[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 279 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 279

 Reaffirming the commitment of the United States to promote democracy, 
             human rights, and the rule of law in Cambodia.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 3, 2017

    Mr. McCain (for himself and Mr. Durbin) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Reaffirming the commitment of the United States to promote democracy, 
             human rights, and the rule of law in Cambodia.

Whereas Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power in Cambodia since 1985 and is 
        the longest-serving leader in Southeast Asia;
Whereas the Paris Peace Accords in 1991 provided a vital framework, supported by 
        the international community, intended to help Cambodia undertake a 
        transition to democracy, including through elections and multiparty 
        government;
Whereas the United States Government, for more than 25 years, has provided 
        hundreds of millions of dollars in development aid and other types of 
        assistance to the people of Cambodia and funded work in areas including 
        civil society, capacity building for nongovernmental organizations 
        (NGOs), global health, and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal;
Whereas, despite decades of international attention and assistance to promote a 
        pluralistic, multi-party democratic system in Cambodia, the Government 
        of Cambodia continues to be undemocratically dominated by the ruling 
        Cambodia People's Party (CPP), which controls every agency and security 
        apparatus of the state;
Whereas the leadership of Cambodia's security forces, including all of its top 
        military and police commanders, sit on the Central Committee of the 
        politburo of the CPP;
Whereas the CPP controls Cambodia's parliament and can pass legislation without 
        any opposition, and has often passed laws that benefit its rule and 
        weaken the capacity of the opposition to challenge it;
Whereas each of the five elections that have taken place in Cambodia since 1991 
        were not conducted in circumstances that were free and fair, and each 
        were marked by fraud, intimidation, violence, and the government's 
        misuse of legal mechanisms to weaken opposition candidates and parties;
Whereas, in 2015, the CPP-controlled parliament passed the ``Law on Associations 
        and Non-Governmental Organizations'', known as LANGO, which gave the 
        government sweeping powers to revoke the registration of NGOs found to 
        be operating with a political bias in a blatant attempt to restrict the 
        legitimate work of civil society;
Whereas, since the passage of LANGO, the Interior Ministry has announced that it 
        was surveilling several civil society organizations and their employees 
        for allegedly aiding Cambodia's opposition party, the Cambodia National 
        Rescue Party (CNRP);
Whereas both the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International 
        Republican Institute (IRI) have a long history in Cambodia, engaging 
        local partners and building capacity for civil society, democracy, and 
        good governance;
Whereas, on August 23, 2017, Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered the 
        closure of NDI and the expulsion of its foreign staff on allegations 
        that it had violated LANGO and was conspiring against Prime Minister Hun 
        Sen;
Whereas, on September 15, 2017, Prime Minister Hun Sen called for the withdrawal 
        of all volunteers from the United States Peace Corps, which has operated 
        in Cambodia since 2006 with 500 United States volunteers providing 
        English language and healthcare training;
Whereas the Government of Cambodia in 2016 arrested four senior staff members of 
        the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC), as well 
        as a former ADHOC staff member and official on the National Election 
        Committee (NEC), and held them in pre-trial detention for 427 days until 
        released on bail on June 29, 2017, in the wake of sustained 
        international pressure;
Whereas the Government of Cambodia arrested activist and women's rights defender 
        Tep Vanny in August 2016 and has kept her in prison for over a year;
Whereas the prominent Cambodian political commentator Kem Ley was assassinated 
        on July 10, 2016, five days after a senior Cambodian general publicly 
        called on the Cambodian Armed Forces to ``eliminate and dispose of'' 
        anyone ``fomenting social turmoil'' in Cambodia;
Whereas Kem Ley had been a frequent critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen, fueling 
        concerns that his killing was politically motivated and ordered by 
        higher authorities;
Whereas the Government of Cambodia has taken several measures to restrict its 
        media environment, including imposing a tax bill amounting to millions 
        of dollars levied against independent media outlets that resulted in the 
        closure of independent newspaper The Cambodian Daily in early September 
        2017;
Whereas the Government of Cambodia has ordered several radio stations to stop 
        the broadcasting of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America;
Whereas the next general election in Cambodia is scheduled for July 29, 2018, 
