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	Cambodia: UN human rights office concerned by media, civil society curbs by OHCHR, HRW, Open Democracy, agencies   Nov. 2017   UN experts urge ASEAN summit to address regional human rights concerns. (OCHHR)   Four UN human rights experts have called on Member States to address pressing human rights issues during the 31st ASEAN Summit being held during November in the Philippines.   Recognising the important work of the many active civil society organisations across the region, the experts expressed concern about “a worrying deterioration in the environment in which they operate.”   “Human rights defenders, social activists, lawyers, journalists, independent media and even parliamentarians trying to speak out and protect the rights of others, increasingly face a multitude of risks ranging from judicial harassment and prosecution to threats, disappearances and killings,” said the experts.   They observed rising numbers of cases of serious human rights violations affecting among others, people working on women’s rights, environmental and land issues and lawyers dealing with drug cases.   The experts called on the 10 ASEAN Member States to amend or repeal existing legislation and to reconsider draft laws that are being or could be applied to criminalize or restrict the vital work of civil society.   “We condemn the public vilification, harassment, arrests and killings of members of civil society, and call on Member States to rigorously uphold their duty to ensure the freedom and protection of those exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” the experts said.   “Independent media, members of civil society and human rights defenders should be viewed as partners and as an essential element of democracy.”   The experts highlighted that these rights also apply online, expressing dismay at the increasing harassment and prosecutions of bloggers, journalists and social media users.   They also urged Member States to do more to protect all vulnerable groups, reminding governments that inclusion and meaningful participation are elements of the Sustainable Development Goals.   The experts highlighted that the 50th anniversary of ASEAN provides an important opportunity for Member States to publicly renew their individual and collective commitments to the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration and international human rights conventions, both in practice and spirit. They encouraged the governments to see human rights monitoring and reporting, not as a threat, but as a positive tool that can help them comply with these commitments. http://bit.ly/2zEYCu8   * Forum Asia: http://bit.ly/2yvNHS4 http://bit.ly/2zCsnhd   Nov. 2017   The United Nations human rights chief voiced grave concerns Friday about the conduct of credible, free and fair elections in Cambodia next year following the decision by the Supreme Court to dissolve the main opposition party.   “An effective multi-party democracy requires an opposition that can operate freely without intimidation and threats – and the same goes for a credible, free and fair election,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra''ad Al Hussein in a news release.   The court dissolved the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), the main opposition party, on Thursday after the Ministry of Interior complained that the opposition was plotting a so-called colour revolution against the Government. A total of 118 CNRP members were banned from political activity for five years.   “People need to be able to debate and discuss freely the political affairs of their country, and the decision to dissolve the CNRP has deprived over three million voters of their representation,” Mr. Zeid said.   The party''s dissolution follows the arrest on 3 September of CNRP president Kem Sokha on charges of ''treason'' related to comments made in 2013 about his grassroots political strategy to challenge the current Government.   “The use of law against the CNRP and its members is a smokescreen – it is the rule by law, and not the rule of law. The accusations against the CNRP and its members were vague, as were the legal provisions supporting the complaint to dissolve it,” Mr. Zeid said, adding the dissolution of the CNRP was based on alleged criminal acts by Kem Sokha which had not been proved in a court of law.   Mr. Zeid said the party''s dissolution and the ban on its members was all the more worrying, given other measures by the Government in recent months, including closure and suspension of civil society groups as well several media companies. It has also been targeting individual journalists and members of non-governmental organizations.   “An essential component of all democracies is a vibrant civil society, including NGOs and press that may sometimes be critical of the Government,” said Mr. Zeid. “Imposing limits on civil society and shrinking their space serves only to stymie the creativity, innovation and ingenuity necessary for Cambodia to continue to develop, and to maintain peace.”   Similarly, he stressed, “a free press is essential to ensure that the public is properly informed of political and other issues so that people can be responsible and engaged actors.”   http://news.un.org/en/story/2017/11/636482-un-rights-chief-voices-concern-about-cambodia-election-after-opposition-ban   The criminalisation of civil society and political opposition in Cambodia, by Alice Beban, Laura Schoenberger. (Open Democracy)   In Cambodia, political violence in the run-up to the 2018 general election signals a move away from an explicitly populist authoritarianism towards a deeper authoritarianism.   