ROYAL EMBASSY OF CAMBODIA

64 Brondesbury Park, Willesden Park, London NW6 7AT,

Tel: 020 84517850, Fax: 020 8451 7594
Email: cambodianembassy@btconnect.com, Website: www.cambodianembassy.org.uk

2008 Media Releases

4 February

New Policy and Leadership: Key Challenges to Global Witness in 2008

Once again, Global Witness Director Simon Taylor is trying to impress by playing celebrities in Global Witness’s press release on 22 January 2008 entitled “US move to ban top Cambodian officials ….. to get tough on corruption “.

The Embassy was disappointed by the Global Witness Director’s deliberated intention to discredit and to plot against the Government of Cambodia and its leaders at the single occasion found. This can probably explained in the same way dogs are happier to lick bones found in the domestic waste. We find it hardto believe that, the “UNEDUCATED” still exist in such number and continue to
lead Global Witness.

The present code of conduct regulating Global Witness is insufficient: IT IS TIME TO ESTABLISH AN INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR A REVISED GUIDELINES OF GLOBAL WITNESS BY ITS FUNDERSTRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS-DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND GOVERNMENTS OF CANADA, IRELAND, NETHERLANDS, SWEDEN AND UK.

The Royal Government has considered “Environmental Protection is a Prerequisite Condition” for ensuring sustainable socio-economic development by enhancing equity and justice in utilizing national resources and environmental services in a way that benefits all people. In this sense, the Royal Government has introduced a rigorous measure against violators to crack down anarchic
activities such as deforestation, banning large-scale forest exploitation.

The Royal Government of Cambodia has introduced and implemented an insightful forestry reform with high determination and, national and international support, we have successfully strengthened national order and the ability to control, maintain, protect, plant and to proudly develop the national forestry sector. Until now, regarding some works, Cambodia is leading and acting as a role model in the region such as the implementation of international forestry regime, and forestry technical code.

Phnom Penh : Happy Valentine's Day !

A group of students buy fresh flowers at a sidewalk stall for their loved ones in celebration of Valentine's Day Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008.(AP Photo/Pat Roque)

A couple on motorcycle buy roses from a vendor on Valentine's Day in Phnom Penh February 14, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A vendor prepares roses for sale on Valentine's Day in Phnom Penh on February 14, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia Tribunal: Up to 8 Defendants

examiner.com
Feb 13, 2008
By KER MUNTHIT, AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia's genocide tribunal expects to try up to eight suspects over the Khmer Rouge's brutal rule, while seeking to nearly double its staffing levels to 530, according to a tribunal planning document.

The cap on the number of prosecutions was noted in a document that outlines the tribunal's proposal to increase its budget to $170 million - a sharp increase from the original $56.3 million.
The document with the revised budget estimate - presented to donor nations in New York last month - was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The tribunal, which opened its offices in early 2006 after years of wrangling between the Cambodian government and the U.N., took five suspects into custody last year and hopes to begin their trials later this year.

Starvation, overwork, lack of medical care and execution led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people during the 1975-79 communist Khmer Rouge regime.

The budget document says more money is needed to expand services and personnel to allow the tribunal to operate through March 2011, instead of December 2009 as had been anticipated earlier.

"This extension is based on a more realistic expectation of the work of the court, with a maximum number of eight detainees," it said. The document did not explain how the number had been arrived at, or who the additional suspects might be.

The five senior Khmer Rouge leaders under detention - including the group's former head of state, Khieu Samphan, and its foreign minister, Ieng Sary - are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

There are fears that the aging and infirm defendants could die before facing justice. The group's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.

Officials authorized to speak for the tribunal could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The tribunal has been dogged by allegations of corruption and delays. Donors have pressed it for reforms and more transparency in its conduct.

"The tribunal will have to explain clearly what kind of reforms they are undertaking with regards to administration and why they have chosen a budget like this," said Tom Barthel Hansen, a Danish Embassy official, whose country contributed about $500,000 to the original budget.

He said it was not yet clear how his government would respond to the new request.

Sacravatoons: An ScapeHyena

Courtesy of sacravatoon : http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

Rice says US disappointed by the pace of change in Cambodia

pr-inside.com

2008-02-14

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States is disappointed about the pace of change in Cambodia.

Rice told lawmakers Wednesday that the U.S. wants to see more progress in that country.

Some 1.7 million Cambodians died under the communist Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.

Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal has five former leaders of the Khmer Rouge in custody awaiting trial.Corruption in Cambodia is a way of life. Most civil servants earn only about $25 (¤17) a month.

Cambodia to receive $70m aid, loans

ABC Radio Australia
14/02/2008

Britain, Japan, the World Bank and the European Union have agreed to provide over $US70 million in aid and loans for Cambodia.

Representatives from the countries say it is hoped the money will help reduce Cambodia's rate of poverty and to improve its economy.

Cambodia's minister of economics and finance, Keat Chhun, says the money 'will be used for the reforms of public financial management, private sector development, as well as natural resource and land management'.

Genocides haunt survivors

Kevin Butler, Staff Writer
02/13/2008

LONG BEACH - Phansy Peang lost her family, including her children, during the massacres of the Khmer Rouge in her native Cambodia.

Years later, Peang, 60, still is haunted and suffers depression, occasionally dreaming of her children that perished.

"It's lucky for me that I can see them in my dreams," she said.

Peang was among three survivors of genocidal regimes that shared their harrowing stories during a panel discussion Wednesday, part of a human rights forum at Cal State Long Beach.

The three-day President's Forum on International Human Rights, which concluded Wednesday, focused on "Modern Genocides and Global Responsibility."

Mariana Francisco, a Mayan woman who survived mass killings in Guatemala in the 1980s, described how she witnessed tortures and executions while serving as a nurse in her native country.

At least 200,000 Guatemalans died or disappeared as a result of the military's effort to suppress the Mayan population, whom government officials accused of harboring communist sympathies during a civil war.

When she was 8, she witnessed her brother's kidnapping by troops to force him to join the army, she said.

Some boys from Mayan villages who were conscripted into the army later wielded weapons against their indigenous community, she said.

Lillian Black, who spent seven months as a prisoner in the Nazi-run Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland, described how her family was forcibly moved to a ghetto and then placed into crowded train cars.

Upon arriving at the concentration camp, Nazi guards separated the passengers into two lines - in one stood her parents, in the other Black and her sister.

Black and her sister, who also survived, never saw their parents again.

The Nazi guards cut off her hair, gave her clothes and wooden shoes and later made her break stones as a slave laborer.

Early on in her time in the camp, Black, then 14 years old, did not realize mass executions were occurring.

She asked another person in the camp what had happened to her parents.

"She said, `Do you really want to know? Look over there where the fires are. That's where they are,"' Black said.

Black, 77, transferred to another camp and liberated by the U.S. military, said she has struggled with feelings of guilt at having survived. Her distress once caused her to visit a psychiatrist.

"He said, `You know, you have a right to live, it's OK,"' she said.

The Government Plans to Draft Law Allowing Foreigners to Have the Right to Own Khmer Land

Posted on 14 February 2008.

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 547

“An official from the Council of Ministers recently said that a new draft law allowing foreigners to own Khmer land will be sent to the National Assembly to be deliberated and adopted in the near future.

“The draft law, which is known to have been initiated to satisfy the goal of wealthy foreigners, especially Chinese and Yuon [Vietnamese], is receiving strong reactions from civil society and from Khmer people.

“Ms. Pung Chhiv Kek [Dr. Kek Galabru], president of the local human rights organization Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, said that nowadays, land issues in Cambodia are moving towards a crisis; if the law permits foreigners to own Khmer land, it would cause a situation of double deprivation.

“Based on the Cambodian constitution, foreigner shall not have the right to own a house or a building, and they shall not have the right to own a plot of land in Cambodia, this right is only for those who hold Khmer citizenship. If the new draft law is adopted, it would be a surprise and very terrifying for the future of Cambodia. Parts of Cambodian land would be lost to foreigners for money.

“The director of an organization working on legal issues based in Cambodia, the Cambodian National Research Organization, said that if this new law is promulgated, it will seriously affect Cambodia’s sovereignty.

“It is to be noted that currently there are some companies owned by foreigners who have been given the right by the government to own several thousand hectares of land through what is called land or forest concessions. Some of these contracts have a validity of up to 90 years. This means that they are land owners for one or two generations. Examples are the granting of land to a Yuon [Vietnamese] company to plant rubber trees in Ratanakiri on more than 100,000 hectares of land, and authorizing a forest concession to a Yuon company in Kompong Thom.

“These actions give those foreign companies the opportunity to destroy natural forests and to use the lands granted by the state in an anarchical way.

