Introductory Statement for the Launch Announcement Session of the Commission of Inquiry for Cambodia, 23 October 2021
Welcome to the launch announcement session of the Fact-Finding Commission of Inquiry for Cambodia, designed to tell the truth to power about how and why democracy and human rights are being systematically destroyed in Cambodia by the Hun Sen government.
It is no accident that this Commission begins its work today, on October 23, 2021. This date marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords, the international agreement that ended the Indo-China wars and established the internationally agreed upon framework for the operation and governance of the modern state of Cambodia. The Accords set out in detail the basic principles and standards of democracy and human rights that the international community mandated, and the Hun Sen government agreed, would serve as the framework for how Cambodia would operate. But, in recent years, most especially since the lead-up to the 2018 national elections, these standards have been grossly and extensively violated in order to keep Hun Sen in power, and his family and friends enriched. Hun Sen has misused the laws, the courts, and the security law enforcement systems, to suppress and eliminate the political opposition; to assassinate, arrest and imprison anyone speaking out to criticize his government; to repress free speech and an independent media, and to line the pockets of Hun Sen’s family members and supporters.
Independent monitoring groups like Human Rights Watch and Global Witness have issued reports highlighting these violations, and international officials and agencies like the UN Special Rapporteur on Cambodia, Rhona Smith, have issued statements condemning these practices, but their challenges have not been able to stop or even to moderate the abuses that have been taking place.
Recognizing that we have reached the point of no return, where more meaningful and systemic remedial action is required if we are to prevent 37 more years of suffocatingly abusive dictatorial governance, the Cambodian people have decided to take matters into their own hands, by creating an independent Fact-Finding Commission of Inquiry to lay out the stark reality, and to identify in very specific terms, what must be done to end the repressive policies and practices that have ruled Cambodia for the past 37 years. The goal must be to return Cambodia to the human rights and democracy standards that the Paris Peace Accords set out and guaranteed thirty years ago today.
In this launch announcement session of the Fact-Finding Commission, followed by several additional two-hour sessions that will be held over the coming year, each hearing dealing with a critical substantive issue that will be addressed through testimonies by expert witnesses and representatives of victims of the abuses. In these sessions, we will begin to see and hear in the strictest of terms the reality of how and why the Hun Sen regime has destroyed democracy and human rights in Cambodia for its benefit, and at the expense of the Cambodian people. We will help everyone understand why these repressive policies and practices violated not only the Paris Peace Accords but numerous international treaties and international laws. We will identify the remedial actions that now must be taken to bring about meaningful and systemic change and improvement on the democracy and human rights fronts.
Starting us off today, as introductory, keynote speaker, will be former Australian Member of Parliament of Victoria, Hong Lim, explaining the work of the Fact-Finding Commission, and how it is closely linked to today’s celebrations of the thirtieth anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords. His statement, and all subsequent statements today, will be accompanied by highlight captions to alert you to the key points he is making, along with inserted visual images, like news headlines and video clips, that provide meaning and content to the references being made.