Adhoc: Freedom of Speech improved in Cambodia, but ...

Freedom of Speech improved in Cambodia, report

04/02/2008
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

A Cambodian local Human Rights organisation says that the freedom of speech and expressions in the Cambodian media environment was improved in 2007 compared to the previous years.

In its 2007 annual human rights report released last week, Adhoc says the media freedom situations in Cambodia has been improved and Cambodia now ranks 85 as compared to 108 in the previous years.

Raksmey Kampuchea Newsapers says Cambodia now has 22 radio stations and seven TV stations in operation.

Nevertheless, Adhoc says civil society organisations are not given enough air time to use the national radio station to disseminate information on human rights violations in Cambodia.

Adhoc also says civil organisations promoting and campaigning for the improved human rights situations aren't permitted to use TV's and Radios at all to educate people about human rights understanding.

Meanwhile, a Paris based organisation, Reporters without Border says in 2007 it observed implementation of media freedom policy in Cambodia outperformed other South East Asian nations.

Association Notes 17 Threats on [Cambodian] Media [-Freedom House rated Cambodia “not free” in 2007]

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 January 2008

The Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists said Wednesday the national media environment was mostly positive, but it noted 17 separate instances where journalists were threatened in 2007.

Cambodian journalists have faced threats from the Ministry of Information on closures and death threats from anonymous callers, among others, the association said.

“First, 2007 saw some progress on legal aspects, because Hun Sen’s government withdrew defamation from the criminal law,” said Samrith Duong Hak, vice-president of the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists. “Second, we see that there are some shortcomings, which are increasing threats, such as the burning down of a reporter’s house in Pursat province, the throwing of an unexploded grenade into a reporter’s house in Svay Rieng province, and some other forms of threat, in which the perpetrators were not found.”

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Wednesday some of the problems stemmed from Cambodian journalists getting involved in affairs outside journalism, “but using the journalistic name.”

The international monitor Freedom House rated Cambodia “not free” in 2007, citing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s “intensified suppression of all criticism” and a government that “does not fully respect freedom of speech.”