KHMER HOT NEWS

French judge blasted over alleged KRouge bias

2009-10-12T05:34:00.002-07:00

A man looks at skulls displayed at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh
(POst by Khmer Hot News)
PHNOM PENH — A second lawyer for a former Khmer Rouge leader said Monday he will seek the removal of the French investigating judge at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court, adding to allegations of bias.
Sa Sovan, who is defending former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan, said he would file a motion later on Monday or Tuesday to seek the removal of judge Marcel Lemonde for bias in the investigation of his client.
The move follows a similar motion filed last week by the defence team for former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, demanding Lemonde be disqualified from the war crimes court for bias.
"I will file a motion to have such a judge removed because he did not respect the neutrality in the investigation," said Sa Sovan at the tribunal set up to try leaders of the brutal late-1970s regime.
The motions are based on a sworn statement by Lemonde's former chief of intelligence and analysis, alleging the investigating judge told subordinates to favour evidence showing suspects' guilt over evidence of their innocence.
"It is unjust, and I am afraid that this will affect my client," Sa Sovan told AFP, adding that both "black and white" evidence about his client's role in the regime had to be investigated.
Under the Khmer Rouge court's regulations, investigating judges are required to be impartial while researching allegations made by prosecutors. Defence teams are not permitted to make their own investigations.
Speaking on Lemonde's behalf, court spokesman Lars Olsen told AFP Monday that the judge was "not interested in commenting on the allegations" but would provide "necessary information" about the issue to the court.
Lemonde is currently investigating the court's second case, against Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and his wife, former minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith, as well as Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea.
Final arguments in the court's first trial of prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known by the alias Duch, are scheduled for late next month.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia between 1975-79, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

Khmer Rouge case judge 'biased'

2009-10-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

By Guy De Launey BBC News, Phnom PenhSaturday, 10 October 2009 (Post by Khmer Hot News)

Ieng Sary's lawyers say the judge has trampled over his rights
Lawyers for Cambodia's former foreign minister have called for the removal of the judge investigating his role in the Khmer Rouge era.
Ieng Sary is charged with crimes against humanity for his part in the deaths of as many as two million people in the late 1970s.
His defence team claims the judge at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, Marcel Lemonde, is biased.
The controversy is the latest in a series of problems to hit the tribunal.
'One-sided investigation'
The defence team's claims are based on a sworn statement by a former member of the investigating judge's staff.
Wayne Bastin accused his boss, Mr Lemonde, of instructing his team to concentrate on finding only incriminating evidence.
Under the rules of the tribunal, the investigating judges are supposed to be impartial - and should also seek out evidence which might exonerate defendants.
Mr Bastin admitted that Ieng Sary's defence team had encouraged him to make the statement.
But he insisted that he had enjoyed a good working relationship with Judge Lemonde - and only came forward because he felt "morally and ethically" obliged.
Ieng Sary's lawyers said the investigating judge had "trampled over" the rights of their client.
The tribunal's pre-trial chamber will now rule on whether Mr Lemonde should be disqualified.
It has already rejected two attempts to disqualify court officials on the grounds of bias.
Progress in the case against Ieng Sary and his three co-defendants has been slow.
But closing statements in the trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison chief are expected next month.

Cambodia to host Asia Int'l Youth Movie Festival contest

2009-10-11T04:13:00.001-07:00

http://www.chinaview.cn/
2009-10-10
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will host the preliminary contest for the Asia International Youth Movie Festival on Oct. 12 at the multi-purpose hall of the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center (CJCC), DAP news of Cambodia reported at its website on Saturday, citing a press release from the Japanese Embassy on Friday.
Winners of the contest will be invited to Japan in December to participate, together with students from other Mekong region countries (Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) and Japan, in the final round of the Asia International Youth Movie Festival which will be held in Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
"The festival will be held in commemoration of the Mekong-Japan Exchange Year 2009, and it has been made possible by the initiative of famous Japanese actor and singer Sugi Ryotaro," the press release said. "Sugi himself will visit Cambodia and join the panel of judges at the preliminary contest."
This preliminary contest has been co-organized by the Embassy of Japan, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) and CJCC. Twenty three-minute movies produced by Cambodian high school students have been submitted for the screening at the contest.
The Japanese company Canon donated five advanced video cameras for the contest.
Editor: Anne Tang

Cambodia, Myanmar to strengthen military cooperation

2009-10-11T04:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.chinaview.cn/
2009-10-11
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Myanmar will work together to strengthen and expand the military cooperation between the two countries, the local media reported on Sunday.
Pol Saroeun, commander-in-chief of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces(RCAF) told visiting Ye Myint, chief of security affairs department of Defense Ministry of Myanmar that under recommendation of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia has purpose to build up areas along border with neighboring countries into a peace, security, safety and development area, the Khmer language newspaper Raksmei Kampuchea reported.
Pol told Myint that Cambodia has had the border conflict with Thailand at area near 11th century Preah Vihear temple, and Cambodia's stance has always been that to respect the sovereignty of neighboring countries, at the same time, Cambodia also does not want to lose a millimeter of its land, it added.
Ye Myint's visit is to strengthen the military cooperation with Cambodia and exchange experiences in field of military sector, it said, adding that Pol Saroeun will visit Myanmar in appropriate time.
Cambodia and Myanmar are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Editor: Anne Tang

Cambodian ferry capsizes killing 17: official

2009-10-11T04:09:00.001-07:00

(AFP) (Post byKhmer Hot News)

PHNOM PENH — An overloaded river ferry capsized in northeastern Cambodia killing 17 passengers, including two young boys, an official said Sunday.The ferry, travelling to a ceremony at a Buddhist temple, was crammed with 30 people on board when the accident happened in Kratie province on Saturday night, said Kham Phoeun, governor of the province.The dead included two boys aged under five, he said. The bodies were recovered on Sunday morning and were being returned to their relatives.The other 13 passengers swam to safety after the ferry, which was designed to carry 20 people, capsized at around 8pm Saturday (1300 GMT) on a branch of the Mekong River."The accident happened because it was overloaded with passengers. There was no strong wind or anything, just a drizzle," Kham Phoeun added.

Vietnam-Cambodia trade to pick up in 2010

2009-10-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

10/09/2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Trade between Vietnam and Cambodia will increase sharply in 2010 and the former will overtake Thailand to become the latter’s key trading partner, according to economic analysts in Phnom Penh.
The analysts say although Vietnam-Cambodia trade has fallen sharply due to the global financial crunch, it is likely to hit US$2 billion when the Cambodian economy picks up next year.
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry reports that bilateral trade in the first 8 months of this year fell by 29.2 percent to US$848 million. Of the total, Vietnamese exports to Cambodia were valued at US$726 million. Vietnam is Cambodia’s fourth biggest importer of farm products, rubber and wood.
Meanwhile, the Cambodian Development Council (CDC) says over the past 9 months Vietnam’s investment in Cambodia hit US$114 million, 20 percent above last year’s 12-month total. The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and the Saigon Commercial Bank (Sacombank) have both opened branches in Cambodia.
In the review period, an additional 40 Vietnamese businesses registered to operate in that market, outnumbering all other countries. Last year, 52 Vietnamese businesses registered to operate in Cambodia, ranking third after China (82) and Malaysia (56).
The two countries have opened 9 border gates and built land routes to facilitate exchanges of goods.

KRouge lawyer demands judge's disqualification in Cambodia

2009-10-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Marcel Lemonde

By Patrick Falby (AFP)
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
PHNOM PENH — The lawyer for a former Khmer Rouge leader on Friday filed a demand that the French investigating judge be disqualified from Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court for alleged bias.
Michael Karnavas, attorney for ex-Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, said the motion was based on allegations that Marcel Lemonde told subordinates to favour evidence showing suspects' guilt over evidence of their innocence.
The tribunal was set up to bring to justice the leaders of the genocidal late 1970s Khmer Rouge regime.
Karnavas said Lemonde was "giving instructions to his investigators to game the process. In other words, to look primarily for evidence that supports the prosecution".
The lawyer said he submitted his complaint based on a statement made by the former head of Lemonde's intelligence and analysis team, Wayne Bastin, at an Australian police station on Thursday.
A copy of the statement obtained by AFP said Lemonde shocked subordinates in a meeting at his Phnom Penh home in August when he told them, "I would prefer that we find more inculpatory evidence than exculpatory evidence".
Under the Khmer Rouge court's regulations, investigating judges are required to be impartial while researching allegations made by prosecutors. Defence teams are not permitted to make their own investigations.
"How is it that (Lemonde) can remain in the position in light of what we know now?" Karnavas said, adding that such behaviour was "outrageous".
Speaking on Lemonde's behalf, tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said he had no comment on the issue.
Lemonde is currently investigating the court's second case, against Ieng Sary and his wife, former minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith, as well as Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea and ex-head of state Khieu Samphan.
Heather Ryan, who monitors the court for the Open Society Justice Initiative, told AFP that the defence would probably need to demonstrate systemic bias for Lemonde to lose his job.
"An off the cuff remark made in private -- like what was quoted -- may not be significant," Ryan said.
Under the court's internal rules, Lemonde's previous work on investigations remains valid even if he is disqualified from the tribunal.
Lemonde also met controversy earlier this week when it was revealed he summoned six top government and legislative officials to testify against Khmer Rouge leaders, a move opposed by Prime Minister Hun Sen's administration.
Final arguments in the court's first trial of prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known by the alias Duch, are scheduled for late next month.
But the tribunal, created in 2006 after several years of haggling between Cambodia and the UN, has faced accusations of political interference and allegations that local staff were forced to pay kickbacks for their jobs.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia between 1975-79, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

Flash floods hit Thai-Cambodian border markets, checkpoints

2009-10-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer Hot news)
BANGKOK, Oct 9 (TNA) - Flash floods from the hills along Thai-Cambodian border in Thailand’s eastern provinces poured into the market at a checkpoint for border trade between the two neighbouring countries, more than 200 vendors were affected by the inundation which caused damage estimated at over Bt30 million (US$850,000).
Runoff floods from Cambodia’s Phnom Preuk hill in Battambang province and Khao Ta Ngok in Thailand's Sa Kaeo province combined with flash flooding from Khao Soi Dao in Chanthaburi which flowed into the Thai-Cambodian checkpoint for border trade at Ban Sub Taree and at Ban Suan Som in Soi Dao district of Chanthaburi.
The markets at both checkpoints were submerged, with border traders rushing to transfer their goods and products to higher ground as the water level is likely to continue to rise.
Flash floods also hit the 522th Marine Company base near the border.
There were no reports of casualties. (TNA)

Cambodia's reserves top $2.5 bln: PM

2009-10-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

AFP - Friday, October 9
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - – Cambodia's foreign currency reserves have topped the 2.5 billion dollar mark despite forecasts that the country's economy will contract this year, the premier said Thursday.
Hun Sen revealed in a speech that the country has increased its international reserves by 21.48 percent since the end of last year, when they stood at just over two billion US dollars.
"Despite receiving the impact of the global economic and financial crisis, we can ensure international reserves will continue increasing remarkably," he said.
"As of the end of August 2009, calculated international reserves had reached 2,522 million US dollars," he added, in the speech marking 30 years since Cambodia rebuilt its national bank that was destroyed under the Khmer Rouge.
After several years of double-digit growth fuelled mainly by tourism and garment exports, Cambodia was buffeted by 2008's global economic downturn.
Last month the International Monetary Fund predicted Cambodia's economy will contract 2.75 percent this year amid the slowdown, but praised the national bank for its supervision of commercial banks hit by non-performing loans.
Cambodia remains a largely cash-only economy and a high degree of mistrust keeps many people hoarding their money at home, but Hun Sen said that confidence was growing and more people were using banks.
Nearly one third of Cambodia's 14 million people survive on only 50 US cents a day or less.

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

2009-10-09T04:54:00.001-07:00

(Post by Khmer Hot News)
In Brief: Meeting on recovery
Friday, 09 October 2009 15:00 Steve Finch
ECONOMISTS and government officials are to meet in Siem Reap today for a conference on overcoming the financial and economic crises. The event, which ends Saturday, is to include a keynote address from Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon and will include group discussion sessions as delegates share ideas on the economic fallout that escalated since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in September 2008. Held annually, this year’s conference will focus on current methods for market governance, an announcement for the event says. Delegates gathered Thursday evening for a welcome reception ahead of the two-day discussions.
In Brief: Oz Minerals legal feud
Friday, 09 October 2009 15:00 POST STAFF
AUSTRALIAN miner OZ Minerals, which operates a gold concession in Mondulkiri province, has announced that a class-action suit has been filed against it at the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne. The claim, which was launched by shareholders Wednesday, it said in a statement, was filed over allegations it had failed to disclose debts, reports said, which were due last November. The firm said in the statement it “will vigorously defend the claim”. Despite the announcement, the firm’s share price climbed 2.87 percent Thursday in Sydney to A$1.25 (US$1.13).

TNT in fast lane despite slowdown

2009-10-09T04:51:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Friday, 09 October 2009 15:00 Nathan Green
TNT Express Worldwide (Cambodia) Country General Manager Sjaak de Klein talks about the impact of the economic slowdown on the transport sector and TNT’s prospects for growth
CEO Talk
---------------------------------------------
By Nathan Green
The So Nguon Group has reported a 40 percent decline in freight volumes over the first nine months of the year. How is TNT doing?
We are lucky in that we have a diverse portfolio of customers, including mining, oil and telecoms. We also have imports by land and air as well as exports, while So Nguon obviously had a strong focus on connecting with the export shipping lane in Sihanoukville. Our Asia Road Network, which we extended into Cambodia this year, is also really starting to see some success because the crisis is encouraging people to look for a cheaper option than air freight. And it’s much faster than moving goods by sea from Bangkok through Sihanoukville, which can take up to 15 days. We drive overnight, so there is a tremendous opportunity for customers to get their goods shipped quickly. The garment slowdown has affected us because we import accessories and fabrics and export documents and garment samples, but we have not been as adversely affected as the freight forwarders that focus on exports of ready-made garments to the US.
What import sectors are proving resilient?
Consumer goods, especially consumer electronics and computers, are holding up as the middle class is rising and people have more spending power. There is also a lot of imports of baby stuff. The telecoms industry is very dynamic, and they are bringing in a lot of equipment to build towers. We are also seeing a pickup in garments, with many factories receiving new orders and showing interest in bringing in fabrics and accessories.
There was a Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) meeting in Phnom Penh recently where GMS ministers pledged to accelerate economic corridor development. Is enough being done in Cambodia?
Cambodia is lagging behind in GMS development, which is unfortunate as building a strong economic corridor will not only stimulate the economy but also provide jobs in the transport sector and increase economic productivity near those roads. Some countries are picking it up faster than others. For example, Laos realised very quickly that as a landlocked country they had to do something, much like Switzerland did in Europe. They got proper funding to build a bridge across the Mekong and built some extremely good roads across the southern part of Laos. They also have incentives for companies to register trucks there. In Cambodia, the government doesn’t have special incentives for the transport industry, which is a pity.
What incentives are needed?
What the industry most urgently needs is incentives to bring in proper equipment instead of having all these local companies with secondhand trucks that are 10, 15, 20 years old. If you import a truck now, you pay a 40 percent import tariff, including duty, special tax and VAT. We would like to become a showpiece for the transport industry, but at the moment its is expensive to bring in a good fleet.
ASYCUDA (Automated SYstem for CUstoms Data) is being rolled out and TNT has introduced e-invoicing. What impact will electronic data interchange have on the sector?
ASYCUDA is only used at the port in Sihanoukville. They are still trying to roll it out at the international airport, but I have heard nothing about a rollout plan at land border crossings. But in general, we are embracing IT technology and like to exchange data with customs electronically. It will speed up our clearance processes as long as the government starts using electronic data interchange and applies risk management profiling to that data. For our express products, that’s important. Electronic data exchange also benefits our customers, and the bigger customers are definitely interested in that.
The economy is expected to contract this year and begin expanding again next. What’s your growth projection for TNT?
We haven’t really seen that contraction and are still growing year on year. And we are optimistic about the future. There is still an opportunity to develop a domestic network, and I am convinced that special economic zones (SEZs) will be successful in attracting new investments like Ajinomoto, which is setting up in the Phnom Penh SEZ. I’ve been here three years and I fell pretty comfortable about the buzz here. The economy has perhaps not been affected quite so much by the global economic crisis as believed because it is cash-based, and we still predict to grow our revenue by a substantial percentage.

Forex reserves up to $2.52bn

2009-10-09T04:49:00.000-07:00

(Post byKhmer Hot News)
Friday, 09 October 2009 15:01 Nguon Sovan
Prime Minister Hun Sen says National Bank of Cambodia, which celebrated 30 years in operation Thursday, has weathered the global financial crisis
PRIME Minister Hun Sen said Thursday that Cambodia continued to increase its foreign exchange reserves to the end of August reaching a near-record high of US$2.522 billion, while beating analysts’ forecasts of a sharp drop for 2009.
Speaking at the 30th anniversary ceremony for the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), which was re-established after the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, Hun Sen said forex reserves had climbed 21.48 percent so far this year.
“Despite Cambodia suffering from the global financial crisis, we have still been able to ensure international reserves,” the prime minister said during the event at Chaktomuk Theatre in Phnom Penh.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) data shows that reserves reached a record high of $2.594 billion in May after climbing steadily at the beginning of the year from $2.076 billion at the end of 2008, a figure quoted by Hun Sen Thursday.
“Today, the banking industry is growing both in scope and operations, attracting large foreign banks to open, and the amount of deposits and loans have consistently increased – this reflects confidence from the public in this industry,” he said, encouraging banks to list on the long-awaited Cambodian stock exchange.
The IMF’s country representative, John Nelmes, told the Australian Business Association of Cambodia in Phnom Penh last week that the Kingdom in August was allocated $108 million in Special Drawing Rights, an IMF international reserve asset. The NBC used the facility to increase forex reserves, Nelmes added.
The latest figures represent strong growth in forex reserves for 2009 contrary to forecasts made by international analysts, including the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which as recently as June was predicting a steady decline this year to just over $2 billion by the end of December through to about $1.5 billion by the end of 2010. It based the assessment on falling foreign investment and repeated intervention by the government to strengthen the riel.
However, the EIU has since revised its forecast, predicting in September that forex reserves would reach $2.951 billion by year’s end with a slight decrease to $2.861 billion by the end of 2010. In its October outlook, the London-based organisation said reserves would climb again to $2.983 in 2011.
“But [the NBC’s] international reserves position remains precarious, and the [riel] has … resumed its depreciating trend,” the EIU said in its September outlook, referring to “heavy dollar selling” in August.
Following a consultation with the government last month, the IMF recommended in a statement that the government limit intervention in the riel rate – namely, selling US dollars for local currency, adding that such moves would limit volatility in the exchange rate.
This “would help protect international reserves, deepen the foreign exchange market, and allow the exchange rate to play a greater role in facilitating external adjustment”, the IMF statement said.
Meanwhile, in his speech Thursday, the prime minister rounded on international agencies, including the IMF, for what he termed an overly controlling approach to assistance to the Kingdom.
“It is said I was Vietnam’s puppet, but when Vietnam was in Cambodia, I was more independent,” he said referring to international agencies such as the World Bank and IMF.
“We welcome your assistance, but do not intervene or put pressure on us, or there is no need to help.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NATHAN GREEN

Lenovo officially launches in Cambodia

2009-10-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Friday, 09 October 2009 15:01 JEREMY MULLINS
THE world’s fourth-largest computer manufacturer, China’s Lenovo Group Ltd, officially launched its personal computers in the Kingdom on Thursday, announcing partnerships with two local resellers for its Think and Idea range.
The firm, which took over IBM’s personal computer division in 2005, will retail its desktops and laptops in Cambodia through Anana Computer Co and PTC Computer Technologies, Howie Sin, general manager of Lenovo ASEAN, said at the launch. The companies would offer Lenovo customers sales and support, he added.
“We strongly believe in partnering with local business because they understand the local market, so we can grow that market,” Sin said.
Commenting on Lenovo’s unusual strategy of starting out in the Kingdom with two partners, Sreang Tito of Anana said: “We’re going to compete in the areas of capacity and service.”
“We’ll develop the practice of fair competition. That’ll bring a better opportunity for the customers,” he added.
Tapping into local demand
Though acknowledging the challenges caused by the global financial crisis, Sin said he was taking a positive long-term view on the Cambodian computer market.
“The way we look at it is there’s lots of potential in the market as a whole. There are lots of young people [in Cambodia] who are very proficient with mobile phones and who are drawn to the Internet. What about notebooks?” He said, adding that Lenovo would aim to add Khmer-language solutions in the longer term.

Cambodian refugee among 10 Americans chosen to receive national award

2009-10-08T03:43:00.001-07:00

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to present Sonith Peou with the 2009 Community Health Leaders Award for providing health services to the Southeast Asian immigrants
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
PRINCETON, N.J. (October 8, 2009) —

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced its selection of Sonith Peou, program director of the Metta Health Center in Lowell, Mass., to receive a Community Health Leaders Award. He is one of 10 extraordinary Americans who will receive the RWJF honor for 2009 at a ceremony this evening at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Peou is being honored for his work to provide culturally competent services for Southeast Asian immigrants in Lowell, Mass., helping them to become healthy, economically independent citizens. "Sonith Peou has triumphed over tragedy in order to provide health care services to disadvantaged immigrants in the United States, many of whom were persecuted in their home countries," said Janice Ford Griffin, national program director for the award.
Peou helped to establish the Metta Health Center, an initiative of the Lowell Community Health Center, and he designed the facility to look like a clinic in Cambodia. He staffed it with native speakers and incorporated elements of Eastern medicine that are more traditional in Asian countries. Today, the Metta Health Center provides culturally competent health care services to thousands of Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese. Like other community clinics, the center focuses on preventive care and tries to keep members of the community out of the emergency room.
"I am very grateful for this award, but it would not have been possible without the strong and supportive leadership of the Lowell Community Health Center, whose leaders believed in this project," said Peou, who emigrated from Cambodia in 1981. "I hope this award will bring attention to the importance of providing quality health care to immigrants, as good health is the cornerstone to healing and making a better life."
The chief executive officer of the Lowell Community Health Center, Dorcas Grigg-Saito, said of Peou that he is a "born leader" who has risen to become one of the most respected Cambodian-American leaders in the Greater Lowell area, as well as nationally. "Throughout his work, Sonith displays a level of loving kindness and compassion (the definition of 'metta' in Khmer) that has created a welcoming atmosphere that engages a truly underserved population in ongoing primary and preventive care and ultimately better health outcomes," Grigg-Saito said.
The Community Health Leaders Award honors exceptional men and women from all over the country who overcome significant obstacles to tackle some of the most challenging health and health care problems facing their communities and the nation. The award elevates the work of the leaders by raising awareness of their extraordinary contributions through national visibility, a $125,000 award and networking opportunities. This year the Foundation received 532 nominations from across the United States and selected 10 outstanding individuals who have worked to improve health conditions in their communities with exceptional creativity, courage and commitment.
There are nine other 2009 Community Health Leaders in addition to Peou. Their work includes oral health services for remote communities; self-directed care for persons with physical disabilities; a marriage between health care and legal aid; a mentoring program to help disadvantaged youth pursue health careers; care for victims of torture; an innovative approach to combat obesity; quality health services for Native American elders; family planning and health services for women, men and teens; and mental health services for the underserved.
Since 1993 the program has honored more than 160 Community Health Leaders in nearly every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Nominations can be submitted for the 2010 Community Health Leaders Award through October 15, 2009. For details on how to submit a nomination, including eligibility requirements and selection criteria, visit www.communityhealthleaders.org.

