Donors have voiced concern over a draft legislation that seeks to regulate non-governmental organizations in Cambodia, with the U.S. government threatening to halt its aid for the Asian nation if the government adopts the controversial measure.
>> NGOs Slam Proposed Cambodian Law
>> Donors Urged to Halt Aid for Cambodia
In a meeting between the Cambodian government and donors in Phnom Penh on Wednesday (April 20), the U.S. Agency for International Development’s mission director in the country, Flynn Fuller, said: “In these times of fiscal constraint, justifying increased assistance to Cambodia will become very difficult in the face of shrinking space for civil society to function.”
Fuller urged the Cambodian government to reconsider the “necessity” of the law, “and if so, to adopt a law consistent with a commitment to expand, rather than restrict, the freedom for civil society organizations to operate,” Times Live reports.
The World Bank and United Kingdom have also expressed reservations about the draft law, according to Voice of America.
“Development partners would be interested in discussing the possible impact of the draft NGO law on the delivery of development assistance in the country,” Qimiao Fan, country manager for the World Bank in Cambodia, said.
Andrew Mace, the U.K. ambassador to Cambodia, also called for the government to rethink the new law opposed by international organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
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