Cambodians urge Obama to press for human rights

President Obama returns a greeting to Bun Rany, wife of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, before the start of a gala dinner on Nov. 19 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.(Photo: Apichart Weerawong, AP)

November 19. 2012 - PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Chray Nim got the idea from a TV movie, when survivors made a giant "SOS" on their drifting boat.

Last week, Chray, 34, and more than 10 neighbors, fighting the loss of homes near Phnom Penh airport, painted "SOS" on their rooftops beside posters of President Obama.

Police armed with guns and spray-paint erased the letters, lest Obama and his team spot them as Air Force One touched down Monday on the third and final leg of his spin through Southeast Asia.

"We wanted him to see our message. We are Cambodian people, and we are the victims of eviction," Chray said. The villagers did get a message out. The rough-arm tactics of police, who arrested Chray and seven other villagers, reminded the visiting world that the regime of Cambodia's longtime leader Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge officer, still doesn't tolerate dissent.

Obama met privately with the autocratic leader, who has held power for nearly 30 years. Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said the president told Hun Sen that without reforms, Cambodia's human rights woes would continue to be "an impediment."

Many Cambodians credit Hun Sen with helping the country emerge from the horrors of the 1970s Khmer Rouge reign, when systematic genocide left 1.7 million dead. Vietnam invaded and ousted that regime in 1979. By 1985, Hun Sen had become prime minister.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International say the human rights situation, especially freedom of expression, has worsened in recent years, as authorities use the court system to punish people speaking out against land grabs by powerful companies, one of the country's hottest issues. A recent report by Human Rights Watch said more than 300 people have been killed in political attacks since 1991.

While world leaders from Obama to Russia's Vladimir Putin are in town, this week is Cambodia's rare moment in the spotlight. Before the East Asia Summit that Obama will attend and an ongoing annual summit of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, officials cleared the Cambodian capital of street vendors and dispatched beggars and the homeless to detention centers, said Vorn Pao, head of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association (IDEA), a group that monitors informal workers.

Last Tuesday, IDEA gathered almost 2,000 people, mostly farmers, for an ASEAN Grassroots People's Assembly in Phnom Penh, but police scared the venue owner into cutting the electricity, which ended the event, Vorn Pao said. "The government should not be frightened of this, but they often restrict ... activity," he said. "They try to stop events where people may criticize the government."

Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan rejected such criticism Monday and insisted the world leaders' meetings will showcase recent economic progress.

"What they complain about does not reflect the real situation in Cambodia. Freedom of expression is much better here than other members of ASEAN," he said. As for any U.S. efforts to raise human rights issues this week, "we appreciate and respect their concerns," he said.

The airport arrests disappointed Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor for Licadho, a human rights watchdog in Phnom Penh, who says the group has trained more than 5 million people since 1992.

"Civil society, the opposition and journalists have all been threatened by the government's use of the court system," he said. He sees hope in better informed citizens and their shrinking fear of the police.

"Right now, even if the government tries to threaten them, they know their rights. 'SOS' will be used by many other groups," he predicted.

At Boeng Kak, a former lake area filled in by the government for development, Tep Vanny, 32, led about 100 residents and former residents in demonstrations Sunday and Monday, holding large SOS signs.

Tep Vanny, 32, a land rights activist, holds up a poster of President Obama above an ‘SOS’ sign on Saturday in in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.(Photo: Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY)

"We want Obama and Hillary Clinton to talk about human rights and the land issue when they meet the Cambodian government and further encourage the government to respect the democratic system," she said.

She gave up her grocery store and suffered prison in her three-year fight to avoid eviction and secure land titles. Her husband has been suspended from the Cambodian navy for her activism.

"I am happy if Cambodia has development, as our future will be better, but instead, we lost everything, as development only helps the powerful, rich groups," she said. Compared with the brutal but quick murder meted out by the Khmer Rouge in the early 1970s, "now in Cambodia they use corruption to kill people. It's a slow, heartbreaking death," she said.

At Tep Vanny's women's workshop, Sabo Soth, 60, feels "hopeless" about helping her daughter, Bo Pha, 31, a self-taught activist jailed for more than two months without charge. "Her (8-year-old) son wakes up a lot at night, terrified," she said. "I hope Obama, the most influential leader, could do something."

Disputes over land, often taken by developers with close government contacts, risk impoverishing large numbers of Cambodian people, said Rupert Abbot, a Cambodia-based researcher at Amnesty International. At the same time, "we're seeing the emergence of a real civil society, grass-roots groups ... getting stronger and beginning to link up," he said. "There's been an increase in community activism and an increase in crackdowns."

At her village beside Phnom Penh airport, Chray Nim repeats the words she wants the U.S. president to hear. "I hope Obama will tell Hun Sen to respect the people and the residents' human rights," she said. "After he leaves, I could be evicted, arrested again and accused of inciting social disorder. I hope Western countries will keep paying attention to these issues."

Contributing: Associated Press