US report drug problems in Cambodia ... A good case for the FBI to investigate and find out who's involved in drug trafficking in Cambodia

US: drug problems in Cambodia, Philippines

Fri., Feb. 27, 2009
By FOSTER KLUG
AP

WASHINGTON - The United States on Friday praised Beijing for its efforts to fight drug smugglers but said China remains a major transit point for international drug markets.

The State Department, in its annual survey of global counter-narcotics efforts, also described substantial drug problems facing Asia, including in Cambodia, the Philippines and Myanmar; progress was seen in Laos and Vietnam.

While Beijing recognizes drugs as a major threat to its security and economy, "corruption in far-flung drug-producing and drug transit regions of China limits what dedicated enforcement officials can accomplish," the report said.

North Korean drug activity, the report said, "appears to be down sharply. There have been no instances of drug trafficking suggestive of state-directed trafficking for six years."

But, the State Department said, not enough evidence exists to determine if state-sponsored trafficking has stopped. The State Department has previously raised suspicions that Pyongyang derived money from drug production and trafficking.

In the report, the United States also said that drug runners have increasingly looked to move their products through Cambodia because of Thai and Chinese crackdowns.

The report noted "a significant and growing illegal drug problem" in Cambodia. It praised the country for destroying seized drugs and stiffening penalties for drug use and trafficking but said corruption hampers government efforts.

The State Department called the scope of the drug problem in the Philippines "immense," despite law enforcement efforts to disrupt major drug organizations. Still, the report said, the government had some success enforcing counter-narcotics laws.

Laos has made "tremendous progress" in reducing opium cultivation, but, the report said, the country's momentum is "stalling, and gains remain precarious."

Vietnam was said to have continued making progress in fighting drugs, improving its pursuit of drug runners and its cooperation among state agencies and with the United Nations.

The report said that, in 2007, rising opium values pushed poppy cultivation into new regions of military-run Myanmar. The State Department did not receive 2008 U.N. statistics on Myanmar in time for the annual report.
___
Associated Press writer William C. Mann contributed to this story.

Cambodia’s human rights record remains poor ... that's why the gov't leaders and their cronies become ulta rich

Government Defends Rights Record

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 February 2009

Cambodia’s human rights record remains poor, the US said in an annual report Wednesday, but a senior government official said the situation was improving.

The US State Department’s 2008 “Human Rights Report” cites security forces that act with impunity, the abuse of detainees, forced evictions, endemic corruption, a weak judiciary and the denial of rights to fair trial as reasons for the poor rating.

However, Om Yentieng, a senior government adviser and head of Cambodia’s Human Rights Commission, told VOA Khmer that Cambodian rights situation was progressing year by year.

This year was better than last year, but the government continued to make improvements, he said.

The US report had the same findings as Adhoc, according to an investigator for the rights group, Chan Saveth. The government has so far failed to show commitment to human rights, he told VOA Khmer.

“The Cambodian government should take action against human rights abuses,” he said.

Am Sam Arth, an investigator for the rights group Licadho, said 17 cases of extrajudicial killing in 2008 proved the rights situation had not progressed.

Corruption and a biased judiciary supporting the powerful meant the loss of rights for the impoverished, he said.

US State Dept: Hun Sen government's record "remained poor" during 2008

U.S. challenges several Asian countries on human rights

Thursday, February 26, 2009
By Mark McDonald
International herald Tribune (Paris, France)

HONG KONG: The U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights took a number of Asian countries to task over a broad range of issues in 2008.

Countries such as Myanmar, North Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia were sharply criticized, while Indonesia and Thailand received generally high marks.

The survey (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/index.htm), a worldwide roundup required by Congress, is compiled from reports by U.S. diplomats in each country.

CAMBODIA: The State Department said the government's record "remained poor" during 2008, and it criticized extrajudicial killings by security forces, arbitrary arrests, prolonged pretrial detentions, a weak judiciary and denials of the right to a fair trial.

Seizures of private land for government and commercial projects has caused extensive unrest in Cambodia, especially in the capital Phnom Penh, and the U.S. report cited land issues as "a continuing problem."

"Corruption was endemic," the report said.

The commercial sex trade continued to ensnare women and children, the report found. Cambodia has long been a regional destination for child-sex tourists, and the report cited "increasing reports that Asian men traveled to the country to have sex with underage virgin girls."