Cambodia burst onto global news headlines in late 2017 when the Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition party, but behind this political spectacle lay a series of smaller legal changes, political violence and geopolitical shifts that set the stage for the turn to deeper authoritarian rule.   For more than thirty years, the world’s longest serving Prime Minister has been the archetypal populist strongman. He and his party (the Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP) combine terror and censorship with personalised political handouts, promises of post-war stability, and a veneer of democracy.   This regime depends on funds channelled through networks of political and business elite who are awarded land and mineral concessions in return for donations to the ruling party. At the same time as rural areas have become ‘sacrifice zones’ for the enrichment of domestic and international elite, rural voters have long been the most consistent and reliable supporters of Hun Sen’s government.   In Cambodia’s post-genocidal context, many rural people crave the stability and the ‘gift giving’ that Hun Sen’s regime has provided. This has allowed the party to marginalize opposition and build an elaborate system of mass patronage and mobilization.   But in the past decade, land grabbing and logging have had serious impacts and rural people have become more outspoken and connected with disaffected urban voters. The 2013 national election was the ruling party’s worst outcome since 1998, with a united opposition (the CNRP) winning 44% of the vote. Strikes erupted in the aftermath of the election and persisted for half the year until military police shot dead five protesters.   Then, in the June 2017 sub-national (‘Commune’) elections, the CNRP shocked the ruling party by winning almost half the popular vote and gaining 482 commune seats, up from a mere 40 seats in the previous election. This was a wake-up call that the CPP were at risk of being unseated in the 2018 National Election. After the commune elections, the ruling party stepped-up press censorship, extra-judicial violence and threats of military intervention.   A series of quiet law changes have facilitated the criminalisation of civil society and political opposition. The Law on NGOs and Associations limits the ability for people to gather without registering with the Ministry of Interior and increases surveillance of NGOs. Amendments to the Law on Political Parties led to the resignation of long-time leader of the opposition, Sam Rainsy, in February 2017. Further legal moves that year introduced legislation that allowed the government to easily disband political parties, which was used to shut down the main opposition party eight months later.   The media is also targeted; changes to the national media code enabled the government to shut down 19 independent radio stations as well as the long-running newspaper The Cambodia Daily. By late 2017, with critical media outlets silenced and activists fearful of open protests, the way was opened for the government to launch an outright attack on the political opposition. Just after midnight on Sunday 3 September (the day before shutting the Daily), over one hundred armed soldiers broke into CNRP leader Kem Sokha’s house and detained him without warning. He was later charged with treason.   In November, the Supreme Court dissolved the opposition party, re-assigning its seats and banning 118 individuals from political activities for five years. In February 2018, the National Assembly passed Thai-style Lčse majesté laws that forbid insults to the monarchy, along with a series of vague changes to the Cambodian Constitution, including a change that would allow the permanent removal of voting rights for convicted felons.   As the CPP close media outlets and attack opposition parties, they are also bolstering their own propaganda machine. The Phnom Penh Post was slapped with a phony tax bill and sold off in May 2018 to a CPP-aligned businessman who has claimed full editorial approval, causing the editor in chief and key journalists to quit to maintain integrity.   The state news app, “Fresh News”, spreads pro-government propaganda across Facebook and other state-run media. New pro-government research institutions, a ‘spy school’ to develop surveillance technologies, and the creation of an inter-ministerial working group to produce anti-opposition propaganda are being used to justify state violence.   Cambodia has been emboldened by the rise of China’s infrastructural support outflanking western donor funds to Cambodia, and Trump’s near-total disengagement on Southeast Asia, coupled with his own attacks on US media. Hun Sen has seized upon people’s latent anti-western sentiment, aggressively deploying ‘us/them’ rhetoric to draw suspicion over the opposition party and western-funded media and NGOs.   What we see in Cambodia currently is the failure of a populism built on the backs of natural resource rents. Support for the government has broken down as the population grows tired of naked resource extraction, cronyism and inequality.   We won’t know until the July 2018 elections and its aftermath whether this radical redrawing of the Cambodian political landscape is a short-term crackdown prior to the 2018 election, or a ‘new normal’ of naked authoritarianism.   We do know that what is happening is truly bad. In late 2017, we interviewed fifteen journalists who work with rural communities. They told us repeatedly about the pervasive loss people are experiencing in the wake of the crackdown: loss of media’s potential to hold the political elite accountable; loss of rural people’s voice; and loss of hope for rural social movements. Journalists were especially critical of what is left: social media platforms that authoritarian actors can easily co-opt to reshape what is considered ‘news’. From the journalists’ vantage point, the closure of independent media has left rural people “in the dark… their voice is lost”.   