An international human rights group Wednesday condemned Cambodia’s human rights record just two weeks ahead of a donors meeting, where the government will have to report on its progress improving human rights.
In a report released in London, Amnesty International said that impunity, mob lynching and torture continue to plague the country, and that many Cambodians have lost faith in the “weak and corrupt” police force and judiciary, according to reports from London.
“As in previous years, the main human rights problem in Cambodia was impunity for human rights violators compounded by a weak and corrupt judicial system. Torture in police custody was reported [and] lack of confidence in the judicial system and the police led to an increase in vigilante killings,” the report stated.
The report claimed there were more than 30 lynchings in the last year, and more than a dozen in the first part of this year.
Government officials said Wednesday the report unfairly targeted Cambodia and was built on incomplete investigations.
“It’s not true. I wish the international community would sit and discuss these things case-by-case,” said Om Yentieng, a member of the government’s Human Rights Committee.
In the past when such allegations of rights abuses were made, further investigation showed they were overstated, Om Yentieng said. Such reports, then, only serve to isolate Cambodia further and undermine reform efforts, he said.
“Right now, I’m working to protect the people. [Amnesty International] just read some reports, but they need to investigate better,” he said.
Ministry of the Interior spokesman General Khieu Sopheak acknowledged that Cambodia’s human rights record needs improvement, but said the country lacks the resources to reform at the speed international groups demand.
“Cambodia is improving now, but for Cambodia to be like developed countries is, I think, impossible. They should understand the difficulties of a country that is just emerging from 30 years of genocide. We need time to improve. And we are improving, day by day,” he said.
With the international donors meeting scheduled for June 12 in Tokyo, the question of human rights is vital, both officials and human rights monitors said.
Although she had not read Amnesty’s full report, Licadho founder Kek Galabru said she agreed with its spirit, and said she hoped human rights would be a focus of the donors’ meeting.
Kek Galabru said she recently joined 18 other NGOs to tour donor countries’ embassies in the hopes of persuading them to raise their human rights concerns at the donors’ meeting.
What has kept human rights issues from becoming more of a focus of past meetings is the blind generosity of donor countries, Kek Galabru said. “If donors speak with one voice, the government will change. The problem is, only some donors want to discuss the issue. Others just want to give money and go home,” she said.
Donor nations, however, know how hard the government has been working for reform, Khieu Sopheak said. “We hope they understand. We need time,” he said.
But time, Kek Galabru said, may be running out.
“One day, the donors will get tired of Cambodia,” she said. “So the government needs to focus on development. And the first thing to developing the country is to have the rule of law.”
(Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse)