HONG KONG: The U.S. report found that the Hong Kong government "generally respected" the rights of its citizens in 2008 and passed new measures to protect women against violence, including marital rape.

One of the persistent "core issues" of concern for the State Department, however, is the semi-autonomous Chinese territory's Basic Law, which the report said "limits the ability of citizens to participate in and change their government."

"The legislature was limited in its power to introduce or amend legislation," the survey said, "and could not approve executive appointments."

INDONESIA: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton detoured through Indonesia last week during a trip to Asia - her first overseas mission for President Barack Obama - and she said the country had undergone "a great transformation" since the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago.

The State Department report, on balance, also was complimentary of Indonesia, referring to "significant measures to advance human rights and consolidate democracy."

"Indonesia deserves credit - really remarkable," said Zachary Abuza, a professor of political science at Simmons College in Boston and a widely recognized expert on Southeast Asia. "The story of this year's election is that there is no story: parties are out doing things parties do, candidates are campaigning, and there is little political violence. Democracy, albeit imperfect, is taking root."

But Abuza added that "the usual suspects deserve their comeuppance" in the report - the judiciary, well-connected business interests and the military.

"In practice," the State Department said, "the judiciary remained susceptible to influence from outside parties, including business interests, politicians, and the military."

MACAO: Incidents of official corruption, human trafficking and some limits on political activities were the principal blots - and largely minor ones, according to the U.S. report - on the record of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which the report said "generally respected the human rights of its citizens."

But the survey cited a number of cases of Hong Kong lawmakers, politicians and activists being denied entry to Macao, presumably for their opposition to the proposed Article 23, a broadly worded amendment to Hong Kong's Basic Law that prohibits subversion against the Beijing government. Macao's largely pro-Beijing Legislature passed a version of the measure on Wednesday.

MALAYSIA: The country's national elections in March were held in "a generally transparent manner," the U.S. report said, and the central government "generally respected the human rights of its citizens."
But the report also found worrisome and chronic problems, including "credible allegations of immigration officials' involvement in the trafficking of Burmese refugees" as well as governmental preferences given to ethnic Malays. Malaysia also continued to restrict some basic freedoms, including press, speech and religion, the State Department said.

In practice, the report found, "the country does not permit Muslims, born into Islam, to convert to another religion," and civil courts have not intervened in these apostasy cases that have come before courts enforcing Shariah, or Islamic law.

"The report completely skipped over the huge number of contentious cases regarding apostasy," Abuza said. "It mentioned the one case of Lina Joy, but none of the others. Communal tensions are as high as they've been in years."

MYANMAR: The report on Myanmar, which the State Department survey refers to as Burma, called the ruling junta "highly authoritarian" and said military officers "wielded the ultimate authority at each level of government."
The U.S. criticisms were harsh and wide-ranging: extrajudicial killings; official rape, torture and disappearances; the abuse, harassment and detention of political activists; the delay of international aid to cyclone victims; use of children as soldiers and forced laborers for the military; the trafficking of women and girls; and restrictions on speech, assembly and worship.

"Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn't influenced the Burmese junta," Clinton said last week. "Reaching out and trying to engage them hasn't worked either."

Two senior opposition leaders - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, a longtime political activist - remained under house arrest. Severe restrictions on aid workers and NGOs remained in place, despite a crippling cyclone in May that left some 130,000 dead and missing. The State Department assailed the junta for delaying the distribution of international humanitarian aid to citizens and areas affected by the storm.

NORTH KOREA: "A dictatorship under the absolute rule of Kim Jong Il" is how the State Department described the North Korean regime.

The report on 2008 reiterates the regime's many known abuses, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture of prisoners through the use of electric shocks, public nakedness and extreme stress positions. "Pregnant female prisoners underwent forced abortions in some cases," the survey said, "and in other cases babies were killed upon birth in prisons."

The regime's nearly absolute control of information meant Internet access was limited to high-ranking officials and select university students, the report stated, noting that Web access was routed by phone lines through China and a local connection linked to a German server.

SINGAPORE: The U.S. report assailed the government's use of its "broad powers to limit citizens' rights and to handicap political opposition," and also criticized the practice of preventive detention, executive influence over the judiciary and abridgements on freedom of speech and the press.

"Government intimidation and pressure to conform resulted in self-censorship among journalists," the report found. "However, there was a moderate level of debate in newspapers and on the Internet on some public issues such as rising income inequality and whether to repeal a statute that bans homosexual activity."

