Rights Groups Warily Eye Proposed Law
Local human rights groups on Monday they were concerned over Prime Minister Hun Sen’s push to pass a law to monitor and restrict the wo
Local human rights groups on Monday expressed concern overPrime Minister Hun Sen’s push to pass a law to monitor and restrict the work ofnon-governmental agencies, following the ruling party’s widened control ofstate power. Hun Sen told his new cabinet on Friday the government shouldpush to adopt the so-called “NGO law” to monitor the financial status andpayment methods for Cambodia’snon-governmental organizations. The law would help prevent funding from “terroristorganizations,” Hun Sen said. Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party began a newmandate last week, with an overwhelming 90 of 123 National Assembly seats,control of all cabinet ministries, and a large majority of high-levelpositions. A draft NGO law was written by the Ministry of Interior in2006 and must now be approved by the Council of Ministers before it is voted onby the National Assembly. It would then be revised by the Senate and signed bythe king into law. Rights workers said on Monday the law could be abused tokeep non-governmental organizations out of politics. Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, told VOAKhmer Monday his group was concerned about “pressure” on the activities ofrights groups, especially the monitoring of their finances and their work inpolitics. “I’m simply wondering if this is the beginning of theclosure of democracy in Cambodia,”he said. “The development of the situation from now on, where is it moving?Will it have positive development, or not, in the plural democratic process andthe respect of human rights? Will it move forward or backwards?” Sok Samoeun, president of the Cambodia Defenders Project,said Monday a monitoring law was unnecessary. “Thousands of NGOs in Cambodia stay within the lawalready,” he said. “If any NGO operatesoutside its own statutes, the government has the right to close down oreliminate that NGO.” “I believe that the law will restrict NGO work,” he said. “Iam not interested in that law. The law is not necessary. It is not a priority.” Hun Sen said Friday many non-governmental agencies,including human rights groups, have criticized the government merely to gainmore financial assistance. The law would not hurt the processes ofhuman rights and democracy, he said, but would strengthen the rule of law. “We don’t make strong pressure,” he said. “But NGOs musthave laws to control them.”