Cambodia growing poorer as crisis deepens, World Bank says

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 06/01/2008: Squatters sleeping in a market. ©John Vink/ Magnum

Ka-set
08-04-2009

Cambodia is one of the Asian countries most at risk of suffering from the global economic crisis, according to the World Bank’s latest report on the East Asia and Pacific region. The international institution, which initially forecast a 4.9% growth rate for the Cambodian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and was one of the last ones to be uneager to revise predictions downwards, is now announcing recession. GDP should go down by 1% compared to 2008, a year already marked by general slowdown in the Kingdom’s economic activity.

This new prediction is even more negative than those announced by the Economist Intelligence Unit (+1%) and the International Monetary Fund (-0.5%), seen as alarmist by the Cambodian government who officially remains confident about a 6% growth rate.

The World Bank report, which mentions the same causes and effects already emphasised by the IMF (strong dependence on the declining American and European economies, plummeting in garment exports and important drop in foreign investments...), points out, above all, that this recession, if it lasts, will have a direct impact on the poverty of Cambodians. Indeed, the year 2009 might “undo some of the progress Cambodia made towards its Millennium Development Goals, including in reducing poverty”, the World Bank report states.

Cambodia thus appears as one of the Asian countries where the global economic crisis will affect population the most, together with Thailand (-2.7%) and Malaysia (-1%), two other Southeast-Asian countries for which the World Bank forecasts worsening of poverty. Cambodia’s two other neighbours, however, keep a positive growth rate: 5% for Laos and 5.5% for Vietnam.

Yet the World Bank strikes a positive and hopeful note: Cambodia does have “safety nets”, especially concerning food, thanks to its dynamic farming sector. The latter is the only one out of the four pillars of Cambodian economy (together with garment manufacturing, construction and tourism) which should continue with an increasing growth rate... unless a major climate disaster occurs.

Siem Reap Scene: 9 Apr 2009

Photo by: PETER OLSZEWSKI
Renaud Fichet, co-proprietor of Abacus, which is set to become a circus this Saturday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Post Staff
Thursday, 09 April 2009

ABACUS BECOMES A CIRCUS
A mini version of the Tini Tinou circus festival is coming to Siem Reap's Abacus Garden Restaurant this Saturday night, courtesy of proprietor Renaud Fichet.

The festival opened in Phnom Penh in late March and has just finished a four-day stretch in Battambang.

Obviously in a restaurant setting and a one-night restriction, Fichet can only host a snapshot version of the festival and has chosen three acts from Romania's Pa-Ra-Da foundation, the National Circus of Laos and Battambang-based Phare Ponleu Selpak.

The show will unfold in different areas of the restaurant complex while customers dine at Abacus, and the highlight will be a 35-minute trampoline performance by the Laotian circus performers.

The show kicks off at 8pm, and the fee for the circus itself will be $5.

Renaud told the Post he is hosting the night in order "to try to make something happen in Siem Reap and to support the whole circus festival project".

The Tini Tinou festival is an endangered event due to insufficient funding, and organisers say it may not return next year.

This is the sixth circus extravaganza that Renaud Fichet has hosted at Abacus, and he says this is simply because "I like circuses".

Fichet said that as a boy he didn't run away to join a circus but confessed that in the prime of his youth he was a Club Med entertainer, which in itself gives him some circus cred.

SILK FARM SPINS SUCCESS
It's a big call to make, but Meng Thavy, communication manager at Artisans D'Angkor, has made it.

During a presentations night at the Angkor Century Hotel, she told visiting graduate students from the tourism destination management course at NHTV University in the Netherlands that Artisans D'Angkor is now the second-most visited tourist destination in Siem Reap after Angkor Wat.

She said that despite the fall in tourism, visitor numbers for Artisans D'Angkor have risen in the past few months due to its cooperation with the Tour Guides Association.

And to thank the tour guides, the company held a special party for them on April 2.

