Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 10/12/2008: Thun Saray, Director of ADHOC, Carol Rodley, US Ambassador, Seng Theary, Human Rights Activist, at Human Rights Day celebration.
©John Vink/ Magnum Sixty years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and is now recognised, under Article 31 of the Constitution of Cambodia, as part of Cambodian national law. The event was the occasion for a large number of representatives of the civil society, gathered in Phnom Penh, to assess the situation. Some 2,000 to 3,000 people sporting “Human Rights: Our Rights” tee-shirts listened to their recriminations and numerous calls to the government for better respect of fundamental freedoms.
“Restricted” freedoms
Thun Saray, president of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) pointed out in the name of his peers that “serious human rights violations such as ban or restriction of freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of association, land grabbing”, human trafficking, etc. were “still going on” in the country.
The day was an occasion for many to express their complaints. Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, an organisation providing legal aid, and coordinator of the CHRAC, a coalition gathering 21 local NGOs, acknowledged the efforts of the government to improve the situation, especially efforts in making citizens aware of their own rights. However, he stressed that the picture was not perfect. “When we want to take action, we systematically have to ask for the authorities' prior agreement, and they grant it or they don't... But enjoying freedom means that we can organise things without having to ask for the authorities' approval!”
For his part, Ath Thun, president of the Cambodia Labour Confederation, bringing together more than 60,000 members, put the stress on workers' rights, flouted far too often according to him, and pleaded at the same time for a pay rise for workers and civil servants, which he would like to see adjusted to a minimum of US$100 per month. In order to assert workers' rights better, the union activist urged the government to create a Labour Court and an Administration Court to respectively deal with labour conflicts and administrative issues. He also asked the authorities to arrest “bad employers who shut down their companies without giving notice and without giving their employees the arrears of salary and compensations they deserve depending on their years of service”.
Representatives of the Japanese branch of People's Forum on Cambodia, for their part, went back on last July's legislative elections and regretted that voters' rights had been violated in many cases.
Friends of December 10th
In a leaflet called “Friends of December 10th”, the Cambodian League for Human Rights (LICADHO) reassessed the importance of three cardinal freedoms which, they reckoned, are “at risk”: freedom of movement, freedom of expression and speech and freedom of assembly and association. To support their arguments, LICADHO quoted a series of events which happened in 2008.
Among other examples, the case of local authorities in the Mondolkiri who, on October 30th, told villagers belonging to the Phnong ethnic minority to register their travel outside the province. Just a coincidence? On that day, they were due to join a demonstration in the neighbouring province of Ratanakiri to denounce land grabbing... ; the assassination in the capital, on July 11th, i.e. in the middle of the electoral campaign, of journalist Khem Sambo, working for the opposition newspaper Moneaseka Khmer, and his son; another example, the tough February 6th police crackdown outside the Kingsland garment factory in Phnom Penh on a strike, started on January 11th to demand the reinstatement of 19 union representatives fired in June 2007. Five factory workers had to be hospitalised after the police intervention...
Victims of land eviction
The International Human Rights Day was also celebrated in Dey Krohom, a district of Phnom Penh where inhabitants are threatened with eviction. “We are in favour of change provided it is not made at the expense of the poor. Forced evictions must stop and political measures must be taken to ensure suitable accommodation, health and education for all”, Yeng Virak, director of the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC), insisted.
Lao Mong Hay, senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission, pointed the finger in the same direction, denouncing in the meantime arrests and imprisonments following land evictions. “Some lost their land without any compensation, like in Kampot. But according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every person is entitled to decent accommodation”, he observed.
The opposition voice their concern too
The main two opposition parties also made their voice heard through press communiqués. The Human Rights Party (HRP) observed a “degradation” in Human rights in Cambodia in the past few years. The party went back on the difficulties encountered by minority parties concerning freedom of speech at the National Assembly, “who therefore cannot protect correctly the interest of voters”. “The HRP is highly concerned about the future which awaits the Khmer nation and calls the government to respect fundamental freedoms and to lead the country in a democratic and pluralistic way, within the respect of the principle of separation of the three powers [legislative, executive and judiciary].”The HRP also advised the government to convene a “national congress” to give citizens “the opportunity to express themselves before the King, as stipulated in the Constitution”.
As for the Sam Rainsy Party, they estimated that the October 23rd 1991 Paris Agreements, which “paved the way to national reconciliation and peace” needed to be “revisited”. “It must be reminded that close to two decades [later], Cambodia still lacks a true independent, neutral and impartial mechanism to monitor human rights violations which occur every day ”, and “rampant corruption in the judiciary system allows violators to remain free while victims and their family members fear for their lives”. The party of Sam Rainsy, who, for his part, is currently in France, called the signatories of the Peace Agreements to keep the promises made then, for every Cambodian citizen to find justice and be free from discriminations.
However, in the midst of strong criticism, the American embassy stroke a jarring note through a communiqué, reckoning that Cambodia was “making important progress, as the government ensures greater stability and growth for the country while grassroot activism and civic responsiveness also grow”.
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By Doris
By John Vink
By Doris