PHNOM PENH, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on Friday warned a country representative for the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia against interference in the country's internal affairs.
The warning was made after Wan-Hea Lee, through an article published in the Cambodia Daily on Oct. 25, called on the Cambodian government to immediately explain its decision to ban Sam Rainsy, president of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), from entering the country.
"Such comments have crossed the red line of the UN Charter underlining the respect for sovereignty and non-interference as well as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 requiring all official business with the government to be conducted with or through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other ministry, not through the media," Sokhonn said in a letter sent to UN Resident Coordinator Claire Van der Vaeren.
The minister said the current operation and activities of the OHCHR in Cambodia, including those of its country representative, are "not legitimate" because a valid Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Cambodian government and the High Commissioner for Human Rights has not been renewed yet.
"I would like to reiterate the government's firm commitment to improving the smooth and effective cooperation with the OHCHR through the early conclusion of the new MoU on the basis of the principle of respect for sovereignty and non-interference in Cambodia's internal affairs in full conformity of Article 2 of the UN Charter," he said.
