In Cambodia, UN's Ban Silent as Petitioner Beaten, “Undesirables” Jailed with UN Money

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 28 -- In Cambodia, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said through his spokesman Martin Nesirky that he was open to receiving written communications from protesters. But when Suong Sophorn, 23, sought to deliver a petition to Ban, he was beaten unconscious by military police.

Inner City Press, whose question about Thailand banning all political gathering gave rises to Nesirky's statement about receiving petitions in Cambodia, asked on October 28 about the beating.

Nesirky said grandly that “generally” the UN “supports the right to free assembly and protest.”

But it is now reported that the UN system has funded secret detention centers to which “undesirable” including alleged drug addicts have been taken, without charge, to be beaten, raped and even killed.

These violent anti-drugs centers have been raised to Ban Ki-moon, both by the UN's own Special Rapporteur on Health and, twice, by Inner City Press.

But it appears Ban has not raised the center on any of this stops, in Vietnam or Cambodia. Watch this site.

Footnote: while Ban himself had nothing to say, Nesirky made much of statements by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. In other circumstances, the Secretariat argues that the High Commissioner's Office is independent. But while these statements are duly noted, Ban's own silence speaks volumes.