Press Releases
Release of the U.S. State Department's 2008 Human Rights Report
Released February 26, 2009
The U.S. Department of State released its 2008 Human Rights Report on Wednesday, February 25. The reports, submitted annually to Congress as mandated by U.S. law, examine the status of human rights in 196 countries and entities during 2008. The reports describe the performance of governments in putting into practice their international commitments on human rights. The annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are a widely respected human rights reporting mechanism, and have become one of the most significant tools available to the U.S. Government to help determine foreign policy strategies that promote the development of democratic systems and principles, and remedy abuse and disregard for human rights.
For Cambodia, the report stated that the country's human rights record “remained poor,” and among the reasons cited for Cambodia's poor rating were security forces that act with impunity, abuse of detainees, concerns related to land disputes and forced evictions, endemic corruption, and the remaining challenge of a weak judiciary and the denial of the right to a fair trial. However, the report noted the positive development that the government passed and promulgated a comprehensive law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation which contains provisions criminalizing all forms of human trafficking. The passage of the law has led to the arrest by year’s end of individuals involved in 48 TIP related cases.
The report noted that Cambodia was among the countries in the region that continued to come to terms with past abuses by having the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia refine its internal rules to prosecute more rapidly egregious crimes of the 1975 1979 Khmer Rouge regime. The first case of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal begins in March, 2009.
The report stated that observers agreed the 2008 national elections took place in an overall peaceful atmosphere with a process that was generally an improvement over past elections. Although some election day irregularities persisted, they were low in number and did not appear to affect the outcome or distort the will of the citizens. However, observers noted the elections did not fully meet international standards, according to the report.
The official text of the entire report is available on the U.S. State Department's website at www.state.gov. Khmer-language translations of the Human Rights Report's preface and the Cambodia Country Report will be available on Embassy Phnom Penh's website at cambodia.usembassy.gov by March 25.
The United States vigorously promotes the cause of human rights as a core component of its foreign policy. Democracy, which is the best guarantor of human rights, is an interrelated set of freedoms and responsibilities, such as the rule of law; accountability; participation; thriving civil society; protection of minorities and women; and freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly and of worship, in addition to free and fair elections. When we support human rights and those civil society individuals and organizations who are championing their cause, we are helping men and women around the world shape their own destinies.
