PHNOM PENH, 24 May 2010 (IRIN) - As judges at Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge tribunal decide whether to include genocide as a charge in the closing order, advocates say prosecuting the crime would represent a milestone for official recognition of the rights of the country's Vietnamese and Muslim minorities.
“There is still discrimination against the Cham, so this sends an important message that Muslims in Cambodia are part of the country,” Lor Chunty, a lawyer representing more than 200 Cham Muslim civil parties in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), told IRIN.
Estimates suggest there are more than 300,000 Cham Muslims living in Cambodia and put the number of ethnic Vietnamese much higher than the government figure of 100,000 – although the vast majority of Cambodia’s 14.7 million people are Buddhist ethnic Khmers.
No comments:
Post a Comment