“It is remembered that during the 1970s, through the leasing of the Snuol rubber plantation in Kratie to a Yuon company, it had been used as a military base to fight the government. But now, it is believed that such leasings provide a good opportunity for the neighboring foreigners to invade Khmer lands.

“Referring to the people in Ratanakiri, today there are many Yuon rubber plantations that have been in operation in this province, employing their own [Vietnamese] workers. This became dangerous for Khmers, because after the Hun Sen government had seized the forests where Khmer people were doing their business, and granting it to foreign companies with the argument that those foreign companies would provide jobs to Khmer people - but finally it is nothing, and the jobs are only for their own [foreign] labor. This is becoming a serious tragedy for Khmer people and for the country.

“Relating to this case, according to a government official, Khmer major companies are just a tool of foreign businesspeople; they establish close relations with Hun Sen government officials to connect the lines to get commission from foreigners. The foreigners are not afraid to spend their money to buy a country. This is a big factor, pushing to have a draft law, allowing foreigners to own land in Cambodia.

“Such trends that led to this kind of criticism, seems to be sensitive since last year, and Prime Minister Hun Sen himself announced in a public forum that his government would not sell the state’s sovereignty and its decision rights. But some observers noted that Hun Sen seems not to know what state power sovereignty is. Until now the state’s mechanisms seem to be led by private businesspeople, while Prime Minister Hun Sen is just a tool.”

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.2, #108, 13.2.2008

Cambodia Calls for Regime Change at Global Witness

Thu., Feb. 14, 2008
Global Witness

Cambodian Hammer fails to crack nut - Cambodian Embassy in London calls for regime change at Global Witness

Following Global Witness’ recommendation that new World Bank President Robert Zoellick take advantage of his recent trip to Cambodia by calling for a credible investigation into evidence of an illegal logging network surrounding the Cambodian Prime Minister and other senior officials (exposed in Global Witness’ June 2007 report ‘Cambodia’s Family Trees’), the Cambodian government, increasingly desperate to defend their already tarnished public image, has issued a press release demanding a change in Global Witness’ leadership and a call to the organisation’s donors to cut funding.

The August 5 press release describes Global Witness’ request to Mr Zoellick as both “amusing and disturbing” and urges funders to “review the credibility and ill-intention of Global Witness Director,” adding “his discriminatory nature may be ill suited to lead Global Witness in the current situation and the future.”

“Cambodia’s Family Trees is based on several years of rigorous investigations into Cambodia’s forest sector and offers an in-depth exposé of illegal logging, kidnapping and attempted murder by relatives of the prime minister and other senior officials. I fail to see why calling for a credible investigation into these findings is either amusing or disturbing,” said Global Witness Director, Simon Taylor. “This latest announcement from the Cambodian Embassy is symptomatic of the government’s reluctance to deal with the facts presented in our report. Attempts to suppress our activities will not make these very real issues of governance and natural resource mismanagement disappear,” he said, adding “Either respond to our calls for an investigation to prove impunity in Cambodia does not exist, or stop complaining.”

“It’s also worth noting that the Cambodian government are happy to benefit from the freedom of the press here in the UK, whilst our report is banned in Cambodia and the prime minister’s brother is reported to have threatened Global Witness staff with violence,” said Taylor.

The press release highlighted economic growth over the past decade in Cambodia and improvements in the investment climate. Yet last month a World Bank survey of corruption in 207 countries ranked Cambodia in the bottom ten percent, as did the 2006 Transparency International "corruption perceptions index". The Cambodian government is still repaying millions of dollars siphoned off in a graft scandal that forced the Bank to temporarily suspend three key aid projects last year. Meanwhile, an estimated 35% of the Cambodian population continues to live in poverty.

“Quoting economic growth rates is meaningless if the vast proportion of state assets are under the control of an unaccountable elite,” said Taylor. “Changing the status quo will necessitate addressing the rampant corruption which allows a small group of individuals to profit from the exploitation of Cambodia’s natural resources at the expense of the country’s poor. There must be an effective judicial investigation into our report’s findings and the international donor community must insist that this happens.”

Remains of Japanese village found in Cambodia

ABC Radio Australia
14/02/2008

The site of a Japanese village dating back to the 17th century has reportedly been found in the outskirts of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh.

Japanese archaeologist Hiroshi Sugiyama says the finding is based on excavations and document anlaysis.

He says Japanese people came to Cambodia aboard ships between 1601 and 1635, and there were around a hundred of the them living in the village during that time.

