Twenty-Two Years On, Paris Peace Agreement Far From Realized
More than two decades after the Paris Peace Agreement, which was meant to open the way for peace and multiparty democracy in Cambodia, legal experts and human rights advocates said Tuesday the government has largely abandoned the vision of the accord. Speaking at a conference on the Peace Agreement at Phnom Penh’s Intercontinental Hotel, civil society leaders laid out the many ways the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen has drifted away from the spirit of the accord, which promised universal voter rights, an independent judiciary and a liberal and plural democracy. Yeng Virak, executive director of the Community Legal Education Center, told the conference that the Constitution, which came into force in 1993 and reflected the promises laid out in the Peace Agreement, has routinely been flouted by the government. … “Not only has the government not enhanced, respected and defended [these rights], they have violated them,” he [Yeng Virak] said, citing the recent violence against peaceful demonstrators along with the decision by the ruling CPP to form a government without an opposition. … Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said that whatever the government’s shortcomings, it continued to work hard to educate the population about rule of law and push for the realization of promises outlined by the Constitution. …
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/twenty-two-years-on-paris-peace-agreement-far-from-realized-45702/
