh city. She went into hiding after her husband was killed on 24 February.

Va Sopheak said: “I am calling for [human rights] organizations to help me, they are persecuting us. Right now, I do not dare live at home because they came to look for me. I have returned back to my village for a few days, on Monday, I am asked to return back to Phnom Penh, but I don’t know where to stay there. I am very worried about my safety. I am calling on [human rights] organizations to help me. I am penniless after the killing of my husband, I am the only one left to look after our children, if they kill me also, nobody will take care of my children. My children are still very young, I am just a factory worker.”

Khieu Sopheak, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, said yesterday that his ministry did not arrest any suspect yet because the investigation in the case is still in progress.

Khieu Sopheak said: “Because the investigation is still active, maybe that’s why the police and the experts do not allow yet the distribution of information regarding their activities, it can affect the investigation. We have the will, we want to be acknowledged by the public, we don’t want criticisms, therefore we are doing all we can.”

Hy Vuthy was shot by two unknown assassins last Saturday, when he was driving his motorcycle after his work shift in the early morning.

The authority said the 34-year-old victim was shot once in the back, and died on the spot.

The string of killings took place one after another. Singer Pov Panhapich was shot twice the day before the murder of Hy Vuthy. She is now under medical care in Vietnam.

The latest news on Panhapich indicates that she is now conscious but she cannot move yet.

Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, urged, from New York, for the [Cambodian] authority to hurry up and arrest the killers and bring them to justice. She also added that if the authority cannot bring the criminals to court, this will encourage those who use violence, and lead them to disrespect the law.

VOA Tuesday's News Briefs from Cambodia

Heng Reaksmey
VOA Khmer
Washington
27/02/2007

The National Election Committee issued voting guidelines Tuesday in an effort to clarify voter information. Misspelled names, incorrect data, aliases and different spellings of the same name could all pollute the April elections. Without proper gender, age or address listings, voters will not be allowed to participate. Opposition party Secretary-General Mu Sochua said she welcomed the clarification.

***

The Alliance for Freedom of Expression in Cambodia will hold a "Rights March" that will begin on Feb. 28 at Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh travel to Angkor Wat, about 280 km to the north. The march is to promote free expression, political tolerance and non-violence and will end March 15, the group said in a statement Tuesday. Secretary-General Ou Vireak said the group wants the government to give more freedom of speech to its citizens and to prevent violence in the upcoming elections.

***

Sam Rainsy Party legislator Yim Sovan has written a letter to National Assembly President Heng Samrin, asking that he and Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng investigate the murder of a labor union leader and others. Hy Vuthy, a union leader at the San Tek garment factory, was shot dead last week. A closer investigation into his death would show that the legislative and executive branches are responsible to voters, Yim Sovan said.

Cambodia: Bring Killers of Trade Unionist to Justice

27 Feb 2007
Human Rights Watch

(London, February 27, 2007) - The Cambodian government must ensure that the killing of trade unionist Hy Vuthy is thoroughly and independently investigated and that all persons responsible are brought to justice in accordance with international standards of fairness, a group of leading human rights and trade union organizations said today. The organizations include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights/FIDH and the World Organisation against Torture/OMCT).

On February 24, Hy Vuthy, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) at the Suntex garment factory, was shot dead while riding his motorbike home after finishing his night shift at the Suntex factory in Phnom Penh's Dangkao district. The murder, which took place one kilometer from the factory, was reportedly committed by two men on a motorbike.

Hy Vuthy is the third FTUWKC official to be killed in three years. Chea Vichea, the union's President, was shot dead in January 2004. In May 2004, Ros Sovannareth, the FTUWKC President at the Trinunggal Komara factory, was murdered.

The killing of Hy Vuthy is the latest in a string of attacks and assassinations of union activists in Cambodia. During 2006 there were several violent attacks against FTUWKC officials at Suntex and the neighboring Bright Sky factory. Throughout the year, FTU representatives at the two factories, which have the same owner, lobbied for improvements in employment conditions, particularly relating to contract periods.

In May the union's vice-president at Suntex, Chey Rithy, was attacked while he was riding home from work. The same month, Chi Samon, FTU president of the Bright Sky factory, was attacked by seven men, allegedly including a member of a rival trade union. He was hit several times in the face and on his body with sticks and iron bars. Still in May, Yeng Vann Yuth, active member of FTU of the Bright Sky factory, was attacked as well. In June, Lem Samrith, FTU treasurer of the Bright Sky factory, was beaten by about 20 men as he was coming out of the factory after a night shift. In July, Lay Chamroeun, FTU vice-president of Suntex factory, was attacked by six young men on motorbikes as he was leaving work. In September, Choy Chin, the union secretary-general at Suntex, was beaten on the head by two men armed with a metal pipe. In October, Em Chhay Tieng, FTU vice-president of the Bright Sky factory, was hit in the face and threatened with arrest during a strike in the factory.