THAILAND: It was a fractious year for Thailand, with anti-government protests and court rulings leading to substantial political changes. Mass protests at one point shut down both the airports in Bangkok for eight days, causing a serious blow to the economy. The political street theater calmed in December, with the selection of a new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The U.S. report found that Thailand "avoided unconstitutional disruptions in governance, and the government's respect for human rights remained unchanged."

"In all, the State Department seems so pleased that Abhisit is in power and that there is the potential for political stability that it's willing to gloss over much of the undemocratic means that got him there," Abuza said.

"The report also glosses over the back-room machinations of the monarchy and the total politicization of the judiciary," he added. "It also generally ignores the fact that under the 2007 Constitution, half the senators are appointed, mainly by the crown."

The report tied numerous human rights abuses to a separatist insurgency in southern Thailand.

"The human rights community has documented more than 34 extrajudicial killings in the south, far above the State Department's reporting," Abuza said.

VIETNAM: The summary of the State Department report on Vietnam was sharp and to the point: "The government's human rights record remained unsatisfactory."
"Political opposition movements were prohibited," the report stated. "The government continued to crack down on dissent, arresting political activists and causing several dissidents to flee the country. Police sometimes abused suspects during arrest, detention, and interrogation. Corruption was a significant problem in the police force."

State controls were found to have been tightened on the press and freedom of speech; foreign human rights groups were barred from the country; and human trafficking, violence against women and Internet firewalls (particularly against sites affiliated with the Catholic Church) remained areas of concern to the United States.

"The country was a significant source for trafficking in persons," the report stated, and there were reports of women being sent not just to other countries in the region but also to Britain, Eastern Europe, and the United States. "Children were trafficked for the purpose of prostitution, both within the country and to foreign destinations."

US welcomes arrests of Khmer Rouge leaders

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Monday welcomed the arrests of Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan and two key associates by Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal.

"The US strongly supports bringing to justice senior leaders responsible for the atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime," the US State Department said in a statement.

The detention Monday of Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan and the arrests November 12 of former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, are "welcome steps for the Tribunal," it said.

"And we await the outcome of the proceedings with great interest," the statement said.

Khieu Samphan was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity after nearly 10 hours of talks between tribunal judges and the detainee's lawyers.

Khieu Samphan was arrested earlier Monday by about 30 armed security forces who seized him from a hospital in the capital Phnom Penh where he had been undergoing treatment since last week.

Witnesses said he was able to walk on his own to a waiting vehicle, but had to be lifted into his seat before being driven away in a police convoy.

Khieu Samphan is the last of five top regime cadres currently under investigation by the tribunal to be detained.

Last week Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith were arrested by the court and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for their alleged role in Cambodia's 1970s genocide.

Regime ideologue Nuon Chea and prison chief Duch were arrested earlier this year and also charged with crimes against humanity.

All have been widely implicated in atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, including "murder, extermination, imprisonment, enslavement and forced labor," according to court records.

Khieu Samphan denied the regime's murderous policies in a new book published just days before his arrest.

Democracy Activist Finishes Tour of US Political Landscape

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
07 September 2007

Ok Amry, a democracy advocate for the Youth Council of Cambodia, recently completed a visit to the US, where he met several presidential candidates and learned, along with similar activists from six other countries, about US democracy.

His visit was a part of the International Visitors Leadership program, sponsored by the US State Department.

In Washington, Ok Amry, 29, said he learned about the American political process, from citizen involvement to the federal government's responsibilities.

In New Hampshire, he met US presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama, to learn about their campaign.

During the tour, Ok Amry said, he was impressed by his meeting with Kids for Democracy, a New Hampshire group that teaches children about the political process.

"With such organizations, young children are being exposed to the country's governmental process and democracy at a very early stage," Ok Amry told VOA Khmer in an interview before returning to Cambodia. "This is astonishing, as it shows that the country's foundation is strong, making the democractic system possible in the US."

"Unlike the US, many countries do not have a foundation for democracy, making a weak base for that body of government to exist there," Ok Amry said.

Seven other democracy activists attended this tour: two from the Philippines and one each from Japan, New Zealand, Tonga, Micronesia and Malaysia.

"This trip was very educational and influential for me on the democratic values of the US," Ok Amry said. "When I return to Cambodia, I will take all that I have learned and share this with the young citizens of our country. I will encourage young people to practice democracy in their daily lives and also ask the Youth Council of Cambodia to promote good citizenship throughout the country by creating democratic communities at home and school."

The Youth Council is a non-partisan NGO representing a coalition of five youth organizations: the Khmer Youth Association, Khmer Students Association, Student Movement for Democracy, Khmer Democratic Youth Association and the United Natural Khmer Students.

US Official concerned about human trafficking in Cambodia

15 June 2006
By Mao Sotheany
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Cambodia has been placed on the US Tier 2 watch list, the same place it was last year, among countries which do not have good record for the elimination of human trafficking.

The US 7th annual human trafficking report published on 12 June 2007, indicated that Cambodia is both a transit point, and a destination for the trafficking and the sex trade of men, women, and chidren.

In an interview with RFA on Thursday, Mark Lagon, US State Department senior adviser on trafficking in persons, expressed his great concerns over human trafficking in Cambodia, in particular, due to corruption which is a major problem in Cambodia.

Mark Lagon said: “All types of human trafficking are steeply soaked with corruption. This is not only due to neglect from government officials, but in fact, they (gov’t officials) are involved in the various illegal practices, and these activities take place because of a weak application of the law.”

The 2007 US report on human trafficking indicated that Cambodian a large number children and women were sold in the countryside and they were brought in to various Cambodian cities such as Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kompong Som, etc… In turn, these Cambodian children and women were further traded for sex to other neighboring countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, China, and Vietnam.

The US report stated that the government of Cambodia should push to bring to justice government officials who benefit or are involved in the trafficking. Furthermore, the report stresses that Cambodia did not ratify the anti-trafficking law which has been in the work for the past seven years.

Political Cartoon: No 2 of Human Trafficking

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

US State Dept: Hun Sen's regime failing to do enough to combat human trafficking

Government Decries Status in US Annual Trafficking Report

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
13/06/2007

A government spokesman rejected Cambodia's status in the US State Department's "Trafficking in Persons" 2007 report, issued Tuesday, which held the country on a watch list for failing to do enough to combat the crime.

Spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the report was unfounded and unfair.

The annual report is the US's top diplomatic tool to pressure countries to fight what the State Department deems "modern-day slavery."

The report acknowledged the Ministry of Interior's Anti-Trafficking Police Unit for initiatives to educate school children on their rights and the risks of trafficking, but other efforts had fallen short of the requirement to move Cambodia to Tier 2, a list of countries that are making sufficient efforts to curb trafficking.

"Cambodia is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year because it failed to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, particularly in addressing reports of public officials' complicity in trafficking," the report said.

Cambodia also has failed to pass an anti-trafficking law that has been in the drafting stage for seven years, the report said.

Trafficking in Cambodia continues not only with the knowledge of authorities but sometimes with their collusion

Nominated Anti-Trafficking Czar Looks to Push Authorities, Help Victims

Brian Calvert, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
10/05/2007

To combat trafficking in countries like Cambodia, the US State Department should rely on its annual human trafficking report to sway Cambodian policy and victim-centered approaches such as shelters to ease the plights of trafficked victims, Mark Lagon, incoming anti-trafficking czar told a panel of Senators Wednesday.

He told the Senators he was dedicated to helping victims—not persecuting them—while pushing governments to do more to abolish modern-day slavery.

Lagon, whom President George W. Bush nominated to be the US anti-trafficking ambassador to foreign countries, told the Senate Foreign Relations panel that the annual Trafficking in Persons report was a way to induce countries like Cambodia to improve their anti-trafficking efforts.

"Trafficking in persons and human trafficking are euphemisms for modern-day slavery," he said in a prepared statement. "Because human trafficking relies on corruption and fraud to succeed, it weakens the rule of law, inviting organized crime to flourish."

Lagon must be approved by the Senate before he can begin his work as an ambassador-at-large for the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. He spoke to a small panel of three US Senators from the Foreign Relations Committee in a hearing that was attended by VOA Khmer.

Human trafficking, especially for the sex trade, remains a problem in Cambodia.

Last year the State Department raised the country from "Tier Three" to "Tier Two" status in its annual "Trafficking in Persons" report, saying authorities had made efforts to combat the problem.

Critics say trafficking in Cambodia continues not only with the knowledge of authorities but sometimes with their collusion.

National Police Chief Gen. Hok Lundy visited Washington last month for talks with US law enforcement agencies, prompting sharp rebukes from rights organizations that implicated him in serious crimes, such as human trafficking, extrajudicial killings and the orchestration of the 1997 grenade attack on opposition demonstrators.

