US Dept. of State 2009 Human Rights Report: Cambodia

Source: US Department of State

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

March 11, 2010

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy with an elected government and a population of approximately 14 million. In the most recent national elections, held in July 2008, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, won 90 of 123 National Assembly seats. Most observers assessed that the election process improved over past elections but did not fully meet international standards. The CPP consolidated control of the three branches of government and other national institutions, with most power concentrated in the hands of the prime minister. Although civilian authorities nominally controlled the security forces, in many instances security forces acted under directives of the CPP leadership.

The government's human rights record remained poor. Security forces committed extrajudicial killings and acted with impunity. Detainees were abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh. Human rights monitors reported arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial detention, underscoring a weak judiciary and denial of the right to a fair trial. Land disputes and forced evictions were a problem. The government restricted freedom of speech and the press through defamation and disinformation lawsuits and at times interfered with freedom of assembly. Corruption was endemic. Domestic violence and child abuse occurred, education of children was inadequate, and trafficking in women and children persisted. The government offered little assistance to persons with disabilities. Antiunion activity by employers and weak enforcement of labor laws continued, and child labor in the informal sector remained a problem.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

There were no reports that the government or its agents committed politically motivated killings; however, security forces reportedly committed extrajudicial killings, although significantly fewer than in previous years.

The Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) reported 18 arbitrary killings, seven of which allegedly were committed by police, three by soldiers, one by a military police officer, and the remaining seven by local-level government officials. Police arrested suspects in at least four cases.

On March 4, Inn Pheang, a soldier in the military's Battalion 617, reportedly shot and killed opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) activist Mang Vith during a dispute in Kampong Cham's Memot District. Sources agreed that Mang Vith was drunk at the time of the incident, and the two men exchanged words briefly before Inn Pheang opened fire. The soldier reached a settlement with the victim's family out of court.

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Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai

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Excerpt from Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

99. Year after year, the Special Representative’s predecessors and others have addressed the problems of the legal and judicial system in Cambodia and made numerous recommendations, to no avail. The Government has no incentives for reform, as the international community continues to make large financial contributions regardless of widespread violations of human rights.

100. A distinguished Cambodian legal scholar recently commented that “the Government is the least serious about the legal and judicial programme”. The World Bank shelved a project because of “a lack of senior-level commitment to the implementation of a concerted legal and judicial reform agenda within the Executive and Judicial branches of the Government”. Another donor has said that numerous plans and councils on good governance are “little more than a studied attempt to tell donors what they want to hear”.

Recommendations to the Government

101. The Government has primary responsibility for the rule of law. The Special Representative would stress the following recommendations, many of which were made previously:

• The Government must respect the independence of all prosecutors and judges, including those (and defenders and administrative staff) within ECCC.
• The Government must devote more resources to the justice sector. Efforts to train lawyers and to recruit prosecutors and judges should continue and the aim should be for everyone to be within easy reach of a court and for delays in proceedings to be minimized.
• The Government should appoint a committee drawn from Government, the BAKC, human rights NGOs and local and foreign experts, to advise on the organization of legal aid. Its recommendations should be implemented speedily.
• The Government must promote respect for the rule of law within the State and society. It must set the example, as guardian of the Constitution and the law. Laws must be implemented fairly and fully and effective remedies for the violation of rights ensured, if people are to trust the notion of rule of law.
• The Government must urgently enact laws on demonstrations and anti-corruption, ensuring that they comply with the Constitution and human rights standards.
• The Government must protect the rights of indigenous persons and others who, due to illiteracy, customary practices and expectations, communal forms of organizations etc., are not familiar with the law or its procedures, the rules for making of economic transactions or with the market economy. Steps must be taken to ensure that State authorities, including communes, are no longer involved in transactions of dubious morality or law that undermine the rights of these communities and individuals.
• The Government must do all it can to stop forced evictions. It must never be complicit in unlawful evictions. Internationally accepted guidelines must be observed, including the principles that nobody should be made homeless as a result of development-based evictions, the full and informed consent of those targeted for eviction. Evictions should be carried out only in exceptional circumstances, and solely for the purpose of promoting the general welfare in a democratic society. The use of force should be prohibited. No one should be imprisoned in relation to protecting their rights to land and housing and anyone detained in this context should be released. A moratorium on forced evictions should be declared, to allow the determination of the legality of land claims to be made in an objective and fair manner.
• The Government must establish an independent authority to receive complaints about maladministration by the State (including institutions of justice). A Human Rights Commission fully established on the Paris Principles could be given this task.
• The Government must respect the duty and right of civil society to promote and protect human rights and observe United Nations resolutions on the rights of human rights defenders. No restrictions should be placed on reasonable activities of local communities and non-governmental associations.
• The Government must deal fairly with specific cases brought to its attention in recent reports of the Special Representatives and human rights organizations, including the circumstances in which the Venerable Tim Sakhorn disappeared. These steps should include justice for the alleged killers of union leader Chea Vichea and bringing to justice his real killers.

