More than four dozen regional and international organizations are calling on the leaders of Indonesia and France, as the co-chairs of the 1991 Paris Peace Conference that ended decades of conflict in Cambodia, to help ensure the Southeast Asian nation remains a democracy
ore than four dozen regional and international organizations are calling on the leaders of Indonesia and France, as the co-chairs of the 1991 Paris Peace Conference that ended decades of conflict in Cambodia, to help ensure the Southeast Asian nation remains a democracy.
The 52 groups, which include the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, Human Rights Watch and Yayasan Sekretariat Anak Merdeka Indonesia, signed an open letter to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and French President Emmanuel Macron to remind them the Paris Peace Agreements obligate them to protect the rights of Cambodians.
“Twenty-six years [after signing the accords on Oct. 23, 1991], there is an urgent need for decisive action from the international community to ensure that the democratic vision for Cambodia outlined in the Paris Peace Agreements is not completely forsaken,” the letter reads. “The Paris Peace Agreements created clear legal obligations upon the signatories […] in the event of the agreements being violated. These obligations exist to this day, despite Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s claim that ‘the Paris Peace Agreement is like a ghost’.”
The letter claims that the human rights situation in Cambodia has triggered France’s and Indonesia’s obligations under Article 29 of the Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement for Cambodia, which reads:
“Upon the request of the [United Nations] secretary-general, the two co-chairmen of the Paris Conference on Cambodia, in the event of a violation or threat of violation of this agreement, will immediately undertake appropriate consultations, including with members of the Paris Conference on Cambodia, with a view to taking appropriate steps to ensure respect for these commitments.”
That means, the groups wrote, that Indonesia and France should effectively reconvene the Paris Peace Conference. The action, the groups wrote, is necessary because the crackdown the Cambodian government launched in July this year against independent media, civic groups, NGOs and opposition violates Cambodia’s 1991 commitments.
“The national election scheduled for July 2018 has no chance of legitimacy if present circumstances persist and far-reaching remedial steps would be required for this election to be deemed genuine, participatory and inclusive,” the letter reads. “The rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of assembly and political participation, among others, are being systematically violated.”
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