Activists in Cambodia urge release of Suu Kyi

Wed, May 27, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Rights activists demanded freedom for Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, ahead of a series of meetings between European Union and Southeast Asian ministers in Cambodia.

Dozens of Western, Myanmar and Cambodian rights campaigners demonstrated at the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh, urging ministers to pressure the ruling junta to release the opposition leader and other political prisoners.

"We are asking ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) that is meeting with the EU (European Union) to raise this issue to be discussed during the meeting," said Kek Galabru, president of a local rights group.

"ASEAN must push for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi," she added. Asian and European foreign ministers on Tuesday called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other Myanmar political prisoners after two days of Asia-Europe meetings in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

She is on trial in military-ruled Myanmar where she faces up to five years in jail on charges of violating her house arrest after an incident in which an American man swam to her house.

Representatives from the EU and the 10-member ASEAN were scheduled to attend a welcome dinner Wednesday evening, ahead of Thursday meetings intended to focus mainly on cooperation between the two regions amid the global financial crisis.

"According to the official agenda of the meeting, they will not discuss about issues of any specific country," Cambodia's foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told AFP.

"We don't know whether the ministers will raise the issue of Myanmar to be discussed or not. If they do, it will be an unofficial agenda," he added.

Several local diplomats, however, told AFP they expected Myanmar to be at the forefront of discussions.

Myanmar's treatment of prisoners, along with North Korea's recent nuclear test, dominated much of the agenda during Hanoi's ministerial meetings this week.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention for 13 of the past 19 years since her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in 1990 polls but was not allowed to take power.

The Nobel laureate took the stand for the first time on Tuesday in her trial at Yangon's notorious Insein jail and argued she had not violated the terms of her house arrest.

Cambodian sex workers better off home than Australia say officials

Wed, 30 Apr 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian officials expressed concern Wednesday after an Australian sex worker association called for skilled migrant visas for foreign prostitutes willing to work there, citing an Australian shortage. Cambodia, infamous for its flesh trade, would not allow sex workers to travel to Australia on skilled migrant visas to ply their trade if it could possibly help it, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.

"We just banned marriages to foreigners because of exploitation issues. Now it is difficult to marry a Cambodian, but for sex work it will be even more difficult," he said by telephone.

Cambodia banned marriages to foreigners earlier this month, citing potential abuse of often under-educated and poor Cambodian women who often do not understand their rights.

Australia's Scarlet Alliance, a lobby group for brothel owners, Tuesday demanded a skilled migration stream for foreign sex workers, saying Australia needs them as much as it needs more doctors.

"We are seeking a human rights approach to labour migration generally, so that any labour migration policy can include a non-discriminatory approach to sex workers as well," Scarlet Alliance spokesperson Elena Jeffreys told national broadcaster ABC Tuesday.

She said that the millions of dollars a year the immigration department spent on deportations and brothel raids would be saved if sex workers could apply for visas under the skilled migrant category.

However, Cambodia urged caution when suggesting such a scheme.

Cambodian officials and rights activists pointed out Wednesday that most Cambodian sex workers, some of whom currently work for as little as 1.25 dollars a client and rarely fit criteria for an Australian work visa, were ripe for exploitation.

"We would not support a proposal like this, but of course it is up to the individual sex workers whether they apply," leading rights activist Kek Galabru said by telephone "I will advise against it."

KKF: Growing International Support For Khmer Krom Issues in Geneva

KKF Delegations with Professor Yash Ghai and representatives from LICADHO and UNPO
KKF Delegations Thach Ngoc Thach, Venerable Berong and Thhai Makara with member of High Commissioner for Human Rights in Asia and UNPO

Fri, 2008-03-21
Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF)

Members of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) have traveled to Geneva, Switzerland for the 7th Session of Human Rights Council (HRC), arriving earlier this week.

Mr. Thach Ngoc Thach, KKF President, Mr. Thach Vien, KKF Vice President of Europe Chapter, Venerable Thach Berong, KKF International Affairs Officer and Mr. Thhai Makarar, KKF Youth Committee headed to Geneva to submit a report to the HRC about the ongoing human rights abuses and religious violations committed by the Vietnam government.

