VZCZCXYZ0016
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPF #0080/01 0301142
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 301142Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0364
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1695
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 2363

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