Environmental watchdog Global Witness stands by its report accusing government forestry officials of aiding commercial loggers in illegally harvesting Cambodia’s forests, spokesman Jon Buckrell said Sunday.
Prime Minister Hun Sen last week threatened to expel Global Witness from Cambodia, saying the group had undertaken a politically motivated campaign to embarrass the government.
Buckrell also said the government has focused attention on the negative aspects of the report and failed to mention the positive.
“It is disappointing to be accused of being politically motivated by the prime minister after Global Witness rightly praised him for his strong personal commitment to forestry reform,” Buckrell said.
As for charges the report contained inaccuracies, Buckrell said, “If there are any factual inaccuracies in the report, they will be corrected, but none have been brought to our attention.”
Buckrell said Global Witness e-mailed the report to representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Forestry and Wildlife, the Ministry of the Environment and the Council of Ministers before releasing it to the media.
“In the future, the government should be given greater notice and the reports presented formally, and in person, to a designated government official,” Buckrell said. The report, released ahead of last Monday’s donors meeting, accused the government of “systematic abuse” which threatened reform efforts to weed out illegal logging that defrauds the government of millions of dollars in royalties.
“The concessionaires operate today as they have always done, and continue to enjoy complete impunity,” the report stated.
The report described Ty Sokhun, director of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Forestry and Wildlife, as assisting in investigating illegal logging activity.
But it also stressed that “there is a complete and deliberate breakdown of the Department of Forestry and Wildlife’s chain of custody…[that] makes large-scale illegal logging and massive fraud possible.”
Forestry officials said last week the government could properly monitor the forestry sector on its own, should Global Witness leave. But some in the international donor community, including the International Monetary Fund, say they would oppose such a move. IMF representative Mario de Zamaroczy said Global Witness must continue as forestry monitor if the IMF is to continue its financial support.
Buckrell said Global Witness’ removal from Cambodia would signal a change in the government’s commitment to control illegal logging.
“By appointing Global Witness as the independent monitor, the Royal Government of Cambodia sent out a clear message: it was serious about tackling illegal logging and was committed to good governance and transparency. Global Witness’ removal from the partnership would send out an equally clear message.”
(Additional reporting by Van Roeun)
