Marking of VN border to continue despite SRP

Monday, 12 April 2010
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

“We knew that the Constitutional Council was mostly composed by the CPP and therefore the decision must be politically biased. But we must do it to show Cambodians that the law was not enforced properly as the system requires” - Kimsour Phirith , SRP spokesman

THE Constitutional Council on Friday dismissed a request by the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) that the government suspend joint demarcation of the Cambodia-Vietnam border, saying the request did not fall under its jurisdiction.

When contacted Sunday, Pen Thol, spokesman for the nine-member council, did not comment in detail, saying the council’s decision spoke for itself.

“I can’t comment over this, because it is a decision of the Constitutional Council. [The SRP] has the right to say what it wants,” he said.

On Wednesday, 14 SRP lawmakers sent a letter to Council President Ek Sam Ol, asking him to postpone the planting of border posts pending an investigation into the party’s claims that four border marker posts in Svay Rieng province’s Chantrea district lie up to 500 metres inside Cambodia’s legal territory.

Sam Rainsy has already been jailed for two years following an incident in which he joined villagers in uprooting six temporary border markers in the area.

SRP spokesman Kimsour Phirith said the Constitutional Council’s ruling was a result of political “bias”, noting that most of its members are members of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

“We knew that the Constitutional Council was mostly composed by the CPP and therefore the decision must be politically biased,” he said. “But we must do it to show Cambodians that the law was not enforced properly as the system requires.”

Kimsour Phirith said the planting of Vietnamese border posts violated Article 2 of the Constitution, which pledges the government to protect the country’s territorial integrity.

Council Rules Out Halt to Demarcation

Cambodian opposition party leader Sam Rainsy stands in front of the national assembly in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The Constitutional Council on Friday ruled out a request by opposition lawmakers to halt border demarcation with Vietnam in Svay Rieng province.

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Friday, 09 April 2010

“We have difficulty believing in the authority of the Constitutional Council.”

The Constitutional Council on Friday ruled out a request by opposition lawmakers to halt border demarcation with Vietnam in Svay Rieng province, which they say allows encroachment on the land of farmers.

Fourteen members of the Sam Rainsy Party made the request Wednesday, claiming survey maps from the 1930s and 1950s show the border belongs further east.

A spokesman for the Constitutional Council said the request did not fall under its authority. Lawmakers had argued the current pursuit of border demarcation violated the nation’s constitutional right to sovereignty.

“We have difficulty believing in the authority of the Constitutional Council,” Kimsour Phirith, a lawmaker for the Sam Rainsy Party, told VOA Khmer. “In fact, in our view, the decision remains a political decision.”

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who remains in exile abroad, faces a two-year jail sentence in Cambodia for destroying border markers in Chantreay district last year, and the government has brought an additional suit against him for posting a border map on his party’s Web site the government says is false.

Opposition Continues Demarcation Campaign

SRP MP Son Chhay visiting a border post with Vietnam (Photo: SRP)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Friday, 09 April 2010

“They sent the request to us in conformity with procedure. We will not take this request to throw away.”

Fourteen opposition lawmakers submitted a request to the Constitutional Council on Thursday to postpone demarcation of the border with Vietnam in Svay Rieng province.

Villagers in the province’s Chantrea district say they have lost farmland to Vietnamese encroachment, and the Sam Rainsy Party attempted to stall border demarcation in the area in the National Assembly in March.

Cambodia shares 1,270 kilometers with Vietnam and is in the midst of negotiations to plant 128 of 305 border posts. Border issues are politically contentious in Cambodia, where disputed territory remains with neighbors Thailand and Vietnam.

Opposition lawmakers had proposed in March sending a letter on behalf of the National Assembly to Hun Sen, asking that demarcation at sites 184-187 be halted.

National Assembly President Heng Samrin declined, saying that conversations between the Sam Rainsy Party and the government typically have no results.

In its new request to the Constitutional Council, the opposition party requests again a stop to border demarcation at the four sites, saying they constitute a violation of Cambodia’s constitutional right to sovereignty.

The party claims the original borders from maps by the Geographic Service of Indochina in 1933 and 1953 have been encroached on.

Penn Thol, a member of the Constitutional Council and its spokesman, said the council had received the request.

“The whole council has the right to examine and decide on this request,” he said. “They sent the request to us in conformity with procedure. We will not take this request to throw away.”