However, rural activists and networks of farmers throughout the Cambodian countryside are resilient and creative; they show that there is potential for things to be otherwise. The darkness is not total. http://bit.ly/2O59ckS   * Alice Beban is a Lecturer in Sociology at Massey University in New Zealand, Laura Schoenberger is Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa. This article is part of a Open Democracy series on ‘confronting authoritarian populism and the rural world’, and linked to the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI): http://bit.ly/2Kf2KbQ   Oct. 2017   Democratic Space under Attack in Cambodia   On October 23, 2017, 55 international civil society organizations (CSOs) issued an open letter about the government’s extreme crackdown on Cambodia’s independent media, political opposition, and members of civil society over the past year.   In addition to the Cambodian National Assembly’s recent attempt to pass legislation that allows the government to dissolve political parties, the letter notes that independent media outlets have come under new unprecedented attacks. The government forced radio stations to end 31 programs because of politically motivated “licensing infringements” charges, and forced the Cambodia Daily to shutter due to a $6.3 million tax fine in September 2017.   In light of the crackdown, and in honor of the 26th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements, the open letter asked the chairs of the 1991 Paris Conference on Cambodia to reconvene the Conference with the participation of the original founders and relevant stakeholders.   Additionally, the letter requested the engagement of the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, as well as the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron; Indonesia and France served as the Co-Chairs of the 1991 Paris Conference on Cambodia. Signed on October 23, 1991, the Paris Peace Agreements called for democracy in Cambodia, ended the Cambodian-Vietnamese War, and halted 20 years of conflict in the country.   * Civil society’s letter: http://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/23/joint-letter-cambodia-re-paris-peace-accords-france-and-indonesia   Aug. 2017   Measures in Cambodia, which left radio programmes and licences suspended, have sparked the United Nations human rights office to call on the Government for political and civil rights guarantees.   “We are concerned by a rapid series of ministerial and administrative measures which have resulted in the suspension of radio programmes and licences, threatened a main English-language newspaper with closure, and shut down a foreign non-governmental organisation,” Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters at a regular press briefing.   “Ahead of next year''s general election, we call on the Government to guarantee full political and civil rights, and media freedoms,” she added.   The National Democratic Institute (NDI), a foreign non-governmental organization (NGO), was shut down by ministerial order on 23 August, in the first such closure brought under the 2015 Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations.   Noting that the organisation has been working on elections and with parties across the political spectrum, OHCHR pointed out that its international staff were given seven days to leave the country.   Earlier this month, three Cambodian organisations working on human rights and elections were also subjected to targeted tax investigations.   “We have concerns that NDI was closed without due process, and are worried about the overall deterioration of the environment for human rights defenders and civil society in Cambodia,” continued Ms. Throssell.   Moreover, the Government this week has revoked licences for some radio frequencies, thus blocking programmes aired by national independent human rights and media organisations, US-funded stations Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, and the main opposition party.   The OHCHR spokesperson said that the Cambodia Daily, one of the main independent English-language newspapers, was given until 4 September to pay an alleged $6.3 million in tax arrears, or be closed. While the paper has called for a transparent tax audit and the right to appeal, its requests have gone unheeded.   “We call on the Royal Government of Cambodia to ensure due process in all measures taken, including the right to appeal, and to respect the rights to freedom of association and expression,” concluded Ms. Throssell.   * September 5, 2017--The Cambodia Daily stopped publication yesterday under official threat of forced closure over allegations of tax evasion, according to a statement released by the paper. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the silencing of the newspaper and called for an end to Cambodia''s harassment of all independent media. At least 19 radio stations have been closed in recent days on charges that they violated their state contracts.   The Cambodia Daily published its last edition under the headline "Descent into Outright Dictatorship," which accompanied a report on the September 3 arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha on treason accusations, according to reports. The paper''s public statement on its decision to close said that the government had "destroyed.. a special and singular part of Cambodia''s free press."   "The Cambodia Daily''s closure under official pressure shows authorities increased hostility to press freedom in Cambodia," said Shawn Crispin, Committee to Protect Journalist''s senior Southeast Asia representative. "We urge Prime Minister Hun Sen to stop his government''s unwarranted harassment of independent media and recommit his country to upholding democratic values, including a free media.": http://bit.ly/2xcMwtN
