ASEAN lawmakers discuss Cambodia’s human rights record at Singapore summit | Cambodia News | Khmer News

Liberal lawmakers from ASEAN countries meeting in Singapore this week will focus on the human rights records of Cambodia and Myanmar, with lawmakers saying the rights of Southeast Asians are “threatened” by ASEAN’s “destructive principle of non-interference.”

ASEAN members agree to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other members, which lawmakers say allows member states to avoid criticism for their poor human rights records.

Charles Santiago, a Malaysian lawmaker and chairman of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), said the provision meant member states were “unwilling and unable to take a stand against violations”.

“This inaction must end – human rights should be a focus of next week’s Singapore conference.

“Human rights are under threat across Southeast Asia. ASEAN’s damaging principle of non-interference means the group is neither willing nor able to take a stand against human rights violations,” he said.

“ASEAN leaders cannot let the Cambodian government easily escape the shackles of democracy. They must urge Prime Minister Hun Sen to end his crackdown on dissent and hold new, truly free and fair elections,” he added.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party won all 125 seats in parliament in July’s election. Before the vote, the country’s main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was banned and its leader, Kem Sokha, was jailed for treason. In the year leading up to the election, the Cambodian People’s Party “intensified its repressive tactics against the opposition, including dismantling the last remaining independent media and harassing and jailing human rights activists,” APHR said in a statement.

The report also said the charges against Sokha were “politically motivated” and that concessions made by Hun Sen since the vote were “piecemeal.”

Government spokesman Phay Siphan dismissed the comments as “an act of the devil against Cambodia”.

“He has no right to interfere in this matter. ASEAN does not have a parliament yet, it is just an association. This is just a crazy idea.”

“They are allies of the rebels,” he said of the Asia-Pacific Center for Human Rights. “What he said are evil ideas that are against peace and independence and the ASEAN principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”