"We are all STTs"

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Silencing Cambodia's Honest Brokers

Editorial by Elizabeth Becker

The New York Times / International Herald Tribune

17 Aug. 2011

Civil Society under Threat

of New NGO Law in Cambodia

The World Movement for Democracy joins with Cambodian civil society organizations in expressing its deep concern of the proposed NGO legislation that, if passed, will severely limit the space for civil society to operate freely. The proposed law grants extensive power to the government to control civil society and is very vague in the rights allowed to civil society. Under this law, registration is mandatory for associations or NGOs, and unregistered groups are banned from operating. The proposed law does not include provisions to safeguard objective application of the review process, nor does it define an appeal process in case of rejection of registration. Similarly, there are many terms in the law that are undefined or vague, which could be threatening in protecting an objective application of the law.

Civil society organizations have attempted to work with the government in providing inputs into the drafting of the legislation, but have been consistently ignored in each round of drafting the bill. The World Movement calls on the government of Cambodia to incorporate the interests of civil society into the final law and to be transparent in this process by making the final draft public for consultation before it is made into law.

In its "Defending Civil Society" report, the World Movement defines six principles that govern and protects CSOs from government repression. The first principle is the Right to Entry, and states that "International law protects the right of individuals to form, join and participate in civil society organizations" and that "freedom of association includes the right to associate informally, that is, as a group lacking legal personality." This principal is drawn mainly from and protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 2 (1)) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (Article 14, 22), both of which the government of Cambodia has signed and ratified.

The World Movement urges participants to take action by signing the Joint Statement petition issued by the NGO Core Group and the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia found here by sending a "Yes" email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

For more information, go to:

www.wmd.org/projects/defending-civil-society/updates-ngo-laws/sign-cambodias-civil-society-joint-statement

www.demdigest.net/blog/2011/08/ngo-law-threatens-cambodias-honest-brokers/

www.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/International-Experts-Add-to-Worries-on-NGO-Law-127835678.html

www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011081551053/National-news/ngo-incitement.html

www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/ngo-08122011171923.html

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Visit www.civicus-cam.org for more info...

To see full size poster, visit KI-Media...

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After my commentary A Language in Crisis, I was alerted to this article by Dr. Steve Heder on Language and National Identity: Cambodia which is a powerful, sobering, within-without perspective of the evolution of the Khmer language during the different eras of Cambodian history.  A must read for Cambodian leaders and educators.

In KI-Media

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A Language in Crisis

A commentary by CIVICUS Cambodia Theary Seng

published in The Phnom Penh Post on Tuesday, 16 Aug. 2011

re-post in KI-Media

Rebuttals and rejoinders from various forums to my commentary,

and my Response (forthcoming)

ABC Radio Australia

LIVE Radio Panel Discussion

2:30 PM (Phnom Penh), Friday, 28 Aug. 2011

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Cambodia: Social Accountability Stories

The four-part video attempts to give a face to the growing social accountability movement in Cambodia. Watch this teaser video for a sneak peek.

Also in KI-Media.

ANSA-EAP July 2011 Newsletter

(Ms. Theary Seng is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of ANSA-EAP, headquartered at the Ateneo School of Government, Manila.)

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CAMBODIA: Human Rights on a Slippery Slope

Liberation

by Arnaud Dubus, 30 July 2011

KI-Media (French with English translation)

"Cambodia is slowly sinking into a predatory authoritarian regime like those established by Zine Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and Muammar Qaddafi of Libya."

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A Last Stand

As Cambodia's war crimes tribunal battles accusations of political interference in its inner workings, a suspect in a politically sensitive future case pleads his innocence

By Sebastian Strangio

Southeast Asia Globe (Cambodia, July 2011)

The controversy came to a head in late April when the ECCC's two co-investigating judges, You Bunleng of Cambodia and Siegfried Blunk of Germany, announced the completion of their investigation into Case 003. The problem, according to critics, is that the judges had failed to interview the suspects or any witnesses in the sensitive case; they also conducted few investigations at mass grave sites linked to the alleged crimes. The swiftness of the investigation was seen as evidence that the court was gearing up to bury the case, with the alleged collusion of international staff.

"It was transparently deceitful," Theary Seng, a human rights activist and victims advocate, said of the closure of the Case 003 investigation.

"The judges have a duty – it's not an option – to investigate. They have failed in their duty to investigate and they have failed to inform the public."

The co-investigating judges have also remained silent about Case 004, involving three mid-ranking Khmer Rouge officials. The turmoil has since deepened.

Elusive justice

In addition to eating into the ECCC's credibility, the controversy over Case 003 also raises questions about the meaning of justice for rural Cambodians, and how many people need to be indicted to account for the horrors of the Khmer Rouge.

Theary Seng said there was no "magic number" of how many should be prosecuted and indicted, but that Meas Mut, who she claims was responsible for the death of her own parents under the regime, should be among them. "It's not surprising he should deny his role, but he can't deny the weight of evidence. He can't deny the testimonies that run into the tens of thousands," she said, adding the five current indictees were clearly not enough. "The current five are not sufficient for the crimes that took the lives of 1.7 million Cambodians."