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is currently in self-imposed exile, after he was found guilty of destruction of property and incitement for knocking down border posts in Chantrea district. He is also facing a second suit by the government, for posting a border map on his party Web suit the government claims is false.

Opposition insists on a halt in the planting of border posts between Cambodia and Vietnam

07 April 2010
By Ly Meng Huor
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Today, a group of 14 SRP MPs signed a letter sent to the chairman of the Constitution Council requesting that the latter takes measure so that the government halts the planting of border posts between Cambodia and Vietnam. However, a high ranking government official claimed that the planting of border posts must continue because the two countries are properly following the Constitution.

A group of opposition MPs indicated that, currently, the government is moving with the planting of posts along the Cambodia-Vietnam border, however, the opposition claimed that this action, in particular for stakes at border posts no. 184, 185, 186 and 187 located in Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province, are not conforming to the borderline shown on the 1:100,000 scale map which is considered the official map set by 1993 Cambodian Constitution.

Because the Constitution Council has the duty to defend the respect of the Constitution, the SRP MPs asked the chairman of this council to take measure so that the Cambodian government halts the planting of posts along the Cambodia-Vietnam border in order to guarantee the respect of the Constitution involving the territorial integrity as stipulated in Article 2 of the Constitution of Cambodia.

The request to halt the planting of border posts by the opposition MPs was done once already when they sent a letter to government leader through the intermediary of the president of the National Assembly. Howver, on 05 Apirl 2010, Heng Xamrin, the CPP president of the National Assembly, refused to send that request to Hun Xen.

Nevertheless, the opposition MPs explained that the border post between Cambodia and Vietnam in Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province, that Sam Rainsy uprooted and that led to a subsequent lawsuit in which Sam Rainsy was sentenced to 2-year of jail term, is a violation of Article 2 of the Constitution. The opposition MPs claim is backed by the report issued by Régis Caloz, a foreign cartography expert, and by several reports issued by Sam Rainsy.

There is no answer yet from Ek Sam Ol, the chairman of the Constitution Council. However, sVar Kim Hong, the minister in charge of government border committee, indicated that the planting of border posts will continue and it cannot be halted as requested by the SRP. He said that the SRP request is baseless and is done haphazardly.

sVar Kim Hong who is involved on the planting of border posts between Cambodia and Vietnam, said that the progress of the border delineation between Cambodia and Vietnam is done on a clear basis that abides by the national and international law.

The planting of border posts between Cambodia and Vietnam was initiated in 2006. 375 posts are planned to be erected along the 1,270-km long common border. Up until the end of 2009, 111 border posts were planted. The two countries promised to complete the border planting by 2012.

U.N. special rapporteur to make second visit to Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A special rapporteur of the United Nations is planned to make his second visit to Cambodia next week, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Saturday.

In a statement released on Saturday, the OHCHR said Surya Prasad Subedi, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, will visit Cambodia on Jan. 18-30.

This is his second mission to Cambodia. "He intends to use the visit to examine the functioning of the National Assembly and judiciary, including the Supreme Council of Magistracy and the Constitutional Council," the statement said.

His objective is to conduct an analysis of how these institutions work, and the extent to which they provide citizens recourse and remedy for breaches of their rights.

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to follow and report on the human rights situation in Cambodia.

His task is to assess the human rights situation, report publicly about it, and work with the Government, civil society and others to foster international cooperation in this field.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: My Dropping

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

On Anniversary of Constitution, a Call for Human Rights

Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
24 September 2007

Khieu Sopheak: the proof of Cambodia's dedication to human rights was the number of human rights organizations it allows to operate across the country.

Question for General Khieu Sopheak: If the family of Prime Minister Hun Sen is obscenely rich, does it mean that all Cambodians are rich?

Cambodia's constitution is 14 years old, but it has failed to ensure human rights for the people it represents, a leading human rights group said Monday.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission said in a statement the Constitutional Council, which oversees constitutional issues, was not independent and failed to uphold the document that forms the basis of rights in the country.

Cambodia's UN-sanctioned constitution was signed Sept. 24, 1993, following Paris peace accords in 1991. It was meant to create a balance of powers between three arms of government.

But in the years since its inception, critics say, government control has stayed in the hands of the country's chief executive, Prime Minister Hun Sen.

A government spokesman said Monday the proof of Cambodia's dedication to human rights was the number of human rights organizations it allows to operate across the country.

"They can say whatever they want to. They can have whatever opinion they want to," Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak said.

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vatana said the government has made progress and the courts have been evolving into a more independent entity.