The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Tanks and security forces” plus 9 more

It's just like a period of transition between the military tanks and the security forces in 2014.

Despite Cambodia's labour law forbidding employers from taking action against workers for engaging in union activity, more than 100 labour union representatives have been fired from at least 12 factories this month for encouraging workers to strike for a $160 monthly minimum wage.

The firings came shortly after the mass strike over wages waned in the wake of authorities shooting dead at least four people on January 3 and a subsequent government ban on public demonstrations.

"I can't see why any of these terminations would be legal," said Joel Preston, a consultant for the Community Legal Education Center.

Factories that fired employees supply to brands including Adidas, Calvin Klein, Armani, among others, he said.

Cambodian Alliance Trade Unions (CATU) president Yang Sophorn yesterday said 50 CATU union representatives have been fired from the Manhattan Textile and Garment factory in Kampong Cham since early January.

"The reason that factories fired them was because they joined in the strike, but some factories claimed their contracts were finished, even though they were not," Sophorn said yesterday.

Officials at Manhattan could not be reached for comment.

The majority of union leaders fired in the wake of the large-scale strike are members of CATU and the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW), said Moeun Tola, head of CLEC's labour program. Reasons for firing them were largely for encouraging workers to participate in the strike, an action protected under Cambodia's labour law, he added.

"That's completely against the law, the way that they fired the workers," Tola said. "The three key fundamental rights [for unions are] the right to organise, the right to collectively bargain and the right to strike."

Sophorn and Pav Sina, CUMW's president, both filed complaints with the Ministry of Labour over the firings, they said yesterday. Neither has heard back from the ministry.

Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour and undersecretary of state Sat Samoth could not be reached for comment yesterday. The firings follow a larger trend of aggression and against labour unions in Cambodia, said Dave Welsh, country director for labour rights group Solidarity Center.

"I think that they're willing to [fire workers] under these circumstances just demonstrates the intensity of the anti-union feel," Welsh said. "There's . . . a pretty clear process in place to fire someone especially when they're a union official."

Although discrimination against union activity carries with it hefty penalties – including possible imprisonment – most union officials distrust Cambodia's court system, and refuse to press charges in court, Tola said. However, he added, CLEC is working with international labour rights groups and seeking the assistance of international brands that buy from Cambodian factories.

"[These factories] are not only violating the Cambodian labour law, but they are also violating international law," Tola said.

Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, could not be reached.

In the mid-1990s, Arn Chorn-Pond saw master Youen Mek for the first time in 25 years. He was drunk and working as a hairdresser on the streets of Battambang. He looked a far cry from the father figure who had taught Pond the music skills that helped him survive the Khmer Rouge regime.

"He hugged me and he cried," Pond said. "We were very emotional – he said: 'You know what I want to do with my life, please give me work to do.'"

The reunion is one of the encounters that will be displayed in Cambodian Living Arts' (CLA) new retrospective exhibition, 15 Years of Arts for Transformation, which will open tonight to celebrate the organisation's 15-year anniversary.

As well as the opening of the photography exhibition, which will run until March, tonight's ceremony will feature the screening of Where Elephants Weep, a film about the first Cambodian rock opera, plus a listening station loaded with recordings of traditional Cambodian songs, and a live music performance.

A gallery will tell the story of the founding of CLA, in particular Pond's mission to reassemble Cambodia's surviving artists in a country suffering the effects of decades of war.

The journey started with the Khmer Rouge regime, during which soldiers forced Pond to play revolutionary songs on the flute. Master Mek taught them to him, and saved his life several times. Pond was later forced to become a child soldier, given weapons and sent to the jungle to fight against the invading Vietnamese.

Twenty-five years later, Mek's plea on the streets of Battambang – where Pond grew up before the Khmer Rouge took power – sowed the seeds of inspiration for CLA, Pond's creation to which he has devoted the rest of his life.

One by one, he discovered the remaining icons of Cambodian music – all of whom had been dealt a hefty blow by the war – and brought them together to form the Cambodian Master Performers Program in 1998, which later became Cambodian Living Arts, to honour and support the masters of traditional arts.

Pond said: "I found Chek Mach, one of the last opera singers. I'd heard her before in Phnom Penh on the radio, and now I found her on the streets, also drunk. I found the king of the flute, Mr Yim Saing, also drunk on the streets.

There was another Cambodian opera master who sold fried banana on the street and collected trash. So I found them all, and that's how I started my program."