Most are said to have been involved in trade or religious affairs.

The Japanese archaeologist presented the findings during a public lecture at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.The Japanese Embassy says it plans to install a marker at the site for Japanese tourists.

Thai Suspends Flights To Brunei

By Ben Ng

Bandar Seri Begawan - Thailand's national carrier Thai Airways International has suspended all its flights in and out of Brunei Darussalam, sources told the Bulletin.

A spokesperson for the airline acknowledged the reports saying flights have been suspended "due to commercial requirements" effective February 12, declining to comment further as she was not authorised to speak to the media.

"We will release an official statement to the media once everything is ready," the spokesperson said yesterday.

Thai Airways in 2003 suspended flights to Phnom Penh due to the "unsettled" situation in the Cambodian capital and strained bilateral ties.

"The flights to and from Phnom Penh remain suspended out of concern for passenger safety since the situation in Phnom Penh is considered unsettled, while relations between Thailand and Kampuchea (Cambodia) have not returned to normal," the company said in a statement.

Despite the flight suspension that began January 30 following anti-Thai violence that erupted a day earlier in Phnom Penh, the Thai Airways office in the Cambodian capital reopened for business a few days later. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Cambodia a promising market for LPI Capital

Tee Choon Yeow

The Star on Line
Thursday February 14, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: LPI Capital Bhd is upbeat on its prospects in Cambodia, where it set up CampuBank Lonpac Insurance Plc last August with Public Bank Bhd.

Executive director Tee Choon Yeow said Cambodia was a “very promising” market for the group.

“Cambodia is a completely new market and there are only about five licensed insurers in this country. At the same time, the insurance industry penetration is very low, less than 10%. We are looking forward for more profit in Cambodia,” he said after the company AGM yesterday.
LPI Capital, which has a 45% interest in CampuBank Lonpac Insurance, provides general and personal insurance products through subsidiary Lonpac Insurance Bhd.

The company aimed to be the leading general insurer in Cambodia, Tee said, adding that CampuBank Lonpac Insurance currently had no agents but would soon be recruiting.

He believed its operation in Cambodia would contribute positively to the group going forward. Currently, overseas operations contribute about 12% to the group’s revenue with the bulk of it from Singapore.

Tee said LPI Capital would not discount the prospects of venturing into Vietnam since it would be able to leverage on Public Bank’s presence in the country.

LPI Capital, he said, had been conducting feasibility studies in Vietnam and, if it were to venture into Vietnam, it would possibly use the same model in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, LPI Capital intends to maintain the levels of its interim and final dividends.

“We believe in paying high dividends and we expect to maintain the dividend payout,” Tee said.
For the financial year ended Dec 31 (FY07), LPI declared an interim dividend of 30 sen, a final dividend of 55 sen and a special dividend of 25 sen per share.

LPI posted a net profit of RM87.8mil on revenue of RM551.6mil in FY07, up from RM78.1mil and RM473.5mil respectively in FY06.

Earnings per share improved to 63.8 sen from 56.6 sen previously.

Development Bank President to Visit Cambodia

By Sok Khemara,
VOA Khmer
Washington
13 February 2008

Sok Khemara repors in Khmer(1.15 MB) - Listen (MP3)

Haruhiko Kuroda, president of the Asian Development Bank, will visit Cambodia next week to discuss assistance programs and future cooperation with senior government officials.

Kuroda will open a railroad rehabilitation initiative and sign a $71 million grant and loan package, said Argun Gosawmi, the ADB’s Cambodia director.

Opposition lawmaker Yim Sovann said Cambodia still faced critical issues surrounding corruption and the loss of $500 million yearly, even as 34 percent of the population lives under the poverty line.

Cambodia is facing a widening gap between rich and poor, as well as instability due to land theft, he said, calling on the international community and leaders such as the ADB—one of the country’s biggest donors—to raise the issue of corruption with the government.

Minister of Public Works Son Chanthol said Wednesday the railroad would be rehabilitated with the help of the ADB package.

Election Monitor Recommends NEC Focus

By Sok Khemara,
VOA Khmer
Washington
13 February 2008

Sok Khemara reports in Khmer (1.25MB) - Listen (MP3)

A leading election monitor said Tuesday the national election body should start now focusing on election irregularities in order to ensure fair elections.

The National Election Committee should look at irregularities, complaints, threats, intimidation and campaign material collection, said Puthea Hang, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections.

