Trafficking a Global Threat: US

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
09 June 2008

Cambodia may have moved out of US "watch list" status for its efforts to combat human trafficking, but it still must improve its efforts, US officials said.

The US moved Cambodia onto its list of "tier 2" nations last week, saying it had improved its efforts but still fell short of US standards for combating trafficking.

“Globally, human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons report. "It deprives people of their human rights and dignity. It increases global health risks. It bankrolls the growth of organized crime and it undermines the rule of law. In recent years we’ve witnessed a hopeful global movement uniting civil society, governments, and international organizations-not just to confront this crime, but to abolish it.”

Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli, who is currently in the US, said Cambodia had shown a clear commitment over the last two years to fight trafficking, though the government does acknowledge it has a "serious problem."

Cambodia's KRouge tribunal on right track: US official

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge court is on the "right track" and the United States may eventually decide to help fund the proceedings, a top US diplomat said Friday.

"Everything that I've seen reinforces my idea that (the tribunal) is making progress and is moving in a very positive direction," said Clint Williamson, the State Department's top official for war crimes issues.

Williamson was in Cambodia to assess the tribunal's progress, and spoke to reporters after meeting with officials from the court, the government and the United Nations.

Five top Khmer Rouge leaders have been detained to face charges for crimes committed by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.

"The arrest of the five suspects is a very, very positive move... and within the court itself there is a very positive outlook," Williamson said.

The joint Cambodian-UN tribunal was intended to last for three years, but officials have indicated that its operations could run another two years.

The United States has not directly funded any of the 56.3 million dollars allocated to the court, mainly by other foreign donors.

Williamson said the US government was reconsidering whether to help fund the tribunal.

"The court is on the right track. A decision about funding is something that ultimately has to be taken," he said.

"There is an ongoing process, ongoing analysis and continuous assessment" on whether to fund the court, he said.

Established in July 2006 after nearly a decade of negotiations between Cambodia and the UN, the long-stalled tribunal seeks to prosecute crimes committed 30 years ago by senior regime leaders.

Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork as the communist regime emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its rule.

The Khmer Rouge also abolished money, religion and schools.

Government Declines Comment on Rights Report [by the US State Department]

Om Yentieng, senior adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen

Heng Reaksmey
VOA Khmer
Washington
07/03/2007

Cambodian government officials declined to comment Wednesday on the US State Department's annual human rights report—in which Cambodia's human rights record "remained poor"—claiming they had not seen a copy yet.

"I cannot make any comment," Om Yentieng, an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen and the head of the government's human rights committee, told VOA.

"You get it much faster" than the government, which had not received a copy, he said.

The US embassy "never pays attention to the government" when it comes to issuing reports, Om Yentieng said.

The report, issued Tuesday, puts Cambodia in the same category as North Korea, China, Cuba and Afghanistan, pointing to extrajudicial killings by government agents and a lack of political will to enforce the rule of law.

Activists welcomed the report, saying human rights in the country still have a long way to go.

"This is due to a political problem," Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, told VOA. "The democratic system is still weak; the National Assembly is still weak."

In other countries, "if the executive branch commits an offense, the National Assembly asks the person to explain and he or she will be dismissed," he said. But in Cambodia, "the Assembly has no right to dismiss the person when he or she commits an offense."

Chan Soveth an investigator for the rights group Ad Hoc, said the US report was accurate and showed that in Cambodia human rights abuse is still an important issue.

According to the US, Cambodia is no better than North Korea or Cuba

Assistant Secretary of State Barry Lowenkron, holds the disc, containing the 2006 country reports on human rights practices, during its release at the State Department in Washington

US: Cambodia Rights Record Remains Poor

Khemara Sok
VOA Khmer
Washington
06/03/2007

Cambodia's human rights record is still poor, and its government shows no political will to change that, according to an annual human rights report issued Tuesday by the US State Department.

Cambodia, which warranted 50 pages in the report, fell into the same category as North Korea, Cuba, China and Afghanistan. Worse countries were Burma, Iran and Laos.

"The government's human rights record remained poor," the report says of Cambodia. "Government agents committed extrajudicial killings, and security forces acted with impunity. There was little political will to address the failure by government authorities to adhere to the rule of law."

Cambodian embassy officials in Washington, DC, could not be reached for comment.

Cambodia was praised for its release of five human rights activists jailed in 2005; restoring parliamentary immunity to opposition leader Sam Rainsy; and decriminalizing defamation, among other examples.

Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, who was among those activists arrested in 2005 and released in 2006, mostly welcomed the report, saying Cambodia's human rights situation has not changed.

"The key matters especially remain," he said, "such as blocking peaceful demonstrations, such as those in land disputes where protesters have been threatened with arrest."

"The matter of judicial reform is still difficult," he said, citing as well corruption and forced evictions.

Relations between Cambodia and the US have thawed recently, with the US restoring direct aid to the country just last month.

"That is a political issue," Kem Sokha said. But "even if they have a close relationship, [the US] never forgets to talk about human rights issues."