Yash Ghai, the Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, concluded his ten-day visit to the country on 10 December. He focused especially on the issues of land grabs and evictions, saying that the Cambodian government impoverishes and marginalises people.
Yash Ghai, the Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, concluded his ten-day visit to the country on 10 December. He focused especially on the issues of land grabs and evictions, saying that the Cambodian government impoverishes and marginalises people, especially indigenous peoples.
In the press conference on his last day, he accused the Cambodian government of pushing for "development that impoverishes people, deprives them of their resources, adds further to marginalisation [and] increases enormously the number of people who can barely make a living".
He added that the government has seized land through its related businesses and failed to protect human rights of the poor. He said, "The courts are not independent, they're corrupt, and so people don't get justice from the courts”. In his words, Cambodia is "not a rule-of-law state" and its judiciary is "a perversity".
This was Ghai’s 4th visit to the country. On this occasion he went to the northeastern province of Ratanakiri, where indigenous peoples are in a protracted legal dispute over land rights with the sister of the Finance Minister.
On 10 December, which was Human Rights Day, he joined a demonstration of local human rights activists calling for an end to corruption.
Government officials refused to meetwith him; Prime Minister Hun Sen once called Ghai “stupid”, “rude” and a “god without virtue”.
Yash Ghai is expected to present his report on this visit to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2008.
For more information:
Inquirer.net – Cambodia slams UN criticism of courts
Jakarta Post – Cambodia lashes out at UN envoy, accuses him of trying to incite violence
