Cambodian rights group warns new law could criminalize free speech

Dec 9, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - A leading rights group warned Thursday that Cambodia's new penal code, which is to be enacted this week, could be used to criminalize freedom of expression.

Speaking ahead of Friday's International Human Rights Day, Licadho director Naly Pilorge said the law contained a number of clauses that could result in fines and imprisonment for people speaking out.

'Unfortunately, with the new penal code taking effect on December 10, we may see two or three steps backward for 2011,' she said.

Pilorge said that from Friday, comments like those made this year by UN human rights head Navi Pillay, who criticized Cambodian court judgements against the leader of the opposition and a senior member of his party, could see the person making them jailed for up to six months.

In a brief accompanying report, Licadho said it was concerned the 'courts will stretch this provision to include literally anything the judiciary does and thus criminalize all criticism of the judiciary.'

'The scope of these provisions is breathtaking,' Licadho president Pung Chhiv Kek said.

The organization identified nine sections in the law that it said could pose 'a serious threat' to people's right to speak out.

Among them was the 'vague and highly subjective' definition of contempt, which carries a jail term of up to six days.

'Taken to the extreme, the article essentially criminalizes all acts which hurt the feelings of public officials,' it said, adding that the provision could be used in land evictions to detain community activists or people who insult police when their land is taken from them.

This year, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights to Cambodia Surya Subedi noted that the judiciary was failing in key areas. Such comments could now see him jailed if repeated under the new laws, Licadho said.

The Cambodian government has been criticized in recent years for its thin-skinned approach to dealing with its critics and repeated efforts to clamp down on its detractors in politics, civil society and the media.

How free is Freedom Park?

Cambodian workers pushing a cart loaded with bricks for 'Freedom Park' in Phnom Penh. AFP

Wed, 06 Oct 2010
By Suy Se
AFP

It has been billed as Cambodia's version of Speakers' Corner in London, but rights groups fear Phnom Penh's new Democracy Square is designed to keep protesters isolated and out of sight.

Workers are putting the final touches to a 60 by 200 metre, tree-lined open space near the US embassy and the Cambodian capital's famed Wat Phnom temple, which historically marks the centre of the city.

Nicknamed Freedom Park and set to open shortly, it will serve as a designated area for people to air their grievances, not unlike Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park or its equivalent in Singapore.

But rights activists say the move is an attempt to keep protesters off the streets and away from government offices and legislative buildings, which are traditionally the focus of rallies and occasional scuffles with the police.

"Unfortunately, it is far away from the institutions where the decisions are made," said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, adding that he would have preferred a site near the National Assembly.

While would-be protesters can still apply for permission to stage a demonstration in other parts of the capital, critics expect the government will use Democracy Square as an excuse not to grant such permission.

'Protesters will lose the freedom'

"When the park opens, the protesters will lose the freedom to protest in front of key institutions," Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, told AFP.

"They will be threatened and forced to rally at Freedom Park."

Yim Sovann, an outspoken member of parliament from the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party, echoed those concerns.

"It will not be a Freedom Park, but a park to deprive the people of freedom and rights," he said.

He added that the square, an open, un-shaded space in a city where temperatures regularly top 30°C, is too small to accommodate a sizeable crowd.

"We will not stand under the hot sun in such a small place. We will ask for a permit to march through the streets if necessary," he told AFP.

But Phnom Penh's police chief Touch Naruth warned that no more street protests would be allowed because they interrupt the flow of traffic.

'Police would crack down rallies'

He added that police would "crack down" on any unauthorised rallies outside government buildings or Prime Minister Hun Sen's home, another popular protest site.

Last month villagers from Battambang province protesting outside the premier's home about land grabbing were "quite aggressively dragged onto buses" and driven out of town, said Mathieu Pellerin of local rights group Licadho.

And in August 2009, again outside the premier's house, a number of opposition supporters were injured after clashing with police who were seen grabbing, punching and kicking protesters.