Once CLA started paying the artists a monthly salary, they recovered, a spokesperson for the organisation said.

Speaking about the exhibition, Phloeun Prim, CLA's director, said: "The whole idea was really to bring back memories of the past 15 years: the people, the artists, the masters who have been involved, and showcasing some of that."

The arts hold a special place in Cambodia's national psyche, Prim said, because of how much was lost during the Khmer Rouge era. The regime didn't believe in arts and culture, and killed some 80 per cent of the country's artists.

Prim said: "Because of the Killing Fields, we lost a generation. The Cambodian tradition has always been passed on through oral transmission from generation to generation."

Looking to the future, Prim said, CLA's focus is to "really daring to imagine a Cambodia where the arts and culture are the national signature of the country, not just the killing fields, but the living arts".

Where Elephants Weep will be screened this evening at 4pm, followed by the opening of the exhibition 15 Years of Arts for Transformation at 6pm and a performance at 6.40pm. The exhibition will run until March 15 and will be at the CLA Gallery, 128-9 Sothearos Boulevard.

Dear Editor,

Today, Cambodia's rights record will be reviewed in the framework of the "Universal Periodic Review" (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The UPR is the only opportunity the international community has to engage on human rights with some states.

But not with Cambodia.

In addition to field presence of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, frequent reports by the latter and reviews by UN expert bodies, Cambodia has been on the agenda of the Human Rights Council (HRC), and that of its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, for two decades.

Following the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, a Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (now called Special Rapporteur) was appointed to monitor the country's human rights situation.

Last September, the HRC extended the mandate held by Professor Surya Subedi, the current Special Rapporteur, for two years. NGOs that pushed for stronger language to be included in the HRC resolution were criticised for their alleged lack of constructiveness.

The end result was a text that failed to mention human rights violations for which the Cambodian authorities are responsible, ranging from arbitrary arrests and violence against peaceful demonstrators, to brutal forced evictions.

The resolution welcomed "efforts and progress" made by the government and encouraged it to pursue judicial and land reform. It simply stressed the need for it to "continue to enhance its efforts to investigate urgently and to prosecute … those who have perpetrated serious crimes".

Think this is strong language? Let us examine previous resolutions on Cambodia, looking at the issue of impunity.

Resolutions adopted in the 1990s expressed "grave concern" about "numerous violations" and urged the government to address impunity "as a matter of critical and urgent priority" (1997); stressed that "addressing the continuing problem of impunity [remained] a matter of critical and urgent priority" (1998); or "strongly appealed" to the government to "take all necessary measures" to bring perpetrators to account (1999).

Resolutions adopted from 2000-2003 expressed "serious concern" about the prevalence of impunity and called upon the government to "take further measures, as a matter of critical priority" – the word "urgent" disappeared. They welcomed "investigations into some cases of politically motivated violence" (2000) and recognised the government's "commitment and efforts" (2002).

The 2004-2005 resolutions welcomed Cambodia's progress "in improving its human rights situation" and urged the government to "address as a matter of priority, inter alia, the climate of impunity" – the word "critical" disappeared.

Then, 2008-2009 HRC resolutions expressed the Council's "concern about some areas of human rights practices" and urged Cambodia to "continue to address [. . .] the problem of impunity" – what was before a "climate" of impunity merely became a "problem".

Finally, 2010 and 2011 resolutions urged the government to investigate and prosecute "all those who have perpetrated serious crimes". The word "impunity" disappeared altogether.

The resolutions were of a merely "technical assistance" character and contained no condemnatory language.

The weak, de-politicised 2013 resolution was the obvious next step.

In fact, by failing to condemn ongoing impunity and abuse of power in the run-up to last year's election, and adopting weaker and weaker resolutions, the international community allowed the continuation of a system in which, whenever challenged, the Prime Minister reacts by using the only language he knows: brute force.

What we witnessed in the last decade was merely the illusion of progress. The relative decline in political violence was due to fear, not consolidation of the rule of law.

Up to 2003-2004, the most serious human rights violations perpetrated in Cambodia were related to political struggles – ie, struggles over control of the state apparatus and the spoil system and patronage possibilities that come with it.

After that date, once CPP hegemony had been firmly established, most human rights abuses were committed in relation to economic struggles, as loyalties had to be bought and cronies had to be fed.

But as CPP rule is being challenged, the regime is proving that it still regards violence as a legitimate political strategy. They feel authorised to use the army to shoot at protesters, ban all public gatherings and detain citizens incommunicado.