Starting from 3 March until 28 March 2008, governments, indigenous peoples and international agencies gather to speak about human rights.

It provided a great opportunity for organizations to network, share information and provide support to one another.

Upon arrival, the KKF Delegations were met with surprising support from different organizations also attending the conference.

KKF met with Professor Yash Ghai, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in Cambodia spoke about the religious violations in the Mekong Delta. During his speech to the HRC, Professor Ghai spoke about the issues KKF brought up.Click here to read his speech

The delegation also met up with representatives from Human Rights Watch, High Commissioner for Human Rights in Asia, Commissioner for Human Rights on Indigenous Peoples and Amnesty International.

They made an appeal to European Union delegations and ambassadors to support the Khmer Krom issues.

They also initiated a meeting Mr. Thun Saray, President of ADHOC and Dr. Kek Galabru, President of LICADHO.

According to the KKF delegation, the growing support by international agencies and organizations has provided a great moral boast and credibility to the work of the Federation bringing greater hope and a brighter future for the indigenous people of the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.

Local Group Backs UN Envoy's Rights Report

Licadho's Kek Galabru

By Ker Yann, VOA Khmer
Washington
21 March 2008

A human rights report delivered by a special UN envoy to the Human Rights Council in Geneva this week was accurate and in line with reports from other agencies, a human rights worker said Thursday.

The Rights Council report, delivered by UN envoy Yash Ghai, outlined widespread human rights abuses, especially in land thefts.

Rural displacement remained a problem, as well as the shooting, wounding and killing of protestors, Kek Galabru, founder of the rights group Licadho said Thursday.

Ghai, who has been denied official meetings on trips to Cambodia in the past, also met with Om Yentieng, head of Cambodia's Human Rights Committee, on the sidelines of meetings this week.

Speaking from Geneva on "Hello VOA," Kek Galabru called the meeting a positive sign that will hopefully lead to more cooperation in the future.

"In the end Mr. Yash Ghai told the conference he was very pleased to have Mr. Om Yentieng meet with him outside the conference to discuss different issues," she said.

International Women’s Day

Mother and child in prison (From: Prison Conditions in Cambodia 2007: The Story of a Mother and Child)
Violence in prison (From: Prison Conditions in Cambodia 2007: The Story of a Mother and Child)

LICADHO Press Release
6 March 2008

My name is Lina* and I live in prison with my daughter, Maly in a prison cell with twenty-five other women. I had no other choice but to bring my daughter with me into prison. Maly was very young at the time. My husband had died and I didn’t have any family living near that could take care of Maly.

In prison everyday I struggle to feed Maly, because even though I have an extra mouth to feed I am not given any extra food. I have to share what little food I receive with Maly. We only have access to dirty drinking water that is always black and makes me sick. Maly gets very sick from drinking this water also . If you don’t have any money to buy coal to boil your water, or money to buy bottled water, then you have to drink this dirty water.

The worse thing about having Maly live in prison is that she is treated just like a prisoner. She is always locked up and does not have any freedom. She is never allowed to play like a regular child.

Maly is too young to understand what is happening or to understand what living in prison means, however I am always very sad at the thought that my child has to grow up in prison in such bad conditions.

Lina is one of over 640 female prisoners living in prison and one of the 43 women who currently live with their children in prison - her daughter is one of those 50 children. Their story is told in the LICADHO report, entitled Prison Conditions in Cambodia 2007: The Story of a Mother and Child, which is being released to mark International Women's Day, March 8 2008.

The report aims to provide a first hand account of life in prison for women who bring their children with them to live in prison. Cambodian law permits children under the age of six to live in prison with their parent, if no other alternative care is available. The main issues of concern for these children are that they do not receive enough food (no extra food is allocated to mothers with children, they must share their food), there is no adequate access to education and that while they live with their mothers in prison the children are essentially treated like prisoners.

"International Women's Day is day that is meant to celebrate all women and promote the rights of women. In particular on this day we would like to remember those women living in prison and their children, who are also vulnerable members of society that should not be treated any less nor forgotten." Kek Galabru, LICADHO President.