Recommendations to civil society actors

102. The Special Representative stresses the important contribution of civil society (including non-governmental organizations, lawyers, universities, think tanks and other educational and research institutions) to the common effort to establish the rule of the law. He encourages them to pursue their efforts, with determination, patience and courage, in a spirit of openness, dialogue and cooperation with the government authorities. They should continue to provide people with information about human rights, institutions and remedies, and with a voice when the administration, lawmakers and the judiciary do not listen. Discussion with the people about the Special Representative’s reports and feedback should be encouraged.

103. Educational institutions and NGOs should engage the public, through seminars, media and publications, on the procedures and practices as well as the rulings and judgements of ECCC, to create awareness of the meaning and importance of the rule of law.

Recommendations to the international community,
including United Nations institutions

104. To be seriously considered and implemented by the Government, the recommendations of the successive Special Representatives need to be endorsed and supported by foreign Governments and international agencies.

• The international community should set up or facilitate the setting up of an independent expert commission to review the working of the legal and judicial system, to make recommendations, and to report annually to the international community and the Royal Government of Cambodia, one month ahead of the consultations between the Government and the donors and lenders. The commission should develop effective and realistic criteria to assess progress, paying particular attention to the enforcement of the law and the independence of the prosecution and judges. The report should form the basis of consultations.
• Foreign Governments or agencies providing assistance in drafting laws must ensure that the law they are proposing is consistent with human rights. This raises no difficulties in respect of Cambodia’s sovereignty. This is also an international obligation of each and every Member State of the United Nations, under the Charter and under the treaties they have ratified.
• Foreign embassies, collectively or bilaterally, should engage the Government in dialogues on human rights and urge the Government to stop the most egregious violations. They should emphasize that respect for human rights is an essential basis of the partnership between them and the Cambodian State and people, and for the pursuance of a development process that places human beings and environment at its heart, rather than unlimited profit and greed, at its heart.
• Since the Constitutional Council has stated that human rights treaties are binding, it is necessary that the decisions of the treaty bodies and of international and foreign courts and tribunals should be taken into account when applying the law. This approach would reinforce the impact that ECCC is expected to have on improvements in the Cambodian legal and judicial system. OHCHR should translate and disseminate major interpretations and conclusions of the treaty bodies.

Note: The chief monk of Phnom Denh pagoda in Takeo Province and an ethnic Khmer from Southern Viet Nam was defrocked on the order of the Chief Patriarch on grounds that his activities in providing shelter to monks from the Khmer Krom minority in Viet Nam fleeing alleged religious persecution had undermined good relations between Cambodia and Viet Nam. He was then driven away by unidentified persons and his whereabouts were unknown until August when he appeared in custody in Viet Nam.

UN Louise Arbour: all countries deserve scrutiny when it comes to human rights, including Cambodia

UN human rights chief says all countries deserve scrutiny

UN News Centre

15 March 2007 – No country is immune from human rights problems and therefore they can all benefit from cooperating frankly with international rights mechanisms, the top United Nations official for the subject said today.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour told the UN Human Rights Council, which is meeting in Geneva, that all nations should cooperate more with her Office and with other mechanisms.

“I am persuaded that more openness and receptivity on the part of governments bring additional benefits and resources in facing up to human rights challenges,” he said.

Her comments came in an address to Council delegates that followed the presentation of her annual report yesterday.

In that report Ms. Arbour said a key test of whether the Council is working better than its derided predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, would be the functioning of the “universal periodic review,” the new mechanism that will allow the rights records of all States to be scrutinized.

Today the High Commissioner also discussed her Office’s country-specific reports on the situation in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Colombia.

In the case of Afghanistan, although the troubled country is making serious efforts at improving its performance across many areas, including security and justice, its transition from war and misrule has been overshadowed by the re-emergence of conflict with the Taliban and related forces last year.

