Saturday, March 4, 2017

Government: US Human Rights Reports reflect an invasive action

Tin Sokhavuth



Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, told reporters on Saturday that the US Human Rights Reports 2016, issued by the U.S. Department of State, concerning Cambodian judicial system, tended to be politically motivated and offensive, in the sense of invasion.

He added that the cooperation between the US and Cambodia was different from which with other countries such as Japan, France, and Aústralia that were also participating in reforming Cambodian judicial system.

According to Mr. Siphan, the reports misinterpreted the truth about Cambodia nowadays. And the reports did not tell the truth about the violation of human rights in America such as protest against President Donald Trum, and the problem of racism that was mentioned by the president himself. What the US was doing around the world was accusation and defamation.

Ha also said that the reports did not reflect the spirit of cooperation between the two countries. Instead, the reports revealed an act of interfering in Cambodian internal affairs by US politicians.

As for Mr. Siphan, such reports were an act against the policy of the 45th president Donald Trump who himself said that the US was not the world's master. The US was looking to strengthen friendship with other countries around the world even some countries were former US's enemies.

The US's Human Rights Reports 2016 said that the big human rights problems in Cambodia were "a politicized and ineffective judiciary; increased restrictions on freedoms of speech, assembly, and association; and the use of violence and imprisonment--both actual and threatened--to intimidate the political opposition and civil society as well as to suppress dissenting voices," read the reports.

The reports mentioned also about other human rights problems such as prisoner abuse, restrictions on press freedom and online expression, failure to grant equal access and fair treatment to asylum seekers, pervasive corruption, and trafficking in persons.

According to the reports, although some government officials were charged for committing abuses, including those who involved in corruption case, but impunity was still a big problem in Cambodia.

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