Lagon did not cite Hok Lundy specifically but said in general the State Department wanted to focus on victim assistance, ensuring sex workers and other modern-day slaves are not criminalized.

US: Cambodia Vulnerable to Terror Cells, Corruption

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01/05/2007

Cambodia's weak law enforcement makes it vulnerable to both terrorism and corruption, according to a US State Department report issued Tuesday.

Training and resources remain an impediment to the country's ability to investigate and prosecute terrorists, according to the State Department's annual country terrorism report.

"Cambodia's political leadership, however, demonstrated a strong commitment to take aggressive legal action against terrorists," the report said.

"There were no indications that specific terrorist groups operated in Cambodia, but porous borders and endemic corruption could make the country vulnerable to a terrorist presence," the report said.

The report highlighted Cambodia's efforts, with US help, to install computerized control systems at key entry points: the airports of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh and the land crossings at Poipet and Koh Kong.

"The Cambodian government also cooperated fully with US requests to monitor terrorists and terrorist entities listed as supporters of terrorist financing," the report said. The State Department report comes on the heels of a visit to Washington last week by National Police Chief Hok Lundy, who met with officials from the departments of State and Justice.

He was issued a US visa for his visit despite an outcry from rights groups that the police general was involved in extrajudicial killings and human trafficking, among other crimes.

U.S. State Department Releases 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism

US State Department
Press Release

Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 is the U.S. Department of State’s annual, statutorily mandated assessment of trends in international terrorism, which includes a country by country breakdown of foreign government cooperation in the War on Terror. The report covers events from January to December 2006.

The portion of the report specific to Cambodia is reproduced below. Media inquiries on the report should be directed to the U.S. Embassy's Public Affairs Section. The complete report may be found on the State Department's website at http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/.

Cambodia Country Report on Terrorism

Cambodia's ability to investigate potential terrorist activities was limited by a lack of training and resources. An absence of comprehensive domestic legislation to combat terrorism also hindered the government’s ability to arrest and prosecute terrorists. Cambodia's political leadership, however, demonstrated a strong commitment to take aggressive legal action against terrorists.

There were no indications that specific terrorist groups operated in Cambodia, but porous borders and endemic corruption could make the country vulnerable to a terrorist presence. The Cambodian government believed that the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF), which carried out an armed attack in November 2000 that killed eight people, are still capable of carrying out attacks in Cambodia. The leader of this group was arrested in California in 2005. The Cambodian government was working with the FBI to bring the leader of the CFF to trial in the United States.

Various officials were identified to take positions in Cambodia’s National Counterterrorism Committee (NCTC), a policy level decision-making body established by the government in 2005 and chaired by the prime minister. The Australian military conducted a conference with the NCTC in August and expressed its intention to follow-up with a tabletop exercise with the Center.

In addition to providing assistance for the NCTC, the Australian government was helping Cambodia draft a new counterterrorism law. The draft law was being reviewed by the relevant legislative committee and the national legislature was expected to adopt it. The Australian and U.K. governments jointly sponsored a National Seminar on Counterterrorism in April to help train the Cambodian military and police. The Malaysian government cooperated with the Cambodian government on Malaysia-specific cases.

In December, following the visit of the Sri Lankan prime minister, the Cambodian government announced that a Sri Lankan military intelligence official would work with police and defense officials on intelligence matters. His announcement followed Prime Minister Hun Sen's assurance to his Sri Lankan counterpart that the Tamil Tiger rebels would not receive arms smuggled from Cambodia, although the government acknowledged it was likely this has occurred in the past. Cambodia has destroyed 200,000 small arms over the last several years with EU assistance, and, with U.S. assistance, has destroyed its stockpile of MANPADS.

With U.S. assistance, the Government of Cambodia installed computerized border control systems at Phnom Penh and Siem Riep airports and at the land border crossing of Poipet and Koh Kong. The Cambodian government also cooperated fully with U.S. requests to monitor terrorists and terrorist entities listed as supporters of terrorist financing.

Released May 1, 2007

Hok Lundy Told to Strengthen Anti-Trafficking Efforts

Police Chief Told to Strengthen Anti-Trafficking Efforts

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
25/04/2007

Cambodian National Police Chief Gen. Hok Lundy met with US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and other State Department officials Tuesday, where the general was told "to strengthen significantly [Cambodia's] efforts to combat trafficking in persons, which remains a serious problem in Cambodia," the State Department said Tuesday.

