Oct 26, 2022 | DFF, Opinion Articles
By Kasit Piromya.
In July, Al Jazeera broadcast a powerful documentary about cyber-scam human trafficking operations in Cambodia. It was a moving, if at times difficult watch, with victims speaking about how they had been lured to Cambodia with the promise of jobs, before being trapped inside compounds and threatened, beaten and electrocuted.
“I was scared [they’d kill me],” said one victim.
Although not the first media outlet to report on the issue, the Al Jazeera documentary placed considerable attention on it, and likely inspired other publications to focus on the issue, with articles run in outlets ranging from the BBC to The Guardian and VICE.
The global coverage has meant the issue has reached the very top of Cambodia’s government, with Prime Minister Hun Sen addressing the issue at a recent event on human trafficking. He told the audience at the 6th Interfaith Forum Against Human Trafficking: “Do not let Cambodia become a haven for crime, a place of money laundering, a place of human trafficking.” He added that he was surprised by the number of foreign nationals who had been brought to Cambodia and “cheated,” and urged authorities to take action.
Clearly, the issue of widespread human trafficking in Cambodia is an embarrassment to Hun Sen and his government, but it cannot have come as a surprise.
After all, as the Al Jazeera documentary points out, many of the compounds where these human rights abuses are taking place are owned by close allies of Hun Sen, including his nephew Hun To, as well as a former advisor, a senator from his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), and an associate who flew Hun Sen to the United Nations in New York on a luxury private jet.
In fact, corrupt practices – whether human trafficking, deforestation, land confiscation, or many other issues – have been rife in Cambodia under the watch of Hun Sen, who has ruled the country since 1985. In 2005, a World Bank representative said Cambodia faced three major challenges: “corruption, corruption, corruption.”
The situation has not improved since then.
In its annual Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021, Transparency International gave Cambodia a score of 21 out of 100, ranking it 157th of the 180 countries assessed, and the third lowest in the Asia-Pacific, behind only Afghanistan and North Korea. Cambodia was given the lowest spot in Southeast Asia, a region not exactly renowned for its commitment to tackling corruption.
Donor countries must not be fooled by Hun Sen’s remarks that he knows nothing of the human trafficking taking place in Cambodia; in fact, it is ludicrous for him to say so. Over the years Hun Sen – a former Khmer Rouge soldier who became the country’s new leader as it emerged from decades of civil war and strife – has proven himself to be a wily operator when it comes to donor countries, attracting funds to tackle issues that are in fact being exacerbated by his corrupt form of governance, where kick-backs in the form of land, large-scale projects, or senior positions in conglomerates are granted to his supporters.
Last year, the United States ended an aid program aimed at protecting the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia, saying the government had not done enough to tackle deforestation and was harassing environmental activists.
“The government continues to silence and target local communities and their civil society partners who are justifiably concerned about the loss of their natural resources,” the U.S. said. Washington had spent more than $100 million on the issue, funds that would be much better spent on supporting civil society and local efforts.
Donor countries must apply the same logic when it comes to cyber-crime and human trafficking, and recognize that while Hun Sen has the means to tackle such an issue, he lacks the will to do so. In fact, he is directly complicit, through the corrupt system of patronage that he oversees.
Hun Sen’s most recent comments, and the arrests made by police of some of those involved in human trafficking scams, are not the actions taken by authorities attempting to solve the problem, but are instead lip service paid to the international community following the embarrassing media coverage.
As the results of June’s commune-level election show – when the opposition, the Candlelight Party, received almost a quarter of the popular vote – there are still many people in Cambodia striving for freedom, democracy, and human rights.
Instead of offering support to a system that supports Hun Sen’s corrupt rule, donor countries should instead invest in civil society representatives and grassroots groups, and ensure their funds are spent on supporting those working for positive change in Cambodia.
Kasit Piromya is a Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), and a former Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs.
This article first appeared in The Diplomat.
Nov 9, 2020 | FoRB, RM, Statements
JAKARTA — Parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia today renewed their calls for a credible independent investigation into alleged rights violations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State following an escalation of violence in the northern part of the state over the weekend.
“In the past few days, we have heard reports of violence escalating and seen strong evidence of atrocities — reports of more killing of Rohingya civilians and images of burned out villages. Without access, these heartbreaking reports are impossible to verify, but the Myanmar military’s long history of human rights violations undermines its credibility as it continues to tell us that these abuses aren’t occurring,” said Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian Parliament and Chairperson of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
“If the Myanmar government is incapable of preventing further bloodshed or controlling its security forces, then it is the responsibility of the regional and international community to act. The United Nations, as well as ASEAN, should step in to lead an investigation.”
According to state media, violence escalated on Friday when Myanmar army troops were ambushed by “attackers” in Maungdaw Township and the military responded with an air assault from helicopters. The renewed violence comes more than a month after Myanmar security forces shut down access to northern Rakhine State following an attack on police checkpoints in the area by unknown assailants.
On Sunday, Human Rights Watch published new satellite imagery showing large-scale fire-related destruction of Rohingya villages. Unverified video footage of Rohingya casualties have also raised concerns. A “public information team” from the Myanmar military has denied the veracity of the evidence presented, but parliamentarians said this only further demonstrates the need for more access.
Parliamentarians also called on Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been largely quiet during these events, to intervene.
“We understand the huge pressures and sensitivity surrounding the issues in Rakhine State and the institutional separation of powers between the military and civilian leadership, but we implore the Nobel laureate and her government to prioritize efforts to address this situation and its root causes before it’s too late,” Santiago said.
“ASEAN member states must remember that what happens in Rakhine State affects more than just Myanmar. This violence is not an ‘internal affair,’ but a situation with clear regional implications — implications which we have sadly seen played out before. In order for ASEAN to live up to the commitments made in its Declaration Against Trafficking in Persons, the region must take action to address root causes that can lead to people becoming trafficking victims, including state-sponsored persecution and violence.”
Click here to read this statement in Bahasa Indonesia.
Click here to read this statement in Burmese.
Nov 9, 2020 | DFF, FoRB, RM, Statements
BANGKOK – Increasingly marginalized and desperate, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are being forced to flee in ever-greater numbers, exacerbating a regional crisis that ASEAN leaders are woefully ill prepared to cope with, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) warned today.
“ASEAN met to discuss the refugee crisis in May, but lamentably avoided a much-needed discussion of its underlying drivers, which are rooted in Rakhine State,” APHR Chairperson and Malaysian MP Charles Santiago said. “ASEAN leaders are burying their heads in the sand, and it’s going to come back to bite them.”
At the release of their latest report, Disenfranchisement and Desperation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State: Drivers of a Regional Crisis, APHR warned that exclusionary government policies, including mass disenfranchisement of Rohingya ahead of November’s historic general election, is exacerbating the already intense sense of desperation within Rohingya communities.
The region’s failure to respond in any meaningful way to the impending catastrophe has been unfortunately predictable, but governments will be forced to stand up and take note soon when sailing season begins again, APHR cautioned. Unless ASEAN addresses the situation in Rakhine State directly, more Rohingya will continue to try and leave the country by any means necessary.
“The Myanmar government is driving these individuals out through a set of deliberate policies that constitute systematic persecution,” Santiago said. “Rohingya have their movement restricted, their livelihoods destroyed, and their ethnic identity flatly denied by government officials.”
APHR’s new report uncovers how recent developments, including the effective denial of political representation to Rohingya, have compounded the existing drivers of Rohingya flight.
Myanmar MP U Shwe Maung, who is Rohingya, was one of dozens of Muslim candidates denied the opportunity to run for office in the upcoming elections.
“Rohingya, as well as most Muslims in Myanmar, are being targeted for exclusion from politics,” Shwe Maung said. “Soon they will have no one to represent them in government. This leaves my people with little hope that things might improve in the future. For many Rohingya, their only hope lies elsewhere in the region. They feel they must leave.”
Furthering this perception, APHR argued, is the proliferation of anti-Muslim sentiment, driven by increasing hate speech and the government’s failure to counter it.
“Extreme nationalists are driving the agenda,” Santiago warned. “We spoke with religious leaders in Myanmar, who told us that they are fearful of what the future holds for all ethnic and religious minorities in the country.”
APHR’s report includes recommendations, developed by parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia, for how Myanmar, other ASEAN governments, and the region as a whole can begin to address the looming crisis.
“ASEAN must look past stopgap solutions that address only the effects of widespread persecution of people in Myanmar and begin to address the persecution itself,” the report concludes.
First and foremost, this means pressuring the Myanmar government to end rights abuses and allow for meaningful Rohingya participation in political life.
APHR also called on ASEAN and member state governments to put in place measures to protect vulnerable Rohingya fleeing Rakhine State by sea.
“With sailing season set to begin in the coming days and weeks, regional leaders must act. We need a regional refugee framework that ensures safe and legal means for seeking asylum,” Santiago said.
Echoing previous statements, APHR argued that the persecution of Rohingya represents a grave problem, not only for Myanmar, but for the region as a whole.
“The dire situation in Rakhine State is an ASEAN problem—and not only because of what the world witnessed in May. It is a fundamental moral question ASEAN leaders must grapple with as they seek to move forward with their proposed ASEAN Community by the end of 2015,” Santiago added.
Read the report
