On March 28 Prime Minister Hun Sen repeated an earlier commitment to decriminalize defamation in Cambodia. Unfortunately, there are good reasons to doubt his promise.
In 2005 the prime minister used Cambodia’s criminal defamation law to get a court to sentence opposition leader Sam Rainsy in absentia. He used the same law to arrest nine human rights defenders in response to their criticisms of his policies. The arrests met with international outcry. With a March 2006 donor meeting fast approaching, Hun Sen arranged for the release of the nine and the pardoning of Sam Rainsy. Then, in mid-February he promised to decrimilalise defamation.
As it has turned out, on March 14 the Minister of Justice and president of the Supreme Court issued joint guidelines for courts on the application of criminal defamation. In those guidelines, defamation still carries criminal liability. And it gets worse. The guidelines state that any exercise of freedom of expression that affects political stability can be defamatory.
A senior advisor to Hun Sen, Om Yien Tieng, supported the guidelines, saying that they nonetheless contain the essence of assurances given to change the law, and that they are appropriate in the transitional period. Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith echoed Om Yien Tieng, saying that the criminal defamation law remains in effect until a new law has replaced it.
These guidelines contradict both the Constitution of Cambodia, which does not restrict freedom of expression, as well as the promise of the prime minister to do away with the criminal libel law. Ironically, Hun Sen was repeating his commitment at a public function on the same day the guidelines were issued, and again in a meeting the following day.
So it was following further criticism that on March 28 the prime minister said that a new law would be introduced to do away with custodial sentences for defamation. The justice minister is supposedly working on the draft.
All of this leads to doubt and confusion about the prime minister’s real intentions. He above all others has taken advantage of the existing libel law to silence critics. And the court proceedings against the freed human rights defenders have not been closed, although Hun Sen has withdrawn his lawsuits against them. The accused are being left in limbo in an attempt to keep them silent and deter others from exercising their right to freedom of expression. The joint guidelines should have instructed the courts to suspend these proceedings pending a new law. Instead they simply uphold the existing law.
The Asian Human Rights Commission again urges Prime Minister Hun Sen and the government of Cambodia to repeal the criminal defamation law without delay, and make greater protection of the right to freedom of expression in Cambodia a reality. It also urges all donor countries and state signatories to the Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia to work with the government to engage with it on this issue and encourage it to enact a new law as promised without delay. If the prime minister is capable of making constitutional amendments within weeks, there should no reason to take longer on introducing a new law and ending all cases pending against human rights defenders. Let’s see whether or not the prime minister is really sincere, or if this is just another promise.
