Urgent Action Response by the Khmer Community “Stronger Actions Needed for National Election”
From: Cambodian Civil Society Organizations
To: Foreign Leaders
RE: STRONGER ACTION NEEDS TO BE TAKEN TO DEAL WITH UPCOMING NATIONAL ELECTIONS IN CAMBODIA
Your Excellencies:
Given the reality that the Hun Sen government has refused to implement in any reasonable fashion the UN action plan of reform measures, thereby making it impossible for free, fair and legitimate elections to be held, the Khmer community believes that the only alternative is to call internationally for a suspension of the elections, unless and until reasonable progress is made to comply with the United Nations’ recommended reform measures. The Khmer community has drafted and is widely circulating a letter from Khmer civil society organizations explaining why suspension of the elections is the only available course of action that makes any sense.
As a follow-up to the Khmer community’s statement on the upcoming national elections in Cambodia that was issued on 20 March, we also are providing below some additional and more specific details on how the results of the elections, which the United Nations has judged cannot be considered to be free, fair or legitimate because of Hun Sen’s widespread and thoroughgoing campaign of harsh repression. This follow-up statement proposes a series of advocacy steps that can be taken at the international level to place additional pressures on the Hun Sen government to implement the reform measures the UN has proposed to reduce the human rights and rule of law abuses that the UN found to be crippling civil society, and making a fair and legitimate electoral process impossible.
Given the following:
A recent series of reports and statements by high-level agencies and officials of the United Nations, United States and European Union finds that free, fair and legitimate elections in Cambodia are impossible because of the Hun Sen’s government’s long-standing and thoroughgoing campaign of repression to eliminate meaningful political opposition, and to destroy the free expression of views and free choice by civil society;
The results of a grassroots monitoring effort by the Khmer community, demonstrating and documenting the refusal of the Hun Sen government to take any meaningful positive steps to implement the “Action Plan of Reform Measures” recommended by the United Nations in order to make the political process more free and fair; and,
The sad fact that Hun Sen, in recent months, has “doubled down” on his highly repressive abuses designed to assure his uncontested re-election and indefinite continuance in office, including the imposition of a 27-year sentence for treason against political opposition leader Kem Sokha, and continuation of the “Mass Criminal Trials” against other political leaders, critics of the government, and independent journalists;
The Khmer community hereby:
Declares the July national elections to be invalid;
Calls for the elections to be suspended until Hun Sen takes meaningful action to implement the United Nations’ recommended reform measures;
Calls on voters in Cambodia to boycott the elections until they can be held on a more legitimate basis;
Calls on foreign governments and the international community to make clear to the Hun Sen government that the results of the election cannot be recognized as legitimate and to impose trade sanctions until meaningful reforms take place that make free and fair elections possible; and,
Calls on the Khmer community and other human rights advocates to adopt the Amnesty International strategy of using every available platform and forum at the international level to challenge Hun Sen’s campaign of human rights and rule of law abuses, and his misuse of the political process, starting with the scheduled April, 2024 Universal Periodic Review of Cambodia that will be conducted by the UN Human Rights Council.
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