Muffling Civil Society Voices in Cambodia: Senate Passes Contentious New Law

The Cambodian Senate passed last Friday a controversial law that aims to regulate nonprofit organizations, despite hundreds of protesters and a boycott by the opposition party. Opponents of the law claim that the legislation is a poorly veneered attempt by the government to clamp down on critical groups operating within the country. NGOs have helped issues like corruption and land grabbing enter the forefront of Cambodian politics, and some view this measure as a method to squash this opposition. Cambodia’s Senate approved the contentious Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations, known as the LANGO, in just a few hours last Friday with a vote of 44-0. The opposition party, Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), boycotted debate of the bill and refused to participate in the vote. The upper house of Cambodia's legislative system is dominated by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), and many saw the vote as inevitable. The law's near-certain passage, however, did not stop hundreds of demonstrators from congregating outside the National Assembly building in Phnom Penh. Among them were monks, NGO workers, and victims of land-grabbing who came to protest the vague provisions they believe give the government the ability to close NGOs and associations that are critical of the government. The long standing Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, claims that the law is designed to prevent terrorism and money laundering, as the government feels that certain NGOs and international organizations are complicit in nefarious activities within the country. Following the passing of the bill, senate spokesman Mam Bun Neang spoke to reporters outside the senate chambers. He claimed that the law is a victory for NGOs: “This law will protect them from accusations,” he said. “When anyone accuses them of improper money usage, they will have the reports and the law to protect them.” LANGO gives the Government the right to deny registration of NGOs on ambiguous grounds, including if the purpose and goal of the association is perceived to “endanger the security, stability and public order or jeopardize national security, national unity, culture, traditions, and customs of Cambodian national society.” Included in the law are a number of criminal penalties against NGOs that operate without registration, which will no doubt hinder the operations of every NGO in the country. But this new law is just the first step for the ruling CCP. There are half dozen bills in the pipeline that observers fear could significantly affect rights, including those of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The international community has cautiously watched the development of LANGO, as Cambodia is one of the rising stars in the region. The European Union, the United Nations, and the United States, all key development partners, have spoken out against the LANGO; hundreds of nonprofits want it scrapped. The United Nations immediately condemned the passing of the law, with the OHCHR warning that LANGO "threatens the very existence of a free and independent civil society.” These comments were reflected by the US Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, Matt Salmon, who said in a statement released last Thursday that “This new law...threatens progress on human rights, political accountability, and transparency in governance.” NGOs, human rights activists, and the international community have only one more chance to help stop this bill from becoming formal law. The bill will be sent for approval by the King of Cambodia, but there is little hope at this step of the process. Instead, NGO representatives will have to contest the law in the Constitutional Council, the body responsible for deciding whether laws are in keeping with the Cambodian constitution. “OHCHR urges the Council to reject the bill, which carried provisions that breached the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Cambodia had ratified and which was recognized in the country’s Constitution," explained Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for OHCHR. The threat of LANGO has hung over the civil society of Cambodia for the past five years, with the government experimenting with different methods of controlling a growing NGO presence in the country. First drafted by an inter-ministerial committee in August 2010, LANGO was presented to the public later that year. A public consultation workshop on the draft law was hosted by Government in January 2011, with more than 200 national and international NGO representatives attending. A revision of the law was released later in 2011, but included the vast majority of the problematic provisions from the first draft. Continual revisions delayed the progress of the bill, and consultation meetings with NGOs were never attempted again. After five years, the Cambodian government managed to force the inchoate law through the legislation, without any input from the organizations it claims to protect. It's another example of an increasingly impatient ruling party, which has managed to retain power for over 25 years now. As international influence increases in the country, the CCP has been trying to suppress opposition by manipulating and skirting the law. In the press conference in Geneva, the OHCHR expressed concern with another development in Cambodia. OHCHR representative Shamdasani reported that eleven Cambodian opposition activists were convicted and sentenced on July 21 to between seven and 20 years in prison for participating or leading an “insurrection,” following a post-election protest which had turned violent, on July 15, 2015. OHCHR, she said, is worried about the convictions, especially as there had been “irregularities” in the conduct of the trial, which the Office had monitored. The ruling relied on the use of witness statements by individuals who had not been available for cross-examination so that their credibility could be tested. “There was also no evidence presented in open court to prove that the defendants had directly committed any acts of violence or that the violence would endanger the institutions of the country at the time,” underscored Shamdasani. Government spokesman Phay Siphan said that, once promulgated, LANGO is still not etched in stone and can be amended. “If there's anything wrong with the implementation of the law, we can come back and amend it,” he said. Cambodia isn't the only country grappling with these kind of restrictive laws. In February 2015, President Sisi of Egypt issued a sweeping counterterrorism legislation that could be used to punish NGOs for associating with any group that is considered to "destabilize the public order; endanger the wellbeing or safety of society." In Indonesia, civil society organizations have been highly critical of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law and an upcoming State Secrecy Bill, which they feel will give more tools for the government to repress free speech. China, too, made waves in the civil society world with the dramatic coordinated round-up and detention of five feminist activists this March. The arrests were made in the backdrop of the drafting of the onerous Overseas NGO Law and the long-awaited Charity Law, which will hamper international NGO operations and funding. For many of these thinly veiled authoritarian regimes coming to grips with increasingly politically active populations, stifling the civil society sector seems to be the first measure to maintain power.