“Increased violence impedes much needed development aid from reaching the population,” she said. “This compounds the condition of grinding poverty that affects the vast majority of Afghans,” adding that women still suffering from widespread discrimination and arbitrary detention and torture are reported regularly.

But she added that the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission “continues to do excellent work, despite risks due to the security situation,” and her Office was supporting it.

In Cambodia, Ms. Arbour’s Office was giving priority to what she described as “persisting patterns of impunity and to issue faced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as other groups and individuals defending human rights.”

She also stressed the need to push for a more independent and professional judiciary, as well as to encourage the creation of legislation more in line with Cambodia’s international human rights obligations.

Colombia’s persistent armed conflict and high levels of drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime have made it much harder to protect human rights in the Latin American nation, the High Commissioner said, noting that guerrillas continue to take civilian hostages.

“Human rights defenders, including trade unionists and social leaders, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, displaced persons, women, children and journalists, are among the most affected,” she said.

Overall Ms. Arbour emphasized the importance of tackling impunity around the world, as well as fighting discrimination in all its forms.

The Council is also currently considering reports on such topics as the defamation of religion, racism, children in armed conflict, the right to development, missing persons, and the death penalty.

UN rights envoy cancels Cambodia visit after scathing report

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - The United Nations rights envoy to Cambodia has cancelled a visit to the country, officials said Monday, just days after the release of his scathing report on the government's rights record.

The visit, which was to begin Tuesday, would have been special representative Yash Ghai's third to Cambodia, where he has been repeatedly attacked by government officials for his unusually blunt assessments on rights violations.

"Yash Ghai unfortunately had to postpone his mission for reasons unrelated to Cambodia," said Margo Picken of the Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Cambodia.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has demanded that Ghai, a lawyer living in Hong Kong, be sacked after his criticism last year of the government's failure to protect basic liberties.

Other senior officials have also lashed out at Ghai, with government spokesman Khieu Kanharith calling him the "laziest staffer of the United Nations" when asked about the report last week, according to media reports.

The report said the government was using systematic rights violations to remain in power, accusing it of refusing to improve its rights record.

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

Other government officials say Ghai is simply bitter because the government does not value his work.

Hun Sen’s reaction to Human Rights report

Police's show of force against people who supported Kem Sokha during his arrest on 31 Dec 2005 (Photo: AFP)

11 March 2007
By Kim Pov Sottan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

On Sunday, Prime Minister Hun Sen had reacted strongly against the criticisms on the respect of human rights and democracy in Cambodia.

Hun Sen’s reaction was displayed during the inauguration of the Bayon TV station which is owned by his daughter. The prime minister declared that Cambodia allows an open freedom of expression, as well as allowing the freedom of press all over the country as can be seen by the hundreds of newspapers published. He claimed that his action is a proof of a full fledge democracy in Cambodia.

Hun Sen said: “[We] guarantee not to send to jail for expressing opinions, whether they are expressed to criticize the leadership of the government, the state institutions, and public officials. On this issue, when the UN came to Cambodia, according to the UNTAC law, if someone is accused of defamation, that person must be sent to jail. I don’t know what other democracy [they want], I don’t understand it. Is it until they take it [democracy] to bury for it to be called democracy?”

Hun Sen’s strong reaction came after a new report was issued by Yash Ghai, the UN Special Envoy in Charge of Human Rights in Cambodia, which stated that the violation of human rights in Cambodia is still endemic.

Mu Sochua, SRP Secretary-General, said that even Members of Parliament will be sent to jail for expressing unpleasing comments. “This is the same as the loss of the people’s rights, because when the people’s representatives have to worry about their immunities [regarding expressing their opinions], this is the same as the people losing their voices,” Mu Sochua said.

Dr. Pung Chiv Kek, President of the Licadho NGO, added that freedom in Cambodia is still limited. “As I said before, in reality, there is some freedom of expression allowed for the news media, however, when they go somewhat beyond the limit, they start facing difficulties. [In fact], there are people still being jailed in land dispute cases, these people dare stand up to voice out their opinion.”

In this new report, Human Rights watch shows that democracy and the respect of human rights in Cambodia is unacceptable. Even though there are numerous newspapers [in Cambodia], the majority of them are only supporting the ruling party. On the other hand, when people are requesting to hold a demonstration, the government had prevented them to do so in the last few years.