United Nations Envoy Visits After Protest Deaths
The U.N. special rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai, began a three-day unofficial visit to Cambodia on Wednesday, just one month after military police shot dead five protesters in Phnom Penh and the government imposed a ban on public gatherings. Mr. Kiai, a Kenyan lawyer, is tasked with monitoring and reporting on people’s rights to assembly and will meet with union leaders and NGO representatives during his visit, which was organized by the Bangkok-based Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development. On Friday, Mr. Kiai is expected to visit the Boeng Kak community in Phnom Penh, the site of one of the country’s largest forced evictions and a hotbed of activism against the CPP government. Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said he respected Mr. Kiai’s choice to visit Cambodia, but that he should have come sooner to really assess the situation. “[Protesters] blocked the roads and factories and damaged private property and forced factory workers to join demonstrations,” he said. Government officials have largely held the five slain demonstrators responsible for their own deaths, while rights groups have lambasted the military police and their use of lethal force against stone-throwing protesters.
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/united-nations-envoy-visits-after-protest-deaths-51551/
