A bad year for human rights worldwide

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Anchor Moy
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A bad year for human rights worldwide

Post by Anchor Moy »

Anchor Moy
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Re: A bad year for human rights worldwide

Post by Anchor Moy »

Here we are! :mrgreen:

http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/01/29/camb ... ing-rights

Extract:
“Despite government promises and a few cosmetic gestures, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians still suffer the ill-effects of land dispossession, with new disputes arising each day,” Adams said. “The government promised an end to illegal land-takings but 2014 saw business as usual.”

One of the most problematic developments in 2014 was the passage of three laws that increase CPP control over the judiciary, Human Rights Watch said. Together, the laws encourage further encroachment by the government on areas properly reserved for the judiciary under the principle of separation of powers, including government control over the judiciary’s budget and administration, restrictions on the free expression rights of judges, and fewer safeguards for judicial independence in selection, promotion, removal, and disciplinary procedures for judges. Enactment of these laws contradicted longstanding government promises to donors of increased judicial independence, yet most donors remained silent.

The government appeared determined to silence public dissent by reverting to summary trials to imprison social activists.

“Most of Cambodia’s foreign donors have simply stood by and watched as HE tries to turn the clock back two decades and create a de facto one-party state,” Adams said. “Before it’s too late the donors should demand real reforms and stop pretending that the HE government has any intention of respecting pluralism or fundamental freedoms.”
The big flaw in this reasoning is the fact that China has become the principle donor/lender, and they really don't give a shit - quite the contrary.
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Re: A bad year for human rights worldwide

Post by LTO »

There is lean and there is bias and then there is bias. I understand that various media outlets, NGOs and HR orgs have their own particular leans and agendas that, if you want to get at something like the truth, need to be taken into account when reading their reports. That's just standard. But stuff written by Brad Adams, or commisioned and sanctioned by Brad Adams aout Cambodia, is so consistently twisted and one-sided that it is one of the very few reporters on the subject of Cambodia that I just dismiss out-of-hand (even though there might be some nuggets buried in there) because it's just not worth sorting through all the spin, twisted histories, occasional falsities and the convenient omissions that infect every one of his reports. You pretty much already have to have a good thorough understanding of the situation in Cambodia to separate the wheat from the chaff in his reports. And if you already have to know the situation in order to read his stuff, then there is really little or nothing more to learn from what he has written, besides of course, just how biased Brad Adams is feeling today. And I'm bored with learning about Brad Adams' state of mind. I prefer to read about Cambodia.

And because I do understand the situation in Cambodia enough to see how biased Brad Adams writings are on the subject, it leads me to question the accuracy of his reports on other countries about which I don't know enough to sort his bias from the reality of the situation.
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Re: A bad year for human rights worldwide

Post by Anchor Moy »

Sure, it would be a good start if they would stop pretending that donors have some sway over govt policy. And the bla bla doesn't do anything for their credibility .But the human rights situation in Cambodia is not exactly rosey and I do agree with what they say about the laws restricting the independence of the judiciary.

As you say LTO, you need to sift the info. But, whatever is said, the ultimate problem is that no one (outside of Cambodia) seems very interested.
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Re: A bad year for human rights worldwide

Post by LTO »

I think the donors do have at least some sway. That's why they keep donating. Regardless of the lip service they pay to the human rights situation, the donors, particularly the US, have other, higher priority agendas than human rights, eg China, terrorism, money laundering, security, so-called 'human trafficking' and the like. Even Brad Adams and HRW have their own agendas in addition to human rights, including Brad's personal issues with HE and HRW's pro-US politics. I also think the donors are clued in enough to know that while Cambodia has human rights issues, the picture presented by Brad Adams' HRW is especially skewed, even propagandistic, and they rely instead on other, lmore reliable sources for the real picture.
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