US warns Cambodia over controversial law

The United States has threatened to freeze aid spending to Cambodia if the government pushes ahead with a highly controversial draft law designed to regulate civil society.

The comments were made by Flynn Fuller, the country head of the US government's development agency USAID, during a closed meeting between the Cambodian government and donors in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.

The meeting assessed Phnom Penh's progress in attaining a series of 20 benchmarks in areas such as judicial reform and land rights.

"In these times of fiscal constraint, justifying increased assistance to Cambodia will become very difficult in the face of shrinking space for civil society to function," Fuller said, adding that the "excessively restrictive" law would harm development.

"We strongly urge the government to reconsider the necessity of the draft NGO [non-governmental organisation] law, and if so, to adopt a law consistent with a commitment to expand, rather than restrict, the freedom for civil society organisations to operate," he said.

Last year, donors pledged 1.1 billion dollars in development assistance, around half of Cambodia's budget.

Civil society has condemned the draft NGO law, which requires all NGOs and associations to register with the government, as woolly, lacking definition and full of ambiguities.

A coalition of around 300 civil society groups said the law would impose onerous administration requirements on the country's crop of 3, 000 NGOs and hundreds of associations, something many lack the capacity to comply with.

NGOs had called on donors to weigh in on the issue.

Prominent human rights group LICADHO said recently the law constituted "the most serious threat to civil society in Cambodia for years."

The government has said it drafted the law to protect NGOs. Last week, spokesman Phay Siphan said the government was prepared to listen to changes suggested by civil society, something critics said it failed to do after two rounds of consultation in recent months.

Phay Siphan's pledge contrasted with public comments by other spokesmen who said the draft would not be amended.

The draft law is expected to head to the Council of Ministers for assessment in the coming weeks before being presented to parliament for approval later this year.

USAID works with more than 100 local organizations in Cambodia in areas such as governance, health and education. The US, the third-largest donor to Cambodia, approved 72 million dollars in aid last year, and is seeking approval from legislators for around 88 million dollars for 2012.