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Human Rights Watch today called on the international community to withhold financial and technical assistance to the Cambodian electoral process until conditions are in place that will be conducive to the organizing of free and fair national elections. Elections are now scheduled for July 26, 1998. The minimum conditions, according to Human Rights Watch, should include concrete steps toward the prosecution of perpetrators of political violence, including those responsible for the killings of opposition political figures during the July 5-6, 1997 coup; restoration of freedom of the press; full freedom for opposition parties to engage in political activities without fear of intimidation or violence by government agents or individuals acting at the government's behest; and an end to the harassment of human rights workers.

In connection with the call for a ban on electoral assistance, Human Rights Watch criticized the European Commission for authorizing U.S. $11.5 million in election aid to Cambodia on January 15, 1998, before the above conditions were in place.

Ongoing Impunity and Repression

The main obstacles at the moment to free and fair elections in Cambodia are pervasive impunity and a climate of fear, both of which reached new heights with the July coup. Before the coup, Hun Sen was "Second Prime Minister" and Prince Ranariddh was "First Prime Minister" in a coalition government. This power-sharing arrangement was forced on the royalist party, FUNCINPEC, led by the prince, after Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party refused to accept the results of the 1993 elections that FUNCINPEC won. After the July coup, Hun Sen retained the title of Second Prime Minister. In the absence of a significant number of opposition parliamentarians who fled after the coup, the National Assembly confirmed Hun Sen's choice for a new first prime minister, Foreign Minister Ung Huot, a member of FUNCINPEC. For all practical purposes, however, Hun Sen is the top decision-maker in the government. In an effort to get beyond international condemnation for human rights violations committed during and after the coup, Hun Sen initiated reforms and made statements that on the surface looked promising.

For example, the government encouraged the return of opposition politicians who fled the country after the coup, authorized an opposition rally in December, and is in the process of organizing a National Human Rights Commission with the input of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to investigate reports of violations and abuses. In the aftermath of the coup, Hun Sen pledged that the media and human rights organizations could continue to operate. In a letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on October 22, 1997, Hun Sen made a commitment to ensure the safe return of opposition politicians who fled after the coup and to organizing the elections in the "most democratic and fairest manner possible, with the participation of as many political parties and international observers as possible." Crucially-needed laws regulating political parties and the elections were passed by the National Assembly on October 27 and December 19, 1997 respectively.

Despite these encouraging developments, major deterrents persist to creating a neutral political environment for free, fair, and credible elections. Warfare rages between government and opposition troops in the northwest of the country, human rights workers and journalists continue to live in fear, and press freedoms are once again under attack.

Paramount is the problem of impunity, with perpetrators of human rights abuses and summary executions of opposition members and journalists allowed to go unpunished. No opposition candidate will feel fully free to participate in election-related activities, particularly in the provinces, until a precedent has been set for bringing those who commit political violence to justice. Despite a pledge by Hun Sen in September 1997 to address an in-depth report by the Phnom Penh office of the U.N. Centre for Human Rights documenting more than forty cases of extrajudicial executions of FUNCINPEC supporters that took place during and after the coup, to date neither the government nor the judiciary have launched an independent inquiry nor has anyone been charged for these acts.

In addition, despite documentation and requests for action by the U.N. Centre and local human rights organizations since the creation of the coalition government in 1993, there have been no arrests or punishment of perpetrators of the murders of at least seven journalists, the attempted murders of five other journalists, the violent attacks on several opposition newspaper offices, or grenade attacks on opposition political rallies. The most serious of these occurred on a gathering of Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party members in September 1995 and on a Khmer Nation Party (KNP) rally on March 30, 1997; in the latter, sixteen were killed and more than one hundred injured. Human rights workers are currently investigating a number of summary executions that have been reported since the July coup.

The problem of impunity is compounded by the lack of judicial independence. The Supreme Council of Magistracy, mandated to oversee the independence of the judiciary, can hardly be called neutral as the majority of its members belong to the Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP). A Constitutional Council, which would ensure that all laws passed by the National Assembly are in accordance with the Constitution and resolve election disputes, has yet to be set up.

