PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia has become more stable since the 1998 election, a major victory for a country that has suffered so much turmoil in the past three decades. The infighting between the two parties of the coalition government has receded, and it is safer to travel around the country as the number of weapons has been curtailed. But the more favorable climate has brought little progress in what is perhaps the biggest hindrance to Cambodia's democratic development -- the impunity of the authorities, from government bigwigs to foot soldiers.
Police, judges and prosecutors often take bribes to supplement their meager salaries, or come under pressure from government or military authorities. Other times, the authorities simply ignore the judicial system. Last December, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the re-arrest of some 50 people who had been arrested for various crimes but had been freed by the courts. Last year, a popular actress who was said to have been Hun Sen's mistress was shot dead; the victim's relatives say Hun Sen's wife ordered the killing (she denies the charge). Also last year, witnesses said the wife of an undersecretary of state, Svay Sitha, participated in an acid attack that severely injured his teenage mistress. In neither case has an arrest been made. Nor has anyone been punished for the major politically motivated killings of recent years, many blamed on thugs of Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party. These include the 1997 grenade attack on a rally led by opposition leader Sam Rainsy, and the torture and executions of FUNCINPEC leaders during Hun Sen's coup in 1998.
Then there are the countless other incidents every day across Cambodia, where the authorities abuse ordinary people while trying to grab their land, abduct their daughters for prostitution, or punish real or perceived wrongdoing. Police officers and prison officials often torture people in their custody. But according to report released in June by the Cambodian human-rights group Licadho, there has been only a handful of torture-related prosecutions in recent years, and apparently only one conviction and prison sentence: a military policeman who spent four months in jail for beating a teenager who died in custody. "The impunity enjoyed by torturers is the largest single reason why torture continues to be inflicted on Cambodians today," says the report, which documents case after case of horrific torture of men, women and children.