Surya Subedi investigates forced eviction in Stung Treng due to land concessions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b98kAJnmdLY

UN diplomat denounces court system

U.N. special rapporteur Surya Subedi at the U.N. headquarter in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA’S court system continues to be hobbled by political interference, corruption and a lack of resources, according to the United Nation’s human rights envoy to Cambodia.

In a report released publicly last Thursday, Surya Subedi, the UN’s special rapporteur for human rights, recommended sweeping changes to a court system that he said fails to provide justice to the poor and vulnerable.

“Although the Constitution of Cambodia provides for the separation of powers between the three main organs of the State, in practice the distinction between these organs is blurred and the executive branch dominates the judiciary,” he wrote.

In his candid survey of the country’s courts, Subedi recognised the progress that had been made in passing key legal reforms, but said judicial proceedings continued to be “used by the rich and powerful in many cases to dispossess, harass and intimidate the poor” and those representing them.

The problem has been compounded by a lack of legislation to strictly define the roles and responsibilities of judges and allow them to operate impartially. He noted that corruption seemed to be “widespread at all levels in the judiciary”.

The report, which is based on Subedi’s mission to the Kingdom in June, highlighted the recent cases against Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Mu Sochua and Khmer Machas Srok newspaper publisher Hang Chakra as examples of political interference in the courts. He also cited the difficulty of the poor in settling land disputes through the courts, with many villagers bypassing the process altogether by making personal appeals to powerful officials.

Subedi closed the report with a series of recommendations, including new laws banning political party members from being appointed as judges and the decriminalisation of defamation.

Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said he agreed with the report’s general conclusions, and that steps needed to be taken to secure the courts’ independence.

“In the future, if we do nothing maybe it will get worse, and the space will be very narrow,” he said. But he added that reforms would require more commitment from foreign donors, who he said have recently scaled back support for legal reforms.

Government officials dismissed the report’s conclusions, saying it did not place enough weight on the country’s achievements.

“Now we are taking care to strengthen the system and strengthen the law,” said Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers. “[Subedi] doesn’t know what’s going on in Cambodia.”

He pointed to reforms enacted since the civil war ended in 1998, including the successes of the Khmer Rouge tribunal and the passage this year of the Law on Anticorruption, which he said would be used to quash corruption in the courts.

Om Yentieng, chairman of the government-run Committee of Human Rights, could not be reached yesterday. Subedi is to present his report to the UN Human Rights Council next week.

Subedi “does not fully understand” the rights situation in Cambodia: Rights violators claim

U.N. special rapporteur Surya Subedi at the U.N. headquarter in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

UN Envoy Issues Sharp Rebuke of Judicial System

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 20 September 2010

“His fate may be the same as Yash Ghai's.”

A new report from the UN's top envoy on human rights that is critical of the country's judiciary could have a harmful impact on his relationship with the government, rights workers said Monday.

Prasad Subedi, the UN special rapporteur for human rights, is scheduled to present a report this month to the UN Human Rights Council sharply critical of the courts and calling for wide changes in the judicial system.

In his report, Subedi urged more tolerance of criticism by public figures and cautioned against using the courts to silence dissent.

He also urged members of the Supreme Council of Magistracy to step down from their positions within the ruling Cambodian People's Party and called for more resources to be put into the court system.

Subedi replaced Yash Ghai as the envoy to Cambodia after Ghai's relationship with the government broke down in the wakes of similarly critical reports, which warned of political instability in the wake of human rights abuses.

“His fate may be the same as Yash Ghai's,” said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, echoing concerns of other groups.

However, government spokesman Phay Siphan said it was too soon to say whether the report would cause a similar rift.

He said, however, that Subedi “does not fully understand” the rights situation in Cambodia.

UN Special Rapporteur criticizes Cambodia's Judiciary

Report by Yun Samean, Radio Free Asia
Video by Uon Chhin

UN official accuses Cambodia of human rights breaches

June 18, 2010
ABC Radio Australia

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Cambodia says he has serious concerns about Cambodia's human rights record. Surya Prasad Subedi has just ended a ten day mission to Cambodia, focussing mainly on the judiciary, and says he's uncovered serious shortcomings. He says it's a judicial system that's critically underfunded and fails to appropriately train people in the basics of human rights law.