And they do so in part because they know there will be no international outcry – only, possibly, more "technical assistance".

Cambodia's donors – who are the main sponsors of UN resolutions on the country – should put their response in line with the political reality, and that response should not be limited to technical assistance.

It should involve a full range of human rights tools: monitoring, reporting and condemnatory stances. This can start today with the UPR.

What Cambodia needs is strong institutions, not strong men. Rule of law will not come as a by-product of technical assistance.

As long as donors will not demand real reform in exchange for aid, there will be no progress.

Human rights are inescapably political. They are about imposing limits on the exercise of power.

In Cambodia, greater respect for human rights, legal safeguards and checks and balances will mean undermining the regime and its cronies, whose rule is based on injustice, violence and impunity.

Technical assistance will be no substitute for political will.

Nicolas Agostini
Delegate,
United Nations at the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

Japanese investors will put $56 million into a joint venture with local company Sanco Investment Group (SIG) to build a new special economic zone in Banteay Meanchey province's Poipet town, officials said yesterday.

Chhour Vichet, executive director of SIG, said Thailand's labour shortage, Cambodia's ongoing political unrest and the markedly higher minimum wage, which doubled to $9.77 per day in December 2012, all make the Kingdom a well-situated investment alternative.

As the Post reported at the time of the wage increase, Thailand's leading garment manufacturer, TK Garment Co Ltd, shifted operations to Cambodia in response to the decision.

Thailand's economy is also facing losses of $685 million from declining tourist numbers as demonstrators continue to block major roads in and out of Bangkok and choke the industry, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

"Now, we are seeing a flow of investment from Thailand due to a large workforce, cheap labour and a central location," Vichet said.

Cambodia's minimum wage stands at $100 per month in the garment sector, $200 less than Thailand's once the country's daily wage is calculated over the period of a month. Special economic zones were first introduced by the Cambodian government in 2005 with the aim of developing industrial and commercial areas with economic incentives for tenants, such as cross-border trade facilitation. SIG received approval from the Cambodian government to build the new, 250-hectare economic zone in October. An electronics factory already operates on the site and will become incorporated into the project.

Construction of the site's infrastructure, such as electricity, roads and irrigation, is expected to take up to six months to complete.

The privately funded Poipet venture comes at the same time as two government-funded zones are being planned along the border. The Thai and Cambodian governments in June said that they would build one in Banteay Meanchey, while the other is planned for Koh Kong province. Vichet raised no concerns over the establishment of the special economic zone in Koh Kong.

"It is just the proposed idea, I think it will take time to materialize," he said. Nguon Meng Tech, director general of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said the new special economic zones, which will increase the total number to 25 across the Kingdom, will spur business activity. "More special economic zones along the border are a good idea because they will improve border trade and we can attract more investors to set up businesses in the industrial parks," he said.

Three Chinese nationals were charged by Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday with drug trafficking after they were caught with more than three kilograms of Ecstasy allegedly intended for China, a senior municipal police official said.

Lin Luy, 33, Wup Otsang, 27, and Chen Yung, 30, were charged yesterday, according to Brigadier-General Hy Prou.

"They were arrested by municipal police at the Asia Hotel in Phnom Penh's Daun Penh district as they were attempting to move over three kilos of drugs from Cambodia to their country [by plane]," he said.

"They were charged by the municipal prosecutor with drug trafficking and they have now been sent to prison to await their future trials."

The men were arrested on January 24 with 20 large packages of Ecstasy containing more than 10,000 pills in the first major drug bust of the year in Phnom Penh, according to Prou.

The charged men could not be reached for comment.

Police are still questioning a man suspected of fatally bombing a pre-wedding party in Kampong Thom province's Prasat Sambo district, provincial deputy police commissioner Ker Khannara said yesterday.

Khannara declined to name the 24 year-old suspect as the investigation was ongoing.

"He did have a dispute with the bridegroom some days before the wedding," he said. "We questioned him first and we have not made a final determination yet, but I can tell you … the perpetrator will not answer directly, so police are seeking more evidence and witnesses."

Prasat Sambo district police chief Chen Saren also revised downward his final tallies for dead and injured – now nine and 30, respectively – saying confusion in the wake of the blast resulted in incorrect figures.

"Yesterday, we received the number of deaths as being 11, but in fact, we got phone calls from relatives as they were sending [victims] to hospital that two more had died. In fact, those two people were unconscious, not dead," he said.

