The crackdown on opposition demonstrations in Phnom Penh raised “fresh and serious concerns” about the human rights situation in Cambodia, a UN rights envoy report said Friday.
But Thomas Hammarberg’s discussions with the government had been positive, he said at the end of his 11th visit to Cambodia, noting that he concluded an agreement of closer cooperation with the government’s Human Rights Committee.
Two international experts will help the government review the system for criminal investigations, which Hammarberg said needs a “radical overhaul.”
He said the government believes “the analysis is correct and they have asked for assistance. The atmosphere was positive. I hope this more constructive atmosphere will continue.”
Hammarberg’s report summarized UN investigations of election-related rights violations since late August. “Opposition protests…and their subsequent suppression…have raised fresh and serious concerns about Cambodia’s human rights environment,” the report said.
The report details 34 deaths in August and September, including Vietnamese victims of racial hatred, and refers to another 77 people who received medical treatment during the crackdown on the opposition demonstrations.
At least two of the 34 deaths could be linked to the crackdown, the report said. Other bodies detailed by rights workers, including some found floating in rivers, showed evidence of violence and are still under UN investigation.
Hammarberg said more must be done to ensure the right to peacefully demonstrate and free speech. “It is still difficult for those who want to voice opinions,” he said at a press conference.
Hammarberg will present a broader report on Cambodia’s human rights situation to the UN next Friday, forming the basis for a resolution to be put to the international body by the beginning of December, the rights envoy said.
The report will refer to atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, racism and xenophobia against Vietnamese nationals in Cambodia and the continued problem of impunity, both of the Pol Pot era and of recent human rights abuses.
Investigators will arrive in Cambodia in two weeks for an eight-day visit to assess evidence for a possible tribunal to try the perpetrators of the genocide.
“They will assess the nature of the evidence against the Khmer Rouge, to see if strong proofs exist against those leaders,” he said. The investigators will look at whether connections can be made between individual killings and the responsibility of those in power, he clarified.
Cambodia’s leaders would be consulted on the nature and format of any future tribunal.
“I am extremely pleased we have come to this stage,” Hammarberg said. “We have a response from the government. They have shown considerable openness when it comes to tackling [the issue].”
Hammarberg also said he had discussed violence toward ethnic Vietnamese with Funcinpec leadership in Bangkok, following concerns that racial references in opposition rhetoric could have helped fuel a wave of anti-Vietnamese feeling.
