"There will be more promises made this year, but without serious donor pressure they, too, will be broken" - Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia directorPHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP): Foreign donors must pressure Cambodia's government to fight corruption, illegal logging and land-grabbing by the impoverished country's rich and powerful, Human Rights Watch said Saturday.
The New York-based group said donors should no longer accept unfulfilled promises of reform that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's government has previously made in exchange for about US$600 million (euro450 million) in aid a year.
"Hun Sen continues to run circles around the donors, making the same empty promises every year and laughing all the way to the bank,'' Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, was quoted saying in a statement received Saturday.
Adams said donors must send the government an unambiguous signal that it has to make good on pledges to fight rampant corruption, land-grabbing and illegal logging, which Adams said have enriched only the rich and the powerful.
Long Visalo, a deputy foreign minister, said the government needs more time to tackle those issues, "but in saying this, it does not mean that Cambodia is not advancing at all.''
Foreign donors and government officials are scheduled to meet June 19-20 to discuss proposals for development aid for Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries. About 35 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people live on less than US$0.50 (euro0.38) a day.
At last year's meeting, donors pledged US$601 million (euro451 million) for Cambodia, despite criticisms from human rights groups about the government's poor human rights record and its failure to fight corruption.
Since then, general progress on government commitments to pursue good governance "is slow while some promised reforms have been stalled,'' the NGO Forum, an umbrella of non-governmental groups in Cambodia, said in a statement Friday.
NGO is an acronym for nongovernment organization.
The forum said Cambodia's government has also missed its promised June deadline of last year for introducing a draft anti-corruption law.
It said the NGOs are also "extremely concerned about the escalating number of poor and vulnerable people being alienated from their land and natural resources, both in urban and rural areas.''
U.S. Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli countered that Cambodia continues to make "solid progress,'' noting its work on fighting bird flu and AIDS, passing an anti-domestic violence law and a penal procedures code.
But he said "the fight against corruption remains the number one concern of the donor community as it underpins our efforts in every other sector,'' he said in an e-mail Saturday.
"Other important areas of discussion will be the environment, land grabbing and good governance, but again, progress in all of these areas is hampered by the systemic corruption we see in Cambodian today,'' he said.
Adams said the meeting has become an empty annual ritual, with the government making and breaking promises every year. The donors "know all about this,'' he said, adding "instead, they are being taken for a ride.''
"There will be more promises made this year, but without serious donor pressure they, too, will be broken,'' Adams said.
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