Presenter: Rob Sharp
Speakers: Surya Prasad Subedi, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Surya Prasad Subedi

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

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: 2nd-hand Tool

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

Rights Violations Worsened in 2009: Group

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 January 2010

The human rights situation in Cambodia has deteriorated in the past year, Human Rights Watch said on Friday, citing numerous examples of apparent government failure to protect basic freedoms.

“Cambodia’s respect for basic rights dramatically deteriorated in 2009 as the government misused the judiciary to silence government critics, attacked human rights defenders, tightened restrictions on press freedom and abandoned its international obligations to protect refugees,” the group said in a statement, issued in the midst of a two-week visit by the UN’s special envoy for rights.

The statement coincided with the release of Human Rights Watch’s 2010 world report.

Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yiep said the statement was not a fair representation of Cambodia’s rights situation. Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers called it baseless and lacking in integrity.

Human Rights Watch also cited ongoing evictions, land thefts and the arrests of community protesters and activists, along with silenced expression in the National Assembly and court trials against opposition members as evidence of the slide.

The group noted more than 60 community activists arrested or awaiting trial and at least 10 government critics, including four journalists and several opposition party members, who were sued for criminal defamation or disinformation.

The government was sharply criticized for allowing the deportation of 22 Muslim Uighurs back to China in December after they had reached Cambodia in search of refuge.

“Cambodia’s deportation of the Uighurs was a glaring example of the government’s failure to respect human rights,” Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said. “The Cambodian government showed its profound disregard for minimum standards of due process, refugee protection and international cooperation.”

Meanwhile, Khmer Kampuchea Krom seeking refuge from Vietnam or simply migrating faced obstacles in Cambodia finding places to live or getting citizenship, “despite pronouncements by the Cambodian government that it considers Khmer Krom who move to Cambodia to be Cambodian citizens,” the report said.

The rights report came as Surya Prasad Subedi, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, is in Cambodia to evaluate the rights situation.

UN rights envoy to meet with opposition parties next week

Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Ho Vann stands near a barricade that was erected to prevent some opposition MPs from visiting villagers awaiting trial in connection with an October border protest on Tuesday. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Friday, 22 January 2010
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA’S opposition parties will meet with the UN’s human rights envoy, Surya Subedi, in the coming week to raise concerns about perceived injustices in the Kingdom, party members said on Thursday amid warnings from officials that these discussions should not be used to insult the government.

Human Rights Party spokesman Yem Ponarith said Subedi is scheduled to meet the Sam Rainsy Party on Saturday and then hold talks with the HRP on Monday.

“We want to talk about issues of injustice in society, including corruption, violation of land rights, human rights and freedom of expression,” he said.

SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said his party had not yet decided what issues to raise with Subedi and would have to meet first to discuss it.

Subedi, who arrived in the Kingdom on Monday, “intends to use the visit to examine the functioning of the National Assembly and judiciary, including the Supreme Council of Magistracy and the Constitutional Council”, according to a statement issued by the UN on January 15.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the opposition parties, while having the right to raise any issues they want, should not use their meetings with Subedi as an opportunity to attack the government.

“The UN human rights envoy comes to help compromise; he does not have a trend of ordering governments how to work,” he said.

“The opposition parties have to prepare themselves to be in a partnership,” Phay Siphan added.

Khmer Krom migrants appeal to UN envoy as conditions deteriorate

Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

They had no confidence in the government’s ability to help them.

A GROUP of ethnic Khmer Krom who say they are fleeing persecution in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region are making a public appeal to a UN-appointed rights watchdog, claiming Cambodian officials have not been receptive to their pleas for citizenship.

Thach Soong, a representative of 19 Khmer Krom still seeking asylum after fleeing to Phnom Penh following their deportation from Thailand on December 5, said the government has ignored their repeated requests to formally recognise them as Cambodian citizens.

