Annan Tells Cambodia to Maintain Cooperation on Human Rights

Annan Tells Cambodia to Maintain Cooperation on Human Rights
March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Cambodia should maintain its cooperation on
human rights, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said after
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen criticized the work of UN officials.

``The secretary general trusts that the Cambodian authorities will
continue to offer their cooperation'' to UN human rights bodies, Annan
said in a statement, issued yesterday. UN mandates for the country
``have been renewed in full consultation with the Cambodian
government.''

Hun Sen, in comments yesterday, described human rights envoys as ``gods
without virtue'' and ``long-term tourists,'' Agence France-Presse
reported from the capital, Phnom Penh. The prime minister earlier this
week called for the removal of Yash Ghai, the UN special human rights
representative, after Ghai said human rights workers were restricted in
their activities.

Cambodia was criticized by the UN and U.S. late last year after
opposition politicians and human rights leaders were charged and tried
for defaming the government. Hun Sen in January ordered courts to drop
charges in the latest cases and ended a dispute with Sam Rainsy, the
main opposition leader, who returned from self-imposed exile in France
in February.

There is a continuing need for the UN's ``essential work'' in Cambodia,
Annan said. Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
said yesterday she wanted her officials to receive the full cooperation
of the Cambodian government, according to the UN's Web site.

Political Changes

Ghai said earlier this week that political changes aren't taking place
in Cambodia, AFP reported at the time. The envoy, in a report in
December drawn up after meeting Cambodian non- governmental
organizations, said the government had increased restrictions on
freedom of expression, the UN said.

Cambodia and the UN are working together to organize the trials of
leaders of the Khmer Rouge accused of genocide.

Annan earlier this month nominated seven international judges to sit on
special tribunals that will hear the cases of between five and 10
surviving members of the Khmer Rouge, which ruled from 1975 until its
overthrow in 1979.

The Khmer Rouge drove people out of Cambodia's cities to work at
forced-labor collective farms as it attempted to impose a communist
agrarian state. An estimated 1.7 million people died during its rule.

Hun Sen criticized the UN for failing to take action during the
regime's years in power, AFP reported.

``At the time the Khmer Rouge were killing people why didn't you
bark?'' Hun Sen said yesterday, according to the news agency.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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