“I understand that the NEC is trying to do self reform so first they should take public opinion,” he said.

The NEC has called on political parties and non-governmental agencies to prepare recommendations this month for smooth elections of acceptable standards.

Puthea Hang said agencies will hold meetings this week to submit recommendations to the NEC.
Nicfec plans to push for a regulation within the NEC that nullifies results where election procedures are ignored.

For example, if there are threats, polling stations are opened late or ballot boxes are found unlocked, the results from that area should be rejected, he said.

NEC Secretary-General Tep Nitha said the NEC has fully applied election laws in the past and worked to solve complaints.

The NEC will review all the recommendations from political parties and election groups, he said, adding that the deadline for recommendations is Feb. 20.

Defections Don’t Hurt Popularity, SRP Says

By Heng Reaksmey,
VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
13 February 2008

Heng Reaksmey reports in Khmer (974 KB) - Listen (MP3)

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Wednesday the ongoing defections from his party to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party are unlikely to hurt his popularity among the people.

Voters will not follow the defectors and will remain supportive, he told VOA Khmer.

The CPP’s strategy is to make offers of money and political positions as the national elections approach, so it is normal for a handful of politicians to move around beforehand, he said.

“However, I am not that nervous, as I know for sure that our voters would not follow those defectors,” he said.

Chit Sarith, who recently resigned from the Sam Rainsy Party, said he and other former opposition members had not demanded anything from the CPP for joining, he said.

“It's up to [Prime Minister Hun Sen] to offer anything, and I demanded nothing,” Chit Sarith said.

Experts See Plea in Words of Nuon Chea

By Mean Veasna,
VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
13 February 2008

Mean Veasna reports in Khmer(991 KB) - Listen (MP3)

In his words during a bail hearing last week, jailed Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea may have embedded a plea for intervention from the government, tribunal observers said recently.

During statements at his hearing, Nuon Chea praised the government and the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen, but the tribunal is beyond the reach of such intervention, the observers and tribunal officials told VOA Khmer.

“Intervention from foreign countries is still blocking the development of Cambodia to a certain extent,” Nuon Chea said to a panel of pre-trial judges during his hearing.

“The rectangular and win-win strategies of the Cambodian government led by Samdech Akkiak Moha Sena Dechchor Hun Sen will win over all these obstacles,” he said, including several honorifics before the prime minister’s name.

Such statements are attempts to use the tribunal as a “mail box” to pass messages to top officials like Hun Sen, said Hisham Mousar, a tribunal monitor for the rights group Adhoc. “The tribunal is composed of different elements, and its weaknesses are well understood by the Khmer.”

Cambodia’s national courts are roundly criticized for politicization and intervention, but observers said the tribunal was not the same.

“Nuon Chea still thinks Hun Sen is a king, and if [Hun Sen] was able to arrest him and put him in jail, he should be able to release him as well,” said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.

View from a Hill: Scavenging at Stung Meanchey

This images are show of how living condition of the poor Cambodian under the Hun Sen's regime

http://www.bigempire.com/sake/stung_meanchey.html

PHNOM PENH - The white and gray cloud hanging over Stung Meanchey Municipal Waste Dump on a recent weekday morning is thick and smothering. The smoke is rising from the perpetually burning fires around the site's nearly seven hectares of undulating hills of fetid garbage.

"Actually, today the conditions are quite good," says Hong Sot, one of a few hundred recyclable material collectors at Phnom Penh, Cambodia's largest garbage dump. "Usually the smoke is much more intense."

Sot, sweat clinging to the side of his face, is outfitted in a heavy gray shirt and plaid bandana. He is taking a short break from the activity at the top of the nearby hill. There, collectors frantically pick through freshly dumped Phnom Penh refuse. At his feet are large bundles of what is considered recyclable booty - bottles, chunks of metal, plastic bags, and paper - that have been hauled down from the work area.

In front of him is a dirt slope covered by a series of metal plates, upon which are a few idling trucks. Dump workers call on the vehicles one by one, their wheels often spinning on the accumulated muck as they move up onto a slightly elevated and open apron. Standing in the middle of this clear space is a gentleman sporting sunglasses and sharp brown shorts. He repeatedly blows on a whistle to indicate where the new loads should be dropped.

As the bed of each truck is slowly tipped upward the frenzy begins. The collectors (primarily men and women, but also many children) poke and smack at the descending bags before they even reach the ground. A bulldozer then sweeps in, narrowly missing a few members of the scavenging mob, all knee-deep in garbage, to push the pile to the side, where the whirlwind chaos continues.

