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Cambodian unionist's killing stirs up
hornets' nest
By Jim
Lobe
WASHINGTON - Thursday's assassination of
Cambodia's most important trade-union leader has sharply
increased tensions surrounding the unsettled political
situation in the Southeast Asian nation, according to
local and international human-rights and labor groups.
Thousands of mourners turned out Sunday for the
funeral of Chea Vichea, who was both the leader of
Cambodia's textile workers and a prominent political foe
of the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. He was only
36 years old.
Rights groups expressed
uncertainty whether his murder might have been motivated
by his opposition activities or his labor-organizing
efforts, which have been strongly opposed by many of the
owners of the country's fast-growing textile industry.
Several prominent personalities, including a
radio journalist and a popular singer - both associated
with the opposition royalist party (Funcinpec) - have
been slain by unknown assailants over the past three
months. Vichea was a leading member of a second
opposition party, the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), which is
named after its leader.
"This assassination will
surely exacerbate the climate of fear for workers,
journalists, environment and human-rights activists who
speak out or publicly demonstrate to express their
views," said Sara Colm, a senior researcher at New
York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"It is a
watershed killing that will not only send shock waves
through the labor movement, but may also silence and
intimidate opposition activists and journalists," she
added.
Vichea, who reported receiving several
death threats from a variety of sources over the past
year, was reportedly shot several times in the head and
chest by two assailants, while he was reading a
newspaper at a highway newsstand, and he died on the
spot.
When police officers attempted to remove
his body to arrange for an immediate cremation, trade
unionists intervened and took the body to the
headquarters of the his union, the Free Trade Union of
the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC),
according to the Brussels-based International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the world's
largest trade-union organization. FTUWKC is Cambodia's
largest independent union, with some 30,000 members.
In a strong letter to Hun Sen, the ICFTU
detailed a number of the death threats that had been
conveyed to Vichea and noted that a retired military
colonel, who served as head of security at one garment
factory, had physically attacked and beaten Vichea as he
was distributing leaflets inviting workers to a May Day
labor rally last year. Vichea won a court victory
against his assailant in September.
Noting that
Vichea had been forced into hiding on a number of
occasions and that the government had failed to provide
him with protection, the ICFTU called on Hun Sen to
"issue a public guarantee that Cambodia's trade
unionists will benefit from full protection by state
authorities against any future occurrence of similar
events".
The US State Department also strongly
condemned the assassination and called on the government
"to undertake immediate and effective action to bring
the perpetrators to justice".
"A culture of
impunity in Cambodia must not be tolerated," said deputy
spokesman Adam Ereli, who also called on Phnom Penh to
ensure the security of Vichea's family and colleagues.
Vichea's murder took place as Hun Sen has
continued to negotiate with other parties to form a new
government since the July elections that were won by his
Cambodian People's Party (CPP) but which failed to get a
majority of seats in the national legislature. The CPP
has in effect ruled Cambodia since Vietnam ousted the
Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.
The two main
opposition parties, Sam Rainsy Party and the Funcinpec,
have formed their own alliance in the negotiations, and
the resulting impasse, combined with the recent string
of high-profile murders, has itself raised tensions.
Some analysts have charged that the government is trying
to intimidate the opposition.
Rainsy, who gave
an emotional address at Sunday's funeral, declined to
assign blame. "Chea Vichea has done many things that
have affected the leaders of the country, but I cannot
say whether [his killing] is politically motivated or
not," he said, adding, however, "Those who protest
against the government - you see the result."
King Norodom Sihanouk, however, was less
restrained. From Beijing, he charged that the recent
killings were "unquestionably political".
HRW
noted that a senior adviser to Funcinpec leader, Prince
Norodom Ranariddh (Sihanouk's son), was killed last
January; a judge and court clerk were murdered three
months later; and 13 opposition-party activists were
killed in the run-up to the July elections. In addition,
a series of attacks on opposition supporters had also
gone unpunished, the group said.
"Unfortunately,
Cambodia has a poor track record in bringing to justice
the perpetrators of political killings," said Colm, the
Human Rights Watch researcher. "The Cambodian
authorities must take immediate steps to enforce the law
and protect those who struggle for basic freedoms,
including labor rights," she said.
In the United
States, two senior Republican senators, Majority Leader
Bill Frist and Mitch McConnell, also strongly denounced
the killing and insisting that Hun Sen should be held
accountable for the failure to provide security to
opposition figures.
In addition to the political
fallout, Cambodia's textile trade could also suffer a
setback from Vichea's killing. Under an unusual 1999
trade accord, Washington agreed to increase the import
quotas for apparel assembled by Cambodia's textile
factories so long as plant owners and the government are
in "substantial compliance" with international core
labor standards.
Vichea's killing, particularly
if there is a strong suspicion that apparel interests
may have been involved, is likely to draw renewed
scrutiny to how well the right to organize is being
protected.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
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policies.)
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