The Venerable Loun Sovath Wins the Martin Ennals Award 2012

The venerable Loun Sovath walks to the Martin Ennals Award Ceremony in Geneva, 2nd Oct 2012. © Chris Kelly.

The venerable Loun Sovath speaks during a press conference at the Martin Ennals Award in Geneva, 2nd Oct 2012. © Chris Kelly.

The venerable Loun Sovath introduces the head monk of Switzerland at the Martin Ennals Award in Geneva, 2nd Oct 2012. © Chris Kelly.

The venerable Loun Sovath receiving his Martin Ennals Award in Geneva, 2nd Oct 2012. © Chris Kelly.

October 9, 2012
By Chris Kelly
Originally posted at: http://blog.thecauseofprogress.com/

On the 2nd of October it was announced that the venerable Loun Sovath was the laureate of the prestigious Martin Ennal’s Human Rights Defender Award, 2012. He was nominated alongside the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights; two of the founders of which are currently serving lengthy prison sentences on spurious charges, and the Iranian human rights lawyer; Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is also currently in prison for defending her clients and insisting that Iranian authorities respect human rights.

The venerable Sovath has so far managed to avoid a prison sentence, due in part to the privileged position monks traditionally hold within Cambodian society. A monk cannot be arrested or even detained by laypeople (and therefore by civilian police forces, military police or other court officials etc), without first being officially de-frocked by the Cambodian Sangha’s internal authorities, known colloquially as monk police or monk politicians, they are monks that have ordained political powers and are further up the hierarchy of the Sangha. Although Sovath was detained by monk police in May of this year whilst attending a peaceful protest outside the municipal court for the trial of thirteen Boeung Kak activists, he has so far managed to avoid being defrocked. That being said, it is clear from the video that those arresting him have little respect for religious traditions, violently forcing him into the car by his head. In Cambodia it is extremely disrespectful to ever touch a monks head.

This lack of respect for religious values is in many ways symbolic of a much wider social and moral disintegration, marked by a steadily growing number of human rights abuses being committed by the state or by private entities with the support of the state, and by a growing willingness of the Cambodian government, municipality and military to use its own privilege and power to violently oppress any form of dissent, be it from social activists, civil society, the media or the last few voices of protest from within a religious Sangha that is now all but under the control of the ruling elite.

With a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation back in Cambodia, the kind of international recognition that the award brings to venerable Sovath is the best kind of vindication he can have for his work. It is precisely because he walks such a dangerous path in Cambodia that he has been recognised for his work. The Martin Ennals Award can afford the venerable Sovath a degree of safety, thanks to the international attention the award has brought him, or it can simply further exacerbate his difficult position within a Sangha that wants him silenced, what will happen will not be clear until he returns to Camboida. One thing that is certain is that his return will be tense and difficult.

However the venerable Sovath was also awarded for the innovative means by which he has been defending the rights of others in Cambodia; nicknamed the ‘Multimedia Monk’ he uses film, social media and the internet to help spread his message. Social media, and in particular Facebook and Twitter have taken on a significant role in the political landscape of modern Cambodia, it is now being used by activists and news outlets as a means of instant mass communication, and not only among those living in Cambodia but globally across the vast Khmer diaspora in the US, France, Canada, Australia and elsewhere.

These previously unconnected or disparate groups are now sharing videos, photos and information about what is going on in Cambodia and a huge online community of supporters /viewers is beginning to take shape ethereally around the activists, journalists and civil society workers on the ground. But the significance and potential power and influence of this albiet for now digitally connected group of like-minded and well educated people should not be lost on the Royal Government of Cambodia.