Backflip on UN expulsion
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| Hor 5 Hong (L) and Khieu Kanharith (R): The prophets of evil on the hellish Hun Xen team? |
Cameron Wells
The Phnom Penh Post
The government has apparently done an about face on its stance over the closure of the United Nations human rights office in Phnom Penh.
An official has contradicted previous claims that the government had requested the unconditional closure of the office.
In a meeting with visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen proposed that Christophe Peschoux, the long-time head of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, resign from his post.
“If Mr Peschoux is not removed, then the UN human rights office in Phnom Penh will be closed,” Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said after the meeting.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith confirmed later that the office would be closed regardless, quoting Hun Sen as having requested the closure of the OHCHR office on the grounds that “other countries in the world don’t have human rights offices, and Cambodia doesn’t want this office either”.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong has backed away from Khieu Kanharith’s comments, insisting the government would ask the UN to close the office only as a last resort.
