Human rights in Cambodia

BBC WORLD SERVICE: ANALYSIS (9 JAN 2006)

Transcribed by Gavin Chua

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Human rights groups are increasingly worried about Cambodia. Since New Year's Eve, three major civil rights activists have been arrested and jailed - charged with "defaming the government".

They've joined two others facing similar charges. Several activists and critics of the government have left the country, rather than risk arrest. The leader of the main opposition party is in self-imposed exile and has recently been sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation.

Guy De Launey reports from Phnom Penh on concerns that Cambodia is moving in the wrong direction.

Guy De Launey: It's 15 years since the Paris peace accords marked a turning point for Cambodia after decades of war and millions of deaths. The accords brought the country's factions together and set Cambodia on the road to peace and reconstruction.

Two years later, the first genuinely free and fair elections were held under the auspices of the United Nations. Since then there have been occasional setbacks. The governing coalition fell apart in 1997 and there was briefly armed conflict on the streets of Phnom Penh.

Three years ago a mob rampaged through the city, systematically destroying Thai-owned businesses. Public gatherings have been heavily restricted ever since.

But the final surrender of the Khmer Rouge in 1998 and the rapid growth of the economy … thanks to the garment industry and tourism … seemed to indicate a country finally moving in the right direction. That's why recent events have caused such concern.

Yash Ghai: If what I've been hearing is true, then I think it is time to worry about Cambodia.

Guy De Launey: Yash Ghai is the Special Representative to Cambodia of the United Nations Secretary-General.

Yash Ghai: I have a feeling that people of Cambodia are deeply committed to human rights precisely because they have suffered so much from the denial of human rights. But as you know this government is now a coalition of two parties. The opposition party has been marginalised, their leader is in exile.

The government here seems to think that human rights are a nuisance. They identify opposition roots with human rights. I'm hoping that in my time here I can persuade the government of the value of human rights. But this government has a slightly hostile attitude towards human rights.

Guy De Launey: It's the middle of a Saturday afternoon and a large crowd has gathered outside the Phnom Penh municipal court. The leader of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights has been arrested. He's inside at the moment. Everybody outside is waiting to see what's happened to him. There's a large number of riot police here, quite a lot of the local and international press people and a few assorted human rights workers, all trying to work out what's happening inside.

Man: They take him to prison, yes, prison in Phnom Penh city. We are very sad about the arrest of Kem Sokha.

Guy De Launey: There's a sombre mood among the supporters of the leader of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. They had gathered outside the courthouse. They've been moved away to a petrol station about 100 metres away. And they were being quite vocal in their support for the leader until they noticed a man in an unmarked olive
green uniform taking pictures with a mobile phone camera and, as it turned out, also recording their conversations.

Man: I'm afraid now. All Cambodian people like me they are still very clever, ya, but now Cambodia I'm very worried.

Woman: Cambodia, no democracy. There is no human rights for people of Cambodia.

Guy De Launey: The leader of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights Kem Sokha wasn't the only person to be arrested that day. One of the organisers of a rally to mark International Human Rights Day in December followed him to prison, both of them charged with defaming the government. Another of Kem Sokha's colleagues was arrested and charged a few days later.

In October, the government brought charges of defamation and incitement against seven people who criticised a proposed border treaty with Vietnam, one of the most controversial issues of recent years.

Five of the protesters left the country before they could be arrested and other critics of the government also fled as rumours swirled around Phnom Penh.

At that time Kem Sokha said it was important for human rights activists to continue their work.

Kem Sokha: If you ask me I am afraid or not, I can tell you I am afraid. If I'm not afraid, I don't speak out. I speak out because I'm afraid. What am I afraid? I'm afraid this country will go back to the dictator.

Guy De Launey: Defamation is a criminal offence in Cambodia, a legacy of the United Nations transitional regime in the early 1990s. But critics say it was a law for exceptional circumstances that should have been replaced by now. And in any case Yash Ghai believes the legislation is being misused.

Yash Ghai: I have carefully reviewed the evidence that I've been able to gather with the help of the Office of Human Rights UN here as well as NGOs. It shows that there really has been no wrongdoing and the law that the government has used against them is, in my view, highly suspect. I don't think the law meets the test of either international human rights norms or indeed the constitution of Cambodia.

Guy De Launey: The government has defended its right to prosecute those whom it says have broken the law.

Om Yentieng is an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen and chairman of the government's human rights committee. He says it's important to differentiate between people who simply criticise the government and those who flout the law and mislead others.

Om Yentieng: They put on trial the people that abuse the law.

Guy De Launey: You're happy with the way the relationship is working then between the government and the human rights groups?