Angkor Artisan's Silk Farm at Pouk, which employs 340 silk artisans, has been quite a hit with tourists. Meng Thavy claims that while tourism suffered a 20 percent decease in arrivals in the last six months, the number of visitors to the Angkor Silk Farm increased by 97 percent over the same period, which represents a daily average of 200 visitors.

Part of the recent success of the silk farm has been the revamping of the demonstration workshop to "make it more attractive and pedagogic".

Meng Thavy said that the growth of interest in the silk farm "has contributed to the development of high-quality silk production - an important sector of handicraft for the future in Cambodia".

Artisans D'Angkor is also constructing a new workshop for soapstone products, which is scheduled to open in July.

Photo by: KYLE SHERER
Sam Nang Mean, assistant manager of the newly reopened Martini nightclub.

MARTINI NIGHTCLUB REOPENS
Martini nightclub, the notorious saloon located in the former Khmer Rouge headquarters off Old Market bridge, reopened on Saturday after a six-month closure. There have been various rumours swirling around Siem Reap as to the nightclub's long closure, but assistant manager Sam Nang Mean said the club was simply closed for building restoration, which finished two months ago.

Sam Nang Mean said the club will attract a Khmer crowd but stressed that it would not be like Sok San Palace, Siem Reap's den of PG-rated iniquity. One stark difference is that instead of a catwalk, the scantily clad women in Martini are situated on the dancefloor.

A bat signal-style spotlight rig has been set up, visible all over town, with the intention of attracting clubbers like moths, and the bar's DJ cranks out mainly hip-hop, R&B and disco tunes.

The "no guns, no knives, no explosives" sign out front, the slightly unhinged bargirls and the bar's reputation mean that Martini is a good place for barangs to get stirred and leave shaken.

When former UNTAC Siem Reap shadow governor in the early 1990s, professor Benny Widyono, was in Siem Reap in January, he took time out to visit the Martini's site.

He said that, apart from a few garish nightclub refurbishments, the building is the same as when he was governor and visited frequently because two Khmer Rouge generals operated out of the premises.

There is a sense of irony in that the highly moralistic KR generals' former lair is now a girlie bar, and Widyono pointed out that at least two KR assaults on Siem Reap were prompted by outrage over UNTAC soldiers corrupting local women.

HOVERCRAFT SERVICE OPEN
The buzz in Siem Reap business circles is that another local entrepreneur is planning to launch a hovercraft service on the Tonle Sap river. In addition to being faster and more fuel-efficient than boats, hovercrafts also create less wake, making them less disturbing to floating villages.

But despite their many advantages and various business proposals over the years, Siem Reap travel agents are unlikely to know what a hovercraft is, let alone know if any companies are providing trips on them.

About two years ago, media reports said a company called Spirit of Cambodia planned to start a daily hovercraft shuttle between Siem Reap and Battambang, with additional services to Phnom Penh and floating villages.

Last year, the owner of Cambodian restaurant Kangaroo Kitchen was seeking investors for a hovercraft service off the coast of Sihanoukville.

"I am hoping to be in service around the end of the year, servicing the many islands of the coast," he said in an open posting to potential investors on small business website Start Up Nation.

This reignited hovercraft interest in Siem Reap, but none of the plans seem to have come to fruition.

Temple Watch: Sacred Phnom Kulen

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Deve Perkes
Thursday, 09 April 2009

The hill temples of Phnom Kulen are the most sacred of all the Khmer Pilgrimage sites. Phnom Kulen is about one-and-a-half hours' drive from Siem Reap, and the mountain approach road gives some of the best views in the area. Chief among the interesting sights at Phnom Kulen are the series of Hindu lingas on the riverbed above the falls. These are similar to those seen at Kbal Spean. The main Reclining Buddha is situated in a building on a rock pinnacle, and below this are many shrines, pagodas and statues. Above the shrines are temples and carved animal figures. More figures can be found several kilometres from the main batch, but a motorbike is needed to access these. Recent improvements to access have been made and the site has been tidied up for visitors. Access to the spectacular falls is down rebuilt wooden steps, but getting near the falls in the rainy season involves wading through fast flowing water riddled with slippery rocks. In the dry season, it is a lot easier and with the recent rain, there will be a decent water flow. The road is open one way only until noon and there is no access after this. The cost of admission is US$20 for foreigners, so there are not too many tourists there.

