Groups Highlight Rights Concerns

Rights groups plan protests ahead of the Cambodian foreign minister’s visit to Washington.

RFA

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong speaks with reporters at the airport in Phnom Penh, June 10, 2012.

Updated at 12:30 p.m. EST on 2012-06-14

Rights groups have highlighted deteriorating human rights, government intimidation of the opposition, and land grabs in Cambodia on the eve of a visit by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong to Washington for talks with his counterpart U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The one-day visit will take place on Tuesday, during which Hor Namhong is expected to discuss with Clinton and other senior U.S. officials issues related to security in Asia, regional use of the Mekong River, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Cambodia is chairing this year.

He will also request the U.S. to cancel Cambodia’s debt of around U.S. $440 million, including interest, which it incurred through agricultural aid during the Lon Nol era of the 1970s. Prime Minister Hun Sen has called the loan Cambodia’s “dirty debt.”

In a petition addressed to Clinton, Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy and Khmer People’s Network for Cambodia wrote that human rights conditions in Cambodia have gone “from bad to worse” over the last two decades.

“Initially, the victims of human rights violations had mostly been people who Prime Minister Hun Sen, his wife, and his associates considered potential opponents, competitors, detractors, environmentalists, unionists, and human rights defenders,” the statement read.

“Now, they have widened their focus to include land owners, members of their families, and those who sympathize with their causes.”

Rights petition

The groups requested Clinton push the Cambodian government to reinstate parliamentary immunity to three opposition lawmakers from the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), to allow the return of self-exiled party leader Sam Rainsy, and to reform the National Election Committee ahead of parliamentary polls slated for mid-2013.

Sam Rainsy currently lives in exile in France and is facing a two-year jail sentence for uprooting markers at the border with Vietnam in 2009, if he returns. He has said that he plans to return for the elections to lead the opposition against the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

Hor Namhong said Sunday that the government is considering revoking Sam Rainsy’s passport, though an SRP spokesperson said that as a legal citizen of France, the opposition leader can travel on his French passport and his overseas plans should not be affected.

The U.S.-rights groups also pointed to a longstanding dispute between tens of thousands of residents of capital Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Lake district who were evicted from their homes, or are in risk of losing them, and developers looking to turn the area into a luxury residential and shopping center.

Last month, a Phnom Penh court ordered 13 women jailed for between one year and two and a half years for their part in protests which authorities said “encroached on private property” on the site. The rights groups called in the petition to Clinton for their release and the release of two others detained on similar charges.

The rights groups have also asked for U.S. assistance to “ensure the full independence of the judiciary branch of the government,” which opposition lawmakers have called a “political tool” of the CPP. The top officials of Cambodia’s Supreme Court are CPP members.

The visit has brought criticism from Cambodian rights groups who say they will hold protests in front of the U.S. State Department on Tuesday during the meeting between the two diplomats.

Mu Sochua prepares for an interview at RFA, June 8, 2012. Credit: RFA

Aid suspension

SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua, who is visiting the U.S., said she held talks with Clinton Monday in Boston, Massachusetts, at the inauguration of a two-week women’s leadership conference.

She said in her talks, she asked Washington to suspend any military aid to Cambodia as the authorities in Phnom Penh had used the armed forces to evict people in land disputes.

Mu Sochua also sought Clinton’s help to bring about the release of the 15 Boeung Kak  villagers being held at Prey Sar prison.

“I requested her [Clinton] to suspend military aid to Cambodia,” she told RFA after the talks. 

“Madame Hillary Clinton has promised me that she would seek a solution to make sure women’s rights will be respected and put an end to violence.”

Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy coordinator Saunora Prom said he believes pressure by the U.S. could help to influence Cambodia on the issues.

“I am confident that the U.S. will resolve these issues because they are in the U.S. interest,” he said.

Mekong initiative

Speaking to reporters before he left Phnom Penh Sunday, Hor Namhong said that besides raising Cambodian issues with Clinton, he will also discuss issues linked to ASEAN and the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI).

The LMI was created following a 2009 meeting between Clinton and the foreign ministers of the Lower Mekong countries, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, in order to enhance cooperation in the areas of environment, health, education, and infrastructure development.

