Government: APHR's report is a kind of personal opinion

Tin Sokhavuth

APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago who is also a member of the Malaysian Parliament. Photo supplied.

In response to the report published by the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) on Monday, the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFAIC) issued a statement on Wednesday to reject the APHR's claim that the democracy and human rights in Cambodia are on the decline.

According to the MFAIC, the APHR is just a small group of former parliamentarians from countries member of the ASEAN. As a result, the APHR is not an official organization of the ASEAN.

In contrast, it is the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) that is the official organization of the ASEAN dealing with human rights issue in the ASEAN-member countries.

As a result, the APHR's views have nothing to do with the ASEAN's point of views. So, the report issued by the APHR on Monday is only a kind of personal opinion of a group of former lawmakers in the ASEAN-member countries.

"The report on Cambodia's democracy and human rights released on March 20, 2017 by APHR does not by no means represent the assessment by ASEAN," read the Cambodian ministry's statement.

The ministry added that the amendments to the Cambodian law on political parties, mentioned by the report, is not unconstitutional. On the contrary, this law respects the principle of pluralism or "multi-party system" as stated in the Cambodian Constitution. According to the Cambodian government, the law prevents any eventual abuse such as incitement to racial hatred, and defamation etc.

"As in all democratic countries, the amended law is aimed at preventing abuses that are not in accordance with fundamental democratic principles such as incitation to racial hate, defamation, destruction of the social fabric of the nation," read the statement.

At the end of the statement, the Cambodian government asks APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, who is also a member of the Malaysian Parliament, to respect the ASEAN's principle of "non-interference in the internal affairs of ASEAN Member States" as stated in Article 2 of the ASEAN Charter.

The amendments to the Cambodian Law on Political Parties were passed on February 20. These amendments give right to the Supreme Court to dissolve political parties in some circumstances. The new law also forbids inmate from being president, vice president, or member of the steering​ committee of any political party.

One day before the amendments were passed, Mr. Santiago said that the proposed amendments by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), constituted a danger to the democracy in Cambodia.

“The passage of this bill would mark the death knell for democracy in Cambodia. We’re talking about a move that could turn the country into a de facto one-party state and completely undermine the legitimacy of elections only months away,” said Mr. Santiago.

He added that the proposed bill included new clauses giving right to the Supreme Court to dissolve political parties for violating prohibitions that APHR considered as "vague".

"Among the proposed changes to the law include new clauses allowing the Supreme Court to dissolve political parties and bar party leaders from political activity for violating a series of vaguely worded prohibitions, such as threatening 'national unity' or the 'security of the state'," added Mr. Santiago.