Phnom Penh (FN), September 14 – U.S Embassy, under a direct order from Washington D.C, issued a statement condemning criticism of a number of diplomatic sanctions against the Cambodian Government involving the arrest of the opposition leader Kem Sokha for treason.
The embassy highlighted the advantages and a suspension of specific visa type and warned American citizens about the security in Cambodia.
Regarding the statement, the leaders of the government, as well as the spokesman and Foreign Ministry official, reacted continuously to the U.S government.
MoFA official also expressed his personal views to the U.S government, entitled, "Tell a story: You Should Feel Pain If You Are Khmer”.
The full contents of the Foreign Affairs Ministry officials is as follows:
They forced us to accept the detained Khmer prisoners. Some of these Cambodians were born in a camp, not even able to speak Khmer because they fled to the United States in a very young age. Previously, people in the US said that they did not help them. US will send them back when they committed mistake. Knowing to be separated from one's wife forever because one cannot go back forever. When one arrived in Cambodia, one could not find a job because of his scratches and tattoos, and if the people knew that he had had a history of killing people, trafficking , or addicting to drug, who would dare to work? When one can't find a job, one becomes a robber! 48 people were jailed again in Cambodia. Four others committed suicide.
We just asked the US to suspend the sending of Cambodian citizens back to Cambodia until the amendment of the 2002 agreement, aiming for better human rights, is ready.
International law states that it is impossible to send refugees back home. We ask not to send the elderly and those with chronic illnesses. We ask the US to set up a vocational training center to teach them the Khmer language, skills, and survival skills before integrating them into the Cambodian society, so that they could live on their own, but they blamed us of being slow and ignoring of our citizens.
The new amendments we proposed were disagreed. Now they imposed sanctions against our officials who are not involved in this. The Embassy continues to interview but does not refund the visa fee. Those who were repatriated in the past received only $320 to build a new life in Cambodia! How can they live? We do not need money; we just ask that the US to be more responsible as world superpower.
Those Cambodians in America (who were repatriated in the 2002 memorandum) were US war criminals. The United States accepted it under the framework of cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They are all refugees under the Rome Statute. Article 32 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Migrant states that it is impossible to send refugees back home. Also, those people are growing up in the US, so if they commit the offense, it is the result of American. Why is the United States pushing poor Cambodia to be responsible?
As a result, the visa sanction is virtually ineffective, but it is a bad image of Cambodia. The sanctions have dropped Cambodia's image to the same level as Guinea, Eritrea and Sierra Leone. You should feel pain if you are Khmer.
=FRESH NEWS (From: Reader)
