At a school inauguration ceremony on January 5 at Kompong Cham province, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a stern warning to all political parties against criticising their competitors in order to win votes in the upcoming April 1 commune elections. He urged them to adopt a commercial advertisement style, extolling one’s own goods or services and not criticising the goods or services of others, and said that he would take firm action against persons responsible for criticism which would be, in his opinion, divisive and detrimental to the country’s stability.
Though the prime minister alluded to all 11 parties entering that election, his warning was clearly intended primarily for critics of himself and his dominant party, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). It would be senseless for any of the other ten parties, which all have nothing except public opinion for protection or support, to defy electoral rules and regulations when the CPP is in control of the National Election Commission, the security forces and the courts of law.
Hun Sen’s prohibition of criticism violates the rights of the Cambodian people to freedom of expression as guaranteed and protected by their national constitution, and even more blatantly, the commune election law of 2001 itself. That law only goes so far as to prohibit, in article 128, political parties’ or candidates’ use of intimidation, threats, terror or violence against the population or other parties and their candidates, or the supporting and inciting of supporters or voters to attack other parties, their candidates or voters, or use threats, violence and terror against them. Mere criticism of other candidates in no way breaches this provision.
The prohibition is the latest in a series of repressive measures that the Cambodian government has taken over the years to silence its critics. Throughout 2006 the Asian Human Rights Commission consistently reported and commented on a number of these measures and repeatedly urged the government to respect the constitutional right to freedom of expression. Among those areas of special concern that it has identified are the government’s permanent control of the electronic media; its ban on peaceful public demonstrations imposed since 2003; the silencing of government critics, including journalists, through charges of criminal defamation or disinformation, or via threats and intimidation; government control of public forums and training seminars organized by civic groups and the drafting of a law banning “political” activities by such groups; and, the restriction of freedom of expression of members of parliament through a new law and an amendment to the law on general elections, both adopted in 2006.
In view of this latest narrowing of public space by the prime minister, the Asian Human Rights Commission again urges him, his government and his party to discharge their human rights obligations and abide by Cambodia’s constitution and the commune election law of 2001, and respect the right to freedom of expression of the Cambodian people and political parties, including their right to criticize him, his government and his party. It also urges donors, state signatories to the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 which ended the war in Cambodia, United Nations agencies, other international bodies and the global human rights community to work with the Cambodian government to ensure respect for the right to freedom of expression of all political parties during and beyond the commune electoral process of 2007.
