Cambodia is falling short of the full liberal democracy
enshrined in its Constitution, the government is becoming increasingly
intolerant to constructive criticism and judicial, parliamentary and
electoral reforms have been slow to take effect, according to U.N. human
rights envoy Surya Subedi’s latest report on Cambodia.
The wide-ranging report to the Human Rights Council
in Geneva on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, which is dated
August 5 but was drafted prior to the July 28 election, follows his
eighth mission to the country in December 2012, during which he was
snubbed by members of the government, and his ninth mission in May,
parts of which Mr. Subedi described as being “unpleasant.”
This, his fifth report since taking up the post in March 2009, wraps
up the findings to all of his previous fact-finding missions, which
focused on judiciary, parliamentary and electoral reforms and the
country’s policies regarding economic land concessions.
“The reception that the Special Rapporteur received from the
Government during his mission to the country in December 2012 was a
frosty one during which no senior member of the Government was available
to meet with him,” Mr. Subedi said in his report, referring to himself
in the third person.
“In the wake of the publication of two major reports by the Special
Rapporteur—one on electoral reform and the other one on economic and
other land concessions—he was subjected to some raw remarks descending
to the personal level.
“This was highly regrettable, as the focus of the dialogue between
the Special Rapporteur and the Government should remain strictly on the
substance of the work he is mandated to carry out by the United Nations,
and not on him as a person.”
Mr. Subedi appeared to be referring to remarks made by Om Yentieng,
president of the government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee, in
September last year that accused Mr. Subedi of working for the
opposition. The following month, Prime Minister Hun Sen said during a speech at a graduation ceremony that Mr. Subedi’s reports were “flimsy” and that he was “sorry” the rapporteur had felt the need to make such reports.
Such treatment echoed that meted out to his predecessors.
Kenyan law professor Yash
Ghai endured a litany of verbal abuse from government officials,
particularly Mr. Hun Sen, over the course of his three-year term as
special rapporteur, and he resigned in 2008, citing a lack of support
from the U.N.
Mr. Ghai’s predecessor, Austrian law professor Peter Leuprecht,
stepped down after five years and many spats with the government.
After being snubbed by the government in December 2012, Mr. Subedi
said in his latest report that “the missed opportunity for dialogue with
the Government is a significant one.”
Although Mr. Subedi was able to meet with key government figures when
he returned in May, the mission was again blighted by unfavorable
remarks from officials, allegations of a media ban on his activities
and a student protest at a lecture he was delivering about investment
that was organized by one of the ruling CPP’s youth movements and called
for him to end his mandate to monitor human rights in the country.
“[T]he Special Rapporteur regrets that he was subjected to some unpleasant incidents during the mission,” his report says.
“If the media reports are to be believed, these were staged protests
designed to intimidate and harass the Special Rapporteur in order to
distract him from his focus on substantive issues. He was also subjected
to baseless allegations of bias against the Government,” it says,
adding that “the experience was unpleasant.”
However, Mr. Subedi said the incidents had only strengthened his
resolve and that he felt encouraged by messages of support for his
mandate.
In his report, Mr. Subedi said he was also encouraged by the March
release of Beehive radio station owner Mam Sonando from prison, after he
was sentenced to 20 years in jail for fomenting a secessionist movement
on charges that many believed were trumped up.
He also welcomed a decision made in mid-July to allow opposition
leader Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia to participate in campaigning
for the opposition CNRP ahead of the national election.
However, he said, “Cambodia still has some way to go in promoting and
protecting human rights, strengthening good governance, enhancing the
independence and capacity of State institutions responsible for
upholding people’s rights.”
Mr. Subedi said that while the government had acknowledged these
issues—something he saw as a “sign of progress”—there are still strides
that must be made to ensure that the full democratization of Cambodia
can be realized.
“While the Constitution of Cambodia speaks of a liberal democracy,
in reality the situation is akin to a limited democracy in many
respects,” he said.
“While the process of judicial, parliamentary and electoral reform
has been slow, the Government is yet to act on most of the
recommendations relating to the granting and management of economic and
other land concessions.”
In his recommendations, Mr. Subedi honed in on the government’s
ability to listen to constructive criticism, which he said is
decreasing.
“For democracy to function properly in Cambodia and for the
democratic culture to take root in society, those holding public
positions must be willing to acknowledge shortcomings, for only then can
solutions be found that are acceptable to all,” he said.
“This realization does not yet seem to be prevalent in contemporary
Cambodian society. As the Special Rapporteur has stated elsewhere,
criticism is not a crime but an exercise of freedom of conscience, an
act of intelligence.
“These are inherent attributes of democracy. Their absence is one of
the reasons why Cambodia falls short of the full liberal democracy
envisaged in the Constitution of the country.”
He added that the government needs to implement constitutionally
mandated laws on the governance of the judiciary in order to put it on
the path to independence, while “appropriate measures should be taken to
enhance the independence and capacity of the National Election
Committee [NEC] to enable it to command the full trust and confidence of
the entire electorate within the country in future elections.”
Mr. Subedi has said previously that a failure to implement proper
reforms of the NEC would shake the confidence of the electorate and
could lead to violence.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said he agreed with Mr.
Subedi’s assessment that Cambodia’s democracy is limited, but said, “I
think that everyone who understands that with democracy in this world,
no one has the best one on Earth.”
“[Mr. Subedi] is here to be a partner, not a policeman,” Mr. Siphan
said. “He is not a professor on Cambodia. He is here to help Cambodia
toward what everyone wants Cambodia to be.
“Of course they say Cambodia’s democracy is limited—I agree. That’s
why we need to partner together to improve that. Everyone is looking for
stability and peace after the war.”
As for how the relationship between the government and Mr. Subedi
would move forward, Mr. Siphan said, “we believe he has to build trust
and confidence between himself and Cambodia and be together.”
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