The National Assembly has announced that members of the public hoping to participate in the consultation regarding Cambodia’s contentious draft Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations (LANGO) will have until Tuesday to register.
In a letter dated Friday and signed by Assembly Secretary General Leng Penh Long, several commissions will hold a consultative workshop on the LANGO this Wednesday.
“For the public who wish to attend, they can contact the General Secretariat of the National Assembly from the date of notification until July 7, 2015,” the notice reads.
During a US Independence Day celebration on Saturday at Phnom Penh’s US Embassy, Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng said that the government will listen to the public’s criticism in order to improve the draft law.
Am Sam Ath, senior investigator at local rights group Licadho, however, said that his organisation plans to boycott the consultation as it is just a “formality”, since three Assembly commissions have already examined the draft and neglected to change anything.
“This law is made for the interests of politicians.
They do not think of the public interest,” Sam Ath said.
“What the civil society groups are worried . . . about are the articles that state that the [government] will heavily fine NGOs or associations that do not meet the law’s conditions, and might even deregister them.”