Such a pattern of violence is extremely likely to have a chilling effect on the members and leaders of FTUWKC and other union activists throughout Cambodia. It results in the stifling of trade union activities among workers. Cambodia is a party to all major International Labour Organisation conventions, notably those relating to freedom of association and collective bargaining. It is also a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which both provide for the right of everyone to form trade unions and join the trade union of his or her choice as well as the right of trade unions to function freely. The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders of 1998 also enshrines "the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights".

Prosecuting those responsible for Hy Vuthy's killing is the only way to give a clear signal to the perpetrators of acts of violence against trade unionists that such behaviour will not be tolerated in the future. The Cambodian government must put an end to the prevailing climate of impunity.

Cambodian capital hit by two high profile shootings last week

26 Feb 2007
Cambodian Press Review

Phnom Penh last week saw the high profile shootings of a popular performer and a trade union leader in both of which robbery has been rejected as a motive, according to newspapers.

Popular singer and televsion host Pov Panhaprich has reportedly survived being shot by a gunman on Norodom Boulevard Friday morning, but may be paralyzed for the rest of her life, said surgeons who operated on the singer, Rasmei Kampuchea reported in its Sunday-Monday edition.

“She has already passed the critical state, but appears to be disabled [and] unable to move her body for [the rest of her] life,” said doctors in neighboring Vietnam ’s Ho Chi Minh city, where the victim has been sent for treatment, according to the newspaper.

Pov Panhapich was initially taken to Preah Ketoh Mealia Military Hosptal and then Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh before being sent to Ho Chi Minh city at 9:30 am the same day after she was struck by two bullets, noted Samleng Yuvechun Khmer Saturday.

Her health status has been stable, Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth said, adding that medical officials have retrieved one bullet from the back of the 23-year-old singer’s neck, but are still to remove another from her hip bone, reports The Cambodia Daily.

Witnesses said they saw a gunman in his 20s shoot Pov Panhapich from the back of a motorcycle at a close range of about a meter when she was walking to the English Language Training Institute after parking her car, according to the newspaper.

Touch Naruth said that the shooting could have resulted from a grudge into which police are probing, Kampuchea Thmey wrote.

“At the first step, we believe that this is not robbery...this is the case of grudge, but we can not conclude what problems caused the grudge, but are waiting for an investigation before making a conclusion,” Sralanh Khmer on Saturday quoted him as saying.However, in The Cambodia Daily today, he said that police have yet to decide the motive behind the assault, and to identify suspects.

Rumors have spread that the murder has grown out of anger of the wife of a general who had left his house to live with the chanteuse, wrote Rasmei Kampuchea.

Kem Ron , who claimed to be Pov Panhapich ’s cousin, denied that the murder has something to do with “a love triangle,” saying it could stem from a grudge, Samleng Yuvechun Khmer wrote.

Since 1999, four popular female artists including Piseth Pilika , Touch Srey Nich, Tat Marina and Pov Panhapich have been lethally attacked or injured seriously, note news archives. No one has been arrested for the attacks.

The Khmer Actress Association issued a statement Friday urging authorities of all levels to unmask and bring Pov Panhapich ’s assailant to justice, reported Rasmei Kampuchea.

A day following Pov Panhapich’s shooting, Hy Vuthy, a factory-level union leader at Suntex garment manufactuerer in Dangkor district’s Choam Chao commune was shot to death by an unknown gunman at 5:15 am as he was driving home on a motorbike from the factory, newspapers reported Sunday.

According to witnesses, the perpetrator, in plain clothes, was on a motorbike with an accomplice near the 36-year-old unionist and fired three bullets at him with a K 59 pistol, Sralanh Khmer wrote.

Two of the bullets hit Hy Vuthy in the lower part of his left armpit and the left waist, according to Rasmei Kampuchea. Hy Vuthy , a member of the Free Trade Union of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUKC), died after being taken to a private hopstial.

“It was not a robbery because the killers didn’t take his motorbike,” said Dangkao district deputy police chief Chuop Sok Heng, adding that suspects have not been identified, reports The Cambodia Daily.

District police chief Bon Sam At said Hy Vuthy could have been killed due to revenge, according to Sralanh Khmer.