Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights’

UN Human Rights Envoy arrived in Cambodia

Surya Subedi, the UN’s special rapporteur for human rights in Camboida visited officially during 2 weeks to determine the priority in the field of human rights in order to establish a plan to help support the improvement of the human rights situation and the reform of the National Assembly and the judiciary in Cambodia, including the Supreme Council of Magistracy and the Constitutional Council.

Subedi is set to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen, Ek Sam Ol, head of the Constitutional Council, Om Yien Tieng, head of the government’s human rights committee.

“The previous visit by Subedi has promised cooperation which won’t be an attack on the government,” Koy Kuong, spokesman at the ministry of foreign affairs was quoted by the Post as saying.

Subedi will remain in Cambodia through the rest of January surveying state institutions “that should promote and protect rights, ensure checks and balances on the power of the executive, and promote and protect democratic development,” reported VOA mews.

Cambodian Opposition-affiliated Journalist Jailed for Disinformation

On June 26, 2009, opposition-affiliated Khmer Machach Srok newspaper director Hang Chakra was convicted in absentia of disinformation, sentenced to one year in prison, and fined 9 million riel (USD $2,250). Hours later, Hang Chakra was arrested in Cambodia’s Northeast Battambang province and taken to Prey Sar prison.

Hang Chakra had originally been summoned to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on June 3 to answer questions regarding controversial articles published in his newspaper. During Chakra’s interview, details of informants inside the Council of Ministers who were the source for the stories remained anonymous with Hang Chakra refusing to identify them to the court, as allowed under Article 2 of the Press Law.

His questioning came after the government filed a complaint in response to the articles published by Khmer Machah Srok in April and May 2009 about Senior Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, also head of the Council of Ministers.

The articles in question detail the alleged demotion and firing due to corruption of officials who worked with Sok An in the Council of Ministers. Upon filing the complaint, the government claimed that the articles could affect political stability in the country. (more…)

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