Minister defends rights record

Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn has in New York defended the government’s arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha, claiming the country “upholds itself to the universal principle of fundamental human rights”. Speaking on Friday during an address to the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Sokhonn accused the international community of criticising Cambodia to further their own aims.

“The assessment of the human rights situation varies depending on the political predisposition of certain great powers. The same reasoning holds true for the big international NGOs, whose agendas are far from being politically neutral,” he said. “The issue of human rights and democracy is raised only when the specific interests of certain major powers are at stake, at the vagaries of the movement. Otherwise, it is sheer silence, and often a conspiracy of silence.”

Mr Sokhonn said the government has been attacked for “the arrest of an opposition official who, in a video recorded interview, confessed to be an agent of a big power working to overthrow our government”. “In what country would such behaviour of a foreign government be tolerated? We have acted totally in accordance with the provisions stipulated in our laws and I can assure you that these actions are not arbitrary as some critics would have you believe,” he said.

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5083291/minister-defends-rights-record/

 

-- © Copyright Khmer Times 25/09