Hun Sen Warns NGOs Not to Interfere With Judicial Reform Legislation

 

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday fired back at criticism that his cabinet had failed to consult civil society groups and the public before approving three draft laws on the judiciary, saying there was nothing legally obligating his government to do so.Speaking at a graduation ceremony in the capital, he said non-governmental organizations had no right to ask to be consulted about the three pieces of legislation, which the government says are aimed at making the justice system more transparent and independent as part of long-awaited reforms.

“The law as set out in our Constitution doesn't allow us to hand over draft laws to anyone besides those who compose the laws, before they are forwarded to the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly,” Hun Sen said at the Asia Euro University graduation ceremony. 

“The law doesn't say we need to forward them to the NGOs.”

He said his government had already “heard many recommendations” from civil society groups on various issues, warning rights groups should not overstep their bounds.  “Don't demand things beyond what’s within your rights. You should be ashamed of yourselves, and just enjoy the rights that are given to you as NGOs.”

Cabinet approval

Hun Sen’s cabinet approved the three draft laws—the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Courts, the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, and the Law on the Statute of Judges and Prosecutors—at a meeting on April 18 without releasing the texts of the legislation. The drafts follow Hun Sen’s promise of deep reforms to the judiciary in September following elections in July last year that led to a deadlock between his long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

The CNRP has repeatedly called for reforms to Cambodia’s judiciary, which has been criticized for corruption and bowing to political pressure. Rights activists who saw initial drafts of the three pieces of legislation earlier this year said those versions would not do enough to ensure the independence of judges and prosecutors and would give too much sway to a politically appointed justice minister.

Last week, the Cambodian Center of Human Rights issued a statement condemning the cabinet’s approval of the laws “without prior publication and open and broad consultations.”The lack of transparency about the laws had raised questions about what Hun Sen’s government was “trying to hide” in them, it said.  CCHR also called on parliament to postpone adopting them until after members of the CNRP, which has boycotted parliament amid an eight-month deadlock with the CPP over the disputed elections, take their seats.

Encouraging effective laws

Ou Virak, a member of CCHR’s board of directors, said in response to Hun Sen’s comments Monday that the government should seek the people’s input and recommendations from NGOs on any pieces of legislation it writes up.  “A government that is open to [input from] the NGOs [on proposed legislation] would be a responsible government,” he told RFA’s Khmer Service.

"We don't want to interfere in any political party’s work, but the government doesn't belong to one single group. We want to encourage effective laws.”Ny Chakriya, chief investigator for local rights group Adhoc, said Cambodia’s citizens should have a say in the laws because they have a stake in them. "The three draft laws, just like all other laws, are not reserved for Hun Sen.  The laws are composed for the people,” he told RFA. 

Promised reforms

According to a government statement issued after the April 18 meeting, the three draft laws are the first step in a series of promised judicial reforms.  “The laws aim to guarantee the independence of the judiciary, maintain discipline of judges, and to assure the good functioning of Cambodian courts,” the statement said, according to reports.

"The compilation of the three laws is an important beginning of legal and judicial reforms.”Drafted by the Ministry of Justice with the aid of French legal experts, the three pieces of legislation are based on experiences of countries with advanced rule of law, it said.

Rights groups said they expect the final draft copies to be released soon before the legislation is submitted to the National Assembly. An initial draft of the Law on the Statute of Judges and Prosecutors obtained by RFA earlier this year did not specify that prosecutors and judges may not be members of a political party, raising concerns about guarantees of their independence.

In addition, a previous draft of the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Supreme Council of Magistracy put the Ministry of Justice in control of the council’s budget, raising concerns from legal experts that the council would lose independence. Others raised concerns the law would give too much power to the justice minister—a political appointee—to nominate and terminate judges.

North Korea Steps Up Export of Workers to Russia to Boost Foreign Exchange

 

Cash-starved North Korea has rapidly increased the number of workers it dispatches to Russia and widened the scope of jobs they could take up in the neighboring country in a bid to diversify away from its traditional key market China, according to sources.But the selection process has been tightened to prevent North Korean defections, the sources said, adding that some officials were accepting bribes from desperate prospective workers to cash in on the new procedures.

Until recently, North Korea has been sending its workers mostly to its key ally neighbor China to draw foreign exchange to support its impoverished economy. But of late Pyongyang has stepped up its dispatch of labor to Russia, where wages are higher, according to the sources, citing the hard-line communist regime’s attempt to diversify its sources of foreign revenue.A resident of North Hamgyong province who recently visited China told RFA’s Korean Service that going by the current pace, "dispatched workers are recruited more for Russia than for China.”