An outsider's view of Stung Meanchey, referred to as "smoky mountain" and located about 15 minutes by car from the city center, is likely that of a harrowing scene of maddening futility. Yet for the thousands of workers toiling atop its reeking mounds, the dump provides a dubious means of survival.

Equipment is simple. A pair of rubber boots, a mesh bag, one hooked metal stick, and a decent fabric covering for one's head are the basics. Some workers can be seen at the edge of the fracas leisurely sharpening the ends of their sticks with stones.
"It is not difficult," says Ki Lorn of the work. "If I don't have a job, I don't eat."

With a red check scarf around her head, the forty-year-old Lorn estimates her daily gains to be between 1.75 and 2.50 dollars. One kilogram of plastic fetches ten cents; one kilogram of iron is worth a quarter of that; and a single glass bottle goes for two and a half cents. The native of Takeo Province, which borders Vietnam, says that she has never found anything overly valuable during her searches but knows of some lucky hunters who have found small cash and mobile phones.

Nine storage depots line both sides of the dump's bumpy entrance road, which is filled with scurrying chickens and stray dogs. Venders arrive from within Cambodia or Vietnam to break deals with middlemen to haul away the materials.

It is an understatement to say that the work is fraught with hazards. Upon their descent from the trucks, some bags get stuck and workers smack at them with their rods, often causing the contents to literally explode into the air. A blast of sawdust or plant clippings can turn the conditions from highly hazy to very non-breathable.

Lorn has seen multiple deaths over her nearly 4 years foraging at the dump. Two months ago was the latest one she witnessed - a man, between 25 and 30 years old, was crushed. "A bulldozer pushed a mound of garbage right onto him," she remembers.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of Stung Meanchey is the number of children digging through the piles. One young boy, a half-empty bag slung over his shoulder, can be seen on this day scurrying through the site wearing a black viser from McDonald's - which does not have a franchise in Cambodia - that reads "I'm lovin' it" just above the bill.

"Three children have died over the past year because of accidents with trucks and bulldozers," says Mech Sokha, president of the Center for Children to Happiness (CCH), an orphanage that takes children from the dump and provides them with education and training. "They often work in the night until midnight with small lights on their heads. But sometimes the drivers cannot see them or the children are in such a hurry to grab valuable things that they do not care about safety."

CCH, founded in 2002, is a non-governmental organization that receives enough private donations annually to support 140 children within its three facilities, all of which are located in southern Phnom Penh. In addition to being given the opportunity to attend nearby primary schools, the children receive lessons in mathematics and English and training in cooking and motorbike repair.

The children of CCH have no competent guardians, and nearly all having been pickers at Stung Meanchey at one time or another. Many were previously roaming the streets in ragged clothing, drifting within a tenuous existence of hopelessness. One motherless eleven-year-old girl arrived at CCH soon after escaping from her father's third failed attempt to sell her into prostitution.

Sokha makes regular visits to Stung Meanchey to assess the condition of the children working the grounds. He has noticed that the smoke from the perpetual fires, which are fueled by the natural release of methane, cause lung problems in many children. Further, many consume meager meals of noodles and rice from vending carts, whose bowls and spoons are washed with brown water. During the rainy seasons the clinging clouds may subside but depressions in the topography turn to swamps, exacerbating common ailments like diarrhea brought about by dysentery.

Many children do not wear shoes or boots, Sokha says, so injuries due to contact with broken glass, iron plates, nails and needles are common. (Used hypodermic needles are considered fairly valuable considering each returns one cent.)

Sokha has numerous success stories to tell. Many graduates have gone on to get decent jobs that pay fair salaries. "But most importantly," he says, "they feel confidence and motivation through their own actions and decisions. They now know how to live in a big society safely, peacefully, and in happiness."

With the capacity limits of Stung Meanchey already being tested, proper waste disposal is an ongoing problem for Phnom Penh that will likely not improve soon. The metropolis, the capital city of an economy that has grown an average of 11.4 percent annually through the middle of last year, generates 667 tons daily - a figure that is expected to double right along with its current population of 1.2 million in less than a decade. In some areas of the landfill, the rubbish is already so staggering that it rises five meters high, adding to the misery of the slums that occupy the three nearby villages slums.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded a study that in 2005 formulated a master plan to relocate Stung Meanchey. By the middle of the next decade, the dump is expected to be relocated to a new 100-hectare site in Dang Kor. The area is positioned further to the south from Stung Meanchey, will contain a buffer zone for adjoining properties, and feature gas removal and litter containment installations.

