Despite the UN’s call for prompt action on the draft Khmer Rouge tribunal law, a National Assembly official said Monday that the matter is not yet on its agenda.
A government official, meanwhile, said it will be “very soon.’’
Monh Saphan, chairman of the Assembly’s legislative commission overseeing the draft law, said parliamentarians are awaiting direction from the government before scheduling debate.
Earlier this month, Sok An, Minister for the Council of Ministers, met with Hans Corell, UN undersecretary-general for legal affairs, to remove the final hurdles to organizing a trial of Khmer Rouge leaders.
During his visit, Corell repeatedly urged parliament to take swift action on the proposed law and said that the UN would wash its hands of the tribunal if the law was substantially changed.
“We are expecting a formal response from the government about the latest development,” Monh Saphan said. Without that, he said his commission cannot begin work.
Sok An could not be reached for comment Monday. But one of his legal advisers, Sieng Vissoth, said Sok An plans to address parliament “very soon’’ about his negotiations with Corell. No date has yet been set. “We can’t delay it for much longer,” Sieng Vissoth said.
He blamed the delay on technical difficulties, saying the document agreed to by Sok An and Hans Corell is still being translated from English to Khmer.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly hopes to move ahead with other work, but that schedule also remains tentative.
Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh said Monday the parliament is poised to take up the communal election and communal administration laws. But the government has asked for those laws to be considered together, and the second has not yet arrived from the Council of Ministers.
The assembly is also supposed to appoint state secretaries to the interior, justice, inspection and religion ministries. But not enough lawmakers were present Monday to muster the two-thirds vote required. So those appointments have been delayed, most likely until the end of the month.
The prince attacked opposition parliamentarians for blocking action on certain laws by walking out of sessions or skipping them entirely.
He said he has been lenient in the past, but has put up with those tactics long enough.
“It’s not appropriate for the nation that you, as representatives of the nation and the voters, [walk out],’’ he told the offenders.
He did not refer to any opposition members by name, nor did he specify what action he will take.
Monday’s session lasted only about an hour, but the members did get some work done. By a vote of 86 to 3, they approved gradually eliminating tariffs for Asean countries participating in the Asean Free Trade Agreement. Cambodia will become a member of AFTA in 2015 after fulfilling a number of requirements, including the tariff reduction.
Minister of Finance Keat Chhon thanked the Assembly lawmakers for their decision. “This is another tool for Cambodia to join the current of economic regionalization and globalization,” he said.