Ahead of today's hearing on Cambodia's record at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, opposition figures and analysts said the ruling Cambodian People's Party has reverted to familiar tactics of post-election suppression.

Analysts yesterday said that the breaking up of Cambodia National Rescue Party-led protests at Freedom Park and a crackdown on garment workers earlier this month echoed the crackdowns following elections in 1998 and 2003.

CNRP spokesman Nhem Ponharith said yesterday he believed that the government's actions this year hearkened back to these earlier periods of chaos and political instability.

"I think that the recent actions of the CPP have backtracked [the country] to the violent crackdown on the opposition in 1998," he said.

"We will continue with the public forums. The latest political environment has turned negative and was [a result of] the failure to decide a date for political negotiations. The previous tactic of the CPP was not appropriate for a modern democracy," he added.

Koul Panha, executive director of election monitor Comfrel, said the CPP was employing "Cold War tactics" to defeat the opposition movement by force.

"In 1998, the crackdown on peaceful demonstrations resulted in pressure on Funcinpec to form a coalition government, but now it is different and the tactic no longer works because the CNRP did not demand a coalition government," he said. "The CPP … has had to change tactics."

Chea Vannath, an independent political and social analyst, said yesterday that the shift from last year's easing of freedoms after the election was a sign that the ruling party still lacked political maturity.

"What I observe is that there is a lack of maturity in terms of how to implement the democratic process," she said.

"For any problems, the CPP is still quite keen to use force rather than help to convince people, to lobby. It likes using violence to intimidate protesters more. It's the same thing as in 1998 and 2003, the same pattern in terms of democratic processes."

Vannath pointed to the subtle change in tactics from 1998 and 2003 and suggested Cambodia was seeing a period of transition. "During 2003 and 1998, the government was very quick to react, while in 2013 the government was more patient," she said. "It's just like a period of transition between the military tanks and the security forces in 2014."

Yesterday, Human Rights Watch called on countries making representations at today's UN meeting on Cambodia to urge the government to end the cycle of violence and institute lasting reforms.

"Hun Sen's government violates human rights on a daily basis by violently preventing the opposition, trade unions, activists and others from gathering to demand political change," Juliette de Rivero, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement. "Countries at the Human Rights Council should condemn this brutal crackdown and insist the Cambodian government engage in serious reforms."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DANIEL PYE

Ruling party supporters are "burning with hatred" towards the Cambodia National Rescue Party leadership and are ready to take to the streets, according to a Facebook post by Prime Minister Hun Sen's second-eldest son, Hun Manith.

"I might not be able to contain the CPP youth and supporters any longer.… Their hearts are burning with hatred toward the leaders of the CNRP from listening to the barking, cursing and insults to the CPP leaders and especially to the prime minister," the comment posted on January 19 reads.

"Please continue to be patient and be strong," he continues.

Hun Manith, who is deputy head of the powerful Military Intelligence unit, declined to comment yesterday and as of press time had not confirmed that he made the post himself.

However, a source close to the prime minister's son who declined to be named confirmed yesterday that the account belongs to Manith.

Manith's comments follow a speech by Hun Sen at the opening of a children's clinic in Kratie province on January 18 in which the prime minister simultaneously called for dialogue and for CPP supporters to be ready to take action against the opposition.

"Let those of you who voted CPP get yourselves ready to respond to the reckless actions that bears the nature of a coup," he said.

"Those who do not support reckless actions holding the country hostage must stand up and get ready."

An adviser to Hun Many, the prime minister's youngest son and head of the CPP's Volunteer Youth, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, echoed Manith's sentiments.

"Among the 3.2 million people who [actively] support the CPP, they could be ready to walk along the street. I did not hear any instruction from CPP leaders to make counter-protests. But it is very logical that they are ready to walk on the street," he said yesterday.

"We are not very happy with the long protests and believe it's too much."

On Sunday, in a move decried by the opposition as simple intimidation, more than 1,000 CPP supporters showed up outside a CNRP meeting in Kampong Cham province, condemning the party's leaders over loudspeakers even as government troops blocked roads leading to the event.

Amid the haze of smoke grenades and swinging of batons yesterday, authorities sent a violent message to would-be protesters and activists in the Kingdom: The ban on public assembly imposed earlier this month, while sporadically enforced, can and will be brutally upheld.

