Khmer Times/Pech Sotheary
Monday, 24 October 2016
The ruling and opposition parties had alternating messages to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreement last week.
The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and government officials urged citizens to celebrate how far the country has come as well as the relative peace and sustained growth of the Kingdom, while the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) called on the government to respect the ethos of the 1991 agreement and evaluate its tenets in comparison to the implementation of Cambodia’s constitution.
They also urged the government to stop attacking opposition politicians so the country can truly come together for “reconciliation.”
In a speech in front of commune and city councils, civil servants and armed forces on Koh Pich yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen waxed poetic about the discussions he and the late King Norodom Sihanouk had when they were debating the Paris Peace Agreement.
But he kept his focus on the present, telling the crowd to only look ahead.
“All people in the country, please join to keep peace for our country to get more development opportunities and growth,” Mr. Hun Sen said.
At the CNRP event to commemorate the day, acting party president Kem Sokha said parts of the agreement still had not been implemented, in particular the sections about human rights, politics and the judiciary.
He appealed to politicians on both sides of the aisle to reduce the tension and stop attacking each other with threats, as well as to find a way past grudges in an effort to move the country toward reconciliation and unity.
“The current problems are just a political conflict. It is not an armed conflict,” he told the crowd.
“It can be solved, but only if we recognize that we have problems and that we are willing to deal with them. We must agree to come to the negotiating table together.”
Much was made of the opposition’s plans for the day after City Hall refused to allow the party to hold an event at Freedom Park, with deputy Phnom Penh governor Khuong Sreng calling it “not appropriate” last week.
The city also claimed that 7,000 people were slated to show up and only a few hundred were legally allowed to congregate at the park.
The CNRP decided to hold the event at its party headquarters on one side of National Road 2 in Chak Angre Leu commune. Hundreds of people attended the event, as well as hundreds of government soldiers.
The Paris Peace Agreement was signed on October 23, 1991, by 18 countries and brought an end to the civil war that had raged for more than a decade.
About 500 people from civil society organizations, land rights groups and unions organized a youth forum on the Paris agreement at the American Intercon School to discuss the agreement and its historical implications.
National and international NGOs and representatives of the United Nations in Cambodia last week also urged the government and all political parties to follow the spirit of the Paris Peace Agreement as a model to solve problems happening in society through dialogue and working together as they see that the situation of human rights and political rights are still a serious challenge.
They also demanded the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who are detained in prison and to prepare a free and fair electoral system for commune elections in 2017 and the national elections in 2018.
Speakers, including Rhona Smith, the visiting United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Cambodia, called on the signatory countries to help ensure that the points of the agreements be respected.
Park Kyung-seo, the former Human Rights Ambassador at Large for South Korea and a leading voice on international human rights, called on the government to follow the Paris agreements commitment to dialogue between opposing sides to find a solution to the current situation and therefore help to ensure free and fair elections in the next two years.
“There will be commune elections in 2017 and national elections in 2018, so Cambodia must ensure that the spirit of allowing free participation in electoral politics is [allowed].”