UN human rights envoy cancels Cambodia visit.

UN rights envoy cancels Cambodia visit after scathing report

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – The United Nations rights envoy to Cambodia has cancelled a visit to the country, officials said Monday, just days after the release of his scathing report on the government’s rights record.

The visit, which was to begin Tuesday, would have been special representative Yash Ghai’s third to Cambodia, where he has been repeatedly attacked by government officials for his unusually blunt assessments on rights violations.“Yash Ghai unfortunately had to postpone his mission for reasons unrelated to Cambodia,” said Margo Picken of the Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Cambodia.Prime Minister Hun Sen has demanded that Ghai, a lawyer living in Hong Kong, be sacked after his criticism last year of the government’s failure to protect basic liberties.Other senior officials have also lashed out at Ghai, with government spokesman Khieu Kanharith calling him the “laziest staffer of the United Nations” when asked about the report last week, according to media reports.

The report said the government was using systematic rights violations to remain in power, accusing it of refusing to improve its rights record.

Relations between the government and UN rights envoys have historically been poor, with Hun Sen calling Ghai’s predecessor Peter Leuprecht “stupid” — a term he also used to describe Ghai, along with “rude” and a “god without virtue.”

Other government officials say Ghai is simply bitter because the government does not value his work.