In Dara, ambassador and permanent representative of Cambodia to the UN and other International Organisations in Geneva. Photo: The Permanent Mission.
A Cambodian representative to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland has dismissed “misleading” comments made by a UN human rights official regarding the Cambodian Supreme Court’s upholding of charges against Chhim Sithar, the president of the Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees (LRSU) at integrated casino resort NagaWorld.
“The Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Cambodia in Geneva strongly deplores the misleading, selective and prejudiced comment by the UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence,” said a May 5 statement by In Dara, ambassador and permanent representative of Cambodia to the UN and other International Organisations in Geneva.
His comments were in response to a May 3 release by Laurence.
“We are very concerned by the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the conviction of trade union leader Chhim Sithar on charges of ‘incitement to felony or disturb social order’ in relation to a strike in 2021 over layoffs at the NagaWorld Casino in Phnom Penh. We call for her immediate release,” it said.
Laurence noted that Sithar was sentenced, along with eight others, to jail terms of between one to two years in May 2023, adding that she is the only one serving a jail term as the others were given suspended sentences or monitoring orders.
“We call on the authorities to quash all their convictions,” he said.
“They were convicted for simply exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, protected by both the Cambodian Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Cambodia in 1992,” he claimed.
“We urge Cambodia to fully uphold the human rights protections recognised under international law and create an environment where people can freely exercise their rights,” Laurence added.
However, Dara claimed that the call for Sithar’s “immediate release” or for “the authorities to quash all their convictions” amounted to contempt for the Cambodian judiciary’s competency and integrity, adding that the court’s decisions were based on concrete evidence and strictly adhered to due process.
He said the very essence of the separation of powers in a democratic system whereby the courts are independent, implies that no other authorities could interfere or put pressure on the courts to drop the charges or quash the convictions, adding that these options remain entirely at the discretion of the court.
"Sithar and others held several-month-long, unlawful, foreign-funded strikes in late 2021 and were prosecuted for incitement to commit a felony or to cause chaos to social security, which is punishable under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code.
“She was released on bail with a judicial supervision order, and subsequently detained for breach of her obligations under Article 230 of the Code of Criminal Procedures,” said Dara.
He added that contrary to Laurence’s “allegation”, the trade unionists were convicted for the offences they have committed, not “for simply exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association”.
Incitement to cause chaos to social security is neither a constitutional exercise of freedoms to peaceful assembly and association, nor it is consistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, according to Dara.
He noted that in Cambodia, as in other democratic societies, individuals are arrested and charged not on the basis of their political affiliation or role as trade unionists, saying that the charges solely derive from the commission of offences against the law.
“If an individual leads or organises an illegal strike or violent demonstration which is harmful to public safety, public order or the rights and freedoms of others, he/she is held responsible before the law,” Dara added.
