CAMBODIA

World Report 2001 Entry

World Report 2000 Entry

World Report 1999 Entry

World Report 1998 Entry

Cambodia-- Impunity in Cambodia: How Human Rights Offenders Escape Justice
A Report by Adhoc, Licadho, and Human Rights Watch
In this report, three human rights organizations urged the Royal Cambodian  Government to end  impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations in Cambodia.  Two Cambodian organizations, Adhoc and Licadho, joined with an international  human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, to document the failure of the  government at all levels to prosecute civilian and military authorities for killing and  torture. During a two-month investigation into impunity in Cambodia, the rights  organizations found that a major cause of the problem was a lack of political will by  the government to prosecute known human rights abusers. Adding to the problem is  the lack of neutrality and independence of the judicial and law enforcement systems,  as well as a low level of professionalism in these bodies. The report also identifies as a  problem the excessive use of lethal force and misuse of weapons by law enforcement  officials. The report was based in part on a study by Adhoc and Licadho that found  that between January 1997 and October 1998 at least 263 people were allegedly  killed by police, military, gendarmes, militia, or civil servants.
(D1103) 6/99, 41pp., $5.00
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 Toxic Justice: Human Rights, Justice, and Toxic Waste in Cambodia
In November 1998, nearly 3,000 tons of Taiwanese toxic waste were dumped in a field in the southern port of Sihanoukville. At the time, there was no law banning such dumping, but Minister of Environment Mok Mareth said publicly and repeatedly that toxic waste imports were prohibited in Cambodia and a national policy to that effect was in force. Local people panicked:thousands fled the city. Others in Sihanoukville exercised their constitutional rights and in December held two days of public demonstrations, blaming government corruption for the presence of the toxic material. The demonstrators did not obtain permission to protest publicly, however, and when some of them grew violent, ransacking several buildings, police made several arrests. The local authorities sought to blame incitement of the riots on two human rights defenders, Kim Sen and Meas Minear, staff members of the Cambodian human rights group Licadho, or Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. Arrested in December, the two were held for a month and charged with committing robbery and propertydamage. No convincing evidence has been presented against them, but they still face up to ten years in prison if convicted. As this report will illustrate, the Cambodian government appears to bear some responsibility for the dumping and the resulting violations of economic and social rights that followed.
(C1102), 5/99, 23pp., $3.00
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Cambodia -- Fair Elections Not Possible
The present political environment in Cambodia, in which opposition parties are not able to operate freely and safely, is in no way conducive to the holding of free, fair, and credible elections. The primary obstacle is neither logistical nor technical, but rather the determination of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) to control the electoral process and restrict basic freedoms. Human Rights Watch recommends postponement of elections until the conditions conducive to a free and fair poll are in place. Human Rights Watch recommends concrete steps that donor nations and the Cambodian government can take to minimize yet further human rights abuses and even greater intimidation of Cambodian citizens in exercising their right to elect a government.
(C1003) 6/98, 26pp., $5.00
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Cambodia: Aftermath of the Coup
A month after Second Prime Minister Hun Sen's coup, Cambodia bears little resemblance to the society envisioned in the Paris accords of 1991 that laid the framework for an end to conflict and a United Nations peacebuilding effort on an unprecedented scale. The tension that permeated the country's political life over the past four years - since United Nations-supervised elections installed a fractious coalition government in Phnom Penh - has erupted into a protracted campaign of intimidation by Hun Sen's forces. The international community has responded to the coup and its aftermath with policies that have wavered between firmness and appeasement. The lack of international agreement, let alone coordination of policies, on foreign aid, human rights, refugees, and recognition of the post-coup government, has not only allowed Hun Sen to consolidate his authority, but it has greatly magnified the insecurity of political opposition members and their families. It would be a grave mistake for the international community to see elections in and of themselves as the solution to human rights violations. Elections will have no meaning unless the Cambodian government ends its persecution of the opposition and holds its forces accountable for human rights violations during and since the coup.
(C908) 8/97, 14 pp., $3.00
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DETERIORATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CAMBODIA
Even as international attention focuses on the split in the Khmer Rouge organization and the hopes for peace that it has engendered, the human rights situation in Cambodia remains precarious and has in many respects steadily worsened over the course of 1996. Disturbing trends include a rise in political violence, the continued repression of the press, and impunity for abuses committed by government officials and other powerful figures. Indeed, an amnesty given to former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary in September marks only the latest incident in a history of impunity for human rights abusers in Cambodia since the United Nations-sponsored peace settlement.