Despite official pledges to create a neutral political environment, opposition parties still lack access to the broadcast media, with television and radio dominated by the CPP. Equal access to the media by all political parties is critical to the elections because attendance at most political meetings and rallies will undoubtedly be dangerous, so most forms of debate will have to occur primarily through radio, video, and television. This may also be the only means for smaller splinter parties to advertise their new names and logos.

The pervasive climate of fear for media workers creates a huge damper on freedom of expression. Over the last four years at least seven journalists have been killed, with none of the perpetrators brought to justice. In the latest incident of violence against a journalist, Nokor Khmer editor Nou Kim Y, a FUNCINPEC member, was fired upon with a silencer-equipped weapon on January 11, 1998, after being chased through the streets of Phnom Penh for almost an hour.

In a renewed threat to freedom of expression, the Ministry of Information has forwarded to the Council of Ministers a restrictive subdecree, or ministerial directive, limiting the scope of the media. The draft press subdecree--which only requires ministerial and executive, not parliamentary, approval--is more repressive than the 1995 Press Law itself. By imposing restrictions on media that threaten national security, which is very broadly defined in the subdecree, any criticism of the government can be construed as treason or an attempt to destabilize the government.

The 1995 Press Law prohibits journalists from publishing anything that affects "national security" and "political stability" but does not specify what those terms mean. The subdecree clarifies that journalists would be prohibited from publishing or broadcasting confidential information endangering the country's territorial integrity, national military or police secrets which could affect military operations or endanger the army or national police, and false information which could cause turmoil within the security forces, destabilize the government, or lead to its overthrow.Violators will face fines and jail terms.

The timing on pushing through the subdecree as the electoral process begins is by no means coincidental; the legislation has lain dormant for more than a year in a more watered down form, awaiting action by the Council of Ministers.

In addition, in the last month the Ministry of Information has attempted to expel a foreign correspondent and suspend six opposition newspapers for allegedly threatening national security and spreading false information, backing down only after intervention from King Sihanouk and Hun Sen.

Failure to Effectively Ensure Full Participation of all Parties

The political party and electoral laws were passed without the input of a significant number of opposition parliamentarians, and contain articles that potentially could be used to deter electoral participation by smaller opposition parties. For example, the Electoral Law requires political parties running in the elections to deposit ten million riel (about U.S. $3,000), and the Political Party Law requires parties to submit detailed name lists, complete with thumb prints, of at least 4,000 members in order to compete in the elections. The financial requirement will effectively bar many of the smaller parties from participation, as will the name lists. Given the atmosphere of impunity for human rights abusers, citizens may well be afraid to publicly sign on with opposition parties out of fear of exposing themselves to the very real risk of reprisal.

The proposed composition of the National Electoral Commission, which is mandated by the Electoral Law to oversee the polling, has come under criticism, with most seats nominated by the four political parties that currently hold seats in the National Assembly. A seat set aside for a representative of local NGOs took on added importance for this reason because it was seen as one position that could be truly neutral. However, according to the Phnom Penh Post of January 2-15, 1998, the president of the Khmer Youth Development Organization--which is thought to receive funding from the CPP--won votes for the NGO seat on the 11-member body on December 29 after allegedly promising NGO representatives $100 each if they voted for him.

Despite Hun Sen's pledges to assure the safety of opposition parliamentarians and the recent return of several advance teams of high-profile opposition politicians to assess the political climate, the security of thousands of rank-and-file opposition party workers in remote districts and provinces during the campaign is far from assured. And even some of the top-level exile delegations have had second thoughts about returning. On January 13, 1998, a group of fifty-eight supporters of the Ranarridh-led faction of FUNCINPEC postponed their repatriation, citing concerns about the detention of a FUNCINPEC official while under the protection of U.N. officials, and the attempted suspension of opposition newspapers. Again, if there is to be any confidence among opposition politicians that taking part in the elections will not be a life-threatening move, and if there is to be voter confidence in the electoral process, the issue of investigating, prosecuting, and punishing human rights violators must be addressed.

