Thousands of garment workers joined rights advocates and others on a march in Phnom Penh Monday, marking the 64th International Human Rights Day. The march moved from the Olympic Stadium to Freedom Park. Separately, a group of housing rights activists say they were blocked by police from submitting a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen, leading to minor clashes. One NGO observer was arrested after he photographed Phnom Penh Police Chief Chhoun Sovann. The observer was later released. (Heng Reaksmey, Phnom Penh)
Cambodia’s ranking puts it in the company of Burma, Laos and North Korea, the only other Asian countries in the bottom 20.
Some 200 bloggers and technology experts from 15 countries hotly debated the issue at a five-day conference, called BlogFest, in Siem Reap earlier this month.
Rights and advocacy groups say the problem is one of laws and the will to solve them, not of vested parties.
More than nine months after the former governor of Bavet town allegedly shot three bystanders during a labor strike, the authorities have failed to arrest or bring him to court.
After the Jan. 22, 2004, shooting of Chea Vichea, two suspects, Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, were taken into custody, but they soon became known as the “plastic,” or false, killers.
In a brief meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen last week, US President Barack Obama focused on concerns over Cambodia’s sliding rights record and decreased freedoms.
Mam Sonando was arrested in July, at which time another alleged secessionist, Bun Ratha, fled.
Head of the Cambodia Indigenous Youth Association said the slur should not go unpunished, calling the insult “cruel.”
That included US concern for the imprisonment of Mam Sonando, owner of Beehive Radio, one of the few independent broadcasters in the country.
Cambodian officials have said numerous reports of human rights abuses ahead of Obama’s visit were meant to discredit the government.
A government spokesman dismissed the letter, saying it did not reflect the true situation in Cambodia.
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