Hor Namhong said Sunday that he expects Tuesday’s meeting with Clinton to yield improved relations between the two nations and their role in the Asian region.

“The U.S. and Cambodia, we have many cooperation forums … we will also talk about regional issues,” he said. 

He said he hoped that the U.S. would consider cancelation of Cambodia’s debt, despite earlier talks where the two sides had failed to see eye-to-eye.

“We have negotiated many times already, and we hope that we will do whatever we can for the two parties [U.S. and Cambodia] to reach an agreement,” he said.

Clinton is due to visit Phnom Penh in mid-July to participate in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting.

Reported by Samean Yun and Sok Serey for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/opposition-06112012163824.html

Recluses and reforms in Southeast Asia

When referring to mainland Southeast Asian states such as Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, journalists and scholars have often made claims about a state’s comparable reclusiveness. For example, we often hear that such-and-such a state or regime is ‘the most reclusive’ or ‘the most closed’.

Can these really be useful or valid statements?

Making claims about comparative political space may not be so easy, especially nowadays when change is occurring so obviously and rapidly, and free communication (not to mention economic integration) is a reality in most parts of the region.

In Myanmar and Vietnam change is apparently (I say ‘apparently’ to acknowledge the important arguments of Bertil Lintner) afoot. New Mandalahas provided extensive coverage of the rapid changes and increasing openness occurring in Myanmar, while for Vietnam-watchers, there has been comparatively more political change occurring there than many have noticed. This is not to say that the government in Hanoi is becoming transparent and open, but more that there has been gravitation towards reform, and thus, a change in political opportunities for citizens.

In Cambodia, too, there has gradually been an increase in political space for citizens. The government of Hun Sen is even somewhat open to being criticised in the print media, though, of course, this does not mean the government is unable to prevent criticism. For instance, the editor of one paper, Samleng Yuvachun, contentiously began working for the Cambodian People’s Party after criticising the party in the lead up to the 2008 elections. Media such as this clipof Doung Kea, an aggrieved sufferer of forced relocation in Phnom Penh, are also able to surface readily.

Even with heavy censorship, we are often able to ascertain an opposing view. I am sure we could find out if there were any consequences for Doung Kea’s vehement outrage. The ability to do so indicates that there is an openness which belies the need for labeling an entire state closed or reclusive.

*********

Not even Laos, perhaps now the most likely candidate for the ‘most closed/reclusive state’ tagline these days is exempt from Internet engendered reform. Though there have been some market-oriented reforms, perhaps, as per usual, occurring in line with those across the border in Vietnam, the Lao government in 2012 remains ‘closed off’. Nonetheless, its longstanding veil of secrecy is also beginning to fray.

A recent leak of the proceedings from the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights conference held at the ministerial meeting in Siem Reap earlier this year makes for intriguing reading. The commentary from Laos (and other states) in the proceedings is perhaps not all that revelatory to those habitually peering at these matters, but it is interesting to see the official Lao position on human rights revealed explicitly in the media:

Commenting on the duties and responsibilities of the Asean member States, Laos said the “realization of universal human rights” must be in the context of “regional and national particularities” such as political, economic, social, cultural, historical and religious backgrounds. Laos’ position is contrary to the more expansive wording drafted by the Asean Secretariat that “…it is the duty of member states, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”Laos is also proposing the inclusion of a “national security” and “public morality” trigger to override claims to universal human rights and freedoms, perhaps fearful of an erosion of national security and moral principles. “The exclusive insistence on rights can result in conflict, division, and endless dispute and can lead to lawlessness and chaos,” Laos said.

Another recent report from the international non-government organisation International Rivers reveals that, with Thai Banks acting as enablers, construction on the increasingly infamous Xayaburi hydropower project is continuing despite the fact that the governments of the Mekong River Commission not yet deciding whether to proceed with construction after a moratorium last year. Perhaps those in charge of making this decision have already seen the projected impact analysis before anyone else and have concluded that there would be no projected ‘conflict, division, and endless dispute’, ‘lawlessness and chaos’ leading to further human rights abuses in all four Mekong River Commission states, and have thus decided to continue with construction.

Source: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2012/03/15/recluses-and-reforms-in-southeast-asia/