Launch of our New CIVICUS Website; CIVICUS President to Attend the Commemoration of Victims in March 30 Grenade Attack and People’s Congress

 

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The Launch of our New Website;
CIVICUS President to Attend the Commemoration of Victims in March 30 Grenade Attack and People’s Congress

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PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

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Phnom Penh, 28 March 2014

CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education proudly announces the launch of our new, dynamic website www.civicus-cambodia.org. 

It features a new blog on our Speak Truth to Power program, updated content on our latest activities, photos, videos, lots of fascinating external reads, ways to get involved, and much more.  They are all presented in a new, sleek, user-friendly format.  Check us out!

Come back to visit us often and join in our activities.

On a more somber matter, CIVICUS Cambodia expresses deep concern about the lack of justice for victims of the grenade attack on 30 March 1997 during the passing of these 17 years.   On that Easter Sunday morning 1997, four grenades ripped through a peaceful group of demonstrators in front of the National Assembly, killing 20 people and wounding 100 others. The demonstrators included garment workers, cyclo drivers, vendors, advocates of democracy, and political activists led by Sam Rainsy, demanding independence for the judiciary.

Ms. Theary C. Seng, who missed the gathering that fateful 1997 Sunday morning because her alarm clock failed to ring due to the battery running out, will be attending the commemoration ceremony this Sunday, 30 March 2014.

Ms. Seng will then proceed to join Cambodian citizens who love democracy and freedom at Democracy Square for the People’s Congress hosted by the pro-democracy Cambodian National Rescue Party later in the afternoon.

After the violent crackdown earlier this January, the Cambodian People’s Party issued a ban against a gathering of more than 10 people, effectively creating a de facto police state. 

Ms. Seng explains why it is important for CIVICUS Cambodia to participate in this People’s Congress:  “The core identity of CIVICUS Cambodia is all about being a citizen—a person who knows about and exercises her rights with responsibility.  Our motto captures this well: ‘transforming subjects … transforming survivors … into citizens.’   This ban is unacceptable and violates the fundamental right of a Khmer citizen to peaceful assembly. 

“As such, it is of great importance that we, the Cambodian citizens and all lovers of freedom, challenge the ban at every opportunity before it becomes, by habit because of appeasement over time, a way of life.” 

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For further info, please contact:
Ms. Sivnin EAM at +855.17.993.118  
sivnin@civicus-cam.org, info@civicus-cam.org