HRW: Cambodia clears away beggars, homeless pre-holiday

By Julia Wallace

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release Thursday of over 100 people who the group says were unfairly rounded up and detained this month in preparation for two major national events.

Street sweeps of beggars, homeless people, sex workers and drug users are common in Cambodia before national holidays and visits from prominent diplomats.

Usually those rounded up are sent to a “social affairs center,” Prey Speu, that has been blasted by rights groups for its poor conditions and the lack of vocational training or other services available there.

This month, Cambodia held an elaborate state funeral for longtime ruling party president Chea Sim, as well as celebrations for the Queen Mother’s birthday.

Human Rights Watch said in its statement that in advance of these events, police rounded up vulnerable people indiscriminately, including young children and a woman waiting outside a hospital hoping to get a vaccination for her 1-year-old daughter.

Human Rights Watch said the people are all being held in two 5-by-5-meter cement rooms inside Prey Speu.

“Cambodian holidays and ceremonies should not be ‘celebrated’ with the arbitrary arrests of the country’s most vulnerable people,” Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said in the statement.

“Those thrown without charge into misnamed ‘opportunity centers’ should be immediately released."

However, Kuoch Chamroeun, the governor of Phnom Penh’s centrally located Daun Penh district, where most roundups take place, denied that there had been any special street sweeps this month.

He confirmed to Anadolu Agency that more than 100 homeless people, sex workers and drug users had been rounded up, but said this was routine and that the figure was only slightly higher than the number last month.

“We regularly round them up,” he said. “It did not involve [the funeral or the birthday]. Anyone who thinks that would seem to be mentally ill.”

Chamroeun defended the practice as necessary to keep tabs on the needs of Phnom Penh’s most vulnerable citizens.

“For anyone who needs vocational training, we train them. For anyone addicted to drugs, we send them to a drug treatment center."

Prey Speu "has no abuse. You can visit the center,” he added.

Later Friday, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Right representative for Cambodia said that the organsiation was continuing to liaise with the relevant authorities and institutions with a view to finding an immediate solution for those still detained.

"Today, 12 persons living with HIV/AIDS were released in the care of an NGO specialized in such services," Wan-Hea Lee said.

"I am very pleased to see that they will now receive the care they need."

She added that children rounded up last week had been released to the care of an NGO specialized in that field.

"We will continue to liaise with all relevant actors to find a durable solution to this recurring problem," she said.