Cambodia Urged To İnvestigate Journalists' Deaths

The Cambodian government has been called out for failing to prevent impunity in all but two cases of journalists killed in the country since 1994.



On Monday, the second United Nations-backed International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) kicked off a weeklong "Never Forget" campaign to highlight impunity.



The campaign goes beyond the reporters themselves to include "activists, environmentalists, trade unionists, human rights defenders and ordinary citizens throughout the country [who] have had their human rights seriously violated while those responsible remain unpunished."



At the campaign's launch Monday, CCHR director Chak Sopheap said its aim is to draw attention to cases of impunity.



"If human rights abuses continue to exist and there is no action to protect human rights, democracy cannot be achieved," she said.



In a statement released Sunday, CCHR and 19 other Cambodian rights, agricultural and environmental groups and unions said the work of journalists in the country "has frequently been a matter of life and death".



"13 journalists have been killed since 1994, with the most recent case occurring in October 2014."



In that case, 49-year-old Taing Try was shot in the head as he investigated illegal logging in the eastern province of Kratie.



Another murder, committed in 2012, saw journalist Hang Serei Odom butchered and stuffed into the trunk of his car in Ratanakiri province.



"Of these 13 cases, there have been successful convictions in only two; the perpetrators of at least 11 killings were never being brought to justice," the NGOs said.



"Similarly, Cambodian journalists are often the subject of brutal assaults, threats and intimidation at the hands of police and security forces, with the perpetrators consistently escaping justice."



Two of the most recent examples include the August assault of two journalists covering a land dispute case and the May 2014 attack against two other journalists covering an opposition rally.



"No investigation has taken place into the actions of the security personnel in either case," the statement said.



The Cambodian Center for Independent Media also launched a tie-in exhibition featuring photographs of journalists killed in the country.



On Monday, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told Anadolu Agency that the groups could say whatever they want about levels of impunity in Cambodia, but that the government tries "to educate everyone, not just journalists, to avoid and refrain from violent confrontation."



With regard to the open cases of journalists who have been killed, he said the government was not in a position to put pressure on the courts, "because they are independent institutions".



"The government tries to protect journalists from being hurt, and a number of cases are still open," he said. - Phnum Penh