Bronze on display

Photo Supplied

A bronze artefact from National Museum.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Tom Hunter
Thursday, 09 April 2009

National Museum’s collection of bronze sculptures to be shown in Washington

OVER 38 bronze sculptures from the National Museum of Cambodia are to be displayed in Washington, DC, next year, an opportunity for the world to witness the mystery and wonder of Cambodia's ancient relics.

The exhibition "Bronzes from the National Museum" follows the story of Cambodian bronze casting from the prehistoric period through the distinct Angkorian style of the 12th century.

The Smithsonian Institution's Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M Sackler Gallery will host the exhibition from May 2010 through early 2011 to promote Asian art in America.

In 2005, the Freer and Sackler galleries collaborated with the Cambodian National Museum to train three Khmer staff in the art of bronze restoration

Under the guidance of Paul Jett, head of the galleries' conservation department, metal conservator Sean Charette spent 18 months training the staff of the National Museum in modern restorative techniques.

The task involved shipping material from the US to construct the Kingdom's first metal conservation laboratory and to improve storage facilities that previously were prone to flooding.

Six of the works to be shown in Washington, DC, have been restored entirely by the efforts of Cambodia's National Museum staff.

"The exhibition is an opportunity to raise much-needed funding for the conservation workshops, which will enable more Cambodians to receive conservation training," said Hab Touch, director of the National Museum of Cambodia.

"The bronze pieces need a lot of special care. It's an important part of conserving Khmer culture," Hab Touch said.

The conservation workshops employ five full-time staff. Trained in contemporary restoration techniques, they work tirelessly to document and restore the museum's 6,800 bronze artefacts.

The National Museum of Cambodia features one of the world's largest collections of Khmer artefacts, with a rotating display of 600 bronze objects constantly on display.

Temple villagers tell of loss

Photo by: AFP
Cambodian soldiers walk through the site of a burned market in front of Preah Vihear temple on Saturday. Local residents fled the area when fighting broke out on Friday. Many have begun to return to the site to salvage whatever they can from the rubble.

THAI MINISTER'S COMMENTS ‘FEARFUL'

ACambodian government official described as “panicky” the Thai foreign minister’s warning that former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was being allowed to launch political attacks from Cambodia. Koy Kuong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Post Wednesday that Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya’s comment was made out of fear of Thaksin and were without foundation. “I wonder why [Kasit] says this again and again – we have already informed Thailand that Thaksin is not in Cambodia,” Koy Kuong said. Despite the outburst, Koy Kuong said relations between the two countries were good.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Thet Sambath and Michael Fox
Thursday, 09 April 2009

PreahVihearThree villagers tell how they hid in a trench with Cambodian soldiers while machine-gun fire and shells tore through the Preah Vihear market last Friday.

ON Monday, Siv Sophally came back to the remains of his house near the burned-out market at the base of Preah Vihear temple to see what was left. The market was rocketed by Thai forces during a firefight on Friday that left three Thai soldiers dead.

There wasn't much left. Among the burned remains he found a ruined generator, his son's bicycle and bottles of perfume. Everything had turned to ashes, he said.

"Along with the burned generator and bottles of perfume, my other possessions such as clothes, tables, chairs, pots and dishes were in ashes," he said. "I came back to find what was left, but there isn't anything - just the well."

Siv Sophally, 38, was looking for his well to give water to the soldiers. The fact that it was underground meant it was safe, but he worried the piping was damaged. He estimates that the loss of his cafe, shop, souvenirs, perfume and stock has cost him USD$20,000.

"I have lost everything - all of my property. It was destroyed by the fire from the Thai rockets. This had value and it's now just ashes," he said. "I am finished. My mother has cried every day since."

He said that a number of villagers want to file a claim against the Thai army for compensation and will ask Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene. He said 20 men who lost their properties now want to join the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and go to the front line.

"We will be grateful if Prime Minister Hun Sen rebuilds our houses. Everything we have built up for 10 years is gone," he said.

Siv Sophally's wife, children, parents and relatives are staying temporarily in flats at Sa Em village, which lies 25 kilometres from Preah Vihear.

CRC donates food, utensils
Long Sovann, deputy governor of Preah Vihear, said the Cambodian Red Cross had donated supplies to each of the more than 500 families that were moved from the market area. Among the goods they received were 25 kilograms of rice, canned fish, utensils and pots.

He said 277 families had lived around the market, and 183 houses were destroyed.

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WE ARE LOOKING FOR LAND FOR THEM TO BUILD THEIR HOUSES ON AT SA EM VILLAGE.
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"We are looking for land for them to build their houses on at Sa Em village," Long Sovann said. "They can live in the new village and go to sell

their goods at the market once it is rebuilt."

‘I couldn't run anywhere'
During Friday's clash between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, three villagers who had decided to remain in the area were hiding in trenches with RCAF troops. Prak Sam El, Try Pisith and Yim Pov were caught in the fighting with just the clothes they were wearing.

Yim Pov said his wife and children had been evacuated before the fighting to Sa Em village. Other villagers were sent to Ko Muoy behind a hill near the temple. He had remained behind to keep an eye on his house.

All three men said they were unable to leave the scene and save their property because machine-gun fire was coming through the rain and hitting their homes and the temple.

"I was stuck at the front line," said Yim Pov, a pork vendor. "I hid in the trench near the market with Cambodian soldiers. It was like being in the army at the front line, but I had no gun to shoot with."

"I couldn't run anywhere because of the bullets and shells. I wasn't afraid of the shooting, but I was sorry to see our properties burned," he continued. "The soldiers told me not to move or I might get shot."

Fellow villager Try Pisith also lost everything. RCAF soldiers gave him clothes and rice to eat. While explaining that he has no spare clothes, an RCAF officer told him he can go to the army store and pick up some military fatigues.

The third man, Prak Sam El, sold groceries at the market and ran a cafe. His house, grocery store and cafe were destroyed. He calculated his losses at $3,000 but said it could have been worse: Soldiers had helped him to save 3 million riels' worth of goods.

"Now I have reopened my cafe and am selling to soldiers and tourists coming here. But none of the villagers have returned - it's just us three," Prak Sam El said. "I wanted to leave the trench, but there were so many machine-gun bullets flying around near me. So I just watched the fire, crying as it destroyed my property."

Vietnamese eye surgeons leave trail of goodwill in Cambodia

Vietnamese doctors who went on a charity mission in Cambodia perform an eye surgery on a poor patient (Photo: SGGP)

SAIGON

Doctors from the Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital and 175 Military Hospital and employees of Alcon healthcare company have completed a five-day charity mission to Cambodia, the director of the eye hospital, Dr. Tran Thi Phuong Thu, said on April 8.

They provided free treatment and medicines to 300 people and performed cataract surgeries on 207 others at Preahketmealea hospital in Phnom Penh.

The mission cost over VND130 million (US$7,300).Previously, the city Eye Hospital also carried out free treatment and examination in Cambodia and Laos.

By T.Ngoc - Translated by Uyen Phuong

Cambodia reborn as tourist destination

Wed, April 08 2009

In Cambodia, where a decade-long tourism boom has been driven almost entirely by safe and easy access to the ancient Angkor Wat temples, the rebirth of a seaside resort town is helping lure visitors to the country’s long-neglected coastline.

The sleepy town of Kep on the southeast coast has been earmarked as Cambodia’s first boutique tourism destination, but for now it bears few of the characteristics of the countless backpacker Meccas and resorts scattered throughout Southeast Asia.

Tourist numbers have surged in recent years, but this town of just a few thousand people has maintained its unhurried, pastoral character. Unlike Sihanoukville, a lively huddle of guesthouses, bars and nightclubs on the central coast, Kep seems to be taking a relaxed path towards developing its tourism sector.

But with its lush rainforests, crystalline waters and bountiful seafood, Kep is finding that the tourists don’t need much encouragement. A three-hour drive from the capital Phnom Penh, Kep has become a favorite weekend retreat for expatriates and Cambodia’s burgeoning middle class.

The town is only 20 minutes from a recently opened Vietnamese border crossing, making it a perfect place to say hello or goodbye to Cambodia.

"They told us to expect fewer tourists in Cambodia this year," a local taxi driver says. "But more and more come here every week, to see the mountains and the caves, and of course, to eat."

Kep’s famous crabs were among the many treasures that helped the town become a playground for Cambodia’s French rulers in the early 20th century. Along with former king and independence leader Norodom Sihanouk, the French elite built dozens of mansions in the hills along the coastline and sailed their yachts in the protected waters in the Gulf of Thailand.

But like many regions in Cambodia, Kep was ravaged by the United States’ secret bombing campaign during the Indochinese War, and was forcibly evacuated during the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-1979 rule. The ultra-communist group considered the town a symbol of bourgeois hedonism and colonial oppression, and destroyed most of its infrastructure.

Kep lay dormant for more than a decade, and the scars of its troubled past are still visible among the poor local population and neglected amenities. The seaside villas left standing have become overgrown with vines and tree trunks, and now only the smallest of fishing boats dock in the once-bustling port.

But Kep’s striking beauty has not paled despite years of conflict, neglect and civil war. Guesthouses and hotels catering to all budgets have been built along the coast, including the exclusive Knai Banh Chatt hotel, which boasts views of the imposing Bokor Mountain from its infinity pool.

While the town has no beach and is separated from the sea by a strip of coarse red stones, a cheap 30 minute boat ride to Koh Thonsay — known as Rabbit Island — reveals one of Cambodia’s pristine beaches. Budget accommodation is compulsory, as the island’s only available beds are housed in palm-wood bungalows, which can be rented for between $7 and $10 per night.

The bungalows’ power generators are switched off at 10 p.m., and as the fluorescent lights along the beach fade, a spectacular night sky is revealed.

But Kep’s greatest attraction may well be the variety of seafood on offer in the restaurants and stalls downtown. Crabs cooked with local pepper sell for between $3 and $10, and grilled fish on skewers cost less than $5. For the more adventurous, or less eco-conscious, grilled seahorse is also available.

Driving past the various building sites, road workers and bulldozers on the road out of town, one gets the impression that the place is on the verge of a tourism storm. So as travellers look for cheaper tropical escapes in South-East Asia, now might be the time to experience Kep and beat the rush.

Internet: www.kepcity.com, www.mot.gov.kh, www.tourismcambodia.com.

Uncovering Mines In Cambodia

CityNews

Wednesday April 8, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff

CityNews' Gord Martineau helping Global Medic and local workers to uncover mines in Cambodia.

Cambodian lesbian film a hit

The Straits Times

April 9, 2009

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA'S first-ever movie featuring a taboo lesbian love story has been a surprising hit during its first week in theatres, the film's writer said on Thursday.

Phoan Phuong Bopha said the two-hour 'Who Am I?' about a Cambodian-American woman infatuated with a famous Cambodian actress has so far attracted some 4,000 viewers - a blockbuster for the country's tiny movie industry.

