Cambodian prime minister lashes out at UN envoy

Phnom Penh - A UN human-rights envoy who visited last week was unnecessary, unwelcome and bent on destroying Cambodia's international reputation in the interests of collecting his own salary, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday.

In a speech broadcast on national media, Hun Sen reiterated earlier promises that he would never agree to work with Yash Ghai, the UN human-rights envoy to Cambodia, telling the Kenyan he should get his own country's human-rights record in order before daring to criticize Cambodia.

'You said the Cambodian government violates human rights systematically. This seems to me a very strong term,' Hun Sen said at a series of bridge inaugurations in Kandal province just outside the capital.

'This guy comes from a country which completely violates human rights,' the premier added. 'You can come here, but I do not need you. If I live to be more than 1,000 years old, I will still never meet with you, so please do not come to see me. The prime minister is not obliged to meet you.'

Ghai's visit was meant to gather additional background before he presents his report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva later this month.

In it, he accuses the Cambodian government of systematic human-rights abuses, derides the country's notoriously inept judicial system as a tool of oppression wielded by the government and laments wide-scale land grabs by the rich and powerful.

He was snubbed by all members of the government during his visit except for Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng.

Hun Sen said Ghai's report could be compared to a Cambodian proverb that says the dog barks, but the ox cart still rolls forward.

'However, I will not compare you to a dog,' he said, referring to Yash Ghai. 'They try to destroy us from Geneva, but we strengthen human rights ourselves.'

The Interior Ministry on Friday issued a press release that did not deny human-rights abuses existed in the country but claimed Ghai's report was unfair, biased and failed to acknowledge any progress the government had made, focusing instead only on negatives.

Ghai has been consistently critical of the Cambodian government's human rights record during three visits to the country since he took over the position from Peter Leuprecht in 2005, and Hun Sen's speech Monday indicated that his relationship with the government would not improve in the foreseeable future.

Hun Sen said Monday that he had told former UN secretary general Kofi Annan personally that he never expected to hear a good report on Cambodia's human-rights record while the human-rights envoy worked for a salary.

'If you say good things about the government's human-rights efforts, you will lose your salary,' he said, adding that he viewed UN human-rights officials as tourists.

'But do not worry. I will not close your office because you rent out the homes of Cambodian people and they pay the government 10-per-cent tax. Bring 500, 1,000 more to work here,' he said.