OHCHR CAMBODIA OFFICE BLAZES COOPERATIVE TRAIL ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L PHNOM PENH 000080 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/MLGA, IO/RHS, AND IO/PSC IO/RHS FOR AMY OSTERMEIER AND GAYATRI PATEL DRL/MLGA FOR CHRIS SIBILLA IO/PSC FOR DEBORAH ODELL E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2019 TAGS: PHUM PREL SUBJECT: OHCHR CAMBODIA OFFICE BLAZES COOPERATIVE TRAIL ON HUMAN RIGHTS REF: A. STATE 2023 ¶B. 08 PHNOM PENH 977 ¶C. 08 PHNOM PENH 684 ¶D. 08 PHNOM PENH 444 Classified By: Political Officer Janet Deutsch for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: In a country where the government's human rights record has remained "poor," as assessed by Department Human Rights Reports, the UNOHCHR Cambodia Office has a positive impact on the Cambodian government adherence to human rights standards. The Office can claim concrete successes in 2008, such as pushing the Ministry of Social Affairs to release dozens of vulnerable persons detained at Phnom Penh rehabilitation centers; helping NGOs to gain permission to hold rallies and demonstrations; and, successfully encouraging the Ministry of Interior (MOI) Prisons Department to conduct their own assessment of Cambodia's prisons, and to identify areas of improvement for prisons. The Office's intangible successes over the past year include identifying government officials and ministries who had initially shown only a willingness to meet and hear out the Office on small, less controversial human rights issues of mutual interest. The Office has cultivated those new relationships and, in some cases has seen them grow into real collaboration with the RGC. In many instances, such as with some MOI departments, the OHCHR Cambodia Office has been able to build confidence and trust to a level that better enabled it to address sensitive human rights abuse cases when they arise. End Summary. Cambodia Office Structure and Mandate -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The OHCHR Cambodia Office employs 30 staff, of whom seven are international (non-Cambodian national) staff, in four "units" based in Phnom Penh and Battambang offices: Civil Society and Fundamental Freedoms Unit, Rule of Law Unit, Land and Livelihoods Unit, and the Prison Support Program. According to an OHCHR Cambodia Office staffperson, the designation of the four units was based on needs assessments and the scope of its technical cooperation mandate and Memorandum of Understanding with the Cambodian Government. Different from OHCHR offices in some other countries, the Cambodia Office does not have what is known as a "standard agreement" mandate which would provide a legal basis for the Office to assume a public reporting role. The current "technical agreement" authorizes monitoring, technical assistance, training, legal advice, and support and advocacy for civil society -- or, as one OHCHR Cambodia Office staffperson said, "everything but public reporting." ¶3. (SBU) Public reporting on Cambodia's human rights situation is currently a function of the Special Rapporteur to the Secretary General for human rights in Cambodia (SRSG). However, a series of SRSGs have had contentious, unproductive relations with the RGC which has long opposed the extension of the SRSG mandate; while the mandate will continue until Fall 2009, its future is uncertain (Refs C & D). If the U.N. Human Rights Council eventually decides to end the mandate, and if the OHCHR Cambodia Office did not have authorization for a public reporting role, the public analysis and input of U.N. human rights experts would be curtailed. ¶4. (SBU) The Cambodia Office Deputy Director stated that the Office has an annual budget of between USD 3.5 and 4 million. He said that UNGA regular budget funding covers much of the office's personnel and operating funds, and that a trust fund covers most of the office's program activities. The trust fund is an exceptional source of funds compared to other OHCHR field offices, and was created when the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) mandate ended. Funds remaining in the UNTAC account were transferred to the trust fund for the Cambodia Office. Promotion of Human Rights in Cambodia -------------- ¶5. (C) The OHCHR Cambodia Office can claim a number of concrete success stories over the past year. Starting in June 2008, one of the OHCHR Human Rights Officers worked together with an initially defensive and reluctant Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY) to obtain the release of several dozen homeless persons including sick, children, elderly, and other vulnerable persons at MOSAVY rehabilitation centers in Phnom Penh. A local human rights NGO publicly reported on the arbitrary detention of such persons, ostensibly in a Phnom Penh Municipality effort to "clean up" its streets. MOSAVY and the Phnom Penh Municipality did not seem to be taking the public claims well, denying that persons were being detained against their will, and refusing to meet with concerned NGOs. However, the Human Rights Officer was able to persuade MOSAVY officials to meet with her to quietly discuss the reports of abuses. The Human Rights Officer was able to negotiate with MOSAVY officials her visit to one of the rehabilitation centers, and eventually played a role in securing the release of all persons at the two Phnom Penh MOSAVY sites. OHCHR Cambodia continues to monitor the issue and follow up with MOSAVY. OHCHR Cambodia has not made public their role in the release of the detainees, and it is likely that their quiet intervention was a key component of the so-far successful outcome to the situation. ¶6. (C) In November and December 2008, a local human rights NGO