Civil society groups yesterday mostly praised U.S. President Barack
Obama’s decision to press Prime Minister Hun Sen on election reforms and
human rights when the two leaders met privately on the sidelines of the
Asean Summit here on Monday. But they said Mr. Obama, who departed
Tuesday, missed a “golden opportunity” to publicly address such issues
and that the U.S. and donor countries will have to keep up the momentum
for any good to come of it.
After Monday’s closed-door meeting, U.S. Deputy National Security
Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters that Mr. Obama had spent most of it
urging the prime minister to move toward free and fair elections, set up
an independent electoral commission, let opposition parties do their
work and release all political prisoners.
Rupert Abbott, Cambodia researcher for Amnesty International, said he
welcomed Mr. Obama’s “strong stand,” but felt other world leaders also
gathered in Phnom Penh for the Asean and East Asia summits—major donors
Australia and Japan especially—should have joined him.
“We would have liked to see more from them,” Mr. Abbott said.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard focused on regional trade and territorial disputes in the South
China Sea.
Shiwei Ye, regional representative for the Paris-based International
Federation for Human Rights, said Mr. Obama should have pressed Cambodia
for a show of reform before arriving in Phnom Penh.
“Whereas the Burmese government released dozens of political
prisoners when Obama visited [on Monday morning], the U.S. did not
secure any concessions from Hun Sen at all,” Mr. Shiwei said.
“Restrictions on freedom of assembly intensified before Obama’s visit
and continued even during his visit, so it is business as usual in
Cambodia.”
Rights groups also thought that Mr. Obama should have spoken out publicly.
“Obama missed a golden opportunity to take Cambodia to task by
keeping his human rights concerns private. This allows the Cambodian
government to spin the story to its favor and undermines the U.S.
position and leverage. It leaves the Cambodian people wondering whether
Obama had heard their SOS,” Mr. Shiwei said.
Government officials have rejected the description of the leaders’
private meeting as “tense.” Instead, they said that Mr. Obama walked
away having been disabused of his “misunderstanding” of Cambodia’s human
rights record, said Naly Pilorge, director of rights group Licadho.
“Some Khmer language media outlets reported initially that President
Obama did not focus on issues like human rights and the elections,” Ms.
Pilorge added.
Opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Mu Sochua said even public comments from the president could have been distorted, however.
“They can twist whatever they want,” Ms. Sochua said.
Pushing the prime minister too hard in public could even be counterproductive, she added.
A private meeting “gives time for Hun Sen to digest. In the long run it is more effective,” Ms. Sochua said.
Heng Mom, who has been protesting against the government’s attempts
to evict her from central Phnom Penh for years and who joined
demonstrations calling for Mr. Obama’s help during his visit, said she
was confident his brief visit to Cambodia would make a difference.
“We still have hope and trust in him,” said Ms. Mom, who earlier this
year spent a month in jail for taking part in a peaceful protest.
“We hope he will help Cambodians who have suffered human rights abuses, forced evictions and illegal detention.”
No comments:
Post a Comment