Oral Statement
HRC7
Item 10, Interactive Dialogue on Cambodia
The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and its affiliated leagues in Cambodia, the Cambodia Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), fully support the observations made by the United Nations Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia concerning the rule of law. We regret that he was not able to meet with government representatives on the occasion of his last visit in Cambodia in December 2007.
We wish to draw Council’s attention on the systematic human rights violations in Cambodia, in a climate of impunity and of absence of the rule of law. Forced evictions and forcible confiscation of land constitute one of Cambodia’s most pervasive human rights problems. It is estimated that at least 150,000 Cambodians live under the threat of forced eviction nationwide. In the capital, Phnom Penh approximately 70.000 people live in fear of being evicted from their homes and land. Threatened evictions include the Boeung Kak lake case, where developers have begun to fill in largest lake in Phnom Penh, under a lease which is illegal under domestic law. It is feared that the development will lead to the forced eviction of over 4000 families.
Evictions are frequently violent with police, military police, and military soldiers using guns and other weapons to intimidate and threaten families. On 22 February, approximately 100 heavily-armed local police and military police forcibly evicted 23 families in the Russey Keo district of Phnom Penh. The police fired tear gas canisters and AK-47 bullets with the violence resulting in injury to at least four villagers. Eleven community members were arrested while attempting to protect their housing and possessions. The residents were given only one day’s notice of the eviction.
In this particular context, human rights defenders, community leaders and land activists are particularly targeted; they are victims of intimidation, judicial persecution and constant harassment. The blatant lack of independence of Cambodian judiciary and the corruption, in combinaison with the absence of the rule of law and the political willingness to struggle against those phenomena contribute to a climate of impunity, as documented by the report of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders -a joint FIDH and OMCT programme- released in Phnom Penh last February.
In addition, Cambodian trade unionists are facing harsh repression. Hy Vuthy FTUWKC local President, and Ros Sovannarith, membre of the FTUWKC’s direction committee have been killed, respectively in February 2007 and in 2004. Earlier on that year, the murder of Chea Vichea, the then FTUWKC president and founder, has not been properly investigated either: two innocent men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, have been condemned for his murder to harsh prison sentences and are currently in jail, after a blatantly unfair trial (in which no evidence was brought forward to link the two to the murder). The Supreme Court still has to rule on their case, while the real perpetrators, enjoying impunity, have never been arrested.
Our Organisations urge the Council to adopt a firm resolution calling the Cambodian government to:
– establish a moratorium on all involuntary evictions until the adoption and the proper and vigorous implementation of a strict legislative framework;
– put an end to impunity for acts of repression against community leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and trade unionists and release immediately Mr. Sok Sam Oeun and Mr. Born Samnang, as their arbitrary detention follows a blatantly unfair trial;
– engage in a constructive dialogue with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia and thereby respect its international human rights commitments, regarding in particular its co-operation with the UN special procedures.