Britain accuses Cambodia of rights violations

Press, 6 March 1978, Page 9

Britain accuses Cambodia of rights violations

NZPA Geneva Britain has accused the Cambodians of being responsible for the gravest violaj tions of human rights of I any country in the world ’ today. A British Parliamentary I Under-Secretary of State, iEwan Luard, said that the country had been guilty of large-scale killings of people on often very trivial’ grounds. “If I had to look at all the countries in the world where violations of human rights are gravest, I would say Cambodia was by far the worst,” he added. After four years of war, Cambodia was taken over by Communists in April, 1975. Mr Luard was speaking to reporters before introducing what he said was the first ever draft resolution urgin the United Nations Commit, sion on Human Rights to carry out a thorough study of the human rights situation in Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia). It was. also believed to be the first time a humanrights violation complaint directed against a Communist country has been formally tabled in the commission. He told reporters that the commission would have to adopt the resolution if it wanted to have any credibility in the eyes of world opinion. Mr Luard, who flew into Geneva from Britain specifically to introduce the resolution, said the commission had to show that its actions, are proportionate to the; scale of violations of human: rights. I