The group now hopes the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, Surya Subedi, who began his second official visit to the Kingdom on Monday, can step in.

“We know he is visiting Cambodia, so we want to ask him for help,” Thach Soong said.

“If he doesn’t help us, then we will die.”

The group has remained in limbo since arriving in December. They have asked for formal identity cards, food, housing and official recognition as Cambodian citizens.

Officials have so far brushed aside requests for identity cards and housing, causing alarm among the asylum seekers.

Already, five among the group – a woman, two men and two girls – have returned to Thailand in another attempt to seek asylum there, Thach Soong said.

“They had no confidence in the government’s ability to help them,” he added.

Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, could not be reached for comment Monday. But he has previously said that any Khmer Krom is entitled under the constitution to live in Cambodia.

Accused monks hiding

Also, five Khmer Krom monks who claim police are accusing them of distributing anti-Vietnamese leaflets that have outraged senior government officials remain in hiding.

“We dare not show our faces, because we fear arrest,” said Liv Phally, one of the five, who believe authorities have targeted them.

Interior Ministry officials, however, have stated that they have never threatened to arrest the monks.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY THARUM BUN

U.N. special rapporteur to make second visit to Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A special rapporteur of the United Nations is planned to make his second visit to Cambodia next week, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Saturday.

In a statement released on Saturday, the OHCHR said Surya Prasad Subedi, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, will visit Cambodia on Jan. 18-30.

This is his second mission to Cambodia. "He intends to use the visit to examine the functioning of the National Assembly and judiciary, including the Supreme Council of Magistracy and the Constitutional Council," the statement said.

His objective is to conduct an analysis of how these institutions work, and the extent to which they provide citizens recourse and remedy for breaches of their rights.

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to follow and report on the human rights situation in Cambodia.

His task is to assess the human rights situation, report publicly about it, and work with the Government, civil society and others to foster international cooperation in this field.

'Talk doesn't cook rice' or protect rights

October 21, 2009
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

The Chinese say, "Talk doesn't cook rice"; the Africans, "When deeds speak, words are nothing"; and an Arab proverb says, "A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain."

There were a lot of words spoken and written 18 years ago today in Paris: Representatives of 19 governments, including that of Cambodia, adopted the "Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict," endowed with "special measures to assure protection of human rights, and the non-return to the policies and practices of the past."

Article 15 of the Agreement reads, "All persons in Cambodia ... shall enjoy the rights and freedoms embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant international human rights instruments."

"To this end," the article continues, "Cambodia undertakes to ensure respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia ...," and the other 18 signatory governments "undertake to promote and encourage respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia ... in order, in particular, to prevent the recurrence of human rights abuses."

In Article 17, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is tasked with continued monitoring of the human rights situation in Cambodia, and "the appointment of a Special Rapporteur" to report his findings annually to the Commission and the General Assembly.

Two days later, on Oct 23, 1991, the participatory states adopted the "Final Act of the Paris Conference on Cambodia," and declared to "commit themselves to promote and encourage respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia." The 1991 Paris Peace Accords promised Cambodia and her people high hopes for the future.

Today, 18 years after the Paris Accords were signed, Special Rapporteur, Surya Subedi, a Nepalese professor of international law at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, submitted his report to the Human Rights Council, as required by the Council resolution 9/15, raising concerns over, among other issues, the need for a "balance between economic development and human rights protection"; the problem of a "disconnect" between "people's rights to own land ... (and) widespread land grabbing and alienation"; a "series of defamation and disinformation charges filed by or on behalf of the Government against members of opposition parties and other critics of public policies or practices."

Subedi writes that to allow this "disturbing trend ... to continue, could seriously undermine the exercise of the constitutional right to freedom of expression, which is essential to effective media freedom, pluralism, diversity and democratic debate."

Subedi's predecessor, Oxford and Harvard-educated Yash Ghai, professor of public law at the University of Hong Kong, appointed as U.N. Special Representative in September 2006, reported to the U.N. Human Rights Council his regret that Cambodians' "frequent response" to "concerns" by special representatives and U.N. bodies, "has been evasion or accusation, scapegoating and intimidation."

Ghai wrote of "the moral and legal responsibility of the international community and its members to support Cambodia in its quest to strengthen human rights and democratic and accountable institutions."

He recommended, "the international community, bound by obligations in the Paris peace agreements, should do all it can to persuade and press the (Cambodian) Government to respect its human rights commitments under the agreements, international human rights treaties and the Constitution of Cambodia."

"The (Cambodian) Government on its part must declare unequivocally to the international community and to the people of Cambodia its obligations, legal and moral, to stop the abuse of rights and to respect the independence of the judiciary and prosecutorial authorities."

Ghai was refused cooperation, personally insulted, and forced to resign in September 2008, after a bad relationship with the Hun Sen regime, which, by virtue of Article 15 of the Paris Accords, agreed to undertake "to ensure respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia ..."

And, today, barely seven months after his appointment by the Council, Subedi, who reminded in his report that the human rights situation in Cambodia has been "the subject of extensive analysis" by four former special representatives, by treaty organs, and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has, like his predecessor, become a subject of criticism of the ruling regime.

As quoted in the Phnom Penh Post, a lawmaker of Sen's Cambodian People's Party, accused Subedi of "bias" against the Sen government: "Based on my observations, Mr. Subedi is not different from Yash Ghai" -- a charge Subedi rejected.

Subedi's report concluded, "the promotion and protection of human rights in Cambodia depends on making real and substantial progress in strengthening the rule of law, creating a clearer separation of power between the three main branches of the Government, protecting the independence of the judiciary, including that of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (Khmer Rouge Tribunal), and addressing issues such as conflicts over land, impunity and control of corruption."

In the final analysis, the 1991 Paris Accords, and the Cambodian Constitution it established, remain words not applied, and intentions not fulfilled, by both Cambodia and the international community, at the expense of the Cambodian people.

As the first patriarch of the Chinese Zen, Bodhidharma, says, "All know the way; few actually walk it," and the French Renaissance writer Michel de Montaigne, "Saying is one thing, doing another."

"You may have a heart a gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg," a saying goes.

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.

UN rep responds to CPP

Monday, 05 October 2009
James O’Toole and Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

THE UN’s special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia on Sunday brushed off government criticisms that he has taken a biased view of the rights situation here, three days after telling the UN’s human rights council in Geneva that “core political rights … have been undermined” in the Kingdom.

On Thursday, UN rapporteur Surya Subedi criticised Cambodia’s criminalisation of defamation and said that rule of law and judicial independence remain limited, according to a UN news report summarising the human rights council proceedings.

Speaking Sunday, Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap criticised Subedi’s remarks, accusing him and other UN representatives of holding a bias against the Cambodian government.

“Based on my observations, Mr Subedi is not different from Yash Ghai,” Cheam Yeap said. Yash Ghai preceded Subedi as UN special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia before resigning in September 2008 after a notoriously stormy relationship with the government.

In an email on Sunday, Subedi rejected the claim that he had taken a one-sided approach to his position. “I am an independent, objective and impartial person, and this is reflected in my report. I have to speak my mind on the basis of information received and personal observations made,” he said.

The Nepalese law professor reiterated his confidence that he will be able to work productively with the Cambodian government. “I hope the government will continue to engage with me and other human rights agencies as the country and the government stand to benefit from such a constructive engagement,” he said.

Weak rule of law, Judiciary not independent, Freedom of speech and assembly undermined: Surya Subedi on Hun Xen's Cambodia

Judiciary, Rights Efforts ‘Weak’: UN Rights Envoy

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
02 October 2009

The Cambodian government rejected a report by the UN’s human rights envoy, who characterized the country’s judicial system and human rights efforts as “weak.”

Suriya Subedi, the UN special rapporteur for human rights, replaces Yash Ghai, who had a prickly relationship with the government and especially Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Friday Subedi “did not see the whole thing.” He added: “He listened to lazy staffs who work here, and he did not check.”

Subedi said in an October report: “The rule of law is weak in the country. The judiciary is not as independent as it should be. Some of the core political rights such as the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly have been undermined.”

Subedi said Cambodia’s defamation laws have gone beyond a permissible level in restrictions on the freedom of expression under the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Cambodia is a party.

Ny Chakriya, chief of investigation section for the rights group Adhoc, said that in light of the report the government should review its human rights situation.

“It is simple for the government to deny the UN’s report, but the most important thing is for the government to consider what [Subedi] raised in his report,” he said. “The government denial is unacceptable.”

Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, agreed with the report, saying, “many UN representatives in Cambodia are always raising the same human rights issues in Cambodia.”

UN expert: Free speech deteriorating in Cambodia

2009-10-01
Associated Press

A U.N. human rights expert says freedom of speech is deteriorating in Cambodia after several government critics were convicted of defamation.

Surya Subedi says the conviction of an opposition lawmaker and two journalists in recent months "is a disturbing trend."

Subedi is U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy for human rights in Cambodia.

The Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, meanwhile, will debate a U.S.-Egyptian resolution on freedom of speech Thursday.

European countries have expressed concern that the resolution appears to endorse "codes of conduct" for journalists and give religions protection from criticism.

Pair of reports on land rights face cynicism

A man stands on the railway tracks near Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh last week. Plans to rebuild the lines have left residents in Tuol Kork and Daun Penh next in line for eviction. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

Thursday, 10 September 2009
Robbie Corey-Boulet and Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

"The strongest reason for the government to be concerned is the fact that this is the biggest issue that could undermine the ruling party" - Ou Virak, CCHR President

TWO new reports addressing land rights in Cambodia argue, as others have, that the pursuit of development has led to widespread rights violations, including forced, sometimes violent evictions.

But they also share a conciliatory message that emphasises the importance of government dialogue with affected communities and civil society.

That message has drawn scepticism from civil society and opposition figures, who on Wednesday said they doubted such an approach would amount to much in light of the government's tactics in recent land-dispute negotiations.

An overview of land disputes released today by the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), a coalition of NGOs, offers "a painful look into the lives of people affected by forced evictions and intimidation".

It then positions the coalition as "a bridge to support genuine and productive dialogue between communities and policymakers".

Similarly, a report to the UN Human Rights Council, released Monday, expresses concern over the "commonplace" evictions of families who had been living in their homes for years.

The report's author, Surya Subedi, a UN envoy on human rights in Cambodia, later adds: "This is an area where I will be happy to offer my advice and seek to foster cooperation in the search for long-term solutions to this painful issue."

In interviews Wednesday, observers said this faith in dialogue might be misplaced.

CHRAC Executive Secretary Suon Sareth acknowledged that several past attempts by affected residents and civil society to engage constructively with the government had failed.

He cited a case last month in which about 300 Cambodians involved in land disputes in 19 different provinces petitioned the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Interior and the National Authority for the Resolution of Land Disputes.

The effort was an attempt to circumvent unresponsive provincial authorities, but Phnom Penh officials also failed to respond to the villagers' petition, Suon Sareth said.

"The complaints have been ignored," he said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Wednesday that all complaints were forwarded to the ministry's inspection department. He added, as did other officials, that the government was more than willing to engage with residents affected by land disputes.

"The ministry has always welcomed complaints from people about land cases," he said.

But Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said he believed threats and other forms of intimidation were often conveyed under the pretense of constructive dialogue, citing as examples meetings between officials and residents of the evicted Dey Krahorm and Group 78 communities.

"I get a lot of complaints from people who say they were forced to leave there, that they were forced to take compensation," he said. "Then the government tells the media, 'Oh, the people have agreed to leave, they have agreed to take the compensation.' There are threats and intimidation behind that."

Naly Pilorge, director of the rights group Licadho, also said officials' interactions with villagers involved in land disputes were often of little benefit to the villagers themselves.

"Information about the dire situation of people and abuses committed on people related to land are often dismissed despite credible evidence," she said.

For his part, Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the stated goal of the UN and CHRAC to foster more good-faith government engagement might not be unrealistic given that government officials want to keep donors happy and retain voter support.

"The strongest reason for the government to be concerned," he said, "is the fact that this is the biggest issue that could undermine the ruling party."

New UN rapporteur concerned about land rights in Cambodia

Surya Subedi (Photo: Reuters)

June 29, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

The new UN special envoy for human rights to Cambodia says a corrupt judiciary, forced evictions and land grabs are the country's most pressing issues.

Nepali-born Surya Prasad Subedi is Professor of International Law at Leeds University. Professor Subedi has just spent ten days in Cambodia.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Surya Prasad Subedi, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

SUBEDI: The impression I have formed after meeting so many people both within the government and outside of the government, NGO people, people who have been evicted from the land, other pressure groups, I have met a broad section of the population and have come to the conclusion there are serious human rights issues here that have to be tackled and I will doing my best to help the government to tackle those problems.

LAM: Yours is a delicate job of course. You are the UN representative of UN Secretary-General, and at the same time you must work with the Cambodian Government, which in the past, hasn't taken criticism to well. Do you think that might pose a huge challenge to you?

SUBEDI: Indeed, I am aware on the rather unpleasant relationship between the government of Cambodia and my predecessor - that is always the risk for any special rapporteur, because your mission, your mandate is to promote human rights and be critical where there are shortcomings and failures. If people are willing to accept the shortcomings and engage in a constructive dialogue, then we can be effective. But I met the prime minister and a number of other senior ministers and I was pleased that they have acknowledged that there are shortcomings and they would like to engage in a constructive dialogue with me. I have noticed that there was a change in approach, a change in tone at least, during my first visit to Cambodia.

My meeting with the prime minister this time was a cordial one. It lasted for nearly two hours and I was able to raise a number of issues with him, especially relating to the rights of people evicted from land and their settlement problems and other issues relating to corruption and the independence of the judiciary, clearer separation of power between the three main branches of the government - mainly the legislative, judiciary and the executive. And he was listening to me attentively, and that gave me certain indication that perhaps they are willing to listen to me and work with me, but it remains to be seen how they will react when I go into the details.

LAM: The question of forced eviction and land grabs in Cambodia, for instance. Many of these developers have links to people in high office. Do you think that might pose a huge insurmountable challenge to getting some kind of justice for these people who were forcibly removed from the land?

SUBEDI: There are very many difficulties that lie ahead, but again my approach would be to give them concerted set of recommendations. If you were to do the following things, perhaps the situation would be better. For instance, those forcibly evicted from the land don't have a great deal of confidence in the judiciary. So if the judiciary were to strengthen, independence of the judiciary was enhanced, corruption was controlled, then people would go to court, and to get their legal remedies. For instance, those who have possession rights over the land, but not a proper title, they can go and prove their case before a court of law. That should be the way in a democracy, so that these are the areas that we can planning to pay particular attention during my work.

LAM: Well, you have just finished a ten-day tour of Cambodia. When do you intend to return to the country?

SUBEDI: Hopefully in the second half of November, and at that time I will have a special focus on certain areas, but have land rights and the resettlement issues would be on the top of my list and then make a series of recommendations to the government and to the United Nations.

LAM: What to your mind is the most pressing human rights issue in Cambodia today?

SUBEDI: The most pressing right is the independence of the judiciary and the freedom of speech. These are the two overall key issues, but within that you have the third one will be people evicted from their land and the resettlement. I have identified already these three areas as the private areas of my work.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Tamer

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

Robert Petit to ship out ... Surya Subedi lands in

Canadian prosecutor quits tribunal

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, June 26 (UPI) -- As one international legal expert packs his bags to leave Cambodia, another unpacks his on a first trip to a country coming to grips with its tragic and ongoing human-rights issues.

Canadian Robert Petit has announced he will step down as co-prosecutor of the tribunal charged with bringing to justice members of the feared former rulers Khmer Rouge who killed more than 1.6 million people during their brutal rule between 1975 and 1979.

At a news conference in the capital Phnom Penh, Petit cited personal reasons back in Canada for his decision to leave on Sept. 1. He will likely return to the capital Ottawa to take up a government job, he said.

Meanwhile, Surya Subedi, the new U.N. special envoy for human rights to Cambodia and law professor from Nepal, held a news conference at the end of a two-week trip. He met many government officials, he said, including Hun Sen, the one-eyed controversial political -- and also former Khmer Rouge -- leader.

As prime minister since taking control in a bloody coup in 1997, the reputed chess player and chain-smoking Sen has been dogged by claims of corruption in his administration. The last U.N. special envoy for human rights, Yash Ghai, a lawyer from Kenya, quit in September 2008 after falling out with 56-year-old Sen, claiming the prime minister would not meet him.

Subedi, who until recently was a professor of international and human rights law at Leeds University in the United Kingdom, said he would adopt a "constructive approach" in helping the country improve its human rights.

Subedi said that the independence of the judiciary and unlawful evictions of people from their homes would be a focus of his work.

Relief agencies and anti human-trafficking groups have repeatedly pointed out that one of the country's biggest human-rights issues is prostitution and alleged government connivance that enslaves tens of thousands of women, many underage girls.

Subedi will report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Petit, who will continue to work on the tribunal, has denied rumors that he was leaving over allegations of corruption and mismanagement of the tribunal, set up in 2006. But Petit, who has served on genocide tribunals in Sierra Leone and Rwanda, did tell local media that the government should put to rest the corruption issue as soon as possible. The tribunal court is also underfunded, he said.

The court, consisting of five Cambodian judges plus four international experts such as Petit, started hearing its first case this year. Kaing Guek Eav, now 66, was known as Duch when he was running the torture and execution camp Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh. Around 15,000 prisoners are said to have died.

Eav is one of five prisoners being held under the tribunal's remit. But arguments have arisen between the Cambodian and international judges over just how far down into Cambodian society the tribunal should drill seeking evidence on former Khmer Rouge cadres and leaders.

The issue is sensitive, not least because Sen himself was a former Khmer Rouge member during the terrible years of Pol Pot's regime, whose mass murders became infamous as the "killing fields."

But Sen eventually fled Cambodia for Vietnam, where he joined troops opposed to the Khmer Rouge and who also had the backing of Vietnam's fledgling communist government. When Vietnam invaded and installed a new government in Cambodia in 1979, Sen was made minister of foreign affairs.

Earlier this month Sen was reported to have hit out at non-government organizations, warning them against spreading "nonsense" about the government and its policies.

New UN rights envoy to Cambodia pledges 'constructive' talks

United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Surya Subedi speaks to the media during a news conference in Phnom Penh June 25, 2009 after paying a 10-day official visit to Cambodia. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Friday, June 26, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The new UN special envoy for human rights to Cambodia on Thursday pledged a "constructive approach" as he replaced his predecessor, who resigned after a long war of words with the government.

Surya Subedi levelled no direct criticism of the Cambodian government's poor human rights record as he concluded his first trip to the country.

"I'm hoping to build on the work done by my predecessors," Subedi told reporters at a press conference, adding, "I have my own style, and that style will be a constructive one."

Prime Minister Hun Sen called the envoy's predecessor, Yash Ghai, rude, stupid and a "god without virtue". The Kenyan lawyer resigned in September after government officials refused to meet him.

Subedi told reporters he met Hun Sen, other government officials, opposition and civil society members during his 10-day visit to Cambodia.

On his meeting with Hun Sen, Subedi said: "What I can assure you is that there was a willingness to work with me in a constructive manner, and I was pleased with that."

The Nepalese law professor, who will issue a report on his trip to the UN's Human Rights Council, said the independence of Cambodia's judiciary and people being forcibly evicted from their homes were among his chief concerns.