Lawmakers, Activists Urge Kerry to Discuss Human Rights in Laos, Cambodia

Lawmakers, Activists Urge Kerry to Discuss Human Rights in Laos, Cambodia

Latin American Herald Tribune

24 January 2016

BANGKOK – Activists and lawmakers urged U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday to ask Laos and Cambodia to uphold human rights during a visit this week to the two Southeast Asian countries.

Kerry will arrive in Vientiane on Monday, where he will meet Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and travel the following day to Phnom Penh, where he will meet Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The U.S. secretary of state will also meet both leaders at a special summit between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, to be held Feb. 15-16 in Sunnylands, California.

This year, Laos holds the rotating chair of ASEAN, which also includes Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, or APHR, urged Kerry to express concern about the state of human rights and democracy in the two countries and press for commitments from the two leaders.

“Secretary Kerry should make it clear that the United States views respect for human rights as a core component of bilateral relations, inseparable from trade and security concerns that too often overshadow it,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, in a statement.

The APHR also asked Kerry to demand from Laos, whose communist regime clamps down on any opposition, an explanation for the disappearance of activist Sombath Somphone, who was last seen at a police checkpoint in December 2012.

The organization also urged Kerry to address the persecution of activists and opposition legislators in Cambodia after Hun Sen, who has been in power since 1985, renewed his term following his victory in the 2103 elections despite multiple allegations of fraud.

Meanwhile, five human rights organizations asked Kerry to link stronger bilateral relations with Cambodia to significant progress in the promotion of democratic reform and respect for fundamental freedoms.

Those organizations include the International Federation for Human Rights, Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of human rights, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

The groups said 17 dissidents have been arrested or jailed on false charges and unfair trials.

“The repression, human rights abuses, and impunity in Cambodia must stop,” declared these organizations in a joint statement.

“Economic relations will grow stronger and last only if the Cambodian government takes immediate steps to uphold democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights,” the human rights groups added.