Cambodians demonstrate in Geneva


By Moeung Tum and Hassan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

More than 100 Cambodians from the US and a number of European countries met to demonstrate on 04 December in front of the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland. The demonstrators demanded for the world to help provide true respect of human rights in Cambodia.

RFA reporter Hassan was on hand at the demonstration and he is reporting about the demonstration by these Cambodians on 04 December 2009.

Hassan: There were more than 100 Cambodians from near and far, some from the USA, such as Georgia, Minnesota and California. There were Cambodians from France, such as Lyon and Paris, and those from Switzerland, such as Zurich and Geneva. There are monks also, such as the abbot of the Zurich pagoda, the abbot of the Chevranche pagoda in France, and the abbot of the Lyon pagoda also came. Based on what I asked all of them, they are meeting to express their opinion that, currently, freedom rights does not exist equally for all Cambodians. This is why they came to express their opinion and it also coincides with the UN Human Rights Universal Period Review (UN UPR) meeting where the Cambodian government was invited to clarify about human rights issues. This is the 6th UN UPR, and the session was held between Tuesday 01 to Thursday 03 December.

French human rights officials also came to encourage the demonstrators.

The demonstrators held posters, they recited nationalist poems and they expressed their opinions under the intense cold weather.