Brad Adams and his peers commit a regrettable flaw
and reveal their true intention to the international community
To
the ordinary people and to the common citizen of Cambodia, the “letter”
is the latest relentless pressure that the big names international NGOs
exert on the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) to rectify the proposed
draft law on NGOs and to fashion it in such a way to conform to
“international standards”. The “letter” is accompanied by an open threat
calling Cambodia Development Partners (CDPs) to review their
involvement for development. In truth, the year-long campaign against
the RGC’s duties and responsibility to regulate NGOs in Cambodia is the
well-thought and well-designed scheme to let the NGOs run wild in
Cambodia that the big names international NGOs have nominated it as the
“Wild, Wild West” where NGOs can ride free and shoot at will, and even
worse it is the incredibly cheap scheme to bring down the RGC to its
knees and accept blindly the rules of the international masters. It is
worth noting that “non politics and non political” conversations
abounded during banquets given by the country’s representatives to the
UN in New York. Among those, it was said: “During colonial times,
civilized people told Africans not to go naked; they should learn to get
dressed. Yes, Africans learn to get dressed, but back home in the
country of civilized people, get undressed and go naked become
fashionable. They even created naked communities.” What’s a shame!
Brad
Adams and his peers have committed and revealed their flaw if reading
the “letter” between the lines. It is the double standard in the
application of the principle of transparency and accountability, which
cannot be tolerated by the UN Agencies as well as the international
community at large. For Brad Adams and his peers the principle of
transparency and accountability must be applied by the RGC and must not
be applied by NGOs.
In
Cambodia, NGOs are viewed as partners of the RGC in the delivery of
basic social services. Another different group of NGOs is involved in
advocacy for legal rights and human rights. The people who run NGOs
benefit from NGOs differently, for the first group, from effective
delivery of basic social services to the needy, and for the second group
from executing the orders of well established big names international
legal and human rights organizations located in developed countries that
provide funding for NGOs operating in Cambodia.
For
over twenty years, NGOs in Cambodia behave as if the country of the
Khmers is the “Wild, Wild West,” good for riding and shooting even
before asking questions, thanks to their sponsors and funding partners
from oversea who are good and compassionate by nature, who trust and
believe that the funds provided to NGOs in Cambodia, international and
local, will be used appropriately for the betterment of the neglected
Cambodian people or for the betterment of those who fall in the cracks
of some cases of inequitable path for development. On the other hand, in
the case of legal and human rights NGOs, their sponsors and funding
partners have hidden agenda, seemingly aspiring to become famous by
successfully bringing down an elected government that they don’t like
for a myriads of reasons, in the case of Brad Adams it is out of his
“vendetta” against the RGC and especially Samdech Techo Hun Sen for
causing him to lose lucrative opportunity, when he was working in
Cambodia.
Transparency
and accountability seem to be the most fearful words for Brad Adams and
his peers. Reporting where the funding of the NGOs in Cambodia comes
from and how the money leaves the NGOs and where it goes will expose the
real agenda of a number of big names international “politicized” NGOs.
The
so-called “problematic issues” included in the draft law as raised by
Brad Adams, Asia Director Human Rights Watch, Souhayr Belhassen,
Presiden of International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Agnes
Callamard, Executive Director ARTICLE 19, Brittis Edman, Program
Director, Southeast Asia Civil Rights Defenders, Enrique Eguren, Program
Director Protection International, David J. Kramer, President Freedom
House, Mary Lawlor, Director Front Line Defenders, Eric Sottas,
Secretary General World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), Simon
Taylor, Founding Director Global Witness, Gayathry Venkiteswaran,
Executive Director Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) in the
“letter” dated Friday, 9 September addressed to 17 United Nations
Agencies are simply misplaced accusations intended to protect and
prevent the group of NGOs involved in legal and human rights in Cambodia
from adhering to the rules of transparency and accountability, while
the “letter” spoke highly about NGO’s efforts to ensure transparency and
accountability in Cambodian project implementation, and such “efforts
will be negatively affected as civil society groups monitoring
government projects face tighter, and potentially hostile government
scrutiny.”
It
is tough for Brad Adams and his peers to sell their misplaced
accusations against the RGC on the grounds of transparency and
accountability. The question is: Why the same principle is applicable
only for the government of Cambodia, and not for NGOs in Cambodia? This
double standard will certainly undermine the reputation of the 10
international NGOs because of the personal interests of Brad Adams. The
17 United Nations Agencies must show fairness for the RGC in their
considerations of the “letter”.
The “letter” also spoke about the required registration by law on the following terms: “The registration scheme should not be used to undermine freedom of association, expression, or assembly,” and one among the negative impacts cited in the “letter” is that “it
creates burdensome and expensive reporting requirements that will
particularly disadvantage grassroots citizens’ associations and groups.”
This is full of exaggerations. It is laughable even to a two-year student in basic accounting.
The
year-long exercise of Brad Adams and his peers to shore up their
misplaced accusations against Cambodia regarding Cambodia’s NGOs draft
law reveal beyond all else that their concerted efforts to protect and
prevent the group of NGOs involving in the advocacy of legal and human
rights in Cambodia from adhering to the principle of transparency and
accountability will not escape the watchful eyes of unbiased Cambodian
and international observers. It would be fair and fruitful to all
concerns if the big names international NGOs stop treating Cambodia as
the “Wild, Wild West” for NGO’s.
Professor. Pen Ngoeun
Academic Advisor, University of Puthisastra, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Member of Press and Quick Reaction Unit (PRU) of the Office of the Council of Ministers
15 September 2011