Human rights chairman calls for Japanese support for border resolution
Top: CHRC chair Keo Remy (right) met with Japanese ambassador Ueno Atsushi, on February 9. Below: A villager points to her home, which was destroyed during the December clashes. Supplied
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Senior Minister Keo Remy, chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC), met Ueno Atsushi, Japanese ambassador to Cambodia, on February 9.
A committee statement explained that Remy used the meeting to detail Thailand’s aggression against Cambodia and human rights violations, which he described as contrary to the ceasefire agreement.
He notified the ambassador that despite the December 27 ceasefire agreement, approximately 90,000 refugees cannot safely return to their homes, as the Thai military continues to illegally occupy Cambodian territory and engage in various obstructive activities, such as deploying barbed wire and shipping containers.
Remy said these activities are in direct contradiction of Article 4 of the ceasefire agreement, which stipulates that both parties agree to allow civilians living in affected border areas to return to their homes and resume their normal lives as soon as possible “without hindrance, in safety and dignity, in their respective areas”.
He continued that the actions of the Thai side severely affect the fundamental rights and freedoms of refugees, especially women, children, infants, the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities, in obtaining the right to education, healthcare, adequate housing and freedom of movement.
Remy also described the aggressive actions of the Thai military, which he said employed several types of heavy weapons, including cluster munitions, toxic smoke, F-16, Gripen and T-50 fighter jets, to indiscriminately attack civilians, destroy civilian homes, civilian infrastructure, pagodas, schools, hospitals, ancient temples, especially the Preah Vihear Temple, religious statues, theft of property and the construction of new structures with the aim of creating a new identity on Cambodian sovereign territory.
“Despite the decline in the world order, the senior minister still believes that conflict resolution, seeking and obtaining justice, and achieving lasting peace must be based on international mechanisms and law,” the CHRC quoted Remy as saying.
“Remy has confidence in Japan’s capacity and important role in urging the Thai side to resolve this issue in accordance with existing mechanisms and legal instruments,” CHRC added.
Ueno stated that he would inform the government in Tokyo about the situation on the Cambodia-Thailand border. The Japanese side has always supported and provided mutual cooperation, such as providing humanitarian aid to refugees along the border affected by the conflict, according to the CHRC.
-Phnom Penh Post-
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