"In the past, the dispatched workers for Russia were mostly loggers,” the source said. “However, in recent years, the occupation pool for the dispatched workers has become very diverse." The pool of workers has widened to include construction workers, seamstresses, and farming sector workers, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The source said that higher wages and a three-year duration of dispatch were among factors attracting North Koreans to travel to Russia to work.

'Rigorous' selection

However, according to the source, the North Korean authorities are conducting a “very rigorous” process for selection of workers to prevent defections.“It appears to be very difficult to become a dispatched worker to Russia,” the source said.Among those not eligible to apply to work in Russia are bachelors and spinsters, married couples without children, those with relatives in South Korea, China or Japan, and those whose relatives have defected, sources said, identifying them as among potential defectors. One woman who wanted to become a seamstress had her application rejected because her loyalty was in question, a source living in North Pyongan province said.

"During the interview, the interviewer asked her why she wanted to go to Russia, and she answered innocently by saying that she [wanted] to visit a foreign country just once,” the source said. "She failed because it seemed she lacks loyalty to the party and the country.”Yet the source said that another woman, who heard that the seamstresses can earn U.S. $50 per month, offered to surrender nearly her whole anticipated annual salary to the authorities for a three-year work contract in Russia.

"The corruption of the executives in the selection process of workers is very serious" the source said.  It is believed that among workers dispatched to Russia, construction technicians earn the highest salaries, sources said.According to recently released figures, Chinese authorities granted 93,300 work visas to North Koreans in 2013—a roughly 17 percent gain from the prior year.

Easing restrictions

Last month, Russia and North Korea agreed to ease visa procedures as part of an agreement to boost bilateral trade, which also includes settling payments in Russian rubles as well providing for Russian access to proposed special economic zones in North Korea, Russia's Far East Development Ministry said.The move came following a visit of a Russian delegation to North Korea for talks in conjunction with the 65th anniversary of a bilateral cooperation agreement.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has been relying traditionally on foreign exchange from logging operations in Siberia, in the central and eastern portion of Russia. A significant part of the salaries of North Korean loggers goes into cash-starved Pyongyang's coffers.At least 10,000 North Koreans are believed to be working as loggers in Siberia, according to 2010 figures.

At that time, it was reported that most loggers receive less than 10 percent of the money Russian logging companies provide their North Korean handlers as salary.

Dutch national murdered in Phnom Penh home

 

A DUTCH woman working for the United Nations was found stabbed to death on Monday morning in an attack that also left her 19-month-old baby daughter in critical condition.

Daphna Beerdsen was found by the family’s babysitter lying alongside her child in their rented house in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district shortly before 9am.

Police at the scene said Beerdsen, whose LinkedIn profile says she worked as a consultant on climate change projects for UN Habitat, died from several stab wounds. Her child is in a critical condition after being stabbed multiple times with what appeared to be the same weapon, which has not been recovered.

“The baby was badly stabbed in the head, back and waist and was sent to Kantha Bopha Children’s hospital,” said Chan Sahuth, an officer with the Ministry of Interior’s Criminal Investigation Department.“[The child] is in a bad condition with a blood clot in the brain and is being prepared to be forwarded to Thailand,” he said.Police are still investigating at the scene of the murder in Tonle Bassac commune and have not ruled out robbery as a motive. However, police said they found no evidence of forced entry.Beerdsen’s husband, Joris Oele, 34, returned home at about 1pm and was escorted into the courtyard of his house by a British embassy official.Oele, who also works for UN Habitat, left the capital on a work trip to Preah Sihanouk province on Sunday, according to neighbours.

Railway official suspended for his words

The railway official, Mr. Nguyen Huu Thang, was said to have made an “irresponsible statement” on the increase of over $300 million for the project, impugning the reputation of the transportation industry.Minister Thang asked the administration head to review his personal liability in making the statements and to explain the increase of investment capital in the project before May 7.

Minister Thang assigned Deputy Chief of the Vietnam Railway Administration, Mr. Tran Phi Thuong, to temporarily replace Nguyen Huu Thang during the suspension.

Earlier, in an interview with the Tien Phong (Pioneer) Newspaper on the Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway project, Nguyen Huu Thang said: "We’ve done our best. Look at other projects, such as the Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station route, which is still idle. We’ve done a lot of good things, but nobody has paid us a compliment. Just when the project was adjusted a little, they have made a lot of noise about it”.Thang’s statement stirred up the public, who don’t accept that the increase of over $300 million for the Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway route is “a little adjustment” as Thang claimed.