'This film have been successful beyond our expectations while the film industry has declined. This film draws great attention,' Phoan Phuong Bopha said.

The movie tells the tale of two women falling in love over a series of long-distance telephone conversations, with the Cambodian-American travelling to Cambodia to meet the star, she said.

But the feature ends in tragedy when the man the actress's parents want her to marry tracks the pair down.

'It is a true story of some movie stars,' said Phoan Phuong Bopha, adding that she wrote the film to raise awareness of discrimination against lesbians.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2007 publicly announced that he was disowning his adopted daughter because she was a lesbian.

Cambodia's film industry has been battered by declining audiences, forcing many theatres to close over the past few years. -- AFP

Indonesia,Thailand: Asia's most corrupt

Bangkok Post
9/04/2009

SINGAPORE / Indonesia and Thailand are perceived as Asia's most corrupt economies, with last year's cellar-dweller the Philippines making a marked improvement, an annual survey of foreign business executives shows.

Singapore and Hong Kong retained their rankings as the region's least corrupt economies, although there are concerns about private-sector fraud, according to the survey by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc).

Despite the negative perception of Indonesia, Perc noted ``there has been a real headway in fighting the problem'' under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is seeking re-election in July's presidential polls.

``The absolute scores show corruption in the public and private sectors is still very high,'' Perc said.

``But our latest survey shows that residents in Indonesia are more favourably impressed with the determined way the KPK (anti-corruption commission) has been fighting corruption than any of the other countries graded poorly for corruption.''

It said the major question its respondents are asking in Indonesia is whether the anti-corruption efforts can be sustained.

The March results are based on more than 1,700 responses from 14 Asian economies plus Australia and the United States, which were included for comparison purposes. In a grading system with zero as the best possible score and 10 the worst, Indonesia got 8.32.

Thailand was seen as the second most corrupt country with a grade of 7.63, but Perc said foreign investors were more concerned about political stability.

``Very few expatriate executives find that corruption makes the country a less attractive place to live and do business,'' it said.

Cambodia was third-worst at 7.25, followed by India with 7.21 and Vietnam with 7.11.

A grade above 7.0 indicates that a ``serious'' corruption problem exists, Perc said. A score between 4.0 and 7.0 indicates a ``moderate'' level of corruption.

Perceived as Asia's most corrupt country in the 2008 survey, the Philippines had a score of 7.0 to rank sixth from the bottom this year.

The Philippine customs and tax agencies, police and politicians have the meanest reputation for corruption in the country, the consultancy said.

But while ``there is very little confidence in the government's seriousness about fighting the problem,'' Perc also said that ``the actual level of corruption is not as bad as it is often portrayed''.

Singapore again topped the survey as Asia's least corrupt country with a score of 1.07, followed by Hong Kong with 1.89.

Australia scored 2.40 to rank in third place followed by the United States with a score of 2.89.

The recession's impact on regional financial centres Singapore and Hong Kong would increase public-sector corruption there, Perc said.

Captor was a 'monster'

Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his alias, Duch - commanded Phnom Penh's S-21 prison, also known as Tuol Sleng, where as many as 16,000 men, women and children are believed to have been tortured before being executed. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

The Straits Times

April 9, 2009
Khmer Rouge Trial

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia) - A FRENCH scholar who was imprisoned by a Khmer Rouge official now on trial for crimes against humanity said on Wednesday that his captor was a 'monster' but did not mistreat him.

Francois Bizot testified before Cambodia's UN-assisted genocide tribunal in its second week of trying Kaing Guek Eav, the main jailer for the Khmer Rouge during their 1975-79 regime.

Kaing Guek Eav (pronounced Gang Geck EE-UU) - better known by his alias, Duch - commanded Phnom Penh's S-21 prison, also known as Tuol Sleng, where as many as 16,000 men, women and children are believed to have been tortured before being executed.