Cambodia's government has repeatedly been accused of trying to stifle free speech in the last year.

Last October, it passed a much-criticised law requiring protesters to seek official permission five days ahead of a planned rally and limiting the size of demonstrations in public spaces to 200 people.

Authorities also reserve the right to ban protests on safety grounds.

In a report released earlier this month, Licadho accused the government of continuing to "pursue repressive tactics, terrorising human rights defenders and undermining their ability to defend peacefully the rights of others".

"Now, we see that when rights defenders speak too much, they could end up in jail," the group's president Kek Galabru told AFP.

"Freedom of expression is facing challenges — it's going down," she said.

But government officials insisted the human rights situation in the country was improving and the park was a good idea, modelled on foreign examples.

"Any country has this kind of place. People can protest and say whatever they want in this place," said government spokesperson Khieu Kanharith.

Phnom Penh's Democracy Square will not be Cambodia's only version of Speakers' Corner, as the law calls for similar sites to open in provinces across the country, much to the dismay of activists.

Groups ask donors to intervene

Thursday, 06 August 2009
Sebastian Strangio and Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

FOREIGN donors have been accused of failing to hold the government to account by rights groups who have called on the international community to ensure aid payments support reforms and do not go towards strengthening a corrupt system of government. In the wake of opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua's conviction on defamation charges Tuesday, rights groups said donors were taking no action in the face of an escalating crackdown on government critics.

Sara Colm, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, called the Mu Sochua verdict a "slap in the face" for international donors and the Cambodian people.

"Donors who've been supporting the rule of law and judicial reform programmes in Cambodia need to take a long hard look at the actual lack of progress and good will on the part of the government," she said. "It's really a sham to continue funding judicial reform, rule of law [and] democracy-building programmes."

Others said that if foreign governments are going to provide yearly aid to Cambodia, conditions should be set. "This is taxpayers' money from different countries, and with the financial crisis it's even more important that countries are held accountable," said Naly Pilorge, director of the rights group Licadho.

A report released by the UK-based corruption watchdog Global Witness in February said that the donor community appeared "ill-prepared or reluctant" to hold the Cambodian government to international good governance standards despite pledging nearly US$4 billion in aid since 2002."The lack of public response from donors is another example of a failure on the part of the international community to confront this culture of impunity," said Amy Barry, a Global Witness spokesperson. "Donors must use the influence and leverage they have to promote good governance and hold the Cambodian government to account. Freedom of expression is a crucial element of this."

During a press conference at Sam Rainsy Party headquarters after her court hearing, Mu Sochua called on international donors to ensure foreign aid payments were not poured into a corrupt system. "We call on the international community not just to take note, but to take action," she said.

"We cannot let aid come into Cambodia and go into this system, which provides no justice for the poor."

A spokesman for the US Embassy said the country would continue to "monitor closely cases of defamation and disinformation" to see that proper judicial processes are followed. "The Cambodian constitution provides for free speech, and we hope that the Royal Government will seriously consider the effect that decisions on defamation have on this guaranteed right," the spokesman said.

British Ambassador Andrew Mace declined to comment on the Mu Sochua case Wednesday, but said that representatives of EU governments would be meeting with the government on Friday to discuss the recent crackdown. Officials from the French and German embassies in Phnom Penh could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mu Sochua, who was ordered to pay 16.5 million riels (US$3,937) in fines and compensation for defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen, is the fourth government critic to have been convicted on defamation or disinformation charges since June. "These recent convictions and sentences seem inconsistent with [international] standards," the Phnom Penh office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement Wednesday. "Their cumulative effect risks stifling public debate on important issues of public interest and reduces the space for the exercise of the most core of democratic values: freedom of expression."

Mu Sochua flew to the United States on Wednesday, after filing an appeal against the verdict. She has said she will refuse to pay the fine. "She has not fled the country. She flew to meet with American representatives to tell them about human rights, the judiciary, land disputes and corruption," SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said Wednesday. "There is nothing to flee."