{"id":173277,"date":"2018-07-25T23:52:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T03:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=173277"},"modified":"2018-07-25T23:52:10","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T03:52:10","slug":"exiles-seek-global-scrutiny-cambodia-political-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/25\/exiles-seek-global-scrutiny-cambodia-political-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Exiles seek global scrutiny of Cambodia political crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party, the Cambodian People’s Party, has stepped up actions against media organizations and opposition politicians over the past two years as national elections \u2014 which are set for Sunday \u2014 have drawn closer. (Photo: Chuck Moravec\/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Kem Monovithya, a Cambodian political activist, was visiting Switzerland in September when she got a phone call from her father. Kem Sokha, the leader of Cambodia’s main opposition party, told his daughter that government agents were raiding their family’s home in Phnom Penh.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me: ‘They’re handcuffing me now,\u201d’ Kem Monovithya, 36, recalled in an interview with the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Months later, her father remains in prison facing charges of treason, and she is in the United States.<\/p>\n

She said she can’t go home because she fears she, too, will be arrested as part of a government crackdown that has banned the political party her father led, shut down news outlets and scattered hundreds of Cambodian politicians, human rights activists and journalists into exile in the U.S., Australia, Thailand and other countries.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party, the Cambodian People’s Party, has stepped up actions against media organizations and opposition politicians over the past two years as national elections \u2014 which are set for Sunday \u2014 have drawn closer.<\/p>\n

Hun Sen, who had held power for three decades, vowed last year that he’d be willing to \u201celiminate 100 to 200 people\u201d to protect the nation’s security, suggesting his opponents \u201cprepare coffins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for the ruling party and the government did not answer questions from the AP for this story.<\/p>\n

In February the government issued a 132-page book that asserted that \u201creal democracy is not being reversed … On the contrary, only fake democracy is being uprooted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The international watchdog group Human Rights Watch says the \u201ccivil and political rights environment in Cambodia\u201d has \u201cmarkedly deteriorated\u201d since the start of 2017. The group says the regime has engaged in \u201carbitrary arrests and other abuses\u201d and worked to portray peaceful dissent over corruption, land rights and other issues as attempts to overthrow the government.<\/p>\n

Kem Monovithya and other exiled members of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party are keeping the party alive from abroad. They are trying to convince the U.S., the European Union and others to place an embargo on international travel by top Cambodian officials.<\/p>\n

They are also asking voters to boycott this month’s elections, using social media to urge Cambodians to embrace a \u201cclean finger campaign.\u201d In Cambodia, voters must dip their fingers in ink after casting their ballots.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Hun Sen’s ruling party told Agence France-Presse that those promoting the boycott could face criminal charges for \u201cincitement to obstruct an election.\u201d<\/p>\n

These troubles are the latest in a country that has endured genocide, civil war and oppression over the past half century. Nearly 2 million Cambodians died in the \u201cKilling Fields\u201d operated by the Khmer Rouge, the communist regime that controlled the country from 1975 to 1979. Hun Sen took power as Cambodia’s prime minister in 1985.<\/p>\n

Kem Monovithya and other exiles have travelled around the U.S. and to Europe, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere to spread their message, talking with diplomats, lawmakers, media and Cambodians living abroad.<\/p>\n

Kem Monovithya told the AP that her exile is \u201ca test of my strength and endurance. I am almost homeless.\u201d She stays with friends and she isn’t sure where she’ll be from week to week. \u201cI go where my advocacy takes me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has expressed \u201cgrave concern\u201d about the Cambodian government’s actions and questioned whether this month’s elections will be free and fair. In March, the Trump White House said it was withholding $8.3 million in funding for Cambodia’s government as part of an effort \u201cto ensure that American taxpayer funds are not being used to support anti-democratic behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cambodian authorities claim that opposition leaders, community activists and journalists are working with the U.S. and other \u201csuperpowers\u201d to bring down the government. Hun Sen and other government officials use the term \u201ccolour revolution\u201d to describe these efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll armed forces are obliged to absolutely ensure that Cambodia is free from any colour revolutions,\u201d Hun Sen wrote in a Facebook post in 2016. \u201cSuch a revolution will harm people’s happiness and peace in Cambodia. Armed forces shall protect the legitimate government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government has closed down about 20 radio channels and arrested two former reporters with U.S.-backed Radio Free Asia and held them on charges that they had provided a \u201cforeign state with information which undermines national defence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kem Monovithya said her father, Kem Sokha, hasn’t not been allowed visitors since his arrest last September. She said doesn’t know when she’ll be able to see him or return to Cambodia. But she said she will find a way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to go back home, and I will not give up the fight,\u201d she said. \u201cIt’s our country. We cannot allow a small group of people to kick us out of the country forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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