Japan in storm shutdown

2009-10-08T03:40:00.000-07:00

Thursday, October 08, 2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Japanese were bracing last night for a direct hit from one of the strongest typhoons in years as heavy rain and strong winds cut power to thousands of homes and tore roofs from buildings on the country's southern islands.
Melor, which was on course to batter the main island of Honshu today, looks like being the first typhoon to make landfall in Japan since 2007.
"We are issuing storm and high-wave warnings as the typhoon is seen as one of the strongest for the past decade," said Shinichi Nakatsukasa, a weather forecaster at the Meteorological Agency.
The storm was packing gusts of up to 216 kilometers an hour, moving south of Shikoku, one of Japan's four main islands.
It was predicted to make landfall from the west and then roar over densely populated Honshu, the industrial heartland of the world's No2 economy.
Toyota Motor ordered production to be suspended at all 12 of its domestic plants, while operators of railways in western Japan said they would cancel some express trains.
More than 200 flights, four of them international, were grounded due to strong winds in the west, affecting some 15,000 people, while most ferry services were suspended.
"Rain will be very heavy and winds will also be fairly strong on land," another weather agency official said. "It is likely to make landfall with a violent force."
Close to 11,000 households were without electricity on islands in Japan's far south, according to local power companies. Roofs were blown off homes and other buildings while trees and power poles were toppled.
Authorities feared that Melor would rip through the archipelago on a course similar to a 1959 typhoon that left thousands of dead in its wake.
Last month typhoon Ketsana killed more than 400 people in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia. Tropical storm Parma is still sitting over northern Luzon, where 22 people have been killed in the heavy rains.

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

2009-10-08T03:38:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer Hot News)
In Brief: IFC investment fund
Thursday, 08 October 2009 15:00 Steve Finch
THE International Finance Corporation has signed a deal in Washington that will see it contribute US$4 million to a Cambodia-Laos investment fund, Cambodia Resident Representative Julia Brickell said Wednesday. The deal, which was signed on September 30, will see Emerging Market Investments (EMI) Pte Ltd manage the overall fund, she added. The Post understands that development partners from Finland and Norway would also contribute; however, EMI’s Cambodia representative Joshua Morris was unavailable for further comment on Wednesday.
In Brief: Mobile tax warning
Thursday, 08 October 2009 15:00 Chun Sophal
FOLLOWING a government circular co-signed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance last week warning mobile-phone firms they would have to pay tax even if profits fall on the back of low tariffs, Minister Keat Chhon has backed up the call, saying there will be a clampdown on the sector. “We will not allow any company to be free from paying tax,” he said Tuesday after a conference on the 2010 budget in Phnom Penh. The matter had been discussed with Minister of Telecoms So Khun, he added, who also signed the letter, dated September 29. It was sent to all mobile firms, the Council of Ministers and Prime Minister Hun Sen.
In Brief: Vimpelcom upgraded
Thursday, 08 October 2009 15:00 POST STAFF
DEUTSCHE Bank has upgraded to “buy” Moscow-based Vimpelcom, parent company of Beeline, following what appears to be the resolution of a dispute between its two main investors, it said Tuesday. Despite having downgraded it to “hold” on September 24, the bank upgraded the telecoms firm after it announced that main shareholders Altimo and Telenor had effectively settled a previous dispute over operations in Russia by agreeing to establish Vimpelcom Ltd, a new firm. Despite Deutsche Bank’s upgrading its price target to US$23.10, the stock fell 2.54 percent Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange to $19.20.

U16s travel to Thailand for AFC qualifiers

2009-10-08T03:37:00.001-07:00

(Post byKhmer Hot News)
Thursday, 08 October 2009 15:00 Ung Chamrouen
THE Cambodian U16 national football team departed for Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday morning to compete in qualifiers for the AFC U16 Championship 2010.
Under the leadership of Japanese coach Teshima Atsushi, the Cambodian youngsters will face Thailand, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar in their intimidating Group G. On the opening day Friday, Cambodia play hosts Thailand before coming up against South Korea two days later. Then, on October 14, 16 and 19, they face Vietnam, Myanmar and North Korea respectively.
The top three teams in the group will qualify for the 2010 finals.
Timor Leste made history Monday, booking their first-ever AFC U16 Championship finals berth with a 3-0 win over Guam October 1 to finish second in group F behind China. Hong Kong grabbed the third qualifying spot ahead of Singapore, Macau and Guam.
With Timor Leste’s success story, Cambodian Football Federation spokesman May Tola showed optimism for the tournament, even with formidable opponents in their group. “They [Cambodian U16 team] trained regularly during the last three weeks,” he said. “They are performing well. I hope they will bring us the best result.”
CAMBODIA U16s SQUAD LIST
Goalkeepers:
Prak Mony Phirun, Hoam Vichsambath
Defenders:
Our Sophaon, Suon Rotha, Thai Phalla, Kouk Sokchea, Mean Phally, Sem Panha, Mean Phalla, Soch Makara
Midfielders:
Hoy Phallin, Chan Vathanaka, Van Rina
Forwards:
Kong Ponleur, Ly Sarort, Chan Vansimona

Traditional songs spring from the heart of a family

2009-10-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

Post by Khmer Hot News
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IF I TURN ON THE RADIO, I JUST HEAR MODERN MUSIC. WHERE IS OUR TRADITIONAL MUSIC?
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For most of us, nothing can compare with the generosity, care and guidance offered by our mother.
And it is these priceless gifts that have provided the inspiration for a concert, “Our Mothers”, which will be performed next month in Phnom Penh by the band La Compagnie Bosbapanh.
The concert will also feature songs by legendary Cambodian singers such as Sin Sisamouth, Pen Ron and Ros Sereysothea.
Panh Mengheang, whose 12-year-old daughter Bosba Panh is the main performer in “Our Mothers”, says he was becoming worried by the increased marginalisation of traditional Cambodian art, and that it jolted him into action.
He is well aware that many young Cambodians are gravitating towards modern, rather than traditional, artforms.
“If I turn on the radio, I just hear modern music. If I go to CD shops, most of what I see there is modern as well,” Panh Mengheang said.
“Where is our traditional music? This is when I had the idea of marrying modern and classical music together.”
Access to the arts
To promote and protect his beloved traditional art, Panh Mengheang has taken some incredibly proactive steps.
Most notably, he persuaded a number of experts to train his daughter Bosba Panh, and then put together a band to support her.
His idea is to allow Cambodians greater access to traditional arts.
Bosba Panh’s latest performance makes the concession of being a mixture of both modern and traditional musical instruments.
The orchestra musicians are equally divided between classical and modern instruments, and they also perform traditional songs in a contemporary style.
Bosba Panh, meanwhile, is concentrating on how good a role model her mother has been to her.
She describes how her mother always kept an eye on her and educated her in how to be a woman in the traditional Cambodian sense.
With this in mind, the young musician is quick to dedicate her performance in “Our Mothers” to her own mum.
“Our Mothers”, which Panh Mengheang picked up from a mid-20th century story, follows a mother’s fight to find a new life for her family in Phnom Penh, having been ordered to relocate from the provinces by French colonial rulers.
Bosba Panh will interpret the meaning of “Our Mothers” in her songs, images and dances during a two-hour performance at Chaktomuk Hall, on Friday at 7pm.
The child prodigy will also use material from “Our Mothers” on her planned third CD album, La Vie en Rose.
Organisers are expecting tickets to sell well, with 800 tickets available at three different prices.
The best seats in the house come in at $15 for a special ticket, $10 for premium seats and $5 for general seating.
Tickets are available from Monument Books and T&C restaurants.

Brewer seeks to tap growth in domestic beer market

2009-10-05T05:43:00.000-07:00

Photo by: JACOB GOLD
Asian beers are shown on sale in a Phnom Penh minimart last week. KBL says it will try to position its microbrewed beer at the high end of the Cambodian market.
(Post by Khmer HotNews)
Monday, 05 October 2009 15:01 Jacob Gold and Jeremy Mullins
Following an agreement to lease the premises that will eventually house its brewery, KBL plans to rapidly expand sales of its forthcoming high-end beer
HAVING announced a deal Thursday to set up a brewery in Phnom Penh, Kingdom Breweries Ltd (KBL) plans to tap into growth in the domestic beer market despite an investment slump that has seen other foreign firms shy away from Cambodia, says the company’s CEO.
Peter Brongers said KBL signed a 15-year lease on Hagar International’s 65,000-square-foot factory on the Tonle Sap River, which it plans to transform into a brewery to produce Cambodia’s first microbrewed, upmarket beer.
“The beer market in Cambodia is growing very fast,” Brongers said last week.
“People are looking for diversity, for something different than what’s available right now.... Our mission is simple: to make the best beer in Cambodia.
“If you go into … Metro [an upscale riverside bar in the capital], we want you to pick our beer,” he added.
Alongside a focus on quality, Brongers said KBL’s other major advantage lies in the fundamentals of the Cambodian beer market itself.
“The Cambodian beer market has recently been growing by 20 percent every year,” he said. “This year was harder because of the crisis, but this crisis will also blow over. We have a young population that is also becoming more prosperous.”
According to statistics from the International Centre for Alcohol Policies, in 2007 Cambodia consumed just 11.8 litres of beer per head, much less than its neighbours. Vietnam drank an average of 18.8 litres, with Laotians consuming 19.6 litres per capita and Thailand 31.9 litres.
“Growth is likely to remain at 20 percent because Cambodians are far behind their neighbours when it comes to beer consumption,” Brongers said.
Michael Smiddy, a senior consultant with Emerging Markets Consulting, said Asia’s wealthiest economies were also its highest per-capita beer consumers.
“South Korea consumes about 38 to 40 litres of beer per person every year,” he said.
“China is half that, and Cambodia consumes half as much as China.
“As Cambodia continues to develop, if you look at the long term, the market could be massively larger than it is now,” he added.
Leopard Capital, KBL’s major partner with a 55.5 percent stake in the venture, has made the brewery its fourth major investment in the Kingdom, injecting US$2 million from its more than $28 million in capital raised so far.
Steve Lewis, a managing partner at Leopard Capital, said his firm’s confidence in KBL was inspired by regional brewing success stories.
“We saw what Beer Lao had done and decided that it could be repeated here in Cambodia. We are bringing in a European brewmaster who has spent much of his career in Southeast Asia and is responsible for the success of other major brands in the region,” Lewis said, declining to name the firm’s chief brewer pending finalisation of a contract.
KBL hopes to begin producing its first variety of beer sometime in the middle of next year, Brongers said

Tourism campaign for Cambodia suspended

2009-10-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Steve Finch
Tourists walk around Angkor Wat in Siem Reap last year. The Tourism Ministry has delayed a television ad campaign aimed at promoting travel to the Kingdom, said Minister Thong Khon.
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Monday, 05 October 2009 15:01 May Kunmakara
Television advertising not ready to go on air, says Ministry of Tourism, as analysts warn travel industry remains sluggish
THE Ministry of Tourism has suspended plans to air television advertising spots in key Asian markets next month, saying it had not given itself enough time to produce the advertisements.
Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the campaign would instead be launched “some time next year”.
“We cannot run them on time this year because we need more time to be well-prepared for the campaign,” he said.
The spots were due to air in China, South Korea and Japan, three of Cambodia’s most important tourist source countries. Arrivals from all three countries have plummeted since late last year in the wake of the global economic slowdown.
The ministry was talking to television networks in all three countries to persuade them to run travel programmes focused on Cambodia in the interim, Thong Khon said.
Arrivals from South Korea, which used to be the top source of visitors to the Kingdom, have fallen 31.23 percent in the first eight months of the year to 123,729, Ministry of Tourism figures released last month showed. Japanese visitors fell 14.05 percent over the same period to 77,305 while arrivals from China fell 10.24 percent to 70,135.
The fall in visitors from these countries was offset by a 43.66 percent rise in arrivals from Vietnam to 172,171 and a 126.29 percent rise in arrivals from Laos, boosting the number of visitors from Cambodia’s northern neighbour from 27,161 to 61,462. Overall visitor numbers rose 9.98 percent to 171,668 as a result during the first eight months compared to last year, the figures showed.
Underlying downturn
However, International Monetary Fund resident representative John Nelmes told a lunch hosted by the Australian Business Association of Cambodia on Friday that the gain in overland arrivals was a poor substitute for a double-digit decline in air arrivals, with tourists from across the frontier usually expected to spend less and stay for a much shorter time.
The ministry’s latest figures showed a 13 percent slide in air arrivals in the first eight months of 2009 year-on-year, whereas land arrivals were up 20.54 percent.
Nelmes’ warning of a near-term contraction in the tourism sector followed the visit last month of an IMF delegation from Washington that predicted a 2.75 percent contraction in the economy this year, dragged down by poor performance in the tourism, garment export and construction sectors.
Ho Vandy, co-chairman of the Government-Private Sector Forum’s tourism working group, said the private sector for a long time had been pushing the government to air the commercials.
“When we promote our tourism industry ... especially if our promotion is in their [local] languages, it means we are doing the right thing for our tourism sector,” he said.
The government should also look at a private-sector proposal to offer visa exemptions and find other ways to facilitate entry into the Kingdom, he added.
Thong Khon declined to say how much the campaign would cost. The ministry spent around US$340,000 in July last year on a series of “Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonder” commercials appearing on US-based network CNN.

UN Human Rights Rapporteur Mentions the Universal Periodic Review of Cambodia about Human Rights Issues in Cambodia – Saturday, 3.10.2009

2009-10-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

Posted on 4 October 2009The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 632
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
“The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia of the UN Human Rights Council, Mr. Surya Subedi, could not avoid to openly speak about some disturbing trends in the human rights situation in Cambodia.
“According to a statement released by the United Nations on Friday, available on the Internet, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia of the UN Human Rights Council, Dr. Surya Subedi, [said that Cambodia has made remarkable progress over the last three decades in promoting human rights and democratizing the system of governance, but he also] clearly criticized the judiciary and the restrictions on the freedom of expression in Cambodia.
“Many practical examples he raised are not different from those in official reports of previous UN human rights envoys to Cambodia.
“Being unable to report against the truth to satisfy Cambodian leaders of the government and of the Cambodian People’s Party, whose rule led to disturbing trends of human rights violations countrywide, Mr. Subedi expressed concerns about the human rights situation in Cambodia.
“According to his report, the rule of law in Cambodia is weak, and the judiciary is not as independent as it should be.
“While giving examples, Mr. Subedi raised the problems of the freedom of expression, the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly and of demonstrations that the Constitution of the country allows Khmer citizens to exercise, which are sometimes restricted ['although people need by law to seek permission to hold public demonstrations, which is sometimes refused on unspecified security grounds, and arbitrary restrictions on travel or holding meetings have sometimes been imposed'].
“Also, he mentioned the case of a Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian – from the biggest opposition party in Cambodia – Ms. Mu Sochua, who had been sentenced by a court, controlled by the government of the Cambodian People’s Party, to lose her case unjustly, because she had dared to protest against the powerful in Cambodia.
“The cases of two journalists were also cited as examples to indicate that the judiciary in Cambodia is not independent.
“Especially the laws itself, regulating speech, are considered to fall short of the standards permissible [according to international human rights treaties and practice] where the powers in Cambodia use defamation lawsuits to put unjustifiable punishments against critics who are politicians, civil society officials, or free journalists.
“Also, he described that defamation is used, taking a restrictive approach to the freedom of speech, different from international human rights treaties which Cambodia has signed, which require to openly protect the freedom of speech, expression, and assembly etc…
“These are the processes of reality which were reported by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia.
“The special rapporteur of the United Nations noticed that critics against high ranking officials of the government or against the government had been accused and prosecuted for defamation and disinformation.
“As a human rights observer to Cambodia, he found the reality of a deteriorating human rights situation in Cambodia, as seen by Khmer citizens who are victimized, where even the immunity of senior politicians from the opposition party, who are parliamentarians, had been withdrawn.
“It can be assumed that his remarks will not satisfy the government, though there is not yet any immediate reaction. Mr. Subedi mentioned also the Universal Periodic Review of the Cambodian situation by the UN Human Rights Council [due in December 2009].
“In the past, the Prime Minister and high ranking officials of the government had always reacted immediately, being not satisfied with the reports of the UN human rights envoys to Cambodia.
“Now, people are waiting to see the reactions from the Prime Minister, or from high ranking officials, or from the human rights commission of the government over Mr. Subedi’s report and how the UN Human Rights Council can help to improve the human rights situation in Cambodia.
“Mr. Subedi’s remarks were made, while the National Assembly of Cambodia is rushing to adopt a penal code in which at least 43 articles among more than 600 articles are seen with concern by opposition party politicians, especially the Sam Rainsy Party, independent legal people, and civil society officials. This draft is criticized as narrowing the freedom of expression.” Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.3, #501, 3.10.2009
Note:
While the Cambodia related parts of the session of the UN Human Rights Council seemed important enough to be reported in detail, we did not find any other press report – the present one does not do justice to the clearly and rationally considered report of the Rapporteur, and his continued effort to build a relation of mutual trust with the Cambodian government for his duties. In the only report available today, information and political judgment of the writer are mixed, so that the report of the Rapporteur with its specific observations, considerations, and suggestions is not broadly reflected.
We will try to rectify and clarify this through the editorial due tomorrow.
Norbert Klein, Editor
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Saturday, 3 October 2009

The second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh

2009-10-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

Cambodia prime minister Hun Sen (R) greets Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win (L) during a private meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 2, 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (L) ,Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung (2nd L) ,cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (2nd R) and Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong attend the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by Khmer Hot News)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) greets Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win (L) during a private meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 2, 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by Khmer Hot News)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) shakes hands with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win (L) during a private meeting at Hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 2, 2009 . REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by Khmer Hot News)

Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada (C) leads a delegation attending the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) nort-west of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009 . REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by Khmer Hot News)

Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada attends the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3, 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by Khmer Hot News)

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya speaks during the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunt (Post by Khmer Hot News)

Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win attends the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by Khmer Hot News)

(L-R) Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung, Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong , Laos' Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win poss for a photo during the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by Khmer Hot News)

(L-R) Vietnam's Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung,Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Laos' Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win prepare to take a photo during the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post byKhmer Hot News)

Nail Art Makes A Splash In Cambodia

2009-10-04T05:05:00.000-07:00

By Ker Yann, VOA Khmer
Video Editor: Manilene Ek
03 October 2009
(Post by Khmer hot news)

The popularity and quality of nail art in Cambodia has been on the increase in recent years. Beautifully painted nails are now an important fashion accessory for Cambodian women looking to stand out from the crowd.
The growing number of professional nail salons, especially in the capital of Phnom Penh, has helped take nail art in Cambodia to a whole new level. Staff in the best nail shops staff undergo years of training to master the necessary techniques. Girls learn by decorating the rounded surfaces of bowls in aesthetics classes. The minute details of their designs are carefully practiced and improved before they can be hired.
Sun Heang - one of Cambodia best known beauticians - is the owner of Christina's Beauty School in Phnom Penh. She says a steady hand and an eye for detail are the important for a successful nail therapist, but creative flair is important too.
Sun Heang:"Customers choose the style they want depending on which occasion they are celebrating. This one for example is popular around Valentine’s Day, because it features love hearts. In hot weather glitter is the most popular because it makes your nails sparkle in the sun."
Most importantly, she says, the manicurists have to have a clear idea of the design and know how to execute it even before the first brush stroke. Sun Heang studied nail art in Thailand, Vietnam and China before returning to Cambodia to open her own beauty salon five years ago. She also owns a beauty school where she passes on her skills and knowledge to more than 300 eager students.
Nail art is especially popular among young Cambodian women attending events like weddings and birthday parties. The bigger the occasion, the more elaborate the design. But it's a time consuming process and it can take more than two hours to complete a full manicure.
Pheak Chan Vorleak is patiently waiting for her manicure. She has picked a pattern with three-dimensional white roses on a sparkling pink background. She says it is important to her that she stands out in the crowd later tonight at her birthday party.
Pheak Chan: "I came here to get my nails done because I'm hosting a big birthday party. Because I'm a Cambodian girl I have to dress up for my guests. It's very important that I have my nails looking good when I greet them."
The culture is such that intricately and carefully decorated nails translate as kudos for their owner. Because each nail must be individually painted by hand, each one is unique.
Nail art fashion changes with the season says Sun Heang, with different patterns becoming popular around major holidays. Each design last about three weeks and typically costs from about $5 dollars for a simple design to more than $45 dollars for something more elaborate.
Information for this report was provided by APTN.

Ancient temples, present coexist in Cambodia

2009-10-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 4, 2009
It's early on a Sunday morning in Cambodia, and I'm standing at a 12th-century moat. Traces of mist hover above the lotus leaves that dapple...
By John Burgess
The Washington Post
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
It's early on a Sunday morning in Cambodia, and I'm standing at a 12th-century moat. Traces of mist hover above the lotus leaves that dapple the water. Across a causeway, through a tumbled-down gate, lies Banteay Chhmar, one of the largest temples ever built by the ancient Khmer Empire. My friends and I are going to have the place all to ourselves.
We walk in. It turns out that we do end up sharing it, with a local man who brings his cows onto the grounds to graze. And with an affable mason who leads us across acres of fallen stone to see a message from the past, an inscription chiseled into the doorjamb of a holy tower. This kind of company we welcome.
Cambodia's great temples of Angkor, 65 miles away, have long since been rediscovered after a quarter-century of closure by war. They now draw more than a million foreign visitors a year, not a few of whom regret that so many other people had the same idea. At peak hours, human traffic jams can form at temple steps once reserved for kings and priests.
But go beyond Angkor and you can find places that serve up the old solitude and sense of discovery. You can explore at your own pace, to the sounds of birds and the breeze that stirs the leaves overhead.
Banteay Chhmar is among the most spectacular of these places. Getting to it entails hours on very bumpy and dusty dirt roads. Staying the night means making do with primitive accommodations: candlelit rooms in local homes, bath water drawn from a moat.
I stayed the night, and it turned out to really make the visit. The next morning I rose early, as everyone here does, and took a walk in clean country air. I passed mother hens foraging with their chicks, boys tending to a mud oven in which charcoal was being made. I was seeing not only a temple but a way of life.
Today several thousand people — rice farmers, cattle herders, market vendors — make their homes on all four sides of the temple. They grow vegetables on the banks of a series of moats; they pile straw within the walls of lesser ancient buildings that dot their settlement. The ancient and present day coexist.
Banteay Chhmar was created in the Khmer Empire's last great burst of construction, under the 12th-century Buddhist king Jayavarman VII. His engineers were thinking big even by Khmer standards: To contain a great settlement, they built earthworks and moats that formed a square measuring roughly one mile on each side. At its center, within another square moat system half a mile on each side, they built the temple.
More than a century ago, French archaeologist Etienne Aymonier found the temple to be in a state of "indescribable ruin." It still is, despite the efforts of that friendly mason, who is part of a small reconstruction team. But that's part of what makes the site so enticing. Exploring it means climbing over huge piles of large fallen stones, something to be tackled by only the sure-footed. We passed ruined towers, courtyards and ceremonial walkways. Sometimes the stones were so high that we were walking at roof level.
The temple is no longer a formal religious site, but Cambodians believe that it, like all those that their forebears left behind, remains a holy site. In one surviving chamber we found a small contemporary shrine, with a Buddha image wearing a cloth robe, where people made incense offerings. When rain is needed, local people are reported to walk in a procession around the temple, imploring heaven to help.
One of the best parts of this temple is the many hundreds of feet of bas-reliefs on its outer walls. We had to scramble up more stones to get a good view. Before us was a full sample of life 900 years ago: processions of elephants, prominent ladies tended by maids, children roughhousing, villagers in a sampan, servants tending a stove.
There were also many scenes of war with Champa, the long-vanished rival state to the east: The temple is in large part a memorial to four generals who lost their lives in that long conflict. There are also images of the divine, notably the god Vishnu, with 32 arms arrayed like rays of light emanating from the sun.
The carving style is similar to that of the Bayon temple reliefs in Angkor. The difference is there's no need to fight for a view. We did cross paths for a few minutes our first day with a party of about 20 French-speaking tourists. We saw no other visitors that day or the next.
Late in the afternoon, we went for a look at what the ancient Khmers could do with water. Just east of the temple, they created a reservoir that measures roughly a mile by a half-mile. Academics disagree over whether this body, and others like it, did only symbolic duty as earthly stand-ins for the mythic Sea of Creation, or were part of a vast irrigation system, or both. Whatever the truth, I was awed by the scale.
I passed the night at the house of a Cambodian family, friends of a friend. They couldn't have been more gracious. They gave me a room of my own, bottled water, mosquito coils and a big luxury: a car battery hooked to a fluorescent light. I could have light all night if I wanted it.
Other members of our party slept at a formal homestay, the term given to guesthouses as well as family homes that accept paying guests, a few steps from the temple's gate. It had two rooms with large beds covered by mosquito nets. Downstairs there was a basic bathroom with a squat toilet and scoop bath.
Staying the night brought another cultural experience. A festival was going on nearby, and its amplified music carried into my room as I sat reading. Then around 10 p.m., silence. Private generators don't run all night, even for a celebration.
I got up at dawn, scoop-bathed in slightly murky water and walked to the moat from which it had been drawn. I took in the early-morning sights: the mist, dogs prowling around in first light.
I first visited Angkor in 1969. Back then, you could be alone in the big temples even there. I once walked through the largest of them, Angkor Wat, encountering hardly a soul. It's good to know that such an experience can still be had. You just have to work a bit harder for it.

Picture of the Week: A water commute

2009-10-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

While on a trip to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, in March, Dave and Jan Steller of San Diego shot several monks traveling to the floating village of Chong Kneas on Tonie Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. The village is made up of houseboats with floating gardens, a floating elementary school and basketball court
Images from afar
October 4, 2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Have a travel photo you’d like to see published in Travel? Send it to Best Shot, The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112. In 200 words or less, tell us how and where you shot the picture and be sure to include your name and a daytime phone number so that we can contact you if we have questions. Photos will not be returned.

Okada vows support for Mekong

2009-10-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (Kyodo) Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Saturday that Tokyo is preparing to boost economic assistance to countries in the Mekong region.
"We would like to make greater contributions than ever to the Mekong region," Okada said during a meeting with his counterparts from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
He also pledged that the new administration led by the Democratic Party of Japan will actively engage in diplomacy with Asian countries by promoting its "long-term vision" to create an "East Asian community."
The Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting being held in Siem Reap, northwestern Cambodia, is also aimed at laying the groundwork for a summit meeting between the leaders of Japan and the five Mekong region countries scheduled for early November in Tokyo.

CAMBODIA New liturgical dances created during dance seminar

2009-10-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

A group of young people in Tahen parish performing a dance (file photo)

(Post by Khmer HotNews Media)
BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (UCAN) -- About 90 classical dancers from all three Church jurisdictions in Cambodia gathered to take part in the first-ever Church-held seminar on the art form.
At the Sept. 23-25 seminar at Battambang parish, participants also created some new liturgical dances.
Participants came from Battambang prefecture and from Cambodia's other two Church jurisdictions -- Phnom Penh vicariate and Kompong Cham prefecture.
"The aim of this seminar is to instill in Catholic dancers a deep appreciation of classical Cambodian dance and to point out practices that are not in line with those handed down by our ancestors," said Soun Bunnarith, who heads the Battambang apostolic prefecture's cultural office.
Moreover, the seminar trained participants "on how to wear dance attire and as well as create new dances," she added.
Participants also choreographed three new dances -- the "Our Father Dance," the "Holy Spirit Dance" and a "Dance in Praise of the Virgin Mary."
Battambang vicar general Father Jose Hildy Banaynal praised participants for their creativity. The Jesuit priest stressed that the local Church is trying its best to preserve local traditions and spread the Good News through them.
Monsignor Enrique Figaredo, apostolic prefect of Battambang, agreed. "According to my 25-year experience in Cambodia, the best way to spread the Word of God and to get people to know Jesus is through culture," he said. "Classical dance, which is becoming popular here, is an important part of Cambodian culture." He also pointed out that classical dance is an effective way of spreading the word of God because the movements convey meaning.
During the seminar, Providence Sister Maria Art pointed out that the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) encourages local Churches to inculturate the liturgy. Since the revival of the local Church in the 1990s after decades of civil war and religious persecution, it has been using Khmer language in liturgy, the nun said. "And now, we are paying attention to Cambodian dance," she added.
Several parishes in the Buddhist-majority country now run classical dance classes catering to both Catholic and Buddhist students.
At the end of the seminar, the dancers presented classical dances and songs, accompanied by traditional musical instruments.
Ron Sphear, 20, from Tahen parish, outside Battambang, said the seminar was a wonderful experience of sharing and learning from one other.
Louy Samnang, 26, from Kompot Parish in Phnom Penh apostolic vicariate, said he has learned how to use classical dance to praise God. For him, having Cambodian classical dance in the liturgy shows Catholicism is not "a European religion," as many Cambodians believe.
About 95 percent of the more than 14 million Cambodians are Buddhists. Christians form approximately 2 percent of the population.

Cambodian Concerns over Thai Motivation in Border Issues

2009-10-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

Written by DAP NEWS -- Saturday, 03 October 2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News )
The Cambodian Government said on Friday that it has concerns about the political motivation of Thai leaders over border issues between Cambodia and Thailand near Cambodia’s 11th century Preah Vihear temple.
“As we have seen in border issues, n the future, Thailand will not abandon ambitions to take Cambodian land,” Pen Ngoeun, advisor to the Council of Ministers of Cambodia told reporters at a press conference at his office.
The border issues between two countries near Preah Vihear flared into armed clashes because of political motivation from Bangkok, he said, adding that Thai ‘yellow shirt’ protesters rally at the border near Preah Vihear temple with organized support.
“Thailand has still exercised and showed the ambition to invade Cambodian territory,” he stated, and Thais have been repeatedly foiled from occupying areas belonging to Cambodia around the site.
The Thais have erroneously used a map drawn by themselves to falsely stake claim to about 4.6 km square of Cambodian territory, he added. At the same time, he also launched a book title A Challenge to Thailand’s Denunciation of UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee to better explain the background to the current border issues with Thailand. Though both sides “have continued to deal the border issues which based on the peacefully bilateral deal and used all existing mechanisms,” he said. “we have noted that the Thai side have still used a hostile policy to take Cambodian land and it shows that they are not civilized people.”
Thai “extremists” must respect international law, such as the 1962 ruling of the World Court, which unequivocally awards Preah Vihear temple and its nearby environs to Cambodia. In fact, the World Court’s ruling, which Thailand initially promised to respect then rejected after they lost, was based on older documentation.
A 1904-07 border treaty between Thailand, then known as Siam, and France, the colonial representative of Cambodia, also drew the same boundary recognized by the World Court and currently claimed in by negotiations by Cambodia. That agreement was signed by the Thai monarch reigning at the time.
Earlier this week, Cambodia’s prime minister warned that any unauthorized incursions by foreigners, including civilians, would be met with deadly force. He also warned he would tear up the Thai map used in negotiations, saying he would not attend the upcoming ASEAN summit in Thailand.
In contrast, the Thai Foreign Ministry yesterday said that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen would attend the 15th Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) Summit in the Thai seaside report of Hua Hin in October 23-25. Veerasak Futrakul, Permanent-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, said “bilateral talks between Thai and Cambodian leaders regarding the border dispute near the ancient Preah Vihear temple has not yet been set up”. Cambodia and Thailand have confronted at the border with heavy weapons and military forces since in July 15 after Cambodia registered Preah Vihear temple as world heritage site and the armed clashed killed at least than 10 soldiers from both sides. Now Cambodian and Thai border situation is normal. Joint Border Committee will continue it tasks for the talks. But Pen Ngoeun said that he did not know exactly when they restart talks or border demarcation at areas near Preah Vihear temple.”

Cambodia's Displaced: Can Canada Make a Difference?

2009-10-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

Workers demolish house on prime real estate in Phnom Penh during a forced eviction on July 2. Photo: Jared Ferrie
As farmers and city dwellers are uprooted by developments, advocates call on CIDA to rise to their defence.
By Jared Ferrie, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca
(Post by Khmer Hot News )
As far back as their history goes, the Bunong lived semi-nomadic lives, cultivating small plots of land for a couple years at a time before moving on to allow the soil to regenerate. That came to an end when the United States began carrying out its secret bombing of Cambodia in 1969.
"We fled to Vietnam and we lived in camps there," recalled Prap Tuch, an elderly member of the Bunong ethnic minority.
His people stayed and escaped the horror that was to follow -- the Khmer Rouge regime, which killed as many as two million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. The Bunong finally returned to their mountainous homeland in 1986.
But they now face a new threat to their way of life.
Cambodia's government has been granting concessions to companies eager to extract the country's natural resources. Land occupied by the Bunong is being cleared to make way for rubber plantations run by Socfin, a subsidiary of the French conglomerate Bollore Group, in partnership with a Cambodian company, KCD.
Prap is just one of an estimated 150,000 Cambodians threatened with forced eviction throughout the country, according to Amnesty International. A real estate boom in the capital, Phnom Penh, has seen thousands displaced -- illegally, say land law experts -- to make way for property developments. The government recently pulled out of a World Bank financed program that aimed to halt forced evictions by sorting out land title in rural areas.
Advocates for the Bunong and other displaced groups say Canada could be an influential voice on their behalf because the Canadian International Development Agency is donor and technical advisor to the Cambodian government's land reform program.
But as more and more Cambodians are forced from their homes, Canada's response so far has been official silence.
'Three unacceptable options'
The Bunong have been offered three options: compensation, relocation or the opportunity to produce rubber on small, family-run plantations.
Prap said none of them were particularly attractive. He would prefer to produce some rubber to sell to the company while still maintaining land that would allow him to farm his traditional crops of rice, fruits and vegetables.
"I don't refuse development. We need to live as other people," he said. "But if we lose the fields, we lose our culture."
Furthermore, he said, his land has not been measured in order to assess compensation, even though he has been forced out to make way for a rubber plantation.
"Allowing people to choose between three unacceptable options for compensation is not meaningful consultation," said David Pred, country director of Bridges Across Borders, which advocates on land rights issues. "The company should start by listening to the affected communities and understanding what their needs and development aspirations are."
Phillip Monnin, who heads Socfin's operations here, did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
'Maybe... some errors'
Eric Beugnot, Cambodia director of the French Development Agency (AFD), said Socfin has launched a study to determine the social and environmental impacts of the plantation.
"They recognized maybe they have made some errors, some mistakes," he said. "They included in the study what has been done and eventually corrective action."
AFD is evaluating a $2.5 million plan to help "smallholders." The project would encourage the company to integrate more family-run rubber plantations into its overall operation.
"That could serve as a model for economic concessions," said Beugnot, adding that the company has no obligation to pursue such a model; it could just as easily develop its concession as a private rubber plantation.
'Laws ignored'
Daniel King, a lawyer with the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC), said the Socfin-KCD deal is murky, and information provided to the community is often conflicting.
"The actual clearing of land by Socfin-KCD has not always corresponded to this information," he said.
In fact, he said, the deal may be illegal under Cambodian law, which requires an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment prior to granting an economic land concession (ELC). Copies of those assessments have been requested from the relevant ministries, but have not been provided.
"They may not have been conducted prior to the granting of the ELC or the clearing of land," he said.
King was also skeptical of the French Development Agency's role, suggesting the danger of French taxpayer dollars being used to fund the "social aspects" of an illegal land deal.
"Its partnership with Socfin-KCD in that endeavour could be seen as supporting an ELC that is likely to be illegal under national and international human rights law," he said.
Beugnot said the feasibility study, which AFD requires if it is to provide funding to Socfin-KCD, began weeks ago and will take three months to complete.
In the meantime, those affected by the land concession have few options. On June 19, members of the Bunong held traditional ceremonies to appease ancestral spirits for the loss of forest they consider sacred, and to curse the rubber companies.
Recently, out of desperation, Prap travelled to Phnom Penh with other members of his community to raise awareness of their plight.
"I don't know how to get the land back. Now I just stay and wait and maybe my family will starve," he said.
Decades of displacement
Cambodia has seen years of massive displacement beginning with Richard Nixon's bombing campaign, which he authorized in secret without consent of Congress. In an attempt to disrupt North Vietnamese supply lines along the border with Vietnam, the U.S. dropped an estimated 540,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia in four years, which strengthened support for Khmer Rouge rebels. The bombs killed as many as 500,000 people and displaced about 30 per cent of the population.
Millions more fled the countryside in the following years as a civil war raged between U.S.-backed government troops and the Khmer Rouge. When the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975, they emptied Phnom Penh of almost all of its inhabitants, forcing them and millions of others throughout the country into labour camps. After Vietnamese and Cambodian forces ousted the regime in 1979, refugees flooded back into the capital seeking shelter wherever they could find it.
Still more Cambodians languished in camps in Thailand as Cambodian and Vietnamese troops battled the remnants of the Khmer Rouge and other armed groups. The remaining Khmer Rouge were finally defeated in 1998 and refugees returned.
New era, same problem
Decades of forced migration have resulted in a tangled web of land ownership claims. In an attempt to address the issue, the government passed a law in 2001 stating that those who had occupied a piece of land continuously for at least five years could claim legal title. But Cambodian courts, which critics say are notoriously corrupt, have rarely enforced that law.
Instead of bombs, bullets and landmines, Cambodians are now forced from their homes by powerful economic interests.
In Phnom Penh, property prices shot up 100 per cent in 2007, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund. Government officials and other elites have cashed in on the boom, along with international investors, pushing people from their homes in order to develop the land. A local organization, STT, estimates that 11 per cent of the capital's population has been forcibly relocated since 1991, with major evictions still planned. In rural areas, corrupt officials also partner with international investors to exploit natural resources, often forcing people off land that they have a strong legal claim to.
Land reform program scrapped
On Sept. 4, the Cambodian government terminated World Bank financing for the Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), which has issued 1.1 million land titles in rural areas since 2002.
During a speech on Sept. 7, Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Sen, said cooperating with the World Bank on the program "was difficult because it was complicated and had too many conditions."
The move came after the World Bank, under pressure from advocacy groups, issued critical statements about LMAP and forced evictions.
A July 13 World Bank review of LMAP stated: "procedures for state land classification... were only partly implemented." The bank also noted "a particular disconnect between institutional, legal and policy achievements and insecurity of land tenure for the poor, especially in urban areas, and indigenous peoples."
In plain language, the bank meant that working with government officials to devise elaborate systems for assigning land ownership has not prevented land grabbing, despite whatever laws or regulations are put in place.
Or as Pred, of Bridges Across Borders, put it: "Donors to Cambodia's land sector have tried to provide technical solutions to political problems... powerful people are able to grab the land of the poor and vulnerable majority with total impunity"
Yet, a World Bank spokesman in Phnom Penh downplayed the government's decision, noting its promise to continue the process on its own.
"The World Bank welcomes the government's commitments to continue its reforms of the land sector," said Bou Saroeun.
Pred expressed no confidence in the government's promises.
"State land has been totally mismanaged by the Cambodian government even with World Bank and other donor involvement," he said.
Canada's role
Along with the World Bank, LMAP was supported by Canada, Finland and Germany. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is also co-facilitator, along with the Cambodian government, on the Technical Working Group on Land and it holds a seat in the Ministry of Lands.
Critics have been urging Canada to use its leverage as a donor country to do more to stop the illegal expropriation of land.
"CIDA has so far been unwilling to challenge the status quo in order to address the real problems with land in Cambodia," said Pred. "Unless they do so, in a coordinated manner with other donors, there will be little return from the investments of its aid dollars."
Ironically, Pred noted, when donors refuse to stand up to governments that break their own laws, "the aid runs the risk of legitimizing the system."
CIDA's representative in Cambodia said she was not authorized to speak to reporters and directed questions to CIDA's media department in Canada, which did not respond to e-mailed questions.
On July 2, a group of 11 donors and aid agencies issued a statement calling on the government to halt forced evictions "until a fair and transparent mechanism for resolving land disputes is put in place."
The signatories included the World Bank and the United Nations, along with embassies including those of Britain, the U.S. and Australia.
"The Canadian International Development Agency, which has a seat in the Ministry of Lands, was conspicuously absent from that statement," said Daniel King the CLEC lawyer, "If I was a Canadian I'd be asking questions.

Vietnamese businesses gain traction in Cambodia

2009-10-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

A woman carries a large load of goods from Vietnam to Cambodia via the Tinh Bien Border Gate.'
Saturday, October 3, 2009 (Post by Khmer Hot News )

Thai and Chinese enterprises lose Cambodian market shares to Vietnamese investors.
Le Hong Thuyen is home from Cambodia looking for new suppliers for her shopping mall in Phnom Penh.
The mall, named Vinamart, is the Cambodian capital city’s number-one outlet for Vietnamese products. When it opened in 2006, Vinamart only sold a limited product range supplied by 16 Vietnamese producers. But the outlet has grown larger, and now offers a vast array of both Vietnamese and Cambodian goods.
“It’s a surprise that Cambodian people like Vietnamese goods these days,” said Thuyen. “They especially like Vietnamese food products... they’ve gotten to know and trust Vietnamese brands.”
Lay Vannak, deputy major of Takeo Province, which borders Vietnam’s An Giang Province in the Mekong Delta, said Vietnamese products had expanded their market shares in Cambodia and “some products have defeated those from Thailand and China.”
He said Vietnamese businesses have improved their competitiveness in terms of both quality and packaging.
Launch-pad
An Giang Province has a long border with Cambodia and accounted for 70 perct of bilateral trade between the two countries. Vietnam exported US$1.7 billion goods to Cambodia last year, an annual growth rate of 40-45 percent.
In August, the province officially opened the Tinh Bien Economic Border Gate Zone, where Cambodians, Vietnamese and international tourists can access duty free goods at the border.
Nguyen Minh Tri, head of the province’s Economic Border Gate Authorities, said the zone and its ten supermarkets were a strategic foundation upon which Vietnamese goods could penetrate the Cambodian market.
He also said the zone acted as a depot from which exports were launched to other markets around the globe.
Ho Chi Minh City’s Industry a Trade Service said it was difficult for Vietnamese businesses to store their products in Cambodia and it would be hard for them to boost their exports to the market where local production was underdeveloped.
Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the Vietnamese High Quality Goods Club, said its members planned to build a warehouse at Tinh Bien as part of their export strategy to Cambodia.
Room for improvement
Local businesses were offering strong products at competitive prices in Cambodia, but their distribution and promotion networks remain weak, according to a survey conducted in September by the Business Support Assistance (BSA) in association with Vietnamese research firm Truong Doan.
The survey of consumers and retailers in Phnom Penh and Battambong cities showed that high-quality Vietnamese goods were recognized in Cambodia but that Vietnamese products in general were attached to less competitive labeling and promotions than those from Thailand, said Truong Cung Nghia, director of Truong Doan.
Nghia said Vietnamese businesses were strong in stationaries, bicycles and two and four-wheel accessories, footwear and garments, building materials, fertilizers, seeds, home appliances and plastic products.
Consumer and retailer satisfaction with high-quality Vietnamese goods was higher than with those from Thailand and China, said the survey, which added that retailers profited more from trading Vietnamese goods.
But still, Vietnamese businesses lacked the intense promotional campaigns of their Thai counterparts, which offered free products, cost cutting and television commercials.
In need
“We need the support of Vietnamese producers in terms of a distribution strategy,” said Thuyen from Vinamart.
Thuyen said her shopping mall dealt in Vietnamese products and she was finding it difficult to train Cambodian staff as well, due to the language barrier.
Local producers should understand the difficulties and give a hand to traders like her in the new market, she said
Vietnamese product prices were also less competitive than Thai rivals, which enjoyed lower import taxes in Cambodia and had the strategic support of the Thai government, said the BSA.
The firm said the Vietnamese government should increase dialogues on the issue with its Cambodian counterparts to help Vietnamese businesses like the Thais had done.
Reported by Minh Quang

Cambodian FM calls on strengthening partnership for development of Mekong basin

2009-10-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

www.chinaview.cn
2009-10-03
(Post by Khmer Hot News )
SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The second foreign ministerial meeting among five Mekong countries and Japan kicked off Saturday in Siem Reap province, northern part of Cambodia, aimed to boost joint development effort in the area.
As the meeting started, Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong, who chaired the one-day meeting session said "Our gathering here today constitutes a step further in the realization of our partnership for the development of the Mekong basin, which would certainly yield great benefit for the peoples living along the Mekong River and Japan as well."
The agenda for the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting is to review progress made since the first meeting in Tokyo, Japan in January 2008.
Hor Namhong also said that "The cooperation between the Mekong region and Japan is bound to have major implications for the future development of the Mekong basin." He highly appreciates Japan's commitment to provide more Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Asia, saying that this initiative "would not only strengthen Asia's growth potential, but also contribute to ASEAN integration."
The meeting attended by foreign ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Japan, Vietnam was represented by a deputy foreign minister attended the meeting.
Mekong-Japan Partnership Program was launched in 2007 for the sake of peace, development and prosperity in the Mekong sub-region.
According to the program of discussion, the foreign ministers will not only discuss the development programs, but also to exchange views on regional and global issues of common concern.

'Kasit Piromya' attends Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Cambodia

2009-10-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

3 October 2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
BANGKOK, Oct 3 (TNA) – Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and his diplomatic counterparts from Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, and Vietnam, are meeting Saturday with newly-appointed Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in the northwest Cambodian city of Siem Reap to review progress and set the direction for continued cooperation in regional development.
The Second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is being chaired by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong and is being attended by Mr. Okada along with the foreign ministers of Lao, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.
On the sidelines of the Mekong meeting, Mr. Hor Namhong will also chair the Second Foreign Ministers’ Meeting regarding Emerald Triangle Cooperation between Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.
Under the Second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Japan, which has actively assisted the Mekong region countries, is expected to offer continued commitment to regional development with its vision to create an ‘East Asian Community’.
The meeting is aimed at improving regional infrastructure and human resources, as well as reducing poverty, and will pave the way for a leaders’ summit later this year.
In the afternoon, the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Laos and Thailand will meet under the Emerald Triangle Cooperation umbrella in which they are expected to commit to expanded cooperation in tourism, infrastructure and trade.
The Emerald Triangle Cooperation framework consists of the three neighbouring countries joining together to utilise the combined tourism resources of the sub-region for the mutual benefit of the participating countries. The strengths in the tourism industry of each member country will enhance the combined potential in this sector and promote tourism in the sub-region.
It will also help generate growth and reduce income disparity in the three countries and enhance the well being of people at the grassroots level.
In the afternoon Mr Kasit will hold bilateral talks with the newly-appointed Japanese foreign minister over common interests and plans to develop the Mekong Sub-Region. (TNA)

Rising Energy Needs Along the Mekong

2009-10-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

October 2, 2009
By Simon Marks
(Post by Khmer Hot News )
Speaking at an energy conference in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh this week, Carol Rodley, the American ambassador, noted that economies in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, or G.M.S., are undergoing multiple transitions — from rural to urban, and agriculture to industry.
As such, she said, they will need to significantly up their investment in energy supply.
“These transitions will drive energy demand growth in coming decades,” Ms. Rodley told delegates at the embassy-sponsored event, which included representatives of American energy giants like Chevron and General Electric.
“In the next decade, the demand for energy at national levels is expected to continue to rise between seven percent and 16 percent per annum,” Ms. Rodley continued, “or at rates much faster than projected growth of economic activities, potentially straining existing power systems.”
Energy infrastructure in the region will therefore require “billions of dollars of investment,” she said.
Phalla Phan, deputy secretary-general of Cambodia’s Supreme National Economic Council, said that the country’s energy sector had, so far, heavily prioritized urban demand, a practice that he said has resulted in 87 percent of urban households having electric lighting, compared to just 13 percent in the rural areas.
According to government statistics, 80 percent of the population resides in rural areas. Yet the remaining 20 percent, who live in the country’s urban areas consume 90 percent of the nation’s electricity.
“Cambodia has a fragmented system mostly relying on power from diesel,” Mr. Phan said, adding that the lack of a national power grid added to high energy costs in the country.
The development of hydropower, Mr. Phan said, will necessarily play a key role in the future of Cambodia’s power sector.
Cambodia currently has three functioning hydropower dams and six more under construction. By 2020, Mr. Phan said, hydropower would supply 68 percent of Cambodia’s energy needs.
“We need private companies to help the development of the country’s energy sector,” he added.
Environmentalists, however, are concerned that hydropower projects risk wiping out Cambodia’s crucial fisheries, and with them the livelihoods of local communities. They argue that decentralized, local production of electricity would have far less impact, as would the development of micro-hydro projects, which have a far smaller impact on rivers.
Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum for Cambodia, an advocacy group comprised of several local and international non-governmental organizations working in the country, said that continued investment in hydropower would have lasting and detrimental effects on Cambodia’s rural inhabitants.
(Members of the NGO Forum did not to attend this week’s conference — in part because the agenda, Mr. Sam Ath said, focused so heavily on environmentally damaging energy sources.)
“I think that alternative energies could be used,” he said, adding that the demand for electricity in urban areas should not overpower the needs of those living along the Mekong River, who depend on its resources.
Still, Cambodia already imports electricity from both Thailand and Vietnam, and the rising demand for electricity in the G.M.S. is urging governments in the region to favor more regional interconnectivity over decentralized energy systems.
“To meet potential in the future,” said Porametee Vimolsiri, a senior adviser at the National Economic and Social Development Board in Thailand, “we have to have regional economic integration to help each other.”

Cambodia To Seek US Debt Forgiveness

2009-10-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from New York
02 October 2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News )
Cambodia will ask the US to cancel hundreds of million dollar war-era debt the country owes, Cambodia’s foreign minister said Sunday, a day before meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Hor Namhong, in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly, told VOA Khmer in an interview that it was fair if the debt was cancelled.
"I will ask [Clinton] to ask the US government to relieve Cambodia's debt, because it was from the Lon Nol regime,” Hor Namhong said at a hotel near UN headquarters.
"The loan was for buying war weaponry to fight in Cambodia. I will tell her that Cambodia has never demanded reparations for the [US] bombing during the Vietnam War, which killed many Cambodians and caused damages...Therefore, the US should understand the debt Cambodia owes,” he added.
Hor Namhong, Cambodia’s longtime foreign minister, is scheduled to meet Clinton Monday in New York, Cambodian officials said. They are expected to discuss an array of issues.
Cambodian officials have said Cambodia owes more than $300 million to the US dating back to the 1970s.
This is the first time that Cambodia will discuss the matter with US senior officials after several public requests and discussions by Cambodia's top leader, legislative body and international organizations with some US officials.
"First, we will ask the US to totally cancel the debt, but if this is not possible, we will then ask to turn the majority of it into development assistance, and Cambodia will pay a certain small portion of it," said Hor Namhong.
Some countries which the US relieves debt through the form of development assistance use the money for investing in education - an example some international organizations have suggested for Cambodia.
Cambodia's biggest opposition party also agrees with the government.
"We support the government in asking some countries to cancel debts that Cambodia owes from the past, but from today onward all foreign loan should be done with care,” said Yim Sovann, member of parliament and spokesperson for the Sam Rainsy Party. “It should be used effectively not extravagantly and get lost due to corruption."
One third of Cambodia external debts are from Russia and the US.

Tribunal Urges Victims to File Proper Complaints

2009-10-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
02 October 2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News )
The head of the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Victims Unit said Friday victims who wished to file complaints for the upcoming case against four jailed leaders of the regime should take care to file properly, to ensure speedy processing.
Some filings have included different names and dates of birth, which have delayed the process, chief of the unit Helen Jarvis said. Sometimes survivors changed their names and dates, and “this is something we have to take into account,” she said.
Hong Kimsuon, a lawyer for civil parties, said the names were indeed different for many people from one regime to the next.
The UN-backed tribunal is preparing for the case against four leaders: chief ideologue Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith.
The Victims Unit has asked that complaints by civil parties be filed by mid-November, as the first tribunal trial, for prison chief Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch, draws to a close.
“Over recent months, the Victims Unit has played a greater role in assessing completeness and internal consistency of applications made, in order to reduce delays associated with such deficiencies at later stages of the process,” Jarvis said.

Cambodian communities facing forced eviction launch Inspection Panel complaint against World Bank

2009-10-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

3 October 2009
(Post by Khmer Hot News )
Phnom Penh residents facing the largest forced displacement of Cambodians since the Khmer Rouge era have filed a complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel stating that they have suffered serious harm from a Bank-funded land-titling project.
for immediate release
October 1, 2009
Phnom Penh, Residents facing the largest forced displacement of Cambodians since the Khmer Rouge era have filed a complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel stating that they have suffered serious harm from a Bank-funded land-titling project. The complaint, submitted by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and registered on 24 September, alleges that the Bank breached its operational policies by failing to adequately supervise the Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), which has denied urban poor and other vulnerable households protection against widespread tenure insecurity and increasing forced evictions in Cambodia.
A major report about the Bank-financed project, “Untitled: Tenure Insecurity and Inequality in the Cambodian Land Sector,” was also released this week by three international human rights organizations, Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) and Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA).
“The principal finding of the report is that, despite a seven-year, multi-million dollar effort to reform the land sector, Cambodia’s land administration institutions have failed to improve tenure security for vulnerable groups, who are routinely and arbitrarily denied access to land titling and dispute resolution mechanisms,” stated Salih Booker, Executive Director of COHRE.
Despite having legitimate rights to the land under Cambodia’s Land Law, thousands of families residing around Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak lake were denied titles when the area was adjudicated by LMAP in January 2007, the same month that a well-connected developer acquired a legally dubious 99-year lease over the area. Residents have since been subjected to intimidation and pressure to leave their homes by the developer and local officials. So far, an estimated 900 families have been evicted from their land to make way for the development, with more than 3000 families due to face the same fate.
The NGO report states that “[t]he fact that these households do not have title is often used against them as a justification for eviction, despite the fact that many have well documented rights under the law.” “Meanwhile,” the report continues, “the wealthy and well-connected have little difficulty in acquiring land title in high value areas in which poor communities reside due to their connections or their ability to pay the high ‘unofficial fees’.”
Both the complaint and the report cite numerous flaws of LMAP, including a failure to issue titles to vulnerable households in accordance with legal procedures, ineffective and corrupt dispute resolution mechanisms, and a failure to conduct essential public awareness campaigns and legal aid programs.
The report identifies the absence of transparent State land management as a key failure of LMAP, which has contributed to the problem of tenure insecurity throughout the country. It states that the lack of transparency and an unimplemented or inadequate legal framework has led to the loss of public spaces in both urban and rural settings, as well as the large-scale depletion of the country’s natural resources, especially forests.
“The mismanagement of State land has negatively impacted the poorest Cambodians most,” said BABSEA Director David Pred. “Rural and indigenous communities have been deprived of the land on which their lives depend in order to make way for Economic Land Concessions, and poor urban households have been denied the opportunity to secure their land tenure despite their legal entitlements, when they are wrongly labelled as squatters on State land.”
Boeung Kak residents who filed the complaint against the World Bank have requested to remain anonymous, citing concerns for their safety amidst increasing intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders and political dissidents in Cambodia.
The Cambodian government abruptly ended its agreement on the project with the World Bank last month after a disagreement about the applicability of World Bank social safeguards in cases like Boeung Kak. Despite the government’s termination of the agreement, human rights groups have demanded that the Cambodian government continue to be held accountable for its contractual obligations to adhere to the project’s policy on involuntary resettlement.
“In light of the serious problems with the design and implementation of LMAP, it is incumbent upon the World Bank to conduct a thorough investigation of this project and its overall assistance strategy in Cambodia,” said Pred. “After seven years of wholly inadequate supervision of LMAP, the Bank has a responsibility to investigate and remedy the harms that have been caused to the Cambodian families who have been unfairly denied recognition of their land rights.”
“The World Bank should reconsider its approach to land titling programmes that it promotes worldwide, especially in countries without strong rule of law and the political will to protect people’s rights against powerful interests,” Booker added. “Through the Inspection Panel’s investigation, the World Bank can and should learn important lessons from LMAP.”
The notice of registration of the complaint is available at:
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTINSPECTIONPANEL/Resources/Notice_of_Registration.pdf
read the report:
Untitled: Untitled: Tenure Insecurity and Inequality in the Cambodian Land Sector, Jesuit Relief Services, October 2009 (Acrobat PDF, 1.38 MB)
For more information, please contact:
David Pred
BABSEA Director
davidpred@babsea.org
+855 92 285954
Dan Nicholson
Coordinator,
COHRE Asia and Pacific Programme
dan@cohre.org
+66884030093
Natalie Bugalski
COHRE Legal Officer
natalie@cohre.org
+855 17 523276
Background on Boeung Kak case and forced evictions in Cambodia
Spanning 90 hectares in central north Phnom Penh, Boeung Kak lake is one of the only large open spaces left in Cambodia’s capital city. Prior to the recent evictions, approximately 4000 families lived on and around the lake with many depending on the lake for their livelihood. Families have been living around the lake since the early 1980s when they returned to the city following the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Most of these families have legal rights to their land under Cambodia’s 2001 Land Law.
Despite the legitimate claims to the land of many of the residents around Boeung Kak, when the LMAP titling teams adjudicated the area in early 2007, the residents were denied title en masse. In the same month, the Cambodian government entered into a 99-year lease agreement with a private developer, Shukaku Inc., over 133 hectares including the lake and surrounding areas. Shukaku Inc. is headed by Lao Meng Khin, a Senator and major donor to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, who is also director of the controversial logging company Pheapimex.
Families living in the development zone began facing pressure and intimidation to leave the area in August 2008, when the developer commenced filling in the lake as part of its development plans. While few details about the development have been made public, it is estimated that approximately 20,000 people will be displaced. Included in this figure are the more than 900 families that have already been evicted without their land rights being properly adjudicated and acknowledged. In the absence of any legal protections, these families accepted woefully inadequate compensation under conditions of duress.
Evictions and forcible confiscation of land continue to rank as one of Cambodia's most pervasive human rights problems. In Phnom Penh alone, approximately 133,000 residents, or 10% of the city’s population of over 1.3 million have been evicted since 1990. While precise nationwide figures are difficult to ascertain, the rate of forced evictions appear to have increased in conjunction with, amongst other things, the granting of concessions over vast tracts of land to private investors. Meanwhile, rural landlessness has skyrocketed from around 13% in 1997 to as high as 25% in 2007.
Coupled with the absence of tenure security, rapidly increasing land values have led to rampant land grabbing by powerful and wealthy elites, to the severe detriment of local communities. The pretext of development is used to justify the forced relocation of low-income households to remote and desolate resettlement sites. However, frequently the projects driving this displacement are beset with corruption and unjust practices, perpetuating a development model that favours powerful interests at the expense of deeper poverty and increased hardship for the most vulnerable. The impending Boeung Kak Lake development is the largest and most visible of these development projects.
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Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA) is an international grassroots organization working to bring people together to overcome poverty, injustice and inequity in the Southeast Asia region. BABSEA has offices in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Chiang Mai, Thailand and works in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) is an international human rights non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect the right to adequate housing. COHRE is based in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices throughout the world, and has consultative

Tens of thousands in Philippines flee new typhoon

2009-10-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

By ROHAN SULLIVAN (AP)
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos braced Friday to be whipped by powerful winds and pelted with rain from a second typhoon in eight days, fleeing by the tens of thousands from low-lying areas and suspending cleanup operations in the flooded capital.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a nationwide "state of calamity" and ordered mass evacuations of six provinces in the path of Typhoon Parma, which was expected to hit the main island of Luzon midafternoon Saturday.
Parma threatened to expand more than a week of destruction in the Asia-Pacific region that has claimed more than 1,500 lives so far: an earthquake Wednesday in Indonesia; a tsunami Tuesday in the Samoan islands; and Typhoon Ketsana across Southeast Asia.
Cedric Daep, a top disaster official in the Philippines' Albay province, said officials there had evacuated almost 50,000 people to shelters on higher ground.
Police and the military were helping people to leave flood- or landslide-prone areas across the north and east, where heavy rain fell on Friday.
"Our objective is zero casualties," Daep told The Associated Press.
Parts of the capital, Manila, were still awash from the worst floods in 40 years caused by Ketsana on Sept. 26. Almost 300 people were killed and more than 2 million had swamped homes.
In Quezon City, where muddy brown water was still chest-deep, residents turned from cleaning up after Ketsana to trying to secure their belongings from the risk of more flooding.
"We do not know what to do or where we can go," said resident Bebang De Los Santos. "We don't have a way out and this is the only place that is safe, but we don't have any shelter."
In Albay, laundry worker Mely Malate fled with her husband and six children to an evacuation center, spurred by memories of a storm three years ago.
"During the last typhoon, we were trapped inside the house by the flood waters and we had to climb to the roof," she said. "We are scared whenever there is a storm. When we left this morning, the river was already higher than normal."
Arroyo's "state of calamity" declaration of frees up government funds to respond to emergencies.
Parma was forecast to cross the coast of the main island of Luzon north of Manila, packing sustained winds of up to 120 mph (195 kph), gusting up to 140 mph (230 kph). If the sustained winds reach 133 mph (215 kph) Parma will get the official designation "super-typhoon," the government's weather bureau said.
It was expected to continue east into the South China Sea by Sunday, though it's direction from there was uncertain. As many as 20 major storms buffet the region each year.
In southern Taiwan, the county where about 700 died when Typhoon Morakot hit in August plans to evacuate several villages prone to flooding and mudslides if a warning for Parma is issued, said county chief Yang Chiu-hsing.
Earlier this week, the storm that flooded the Philippines, Ketsana, then hit Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos; 293 died in the Philippines, 99 in Vietnam, 14 in Cambodia and 16 in Laos.
Lake Laguna on the edge of the capital rose by more than 3.3 feet (one meter) as Ketsana passed and was in danger of spilling over into districts near Manila housing some 100,000 people, said Ed Manda, general manager of the Laguna Lake Development Authority.
At a briefing Friday evening, weather bureau administrator Frisco Nilo said a high-pressure system near Hong Kong had caused Parma to slow slightly and might cause it to change direction, though it was still likely to hit the main northern Philippine island of Luzon.
Associated Press writers Teresa Cerejano and Oliver Teves in Manila, Annie Huang in Taipei, Taiwan, Minh Van Tran in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Ambika Ahuja in Bangkok contributed to this report

Gain in building approvals belies enduring downturn

2009-10-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Construction labourers continue work Tuesday on a new conference hall being built on Phnom Penh's Koh Pich. Although construction project approvals climbed 7 percent up to the end of August this year, the IMF and construction materials producers say the slump continues.
(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Friday, 02 October 2009 15:01 Soeun Say and Nathan Green
Despite a small rise in construction approvals during the first eight months of this year, analysts say the sector is still suffering from the economic crisis.
A7 percent gain in construction approvals over the first eight months of the year suggests a recovery may be imminent in the property sector, but other data showed the construction industry is still feeling the impact of the economic downturn.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction this week, 1,499 construction projects worth a combined US$1.61 billion got the green light from government officials through to the end of August 2009, up from 1,396 projects worth $1.51 billion in the same period last year. The number included 357 projects worth $470 million approved in July and August.
“This is a good sign that our construction sector is still growing, despite the global economic crisis,” said Lao Tip Seiha, director of the ministry’s Construction Department.
However, the ministry did not track how much money had actually been invested in the sector, nor which of the approved projects had started construction, Lao Tip Seiha said.
According to May estimates by the United Nations Development Programme, more than 30 percent of construction projects “may have been placed on hold” this year due to the global downturn.
In a briefing on the state of the economy last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also said the construction sector had seen a contraction this year amid the economic downturn.
“New project approvals are down sharply, and if you look closely at the import data, the import of construction materials has also been contracting since late last year,” David Cowen, deputy division chief in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department Bank, said last Wednesday. “Bank lending to the property sector is also down.”
IMF Resident Representative John Nelmes said the decline in project approvals referred to foreign investment approvals, which are traditionally seen as a proxy for construction sector activity in the absence of reliable industry or government data. The IMF predicted that foreign direct investment inflows would fall to $490 million this year from $815 million in 2008, largely as result of reduced spending in major construction projects.
“Unfortunately, there are no monthly data on actual construction sector activity, so one has to supplement the approvals data with other indicators, such as imports of construction materials, which are down about 35 percent year-on-year so far this year,” Nelmes said. “Steel imports are about 25 percent lower.”
A downturn in sales has also been reported by brick makers. Sun Rises Brick Factory Executive Director Lay Seng Hoeun said the construction sector was sourcing between 70 and 80 percent fewer bricks from his factory this year compared to the height of the building boom in early 2008.
He said he had dropped production from 170,000 bricks a month, all of which were sold, to around 160,000 every two months. Stocks were piling up despite the lower production levels, he said.
Prices slide with demand
Prices had also dropped from between $600 and $700 for 10,000 bricks to around $200 this year, he added.
He said other nearby factories in Kandal province’s Mouk Kampoul district were facing a similar problem.
Ministry figures show 2,156 development projects worth $3.191 billion were approved over the full year 2008, down 0.64 percent on 2007, when 1,942 projects worth $3.211 billion were approved. Ministry approval is required only for projects over a certain value, with the bulk approved at municipality or provincial level.
According to the UNDP, construction projects increased in value from a total of $500 million in 2003 to more than $3.2 billion in 2007. The average project cost over the same time period increased from $157,000 to $1.65 million as developers began building high-rise apartments and office buildings.

Minister asks Clinton to cancel Lon Nol debt

2009-10-02T05:32:00.001-07:00

Photo by: Sovan Philong.
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong addresses reporters at Phnom Penh International airport on Wednesday evening after returning from an official visit to the US.
(Post by Khmer Hot News
Friday, 02 October 2009 15:02 Cheang Sokha and James O’toole
MINISTER of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong said that in a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week, he called on Washington to forgive more than US$300 million in Cambodian debt.
Having just returned from his trip to the US, where he addressed the UN General Assembly on Saturday and met with Clinton in New York City on Monday, Hor Namhong told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport that the US should shift its approach to the Kingdom’s outstanding loans.
“I told [Clinton] that the debt came from Lon Nol, when he staged his coup in 1970 and brought war from Vietnam to Cambodia,” Hor Namhong said. “The US should, therefore, consider cancelling the debt or reinvesting it to support Cambodia’s economic development.”
US embassy spokesman John Johnson said that in addition to the debt issue, Clinton and Hor Namhong covered the Khmer Rouge tribunal and US engagement with Myanmar.
The two also discussed democracy and human rights, Johnson said, with their meeting coming on the heels of Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Mu Sochua’s meeting with Clinton on September 11.
“[Clinton] raised this issue after she met with the opposition lawmaker and NGO workers recently,” Hor Namhong said, adding: “I reassured her that Cambodia has thousands of NGOs, more than almost any other country in the world.”

Defendants released after Takeo court questioning

2009-10-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer Hot news)
Friday, 02 October 2009 15:02 Chrann Chamroeun
Judge gives reporter and rights activists four days to find legal representation.
A RADIO Free Asia reporter and two human rights activists charged with spreading disinformation were released after appearing for questioning before a Takeo provincial court on Thursday.
Their release comes one day after the arrest of their co-defendant, local Cham Muslim leader Ny San, set off a confrontation between military police and shocked members of Borei Cholsa district’s Cham Muslim community.
According to Chheng Sophors, a senior investigator for local rights group Licadho, “RFA reporter Sok Sarey arrived in court for the interrogation accompanied by a lawyer. Although he was allowed to go home, the charges against him still stand. All the defendants are awaiting trial.”
The charges were brought against the defendants by Ry Mab, acting representative of the Borei Cholsa Cham, after RFA and the CCHR reported on a leadership dispute involving Cham Muslims supporting Ny San.
Chiep Cheav and Khem Sarom, the two rights activists, who are employed by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR), answered none of the questions directed at them by investigating Judge Tith Sothy. Neither was represented by a lawyer.
“I reserved my full right not to answer any questions regarding the charge of spreading disinformation,” said Chiep Cheav.
“But I asked the judge to suspend his interrogation for 10 days in order to give me adequate time to find a lawyer. He gave us only four days before we have to show up again in court, which I accepted.”
“We refused to accept the charges brought against us. Instead, we advised the plaintiffs to lodge their complaints with the provincial religion department and the Ministry of Cults and Religions, and also suggested that they broadcast their information on Radio Free Asia,” he added.
Because two of the four days allotted to find legal representation will fall on the weekend, Chheng Sophors said he doubted the defendants would be able to find lawyers in time. Nonetheless, Chheng Sophors pledged that Licadho would remain involved.
“We will keep investigating this case until the trial. Today we brought in a UN representative to meet with the judge and find out more about the case, but I don’t know what the two discussed,” he said.

SRP councillor arrested for cutting palm tree

2009-10-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Friday, 02 October 2009 15:03 Meas Sokchea
A SAM Rainsy Party district councillor was arrested in Svay Rieng province on Thursday after police accused him of cutting his neighbour’s palm tree.
The man’s relatives and other party members said they believed the arrest was politically motivated.
Peng Kanha said her father, Kong An, had been arrested in Svay Teap district and sent to the provincial court, which decided to detain him.
“They accused my father of destroying someone’s property by cutting leaves from the palm tree,” she said.
“In fact, my father has been taking care of this palm tree since 1983. This issue is a political story because my father is a district councillor for the Sam Rainsy Party,” she said.
SRP provincial Deputy President Meas Kheng said the arrest had been ordered for political reasons by Phang Samon, the deputy president of the court, but did not offer any details of the dispute.
Phang Samon could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Police Blotter: 2 Oct 2009

2009-10-02T05:26:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer Hot News)
Friday, 02 October 2009 15:01 Thet Sambath
‘VIRGIN SPIRIT’ QUEST LEADS TO RAPE
Police in Takeo province on Monday arrested a 47-year-old man who has been accused of raping his daughter in an attempt to channel her “virgin spirit”. The man is said to have told his 21-year-daughter that he would become sick and suffer “nervous convulsions” if he did not have sex with a “virgin spirit”. Though the daughter refused at first, she eventually agreed after the suspect had a “nervous convulsion” in front of her. After a few months, his wife begged her husband to stop raping her daughter. He refused, which prompted both wife and daughter to go to the police.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA
GANG RIVALS SPEND A NIGHT TOGETHER
Military police on Tuesday arrested four members of rival gangs after they were caught fighting and riding their motorbikes “in a disorderly manner” in Daun Penh district. Though they were sworn enemies, the spoiled teenagers were made to stay in the same cell for one night, during which they were “educated to stop it”, police said. Their parents were allowed to take them from police custody after they promised to instruct their children to refrain from resorting to violence.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA
‘CRUEL’ MAN DETAINS AND STABS WIFE
A 45-year-old man on Tuesday stabbed his pregnant wife to death after locking her up against her will for four days, police said. The man, who lives in Bakan district, Pursat province, at first told his children that he would kill their mother if they were not respectful. The children then reported him to the police, but not before he acted on his threat. Neak Srey Yom, the 14-year-old daughter of the suspect, said her father had always been “cruel”.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA
WOMAN RAPED BY HER SON-IN-LAW
A 26-year-old man in Kandal Steung district, Kandal province, failed in his second attempt to rape his 56-year-old mother-in-law on Friday, police said. The accused is said to have attempted his depraved act while the two were picking vines. The mother-in-law managed to dodge the attack. When she returned to her home in Bati district, Takeo province, she said Rim Rem had successfully raped her in 2005. She said she did not complain at the time because she did not want her family’s private matters to be aired in public. Rim Rem admitted to police that he raped his mother-in-law once, saying he did so because his wife had just given birth and “it was time for prohibition”.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

Officials say trafficking has dropped

2009-10-02T05:24:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer hot news)
Friday, 02 October 2009 15:03 Tep Nimol
Govt and rights groups await data to confirm suspicions.
THOUGH it remains a significant issue, human trafficking in Cambodia has decreased in 2009, officials from the Ministry of Interior and local rights groups said Thursday.
Chiv Phally, deputy director of the department of anti-human trafficking and minority protection at the Ministry of Interior, said that women and children in Cambodia are safer now than in past years thanks to increased law enforcement and successful prosecutions of human-trafficking offenders. The ministry official was speaking at a conference in Phnom Penh to kick off a government campaign publicising rights protections for victims of child trafficking.
Though he did not provide any official statistics to support his claim about the trafficking decline, Chiv Phally vowed continued vigilance on the part of anti-trafficking authorities to secure further decreases. In addition to his praise for law enforcement, he also attributed the trafficking decline to community awareness programmes organised by the government that have informed the Kingdom’s residents about how best to protect themselves from predatory criminals.
Samleang Seila, country director for the child rights group Action Pour Les Enfants, said that his organisation and most others working on the issue have acknowledged the trafficking drop.
“If we look at the number of arrests and the number of complaints made to the courts, we see a reduction in human trafficking,” he said, citing “law enforcement effectiveness and the increasing understanding and commitment of the government” as the main reason for this reduction.
Lim Tith, the national project coordinator for the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) agreed that trafficking in Cambodia has likely declined, but cautioned that the news is not all good.
“Internally, it has probably decreased, but externally, it has stayed the same or even increased,” he said, differentiating between trafficking within Cambodia and the trafficking of Cambodians to other countries.
Most Cambodians victimised by international traffickers end up in Thailand or Malaysia, he said, as the demand for cheap labour has been exacerbated by the global financial crisis.
UNIAP plans to release a comprehensive study of human trafficking in Cambodia near the end of this year, which Lim Tith said he hopes will substantiate the limited information currently available on trafficking trends.
“Definitely before the end of this year, we’ll have this data, and then we’ll know,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE AND SEBASTIAN STRANGIO

Thousands displaced by flooding

2009-10-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Heng Chivoan and AFP
Buddhist monks survey the damage in Kampong Thom province (left), while a group of women wade unperturbed through the floodwaters.
(Post by Khmer Hot News )
THE Cambodian death toll from Typhoon Ketsana climbed to 14 on Thursday, as an unprecedented clean-up operation was launched in the wake of the most ferocious storm to lash the Kingdom in living memory.
In a central Cambodian village where nine people were killed, authorities moved fallen trees from roads while victims sifted through the remains of their muddy, smashed wooden houses and gathered what was left of their possessions.
“Everything of mine, including rice, is destroyed. We are staying under a tent, filled with fear,” said weeping villager Ket Suon, 43, who fled his home with his family as it was crushed by the storm Tuesday evening.
As of last night, the National Committee for Disaster Management confirmed 14 deaths across the Kingdom. In addition to the nine who died in Kampong Thom when their houses collapsed on Tuesday night, three deaths were confirmed in Siem Reap province, where the river burst its banks and caused widespread flooding. Two more deaths were confirmed in northeastern Ratanakkiri province from flash floods.
The toll is expected to rise, with scattered reports of fatalities still emerging from remote rural areas. Sorn Thoeun, disaster reduction coordinator at World Vision, said two people also died in Mondulkiri province, although the province’s deputy governor, Yim Lux, said that they were only “missing”.
Relief efforts were under way Thursday, with local authorities and Red Cross officials working to help those who lost their homes or were forced to flee because of flooding.
“When you’ve got hundreds or thousands of hectares of rice fields affected by floods, that could affect food security in the coming months,” said Sharon Wilkinson, Cambodia director for CARE International.
The number of people displaced by the storm’s destructive force is expected to reach into the tens of thousands nationwide, but officials were at a loss Thursday as to what the final tally might be. “We do not know how many families are affected in the country,” said Uy Sam Ath, director of disaster management for the Cambodian Red Cross.
Typhoon Ketsana killed at least 383 people across Southeast Asia before it was downgraded to a tropical storm on Wednesday. The international community has since mobilised, pledging millions of dollars of aid for the battered region. On Wednesday, the European Commission promised €2 million (US$2.9 million) for relief efforts in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Ly Thuch, deputy chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management, insisted Cambodia’s government had humanitarian efforts “under control” as it coordinated aid to affected areas with local and international agencies.
In Kampong Thom’s Teak Mileang village, however, locals were left picking up the pieces. Phan Sokheun, 52, was struggling to make sense of the carnage. “I never thought my village could be destroyed like this,” she said. “My house was demolished by the storm, but it is raining heavily, so my family will get sick soon because we cannot bear the cold conditions. I don’t know how I can.”
Kong Many, 47, said he feared supplies would soon run out. “We have food provided by the Cambodian Red Cross, but it cannot support us for much longer,” he said. “Then how will we find food?”
Governor Chhun Chhorn said 200 police officers had been mobilised to help the homeless, but more help was needed in the province, which felt the full force of the typhoon when it reached Cambodia.
World Vision spokesman Haidy Ear-Dupuy warned it could be weeks before people in some of the worst-hit areas of Kampong Thom can return home.
Although most of the storm’s strength has been expended, the Mekong River is expected to reach dangerous levels within three days. “We are alerting people in the provinces around the Mekong of severe incidents,” said Mao Hak, director of hydrology and river works at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. Water levels in Stung Treng, Kratie and Kampong Cham provinces remain dangerously close to alert levels, he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KHUON LEAKHANA, IRWIN LOY AND AFP

Day for the Elderly

2009-10-02T05:16:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Sovan Philong
(Post by khmer hot news)
Friday, 02 October 2009 15:03 Kim Yuthana
The Cambodian Elder Support Organisation on Thursday took 56 elderly Cambodians to visit the Khmer Rouge tribunal, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Royal Palace to mark the International Day for the Elderly. In a statement, Prime Minister Hun Sen acknowledged Cambodia’s “responsibility, as a developing nation, to pay attention to all citizens, especially the elderly”.

2009-09-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

K Cham girl becomes latest victim in area’s gang rape epidemic

2009-09-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 30 September 2009 15:03 Chhay Channyda
(Post byKhmer hot news)
Kampong Cham has seen alarming increase in violent sex acts, local human rights workers say.
A SUSPECT in the rape and killing of a Khmer Muslim woman in Kampong Cham province remains in custody while police gather evidence for his trial.
Provincial police Chief Nuon Samin said Tuesday that a 36-year-old Cambodian man was arrested Sunday for allegedly raping and killing a 22-year-old woman last Saturday after finding her alone on a coffee farm in Tonloung commune.
“The suspect is being detained by the police, and we are now collecting more evidence to bring against him in court.”
Nuon Samin said that on Saturday morning the victim left home for a farm a kilometre away, where she is believed to have been attacked by the suspect sometime between 7am and 8am.
The victim’s parents became worried when she did not return home later that day.
“When her parents came to the farm that evening, they found her body stripped naked, with wounds around her neck,” Nuon Samin said.
“This was the second rape-murder in the province this month, after the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl,” he added.
Thov Chinda, provincial investigator for human rights group Adhoc, said Monday that in the first nine months of 2009, Adhoc recorded 20 rape cases in Kampong Cham, and that prior to this case, all of them were committed against girls under the age of 18.
“Rape is a very serious danger for girls in rural areas,” Thov Chinda said, adding that drugs and pornographic videos contributed to the perpetrators’ outbursts of sexual violence.
Nuon Samin said police in Kampong Cham handled six rape cases in September and agreed that incidents of rape were on the rise.
Just one week before the rape and murder of the most recent victim, an 11-year-old girl was gang-raped and killed by what is now believed to have been as many as 10 men. The alleged leader of the gang was a man who said he had fallen in love with the victim but thought himself too poor to marry her.
Both crimes occurred in rural areas of Kampong Cham and were committed in isolated locations close to the victims’ homes. In each case, the body of the victim was found by her family

Bullets’ remark a ‘warning’

2009-09-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Tracey Shelton Cambodian soldiers guard the border at Preah Vihear earlier this year. Earlier this week, Hun Sen controversially ordered troops to “use bullets“ against Thais venturing into disputed territory.---------------------------------------------------------------------------we have stored enough ammunition to shoot them, and we will follow... orders.----------------------------------------------------------------------------(Post byKhmer hot news)Wednesday, 30 September 2009 15:03 Thet Sambath and Robbie Corey-boulet PM’s instruction for Cambodian soldiers to ‘use bullets’ against Thai soldiers and civilians was intended to frighten ‘extremists’, foreign affairs official says.PRIME Minister Hun Sen’s order for Cambodian soldiers to “use bullets” against Thai soldiers and civilians who venture into disputed border territory was intended as a warning to “Thai extremists”, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.“The Thai extremists must know the consequences that will happen if they insist on entering Cambodia illegally with the intention of occupying any piece of land in Cambodia,” Koy Kuong said when asked about the premier’s comments, made Monday during a speech at the new Ministry of Tourism. Koy Kuong added, though, that the government was still hoping for a peaceful resolution to the border dispute. “Right now, we still hold the position on solving the problem with Thailand peacefully, bilaterally and amicably,” he said.When asked whether he believed Hun Sen’s comments were consistent with the government’s hopes for a peaceful solution, Koy Kuong said again that the remarks were merely “a warning”.The Bangkok Post reported Tuesday that Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban would meet with Hun Sen to discuss the border row. The report did not specify when and where the meeting would take place, and Koy Kuong said he knew nothing about it. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva downplayed the significance of Hun Sen’s comments, telling AFP: “Whenever he gives interviews to the foreign media, he always has this attitude where he wants to make headlines.”Abhisit also said Hun Sen’s comments were likely an attempt to retaliate against Thai protests held on September 19, during which 5,000 yellow-shirted protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) gathered in Thailand’s Sisaket province to protest the Thai government’s border policy.Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) soldiers stationed near the border said Tuesday that they were ready to carry out Hun Sen’s order should Thai soldiers or civilians try to enter disputed territory.“We will not use dogs, electric bats or shields to prevent them. We have stored enough ammunition to shoot them, and we will follow Prime Minister Hun Sen’s orders,” said Srey Doek, commander of RCAF Division 3. “We will not make him disappointed on this problem.” He said Thai military officers sent a letter Tuesday asking RCAF officials to stop workers from making repairs to Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda, which is located near the temple, because it was in territory they said was disputed. Srey Doek said he had told the workers to continue with the repairs. A spokesman at the Thai ministry of foreign affairs in Bangkok declined to comment Tuesday, and officials at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh could not be reached.

Famlies ask land case be sent to K Chhnang

2009-09-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer hot news)
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 15:03 Tep Nimol and Kim Yuthana
ABOUT 50 villagers representing 64 families from Kampong Chhnang province came to Phnom Penh on Tuesday to deliver a letter to the Ministry of Justice seeking intervention in a land dispute.
The families travelled from Kampong Chhnang’s Lor Peang village, Ta Cheist commune, Kampong Tralach district, in an effort to have their legal dispute with KDC, a private company, transferred from Phnom Penh Municipal Court to Kampong Chhnang provincial court.
Um Sophy, a village representative, said the families were seeking the change of venue because they could not afford to make frequent trips to Phnom Penh to monitor legal proceedings there.
The villagers’ thumb-printed letter also requested that Kampong Chhnang provincial court shelve incitement charges that were brought against three Lor Peang residents last year in connection with the dispute and focus instead on the civil case with KDC.
Ministry of Justice spokesman Bunyai Narith said he was not sure whether the ministry’s Department of Administration had received the letter, but that if it was submitted properly, the department would forward it to the minister of justice for evaluation.
Villagers said, however, that their letter had been rejected by the Ministry of Justice because it lacked the proper documentation.
Som Sokong, the villagers’ lawyer, said he had already sent a letter to Phnom Penh Municipal Court requesting a change of venue to Kampong Chhnang, but was still waiting for an official reply.

Monks' morality important to Cambodia

2009-09-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

By Chak Sopheap
Guest Commentary
Published: September 30, 2009
(Post by Kmer hot news)
Niigata, Japan — In Cambodia Buddhism is the state religion, guaranteed by the Constitution, and about 95 percent of the people are Buddhists. However, in recent times, a gradual decline in moral standards among Buddhist monks and the political affiliations of some of their leaders have raised serious concerns.
The current Great Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia Tep Vong has been accused of favoritism toward the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. Some of his controversial orders include the February 2005 ban on the use of pagodas for public forums hosted by non-governmental organizations, particularly the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
Instead of believing that public forums on human rights create chaos, Tep Vong should view them as a platform for people to voice their concerns and appeal to the government to look after their needs. Buddhism supports such a peaceful approach and nonviolent means to highlight problems and seek solutions.
Tep Vong usually makes speeches on political holidays – such as Liberation Day on Jan. 7, the day the former Khmer Rouge regime was toppled – to reaffirm his support to the ruling party. He rarely touches on issues such as moral standards or the role of monks in Cambodian society.
Several reports of monks having sex, watching pornographic materials and other social misconduct have largely gone unnoticed by the supreme patriarch. Recently a chief monk reportedly got drunk and beat some of his followers, who did not file a complaint out of fear for their safety.
Unlike the case of Tim Sakhorn – a monk who was charged with misconduct and defrocked in 2007 for allegedly destabilizing relations between Cambodia and Vietnam – the supreme patriarch has not reacted to the recent issue involving the drunken monk. This shows that the decision to defrock Sakhorn was politically motivated, and that the Buddhist leader is unconcerned about the decline of morality among the monks under his charge.
If such abuses continue, Buddhism will be less respected in the Cambodian community. This will affect other monks who devotedly follow and respect Buddhist principles. Besides, it would create a dangerous society if citizens were to lose faith in their religion, which contributes to people’s behavior and social conduct.
Buddhism has also played a significant role in national reconciliation and peace for survivors of the former dreaded Khmer Rouge regime. Cambodian people are likely to advise their children to apply Buddhist teachings as a way to solve conflicts in a peaceful manner and also to attain inner peace.
Therefore, the supreme patriarch and other monks need to maintain their gracious role and morality so that the religion is respected and valued. Monks should look back on their past roles in developing the community and the country.
Throughout history, pagodas and monks have contributed immensely to Cambodia’s cultural and educational sustainability, despite civil conflicts. However, their roles and contributions are diminishing in present times.
There are many issues like poverty reduction, corruption, social injustice, land disputes and social conflicts that confront Cambodia’s government as well as civil society. Monks should play a greater leadership role by introducing peaceful mechanisms to solve problems. This would go a long way toward helping Cambodians build a better society and future.
--
(Chak Sopheap is a graduate student of peace studies at the International University of Japan. She runs a blog, www.sopheapfocus.com, in which she shares her impressions of both Japan and her homeland, Cambodia. She was previously advocacy officer of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.)

Most Journalists Mentioned the Right to Keep Information Sources Confidential, but the Courts Do Not Accept It – Wednesday, 30.9.2009

2009-09-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Posted on 1 October 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 632
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/
(Post byKhmer hot news)
“Phnom Penh: Many organizations and associations cooperated to hold a workshop about a network of persons and institutions to provide legal protection for journalists, where also representatives from civil society, government officials, and legal experts attended.
“The director of the Department to Defend the Poor of the Cambodian Defenders Project, Mr. Yong Phanit, said during the workshop in the morning of 28 September 2009 that the freedom of the press in Cambodia is guaranteed by the Constitution, by the press law, and by other relevant laws. Looking at the press law, it provides many kinds of rights for the press, and it speaks also about the responsibility of the press. Those rights include the right to seek information and the right to receive all kinds of information, including information controlled by the Royal Government, except for information affecting national security and public order.
“Mr. Yong Phanit added that these rights are fully guaranteed, by law, for the press. Another right is the right to keep information sources confidential. This is an absolute right of journalists by which they can keep information about sources of information confidential. Also, journalists have the right to publish information without pre-checking. Thus, when they have received information, they can publish it as they want to without checking. He added that journalists have also the right to create organizations or associations.
“He went on to say that at the same time, the law requires the journalists to be responsible for what they publish. If journalists break the law, they have to take responsibility for it. Based on the press law, the courts have the right to fine them, and the courts can also order them to publish corrections later, or to pay compensation to victims. But practically, at present, the [UNTAC time] criminal law is sometimes used to prosecute journalists who have done something which is considered to relate to articles of that law [the UNTAC criminal law], while by law, if somebody is under the control of a special law, they must be treated according to that special law, if they have violated anything under this law. Besides this, they are under the general laws like everybody else.
“Presiding over the workshop, a secretary of state of Ministry of Information, Mr. Nov Sovathero, said that, looking at the whole situation, we see that some journalists who have been jailed or fined are mostly accused of disinformation and defamation, affecting other people’s reputation. When courts requested them to provide information or documents to prove their reporting, journalists always mention the right to keep their sources of information confidential, an argument that the courts cannot accept. This is the root of the problem, and the reason for what is happening with regard to journalists in their profession life at present.
“Mr. Nov Sovathero added that journalists are really free to select the information to be published for their readers – they have to decide carefully whether to publish or not to publish something. They have to consider whom a publication would affect, or whether or not it will affect them in turn, if the information they would publish is not true.
“The aim of the workshop was to identify those who could be involved to take the responsibility for establishing a press freedom network, to promote the support for affected journalists, and to allow everybody to identify areas of problems.”
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2059, 30.9.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Bullets’ remark a ‘warning’

2009-09-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

(Post by Khmer hot news)Wednesday, 30 September 2009 15:03 Thet Sambath and Robbie Corey-boulet PM’s instruction for Cambodian soldiers to ‘use bullets’ against Thai soldiers and civilians was intended to frighten ‘extremists’, foreign affairs official says.PRIME Minister Hun Sen’s order for Cambodian soldiers to “use bullets” against Thai soldiers and civilians who venture into disputed border territory was intended as a warning to “Thai extremists”, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.“The Thai extremists must know the consequences that will happen if they insist on entering Cambodia illegally with the intention of occupying any piece of land in Cambodia,” Koy Kuong said when asked about the premier’s comments, made Monday during a speech at the new Ministry of Tourism. Koy Kuong added, though, that the government was still hoping for a peaceful resolution to the border dispute. “Right now, we still hold the position on solving the problem with Thailand peacefully, bilaterally and amicably,” he said.When asked whether he believed Hun Sen’s comments were consistent with the government’s hopes for a peaceful solution, Koy Kuong said again that the remarks were merely “a warning”.The Bangkok Post reported Tuesday that Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban would meet with Hun Sen to discuss the border row. The report did not specify when and where the meeting would take place, and Koy Kuong said he knew nothing about it. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva downplayed the significance of Hun Sen’s comments, telling AFP: “Whenever he gives interviews to the foreign media, he always has this attitude where he wants to make headlines.”Abhisit also said Hun Sen’s comments were likely an attempt to retaliate against Thai protests held on September 19, during which 5,000 yellow-shirted protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) gathered in Thailand’s Sisaket province to protest the Thai government’s border policy.Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) soldiers stationed near the border said Tuesday that they were ready to carry out Hun Sen’s order should Thai soldiers or civilians try to enter disputed territory.“We will not use dogs, electric bats or shields to prevent them. We have stored enough ammunition to shoot them, and we will follow Prime Minister Hun Sen’s orders,” said Srey Doek, commander of RCAF Division 3. “We will not make him disappointed on this problem.” He said Thai military officers sent a letter Tuesday asking RCAF officials to stop workers from making repairs to Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda, which is located near the temple, because it was in territory they said was disputed. Srey Doek said he had told the workers to continue with the repairs. A spokesman at the Thai ministry of foreign affairs in Bangkok declined to comment Tuesday, and officials at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh could not be reached.

Famlies ask land case be sent to K Chhnang

2009-09-30T05:28:00.000-07:00

Cambodia Enters Fray on Climate Change

2009-09-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from New York
29 September 2009
(Post by khmer Hot News )
Cambodia has urged developed countries to show more commitment to mitigating climate change, saying that countries like Cambodia that are affected most.
In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York Saturday, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said that developed countries, who produce the most greenhouse gases, “should share greater responsibility and take more drastic and urgent measures to reduce the emission of these deadly gases.”
“It is an obligation of the international community to roll back global temperatures before it is too late,” he said.
Cambodia’s farmers, around 80 percent of the population, rely on agriculture, making them vulnerable to climate change, he said, adding that Cambodia had undertaken several climate change responses, including implementing the UN convention on climate change.
“We have also launched a major campaign of reforestation all over the country, with more than 49,000 hectares of trees planted,” he said.
The UN’s 64th General Assembly session comes as the world faces a series of challenges, from the global economic crisis to global warming, food security to terrorism and the threat of nuclear proliferation.
Hor Namhong’s speech focused on global issues, such as the Middle East, a denuclearized Korean peninsula and UN reform, avoiding the topic of human rights.

‘No Disputed Land’ Near Border Temple: Hun Sen

2009-09-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
28 September 2009
(Post by khmer hot news)
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said there was no disputed land near Preah Vihear temple, contrary to Thai statements.
The temple is at the center of a longstanding military standoff and saw a number of Thai protesters amassed last week.
Though leaders have sought to solve the border dispute bilaterally, Hun Sen said he would raise the issue with Asean at a summit in October if Thai leaders continued to make public statements about the temple and nearby border.
On Thursday, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said roads leading to the temple from the Thai side had been made by the previous government, claiming, "even if there are roads in the border area, it does not mean that the land belongs to Cambodia."
On Sept. 20, around 5,000 Thai demonstrators gathered on the Thai side of the border, near the temple, as leaders of the protest claimed Cambodian civilians and soldiers had settled in disputed areas near the temple.
"I would like to request that Thai leaders stop using Preah Vihear temple in their internal political conflict," he said.
Claims by the Thai prime minister and others about 4.6 kilometers of land near the temple "are not acceptable," he said. Thailand was making unilateral claims using a unilateral map, he said. "Cambodia does not recognize the overlapping or disputed area."
Cambodia uses a map from French surveys in 1904 and 1909 and argues that a 1962 decision at the International Court of the Hague and other documents provide a claim to land near the temple.
"If the Thai prime minister brings a unilateral map to me, I will tear it up in front of [him]," Hun Sen said Monday. "If Thailand militarily invades Cambodia, we will complain to the United Nations Security Council."
Preah Vihear temple was put on a Unesco World Heritage protection list, under Cambodian ownership, in July 2008, sparking demonstrations in Bangkok and an immediate military build-up. Ensuing skirmishes along the border have killed at least seven soldiers.

PM Orders Stop to Poipet Payments

2009-09-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

Written by DAP NEWS -- Tuesday, 29 September 2009
(Post by khmer hot news)
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday ordered a stop to informal charges at the Poipet border crossing to Thailand.
The premier’s warning came following some reports that Government officials, including police, customs and armies, were taking money from people crossing the border from Thailand.
“This border gate is getting worse and has started to charge money from the citizens. Is this real police or customs? I call on and send the message that it is not a small story for those citizens,” said the premier. The premier stated that this activity is completely illegal. “All money charged is never given as national budget, it is always kept in your pockets,” the premier added.
The PM said that some complicated deals had also taken place, such as the transport of second hand jeans. “In the past … we suggested businessmen to give some donations to the provincial authorities in order to develop the province as directed by top leaders,” Hun Hean, Banteay Meanchey Police Commissioner, told DAP News Cambodia on Monday.
However, the commissioner stated that he will take measures to control the situation as directed by the premier. “Following the premier’s recommendations, we will find workers or police who are responsible.”
Sao Bunrith, Poi Pet border gate patrol chief, said that police have no right to charge money. Sao Bunrith confirmed that he will take action to control the situation

PM Threatens to Tear Thai Border Map

2009-09-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen addresses the audience at the inauguration of the new tourism ministry headquarters on Monday.
Written by DAP NEWS -- Tuesday, 29 September
(Post by khmer hot news)
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday warned he would personally tear up a Thai border map if the Thais try to use the map again during the next session of negotiations.
The premier’s warning made following deputy supreme commander and chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces [RCAF] tore Thai party border map during their talk at Sombok Khhmoum as Thai black uniform soldiers used this map to solve with Cambodia.
“If Thai Prime Minister uses its map to talk and negotiate with Cambodia next time, we will tear this map,” said the premier at the inauguration of the new tourism ministry headquarters on Monday.
The premier said he admired Pol Saroeun for tearing a copy of the Thai map during previous talks.
Hun Sen stressed that Cambodia doesn’t want war, but will fight in self-defense against enemies.
“The illegal encroachment of last year [took place] as Cambodia was busy with election campaign, if not so, you will have blood from your head; do not push the chest more,” the premier said in an apparent threat to unspecified Thai officials.
The premier also rejected Thai deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaug- suban allegations that the road Cambodia is constructing to Khmer Preah Viheah will cross Thai territory. “Do not use Preah Vihear as your political issue,” the premier said.
Srey Doeuk, Cambodian Preah Vihear Army Chief, on Monday told DAP News Cambodia that the situation is still normal. “The situation is still normal, but we are in high ready station,” he added.
The Land Demand Pilgrim Group, apparently a different group of Thai protestors to those who recently demonstrated, on September 29 will hold a protest demanding 4.6 square kilometers of Cambodian territory near the Khmer Preah Vihear Temple be handed over to Thailand.
Srey Doeuk said that Cambodian soldiers don’t care as they protest on their own territory.
“They can do whatever they want, but do not do or protest in our territory. If they do, we cannot be patient,” Srey Doeuk warned.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has warned protesters not to complicate political issues and not to encroach on Cambodian territory.

Abhisit hits back over dispute

2009-09-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

Sep 29, 2009
(Post by khmer hot news)
BANGKOK - PRIME Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva hit out at his Cambodian counterpart on Tuesday for saying that Thai trespassers would be shot near a disputed temple on their border.
Cambodian premier Hun Sen said on Monday that he had ordered his troops to shoot anyone from neighbouring Thailand who crossed onto land around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.
Mr Hun Sen's comments came a little over a week after Thai protesters rallied near the ancient temple, the site of clashes that have killed seven soldiers since tensions flared last year.
'Whenever he gives interviews to the foreign media he always has this attitude where he wants to make headlines,' Mr Abhisit told reporters of his opposite number.
He said Mr Hun Sen wanted to 'retaliate' for the Thai protests on September 19. But he insisted that Thailand still wanted to find a 'peaceful' solution to the dispute over the temple through a joint border commission set up by the two countries.
Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around Preah Vihear for decades, but tensions spilled over into violence last July when the temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status. The World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia.
Mr Abhisit said he had raised the issue with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the UN General Assembly in New York last week, saying that UNESCO had worsened tensions between Thailand and Cambodia.
He also sought to reassure protesters who rallied at the temple earlier this month and who accused the government of failing to defend its claims over the disputed 4.6 square kilometres of land around Preah Vihear.
'Thai people have nothing to worry about. We will assert our rights,' Mr Abhisit said.
Soldiers from Cambodia and Thailand continue to patrol the area, with the last gunbattle near the temple area in April leaving three people dead. The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia. -- AFP

Joint border panel to solve border dispute : Anupong

2009-09-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

Tue, September 29, 2009
(Post by khmer hot news)
Any Cambodians trespassing into Thai soil to be treated in accordance with human rights standard : Army chief
Anupong declined to comment on news report that quoted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen as saying that Cambodia soldiers are ordered to shoot any Thai crossing the border to the disputed area near the temple.
Hun Sen said the four square kilometres near the temple belongs to Cambodia, not a disputed land pending demacation.
The Cambodian leader also said that if Thai officials negotiating the border demarcation line present their own maps during bilateral talks, Cambodian officials 'should tear them up or walk out.'
Gen Anupong said that all the border talks would be the responsibility of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission for the Demarcation of Land Boundararies.
He said Thailand and Cambodia had agreed earlier on the principle to use the talks to solve the problem not to use forces to end the disputes and the Thai government is still adhere to the principle.
Army chief Gen Anupong Paochinda said the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission for the Demarcation of Land Boundary would be responsible for the talks to find solution on the border disputes near Preah Vihear temple.
"The Thai government has clearly showed that it will use dialogue as the channel to end the disputes. Local military personnel are maintaining good relations with Cambodian soldiers," he said, adding that no severe measures would be used.
He ensured that if there was any trespassing by Cambodian soldiers, they would be treated in accordance with human rights standards.
Gen Anupong added that the Second Army Area had warned local residents in Thailand to take care when traveling in the disputed border areas, intrusions into Cambodian territory could happen and there are still landmines in the border zone which could endanger civilians.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said he was verifying the news report before making any comment and affirmed that Thailand would use peaceful mean to solve the problems.

US Boosts Cooperation with Cambodia

2009-09-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Written by DAP NEWS -- Thursday, 24 September 2009
(KHMER HOT NEWS)
The visit of Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh, also a Deputy Prime Minister, to the US for several days has borne fruit for both nations’ cooperation, with the US Government vowing to strengthen its relationship with the Cambodian Government.
Deputy Prime Minister Tea Banh is currently in Washington D.C. on a fourday visit aimed at strengthening cooperation and reinforcing the US’ commitment to a substantive, reform- linked security cooperation, according to a Wednesday press release from the US embassy in Phnom Penh.
“Secretary Gates stressed the commitment of the US to enhance Cambodia’s capabilities in peacekeeping, maritime security and coun- terterrorism,” said the press release. “The Secretary cited establishment of a Cambodian Defense Attaché office in Washington and the newly minted sister state program with Idao’s National Guard as positive developments in the bilateral relationship.”
In a separated meeting, Deputy Secretary Steinberg and Tea Banh discussed security cooperation between the US and Cambodia, highlighting Cambodia’s ongoing support for international peacekeeping operation and Cambodia’s commitment to host the 2010 Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) regional capstone exercise. GPOI is a US funded G-8 program to expand global capacity to train and equip 75,000 peacekeepers by 2010. They also discussed human rights and issues related to Cambodia’s role as an ASEAN member.
“Since 2004, the US has sought to strengthen and expand its bilateral defense relationship with Cambodia,” the statement said. “Our cooperation focuses on international peacekeeping, counterterrorism, counter narcotics, border and maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief operation, and defense sector reform. Our goals are to develop the capabilities of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) in these areas, while encouraging Cambodia’s commitment to the rule of law, transparency in governance, sustained democratic development, and respect for human rights.”
Since 2006, Cambodia has received approximately US$4.5 Million worth of equipment and technical assistance through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. The US has also provided humanitarian assistance. Since 2005, the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps have helped to build and republish schools and medical clinics throughout the country.
US military medics and dentists have also worked with their RCAF counterparts to provide free health care to some of the most isolated and impoverished communities in Cambodia.

Deputy PM Clarifies Border Disputes

2009-09-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

24 September 2009
(KHMER HOT NEWS)

The deputy prime minister for security affairs has clarified the border disputes between Thailand and Cambodia to the media.
In regards to border conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said both countries have granted concessions to foreign companies to explore petroleum and natural resources in a disputed area off the Gulf of Thailand.
However, he revealed that no companies have started their operations.
The deputy premier noted that the best solution is that both the Thai and Cambodian governments conclude border demarcation then work towards a joint development plan to utilize overlapping areas.
In response to the red-shirt group's accusation that the government did nothing to prevent Cambodia from constructing a road on the 4.6-square kilometer land adjacent to the Preah Vihear Temple, Suthep argued that the road was paved during the term of the Thaksin government.
He retorted that the red-shirt leaders should be careful of what they said as it could backfire on themselves.
Suthep went on to say that the road is not owned by Cambodia but is used by both Thai and Cambodian troops.
However, Suthep said the Thai government has already lodged a complaint with its counterpart. He said he is seeking to resume discussions on the issue with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen
The deputy prime minister added that Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya will further explain the issue once he returns from the UN and G20 meetings in the United States.

CAMBODIA: Khmer Rouge Tribunal Ends Testimony at First Int'l Trial

2009-09-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

By Sean Thomas
FIRST POSTED
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
(KHMER HOT NEWS)

The large auditorium looks pleasant enough: almost sterile, like a modernist concert hall in a small Nordic country. You half expect a jazz trio to come onstage and take a bow before the 500 spectators.
But the bullet-proof glass, which shields the stage, gives the lie to that. This is no ordinary auditorium. All eyes in the audience are focused on one elderly Cambodian man, as he murmurs into his microphone.
"I am particularly sorry for the many children we smashed against trees, and so forth."
The man speaking these searing words is Comrade Duch, otherwise known as Kang Kek Iew. This former teacher was a senior apparatchik in the Khmer Rouge regime, from 1975-1979, when they slaughtered maybe 1.7m Cambodians, through execution, beating, torture and starvation, in their insane pursuit of an agrarian communist paradise.
Today's hearings have been a long time coming. Following the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime to a Vietnamese invasion, Duch fled like many Khmer Rouge cadres to rural Cambodia. For 20 years he criss-crossed the country, adopting a bogus identity. He was finally tracked down in 1999 by British photographer Nic Dunlop, who recognised the gaunt figure teaching maths in Samlaut as the notorious Duch, who once ran the Khmer Rouge torture garden at Tuol Sleng, and the killing fields of Cheong Ek.
Even then Duch nearly evaded justice. For 10 years Cambodian politicians, foreign governments and UN agencies have haggled over the precise terms of this tribunal. Some thought it would never happen. And yet here we are, in the Extraordinary Chambers of the Court of Cambodia, in a packed and specially modified courtroom on the far outskirts of Phnom Penh.
Unlike the other four Khmer Rouge leaders who are still awaiting arraignment, Duch has cooperated with the courts. He has pleaded guilty to the principal charge, that he organised the torment and murder of 15,000 people. He merely denies he did any of the killing himself.
Why has he confessed? Some say it is yet another ruse by the wily old communist, aimed at lessening an inevitably heavy sentence; others believe his remorse is genuine: Duch became a fervent Christian years ago.
Certainly he looks sorrowful and drawn on this hot sunny morning in Phnom Penh. And he is not alone. I can hear stifled sobs across the auditorium. No doubt there are parents here, parents of those children who were "smashed to death against trees" by Duch's underlings.
Today's hearings are the last of the trial: a final chance for Duch to explain himself - if such a thing is possible. It is also a final chance for Cambodians to witness the Khmer Rouge being brought to justice: the other four members of the regime, still facing trial, are so old they might die before they reach court.
The summing-up in Duch's case is expected to take place in late November with sentencing early next year.
In the meantime, the defending lawyer asks Duch if he has anything to say. Duch quietly apologises to his victims. Then he claims that he had little choice in doing what he did. If he had refused to work at Tuol Sleng he would have been killed himself. The Khmer Rouge would not have allowed him to walk away.
He leans and whispers into the microphone. "The only exit was survival."
A few minutes later the court rises, and the prisoner is escorted below. As he steps down from the dock, I realise, with a shock, just how small he is. Duch is just a little old man, with a haggard face, who embodies the agony, grief and despair of an entire nation.

Border snarl up as Cambodians demand truck payment

2009-09-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

By The Nation
Published on September 25, 2009
(KHMER HOT NEWS)

With no explanation, Cambodian customs officials in Poi Pet have stopped allowing Thai trucks to pass beyond their boundary by just presenting a copy of the truckregistration book.
Customs officials there yesterday demanded that the drivers present the original truckregistration book and submit a security sum of US$5,000 (Bt167,750) each.
Although the procedures are in line with customs regulations, they have long been relaxed.
For years, trucks from Thai soil could move past the Poi Pet checkpoint by just presenting a copy of the truckregistration book.
When the procedures suddenly changed, more than 150 trucks got stuck in front of the Baan Klong Luek permanent checkpoint in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district on the Thai side.
The tailback stretched back as far as 500 meters since 9 am yesterday, paralysing traffic in nearby areas.
The trucks were supposed to deliver products to Cambodia.
"We have no way to find money to post the $5,000 security sum," a truck driver complained.
Cambodia-Thailand Border Coordination Office official Leem Tek of reportedly told the drivers that some Cambodian customs officials took the move because they were unhappy with Thai officials.
"They drove to Thailand but were asked to present some documents. Upset with the treatment, they have decided to stop being lenient with Thai trucks," Leem Tek said.
Asked why the Cambodian customs officials did not inform the truck drivers in advance, he refused to give any answer and retreated to the Cambodian side.
However, at 12.30pm, Cambodian customs officials agreed to let the trucks pass the Poi Pet checkpoint with just a copy of the truckregistration book for one day only.
Although the decision quickly eased traffic congestion in front of the Ban Klong Luek checkpoint yesterday, it raised concern among the drivers about what was to come the next day.

New UN resolution aims at nuclear-free world

2009-09-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

US President Barack Obama(R) greets UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as he arrives to chair a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York. World powers Thursday adopted a landmark resolution seeking to rid the planet of nuclear arms at an unprecedented Security Council summit hosted by President Obama. (AFP/Emmanuel Dunand)

UNITED NATIONS – With President Barack Obama presiding over a historic session, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a U.S.-sponsored resolution Thursday committing all nations to work for a nuclear weapons-free world.
Russia, China and developing nations supported the measure, giving it global clout and strong political backing.
The resolution calls for stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and "reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism." It calls for better security for nuclear weapons materials and underscores the Security Council's intention to take action if such material or nuclear weapons get into the hands of terrorists.
The resolution consolidated many elements previously endorsed individually in the Security Council or other international forums. But bringing them together in a single document, voted on by global leaders, should add political momentum to efforts to achieve these goals, particularly at important conferences next year on nuclear security and on strengthening the Nonproliferation Treaty.
It was only the fifth time the Security Council met at summit level since the U.N. was founded in 1945 and 14 of the 15 chairs around the council's horseshoe-shaped table were filled by presidents and prime ministers. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's name was on the U.N.-circulated list as attending but he was a no-show. Libya's U.N. ambassador spoke for his country.
The U.S. holds the rotating council presidency this month and Obama was the first American president to preside over a Security Council summit, gaveling the meeting into session and announcing that "the draft resolution has been adopted unanimously."
"The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our shared commitment to a goal of a world without nuclear weapons," Obama said immediately after the vote. "And it brings Security Council agreement on a broad framework for action to reduce nuclear dangers as we work toward that goal."
Just one nuclear weapon set off in a major city — "be it New York or Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing, London or Paris" — could kill hundreds of thousands of people and cause major destruction, Obama said.
The council endorsed a global effort to "lock down all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years" and the president announced that the United States will host an April summit to advance compliance and assist all nations in achieving the goal.
The resolution does not mention any country by name but it reaffirms previous Security Council resolutions that imposed sanctions on Iran and North Korea for their nuclear activities. It does not call for any new sanctions.
The resolution "expresses particular concern at the current major challenges to the nonproliferation regime that the Security Council has acted upon."
"This is not about singling out an individual nation," Obama said. "International law is not an empty promise, and treaties must be enforced."
But Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy all identified North Korea, which has tested nuclear weapons, and Iran, suspected of harboring weapon plans, as obstacles to a safer world.
Sarkozy sharply criticized both countries for ignoring Security Council resolutions calling on them to cease such activities.
"We may all be threatened one day by a neighbor, by a neighbor endowing itself" with nuclear weapons, he said.
"What I believe is that if we have the courage to affirm and impose sanctions on those who violate resolutions of the Security Council we will be lending credibility to our commitment to a world with fewer nuclear weapons and ultimately with no nuclear weapons," Sarkozy said.
The British leader called on the council to consider "far tougher sanctions" against Iran.
Iran's U.N. Mission issued a statement calling allegations about its nuclear program "totally untrue and without any foundation," insisting it is pursuing nuclear power as an alternative source of energy "to supply its booming population and rapid development."
Iran called French claims "preposterous" and accused Britain of "deliberately and cynically" ignoring its legal commitments to take practical steps to eliminate nuclear weapons but did not mention the United States by name.
Diplomats from Iran are scheduled to hold talks on Oct. 1 with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.
The Iranian statement reiterates the country's "readiness to engage in serious and constructive negotiations with interested parties, based on respect, justice, rights of nations and collective commitments, aimed at reaching a framework for cooperative relationships." But it said that to achieve success in future negotiations the six countries should abandon "futile and illegal demands of the past years" that include suspending Iran's enrichment program.
Obama said the resolution reflects the nuclear agenda he outlined in his April speech in Prague when he declared his commitment to "a world without nuclear weapons."
The president called in that speech for the slashing of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, adoption of the treaty banning all nuclear tests, an international fuel bank to better safeguard nuclear material, and negotiations on a new treaty that "verifiably" ends the production of fissile materials for atomic weapons.
He also strongly backed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, which requires signatory nations not to pursue nuclear weapons in exchange for a commitment by the five nuclear powers to move toward nuclear disarmament. States without nuclear weapons are guaranteed access to peaceful nuclear technology for electricity generation.
All those measures are included in the draft resolution.
The resolution suggests that the Security Council consider taking firmer actions in the case of a country withdrawing from the NPT — as North Korea did — and stresses that countries that pull out are responsible for all violations before withdrawal.
Iran in its statement reaffirmed its commitment to the NPT, saying it takes its responsibilities under the treaty "seriously."
In its opening paragraph, the resolution reaffirms the council's commitment "to seek a safer world for all and to create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons."
Obama warned Thursday against violations of the NPT saying, "We must demonstrate that international law is not an empty promise, and that treaties will be enforced."
But global differences remain.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that "our main shared goal is to untie the problem knots" among nations seeking nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.
"This is complicated since the level of mistrust among nations remains too high, but it must be done," he said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao focused on a late addition to Thursday's resolution: a call for all nuclear-weapon states to commit to "no first use" of those weapons, and to not using them against non-nuclear states. China has long proclaimed such a policy, which the U.S. has never embraced.
"All nuclear-weapon states should make an unequivocal commitment of unconditionally not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states," Hu said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saluted the national leaders for joining in the unprecedented Security Council summit on nuclear arms.
"This is a historic moment, a moment offering a fresh start toward a new future," he said.
Among the invited guests were U.N. nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei, former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry, media mogul Ted Turner, former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and Queen Noor of Jordan — all campaigners against nuclear weapons.
Nunn, a Georgia Democrat who heads the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based group designed to fight the global spread of nuclear materials, said the most important thing about the resolution "is the high-level visibility that will be taking place ... with world leaders gathering to remind both themselves and the world that we are at a nuclear tipping point."
As Obama left the Security Council chamber, he told the Associated Press: "It was an excellent day."

Thai Court Hands Hefty Sentences to 16 Cambodians

2009-09-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

A provincial court in Thailand sentenced 16 Cambodians to lengthy prison terms Wednesday, for illegally entry and illegal logging on Thai soil, officials said Thursday.
Cambodian officials say the accused had not crossed into Thailand before they were arrested by Ubon provincial authorities.
The provincial court sentenced 15 of the accused to nine-year prison terms and another to six years and two months, the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Cambodia and Thailand are in a protracted border dispute, and Cambodian officials have accused Thai authorities of killing one Cambodian boy after an arrest earlier this month.
The group sentenced Wednesday were arrested in late July and comprised people living near Preah Vihear temple, which is at the center of a border dispute that has left seven soldiers dead and has continued for more than a year.
Cambodian officials say the group was on Cambodian soil, searching for wild honey and valuable timber.
Cambodian officials now have one month to lodge an appeal, said Koy Kong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Our lawyers are preparing the documents for the appeal.”
Wednesday’s hearing was attended by two independent lawyers, the Cambodian consul for Sras Keo province and officials from Preah Vihear province.
Kouch Sonnary, chief of the An Ses border pass, who joined Preah Vihear officials at the hearing, said the Cambodians had denied cutting logs and said they did understand the laws of Thailand and were unaware they had crossed a borderline.
Ros Heng, Choam Ksant district governor in Preah Vihear called the sentencing “unjust.”
“Thai authorities must guard clear border points, and the arrest was not made in a clear border area,” he said.

Cambodia National Holidays: Constitution’s Day – Thursday, 24.9.2009

2009-09-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

The public holidays of Cambodia as announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, designate 24 September is designated as “Constitution’s Day.”
At this occasion, access is made available to the text of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, as presented on the website of the Embassy of Cambodia, Washington D.C., which points out: “It is not an official translation.” The following selections were made considering issues on which the Khmer press touched over the years. Still, the text presented here is much longer than a normal daily publication. While selecting sections of text, only full articles, or full paragraphs, have been omitted; all full sentences presented here, including wording and spelling, are kept as found in the source quoted.
CONSTITUTION OF THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA
PREAMBLE
WE, THE PEOPLE OF CAMBODIA, Having known a grand civilization of a prosperous, powerful, and glorious nation whose prestige radiates like a diamond,
Having endured sufferings and destructions and having experienced a tragic decline in the course of the two decades,
Having awakened, stood up with a resolute determination to strengthen the national unity, to preserve and defend Cambodia’s territory and its precious sovereignty and the prestige of Angkor civilization, and to restore Cambodia into an “Island of Peace” based on a multi-party liberal democratic regime with guaranteeing human rights and the respect of law, and responsible for the destiny of the nation always evolving toward progress, development, prosperity, and glory,
WITH THIS RESOLUTE WILL
We inscribe the following as the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia:
CHAPTER I: SOVEREIGNTY
Article 1: Cambodia is a Kingdom with a King who shall rule according to the Constitution and to the principles of liberal democracy and pluralism.
The Kingdom of Cambodia shall be independent, sovereign, peaceful, permanently neutral and non-aligned country.
Article 2: The territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia, shall absolutely not to be violated within its borders as defined in the 1/100,000 scale map made between the year 1933-1953 and internationally recognized between the years 1963 – 1969.
Article 3: The Kingdom of Cambodia is an indivisible state.
Article 4: The motto of the Kingdom of Cambodia is: “Nation, Religion, King”.
Article 5: The official language and script are Khmer.
Article 6: Phnom Penh is the capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
CHAPTER II: THE KING
Article 7: The King of Cambodia shall reign but shall not govern.
The King shall be the Head of State for life. The King shall be inviolable.
Article 8: The King of Cambodia shall be a symbol of unity and eternity of the nation.
The King shall be guarantor of the national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the protector of rights and freedom for all citizens and the guarantor of international treaties.
Article 11: In the case that the King cannot perform His normal duties as Head of State owing to His serious illness as certified by doctors chosen by the President of the Senate, the President of the Assembly and the Prime Minister the President of the Senate shall perform the duties of Head of state as “Regent.”
In the case of the President of the Senate cannot perform his duties as the acting Head of State replacing the King as “Regent” when he is ill seriously as provided in the above paragraph the President of Assembly shall take them over.
In the case as stated in the above paragraph, other dignitaries as following hierarchy can perform Acting Head of State as Regent:
A. First Vice-President of the Senate
B. First Vice-President of the Assembly
C. Second Vice-Presiednt of the Senate
D. Second Vice-President of the Assembly
Article 12: In case of the death of the King, the President of the Senate shall take over the responsibility as Acting Head of State in the capacity of Regent of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
In the case that the President of the Senate cannot perform his duties of the acting Head of State as “Regent” in the place of the King on the death of the King the responsibilities of Head of State in the capacity of regent shall be exercised in conformity with the second and third paragraph of new Article 11.
Article 17: The provision as stated in the first clause of Article 7, “the King of Cambodia shall reign but shall not govern”, absolutely shall not be amended.
Article 20: The King shall grant an audience twice a month to the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers to hear their reports on the State of the Nation.
Article 21: Upon Proposals by the Council of Ministers, the King shall sign decrees (Kret) appointing, transferring or ending the mission of high civil and military officials, ambassadors and Envoys Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
Upon proposals by the Supreme Council of Magistracy, the King shall sign decrees (Kret) appointing, transferring or removing judges.
Article 23: The King is the Supreme Commander of the Royal Khmer Armed Forces. The Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Khmer Armed Forces shall be appointed to command the Armed Forces.
Article 26: The King shall sign and ratify international treaties and conventions after a vote of approval by the National Assembly and the Senate.
Article 27: The King shall have the right to grant partial or complete amnesty.
Article 28: The King shall sign the law promulgating the Contstitution; laws adopted by the National Assembly and laws completely reviewed by the Senate and shall sign the Royal decree presented by the Council of Ministers.
Article 30: In the absence of the King, the President of the Senate shall assume the duties of acting Head of State.
In the case that the President of the Senate cannot perform his duties as the acting Head of State replacing the King due to his absence, the responsibilities as the Acting Head of State shall be exercised in conformity with second and third paragraph of new Article 11.
CHAPTER III: THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF KHMER CITIZENS
Article 31: The Kingdom of Cambodia shall recognize and respect human rights as stipulated in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human rights, the covenants and conventions related to human rights, women’s and children’s rights.
Every Khmer citizens shall be equal before the law, enjoying the same rights, freedom and fulfilling the same obligations regardless of race, color, sex, language, religious belief, political tendency, birth origin, social status, wealth or other status. The exercise of personal rights and freedom by any individual shall not adversely affect the rights and freedom of others. The exercise of such rights and freedom shall be in accordance with the law.
Article 32: Every Khmer citizen shall have the right to life, personal freedom, and security.
There shall be no capital punishment.
Article 35: Khmer citizens of either sex shall have the right to participate actively in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the nation.
Any suggestions from the people shall be given full consideration by the organs of the State.
Article 36: Khmer citizens of either sex shall receive equal pay for equal work.
The work by housewives in the home shall have the same value as what they can receive when working outside the home.
Every Khmer citizen shall have the right to obtain social security and other social benefits as determined by law.
Khmer citizens of either sex shall have the right to form and to be member of trade unions.
Article 37: The right to strike and to non-violent demonstration shall be implemented in the framework of a law.
Article 38: The law guarantees there shall be no physical abuse against any individual.
The law shall protect life, honor, and dignity of the citizens.
The prosecution, arrest, or detention of any person shall not be done except in accordance with the law.
Coercion, physical ill-treatment or any other mistreatment that imposes additional punishment on a detainee or prisoner shall be prohibited. Persons who commit, participate or conspire in such acts shall be punished according to the law.
Confessions obtained by physical or mental force shall not be admissible as evidence of guilt.
Any case of doubt, it shall be resolved in favor of the accused.
The accused shall be considered innocent until the court has judged finally on the case.
Article 39: Khmer citizens shall have the right to denounce, make complaints or file claims against any breach of the law by state and social organs or by members of such organs committed during the course of their duties. The settlement of complaints and claims shall be the competence of the courts.
Article 40: The rights to privacy of residence, and to the secrecy of correspondence by mail, telegram, fax, telex and telephone shall be guaranteed.
Any search of the house, material and body shall be in accordance with the law.
Article 41: Khmer citizens shall have freedom of expression, press, publication and assembly. No one shall exercise this right to infringe upon the rights of others, to effect the good traditions of the society, to violate public law and order and national security.
Article 42: Khmer Citizens shall have the right to establish associations and political parties. These rights shall be determined by law.
Khmer citizens may take part in mass organizations for mutual benefit to protect national achievement and social order.
Article 43: Khmer citizens of either sex shall have the right to freedom of belief.
Freedom of religious belief and worship shall be guaranteed by the State on the condition that such freedom does not affect other religious beliefs or violate public order and security.
Buddhism shall be the religion of the State.
Article 44: The right to confiscate properties from any person shall be exercised only in the public interest as provided for under the law and shall require fair and just compensation in advance.
Article 45: All forms of discrimination against women shall be abolished.
The exploitation of women in employment shall be prohibited.
Men and women are equal in all fields especially with respectt to marriage and family matters.
Marriage shall be conducted according to conditions determined by law based on the principle of mutual consent between one husband and one wife.
Article 46: The commerce of human beings, exploitation by prostitution and obscenity which affect the reputation of women shall be prohibited.
A woman shall not lose her job because of pregnancy. Woman shall have the right to take maternity leave with full pay and with no loss of seniority or other social benefits.
The state and society shall provide opportunities to women, especially to those living in rural areas without adequate social support, so they can get employment, medical care, and send their children to school, and to have decent living conditions.
Article 47: Parents shall have the duty to take care of and educate their children to become good citizens.
Children shall have the duty to take good care of their elderly mother and father according to Khmer traditions.
Article 48: The State shall protect the rights of children as stipulated in the Convention on Children, in particular, the right to life, education, protection during wartime, and from economic or sexual exploitation.
The State shall protect children from acts that are injurious to their educational opportunities, health and welfare.
CHAPTER IV: ON POLICY
Article 51: The Kingdom of Cambodia adopts a policy of Liberal Democracy and Pluralism.
The Cambodian people are the masters of their own country.
All power belongs to the people. The people exercise these powers through the National Assembly, The Senate, the Royal Government and the Judiciary.
The legislative, executive, and judicial powers shall be sepatrate.
CHAPTER V: ECONOMY
Article 56: The Kingdom of Cambodia shall adopt the market economy system.
Article 58: State property notably comprises land, mineral resources, mountains, sea, underwater, continental shelf, coastline, airspace, islands, rivers, canals, streams, lakes, forests, natural resources, economic and cultural centers, bases for national defense and other facilities determined as State property.
The control, use and management of State properties shall be determined by law.
Article 59: The State shall protect the environment and balance of abundant natural resources and establish a precise plan of management of land, water, air, wind, geology, ecological system, mines, energy, petrol and gas, rocks and sand, gems, forests and forestry products, wildlife, fish and aquatic resources.
CHAPTER VI EDUCATION, CULTURE, SOCIAL AFFAIRS
Article 65: The State shall protect and upgrade citizens’ rights to quality education at all levels and shall take necessary steps for quality education to reach all citizens.
Article 71: The perimeter of the national heritage sites as well as heritage that has been classified as world heritage, shall be considered neutral zones where there shall be no military activity.
Article 72: The health of the people shall be guaranteed. The State shall give full consideration to disease prevention and medical treatment. Poor citizens shall receive free medical consultation in public hospitals, infirmaries and maternities.
Article 75: The State shall establish a social security system for workers and employees.
CHAPTER VII: THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Article 76: The National Assembly consists of at least 120 members.
The deputies shall be elected by a free, universal, equal, direct and secret ballot.
Khmer citizens able to stand for election shall be the Khmer ctitizens of either sex who have the right to vote, at least 25 years of age, and who have Khmer nationality at birth.
Article 77: The deputies in the National Assembly shall represent the entire Khmer people, not only Khmers from their constituencies.
Any imperative mandate shall be nullified.
Article 79: The National Assembly mandate shall be incompatible with the holding of any active public function and of any membership in other institutions provided for in the Constitution, except when the assembly member(s) is (are) required to serve in the Royal Government.
Article 80: The deputies shall enjoy parliamentary immunity.
No assembly member shall be prosecuted, detained or arrested because of opinions expressed during the exercise of his (her) duties.
The accusation, arrest, or detention of an assembly member shall be made only with the permission of the National Assembly or by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly between sessionst, except in case of flagrante delicto. In that case, the competent authority shall immediately report to the National Assembly or to the Standing Committee for decision.
In any case, detention or prosecution of a deputy shall be suspended by a 3/4 majority vote of the National Assembly members.
Article 88: The National Assembly sessions shall be held in public.
The National Assembly shall meet in closed session at the request of the Chairman or of at least 1/10 of its members, of the King or of the Prime Minister.
Article 90: The National Assembly is an organ which has legislative power, and performs its duties as provided for in the constitution and laws.
The National Assembly shall approve the national budget, State planning, loans, financial contracts, and the creation, modification and annulment of tax.
Article 91: The members of the Senate, the members of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister have the right to initiate legislation.
Article 93: Any law approved by the assembly and finally reviewed by the Senate and signed by the King for its promulgation shall go into effect in Phnom Penh ten days after its signing and throughout the country twenty days after its signing.
Article 96: The National Assembly shall establish one day each week for questions and answers. There shall be no vote during any session reserved for this purpose.
CHAPTER VIII: THE SENATE
Article 99: The Senate is a body that has legislative power and performs its duties as determined in the constitution and law.
Article 100: The king shall nominate two Senators.
The Assembly shall elect two Senators by majority Vote.
Others shall be universally elected.
Article 103: The mandate of senators shall be incompatible with the holding of any active public function, with the functions of members of the National Assembly, and of any membership in other institutions provided for in the constitution.
Article 104: The Senator shall enjoy parliamentary immunity.
Article 111: The Senate sessions shall be held in public.
CHAPTER IX: THE ASSEMBLY AND THE SENATE
Article 116: In the special case, the Assembly and the Senate can assemble as the congress to resolve the important issues of the nation.
CHAPTER X: THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT
Article 118: The Council of Ministers is the Royal Government of Cambodia.
The Council of Ministers shall be led by one Prime Minister assisted by Deputy Prime Ministers, and by State Ministers, Ministers, and State Secretaries as members.
Article 120: The functions of members of the Royal Government shall be incompatible with professional activities in trade or industry and with the holding of any position in the public service.
Article 122: Members of the Royal Government shall not use the orders, written or verbal, of anyone as grounds to exonerate themselves from their responsibility.
CHAPTER XI: THE JUDICIARY
Article 128: The Judicial power shall be an independent power.
The Judiciary shall guarantee and uphold impartiality and protect the rights and freedoms of the citizens.
Article 129: Only judges shall have the right to adjudicate. A judge shall fulfill this duty with strict respect for the laws, wholeheartedly, and conscientiously.
Article 130: Judicial power shall not be granted to the legislative or executive branches.
Article 131: Only the Department of Public Prosecution shall have the right to file criminal suits.
Article 132: The King shall be the guarantor of the independence of the Judiciary. The Supreme Council of the Magistracy shall assist the King in this matter.
Article 133: Judges shall not be dismissed. The Supreme Council of the Magistracy shall take disciplinary actions against any delinquent judges.
Article 134: The Supreme Council of the Magistracy shall be chaired by the King. The King may appoint a representative to chair the Supreme Council of the Magistracy.
The Supreme Council of Magistracy shall meet under the chairmanship of the President of the Supreme Court or the General Prosecutor of the Supreme Court to decide on disciplinary actionts against judges or prosecutors.
CHAPTER XII: THE CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL
Article 136: The Constitutional Council shall have the duty to safeguard respect of the constitution, interpret the Constitution and laws adopted by the National Assembly and reviewed completely by the Senate.
Article 137: The Constitutional Council shall consist of nine members with a nine-year mandate. 1/3 of the members of the Council shall be replaced every three years. 3 members shall be appointed by the tKing, 3 members by the National Assembly and 3 others by the Supreme Council of the Magistracy.
Article 141: Khmer Citizens shall have the right to appeal against the constitutionality of any law through their representative or President of National Assembly or member of the Senate or President of the Senate as mentioned in the above articles.
CHAPTER XIII: THE ADMINISTRATION
Article 145: The territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia shall be divided into provinces and municipalities.
CHAPTER XIV: THE NATIONAL CONGRESS
Article 147: The National Congress shall enable the people to be directly informed on various matters of national interests and to raise issues and requests for the State authority to solve.
Khmer citizens of both sexes shall have the right to participate in the National Congress.
Article 148: The National Congress shall meet once a year in early December at the convocation of the Prime Minister.
It shall proceed under the chairmanship of the King.
Article 149: The National Congress adopts recommendations the Senate the National Assembly and to the Executive branch for reflection.
The organization and operation of the National Congress should be determined by law.
CHAPTER XV: EFFECTS, REVISIONS AND AMENDMENTS OF THE CONSTITUTION
Article 150: This Constitution shall be the Supreme law of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Article 153: Revision or amendment affecting the system of liberal and pluralistic democracy and the regime of Constitutional Monarchy shall be prohibited.
CHAPTER XVI: TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
Article 154: This Constitution, after its adoption, shall be declared in full force immediately by the King of Cambodia.
Article 155: After the entry into force of this Constitution, the Constituent Assembly shall become the National Assembly.
Article 158: Laws and standard documents in Cambodia that safeguard State properties, rights, freedom and legal private properties and in conformity with the national interests, shall continue to be effective until altered or abrogated by new texts, except those provisions that are contrary to the spirit of this Constitution.
This Constitution was adopted by the Constitutional Assembly in Phnom Penh on 21 September 1993 at its 2nd Plenary session.
Phnom Penh, 21 September, 1993.
The President,
Signed: SON SAN
[[Revision statement]]
This Constitutional law was adopted by the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia on the 4th March, 1999 in its 2nd plenary meeting
Phnom Penh, 6 March 1999
National Assembly President
Norodom Ranariddh
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Activist runs organization to free Cambodian sex slaves

2009-09-24T05:01:00.000-07:00

(khmer hot news)
CENTRAL FLORIDA FUTURE http://www.centralfloridafuture.com/
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Share this article Published: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Former slave Somaly Mam has made it her life’s work to end sex trafficking.
Opponents to her cause have burned her house, threatened her, kidnapped her children and raped her daughter.
“When I started this, I know I made my life dangerous. It’s not easy for me. A lot of people, they tell me that I’m crazy,” Mam said. “Well, I am crazy.”
About 200 people squeezed into the Cape Florida Ballroom Monday night to hear Mam speak about her experiences and her foundation’s efforts to end sex slavery. When seats filled up, students sat on the floor, stood along the back wall, and perched in from the hallway, watching through the doorways.
Mam is one of TIME magazine’s “World’s Most Influential People” for 2009 and a “CNN Hero.”
She became a slave as a child when a man who called himself her grandfather sold her into prostitution. She lived in a brothel with other Cambodian children and was raped and tortured daily, but after watching the murder of her best friend, she eventually escaped.
Since the opening of her shelter in Cambodia, 6,000 girls have been helped out of brothels. The girls call her mother.
“They are lovely,” Mam said.
Mam said it’s difficult to get girls out of the brothel because they are familiar with the routine of their life and don’t know who will love, help or give them a new life. Sometimes families don’t want their children back because of the shame, and they place blame on the children themselves for what happened. The government in Cambodia does nothing to help, Mam said.
In 2008, there was a global focus on establishing anti-trafficking laws in Cambodia, which had none, said Bill Livermore, executive director for the Somaly Mam Foundation.
“There was a major push on, ‘Well, you need to change your laws. That’ll solve everything,’” Livermore said. “Now we’ve come to realize that isn’t true until you can change society.”
Human trafficking is the second-largest organized crime, becoming a bigger business than drug trafficking, according to the Somaly Mam Foundation’s Web site.
Specific and consistent statistics about human trafficking are hard to calculate because of the nature of this worldwide crime. Of the 12.3 million adults and children in forced labor, an estimated 1.39 million people are victims of sexual servitude, according to the U.N.’s International Labor Organization.
As many as two million children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade, according to the U.S. State Department.
This modern-day enslavement is not limited to foreign lands. It’s in the U.S., too.
“What is happening in our country is happening in your country,” Mam said.
Between 18,000 and 20,000 victims are trafficked into the U.S., according to U.S.
Department of Justice estimates listed on the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking Web site. A large percentage is trafficked into Florida because of seasonal agricultural immigrants.
Junior interdisciplinary women’s studies major Dominique Aulisio, who works with the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, is starting a student organization called Student Labor Action Project.
“I think that people distance themselves from the problem,” said Aulisio. “I think we all do because a lot of times on the news it’s characterized as being a faraway country. But in reality, the traffickers are very organized, and they’re all over the world.”
Mam encouraged students to raise awareness and become active to end sex trafficking.
She thinks it’s possible within 10 years if everyone “activates” and fights.
“Fighting is not just sitting and talking, but you have to stand up and fight,” Mam said.
She said it is out of her capacity to accomplish the task alone.
“We need all of you,” Mam said.
She encouraged students to go on the foundation’s Web site and read about how to volunteer and learn more about what they do.
Senior Sally Griffin already had Mam’s book, The Road of Lost Innocence, and was excited to hear her speak. She wants to work and advocate against human trafficking. Her major is social work and minor is international studies for that reason, she said.
Griffin just got back from a trip to India with the organization International Justice Mission where she helped with a shelter, met girls who had been rescued from sex trafficking and saw the red-light district firsthand. She was first made aware of sex trafficking when someone from her church spoke about the issue.
“I didn’t know. Once I heard about it, it just kind of lit a fire in me,” Griffin said. “I don’t feel like I can just stand by knowing what I know.”

Cambodia condemns sentencing of its nationals by Thai court

2009-09-24T04:59:00.000-07:00

24 Sep 2009 (khmer hotnews)
Phnom Penh - Cambodia plans to appeal a case in which lengthy sentences were handed down by a Thai court to a group of its nationals after they were convicted of logging and entering Thailand illegally, local media reported Thursday. The 16 men who are from adjacent provinces in north-west Cambodia were arrested on July 23 by Thai authorities. Fifteen of them were sentenced to nine years and three months each while the last was given six years and two months.
The Thai court in Ubon Ratchathani province has granted a one-month period to appeal.
The cabinet chief of Cambodia's Preah Vihear province told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that the sentences were "revenge" by Thailand for the unresolved border dispute between the two kingdoms while Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said government lawyers would appeal the convictions.
"Let our lawyers do their work until the end [of the legal process]; then we will use another measure," Koy Kuong told the newspaper.
Defence lawyers had pleaded that the men were not engaged in logging and had not realized they had crossed into Thai territory.
Much of the 800-kilometre-long common border between the two nations has not yet been demarcated. Tensions have been high for the past year with several soldiers on both sides killed and injured in skirmishes around the Preah Vihear temple, an 11th-century structure that sits on the border between the two kingdoms.

Cambodia to host Mekong-Japan foreign ministers meeting next week

2009-09-24T04:57:00.000-07:00

September 24, 2009 (khmer hot news)
Cambodia will host the Second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting next week to review progress and to set out future direction for cooperation in the region, according to a press release issued Wednesday by Cambodia's Foreign Ministry.
The press release said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong will chair the meeting of foreign ministers from Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam from Oct. 2 to 3 in Siem Reap.
On the sidelines of the Mekong-Japan meeting, Hor Namhong will also chair the Second Foreign Minister's Meeting of the Emerald Triangle Cooperation between Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.
The ministers will review the progress of Japan-Mekong cooperation since "Japan-Mekong Region Partnership Program" was launched in 2007 and the First Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Tokyo in January 2008, and to set out the future direction of the cooperation in this mechanism.
Siem Reap is chosen as an alternative venue for many international meetings or conferences beside Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh and coastal beach of Sihanoukville in southwestern Cambodia.

Two faces of Thailand

2009-09-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

September 24, 2009 (khmer hot news)
Giles Ji Ungpakorn is a Thai academic and dissident who was targeted by the government for the supposed crime of "lese majesty"--essentially, "disloyalty" to Thailand's head of state, King Bhumibol. To avoid censorship and a possible prison sentence of 15 years, he fled to Britain earlier this year. Here, he analyzes the latest developments in Thailand, three years after a military coup.
ON SEPTEMBER 19 of this year--the third anniversary of the military coup that wrecked Thai democracy--two demonstrations took place. They sum up the two faces of Thailand.
One demonstration, by tens of thousands of Red Shirts in Bangkok, was organized in order to continue the demand for full democracy. It was a peaceful and friendly demonstration. Yet the military-backed Democrat Party government, headed by Abhisit Vejjajiva, declared a state of emergency and lined up thousands of police and soldiers to deal with the demonstrators.
Previously, back in April, Abhisit had urged soldiers to fire on the Red Shirts. Two people were subsequently killed and 70 injured by government soldiers.
The other demonstration was organized by People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) fascist thugs. The PAD are the Yellow Shirt royalists. The aim of this demonstration was to attack Cambodian villagers living and working at the ancient Kao Prawiharn temple inside Cambodia.
Since last year, the PAD has been trying to cause a war with Cambodia by whipping up extreme nationalism. The temple was built by the ancient Khmers and clearly belongs to Cambodia, both from a legal and historical point of view. On September 19, the PAD went to the border armed, as usual, with guns, bombs and clubs. They attacked the police and then a group of local villagers who were opposed to them. Local villagers on both sides of the border have traditionally held joint religious ceremonies together at the temple on this day. This has not happened since the PAD forced the closure of the temple last year.
Teptai Senpong, personal spokesman for Prime Minister Abhisit, earlier stated that there was no reason to declare a state of emergency in the border area, "as the PAD were defending Thai national interests." The present foreign minister is a PAD supporter who took part in the illegal occupation of the international airports last December. He is famed for being rude about the Cambodian government.
Suriyasai Takasila, PAD spokesperson, said that the PAD leadership would not turn its back on Wira Somkwamkit, the PAD leader who headed the violent raid on the border. Naturally, the PAD riot and its extreme nationalism was supported by ASTV. The government will not prosecute the PAD and their leaders for their illegal violence. They never have. At the same time, numerous Red Shirts are in jail or face prosecution.
Just like when the PAD took over the airports, they cared little for the impact on local people's employment and livelihood. They cared little if the sons of poor farmers, conscripted into the Thai army, were to die in any pointless shoot out with their brothers in the Cambodian army.
The progressive, peaceful and democratic face of Thai society is the Red Shirts. The violent, fascist and authoritarian face is the face of the Yellow Shirt conservative royalists who control the state, the army, the monarchy, the government and the media. The one thing they do not control is the hearts and minds of most Thai citizens.
Most Thais are waiting for the king to die. But that in itself will solve nothing, despite the fact that his son his universally hated and held in contempt. No real democracy can be built without dismissing the generals, the judges, the privy council, the royal family and the corrupt politicians.
Will the Red Shirts be up to this People's Revolution? Can it be an overwhelming movement of citizens in order to minimize bloodshed? These are the issues on many people's minds today.

Belgian paedophile expelled from Cambodia

2009-09-23T06:37:00.000-07:00

Wed, 23 Sep 2009
KHMER HOT NEWS

Phnom Penh - A Belgian man convicted twice for child sex offences was expelled from Cambodia seven weeks after a coalition of child protection organizations petitioned authorities to expel him, a media report said Wednesday. Philippe Dessart, 49, was put on a plane to Thailand last week, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported.
"We had enough legal grounds," the national police spokesman told the newspaper. "We didn't decide to deport him to Belgium; we just decided that he should be out of our country. Wherever he went to, it was his right."
Dessart was released from a Cambodian jail in April having spent three years in prison for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. On his release, he sparked outrage from child protection organizations by marrying the boy's mother after moving into her home in western Cambodia.
Dessart was previously convicted of child sex offences in his native Belgium, serving time there in the 1990s for child rape and torture.
Dessart's lawyer said his client's deportation was an abuse of his rights.
"He was with his wife; police came to invite him to a commune police station telling him that the national commissioner orders you to be expelled," Dun Vibol told the newspaper. "[On arrival in Thailand Dessart] called me saying he's got nothing with him and said they don't respect the law in Cambodia."

Belgian paedophile expelled from Cambodia

2009-09-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

Submitted by Sahil Nagpal
Wed, 09/23/2009
Phnom Penh - A Belgian man convicted twice for child sex offences was expelled from Cambodia seven weeks after a coalition of child protection organizations petitioned authorities to expel him, a media report said Wednesday.
Philippe Dessart, 49, was put on a plane to Thailand last week, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported.
"We had enough legal grounds," the national police spokesman told the newspaper. "We didn't decide to deport him to Belgium; we just decided that he should be out of our country. Wherever he went to, it was his right."
Dessart was released from a Cambodian jail in April having spent three years in prison for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. On his release, he sparked outrage from child protection organizations by marrying the boy's mother after moving into her home in western Cambodia.
Dessart was previously convicted of child sex offences in his native Belgium, serving time there in the 1990s for child rape and torture.
Dessart's lawyer said his client's deportation was an abuse of his rights.
"He was with his wife; police came to invite him to a commune police station telling him that the national commissioner orders you to be expelled," Dun Vibol told the newspaper. "[On arrival in Thailand Dessart] called me saying he's got nothing with him and said they don't respect the law in Cambodia." (dpa)

Tea Banh pays US official visit

2009-09-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates (right) welcomes Cambodian Defence Minister General Tea Banh on Monday at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 15:03 Jacob Gold and Vong Sokheng
Meeting with the US defence secretary addresses greater military cooperation, though concerns linger about alleged rights violations by Cambodian soldiers.
CAMBODIAN Defence Minister Tea Banh met with US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates at the Pentagon in Washington during an official visit on Monday, Defence Ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat told the Post on Wednesday.
The agenda included improving military cooperation during humanitarian assistance scenarios and strengthening the capacity of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. The discussion also focused on regional security issues and cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
“We expect that the relationship between the RCAF and the US military will move close together after this high-level visit by the Cambodian defence delegation,” Chhum Socheat said.
The US has promised to sponsor Cambodia’s role in defence exercises scheduled for July 2010 and slated to involve more than 2,000 military personnel from countries across the Asia-Pacific region, he said.
Tea Banh is expected to arrive back in Cambodia today. The US embassy declined to comment further on the outcome of the meeting pending an official statement due to be released today.
US-Cambodian military relations have come under scrutiny from US congressmen following testimony by Human Rights Watch to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing in Washington earlier this month.
The NGO reported that since 2006 the US has provided training and material assistance totalling approximately US$4.5 million to Cambodian military units such as Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit, Brigade 70, Special Airborne Brigade 911 and Brigade 31 of the RCAF. Eight congressmen sent a letter last Friday to Gates inquiring about the connection between and US military aid and these units’ alleged human rights abuses, which the Cambodian military denied.
The meeting of the two nations’ defence chiefs comes ahead of a bilateral agreement, due to be signed by the US and Cambodia today, under which the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide Cambodia with US$7.79 million to help stimulate broader economic growth.
The additional funding will finance an expansion of USAID’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises 2 and Business Enabling Environment programme, aimed at alleviating rural poverty by making family-owned businesses more productive, the organisation said in a statement released to the media on Tuesday. USAID expects to commit a total of $61.8 million in assistance to Cambodia this year.