A peaceful rally led by Beehive Radio president Mam Sonando outside the Ministry of Information on Monivong Boulevard was dispersed at about 10am yesterday after hundreds of military police charged in formation, unloading volleys of smoke canisters and liberally using their batons to clear away stragglers.

Security guards hired by Daun Penh district authorities – the same untrained, helmeted men employed against protesters at Freedom Park on Sunday – also joined in, clubbing anyone, including some journalists, who failed to get away quickly enough, then chasing bystanders down side streets.

More than 10 were left injured, according to counts by rights groups. Licadho claimed six had been hospitalised, while Adhoc said three suffered serious injuries. More than 10 motorbikes and tuk-tuks were seized by the municipality.

Sonando himself escaped unscathed and was whisked away to safety by supporters.

Long Dimanche, City Hall spokesman, said that authorities only clashed with protesters because they had "disrupted social order" after defying a ban on the protest.

"We do not want to clash violently. That's why we denied [them] and sent a formal letter to Mam Sonando explaining the reasons for the rejection. But he insisted and disobeyed the authorities' orders," he said.

"[Yesterday morning's] march was going to lead to the worst chaos, because the protesters were incited to curse and clash with the authorities violently."

The protesters had peacefully, albeit vocally, set up on the road directly outside the closed gate of the ministry, snarling traffic for more than half an hour after authorities blockaded parts of the boulevard in response.

Sonando and his followers were calling for increased radio bandwidth as well as a TV licence, requests that were shot down by the Information Ministry earlier this month due to an alleged lack of frequencies available.

Beehive claims it has been singled out for unfair treatment due to its critical stance towards the government.

A video of yesterday's crackdown obtained by the Post shows Sok Penh Vuth, deputy district governor of Daun Penh, dressed in office attire and hitting a civilian over the head with his bullhorn during the crackdown.

Penh Vuth, who was seen at the protest directing district guards and calling for Sonando's arrest, in the video points to a helmeted man sitting on his motorbike, accuses him of protesting, then hits him hard on the side of his head with the bullhorn before allowing guards and plainclothes men to beat him viciously with batons.

The man, bloodied 35-year-old motodop Sok Ny, is not seen retaliating in the video.

"The security forces and civil officials hit me with their fists and batons many times until my head was bleeding and I fell to the ground. But they did not stop even when they saw me fall," Ny, who says he was only in the vicinity because he had dropped off a police officer, told the Post at the scene.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that he "did not see anything wrong" with Vuth's actions.

"They represent the public power, the local authority down there.… Without cooperation, they can [take] any kind of forceful means to restore [public order]," he said.

Siphan added that anyone remaining in the vicinity of a protest could be considered a protester, apart from the press. "If I were there, I [would be] kicked out too," he said.

An assistant answered Vuth's phone yesterday and said the deputy district governor was unavailable for comment, while Daun Penh Governor Sok Sambath could not be reached.

After fleeing the scene, Sonando said he would keep urging the government to meet his station's demands, but added it would be useless to condemn the authorities' actions yesterday.

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"I do not criticise this crackdown, because there is no point. If we criticise them but they still do not obey the laws and use their power against us, it means the condemnation is not useful, because they won't change," he said.

Surrounding streets were quickly cordoned off and cleared following the baton charge, with protesters retreating or being chased down side streets. Many regrouped in parkland near Wat Phnom and the US embassy before being moved on again by authorities.

The rally was intended to begin at Freedom Park, the site of clashes between district guards and union-led protesters a day earlier, but, due to the presence of security forces there, about 500 people had gathered at the nearby Naga Bridge by 9am, when Sonando arrived.

After delivering a speech, the radio broadcaster led a march to the ministry.

As the group approached Sunway Hotel, it encountered dozens of police and Daun Penh security guards blocking the road. The protesters surged to the next street south and began running towards the Information Ministry past City Hall, where hundreds of gendarmes waited.

As gendarmes were ordered onto the road, about 100 metres away from them a tense standoff ensued until finally a five-minute warning was given and the military police charged.

Following the crackdown, with an outlet needed to vent their anger at authorities, protesters and bystanders targeted a man found with a slingshot and ball bearings – a possible government-placed provocateur – as a Vietnamese spy.

Cambodia National Rescue Party security tried to frogmarch the man away from the crowds to a safe place but were soon mobbed by those trying to attack the man, deemed to be a "yuon, not a Khmer". He was eventually spirited away on a motorbike to the offices of rights group Licadho.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA