Rights Leader Regrets Loss of UN Envoy

Kek Galabru, founder of Licadho

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
10 October 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

For the first time since the Paris Peace Accords, Cambodia will not have a UN human rights envoy from the secretary-general, but will instead have a rapporteur assigned by the UN Human Rights Council.

Kek Galabru, a leading human rights activist in Cambodia who founded the group Licadho, said she "regretted very much" the change.

"We still see the UN human rights envoy as being able to help promote human rights in Cambodia," she said Thursday, as a guest on "Hello VOA."

Former rights representatives of the UN secretary-general have been unbiased in their reporting, she said.

This reporting has sometimes led to a strain on relations between the UN and Cambodia, especially with the previous envoy, Yash Ghai, who resigned earlier this year.

Kek Galabru said the Paris Peace Accords required an envoy from the secretary-general, but on Sept. 24, the Human Rights Council chose instead a posting for rapporteur. This will make a difference, she said, because the rapporeur will not report directly to the secretary-general.

Om Yentieng, head of the government's human rights committee, said in a recorded statement Ghai had made inaccurate reports on Cambodia.

Om Yentieng declined to comment on the current human rights situation in Cambodia, leaving it to "third parties" in order to avoid sounding "proud."

Hun Sen Renews Attack on UN Envoy Yash Ghai, Defends Burma

On 12 December, Cambodian Government-run Phnom Penh Television Kampuchea [ TVK ] in Cambodian at 0655 GMT carried a 60-minute recorded video report, following its midday newscast, on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife presiding over an inaugural ceremony for six female students living quarters buildings in Phnom Penh on the morning of 12 December.

At the event, before concluding his address on the importance of the living quarters and urging the students to take good care of them, Hun Sen renewed his tirade against UN special envoy for human rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai, that he did not mention by name, for the latter's recent criticism of the human rights situation in Cambodia.

Hun Sen said, "There is someone who is a long-term tourist talking irresponsibly that I do not need to reveal his name. You are free to come, but Hun Sen has the right not to receive you. Various government officials have the right to receive or not to receive him, but Hun Sen will not receive him forever." He added he was not obliged to see the UN envoy and the latter deserved it. He said, "if UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon continually employed this kind of person, you are free to do so."

Hun Sen said, "You just come here for a few days, what do you know? Every time he comes, he causes trouble to other people. If his country is talked about, it is 100 times worse than ours. You should go and improve your country. He is a Kenyan; this should be said clearly like this."

Hun Sen said, "During [Khmer Rouge leader] Pol Pot's era, why did you not shout, and now you shout that Cambodia has no law and customs and is uncontrolled. If there is no law, do you think that all the people can live like this? If there is no law, can you travel to various provinces? Will you not be attacked in ambushes? If it is like Nairobi, will you not be in danger, as Nairobi is a breeding ground for robbers? You are so lousy.

"Anyway, I wish to inform UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that if he still employs that person, Cambodia's prime minister will continually refuse to work with him. Cabinet ministers and government officials have the right to receive or not to receive him. You do not need to blame them."

Again Hun Sen said, "He deserves it. He is in one's country, but one does not receive him. Whoever wants to receive him can do so, but I will not receive him. I have the right not to receive him." "I wish to declare that if that person is still used, I will continue to refuse to work with him," he pointed out.

Commenting on the Khmer Rouge [KR] trial, Hun Sen said, "Previously, they claimed that we did not have the goodwill to proceed with the trial. We dragged on negotiations. We made laws incorrectly. The Royal Government was like this or that. However, now, all what they claimed are completely wrong, because all the top KR leaders have been arrested by virtue of the court's warrants. Nonetheless, when they talked wrongly about the past, they have never compensated us. They know only what is right, but they never accept what is wrong. In the past, they supported the KR to sit at the United Nations. However, now, the KR leaders are brought to trial, the value of which equals a slap in their face. They have never said that their policy of supporting the KR at the United Nations is a wrongdoing. They have never mentioned this." Now, they have "acknowledge that we have fulfilled the commitment as a sovereign state and a host, contributing to the implementation of the agreement reached with the United Nations on the KR trial." However, if they just say that they are "very sorry for the past misunderstanding about the government's attitude, is that wrong, abject? It is not abject. But they only know one thing: right, right, and right."

On the question regarding Burma, Hun Sen said, "Now, Burma, Myanmar has proceeded smoothly, but they go and disturb it again. There are also reports on human rights situation in Myanmar. However, Cambodia will make a statement against it." He added, "If all continue to oppose and put pressure on it, how can Myanmar solve its problems. Not only is Mynanmar not be able to solve problems, but I am unable to do so either."

Hun Sen also said it was not because Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein just visited Cambodia that he defended Burma, "but can it be offered opportunities to work? And the problems in Myanmar cannot be solved in one day, and they do not concern only two or three people, but the entire nation."