	Greater transparency of legislative process, fundamental for representative democracy by Access Info Europe, agencies   Access Info has welcomed the European Ombudsman recommendation that the Council of the European Union increase transparency of its legislative process in order to guarantee citizens’ right to hold their elected representatives to account and to participate in the democratic life of the EU.   Two main findings of the Ombudsman’s inquiry into transparency of the Council, to which Access Info submitted a series of proposals in December 2017, are that the Council’s systematic failure to record the names of Member States along with their positions on legislative matters constitutes maladministration, and that there is over-classification of documents as “LIMITE”, which restricts their circulation.   The Ombudsman recommends that the Council systematically record the identity of Member States, including at preparatory stages of legislative procedures.   This recommendation is in line with the case of Council v. Access Info Europe, won by Access Info on 17 October 2013, in which the Court of Justice of the EU established the right of the public to access documents containing the names of Member States putting forward legislative proposals, even at early stages of debate.   “It is positive that, following the landmark 2013 Court ruling, the Council now releases documents containing Member State names upon request, but poor record keeping often makes this meaningless and undermines accountability of EU institutions and EU Member states,” stated Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe.   The Ombudsman also called for the development by the Council of clear criteria for using the ‘LIMITE’ status. The current absence of such guidelines is something that had been highlighted by Access Info in its submission as problematic, often resulting in an over-broad classification on documents as LIMITE which severely limits public scrutiny.   Access Info notes that the Council has recently shown itself ready to improve transparency with changes to its website ongoing. On 16 January 2017, Access Info’s Helen Darbishire was invited to give a talk to Council representatives, which was followed by a discussion on solutions to opening up the legislative process.   “It is imperative that the Council take the Ombudsman’s recommendations seriously and act to address deficiencies in transparency, because the secrecy surrounding Council decision making is contributing to a lack of public trust in European Union institutions,” added Darbishire.   The European Ombudsman’s recommendations to the Council on the transparency of its legislative process can be found via the link below.   * Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation calls for the European Pillar of Social Rights to be translated into action to improve the lives of European workers: http://bit.ly/2F0xj00   Madrid, 13 March 2018   European Parliament urged to support protections for right of access to information in wake of killing of Slovak journalist   In light of the shocking news that Jan Kuciak was likely killed as a result of his work as an investigative journalist and whose freedom of information requests may have been passed to the subject of his inquiry, a total of 61 civil society organizations today wrote to the European Parliament calling for stronger safeguards for those who exercise the right of access to information.   The statement, sent to all 751 Members of the European Parliament in advance of a debate on Wednesday 14 March 2018, recalls that the right of access to information is an essential tool for fighting corruption, for investigating violations of human rights, and for protecting the rule of law.   “With the second killing of a journalist in the European Union in less than six months it is evident that freedom of expression and information are threatened inside the European space, and that stronger protections are needed,” said Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe.   Access Info Europe and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have identified numerous examples of journalists'' requests being passed on to third parties.   The right of access to information is an essential tool for fighting corruption, for investigating violations of human rights, and for protecting the rule of law. We condemn any actions by public authorities that puts in danger those who exercise this right.   We have identified numerous instances from across Europe of public authorities passing on the names of journalists and other information requesters to third parties. The absence of specific laws and policies that proscribe and sanction such breaches is a matter of grave concern. The identity of requesters should only ever be revealed where there is a clearly justified overriding public interest in doing so.   We the undersigned organisations therefore call for on the European Union take urgent action to ensure strong protections for the safety and integrity of journalists and all those who exercise the right of access to information. Specifically, we call for actions that will guarantee:   An environment in which the right of access to information can be exercised without fear; A strengthening of the legal framework across European countries, including specific measures that ensure that the identity of the requesters is safeguarded: http://www.access-info.org/nat/30449 Visit the related web page
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