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Graham
Cleghorn….victim of injustice in |
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The government is cracking down on foreign paedophiles.
It's being helped by local aid groups, but their methods are causing concern Top Cambodian
politicians now put a priority on eradicating the scourge and police have
arrested about a dozen suspected foreign paedophiles in the past four months.
Local non-governmental organizations are helping the authorities tackle the
problem, but REVIEW investigations indicate some of these groups may be
operating outside legal and ethical boundaries in a bid to get results and
obtain essential foreign funding. One such group, the
Phnom Penh-based Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre (CWCC) has received
publicity at home and abroad over the past four years for its key role in
gathering evidence and witnesses in the prosecutions of several foreign
residents in Siem Reap, the tourist gateway to the ancient Angkor temples in
northwest Cambodia. In January 2003,
Australian teachers Bart Lauwaert and Clinton Betterridge were convicted of
debauchery (the Cambodian charge for paedophilia) and sentenced respectively
to 20 years and 10 years in jail--the latter in absentia. Last month, "If they did not
do anything wrong, we could not arrest them," insists Ket Nuon, director
of the Siem Reap branch of the CWCC, which like most other Cambodian NGOs
depends on foreign funding to keep going. In 2002-03, it received about
$520,000 in funds from a range of foreign donors, including governments,
according to documents at the Cooperation Committee for But critics have
serious misgivings about some of the CWCC's methods, including the way it
gathers evidence from potential witnesses, holds out the promise of financial
compensation to victims and pays for help. The agency denies that its methods
are illegal or unethical. Take the case of Thouk
Sam Ang. The 11-year-old claims that she was held prisoner for nearly two
weeks by the CWCC and put under great pressure to testify that 57-year-old
Cleghorn, a family friend, had sexually abused her. "They asked me to
say that Graham had touched me. They asked again and again," Thouk
claims in an interview with the REVIEW. She denies that she was touched or
sexually abused, and this was borne out by medical testing. "They said
that Graham and [his Cambodian wife] Toeur had already confessed . . . They
said I should sue him and take all his money," adds Thouk. The girl, who says she
tried unsuccessfully to escape, also says she was told she would not see her
mother again unless she agreed to give evidence. "I was very scared. I
have nightmares," she says. She was only released when her mother came
looking for her, and never appeared in court. The REVIEW heard
similar allegations from 15-year-old Pol Mela. "They asked, 'Did Graham
rape you?' I said Graham did not do anything . . . They thought we were
lying," she says, adding that she was also held against her will for
about two weeks. She did not testify in court. Hean Ton, the mother of a
13-year-old who refused to testify against Cleghorn, alleges the NGO promised
she would be awarded money if she could persuade her daughter to give
evidence that she had been sexually abused. Girls cited as
witnesses in the case against Lauwaert and Betterridge also say the promise
of money was a factor in persuading them to take the stand, and now complain
that they never received any. Ket, director of the
CWCC's Siem Reap branch, does not dispute that Thouk Sam Ang was held against
her will and without notifying her parents for the full period. But she
claims the young girl, and the others that Cleghorn was suspected of
molesting, were brought to the CWCC by the police as part of the
investigation process. COMMON PRACTICE The aid worker also
says her organization did indeed question the girls repeatedly and also
challenged their statements if they denied being abused. But this was to
ensure they were not lying or trying to protect anyone, she adds. The
practice, moreover, appears to be common. "The keeping of children like
this--many NGOs do it, but I don't know whether they do it in a lawful way or
not," says lawyer Huon Chundy of the independent Juvenile Litigation
Project. Some of these underage
girls who would not give evidence against Cleghorn say they wanted to testify
on his behalf, but the trial judge ruled that their evidence was inadmissible.
George Cooper of Legal Aid of Cambodia says that on purely legal grounds, in
a trial based almost entirely on the testimonial evidence of children, the
testimony of girls complaining that they were coached to say one thing could
"cast a negative light on all testimony" and lead to acquittal on
appeal--provided their evidence was ruled admissible. The CWCC's Ket also
says the CWCC advises victims to seek compensation--Cleghorn was ordered to
pay $2,000 to each of the five girls he was found guilty of raping--but says
it does not tell them how much to ask for. "You can't blame the
girls," says Cleghorn, who plans to appeal. "That is 40 years'
wages. They are all from very poor families," he adds during a prison
interview. The CWCC official also
says that the organization helps police during their investigations by paying
for small expenses. She denies any impropriety and says this association has
no bearing on the prosecutions pushed by the CWCC. "If police go to
arrest the suspect, they ask for the petrol or lunch [because] they do not
have much money. This is the way we work with them," she says, adding:
"There is no need to call it bribery; it is just a matter of helping
facilitate the work." Pierre Legros, director
of the anti-human-trafficking organization Afesip, takes issue with
organizations that pay for police services. He says NGOs should not pay
police anything at all as it breeds corruption and a priority system for
handling cases. Kim Morokath, a programme officer with There is also criticism
about the detention of potential witnesses in sex cases involving minors.
Psychologist Don Thomson, a professor at Afesip's Legros also
worries that growing donor interest in the kind of work that NGOs like CWCC
are involved in--combating human trafficking and sexual exploitation of
children--has the potential to put pressure on NGOs to skirt ethical and
legal boundaries in a bid to produce results. These
concerns are echoed by Naly Pilorge, director of the Licadho human-rights
organization: "I would like to see a change in general NGO attitude so
they are not just focused on conviction, but also on victims." But the
CWCC firmly denies suggestions that it might put results before justice in a
bid to impress donors. "Funding is a by-product," says Ket.
"We just want to help people." |