Hun Sen said one might wonder why Rangoon and Phnom Penh were so in agreement, but "this is a question of principle. They [Burma] also want national union, democracy, and respect of human rights." He added, "We do not agree with the suppression [in Burma] either. However, the two sides should exhibit patience."

After Fear, Fear, Fear, now comes Threat, Threat, Threat

Hun Sen 'Defies' UN Rights Envoy

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 December 2007

Prime Minister Hun Sen said in public statements Wednesday the UN special rights envoy to Cambodia, Yash Ghai, should be replaced, or the international body can expect no cooperation from him.

Ghai, who is from Kenya, completed a 10-day visit to Cambodia on Monday, claiming at the end that the rights situation remained poor and that people lived in fear of the government, courts and police.

He has said in the past that many of Cambodia's rights problems stem from Hun Sen's authoritarian control of the government.

"You raised only the negative points," Hun Sen said Wednesday, addressing the envoy without naming him during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Phnom Penh. "If we speak of his country, it is 100 times worse than ours. Try to improve your own country first. Don't act too smart in Cambodia. I defy you, I defy your own country and I defy the United Nations."

Ghai is the second UN rights envoy in a row to have earned the ire of Cambodia's cantankerous premier, following the resignation of Peter Leuprecht, another critic of the government's human rights record.

Hun Sen said Wednesday UN Secretary-General Ban Kim-moon should replace Ghai.

"I would like to inform UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon that if he continues to assign this kind of person [as his rights representative], the Cambodian prime minister will not cooperate," Hun Sen said.

Rights workers said Wednesday the government should have met with Ghai during his visit. Instead, he was shunned, meeting only with civic groups and disaffected villagers, including victims of land grabs in the provinces.

"We are a democratic government, in which we announced that we respect human rights, so we should have come to meet him," said Van Sophath, a rights worker with the group Licadho. "Don't try to conceal, but seek solutions. That I think is a good image for Cambodia."

Hun Sen meets his match in the UN Special Envoy on Human Rights for Cambodia?

'Every time he comes, he always causes trouble,' Mr Hun Sen (above) said of Mr Ghai. (PHOTO: AP)

Cambodian PM vows never to see UN rights envoy

Dec 12, 2007
AFP

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday he would never see the UN human rights envoy to the kingdom following his scathing appraisal of the nation's judicial system.

Mr Hun Sen said he has the right not to see Yash Ghai, a Kenyan lawyer, and accused the UN rights representative of highlighting 'only negative points' of his government.

'Every time he comes, he always causes trouble,' Mr Hun Sen said, adding he 'will never meet' Mr Ghai and called him 'a long-term tourist.'

'His country is 100 times worse than our country,' the premier said, adding Mr Ghai will 'never get along with me.' Hun Sen was speaking at the opening ceremony of a student building.

Mr Ghai said on Monday that Cambodian courts have failed to provide justice, leaving the population in fear of going to court.

The UN envoy was speaking at the end of a 10-day visit, during which he said no Cambodian government officials met him.

Mr Ghai has repeatedly clashed with Mr Hun Sen and Cambodian officials in the past due to his unusually blunt assessments of Cambodia's reform failures.

Mr Hun Sen has never met the Kenyan lawyer, who was appointed as the UN rights envoy in November 2005.

Relations between Cambodia's government and UN rights envoys have historically been poor, with Mr Hun Sen calling Mr Ghai's predecessor Peter Leuprecht 'stupid' - a term he also used to describe Mr Ghai, along with 'rude' and a 'god without virtue.'

Hun Sen proposes the replacement of UN Envoy; Is it because Prof. Ghai hit him right on his soft spot?

Hun Sen proposes replacement of UN human rights envoy to Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Wednesday criticized the current UN human rights envoy to Cambodia Yash Ghai and proposed to Secretary-General Ban Kim-moon that he should be replaced.

Yash Ghai on Monday attended a ceremony in Phnom Penh to mark the International Human Rights Day and released a statement claiming that Cambodian citizens live in fear of land grabbing, repression and a court system which offers scant hope of justice, with international donors seemingly turning a blind-eye.

"I hope U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kim-moon should monitor this person because I don't have the right to change him," said Hun Sen, without revealing Yash Ghai's name.

"The secretary-general has the right to use this person to continue his work, but I have the right of not meeting him forever," he told the opening ceremony of a women's dormitory center inside the Institute of Technology of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.

"He came here for a short period of time, so how could he know about the (real) human rights situation in Cambodia? This person didn't say the positive signs in Cambodia but only the negative signs," Hun Sen said.

"This person's own country, Kenya, is in bad situation of human rights and he should go to his country to improve them there," he added.

"I suggest to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kim Moon, if he still uses this person, the Cambodian prime minister won't work with him forever," he said.

On Tuesday, Cambodian government officials also denounced Yash Ghai as unwelcome person for the kingdom.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told reporters that Ghai's words were an incitement for the people to revolt, adding that Ghai isn't fit to be U.N. envoy.

Ministry of the Interior spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak said that Ghai wanted to make people oppose the government.