First Lady Won't Avoid Cambodia Human Rights Concerns #Obama

[geovalin]

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press

Michelle Obama won't avoid Cambodia's human rights record when she visits the southeast Asian nation this week, her final stop on a two-country trip to promote a new U.S. initiative to help millions of girls worldwide attend and complete school, the White House said Monday.

The first lady, who is traveling without the president, is scheduled to arrive in Japan, her first stop, on Wednesday. On Friday, she heads to Cambodia.

While the purpose of the five-day trip, from March 18-22, is to promote the "Let Girls Learn" initiative she and the president announced this month, Mrs. Obama will discuss the need for an open and inclusive political system in Cambodia and highlight basic values and principles that are important to the U.S., said Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council.

"She's going to have ample opportunity to reinforce the progress that's been made at the community level," Medeiros said on a White House conference call previewing the trip for the media. "She's going to have the opportunity to meet with civil society to reinforce our view of the importance of having an open and inclusive political system, to allow civil society to have a role in good governance."

Mrs. Obama, who will become the first sitting U.S. first lady to visit Cambodia, will also address these issues during a speech there, Mederios said.

The Cambodian government has been led since 1985 by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has a reputation for ruthlessness and a low tolerance for opposition. The country also has child prostitution and human trafficking problems, two issues that keep girls from attending school.

President Barack Obama was the first U.S. president to visit Cambodia in late 2012, but White House officials insisted then that Obama only visited because Cambodia was the host for two annual regional summits he has been attending as part of his focus on Asia.

Tina Tchen, the first lady's chief of staff, said on the call that Cambodia has done a lot of work on the girls' education issue and that Mrs. Obama would get to learn about community-based solutions to the problem. Cambodia is one of 11 countries participating in part of the "Let Girls Learn" initiative that is being run by the Peace Corps, employing thousands of its volunteers around the world, and being overseen by Mrs. Obama.

The trip marks Mrs. Obama's first visit to Japan as first lady.

In Tokyo, she is scheduled to meet separately with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie. Obama made a state visit to Japan last year, and Abe is expected to make a reciprocal visit soon.

Mrs. Obama will also speak about the countries' mutual interest in international girls' education and announce a partnership between the Peace Corps and Japan's equivalent. The two first ladies will also meet with Japanese university students. Before leaving Japan, Mrs. Obama will stop in Kyoto to tour the Kiyomizu-Dera Buddhist Temple and the Fushimi Inari Shinto Shrine.

Mrs. Obama called it a "tragic waste of human potential" when 62 million girls worldwide are not in school.

"It is also a serious public-health challenge, a drag on national economies and global prosperity, and a threat to the security of countries around the world, including our own," said in an opinion piece that appeared online in The Wall Street Journal.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/lady-avoid-cambodia-human-rights-concerns-29678519

[geovalin]

All eyes on US first lady

Wed, 18 March 2015

Kevin Ponniah and Khouth Sophak Chakrya

US first lady Michelle Obama will not shy away from political or human rights issues during her trip to Cambodia this week to promote education for girls, the White House said yesterday.

The message came as the children and supporters of 19 imprisoned land rights activists from various Phnom Penh communities including Boeung Kak lake called on Obama to use her profile to help secure their release.

About 100 activists, including 60 children, wearing “free the activists” headbands, clutching US flags and holding smiling portraits of the Obama family, gathered outside the US Embassy yesterday to hand over a petition asking for her to take up their cause.

Shouting in tandem, the children called out: “Please, Michelle Obama. Help our mothers.”

US President Barack Obama raised the Kingdom’s patchy rights record behind closed doors with Prime Minister Hun Sen during his historic visit to Cambodia for an ASEAN summit in 2012 but did not deliver public remarks.

However, the first lady, who arrives in Siem Reap on Friday, will be giving a speech that will “highlight basic values and principles important to the United States”, a senior official told reporters in a conference call on Monday.

“She is going to have the opportunity to meet with civil society to reinforce our view of the importance of having an open and inclusive political system to allow civil society to have a role in good governance,” Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, said during the conference call.

Michelle Obama will arrive just as two election-related laws, one of which has been lambasted by NGOs for its restrictive provisions on civil society at election time, are expected to be passed by the National Assembly.

Cambodia is one of the first 11 countries in which the Let Girls Learn initiative, a US government push to get adolescent girls into school worldwide, is being implemented.

Medeiros sad there would be “ample opportunity” for Obama to “share perspectives about education and good governance” during her three-day visit, which will follow a trip to Japan, a Let Girls Learn partner.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the government believed Obama had the right to speak about any issues she liked during her stay but hoped “she would respect our sovereignty”.

Given that the US first lady will be emphasising the role of civil society in the political system, Siphan sought to clarify the government’s position on NGOs.

“We all welcome the input from the NGOs, but we don’t welcome NGOs [that are] allied to political parties or take the grants of international organisations to set up what we call a colour revolution,” he said.

Siphan cited the example of the International Republican Institute, a US government-funded organisation that promotes democracy. The group provided funds to help now-opposition deputy leader Kem Sokha set up the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) in 2002 – he would found the Human Rights Party in 2007 – which Siphan characterised as “a joke”.

Obama will be the first sitting US first lady to visit Cambodia. Both Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Hillary Clinton have visited, but only after leaving the White House.

Cambodia’s own first lady, Bun Rany, will “warmly welcome” Obama to the country on Friday and the pair will jointly meet a group of female school students in Siem Reap, the Foreign Ministry has announced.

Obama will deliver a speech to American Peace Corp volunteers and host a roundtable discussion with those volunteers, community leaders and civil society groups during her trip, the White House said. She will also visit Angkor Wat.

CCHR president Chak Sopheap, said yesterday that it was “encouraging to hear” that Obama would not be avoiding human rights and political issues during her visit.

“It is very important that the US emphasises the centrality of fundamental freedoms and democratic principles in its efforts to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries,” she said.

Sopheap added that the challenges faced by female human rights defenders and activists should be “high on her agenda”.

In response to Siphan’s comments about her organisation, the CCHR president said that “civil society organisations that take principled positions are open to criticism from all sides of the political spectrum”.

The Washington Post last March praised Michelle Obama’s ability to draw attention to sensitive issues during trips to foreign countries without offending her hosts, following a highly publicised trip to China.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/all-eyes-us-first-lady