A former Australian foreign minister says Cambodia's political leaders should be "named, shamed, investigated and sanctioned" by the international community over human rights abuses.
Gareth Evans, who was foreign minister from 1988 to 1996, has published an online article, titled Cambodia's Violent Peace, on his website, in which he says Cambodian citizens have been "deliberately targeted by their country's security forces".
"The recent killings repeat a pattern of political violence that recurred all too often at crucial moments in Cambodia's history," Mr Evans, who is now on the board of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said.
"Cambodia's record on democracy and human rights since the (1991) Paris Peace Agreements has not been a good one."
Mr Evans cites the shooting deaths of five garment workers in January, last year's deadly violence used against demonstrators protesting the 2013 election result, the 1997 grenade attack on an opposition rally led by opposition politician Sam Rainsy and prime minister Hun Sen's bloody coup in the same year as examples.
Mr Evans says "since then, while preserving a democratic facade, Hun Sen has ruled, for all practical purposes, as an autocrat".
"For far too long, Hun Sen and his colleagues have been getting away with violence, human-rights abuses, corruption, and media and electoral manipulation without serious internal or external challenge," he said.
Cambodia's leaders should be 'shamed, investigated' over violence
Mr Evans, who was foreign minister at the time of the UN peacekeeping operation in Cambodia and national elections in the early 1990s, says not enough is being done internationally to hold the Hun Sen government to account.
He says Australia's response to the violence has been "typical" and while it has expressed concern about "recent disproportionate violence against protesters", has failed to criticise the regime in Phnom Penh.
"Australia's new foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has talked, as foreign ministers often do, of the need to avoid unproductive 'megaphone diplomacy' and to 'engage, not enrage' her counterparts," he said.
"But, it seems that no robust critique was delivered when she met privately with Hun Sen in Phnom Penh on February 22 – even though Australia's high standing in Cambodia (not least owing to its historical role in the peace process) means that its voice certainly would have been listened to.
"I know Hun Sen and worked well with him in the past. I have resisted strong public criticism until now, because I thought there was hope for both him and his government.
"But their behaviour has now moved beyond the civilised pale. It is time for Cambodia's political leaders to be named, shamed, investigated, and sanctioned by the international community."
Human rights "on the right track"
The Cambodian government's spokesperson Phay Siphan told the ABC comments from Mr Evans "seem to be an over reaction".
"The situation has been improved... human rights is on the right track," he said, adding that compared to neighbours Vietnam and Thailand, "we feel that we are better".
Responding to violence used against demonstrators, Mr Phay Siphan says the authorities had to respond that way "to maintain peace and stability" and called Mr Evans to "respect the Cambodian people".
"If you compare Cambodia over here to other... ASEAN countries, I think that we are very open than the others," he said.
"Opposition party over here, international organisations over here, thousands of NGOs over here. (There is) freedom of expression through a number of radio stations and... people are free to express the political but we don't let those people take the law into their own hands.
"Human rights have to be taking place under the rule of law. It does not mean that the human rights have to be taking the law in everyone's hands."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has responded to Mr Evans, saying she raised human rights in her meetings with Cambodian leaders during her visit in February.
"I note Mr Evans has chosen to make these criticisms in the week following my visit to Cambodia, yet remained silent when Labor's Bob Carr visited Cambodia. I will not play politics with what is a serious issue," Ms Bishop told the ABC.
"I raised human rights in each of my meetings with the prime minister, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Cambodia."
1 comment:
Here is my comment for online readers and Khmer folks who have tried to fight to save Cambodia and Cambodian people.
CPP regime or government under criminal Hun Sen is like Killing Fields # 2 with a different strategy to make people starve and have difficult time to survive, causing to have a lack of food, healthcare, water and so on.
Hun Sen is not Khmer, but he is a real Yuon/Vietcong puppet and secretly works for his Hanoi bosses in Communist Vietnam.
Let the world think how the situation in Cambodia is and why so many Cambodian people have been ignored, abandoned and chased away from there residents and live in the other remote areas that have no access to water, food, education and healthcare.
During the Killing Fields # 1, Cambodian people have been evacuated or forced out of the Phnom Penh city, towns, villages and homes to forest, field or remote areas so far away. So, why it is happening today in 21st century, that corrupted and criminal CPP led by stupid Khmer Rouges killer Hun Sen (as Vietcong dog) under the control of Hanoi masters (such as Nguyen Tan Dung etc).
Please remind Cambodian people today that CPP is a new Killing Fields # 2 with different plans to slowly eliminate Khmer people step by step and there have been a flooding illegal Vietnamese immigrants and thieves into Cambodia by boats and roads under the order of Hanoi master-minded leaders in Vietnam (Hun Sen's Vietnamese bosses). The UN envoys and International Community need to see this and need to understand why some many illegal Vietnamese immigrants are allowed to coming into Cambodia to settle and why so many Cambodian/Khmer people are forced out and evicted from their lands, home and property. This needs to be stopped immediately and Hun Sen needs to forced out of power provided and supported by his Vietnamese master-minded bosses in Hanoi. Vietnamese masters in Hanoi are the ones need to be blamed, put into a shame, criticized for their dirty and deadly plans to massively kill Khmer/Cambodian people using their Vietnamese puppet Hun Sen as a tool.
Hun Sen has been illegally installed as a Prime Minister by his Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi so that Hun Sen's Hanoi masters can take advantages of Cambodia by encroaching Cambodian territory, forcing Hun Sen to sign the illegal referendum to give sea/water, land at the border, islands (like Koh Tral that is changed to Vietnamese name Phu Qoc, etc), cutting the forests via illegal land concession (like illegal economic zone), allowing illegal million of illegal Vietnamese settlers or immigrants in Cambodia (causing pollutions to water, air and land in Cambodia), killing Cambodian/Khmer people, evicting Cambodian residents (who are the land and property owners), grabbing Khmer farmers' lands and properties, stealing the money from the International donors, secretly placing the illegal Hun Sen's Vietnamese advisers in CPP government offices in Phnom Penh, secretly taking advantages of Angkor Wat tourists' money, illegally doing business through trading internationally (exports and imports), placing Vietnamese military agents and bodyguards by hiding in Khmer/Cambodian military and police uniforms, reducing Khmer educators and intelligent individuals, destroying educations of Khmer students and children, making Khmer people become more difficult to earn high salary monthly or yearly, and beyond.
Please, Khmer people and readers help spread the words about the current situations in Cambodia just mentioned above.
Khmer survivor living in the U.S.
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