By Irwin Loy
The Diplomat
WikiLeaks cables suggest serious shortcomings in Cambodia’s willingness to abide by human rights treaties – and China’s continuing influence in the country.
Cambodian authorities assured the United States’ ambassador to the country that it would abide by international refugee protocols, just two days before it broke its obligations and deported a group of Uighur asylum seekers to an uncertain future in China, according to documents leaked by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
Details of Cambodia’s sudden U-turn, and the worriedbackroom consultations among the US Embassy, United Nations and Cambodian officials that preceded it, are contained in a series of diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks this month. The classified documents highlight how the United States and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, were caught flat-footed in countering China’s influence in the lead-up to the controversial December 2009 deportation. And, say human rights observers, the cables cast a troubling spotlight on China’s ability to export its human rights agenda to developing countries like Cambodia.
The first Uighur asylum seeker to arrive in Cambodia came in May 2009. Another 21 Uighurs arrived in October and November. Members of the group, which included two children, fled China following clashes between security forces and demonstrators in July that year in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Media reports suggest some of the Uighurs had witnessed the violence and feared prosecution if they were to be returned to China.
No comments:
Post a Comment