Cambodia has been closely collaborating with the US in counterterrorism and counter-narcotics efforts, but needed "to address its poor human rights record," the State Department said in a statement.

Officials "also urged that Cambodia make much greater efforts to prosecute and convict public officials, including police officers, who are involved in trafficking, and that Commissioner General Lundy make the police more responsive to trafficking issues," according to the statement. "They also noted the need for the government of Cambodia to address its poor human rights record and corruption."

Hok Lundy met with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration Monday, on a trip that brought sharp rebukes from human rights officials. Hok Lundy, a close adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, has been implicated in serious crimes, including human trafficking, extrajudicial killings and orchestrating the 1997 grenade attack on opposition demonstrators.

John Miller, a professor at George Washington University who until recently was the State Department's anti-trafficking czar, told VOA Khmer Tuesday he had been surprised to learn of Hok Lundy's visit.

"He's not the sort of person I would want to give a visa to," said Miller, who visited Cambodia as part of his State Department duties and was close to human trafficking investigations there. "To admit him, the FBI sure must be expecting something significant, but I don't know what it is."

Hok Lundy's deputy, Lt. Gen. Sok Phal, confirmed the meetings, but would not elaborate Tuesday. He said that before returning to Cambodia the delegation was traveling to California, to prepare for a case against arrested members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, who staged an attack in Phnom Penh in 2000.

The US considers the CFF a terrorist organization, and the FBI has been working in collaboration with Cambodia to arrest its members. Chhun Yasith, a California accountant who claimed to be the CFF's president, was arrested in June 2005 on charges stemming from the Phnom Penh attack.

Mr. Hok goes to Washington ... to meet US State Dept Officials

US Dept of State
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
April 24, 2007
Taken Question from the April 24 Daily Press Briefing

Cambodia – Police Chief Hok Lundy

Question: Did Cambodia’s Police Chief Hok Lundy have meetings today at the State Department? Who did he meet with? What topics were discussed?

Answer: Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Anne Patterson, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Affairs Jonathan Farrar met with visiting Cambodian National Police Commissioner General Hok Lundy today. While noting improved bilateral cooperation between the United States and Cambodia in areas such as counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics, Hill, Patterson, and Farrar urged Lundy and the Cambodian police to strengthen significantly their efforts to combat trafficking in persons, which remains a serious problem in Cambodia. They also urged that Cambodia make much greater efforts to prosecute and convict public officials, including police officers, who are involved in trafficking, and that Commissioner General Lundy make the police more responsive to trafficking issues.

Hill, Patterson, and Farrar also stressed to Lundy that the Cambodian police should fully respect and protect human rights as they carry out their law enforcement duties. They also noted the need for the Government of Cambodia to address its poor human rights record and corruption outlined in the 2006 Human Rights Report. They reiterated the U.S. commitment to assist the Cambodian government with improving its law enforcement capabilities and specifically its capacity to fight the scourge of trafficking.

The United States has provided over $7 million in funding to combat trafficking in persons in Cambodia since 2003.

U.S. presses Cambodia police chief on trafficking

Senior US officials confronted Cambodia's visiting police chief Hok Lundy, seen here in 2006, over allegations of rights abuses and corruption by his forces after human rights groups protested the US decision to allow him into the country, the State Department said.(AFP/File/Heng Chivoan)

April 24, 2007
By Sue Pleming

"The statement does not address the most serious allegations against him, and the key question is, did they raise any of those unresolved political killings?" - Tom Malinowski, Human Rights Watch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday urged Cambodia's police chief, himself once a target of U.S. questions over human trafficking, to do more to address the problem and prosecute officials involved in such crimes.

Senior U.S. officials met Cambodia's top police officer, Hok Lundy, at the State Department amid criticism from human rights groups and others that a visa was granted to the police chief in the first place because of questions about his past.

"(The State Department officials) urged Lundy and the Cambodian police to strengthen significantly their efforts to combat trafficking in persons, which remains a serious problem in Cambodia," the State Department said after the meeting.

"They also urged that Cambodia make much greater efforts to prosecute and convict public officials, including police officers, who are involved in trafficking, and that Commissioner General Lundy make the police more responsive to trafficking issues," it added in a statement.

Lundy, who was in Washington chiefly for counter-terrorism talks with the FBI, was refused a U.S. visa in 2005 because of "what was believed to be credible evidence of complicity in human trafficking," former senior State Department official John Miller told Reuters last week.

