Testy rebuke to UN on LANGO
Mon, 5 October 2015 ppp
Vong Sokheng and Zoe Holman
The
UN Human Rights Council on Friday passed a resolution on “Advisory
Services and Technical Assistance” to Cambodia at its 30th session in
Geneva, provoking a defensive response from the Kingdom over the body’s
comments on the recently passed NGO law.
Adopted
without a vote, the resolution follows last month’s nine-day visit by
the new UN special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, Rhona Smith.
Welcoming
Cambodia’s participation in a periodic human-rights review, as well as
progress relating to the Khmer Rouge tribunal, Friday’s resolution noted
the Kingdom’s efforts to resolve land disputes, reform its judiciary
and promote decentralisation of power away from the national level.
However,
it also expressed pointed concern at potential negatives associated
with the recent Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations
(LANGO), calling on the government to “implement the law in a fair,
transparent and democratic manner, including a review and, if necessary,
a revision”.
Mention
of the law, which has been a source of ongoing tension between the
Cambodian government and UN agencies, was met with hostility by
Cambodia’s delegation in Geneva. In its formal statement on the
resolution, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the clause
“blatantly goes against the good will of the government of Cambodia in
enacting the Law on Association and NGOs”.
Although
not objecting to the passing of the resolution, the ministry maintained
that “the ultimate goal of the law is to create a conducive medium for
better transparency, cooperation and freedom of civil societies and
NGOs”.
However,
other observers of human rights in Cambodia claim the contentious law
reflects only one part of a broader lack of fundamental freedoms in the
Kingdom.
“The
NGO law is not the only problem – it is just another mechanism through
which the government has tried to give itself legitimacy in curtailing
human rights,” said Ou Virak, an independent political analyst and
former head of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.
“The
bigger problem is, as the special rapporteur has always expressed, the
lack of rule of law, which means there is no independence of judiciary,
no guarantees of free and fair elections, or security in terms of land
grabs and a host of other issues.”
Mak
Sambath, chairman of the government’s Human Rights Committee, said
yesterday he had not seen the resolution, but stressed Cambodia’s
adherence to the rule of law.
“I
agree with the Cambodian delegates,” he said. “The Cambodian government
cannot go backwards, as the Law on Associations and NGOs was adopted by
the National Assembly and signed by the King.”
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