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Amnesty International Report 2006 - Cambodia

Peaceful criticism of the government was curtailed. Immunity was lifted for three opposition parliamentarians; two were subsequently sentenced to imprisonment. Criminal charges were brought against trade union leaders and a media representative. Human rights defenders and opposition politicians faced threats. Restrictions on freedom of assembly were maintained. Vietnamese Montagnard asylum-seekers continued to arrive; some were forcibly returned.

Background

Cambodian politics continued to be pursued through the courts. Political opponents lodged numerous criminal complaints against each other, putting considerable political pressure on the judiciary.

In February a closed session of the National Assembly lifted the parliamentary immunity of three Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) members. The SRP responded by boycotting the legislative chamber until August. The boycott and a culture of declining attendance meant that parliament was repeatedly inquorate.

The agreement between Cambodia and the UN to set up a criminal tribunal to prosecute suspected major perpetrators of gross human rights violations during the Khmer Rouge rule (1975-1979) took effect in April.

In October a supplemental border agreement was signed with Viet Nam.

In November UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the appointment of Professor Yash Ghai as his Special Representative on human rights in Cambodia. The appointment followed the resignation from the post of Peter Leuprecht.

Critics gagged

In a crackdown against critics of the border agreement with Viet Nam, radio manager Mam Sonando and President of the Independent Teachers Association Rong Chhun were detained and charged with defamation and incitement to commit a crime. If found guilty they could face several years' imprisonment. They were prisoners of conscience.

Court summons were issued on similar charges to at least three other union leaders and a number of public figures, several of whom sought sanctuary abroad.

Two leading human rights defenders, Kem Sokha and Yeng Virak, were arrested on 31 December for allegedly defaming the government. Their detention came nine days after opposition leader Sam Rainsy, in exile since he lost his parliamentary immunity, was convicted in absentia of defamation and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.

These breaches of the right to freedom of speech caused considerable tension within civil society.

In September, two Ministry of the Environment rangers were shot dead in an apparently premeditated attack in Aural Wildlife Sanctuary. The attack underscored the dangers facing defenders of natural resources and local livelihoods. Days earlier the international non-governmental organization Global Witness had closed its Cambodia office after its international staff were denied visas and its local staff were harassed.

Weak legal system

In March, Prime Minister Hun Sen launched an "iron fist" policy, purportedly to combat corruption in the judiciary. Several judges and prosecutors were removed without due disciplinary procedures, and the UN Special Representative on human rights in Cambodia warned that the policy further undermined the independence of the courts.

Two high-profile trials illustrated the corrupt and weak judicial system's failure to ensure impartiality and its disregard for the presumption of innocence.

• Cheam Channy, the SRP shadow minister of defence, was arrested immediately after his parliamentary immunity was lifted. He was tried in a military court and, despite the lack of evidence, convicted in August of establishing an illegal armed force and fraud. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

There were numerous irregularities in the trial. Military courts have no jurisdiction over civilians. The defence was barred from calling witnesses to testify and prevented from cross-examining all prosecution witnesses. No credible evidence was presented to substantiate the charges which were believed to be unfounded.

Fellow party member Khom Piseth had fled abroad after the accusations were levelled against the two in 2004 and had resettled as a political refugee. At the same trial he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment after being convicted, in absentia, of similar charges.

• In August, Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun were sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder in 2004 of trade union leader Chea Vichea following an unfair trial. The criminal investigation lacked integrity; people providing alibis for the suspects were threatened with arrest; the prosecution failed to produce evidence; and the pre-trial detention period exceeded by almost one year the legal limit under Cambodian law.

Land and housing

After a visit to Cambodia in August, the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing highlighted substantial land grabbing which appeared to be depriving the rural and urban poor of land. The Special Rapporteur also noted that many violent forced evictions followed inconclusive court investigations.

• Two hundred families in Kbal Spean village near the Thai border crossing of Poipet were forcibly evicted in March after a court battle against their village chief. Five villagers, including one man disabled in a mine accident, were shot dead and 40 wounded as armed forces implemented a court order following a questionable legal process. By the end of the year nobody had been brought to justice for the shootings. The provincial authorities endorsed the relocation of residents to an area far from the border crossing where they earn their living.

Land concessions continued to dispossess and impoverish Cambodians.

• In Mondulkiri province, indigenous Phnong people lost both ancestral land and farmland as a result of a land concession granted by the government in 2004. Villagers and local authorities were never consulted and no environmental or social impact studies were undertaken before the company was awarded the concession for tree plantation, which vastly exceeded the legal limit of 10,000 hectares. The company failed to comply with a government order issued in June to suspend operations.

Refugees

Montagnard refugees from Viet Nam continued to cross into Cambodia. Some were forcibly returned before they could present their asylum claims, in breach of Cambodia's obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

Following a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding signed by Cambodia, Viet Nam and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in January, refugees who did not wish to resettle in a third country or to return to Viet Nam were sent back to their native Central Highlands despite the absence of permanent monitoring (see Viet Nam entry). Of the several hundred people awaiting resettlement abroad in sites in Phnom Penh, some 340 were resettled, mainly in the USA.

The government warned that villagers assisting Vietnamese Montagnard asylum-seekers in the border provinces would face trafficking charges. Harassment and threats were reported against individual human rights defenders who had aided refugees.

Violence against women

In September the National Assembly adopted a law against domestic violence. The law extended the legal authority for police and local officials to respond to domestic violence, and included legal protections for victims.

In its annual Trafficking in Persons report, the US government criticized the lack of progress made by the Cambodian authorities in combating trafficking and the failure to convict public officials and others involved in people trafficking.

AI country visits

An AI delegation visited Cambodia in November.

Topics: Opposition, Refugees, Violence against women, Right to housing, Freedom of expression,