Cambodia, human rights office reach new deal

By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH

Cambodia's government has reached an agreement with the Phnom Penh arm of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) after a nearly year-long impasse.

The new memorandum of understanding underlines a provision about “non-interference” in Cambodia’s affairs and will formally come into effect once it is signed by the High Commissioner in Geneva, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, to whom it has been sent.

On Tuesday, the ministry of foreign affairs released a statement saying that the government has “consented” to the OHCHR’s presence in Cambodia since 1993 and the new MOU grants it a further two years of operation “based on mutual respect and non-interference”.

“The purpose of the said MoU signed on 19 December 2016 is to declare the parties’ intention to cooperate in implementation of a technical cooperation program in the field of human rights and to establish a framework for cooperation on the basis of purposes and principles stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations, particularly its article 2 [paragraph 7] which underlines ‘Nothing contained in the present charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state,’” the ministry said.

The last MoU expired nearly a year ago, and the office was warned that it would have to shutter if a new deal was not reached by a deadline that is just under two weeks away.

It was not the first time the office fell afoul of the government, either.

In 2011, Christophe Peschoux -- who headed the office before country representative Wan-Hea Lee’s acting predecessor, James Heenan -- left Cambodia after Prime Minister Hun Sen called for his ouster.

Peschoux had been outspoken on a number of issues, including the deportation of two Thai red-shirt activists, as well as a defamation case brought against an opposition lawmaker by Hun Sen.

In an email from Geneva on Wednesday, OHCHR media officer Elizabeth Throssell said the “promotion and protection of human rights” was at the core of the mission in Cambodia, “and so the agreement reached involves no compromise on our mandate”.

Political analyst Ou Virak told Anadolu Agency that he felt there was “a minor concession from both sides” to get the deal drawn up, but that ultimately, “these minor changes in the language won't have any impact on the OHCHR.”

What could impact its work, he said, “is the nature of pressure in general, to accommodate the government even more, and be reluctant to say things when they should”.

An OHCHR statement issued Wednesday said that the MoU is the result of negotiations and the wording agreed upon reflects the importance of the charter "both for us and the specific importance attached to it by the Cambodian government".

"We welcome the fact that we were able to reach this agreement and look forward to continuing or cooperation with the Cambodian government to foster the promotion and protection of human rights in Cambodia," it said.