Om Yentieng: The government never had any intention to be the superior of the NGOs. They can say, oh, government is not good. Ya, they say already like this. We never punish them. We never criticise them.

Guy De Launey: But some NGO workers say the government has become increasingly intolerant to criticism over the past year.

Mike Davis: There's a growing confidence of the government in suppressing freedom of speech and cutting out opportunities for critical voices to speak out. That in turn I would see is being linked with declining interest of the international community in Cambodia.

Guy De Launey: Mike Davis used to run the Cambodian office of the forestry watchdog Global Witness. Last year his organisation published a report which linked high-ranking officials to illegal logging. The government subsequently banned Global Witness staff from entering the country.

Mike Davis: People aren't particularly interested in what happens in Cambodia and are much more taken up with new cases of UN externally driven reconstruction in everywhere from Afghanistan to Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cambodia is very far down the list of priorities right now. There's no doubt that the Chinese government has expanded its influence in Cambodia. It has a very good relationship with the Cambodian government now. China has been tending to support the government with far fewer questions asked. That makes it easier for the government here to say no to or ignore demands of other donors associated with Europe, the US and Australia and Japan.

Guy De Launey: Some donor countries have been speaking out. The United States ambassador says the government has reacted the wrong way to criticism of its policies.

Joseph Mussomeli: This was a real test of Cambodia's commitment to democracy and it seems that they are failing that right now.

Guy De Launey: But Joseph Mussomeli adds that any criticism has to be put in context.

Joseph Mussomeli: We are very concerned. We are not certain where this is moving and we will continue to speak out and speak quietly as well to the government. At the same time we should realise that this country and this government are really only about 12 years old. They are still under adolescents. And in that 12 years they've come a remarkably long distance in a remarkably short period of time economically, politically and even civically, socially. Their successes are remarkable.

Guy De Launey: That argument doesn't wash with many of Cambodia's human rights campaigners.

Kek Galabru is the president of the local rights group Licadho.

Kek Galabru: It's true that we had problems before. We faced all kind of human rights violations before. But I think that 13 years, quite long to do some progress. I remember after '93 for about three, four years we had a very good start. After the election of '93, this kind of freedom of expression, of receiving information was quite good. We advance some step, then you go back like you dance cha-cha-cha, you go and you come back, you go and come back. I'm so sorry for that.

Guy De Launey: But while many non-Cambodians have criticised arresting people for speaking out on the divisive border issue, some long-time residents believed the government was justified in taking action.

Bretton Sciaroni: In a place like Cambodia, that's a newly emerging democracy, emotions lie far closer to the surface. The rule of law is not well in hand and order can break down on occasions.

Guy De Launey: Bretton Sciaroni is a lawyer and president of Cambodia's International Business Club.

Bretton Sciaroni: The argument can be made that the government initially deployed these laws to try to in fact quell the public discourse, but public discourse that they might have felt was going to lead to social chaos and disorder. When you try to step into their shoes and look at it from a local perspective, it can also be understood a different way, which is trying to control events rather than having events control them, which was what happened three years ago when the Thai riots occurred.

Guy De Launey: This is also being part of the government's justification for using criminal defamation laws and it hasn't taken kindly to outsiders criticising the way it's handled recent events.

Prime Minister Hun Sen recently said he was glad he hadn't yet had the chance to meet the UN's human rights special representative, following his critical comments on the arrests. But Yash Ghai believes that talking is the most likely remedy for the problems facing Cambodia.

Yash Ghai: The political system is unsettled, so there is no real space for proper dialogue, rational discussion on policy alternatives. And the government perhaps feels insecure and therefore overreacted to that sense of insecurity and feels that
perhaps it needs tough measures. But my own experience over the years in many countries shows that a government which tries to persuade is much more powerful than one which uses coercion.

Guy De Launey: The chairman of the government's human rights committee says he respects Yash Ghai, but Om Yentieng has less time for the organisations whose leaders have been arrested.

Om Yentieng: We are human like you. Respect human rights, respect the law is respect ourselves also. Even the Prime Minister Hun Sen is not only for the poor people, for every people.

Guy De Launey: There's an air of confusion in Cambodia at the moment. To take the government at face value, it's only trying to preserve Cambodia's hard-won peace by prosecuting people who are promoting instability. But human rights campaigners and diplomats alike say they can't understand why there was a fresh round of arrests after the border treaty had been signed and the controversy had subsided.

Several prominent activists have again left the country as the rumour mill moves into top gear. The government may well be operating within the law, but using criminal charges against people who speak out is giving a poor impression to international donors and investors alike. They want to know whether recent events are just a speed bump on Cambodia's road to democracy and development or
the start of something more worrying.