Survey says Cambodia world's 2nd worst for rule of law

By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH

Cambodia has been ranked as the second-worst country in the world and the worst in Southeast Asia with regard to its performance on the rule of law, a new survey says.

The U.S.-based World Justice Project released the findings of its latest assessment of 113 countries and jurisdictions on Thursday.

The survey was compiled based on household and expert surveys and taking factors such as corruption and criminal justice into consideration.

“According to the Index, Cambodia’s overall rule of law performance places it at 15 out of 15 countries in the East Asia and Pacific region, 28 out of 28 among lower-middle income countries, and 112 out of 113 countries and jurisdictions worldwide,” the project said.

On Thursday, Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), told Anadolu Agency that Cambodia’s performance was “very bad,” and that the party was “not surprised” with the results of the report.

“It reflects the reality. The government has to improve its performance, otherwise it damages our honor internationally.

"The political deadlock also reflects the reality of the report,” he said.

CNRP MPs are presently engaged in an ongoing boycott of the National Assembly, and its leader is in exile and its deputy in hiding.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan, however, felt very differently about the assessment, telling Anadolu Agency that the government “never pays attention” to such rankings.

“We have no interest at all,” he said.

“We have mechanisms for the rule of law and have established a number of mechanisms to maintain fairness from judges to everyone to respect peoples rights. That’s called justice… they designed their own rankings for their own interests.”

Venezuela spared Cambodia from landing in the overall worst spot, while Denmark took pole position in terms of its performance.

Cambodia came behind Afghanistan, which placed 111th on the list.

Like all other countries, Cambodia was assessed for its performance in eight key areas.

In the civil justice category, Cambodia actually came last in the world.

With regard to absence of corruption, it scored 111 out of 113, and 103 out of 113 on the subject of fundamental rights.