July 17, 2006
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)--Democratic freedoms and human rights are being eroded in Cambodia, despite a rosy economic picture recently promoted by the government, a leading human rights group said Monday.
At the same time, the country's power and wealth "is increasingly being consolidated into the hands of a small elite, who use their position to expand and solidify their personal privilege, usually at the expense of the poor and dispossessed," the Cambodian human rights group Licadho said in a report Monday.
Cambodia is being threatened by "a growing risk of political, social and economic instability fueled by the discontent of those who find themselves abused and dispossessed by the state," it said. The current situation "is that of a wobbly kneed democracy reverting to an increasingly authoritarian state."
Licadho, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, was founded in 1992 as an independent group to promote respect for civil and political rights.
Repeated calls to government spokesmen for comment went unanswered.
However, when Yash Ghai, the U.N. Secretary-General's special envoy for human rights in Cambodia, made similar charges in March, they were angrily rejected by Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Cambodia is actually a "heaven" for non-governmental groups to do their work, Hun Sen, the country's unquestioned strongman, said last month.
The Licadho report said the economic growth rate of 13% that the government claimed to have achieved for 2005 was a "facade" hiding a wider range of problems facing the country's people.
"Land conflicts arising from private claims or large economic land concessions are evicting thousands of families from their homes every year, depriving them of education, health services and other essentials while fueling poverty and discontent," it said.
Ordinary citizens continue to suffer human rights abuses from the government's police and military while having little recourse "in Cambodia's notoriously corrupt and politicized courts," said Licadho.
According to the U.S. State Department's annual worldwide survey of human rights last year, "the government's human rights record worsened, as the country's fragile democracy suffered several setbacks, particularly in the areas of political participation and freedom of speech."
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)--Democratic freedoms and human rights are being eroded in Cambodia, despite a rosy economic picture recently promoted by the government, a leading human rights group said Monday.
At the same time, the country's power and wealth "is increasingly being consolidated into the hands of a small elite, who use their position to expand and solidify their personal privilege, usually at the expense of the poor and dispossessed," the Cambodian human rights group Licadho said in a report Monday.
Cambodia is being threatened by "a growing risk of political, social and economic instability fueled by the discontent of those who find themselves abused and dispossessed by the state," it said. The current situation "is that of a wobbly kneed democracy reverting to an increasingly authoritarian state."
Licadho, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, was founded in 1992 as an independent group to promote respect for civil and political rights.
Repeated calls to government spokesmen for comment went unanswered.
However, when Yash Ghai, the U.N. Secretary-General's special envoy for human rights in Cambodia, made similar charges in March, they were angrily rejected by Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Cambodia is actually a "heaven" for non-governmental groups to do their work, Hun Sen, the country's unquestioned strongman, said last month.
The Licadho report said the economic growth rate of 13% that the government claimed to have achieved for 2005 was a "facade" hiding a wider range of problems facing the country's people.
"Land conflicts arising from private claims or large economic land concessions are evicting thousands of families from their homes every year, depriving them of education, health services and other essentials while fueling poverty and discontent," it said.
Ordinary citizens continue to suffer human rights abuses from the government's police and military while having little recourse "in Cambodia's notoriously corrupt and politicized courts," said Licadho.
According to the U.S. State Department's annual worldwide survey of human rights last year, "the government's human rights record worsened, as the country's fragile democracy suffered several setbacks, particularly in the areas of political participation and freedom of speech."
No comments:
Post a Comment