Khmer Circle: Worried about Cambodian workers' welfare or prospect of outbreaks of labour unrest and popular discontent?
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29 June 2018
Kann Vicheika
VOA Khmer
EU leaders take part in a European Union summit in Brussels, June 28, 2018.
The agreement provides Cambodia with easy access to EU markets for its products, but the EU has threatened to remove Cambodia over the dissolution of the country’s main opposition party ahead of a general election in July.
PHNOM PENH —
Cambodia’s foreign ministry has dispatched a diplomatic team to the European Union in the hopes of lobbying to stop the EU removing Cambodia from the Everything But Arms preferential trade agreement.
The agreement provides Cambodia with easy access to EU markets for its products, but the EU has threatened to remove Cambodia from the scheme over the dissolution of the country’s main opposition party ahead of a general election in July and a wider crackdown on civil society and the opposition.
The delegation will be led by Sok Siphana, a respected lawyer and adviser to the government.
“Cambodia wishes to manifest through the dispatch of this mission, our goals are to have a straightforward dialogue with EU since we consider EU an important partner enjoy strong cooperation with Cambodia,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Cambodia claims that it should not be punished for banning the opposition and its restrictions on the media and civil society groups because it says the moves were legal under Cambodian law.
George Edgar, EU ambassador to Cambodia, could not be reached for comment.
The EU Parliament voted in December to consider suspending Cambodia’s membership of the Everything But Arms scheme.
Meas Nee, a social development researcher, said the delegation was unlikely to sway the minds of EU officials without concrete policy changes.
“The biggest issue in our country is the dissolution of the CNRP, which received support from more than 3 million Cambodians. This is where it gets complicated because the EU considers it unacceptable and a move away from democracy if we don’t resolve it,” he said.
He added that Cambodia’s removal from the scheme would be a huge blow to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government. Although Cambodia has come to rely more on China for investment, it still relies on the EU and United States for the majority of its garment exports, a crucial industry supporting hundreds of thousands of workers.
2 comments:
Hun Sen is very nervous right now. Let's hope that the UN, EU and US finally wakes up and put an end to Hun Sen's abuses on his people. Please stop supporting this dictator. If you do, Cambodians will keep on suffering endlessly. You can not appease the dictator by giving him whatever he wants. Thanks to you, now he's super rich and supper powerful. With the billions of dollars you have been providing to him, the hard earned money from your own people, he has shared it with his ruthless generals in exchange for their supports and protections. EU, please stop supporting this ruthless dictator. Sanction is the only way to go, sanction is the only thing he can understand. China can not support him forever. Once sanctions are in place, China will see Hun Sen as a liability because many of the factories in Cambodia are owned by the Chinese companies.
Hun Sen has been abusing and killing Cambodians for more than 30 years. Please EU, stop supporting him. You have made him supper rich and super powerful already and now he can kill and abuse anyone he wants as he is above the law in Cambodia. Please wake up and stop this madness. Without you, he wouldn't be here today. PLEASE STOP NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!! Please impose the sanctions and whatever means necessary to save Cambodia.
EU please don't get conned by the cpp monkeys again.
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