China’s UN envoy defends Cambodian human rights record in Geneva
- Beijing’s permanent representative to the United Nations says people’s lives have improved in Cambodia and human rights are protected
- China ‘staunchly opposes’ foreign interference in the country in the name of human rights
“In recent years, Cambodia has actively promoted national development, maintained political stability and economic development. People’s lives have gradually improved and human rights are well protected,” Chen Xu said on Wednesday at a UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
When defending its own record in a white paper last year, China similarly pointed to its successes in poverty alleviation and “putting lives first” in its Covid-19 response as examples of how Beijing protects human rights.
The four-week 51st session of the Council – which wraps up on Friday – has reviewed reports from experts on human rights in dozens of countries, including Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, whose end-of-mission statement was published in August.
“Since 2017, when the main opposition party was disbanded unjustly by judicial order, [Cambodia] has been under single-party rule, with all seats of the National Assembly in the hands of that monopoly,” Muntarbhorn said in his report.
Cambodia’s main opposition party was dissolved by the supreme court in 2017. The judges said it had plotted to overthrow the government with the help of the US. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party holds all but four seats in the parliament after an election in 2018.