Given few options, likely the collectors will be making the trek as well. "I have no chance to get another job," Lorn says. "Everything is here."

Journalism watchdog concerned about Cambodian press freedom

Wed, 13 Feb 2008
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Paris-based journalism watchdog Reporters Without Borders expressed concern about Cambodian press independence in the lead-up to national elections in July in its annual report released Tuesday. The group also said it was concerned that three journalists had reportedly received death threats for covering logging issues and that it believed one newspaper had been temporarily closed after reprinting part of a report on the issue made by anti-corruption non- government organization Global Witness.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen ... can count on the support of the majority of the broadcast media (and) the highly-politicised written press struggles to maintain its role of challenging authority," the international journalism watchdog claimed.

A May 2007 Global Witness report on illegal logging which claimed that high ranking officials were involved in the industry was quickly banned from distribution in Cambodia, and many of the officials named in it have accused it of being defamatory. Some journalists said the ban illustrated a lack of freedom of information in Cambodia.

"Ahead of legislative elections scheduled for July 2008, there are fears that the ruling party will tighten its grip still further on electronic media," it said in the report.

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith has repeatedly said he defends the right to a free press in Cambodia and strenuously denied allegations that the media is muzzled. Media in Cambodia is regarded by analysts as one of the most open in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Media watchdog concerned about Cambodia

Bangkok Post

Phnom Penh (dpa) - Paris-based journalism watchdog Reporters Without Borders expressed concern about Cambodian press independence in the lead-up to national elections in July in its annual report released Tuesday.

The group also said it was concerned that three journalists had reportedly received death threats for covering logging issues and that it believed one newspaper had been temporarily closed after reprinting part of a report on the issue made by anti-corruption non- government organization Global Witness.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen ... can count on the support of the majority of the broadcast media (and) the highly-politicised written press struggles to maintain its role of challenging authority," the international journalism watchdog claimed.

A May 2007 Global Witness report on illegal logging which claimed that high ranking officials were involved in the industry was quickly banned from distribution in Cambodia, and many of the officials named in it have accused it of being defamatory. Some journalists said the ban illustrated a lack of freedom of information in Cambodia.

"Ahead of legislative elections scheduled for July 2008, there are fears that the ruling party will tighten its grip still further on electronic media," it said in the report.

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith has repeatedly said he defends the right to a free press in Cambodia and strenuously denied allegations that the media is muzzled. Media in Cambodia is regarded by analysts as one of the most open in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Cambodian genocide tribunal to try up to 8 defendants, hire more staff

The Associated Press
Published: February 13, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia : Cambodia's genocide tribunal expects to try up to eight suspects over the Khmer Rouge's brutal rule, while seeking to nearly double its staffing levels to 530, according to a tribunal planning document.

The cap on the number of prosecutions was noted in a document that outlines the tribunal's proposal to increase its budget to $170 million — a sharp increase from the original $56.3 million.
The document with the revised budget estimate — presented to donor nations in New York last month — was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The tribunal, which opened its offices in early 2006 after years of wrangling between the Cambodian government and the U.N., took five suspects into custody last year and hopes to begin their trials later this year.

Starvation, overwork, lack of medical care and execution led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people during the 1975-79 communist Khmer Rouge regime.

The budget document says more money is needed to expand services and personnel to allow the tribunal to operate through March 2011, instead of December 2009 as had been anticipated earlier.

"This extension is based on a more realistic expectation of the work of the court, with a maximum number of eight detainees," it said. The document did not explain how the number had been arrived at, or who the additional suspects might be.

The five senior Khmer Rouge leaders under detention — including the group's former head of state, Khieu Samphan, and its foreign minister, Ieng Sary — are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

There are fears that the aging and infirm defendants could die before facing justice. The group's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.

Officials authorized to speak for the tribunal could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The tribunal has been dogged by allegations of corruption and delays. Donors have pressed it for reforms and more transparency in its conduct.

"The tribunal will have to explain clearly what kind of reforms they are undertaking with regards to administration and why they have chosen a budget like this," said Tom Barthel Hansen, a Danish Embassy official, whose country contributed about $500,000 to the original budget.

He said it was not yet clear how his government would respond to the new request.

Int'l community provides over $70 mln for Cambodia

chinaview.cn
2008-02-13 20:29:36

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The representatives of the United Kingdom (UK), Japan, the World Bank and the European Union (EU) to Cambodia on Wednesday provided over 70 million U.S. dollars of grant aid and loan for Cambodia to reduce its poverty and improve economy.

"The finance will be used for the reforms of public financial management, private sector development, as well as natural resource and land management from 2007 to 2010," said Keat Chhun, Cambodian Minister of Economics and Finance.

He signed an agreement with Japanese Ambassador Katsuhiro Shinohara, British Ambassador David Reader, the World Bank's country director Nisha Agrawal and EU's representative Rafael Dochao Moreno.

"We will spend this budget to match the development goals with effectiveness, transparency and accountability," he added.

David Readers said on behalf of the donors that this reflected the determination of the four development partners in helping Cambodia achieve the development goals, reduce poverty and speed up the economic growth and reforms.

Among the 70 million dollars, the UK provided 15 million dollars as grant aid, the World Bank 15 million dollars asgrant aid, the EU 33 million dollars as grant aid and Japan 8.5 million dollars as concession loan, according to a joint press release.

Editor: Jiang Yuxia

President Kuroda to sign 71 mln usd grant for Cambodia next week - ADB

forextv.com
02/13/08

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said president Haruhiko Kuroda will visit Cambodia and Vietnam next week to discuss ADB's assistance programs and future areas of cooperation and sign a 71 mln usd grant and loan package for Cambodia.

Kuroda will visit Cambodia on Feb 17-19, meet senior government officials and help launch a major transportation initiative, the bank said.

The president will also visit Vietnam on Feb 19-21, meet senior government officials, private sector representatives and development assistance partners, and visit an ADB-supported HIV/AIDS prevention program for youth, the agency added.

The visit comes ahead of the Third Greater Mekong Subregion Summit in March, where leaders from six Mekong nations will discuss measures to strengthen regional cooperation, foster development, and enhance the region's competitiveness, the ADB said.

Ex-Khmer Rouge chief on silence strike

FRANCE 24 EXCLUSIVE
Wednesday 13 February 2008

C. Payen, FRANCE 24's correspondent in Cambodia, reports that Khieu Samphan ex-Khmer Rouge chief on genocide charges will abstain from speaking at his trial to protest administrative irregularities.

According to C. Payen, FRANCE 24's correspondent in Cambodia, Khieu Samphan, ex-Khmer Rouge chief facing genocide charges, will abstain from speaking at his trial to protest against administrative irregularities. "This is not good news for the trial", says Payen. Indeed, the Khmer Rouge trial is likely to face further delays unless the matter is resolved quickly.
Samphan's French lawyer Jacques Verges blames the Cambodian administrative machinery. He claims that proper procedures have not been observed, and deplores the unusual administrative delays. He condemns, in particular, the incomplete translation of the case files into French, which blocks the defence from obtaining all the information required.

Pol Pot number two blames outsiders for ills

PHNOM PENH, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Khmer Rouge "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea blamed foreigners on Friday for Cambodia's current ills, thereby refusing to acknowledge the legacy of Pol Pot's murderous regime at the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal.

"My fellow Cambodians, today Cambodia is enjoying peace, solidarity and national reconciliation and its development is improving gradually," the octogenarian former guerrilla chief, charged with crimes against humanity, said at his bail hearing.

"But difficulties remain due to the influence of foreign countries that are hindering Cambodia's growth," he said without elaborating.

His only other words were in praise of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-eyed ex-Khmer Rouge fighter who defected to Vietnam in the late 1970s before returning with the 1979 Vietnamese invasion that ousted Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror.

An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, disease and starvation under the ultra-Maoist regime as Pol Pot's dream of creating an agrarian peasant utopia descended into the nightmare of the "Killing Fields".

The effects of the "Year Zero" revolution and the nearly two decades of civil war that followed are still being felt 30 years later, with Cambodia one of the poorest and most heavily mined countries in Asia.

The court is expected to rule on Nuon Chea's bail request in several days. He is highly unlikely to be freed.

Besides Nuon Chea, top cadres now in custody are former President Khieu Samphan, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, and Duch, head of Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng, or "S-21" interrogation and torture centre.

Pol Pot died in 1998 in the final Khmer Rouge redoubt of Anlong Veng on the Thai border.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Michael Battye and Bill Tarrant)