BANGKOK: Exiled Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy denounced a gathering of leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, in Phnom Penh this weekend as a “sham”, saying political persecution and organised crime in the Southeast Asian nation made it an inappropriate venue.
Heads of state and senior ministers are meeting in the Cambodian capital for a summit of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF). The organisation promotes cooperation between French-speaking nations and lists peace, democracy and human rights among its core tenets.
“I think the summit is going to take place at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Rainsy told Reuters on Friday (Nov 13) by phone from Paris. He lives in self-exile after fleeing Cambodia, where he has been convicted of multiple offences in absentia and his political party has been banned.
“Cambodia is in a very difficult situation in terms of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, independence of the judiciary…which is totally contrary to the values that the Francophonie is supposed to represent,” he said. “I think it is a sham. It is a strange summit.”
Neth Pheaktra, Cambodia’s minister of information, said the government had “no time for polemics” and was focused on making the gathering a success.
UN CALLS FOR RELEASE OF DETAINEES
On Monday, Tom Andrews, the United Nations’ human rights envoy to Cambodia, urged the government to release more than 100 people detained for “exercising their fundamental freedoms”, including environmental activists, before the summit. He said doing so would honor the OIF’s values.
A coalition of 26 Cambodian organisations this week handed the Canadian and French embassies in Phnom Penh a joint petition citing “democratic backsliding, human rights violations, and attacks on civil society”. It called on states attending the summit to protest the “rapidly deteriorating situation”.
An Elysee official told Reuters that France had “messages to convey” at the summit and that human rights and rule of law were being addressed “at all levels”.
“The policy of the empty chair is not the best way to move these issues forward,” the official said.
