Donors and NGOs respond to Cambodia crackdown
As Cambodia’s government closes space for civil society and curtails free expression, development partners find cause for pause. Cambodian human rights organisation LICADHO explain.
Over the past two years, civil society organisations (CSOs) have documented escalating government restraints on free expression in Cambodia. Now CSOs report that government interference has reached a crisis point, to the degree that development partners can no longer ignore the crackdown.
Intimidation occurs almost daily
Recently, the internationally recognised Buddhist monk Venerable Loun Sovath was banned from all pagodas in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap province. Religious authorities claimed that he had violated Buddhist law when he joined villagers in a peaceful demonstration against the destruction of Prey Lang forest. But other monks indicated that his exile was the result of government pressure to stop his work to support land communities.
The abuses are now so apparent that they are difficult for donors and development partners to ignore
In July 2011, Phnom Penh authorities told activists protesting evictions near Boeung Kak Lake that they could not meet or discuss their circumstances with outsiders without permission. In September, a former Boeung Kak resident was badly beaten by police during a protest.
In August, the NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut, was suspended by the Ministry of the Interior after publishing a report that highlighted the government’s systematic under-compensation for families displaced by the Cambodian Railways Rehabilitation project. The NGO was monitoring resettlement impacts funded by the Asian Development Bank and AUSAID.
The Ministry of the Interior initially said that the suspension was due Sahmakum Teang Tnaut’s failure to meet administrative demands. But weeks later, 130 CSOs signed a letter in support of the NGO, noting that the suspension lacked any legal basis. The Ministry of the Interior backtracked, saying the suspension came because Sahmakum Teang Tnaut had “incited” Cambodians to oppose the government’s development programme. The same month, three other CSOs associated with promoting social justice on the railway project were also threatened, again based on incitement allegations.
“Incitement” allegations increasing
The use of “incitement” allegations – which imply liability for incitement under the criminal code – is increasing. In September, authorities in Kampong Thom broke up a peaceful training session on forest protection claiming it would “incite” villagers against a Vietnamese rubber company clearing thousands of hectares of forest.
This emerging “incitement” meme is telling; it highlights the government’s belief that Cambodia’s development model is somehow threatened by a vibrant civil society.
They paint CSOs, who often take up the cause of communities who have been stripped of their livelihoods, as being quarrelsome – as if they oppose development simply for the sake of being argumentative.
Donors and development partners find their voice
Ironically, Cambodia’s clumsy effort to “promote development” through this crackdown appears to be having the opposite effect; the abuses are now so apparent that they are difficult for donors and development partners to ignore. After over a year of protests by Boeung Kak evictees – whose peaceful demonstrations were increasingly met with violent security responses – the World Bank declared that it would cease new loans pending a fair settlement. Days later, the Cambodian government announced a credible settlement plan (though the fair implementation of this plan by municipal authorities is now in serious doubt).
Donors are also questioning Cambodia’s plans to enact a Law on Associations and NGOs, early drafts of which appear aimed at placing CSOs under government control. USAID’s Cambodia Mission Director, Flynn Fuller, suggested at a Government Donor Coordination Committee meeting in April that “justifying increased assistance to Cambodia will become very difficult in the face of shrinking space for civil society to function.” In August, Cambodia unexpectedly postponed a major donor cooperation forum, which had been scheduled for November.
Meanwhile, more development partners are pulling back and stepping up. In September, EU Charge d’Affairs Rafael Dochao Moreno indicated that the EU has contemplated withdrawing tariff-free status for imports associated with projects linked to forced evictions and human rights violations. More interestingly, two Chinese companies – including state-owned China Southern Power Grid– held off on Cambodian development projects, including a controversial dam project, in response to public pressure.
It is unclear whether Cambodia and its development model are facing a new day, but two things appear certain: civil society will continue documenting Cambodia’s closure of social space, and development partners will have increasing difficulty ignoring it.
Written by Naly Pilorge, Director of LICADHO.
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LICADHO
LICADHO is a national Cambodian human rights organisation which has been at the forefront of efforts to protect civil and political and economic and social rights in Cambodia and to promote respect for them by the Cambodian government and institutions.