Asked whether Lundy was asked to address accusations against him during his talks with senior officials, a State Department spokesman declined to provide further details about the meeting.

Lundy previously has rejected charges of human trafficking, but Miller said the police chief is suspected of playing a role in freeing eight traffickers hours after they were seized in a raid in Cambodia.

According to the Human Rights Watch group, Lundy also is suspected of being part of a conspiracy to carry out a grenade attack on opposition leader Sam Rainsy in March 1997. The attack killed 16 people and injured more than 150.

"The statement does not address the most serious allegations against him, and the key question is, did they raise any of those unresolved political killings?" said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch.

U.S. officials who attended Tuesday's meeting included Chris Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and Anne Patterson, assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement.

Despite criticism over human trafficking and other human rights issues, the U.S. officials noted improved cooperation between the United States and Cambodia on fighting drugs and terrorism, the State Department said.

US entrust the mouse (human trafficking) to the fat cat (Hok Lundy) for safekeeping

Cambodia High on List for US Anti-Trafficking Projects

VOA Khmer, Brian Calvert,
Original report from Washington
24/04/2007

In a $74-million US State Department effort to curb human trafficking across 70 countries, Cambodia has the fifth-most number of projects and remains a "major source" of human trafficking, according to State Department documents.

Officials have said, though, that Cambodia's efforts to stop trafficking in recent years have been improving and that those improvements were one reason weighing in favor of granting Cambodian National Police Chief Hok Lundy permission to visit Washington this week.

Hok Lundy met with authorities from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Monday, a Bureau spokesman said. He was scheduled to meet State Department officials Tuesday. His visit comes despite an outcry from human rights organizations that he himself is involved in human trafficking and other crimes.

A State Department official told VOA Khmer last week that officials would deliver a "tough, direct message" to Hok Lundy on Cambodia's human trafficking problem.

Cambodia had five anti-trafficking projects supported by US funds in 2006, putting the country behind Bulgaria, Mexico, Russia and India in number, according to the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

India, Mexico and Cambodia are part of President George W. Bush's $50-million Anti-Trafficking in Persons Initiative, "and are major source and destination countries for trafficking victims," according to the anti-trafficking office.

New-York based Human Rights Watch said in a statement last week that the State Department denied Hok Lundy a visa in 2006 because of his involvement in human trafficking.

"That decision was linked to a brothel raid in December 2004, following which Lundy reportedly ordered the release within hours of several traffickers before an investigation could be conducted," Human Rights Watch said.

Hok Lundy has denied those allegations.

State Department officials declined last week to speak specifically about the claims made against Hok Lundy, saying only that Cambodia had made strides in improving its human trafficking problem.

The US considers Cambodia a country that is "making significant efforts" to meet minimum standards of a US anti-trafficking law.

"The Government of Cambodia made significant progress in combating trafficking in persons" in 2006, according to the State Department's anti-trafficking office. "The National Police reported that as of September 2006, 58 traffickers and pimps had been turned over to the judiciary for prosecution."

The courts made at least 34 convictions, with up to 24-year sentences, according to the anti-trafficking office.

"Cambodia has modestly increased efforts to combat trafficking-related corruption, although punishment of offenders with appropriate prison sentences remains uneven," according to the anti-trafficking office. "In August 2006, three police officers of the Ministry of Interior's Anti-Trafficking in Persons Department were convicted of trafficking-related corruption. However, only one of the three was imprisoned, one officer remains at large, and the other remains in his position. The National Police reported three additional arrests of low-ranking military officers for trafficking-related crimes during 2006."

Hok Lundy awarded by the US Fumbling Blind Initiatives (FBI)

Hok Lundy's Visit to US Follows FBI office, Accolades

Briant Calvert, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
22/04/2007

National Police Commissioner General Hok Lundy’s US visit this week follows the recent opening of an office by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in Phnom Penh and an awards ceremony last month from the FBI’s deputy director, an FBI official confirmed Friday.

Hok Lundy’s trip to Washington was harshly rebuked last week by Human Rights Watch, which implicated the general in serious crimes, including involvement in the orchestration of a 1997 grenade attack that killed 16 Cambodians, injured more than 100 others, including a US citizen.

Hok Lundy told VOA this week he will meet with officials from the FBI, the U.S. Justice Department and the State Department. A member of his entourage told VOA Khmer that meetings with those departments were scheduled in the Washington area on Monday and Tuesday.

