Nicholas Neighbors
10/23/09
3:07PM
Cambodia's legislature passed a law yesterday limiting the size of demonstrations. The Cambodian passed the law limiting public demonstrations to a maximum of 200 people with the aim of ensuring "public order and national security." Public demonstrations are a popular form of protest in Cambodia in which people use them to make political points but are also last resorts for groups of impoverished farmers and slum dwellers who say they are the victims in land-disputes with developers and powerful allies of government.The government denies using the countries courts to stifle opposition, saying it uses universally available legal remedies. United Nations human rights observers were not allowed to attend the debate.
Limiting the size of public demonstrations is a violation to peoples rights. If anything like this were passed in America, it would quickly be shot down by many people because of the violation to our human rights. Even though I believe it is wrong, there can be some truth seen behind passing these laws. To protect national security is one good reason because when mobs tend to gather and protest seem to happen, bad things often occur with these things leading to death and injuries. However, with that said, they could also just increase security around these things to help with the support of the protest to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Limiting public demonstrations could be held in different manner by offering an alternative route.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ebb6432a-bea1-11de-b4ab-00144feab49a.html
No comments:
Post a Comment