Defying Regime's Pressure, Ban Ki-Moon Urges Cambodians to Press for Justice for Genocide Victims
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, right, enters a room of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Oct. 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith) (CBS)
(AP) U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made an emotional appeal Thursday for Cambodia to send a message to the world that the Khmer Rouge's crimes against humanity will not go unpunished.
Ban's comments came after a tour of the Khmer Rouge's main prison and torture center during a visit to Cambodia that has been marked by heated words from the Cambodian leader.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday ordered Ban to shut down the U.N. human rights office in Cambodia and to remove the current envoy. Ban has given no response to that.
Hun Sen also told Ban that Cambodia will not allow the U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal to expand the scope of its trials to include former low-ranking officers of the regime.
"Thirty years have passed. Yet here, in this tragic place, we still hear the echoes. The cries of human misery. The agony," Ban said at the infamous S-21 prison. "I will never forget my visit here today. In this place of horror, ladies and gentlemen, let the human spirit triumph. Words cannot do justice. But we can."
The 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
The tribunal closed its first case in July when it convicted the regime's chief jailer and head of S-21, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
As many as 16,000 people were tortured at S-21 before being executed. The prison is now a genocide museum. A second trial is expected to start next year against the four top surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.
Hun Sen has said the trials will stop there, despite U.N. wishes to bring lower-ranking officers to justice for murder, torture and other crimes. The U.N. says progress has been blocked by political interference from Cambodian officials who oppose more prosecutions.
"We know it is difficult to relive this terrible chapter in your history," Ban said. "But I want you to know, your courage sends a powerful message to the world that there can be no impunity. That crimes of humanity shall not go unpunished."
The Cambodian leader, who relishes his reputation as a strongman and has ruled for 25 years, has also had a long, contentious debate with the U.N. about the scope of the Khmer Rouge tribunal.
Critics accuse Hun Sen of trying to limit the tribunal's scope to prevent his political allies from being indicted. Hun Sen once served as a Khmer Rouge officer and many of his main allies are also former members of the group. Hun Sen also objects to the presence of U.N. human rights envoys, who tend to criticize the government's human rights abuses.
"The office for U.N. human rights in Cambodia has to be shut down," government spokesman Khieu Kanharith quoted Hun Sen as telling Ban during a two-hour meeting Wednesday.
Hun Sen accused the U.N. rights envoy, Christophe Peschoux, of "not working on human rights issues with the government but working as a spokesman for the opposition," Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters.
Human Rights Watch's Asia deputy director, Phil Robertson, said the warning "appears to be part of Hun Sen's master plan to ensure total impunity for himself and consolidate authoritarian power."
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