FBI Deputy Director John Pistole visited Phnom Penh in March and awarded Hok Lundy a medal for his participation in the arrests of members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, FBI spokesman Stephen Kodak told VOA Khmer on Friday in an e-mail.

Members of the mostly US-funded Cambodian Freedom Fighters were involved in clashes with government forces in Phnom Penh in November 2000. US citizen Richard Kiri Kim was arrested and charged for his involvement with the group following the attack, and Chhun Yasith, a Californian accountant who claimed he helped finance the organization, was arrested in the US in June 2005 on federal charges related to the violence.

The FBI has “currently ongoing” collaboration with Cambodian authorities and the CFF arrests, Kodak said.

Pistole’s trip preceded the opening of an FBI office in Phnom Penh, one the US Embassy said would have “regional responsibilities,” adding to the Bureau’s offices in Bangkok and Jakarta as well as nine other cities in the Asia Pacific.

The legal attaché office opened March 26, the 60th such office the FBI has overseas, Kodak said. Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, the Bureau had 44 offices.

The new FBI office, housed in the US Embassy, comes as Cambodia-US relations are strengthening and as the US continues to root out terrorists in the region.

Cambodian authorities arrested three suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an FBI-designated terrorist organization, in 2003, and the leader of the Islamic fundamentalist group, Hambali, was arrested that same year in Thailand.

U.S. official calls for Cambodian genocide tribunal to move forward

April 7, 2007
By Ker Munthit
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A senior U.S. official urged Cambodian and foreign lawyers on Saturday to put aside their squabble over legal fees and move forward with the much-delayed Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal.

“The Khmer Rouge tribunal is really the opportunity for Cambodia to show the international community how far it's advanced,” said Eric G. John, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs.

“And it would be a shame not to be able to show how far it's advanced by letting this (tribunal) get hung up on what is a relatively down-in-the-weeds monetary issue,” he said at a press conference ending a four-day visit to Cambodia.

On Friday, Cambodian judges for the U.N.-backed genocidal tribunal blamed their international peers for delaying the long-awaited trials.

Foreign judges decided earlier this week to boycott an April 30 meeting meant to adopt rules that will guide the trials. Their decision was prompted by the refusal of the Cambodian Bar Association to reverse a decision to impose high legal fees on foreign lawyers wishing to serve at the tribunal.

The foreign judges have described the $4,900 charge as prohibitive and said it would allow the accused to argue that they have not been afforded the right to have counsel of their choice, in breach of international agreements on civil and political rights.

The Cambodian judges said in a statement Friday that they regretted the foreign judges' decision, which “would further delay the process of the court.”

Many fear that internal disputes could delay efforts to bring the Khmer Rouge's few surviving leaders to trial for crimes against humanity for the deaths of about 1.7 million people during the group's 1975-79 rule. The U.N.-backed tribunal, led by Cambodian and international judges, was expected to begin this year.

“I think what they need to do is look at the much larger picture and how Cambodia looks on the international stage,” John said Saturday. “As goes the tribunal, also goes the image of Cambodia internationally.”

Government Declines Comment on Rights Report [by the US State Department]

Om Yentieng, senior adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen

Heng Reaksmey
VOA Khmer
Washington
07/03/2007

Cambodian government officials declined to comment Wednesday on the US State Department's annual human rights report—in which Cambodia's human rights record "remained poor"—claiming they had not seen a copy yet.

"I cannot make any comment," Om Yentieng, an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen and the head of the government's human rights committee, told VOA.

"You get it much faster" than the government, which had not received a copy, he said.

The US embassy "never pays attention to the government" when it comes to issuing reports, Om Yentieng said.

The report, issued Tuesday, puts Cambodia in the same category as North Korea, China, Cuba and Afghanistan, pointing to extrajudicial killings by government agents and a lack of political will to enforce the rule of law.

Activists welcomed the report, saying human rights in the country still have a long way to go.

"This is due to a political problem," Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, told VOA. "The democratic system is still weak; the National Assembly is still weak."

In other countries, "if the executive branch commits an offense, the National Assembly asks the person to explain and he or she will be dismissed," he said. But in Cambodia, "the Assembly has no right to dismiss the person when he or she commits an offense."

Chan Soveth an investigator for the rights group Ad Hoc, said the US report was accurate and showed that in Cambodia human rights abuse is still an important issue.