MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Cambodia: in particular the case of Sam Rainsy
19.10.2010
pursuant to Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure
Christian Engström, Emilie Turunen, Barbara Lochbihler, Heidi Hautala, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Gerald Häfner on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0550/2010
B7‑0590/2010
European Parliament resolution on Cambodia: in particular the case of Sam Rainsy
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its resolutions of 13 January 2005 and 10 March 2005 on Cambodia, its resolution of 1 December 2005 on the human rights situation in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, its resolution of 1 January 2006 and its resolution of 13 March 2007 on Cambodia,
- having regard to the Cooperation Agreement of 1997 between the European Community and the Kingdom of Cambodia[1][1], in particular Article 1 (respect of Human Rights), Article 19 (suspension of agreement if one party violates Article 1) and Annex 1 regarding Article 19,
- having regard to the UN declaration of Human rights defenders of 1998,
- having regard to the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders approved by the Council on 14 June 2004, and updated in 2008,
- having regard to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
- having regard to the 17 June 2010 report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Cambodia, which deplores external interference in the work of the judiciary,[2][2]
- having regard to the decision of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of 12-15 July 2010,
- having regard to the resolution of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Governing General Council of 6 October 2010,
- having regard to Rule 122(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas a worrying authoritarian trend has been noticeable in Cambodia over the last few years, taking the form of a deterioration in the human rights situation, the stifling of fundamental freedoms, a brutal policy of land grabbing that affects essentially the poor, the suppression of all forms of criticism and protest, the persecution of the parliamentary opposition and activists of the civil society, the use of the judicial power for political ends and a drift toward a one-party system,
B. whereas Cambodia’s ruling party uses a politically subservient judiciary to crackdown on government critics and the government is using the courts to silence criticism over its responses to land-grabbing, corruption and border disputes,
C. whereas in Cambodia an alarmingly high number of people are in detention as a result of various shortcomings in the criminal justice system to the extent that oovercrowding has become the main cause of death in Cambodian prisons according to some officials,
D. whereas Sam Rainsy, Member of Parliament and the leader of Cambodia's second largest political party, has been subject to assassination attempts, threats, intimidation, criminal cases and civil court cases from the time he created his political party in 1995, whereas on 30 March 1997 a grenade attack on a political rally he was addressing killed at least 16 people and wounded 150 others,
E. whereas the ruling party has managed to strip him of his parliamentary immunity three times on questionable allegations, which resulted in several prison terms,
F. whereas the latest sentence to ten years in jail was pronounced on 23 September 2010 pushing Sam Rainsy into exile,
G. whereas his condemnation was based on an act of civil disobedience by uprooting six wooden temporary border posts at the Vietnamese-Cambodian border, which is still disputed between the two countries, whereas the action took place in support of villagers who claimed to be victims of land grabbing saying that the Vietnamese had illegally shifted the posts onto Cambodian soil in their rice fields and that their complaints to the local authorities had remained unavailing,
H. whereas according to a World Bank study land-grabbing has risen to dramatic proportions worldwide, amounting to an area equal to the size of Sweden (45 million ha) in the reference year 2009 alone,
I. whereas the EU is the single largest donor institution to Cambodia,
1. Expresses its consternation over the Cambodian government's crackdown on the most influential opposition leader in the country, a symbol for the heightened persecution of government critics with the seeming intention to roll back the political pluralism Prime Minister Hun Sen had gradually allowed for over the last two decades;
2. Reminds the Cambodian Government that it has to fulfil its obligations and commitments regarding the democratic principles and fundamental human rights which are an essential element of the above mentioned Cooperation Agreement, as defined in Article 1 of that Agreement;
3. Calls on the Cambodian authorities to:
- engage in political and institutional reforms to build a democratic state governed by the rule of law and founded on the respect for fundamental freedoms,
- demonstrate their will to combat effectively the endemic scourges of corruption, massive deforestation resulting in the displacement of people, land grabbing and the sex tourism industry, to refuse the current culture of impunity and to bring to justice all those involved in such activities,
- guarantee free and fair political expression without intimidation and harassment;
4. Is alarmed at the prosecution and sentencing to a total of 12 years in prison of the opposition leader Sam Rainsy on account of a gesture which it considers to be of a symbolic and clearly political nature;
5. Is particularly alarmed that, if upheld, this verdict would bar Mr Sam Rainsy from standing in the 2013 parliamentary elections and have consequences far beyond Mr. Sam Rainsy’s case as it is bound to affect the opposition as such, all the more so as the recent prosecutions of a number of outspoken opposition members have already narrowed down the political space, and hence be detrimental to the democratic process in Cambodia;
6. Calls, therefore, on the authorities to explore ways and means of resolving the issues at hand through political dialogue and to enable Mr Sam Rainsy to resume his parliamentary activities as rapidly as possible;
7. Calls on the Cambodian authorities to heed the recommendations made by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia; invites the Parliament of Cambodia to debate his report in parliament and to take the necessary measures to ensure implementation of his recommendations;
8. Calls on the European Union to take steps to ensure that fundamental freedoms, as enshrined in Article 1 of the above mentioned Cooperation Agreement, are respected and that attacks on civil liberties have consequences; further calls on the European Union to make continuation of its financial aid conditional upon an improvement in Cambodia's human rights record;
9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the to the HR/VP Baroness Ashton, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the governments of the ASEAN and ASEM member states, the ASEM secretariat, the UN Secretary-General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the government and National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia.