Cambodian Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith: Cambodia had not declined in freedoms but was moving toward stronger rule of law
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:54:59 -0800 (PST)
Democracy Narrowed in 2007, Group Says
By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 January 2008
The government has tightened its control over civil society in the
past year, while the number of rights abuses has remained high, a
group said Wednesday.
The freedom to organize and demonstrate has diminished, as has the
right to life and security, the well-respected group, Adhoc, said in
an annual report. In 2007, the group documented 574 personal or
political rights abuses.
"While the political party in the coalition government has drifted
apart and weakened, we see that the ruling Cambodian People's Party
has almost controlled the power alone, and it began to tighten the
freedom of expression in public," said Thun Saray, president of the
rights group Adhoc.
"So, we have seen that the freedom of expression in public has become
more and more tightened, compared to previous years," he said. "Now
that the CPP has ruled alone or shared little power with the coalition
party, we are wondering how this will affect the democratic process,
especially freedom of expression in public and the freedom of
association."
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith brushed aside the report.
"I don't know if Adhoc is going to enter politics, as Kem Sokha has,"
he said, referring to the president of the new Human Rights Party.
Cambodia had not declined in freedoms, he said, but was moving toward
stronger rule of law.
http://voanews.com/khmer/2008-01-30-voa3.cfm
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