Russia vows 'painful' response to new U.S. sanctions over Ukraine

 

The United States expanded its sanctions against Russia on Monday, targeting members of President Vladimir Putin's "inner circle" and technology that could be useful to Russia's military.

President Barack Obama said the "targeted" sanctions are in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

"The United States has taken further action today in response to Russia's continued illegal intervention in Ukraine and provocative acts that undermine Ukraine's democracy and threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity," the White House said in a statement. Since a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 17, Russia "has done nothing" to meet its commitments "and in fact has further escalated the crisis," the White House said in a statement.

"The Department of the Treasury is imposing sanctions on seven Russian government officials, including two members of President Putin's inner circle, who will be subject to an asset freeze and a U.S. visa ban, and 17 companies linked to Putin's inner circle, which will be subject to an asset freeze.

"In addition, the Department of Commerce has imposed additional restrictions on 13 of those companies by imposing a license requirement with a presumption of denial for the export, re-export or other foreign transfer of U.S.-origin items to the companies."Also, the departments of Commerce and State are tightening their "policy to deny export license applications for any high-technology items that could contribute to Russia's military capabilities. Those Departments also will revoke any existing export licenses that meet these conditions," the White House said. 

Russia: The U.S. won't 'impress its cronies'

Sergey Ryabkov, Russia's deputy minister for foreign relations, called the sanctions "meaningless, shameful, and disgusting.""It will only intensify all the processes in Ukraine which it intends to change or stop," Ryabkov told CNN, speaking English. "It is yet another sign of a reckless behavior of the U.S. administration. No lessons are learned from the past. The U.S. does literally nothing to impress its cronies and clients in Kiev on whom there is full responsibility for constant deterioration of the situation in Ukraine. This is what needs to be changed and not the policy of Russia.

"A response of Moscow will follow, and it will be painfully felt in Washington D.C."

A senior Ukrainian government official called the new sanctions "a very good step, but we hope it's not the final step. Sector sanctions would be the really painful measure."

The sanctioned include a Putin 'trusted ally'

The seven officials named are:

-- Oleg Belavantsev, Russia's envoy to Crimea.

-- Sergei Chemezov, who oversees Russia's high-tech sector as head of state-owned corporation Rostec and is "a trusted ally of Putin," according to the White House.

-- Dmitry Kozak, deputy prime minister.

-- Evgeniy Murov, director of Russia's Federal Protective Service.

-- Aleksei Pushkov, deputy of the State Duma.

-- Igor Sechin, president of Russia's leading petroleum company, Rosneft.

-- Vyacheslav Volodin, Putin's first deputy chief of staff, one of the advisers who encouraged Putin to move into Crimea, according to the White House.

Obama: This isn't personal

Earlier, speaking to reporters in Manila, Philippines, Obama praised the Ukrainian government for abiding by its agreements made in Geneva and operating "in good faith."The goal of the new sanctions, he said, is not to go after Putin personally, but "to change his calculus with respect to how the current actions that he's engaging in in Ukraine could have an adverse impact on the Russian economy over the long haul -- and to encourage him to actually walk the walk and not just talk the talk when it comes to diplomatically resolving the crisis.""There are specific steps that Russia can take. And if it takes those steps, then you can see an election taking place in Ukraine; you can see the rights of all people inside of Ukraine respected."If the latest round of sanctions don't work, the next phase could target sectors such as banking, Obama said. 

EU sanctions coming

The European Union also is expected to impose sanctions Monday on about 15 Russian officials who are believed to be undermining democracy and creating chaos in Ukraine, according to Western diplomats.The sanctions will include asset freezes and travel bans.The EU is not expected to impose sanctions on Putin associates in part because the European judiciary system has a much higher bar in terms of applying the law, the diplomats said.Judges are not able to look at intelligence to sign off on the sanctions, they said. One Western diplomat said there was also some division within the EU as to whether sanctions against Putin's cronies should be imposed.

Several European countries are also concerned that their economic interests would be greatly affected by such sanctions. Additionally, some countries feel more space should be given to diplomacy before such measures are considered, the diplomat said.Neither the United States nor EU is ready to impose sanctions on Russian industries, like the energy sector, both U.S. officials and Western diplomats said."Today's targeted actions, taken in close coordination with the EU, will increase the impact we have already begun to see on Russia's own economy as a result of Russia's actions in Ukraine and from U.S. and international sanctions," U.S.Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a statement. "Russian economic growth forecasts have dropped sharply, capital flight has accelerated and higher borrowing costs reflect declining confidence in the market outlook."