CSOs voice concern over state of emergency law

A GOVERNMENT spokesman said civil society organisations (CSOs) don’t seem to understand the purpose and content of the state of emergency law.

The remarks were made by Minist r y of Just ice spokesman Chin Malin after CSOs repeatedly requested that the government amend the law as t hey worr ied t hat it t hreatened human rights.

A joint statement released by 66 CSOs and communities on Wednesday called on the government to undertake immediate and meaningful consultation with relevant stakeholders, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure compliance with Cambodia’s human rights obligations.

“While we acknowledge that the government has stated that its goal in drafting this law is to protect public health during the Covid-19 pandemic, we, the undersigned CSOs and communities are very concerned that this law grants the government excessive powers t o r e s t r i c t f u n d a ment a l freedoms and therefore poses a serious threat to human rights,” the statement read.

It said the state of emergency law had been hastily passed and without sufficient consultation with relevant stakeholders.

“Cambodia’s introduction of a state of emergency law was in line with Article 22 of the

Constitution and Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“However, in its current form, the state of emergency law presents an alarming risk. Some Articles such as 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were required to be amended and revisited,” the statement read.

But Malin told The Post on T hu r s d a y t h a t t he CSOs requested cha nges because t hey did n’t seem to understa nd t he t r ue content a nd purpose of the law.

He said Article 5 mentions t he restrictions of rights and freedoms but is no different from t hat of ot her countries a nd i nter nat iona l laws a nd t reat ies t hat a lso a l low for r ig ht s a nd f reedoms to be c ur t a i led dur i ng a st ate of emergency.

“The measures that the government imposed under Article 5 are not measures a llowi ng t he gover n ment to do s omet h i ng a r bit r a r y a nd wit hout limits.

“Its conditions are clear and l aw en forc ement of f ic i a l s have mechanisms to monitor, control and ta ke responsibility when [the people] commit acts contrar y to t he content and purpose of this law.

“The rema rk s were made [because] it is the request and concer n of t he civ i l societ y organisations. We don’t know how to c onsider i t i n t he amendments because all the comments are not compatible with the content and the purpos e of ou r l a w,” Ma l i n stressed.

However, t he CSOs cla im t hat A r t ic le 5 had to be a mended to include st r ict ly def ined limitations and conditions to the powers granted to mandate respect for human r ig hts.

They said the government

We are very concerned that this law grants the government excessive powers to restrict fundamental freedoms

has to revisit the ambiguous wording in Articles 7, 8 and 9 to ensure they uphold the principles of law and protect against the manipulation of civil rights, a free media and dissenting voices.

The CSOs request a revisit after they observed that while Cambodia experienced the Covid-19 problem, the government and police arrested 40 people and accused them of sharing fake news on the virus.

Among them, VFB online journalist Sovann Rithy was also arrested and had his licence revoked.