umbrella group applied for permission with the Phnom Penh Municipality to hold a 1,000-person Human Rights Day march and rally in central Phnom Penh on December 10(Ref B). As of one week before the event, the municipality had not granted permission for the event, and it was feared that the local government would simply fail to respond to the request, or respond too late for a secure, well-organized march to go forward. The OHCHR Cambodia Office successfully encouraged municipality officials to meet with the event organizers and, eventually, grant permission for the march and rally in one of the most central Phnom Penh locations. OHCHR had been quietly working together with the Phnom Penh Municipality on other human rights issues, such as land dispute and eviction cases, and had built some trust with some municipal authorities due to their quiet diplomacy strategies. ¶7. (SBU) OHCHR has been providing technical assistance to the MOI Prisons Department through its Prison Support Program established in 2008. OHCHR staff have conducted prison visits and assessments together with MOI officials and prison staff. OHCHR gained the trust of MOI officials through its private consultations with prison officials, helping to identify challenges and shortfalls, and recommending future projects to address the problems. Some results of the program are plans for three Cambodian prisons to become pilots for a water and sanitation program, and the publication of two reports on prisons by the MOI. One report details 2007 and 2008 MOI prisons department achievements such as training and promotion of staff, descriptions of prison security, policies towards prisoners and their families, and prison renovations. The report also states a proposed direction for the year 2008 including: review and revision of prison standards to match the new criminal code and criminal procedures code; finalizing a framework for prison reform; and, continuation of prison renovations. The second report is an assessment of challenges of managing the country's prisons, and includes candid observations such as problems with overcrowding, and persistent health issues among prisoners. At a recent joint OHCHR-MOI workshop on the Implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in Cambodia, MOI officials consulted with OHCHR staff and some NGO participants between open discussions about the need to set up a legitimate national mechanism to prevent torture. Challenges -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The RGC's lack of trust of human rights organizations and dislike of public attention regarding human rights issues, has resulted in a situation in which OHCHR Cambodia does not promote its own work. Of some of the Office's successes only a few people will ever know, such as cases of helping asylum seekers from Cambodia silently seek refuge in other countries. While the Cambodia Office Deputy Director stated that a closer relationship and increasing dialogue with RGC counterparts has been the Office's greatest recent success, the building of trust with the RGC is also their greatest challenge. The OHCHR has done its best to form constructive relationships with RGC officials by offering cooperation and technical assistance in a principled manner, and in a few less-controversial areas. By building these constructive relationships, the Office hopes to make it easier to bring up the more difficult, more acute individual human rights abuse cases. Reputation with Civil Society -------------- ¶9. (SBU) OHCHR Cambodia is greatly respected by many in the human rights NGO community in Cambodia. Organizations such as LICADHO, ADHOC, NGO Forum, and other groups meet and talk with Cambodia Office staff regularly. Cambodian NGOs often go to the OHCHR Office first when a human rights abuse situation becomes apparent. While the OHCHR Cambodia Office strongly encourages NGOs to do their best to build their own trust with the RGC in order to solve problems without U.N. intervention, OHCHR staff have rightly pointed out that there are many cases where community members and NGOs have no success in holding the RGC accountable for human rights concerns. And it is those cases with which OHCHR becomes involved. Areas for Deepening Support -------------- ¶10. (C) OHCHR Cambodia Office Deputy Director stated that the office will soon be making rounds to member country embassies in Cambodia for political support for a continuation of the Office's MOU with the Cambodian Government. He stated that we can expect OHCHR headquarters in Geneva to make the same appeal to U.S. Mission Geneva. Embassy Phnom Penh will engage vigorously with the RGC in support of continuation of an OHCHR mandate as the Office under Christophe Peschoux's strong and effective leadership is a unique resource and particularly valuable partner in human rights advocacy and a wide range of human rights activities. Comment -------------- ¶11. (SBU) In the current Cambodian era, bridging trust gaps between the RGC and human rights groups is the primary hurdle to sustainable solutions to human rights concerns. The Office is positively challenging fundamental ideals and processes for addressing human rights issues in Cambodia. (Note: Many of the Office's current achievements are credited to its Representative Christophe Peschoux, who has led OHCHR Cambodia since September 2007, and who served in Cambodia with UNTAC and the UN Center for Human Rights from 1993 to 1997. End Note.) The Office is also providing models of successful strategies for local human rights NGOs to address human rights abuses, strategies that appear to be working with a government that is frequently skeptical and distrusting of human rights groups. RODLEY