Despite recent concern the National Assembly is stalling passage of a draft law to establish a trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders, Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh said Thursday he is still committed to the process.
“The government and the parliament have a clear purpose to push the law forward,” the prince told reporters at Pochentong Airport before departing to a conference in New York. The prince will attend the UN Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly from Sept 1 to Sept 3, where he said he will discuss democracy-building in Cambodia.
His visit comes just days before Prime Minister Hun Sen will attend the UN General Assembly meeting from Sept 6 to Sept 9, where political observers had hoped he would announce the law had already been passed.
No movement has been made on the law since a UN envoy last visited Cambodia in July with the understanding the Assembly would speedily change the law to comply with UN standards.
As with most laws, the government is supposed to brief the Assembly’s legislation commission before the law goes to the full Assembly for debate. In the case of the Khmer Rouge draft, lawmakers say they will proceed only once the government explains agreements it made with the UN.
Monh Saphan, who chairs the legislative commission, said Thursday he could push through the procedure in “about one week” once the government returns to explain. “But we are still waiting on the government,’ he said.