Moves Toward A National Human Rights Commission

Within days of the coup, Hun Sen pledged that human rights organizations could continue to operate. Nevertheless, a week after the August 21, 1997 release by the U.N. Centre of a report documenting summary executions, torture, and missing persons at the time of the coup, Hun Sen called for the replacement of some of the U.N. Centre's staff and announced that he would be setting up a national human rights commission to monitor alleged abuses. The message was clear: we will handle the situation ourselves; there is no need for international monitoring. He had earlier demanded an apology from the Centre and accused it of falsely reporting executions; he also claimed that the Centre had convinced dozens of members of the National Assembly to flee unnecessarily. This followed a pattern before the coup of the government periodically attempting to discredit or close down the Centre or deter its work.

Justice Minister Chem Sgnuon has been working with a number of NGOs for several months to draft legislation to set up the National Human Rights Commission. Explaining the justification for setting up such a body, Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, who is co-Minister of Interior, was quoted in Raesmey Kampuchea newspaper on November 15 as saying, "There are charges of human rights abuses during and after the 5-6 July event, but the government cannot just accept these accusations without first conducting appropriate investigations. This is the reason why the two co-prime ministers have decided to set up a national human rights commission to look into charges made by human rights organizations against the government."

In meetings with NGOs Chem Sgnuon was reported to have stated explicitly that once the commission is in place, there will be no further need for the U.N. Centre. Officials are pushing for the legislation establishing the commission to be approved by the Council of Ministers by the end of February and then forwarded to the National Assembly. It is perhaps no coincidence that the Centre's current mandate expires in March.

Human Rights Watch believes the human rights situation is dire enough in Cambodia to warrant as much monitoring, domestic and international, as possible. A national commission should not be a substitute for the U.N. Centre's Cambodia field office but should work in tandem with it, as long as the commission is established by law and is genuinely independent of the government.

Recommendations

Human Rights Watch believes elections should take place only if the government shores up its credibility by ending its persecution of the opposition, prosecuting perpetrators of torture and summary executions, lifting restrictions on the press, ensuring the safety of opposition leaders as well as rank-and-file members, and establishing a truly neutral electoral administration. We thus recommend:

To the Royal Cambodian Government:

All opposition politicians must be allowed to return safely to Cambodia and participate in the elections.
Individuals who committed extrajudicial executions and other abuses against opposition members after the military clash of July 5-6, 1997 should be arrested and brought to justice, as well as perpetrators of violent attacks against journalists, newspaper offices, opposition party congresses, and opposition rallies.
All parties running in the election should be assured of equal access to print and broadcast media. A broadcast law should be written and passed by the National Assembly that establishes a fair process for applying for broadcasting licenses, and impartial and non-partisan allocation of television and radio frequencies.
The Electoral Law should include provisions that power will, in fact, be transferred to the winners of the elections. The National Electoral Commission should be reformulated as a truly neutral body with genuine independence and integrity, and the actual individuals nominated to serve on the Commission should be competent, independent, and credible. The provision in the Electoral Law that calls for political parties running in the elections to deposit ten million riel is overly restrictive and should be amended, as should the 4,000-signature requirement in the Political Party Law.
Any national human rights commission set up should be established by law and with provisions that ensure it is independent of the government. Under no circumstances should it be seen as a replacement for international monitoring or as a pretext for restricting access to international monitors.
Harassment and threats against the Phnom Penh office of the U.N. Centre in Cambodia should cease and explicit guarantees should be provided that the office will be able to continue to operate without intimidation.
The Media Subdecree, which would potentially enable any criticism of the government to be construed as treason or an attempt to destabilize the government, should be withdrawn.
The Constitutional Council should be set up immediately to resolve and interpret constitutional issues, insure that all laws passed by the National Assembly are in accordance with the Constitution, and resolve election disputes. The composition of the Supreme Council of Magistracy should be reformulated as a non-partisan and neutral body.

To the International Community:

Election aid to Cambodia should be made contingent on the establishment of the benchmarks itemized above. Donor countries should continue to provide humanitarian and development assistance to Cambodia through NGOs but should suspend all bilateral and multilateral aid pending compliance by the Cambodian government with the measures outlined above.
Assistance for domestic and international monitoring of human rights in Cambodia should be increased.
ASEAN should continue to delay Cambodia's membership until the Cambodian government has complied with the recommendations outlined above.
The U.N. Human Rights Commission should extend the mandate of the field office of the U.N. Centre for Human Rights when the Commission convenes in Geneva on March 16.

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