(C811) 12/96, 25 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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THE WAR AGAINST FREE SPEECH
Letter from Human Rights Watch and
the New Cambodian Press Law
Over the last year, the Royal Cambodian Government has waged a campaign to silence its critics, targeting independent newspapers and political figures for prosecution and harassment. On more than a dozen occasions, it has suspended, shut or confiscated newspapers or brought criminal complaints against journalists. A controversial new press law is unlikely to halt these abuses as it allows confiscations, closures and criminal prosecutions to continue.
(C713) 9/95, 15 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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CAMBODIA AT WAR
Although the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cambodia has been hailed as one of the most successful ever, the country was back at war even before the last of the peacekeepers left. The civilian population now faces a wide range of abuses from both the Khmer Rouge and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. This report, based on three missions to Cambodia between March 1994 and February 1995, documents cases of murder, rape, hostage-taking, and the use of famine as a weapon by the Khmer Rouge in their new "scorched earth" tactics. On the government side, the report examines severe abuses by government soldiers against civilians, including secret detention, extortion and murder of dozens of people by military intelligence, and the failure of the Cambodian government in most cases to prosecute its own officials responsible for abuses. The report also documents how the Cambodian government has begun to retaliate against institutions and individuals that have been critical of those abuses, such as the press, the lively domestic human rights community, and independent and critical parliamentarians. Human Rights Watch analyzes the foreign support for both the Khmer Rouge and government forces and calls for an end to the provision of arms and military equipment to the warring parties, as well as for an abolition of the use, acquisition and stockpiling of antipersonnel landmines. It also calls on international donors to insist that the Cambodian government hold its officials, civilian and military, accountable for gross violations of human rights.
(1509) 3/95, 168 pp., ISBN 1-56432-150-9, $15.00/£12.95
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An Exchange on Human Rights
and Peace-Keeping in Cambodia
The U.N. peace-keeping period in Cambodia was marked by major human rights violations, among them the slaughter of ethnic Vietnamese residents of Cambodia, abuse of prisoners and incidents of politically-motivated murder, assault and intimidation that accelerated in the months leading up to the May 1993 elections. The elections did not halt these abuses and Cambodia is at war with the Khmer Rouge once more. This report consists of a letter from the United Nations Transition Authority in Cambodia and our response, both concerning our May 1993 report, which detailed the on-going human rights abuses and criticized UNTAC efforts.
(C514) 9/93, 30 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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Human Rights Before and After the Elections
Describing serious human rights abuses leading up to the elections in May 1993, this report criticizes the international community and the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia for tolerating the bombing of opposition party offices and for encouraging members of the Khmer Rouge to participate in the elections despite their having slaughtered ethnic Vietnamese.
(C510) 5/93, 41 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Political Control, Human Rights
& the U.N. Mission in Cambodia
The United Nations has embarked on its most ambitious project ever in terms of both expense and scope in Cambodia, and the exercise will undoubtedly exert great influence on how the U.N. is used in the settlement of other conflicts around the world. The centerpiece of the Cambodian peace settlement, “free and fair elections,” is based on the success of a series of steps designed to ensure an atmosphere of political neutrality that will allow Cambodians to choose their own government, free from the control of any one of the four parties to the conflict, none of which has a democratic tradition or a reputation for respecting fundamental freedoms or independent civil institutions. This report identifies some of the underlying conditions and institutions each party exploits to perpetuate control, and how foreign interests affect that control. It highlights safeguards that should be in place to ensure the abuses of the past are not repeated, either against those returning to Cambodia from the border camps or those who never left.
(0855) 9/92, 78 pp., ISBN 1-56432-085-5, $7.00/£5.95

LANDMINES IN CAMBODIA
The Coward’s War
As prospects for peace improve in Cambodia, the need to clear landmines becomes ever more urgent. Every year landmines kill or maim thousands or Cambodians, most of them civilians. The mines have been laid over a period of two decades by all parties to the conflict. Unless plans for a mine eradication program begin immediately, the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of displaced Cambodians will turn into a disaster. This report documents how landmines are used by all factions in the Cambodian civil war and what happens to mine victims. It concludes with a recommendation to the international community to consider an outright ban on these weapons.
(0014) 9/91, 160 pp., ISBN 1-56432-001-4, $15.00/£12.95
 
 
 

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