To commemorate International Women’s Day and to draw attention to the situation of women in Cambodia’s prisons, LICADHO will distribute food and materials to female prisoners, children living with their mothers in prison and female prison guards at 20 prisons all over the country.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Kek Galabru, President of LICADHO at 012 940 645

* All names have been changed, to protect their privacy.

Millions in Aid Has Failed to Bring Justice, Rights Monitor Says

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
10 December 2007

Fifteen years of aid money and millions of dollars have failed to bring a court system capable of providing justice to Cambodians, a leading rights leader said Monday.

Kek Galabru, who founded the prominent rights group Licadho, said Monday's International Rights Day march was good, but the overall view of Cambodia's progress was not promising. "What we want is not just the freedom for one day, today, but law," she said, for the future freedoms of assembly, protest and expression.

Licadho issued a report ahead of Rights Day, calling for real reform of the courts, which suffer allegations of corruption and politicization, and lead to impunity for criminal government officials.

Donors were not evaluating the right progress as they give millions of dollars in aid, Kek Galabru said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."

"Evaluation should not be based on training and court-building renovation, but actual daily work on legal procedures," she said.

Aid Not Monitored Enough, Advocate Tells 'Hello VOA'

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
18/06/2007

Too much aid has entered Cambodia unmonitored since 1991, Kek Galabru, founder of the rights group Licadho, told "Hello VOA" Monday.

Speaking from Phnom Penh ahead of donor meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, Kek Galabru said 18 countries, including the US, Japan, the EU and Canada continually pledge money, while the government continually falls short of development promises.

Callers asked about conditions and promises tied to aid, and whether NGOs could propose ideas in order to keep the government on task.

Some countries, like the US, which just returned direct aid to Cambodia, monitor their aid closely, but other countries do not, Kek Galabru said. They should, she said.

Donors give aid because they see a need in Cambodia, she said, and NGOs have never asked them to stop.

However, what NGOs want to see is close monitoring of aid for the improvement of the country, in areas like human rights, land conflict, good governance, improved judiciary, education, health, illegal logging, among others, she said.

Rights Leader: Tribunal Talks Cause for Hope, Concern

Kek Galabru, president and founder of Licadho

Khemara Sok
VOA Khmer
Washington
12/03/2007

The head of a leading rights group told VOA listeners Monday that, while she was increasingly hopeful jurists could settle rules governing a Khmer Rouge tribunal, key sticking points remained that could spoil it altogether.

Kek Galabru, president and founder of Licadho, told listeners of "Hello VOA," a semiweekly call-in show, that she was keeping close tabs on a 10-day series of meetings that began last week and she had been on the phone with participants over the weekend.

What she was hearing from judges and prosecutors, collectively called jurists, gave her hope, she said, but she was still concerned about protection of witnesses, the rights of the accused and the independence of the pre-trial chamber, a critical component of the tribunal.

International and Cambodian jurists are meeting for the third time since November to mend differences over "internal rules," which govern the actual functioning of a tribunal. Observers say failure to find common ground after these meetings will ruin the tribunal because either it will exceed its three-year mandate or the UN-appointed jurists will walk away from the process.
"One of the foreign jurists told me that there cannot be a Khmer Rouge tribunal if the internal rules cannot be drafted," Kek Galabru said.

So far, the meetings were bringing results, and that was positive, she said, but the rights of witnesses should be protected as they had in other fully independent war crimes tribunals, such as those examining killings in Yugoslavia or Rwanda.

"There was a good system to protect the defendants and the victims in [Yugoslavian and Rwandan] courts, because they tried to cover up the faces and change the voices so no one would take revenge afterward," she said.

So far, the internal rules in the Cambodian joint tribunal fail to protect victims and defendants sufficiently, she said.

Defendants should have the right to appoint their own lawyers, something that is not yet agreed on, she said.

"The international courts respect the right of the defendants to choose a lawyer freely," she said, adding that defenders should have the same resources as prosecutors. "There must be a balance between the plaintiff and the defendant."

She also warned that a delayed trial would mean delayed justice, echoing concerns of others that former leaders of the destructive Khmer Rouge regime will die before going to trial for the deaths of 2 million of their countrymen.

"If now the meeting just goes on without results, the Khmer Rouge leaders will die one by one," Kek Galabru said, "and we don't know then, who are we going to try?"