Regional grants target biodiversity

2009-09-23T05:28:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 15:04 Irwin Loy
Cambodia to receive eight grants to help preserve river ecosystems and endangered fauna.
CAMBODIAN groups are among several organisations around the region slated to receive more than US$2 million in grants aimed at conserving threatened biodiversity.
The money will come from the Indochina-based section of the internationally funded Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), which calls the region one of the most threatened biodiversity hot spots in the world.
“Freshwater habitats are particularly threatened in Indochina, so we’re very happy to have already funded local organisations,” John Pilgrim, a manager with NGO Birdlife International, said in a press release. The NGO is responsible for implementing CEPF grants in the region.
The fund approved 19 grants out of 166 applications received from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Of these, Cambodia received eight.
One of the grants, worth just under $20,000, will go to the local 3S Rivers Protection Network, which will use the funds to raise local awareness about the potential impact of dams on the Srepok, Sesan and Sekong rivers in northeastern Cambodia.
Other Cambodian grants are aimed at conserving threatened species in the country.
According to CEPF, only 5 percent of the region’s natural habitats remain in “relatively pristine condition”. The group sees poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation as closely linked, as a large portion of the rural population is dependent on natural resources.

Court exonerates Ho Vann

2009-09-23T05:25:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 15:04 Meas Sokchea and James O’toole
IN a surprise verdict, Phnom Penh Municipal Court acquitted Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) parliamentarian Ho Vann of defamation on Tuesday, but his co-defendants Neou Vannarin and Kevin Doyle of The Cambodia Daily newspaper were ordered to pay four million riels (US$1,000) each on related charges.
The charges stemmed from an April 2009 article published in the Daily in which Ho Vann was quoted as saying that academic degrees awarded to 22 officers of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces by a Vietnamese military institute were “worthless”.
In a subsequent clarification statement, Ho Vann claimed that the article, written by Neou Vannarin, had misquoted him. At a Municipal Court hearing on September 9, however, Daily Editor in Chief Kevin Doyle maintained that Ho Vann had been quoted accurately.
Ho Vann and Neou Vannarin were not present for the verdict and were tried in absentia, though Doyle appeared, flipping through a copy of his newspaper as he waited for the proceedings to begin.
“After listening to the case, [the court] understood that Ho Vann said nothing wrong in the interview, but that Kevin Doyle and Neou Vannarin issued a defamatory story in their newspaper,” Municipal Court Judge Sin Visal said. Ho Vann’s clarification letter, the judge added, demonstrated that the SRP parliamentarian had been misquoted.
“The verdict is correct because Ho Vann did not say what was published in the newspaper,” said SRP parliamentarian Chea Poch, who attended the hearing. “Khmer people need to stop suing one another and concentrate on working together to develop the country.”
Observers from the civil society community expressed surprise at Ho Vann’s acquittal, which was greeted with smiles and handshakes by a number of spectators in the courtroom.
Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) president Ou Virak cast the verdict against the spate of government lawsuits against opposition critics in the last few months, calling it “a little light in this darkness”. He speculated that the decision may have been influenced by next week’s meeting of the Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum, a gathering of Cambodian government officials and international donors.
The verdict against Kevin Doyle and Neou Vannarin was less encouraging, however. Pa Nguon Teang, the president of Voice of Democracy Radio, condemned the decision, saying that the judiciary’s acquiesence to political pressure “is an obstacle to freedom of the press in Cambodia”.
CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said that Ho Vann’s parliamentary immunity, which had been revoked pending a verdict in his case, could be restored with a two-thirds vote in the National Assembly. Local rights group Licadho said, however, that Ho Vann’s immunity should be automatically restored based on Cambodian law.

PAD makes demands on Preah Vihear

2009-09-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

Writer: BangkokPost.com
Published: 20/09/2009

The yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) called on the Cambodian government to quickly move its villagers and troops out of the disputed border area around Preah Vihear temple.

About 300 Thai soldiers at Preah Vihear national park in Si Sa Ket province allowed 33 PAD protesters led by Veera Somkwamkid to enter the site on Sunday.

After arriving at Mo I Daeng cliff in the national park, PAD core member Veera announced that the ancient temple and the areas around it are within Thailand's territory in reference to the border demarcation in 1904.

"Now, the Cambodian people have encroached on our country. The PAD would like the Cambodian government to quickly move its people and soldiers out of this area, or else Thai people will have to do their duty in protecting the country's sovereignty," Mr Veera said.

The Suranaree Task Force commander, Maj Gen Chavalit Choonhasarn, and a group of army officials were present when Mr Veera read the PAD's statement.

The PAD members later left the national park.

Ex-reporter helps Cambodia face up to past

2009-09-20T22:09:00.001-07:00

Sep. 21, 2009
Norimasa Tahara
Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent (Japan)

PHNOM PENH--Thirty years after the end of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed nearly 2 million people, a former Japanese news reporter has been appointed as a public relations officer at Cambodia's special war tribunal.

Yuko Maeda assumed the post at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which was jointly set up by the United Nations and the Cambodian government to try former senior members of the regime led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998.

Since taking up the post, Maeda has been up to her ears dealing with media interviews.

"I believe that after these trials end, Cambodia at long last can become a normal country again," Maeda, 45, said.

Cambodia in Pictures

2009-09-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

Former Khmer Rouge prison chief S-21, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as "Duch", is pictured in court in 2008. Duch gave his final testimony to Cambodia's war crimes tribunal Wednesday with an unexpected invitation to victims of the regime to visit him in prison.(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)In this photo taken on July 19, 2009, a Cambodian woman points to a painting depicting torture as she tours the former Khmer Rouge S-21 prison, known as Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. On Monday, Sept. 14, 2009, the museum, formerly a prison and torture center operated by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, has been declared by the U.N. to be an archive of worldwide significance for its historical documents.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)Tourists look at portraits of victims displayed inside the Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh, where thousands of Cambodian died during the brutal 1975-79 regime. Cambodia's Khmer Rouge court has finished hearing evidence against the regime's prison chief, ending six months of gruelling testimony about atrocities in the jail where 15,000 people died. (AFP/File/Nicolas Asfouri)

Officials dismiss Thai protest

2009-09-15T22:51:00.001-07:00

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Chief Thai air marshal Itthaporn Subhawong (left) sits with RCAF Commander in Chief Pol Saroeun.

The Phnom Penh Post
Tuesday, 15 September 2009 15:03 Vong Sokheng and Cheang Sokha

Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Commander in Chief Pol Saroeun met with Itthaporn Subhawong, Thailand’s chief air marshal, on Monday in Phnom Penh, as officials from both countries dismissed the significance of Thai protests at the border reportedly planned for this Saturday.

Bangkok’s The Nation newspaper reported on Monday that members of the Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a Thai political party, plan to hold a rally on Saturday near the Preah Vihear temple complex to protest the supposed loss of Thai sovereignty in the disputed area.

The Thai military, however, discouraged the protesters from following through on their plans. “We should be careful about the protest, as such an activity, despite its good intentions, could affect operating strategy on the ground,” The Nation quoted Thai Army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaeowkamnerd as saying.

Cambodian Defence Ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat told the Post that should the protest take place, the PAD protesters will not be permitted to enter Cambodian territory.

“We are not concerned about the protests planned for September 19,” he said. “We will not allow [the protesters] to enter Cambodian soil, and we will exercise our right to self-defence if the situation warrants it.”

In a meeting at RCAF headquarters in Phnom Penh on Monday, Pol Saroeun and Itthaporn reaffirmed the warming of Thai-Cambodian relations that has taken place over the past few weeks.

“This visit is meant to promote understanding and good relations between our two countries and to facilitate training of Cambodian air force members by Thailand,” Itthaporn said. “[Thai air force representatives] have been very warmly received here.”

Pol Saroeun cited Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya’s visit to the border area this past weekend, where he was hosted by Cambodian officials, as an example of cooperation that he hoped to see continue.

“We should forget the conflicts that have happened between us and look forward to improving our relationship,” he said

KRouge jail chief says had brother-in-law tortured

2009-09-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

Kaing Guek Eav better known as Duch

By Patrick Falby (AFP)

PHNOM PENH — The chief of the Khmer Rouge's main prison told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes trial Tuesday that he had his own sister's husband jailed and tortured after the man was accused of espionage.

Duch said he had his brother-in-law locked up at the notorious Tuol Sleng detention centre to protect himself and his family, adding that the man was later killed by the hardline communist movement.

"I vouched for my younger sister and I vouched to educate her, but I could not do that for my brother-in-law," said Duch, who acknowledges overseeing the extermination of some 15,000 people at the jail.

"As a principle, when the husband was arrested the wife was arrested as well. But my younger sister was not arrested and she is still alive today," he added.

The 66-year-old Duch said the brutal regime initially arrested his brother-in-law on spying charges but then released him and allowed to stay at Duch's house.

But Duch later had the man arrested again and sent to Tuol Sleng, a former high school in the capital Phnom Penh that was turned into a genocide museum after Vietnamese-backed forces toppled the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

Duch said that the man later confessed, apparently under interrogation, to being "a member of the enemy network" since before the Khmer Rouge had come to power and of marrying Duch's sister to spy on him.

He said that after his arrest, his brother-in-law tried to protect the rest of the family from the Khmer Rouge's spiralling paranoia, which involved witchhunts for suspected agents for the CIA, KGB and Vietnam and other groups.

"What he was afraid of was that when he was arrested and handcuffed, he wanted to know whether I would be arrested. Because if I was arrested, then the whole family would be gone," Duch said.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, is the first Khmer Rouge cadre to face trial at the court but denies personally torturing or killing inmates and he insists that he was not a leading figure in the 1975-1979 regime.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

Evangelical minister Christopher LaPel told the tribunal Tuesday that Duch was completely changed after the pastor baptised him in 1996 in a river in western Cambodia.

"After he got baptised I can see him as a completely different person... I can see that he (had been) a person that lived in darkness, sadness, with no joy, no love," said Cambodian-American LaPel.

LaPel told the court that although Duch was hiding his identity at the time, the conversion seemed genuine and the pair have prayed and held Bible study together in prison several times since the former cadre's 1999 arrest.

Former maths teacher Duch has regularly expressed remorse to victims and those who worked under him.

One-time Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith, are also in detention awaiting trial at the court

Meditation Touted for Cambodian Victims

2009-09-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

Venerable Thach Berong (Photo: NP)

By Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
15 September 2009

A Cambodian Buddhist monk in the US has applied meditation to help reduce stress disorders for Cambodian-Americans traumatized by the Khmer Rouge.

At his Khemara Rangsey temple, Thach Berong, of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation’s Theravada Buddhist Community, in San Jose, Calif., says he wants to help reduce the stress and illness that can come from prolonged trauma.

Studies show that Cambodian-Americans face special mental and physical health problems resulting from their tragic experiences, especially those of them lived through the extreme brutality of the Khmer Rouge.

Health professionals and others who work with Cambodian-Americans often note that these experiences have left them with a sense of powerlessness that affects many.

“I teach them Satipatthana Sutta courses, or right mindfulness,” Thach Berong said in a recent interview. “A study of the county of Santa Clara had learned that the stress that has led to such illnesses often tends to create a health syndrome for Cambodian-Americans. The syndrome is known as post-traumatic stress disorder, a type of delayed reaction to extreme emotional stress that has been found to affect many Cambodian refugees in the United States.”

Among those who have been resettled in Western countries, a malady known as “Pol Pot syndrome” also has emerged. Pol Pot syndrome includes insomnia, difficulty in breathing, loss of appetite and pains in various parts of the body.

Almost half the adult population of Cambodian-Americans in San Jose and Long Beach, those older than 35 or 40, show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, said Om Reaksmey, a social worker of Cambodian Association of America in Long Beach.

One medical study of Cambodian refugees in Long Beach, the largest concentration of Cambodians in the United States, found that 62 percent of the adults had symptoms of PTSD, she said.

Meditation is often used in hospitals as a method of stress reduction, especially in cases of chronic or terminal illnesses, to reduce complications associated with increased stress.

At least one doctor at Stanford University, as well as other doctors from Gardner Mental Health Care clinic in San Jose, has been practicing meditation techniques with Thach Berong “to learn Buddha’s teachings,” he said.

Buddhism teaches its practitioners to understand their lives according to dharma, the laws of nature, and seeks to develop generosity and morality, he said, adding that these lessons were good for all nationalities and religions, Thach Berong said.

Roeum Long, vice president of the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, is a long-time meditator at the Vipassana Meditation Center in Shelburn, Mass.

A person who practices meditation can achieve reduced tension, fear and worry, he said. He meditates at least 30 minutes each day at home, and sometimes for 15 minutes at work.

“Vipassana meditation is called the Great Teacher,” he said. “It helped me to work through understanding. The greater my understanding, the more flexible and tolerant and the more compassionate I can be. I am ready to forgive and forget. My mind becomes still and calm and my life smoothes out. I become like a perfect parent or an ideal teacher.”

Yat Nei Kchao, a worker in Fairfax County, practiced meditation at the Washington DC Buddhist Vihara. She told VOA that she understands others because she understands herself. An accomplished meditator can achieve a profound understanding of life and relate this to the world with a deep and uncritical love, she said.

“You feel love towards others because you understand them,” she said. “Meditation helped me feel calm and gave me a clear awareness about my life. When I learned compassion for myself, compassion for others was automatic.”

Christi Knox, a retiree in Richmond, Va., and a regular meditator at Bhavana Society Temple in Winchester, VA, said she has studied Buddhism in many US temples in the US, having left her Christian upbringing. She practices Buddhism’s eight precepts every day, she said.

“In 2002, I started studying Buddhism, and I really learned to meditate after the third year,” she said. “And before that, I worried about everything. I projected what was going to happen even if it did not happen. I was very stressful and agitated. And now with meditation, I realize that things are as they are, and even the worst of situations we can find the little good in them.”

The practice has reduced stress and worry, she said.

“I’m just really at peace, and I spend each day trying to do something to make somebody else’s life just a little bit happier, whether it be a good deed for them or whether just giving time and conversation, but it is always on the positive note,” she said. “So I really can’t thank Buddhism and the practices of meditation enough for what it really brought to me, which has been inner peace.”

PM assigns foreign minister to meet with PAD on planned border protest

2009-09-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

http://enews.mcot.net

BANGKOK, Sept 15 (TNA) - Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Tuesday that he had assigned Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya to meet with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and local residents to understand the government's stance to use peaceful means to resolve border disputes between Thailand and Cambodia.

The PAD said it would lead villagers to the border province of Si Sa Ket on Saturday to protest against the Cambodian government, urging the Khmers to withdraw their military and civilians from occupying the contested 4.6 square kilometre contested zone surrounding Preah Vihear, the 11th-century temple.

The prime minister affirmed that the government had no hidden agenda in resolving border disputes with Cambodian government and the involved cabinet ministers were trying to make the people who wanted to use more drastic action to resolve problems to understand that the solution must be found at the negotiating table by strictly following agreements made by the two countries under the United Nations charter.

He urged the public to give the authorities an opportunity to work and refrain from taking any risk that could lead to a clash between the two countries as it would do no good for either party.

"I can guarantee 100 per cent that the government will not do anything that could affect our sovereignty or territory. The government has no hidden agenda or hidden benefit in dealing with Cambodia," he said.

That future approaches to resolving the border disputes would be carried out in accordance with the existing legal framework and negotiations would be made to bring back the situation that both sides living together peacefully, the prime minister said.

The ruins of the temple itself belong to Cambodia, but the most practical entrance begins at the foot of a mountain in Thailand, and both sides claim portions of the surrounding territory.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear itself belongs to Cambodia. Tensions flared along the border in July 2008 after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) granted Cambodia’s ancient temple status as a World Heritage Site. (TNA)

CAMBODIA: Men being exploited, trafficked too

2009-09-15T18:00:00.001-07:00

Photo: David Swanson/IRIN
In today's economic climate, many Cambodian men are at risk of being trafficked, experts warn

http://www.irinnews.org

PHNOM PENH, 15 September 2009 (IRIN) - Kou Channyyon's story is typical of many young Cambodian men.

Desperate for work, he was trafficked to Malaysia with the promise of earning more than US$200 a month in a coffee factory.

But after he arrived, his passport was confiscated, and he found himself working 13 hours a day, with barely enough money to cover his living costs.

Barred from leaving the factory premises, he did not know if he would ever be able to escape.

"It was exhausting ... I got very little sleep and was paid less than other workers," the 23-year-old farmer's son from southern Kandal Province, told IRIN.

According to the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), thousands of Cambodians are trafficked annually for the purpose of labour exploitation - a figure expected to increase given the global economic downturn.

"The risk factors for an increase are certainly there," Paul Buckley, field operations coordinator for UNIAP, told IRIN in Bangkok, citing job losses, diminished remittances, and rising debt as key indicators.

Cambodian exports have been badly shaken by the global financial crisis, resulting in thousands of workers losing their jobs.

"This makes for an easier environment for traffickers to work in," Buckley said, noting the need for more quantifiable data and research.

Earlier this year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) projected that job losses may surpass 45,000 this year, with a disproportionate burden falling on young workers, who already face few employment opportunities.

"Cambodia confronts a growing problem of providing decent work for this young population," said Ya Navuth, executive director of Coordination of Action Research and Mobility (CARAM), a local NGO working to reduce illegal immigration to other countries.

"I think the government has to solve the problems of labour exploitation or illegal immigration by increasing the domestic market for labour," Ya Navuth said.

Scant research on male victims

Trafficking victims have traditionally been identified by governments in Southeast Asia as women and children. There is scant research on the problem of male trafficking for labour exploitation, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

According to the Cambodian government, men seek longer term work mostly in Thailand in construction, factories, transport, fishing and fish processing.

"Males continue to be another vulnerable group besides women and children," UNIAP's national project coordinator in Cambodia, Lim Tith, told IRIN.

"They suffer abuse and labour exploitation [in a bid] to support their family back home," he said.

A 2008 UNIAP report said the main destination countries for Cambodian labour migrants are Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Thailand is the top destination country for victims of human trafficking from Cambodia.

Photo: Kounila Keo/IRIN
Kou Channyyon was trafficked from Cambodia to Malaysia

Thai fishing boats

Some of the worst exploited are men and boys who end up on Thai long-haul fishing boats that ply the South China Sea for two years or more at a time, according to a UNIAP study in April 2009.

"The boats become virtual prisons on which the trafficking victims endure inhumane working conditions and physical abuse. Death at sea is frequently reported, sometimes at the hands of Thai boat captains," the study notes.

Until mid-2008, Thailand's anti-human trafficking legislation excluded men from being acknowledged as trafficking victims, which meant that they were counted as illegal migrants instead, and consequently deported.

Some 130,000 individuals are deported to Cambodia from Thailand each year, and evidence is readily available of cases of misidentification by Thai or Cambodian authorities of victims of trafficking departed from Thailand, said the 2008 UNIAP report.

"The fact that the problem remains hidden makes it harder for the NGOs and the government to work on it," Lim Tith said.

New law

Cambodia has undertaken a series of measures to curb trafficking, including a 2008 law that recognizes men as potential trafficking victims for the first time, and provides a better legal framework to prosecute traffickers.

But given the fallout from the global economic crisis, tackling illegal immigration and trafficking may prove difficult for the Cambodian government because of its small budgets and limited human resources, said Lim Tith.

"What's important now is that the government has a political will to solve the problems, although they have very limited options," said Lim Tith.

"With the global economic crisis still continuing or [having an] effect, more men will surely continue to seek jobs abroad and be exploited by the financial crisis," he said.

Child Labor 'Cripples Future'

2009-09-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

AFP
A woman cries as she is reunited with her son after he was rescued from a group of human traffickers in central China's Henan province, May 6, 2005.

http://www.rfa.org
2009-09-15

Throughout East Asia, vulnerable children are forced and trafficked into every kind of work.

HONG KONG—Children in East Asia are routinely trafficked internationally and forced into sex work and domestic labor, as well as being made to work in factories in their own countries instead of going to school, according to a U.S. government report.

And while a series of child- and forced-labor scandals have surfaced in China recently, including that of the "brick kiln" children, trafficked minors are also to be found in some of the region's most developed economies.

"The problem with those children working is that those children are not getting an education," Sandra Polaski, deputy undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), said in an interview.

"It means when they grow up they are going to be too poor to be able to feed their own families, and they’ll have to send their own children to work," she added.

According to a recent set of reports published by the U.S. Department of Labor, children—especially girls—are trafficked internationally among Malaysia, China, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore.

Better laws sought

Children, according to ILAB, are also required to work in certain industries in their own countries and are taken away from parents who are too poor to put up much resistance.

Polaski called for better rights for adults in developing countries so that they will be better able to protect their children's futures.

"If the children in those countries have to go to work because their families are too poor to feed them, the solution is to pass better laws," Polaski said.

"[Also] to have better law enforcement and have better rights for the adults, so that they can make at least an adequate living so that they can feed their children," she added.

"If we don’t interfere with this vicious cycle of lowering the possibilities of those children because they have never been educated ... we’ll be facing these same problems 20 years from now, 40 years from now," Polaski said.

She called on governments and the private sector to use ILAB information about which products had been made with child labor to revise their supply chain and purchasing policies.

"We think shining a spotlight on this will put a lot more pressure on them to act," Polaski said.

Boys trafficked for fishing

The ILAB report said that girls were primarily trafficked both internationally and internally for commercial sexual exploitation and forced domestic service, whereas boys were often trafficked internally to work on fishing platforms.

It also said it had received reports of children being trafficked to work in organized begging rings.

Children in Burma have reported being forced to work as porters and roadbuilders by government and ethnic minority troops in the Karen border region conflict.

ILAB said child labor had also been used in rice harvesting, rubber plantations, sugarcane, and teak.

'Vulnerable people'

In Cambodia, children were known to work in rubber, brick factories, salt manufacture, and on shrimp farms, while underage Chinese youngsters were employed to make bricks, cotton, electronics, fireworks, textiles, and toys.

"There are still people living in poverty in China, and those people are vulnerable," Polaski said.

"There are unscrupulous businessmen and labor contractors that exploit that vulnerability."

Meanwhile, children in Thailand were found working in the sex trade, rubber plantations, shrimp farms, textiles and sugarcane, ILAB said, noting that many of the children used may have been trafficked from elsewhere in the region, including China, Laos, Burma, and Cambodia.

"Congress felt that in order to address the problem of child labor and forced labor, the public and the global community needed more information about where the child labor and forced labor was occurring, [and in] which countries, which products," Polaski said.

Original reporting in Mandarin by Xi Wang. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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