        and the CPP continues to use intimidation and misuse of legal mechanisms 
        to weaken political opposition and media organizations in order to 
        retain its power;
Whereas the Cambodian parliament in 2017 passed two repressive amendments to 
        Cambodia's Law on Political Parties that allow authorities to dissolve 
        political parties and ban party leaders from political activity, and 
        which contain numerous restrictions tailored to create obstacles for 
        opposition parties in an attempt to maintain the CPP's hold on power;
Whereas Kem Sokha, the President of CNRP, was arrested on September 3, 2017, and 
        charged with treason and conspiring with the United States Government to 
        overthrow the Government of Cambodia, and if convicted faces up to 30 
        years in prison, which sets the stage for the CNRP to be dissolved;
Whereas the United States Embassy in Cambodia has publicly called for the 
        immediate release of Mr. Sokha and the removal of restrictions on civil 
        society;
Whereas the CNRP's previous leader, Sam Rainsy, remains in exile due to an 
        outstanding warrant for his arrest in a politically motivated criminal 
        case;
Whereas Human Rights Watch reported that local elections held in Cambodia on 
        June 4, 2017, took place in a ``threatening environment hostile to free 
        speech and genuine political participation, leading to elections that 
        were neither free nor fair'';
Whereas international election monitoring groups reported fundamental flaws in 
        the electoral process and violations of Cambodia's election campaign 
        rules during June's local election;
Whereas the Interior Ministry of Cambodia demanded that two election-monitoring 
        organizations cease their activities just months after the local 
        elections for allegedly violating the LANGO law, which will allow the 
        CPP to continue to increase restrictions on election monitoring as the 
        2018 national elections approach;
Whereas, despite irregularities in the electoral process, the CNRP made 
        significant gains in local elections compared to previous cycles, making 
        clear that national elections in 2018, if they are conducted freely and 
        fairly, will be tightly contested;
Whereas national elections in 2018 will be closely watched to ensure openness 
        and fairness, and to monitor whether all political parties and civil 
        society groups are allowed to freely participate;
Whereas, on September 7, 2017, the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate 
        reported out the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill for the Department 
        of State and foreign operations (S. 1780), which restricted any funds to 
        the central Government of Cambodia unless it has ``ceased efforts to 
        intimidate civil society and the political opposition in Cambodia, is 
        credibly investigating the murder of social and political activists'' 
        and ``is supporting the conduct of free and fair elections in Cambodia 
        through a non-partisan election commission; fair election processes; 
        open and inclusive participation, to include the return of exiled former 
        opposition leaders and the release of jailed opposition leaders and 
        civil society activists; respect for freedoms of assembly, speech, and 
        the press, and credible post-election dispute resolution mechanism''; 
        and
Whereas S. 1780 also includes language addressing the ``inadmissibility of 
        Cambodia officials who undermine democracy in Cambodia'': Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
        promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in 
        Cambodia;
            (2) condemns all forms of political violence in Cambodia, 
        and urges the cessation of ongoing human rights violations;
            (3) urges Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's 
        Party to end all harassment and intimidation of Cambodia's 
        opposition and foster an environment where democracy can thrive 
        and flourish;
            (4) urges the Department of State, in association with the 
        Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of 
        the Treasury, to consider placing all senior Cambodian 
        government officials implicated in the abuses noted above on 
        the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list;
            (5) urges the Government of Cambodia to free Mr. Kem Sokha 
        immediately and unconditionally;
            (6) calls on the Government of Cambodia to respect freedom 
        of the press and the rights of its citizens to freely assemble, 
        protest, and speak out against the government;
            (7) supports electoral reform efforts in Cambodia and free 
        and fair elections in 2018 monitored by international 
        observers; and
            (8) urges the President to communicate to the Government of 
        Cambodia that if it ignores the recommendations of the 
        international community and maintains the current restrictive 
        and intimidating political environment, the United States 
        Government will have no choice but to determine that the 2018 
        elections were not conducted freely or fairly because the 
        results could not be an expression of the democratic will of 
        the Cambodian people.
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