Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-15-Speech-4-227"
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"en.20070315.25.4-227"2
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".
Mr President, we have been considering the situation in Cambodia regularly for years and repeatedly find severe setbacks followed by small signs of progress. At best, everything has been moving forwards with the speed and method of the Echternach dancing procession. We currently have the major problem that there are two opposite trends. On the one hand, we are grateful to find that ASEAN has at last begun to put human rights questions at least tentatively on the agenda. There is within ASEAN a gentle but nevertheless effective pressure to develop democracy and the rule of law further in Cambodia.
On the other hand, however, the necessary process of setting up the Tribunal to try the horrendous crimes of the Khmer Rouge has ground to a halt. That is not necessarily the fault only of the Cambodians. The Cambodians have slowly started to move. Some sections of the international community are no longer so enthusiastic, however. This is because considerable quantities of oil have been found in Cambodia and we are now experiencing something we often have to deal with in human rights debates, namely that the Chinese and Japanese – the Chinese above all – are prepared to invest there and produce oil whatever the political conditions, ignoring questions of human rights, and that western groups – the United States of America in particular in this case – unfortunately then also join this negative race.
The USA, which has been a powerful driving force behind the Tribunal up until now, is threatening to lose its zeal in this area. We Europeans certainly have the crucial task of safeguarding the economic and strategic interests of our part of the globe here, but – as we have already said in relation to Guatemala – that will not succeed in the long term if democracy, human rights and the rule of law are neglected.
That is why there can only be a stable Cambodia if the country also continues to develop politically. This means putting an end to the currently prevailing state of lawlessness and impunity. The murder of the trade unionists clearly shows that they are not even trying to hide what has happened there and that no serious attempt is being made to actually find and punish the perpetrators, but that there is a prevailing climate of absolute lawlessness. We cannot accept that.
There can be no economic stability without political stability and no political stability without the rule of law. This must be our clear and unequivocal message to the Cambodians."@en1
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