Honourable Chair, eminent members of the House of Commons Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, I am humbled by the opportunity to be here with my colleague Mr. Kong Sophea, with eminent members of the Buddhist community in Canada, and with members of the community of Cambodians in Canada. With me also are Mr. Tuon Yuda, a member of parliament in exile, and Mr. Sor Chandeth, a senator from the opposition, also in exile.
Honourable Chair, prominent members of the committee, Mr. Kong Sophea is a member of parliament, like us. He is a survivor. In late October 2015, as he and another member of parliament from the opposition left the parliament building, they were both severely attacked by members of the bodyguard unit of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Mr. Kong Sophea and Mr. Nhay Chamroeun continue to seek medical support for their injuries. Mr. Kong Sophea has lost hearing in his left ear. This is only the beginning of the human rights situation in Cambodia that I have the honour to present to you this afternoon.
Throughout Cambodia, people are living in fear. What do they fear? They fear the power of Mr. Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, who has been in power for over 34 years. As of yesterday he was still telling the court to not allow Mr. Kem Sokha, the opposition leader, our leader, to be set free on bail. Mr. Kem Sokha is in pretrial detention in a prison that is far away from the city, and he can only see his lawyers and his spouse. No one else can see him.
This is only the beginning of many more measures taken against the opposition that I will detail later on. Most of all, we fear for the safety of the opposition members, or anyone in Cambodia who dares to criticize Mr. Hun Sen and his regime.
Over three million people in Cambodia voted for change in 2013 and in the local elections of 2017. We are not just an opposition. We represent over 44% of the voters in Cambodia. We are not just the opposition. We represent the will of the people. We are not an opposition. We are the hope of the people of Cambodia.
When I talk about the people of Cambodia, I talk about our farmers who are victims of forced evictions, who are victims of widespread illegal logging. Cambodia only has one-third of its forests left today because the rest has been logged illegally by companies that are related to the Prime Minister. This is an industry that costs Cambodia billions of dollars.
We are not just the opposition. We are a pillar of this democratic change, the foundation of democracy. With us is a very vibrant civil society. Until six months ago we were vibrant forces for democracy. Today we remain silent because otherwise either we go to jail or face exile.
Mr. Hun Sen has been using the courts, as Mr. Abbott just said, as a political instrument to silence all his critics and destroy the hope for democracy.
Mr. Chair, eminent members of the subcommittee, in just six months, this is what has happened. In September 2017, Mr. Kem Sokha was arrested at home without any arrest warrant. He is a member of Parliament and the leader of the opposition. His bail has been denied again today by the appeal court. Outside of the appeal court today, the forces of Mr. Kem Sokha were around, and again violence was committed against people who were just monitoring the appeal. It happened today.
In the countryside, people are losing their land. On March 8, women who were defending their land were brutally shot at, and one of them hanged herself out of despair.
In September and October, there were more charges against Sam Rainsy, the former leader of the opposition. He remains in exile. If he were to go back home, he would be arrested immediately, like the rest of us.
In October, there were amendments to the political party laws that allowed the Ministry of Interior to bring cases against any political party to the Supreme Court. Without any due process, those parties would be dissolved, like our party.
In November 2017, the Supreme Court finally dissolved the opposition parties. Our 55 seats in Parliament have now been redistributed because of these amendments to the law. They've been redistributed to political parties that have no seats whatsoever in Parliament. A total of 5,007 locally elected officials have lost their seats at the local level. They remain inside Cambodia, silenced and living in fear.
In Cambodia today, people are still hopeful that the opposition will return. We are hopeful because as of last week, 45 members of the UN human rights commission, including Canada, expressed their very deep concern over the human rights situation in Cambodia and called on the Government of Cambodia to put democracy back on track. It especially called on Mr. Hun Sen to allow the next election to be conducted in an environment that is free from fear and intimidation.
Today, honourable chair and eminent members of the subcommittee, we ask for the following. We ask that Mr. Kem Sokha be immediately released so that he can come back to his political life, like us, so that we can go back to Cambodia and prepare for the July election. We ask that all charges against Mr. Sam Rainsy be dropped and that all other political prisoners be released. There are also environmentalists and human rights defenders who are in jail today. They should be released.
We ask that the CNRP, the opposition party, be reinstated immediately. We ask that the people of Cambodia receive civic and election education, which they have a right to. We ask that the civil society members who have been so vibrant and who have brought human rights principles to Cambodia be allowed to function again. We ask that the independent media be allowed to function again as we get ready for the elections.
Specifically, we ask the eminent members of the House of Commons in Canada to bring a delegation to Cambodia as soon as possible to see for yourselves the human rights situation in Cambodia.
We also ask that the Government of Canada, which is one of the signatories to the Paris peace accord, not only make statements but also take concrete actions like the actions that have already been taken by your allies, such as the United States. These actions are targeted sanctions, starting with visa sanctions of high-ranking officials in the Government of Cambodia. We ask that there be legislation in the House of Commons for a Magnitsky act to freeze access of the high-ranking officials of Cambodia who have committed corruption and who are investing their money in Canada or elsewhere. Canada should join the United States as well by supporting the Magnitsky act. We ask—and this has to be—that there be temporary economic sanctions. Only with these pressures will Mr. Hun Sen listen to the international community.
I remain very confident that the subcommittee will hear these facts today. These facts are all recorded in the UN reports, in Amnesty International reports, in human rights reports, and in the Global Witness reports.
We also ask that you take swift action. We remain very confident and hopeful that Canada, which is a signatory to both the Paris peace accord and the statement of the UN human rights commission from last week, will welcome this, as you have so warmly welcomed our refugees in the past to become vibrant members of your country.
What we want is to return home.
Cambodia has a chance. Democracy in Cambodia has a chance, and the people of Cambodia deserve true peace and true democracy. They have expressed their will and they have made a very big commitment with their own lives. They're standing with almost nothing, but they want to stand on the land and not be forced out. They want to remain in the forest and not see the forest cut down. They want to express themselves and not be labelled as rebels or members of a counter-revolution. We are not traitors. We have committed no crime, but we stand with our people for democracy in Cambodia.
I thank you for your attention.