In addition to crimes against humanity, 66-year-old Duch (pronounced Doik) is charged with war crimes as well as murder and torture.

The Khmer Rouge seized Mr Bizot in Cambodia's countryside while he was doing research on Buddhism in 1971, during the civil war that led to the group's seizure of power. He was accused of being a foreign spy and held in Khmer Rouge territory for three months before he was cleared and released on Christmas Day, though he said he had expected to be executed.

Duch has already given the tribunal his account of his activities up to the Khmer Rouge seizure of power, but Mr Bizot was the first witness to take the stand. He has written a book about his experiences.

Mr Bizot said he was testifying in memory of his fellow inmates at Duch's M-13 jungle prison. But he also acknowledged a certain sympathy for contending aspects of Duch's personality.

'I must come to terms with what's in me with relation to a double reality, the reality of a man who was the force of a state institutional massive killing, and I cannot imagine being in his shoes today with so much horror left behind,' Mr Bizot declared.

'On the other hand, the recollection I have today of a young man who committed his life to a cause and to a purpose that was based on the idea that it was not only legitimate, it was deserved,' he said, referring to the idealistic social impulses that drove Duch to join the communist revolutionaries. -- AP

Preventing Child Sex Exploitation

NTV
April 9, 2009

A Federal Official that has ties to Kearney and was involved in several high-profile child sex
slave rings, talked to UNK students about child sex exploitation.

It's hard to think about, but certainly a reality overseas and perhaps more and more closer to home. Now one man is telling about his experiences trying to stop adults from having sex with kids.

"He would tie them, gag them, blindfold them, sometimes smother them with a pillow and rape them," Said Gary Phillips.

Phillips talks about his role taking down former US Marine Corps Captain, Michael Pepe. Pepe was convicted of raping seven kids in Cambodia.

"He would perform oral sex to them and have them do it to him and even have them do it to each other...That was one of the worst cases I've ever worked," Phillips said.

Phillips is now giving presentations on his experiences as an undercover agent working for Homeland Security in South East Asia. He caught Americans who traveled to Asia to have sex with kids.

"I was amazed at the amount of Americans that do this in plain sight, to have sex with these kids, some as young as seven," said Phillips.

He says child sex exploitation is hard to stop because of poverty. Parents often sell their
kids to Americans to have sex.

"It's brought on by despair, poverty, pain, suffering. This is the only way they can make money, I don't condone it at all, but this is the reality," he said.

Students listened intently, shocked at some of the graphic pictures, and nature of the issue.

"I liked it, I think it's important for people like Gary to share these experiences with us so we know what's going on in the world," said UNK Senior Jena Lynch.

Not only is this a problem globally, but in America one in four girls and one in six boys will be a victim of sexual abuse. Phillips says that can be prevented.

"Keeping that line of communication open is so important. Talk to your kids about sex. That's the only way you can prevent something like this from happening to your child," he said.

It was quite by accident Phillips gave a presentation at UNK, he ran into a Kearney Professor on a plane during his global travels. He's now in the process of getting his Masters of Biology at online at UNK.

Cambodia Honors Cuban Film Institute

Prensa Latina

Phnom Penh, Apr 8 (Prensa Latina) Cuban documentaries and full-length feature films were screened in Cambodia to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Institute of Arts and Cinema Industries (ICAIC).

The screening took place at this capital's Communication Faculty Theater, which welcomed moviegoers, led by Sam-Ang Sam, advisor of the Cambodian Minister of Culture and Fine Arts.

Short films like "La vida del Che," and "La revolucion cubana en imágenes," and the movies "Barrio Cuba" and "El Benny" were chosen to celebrate 49 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Havana and Phnom Penh.

Faculty dean Raymond Leos termed excellent the screening of Cuban cinema and expressed gratitude for showing those films to students, professors and people in general.

Orlando Torres, cultural attache of the Cuban embassy in this Indochinese nation, talked of the meaning of the creation of the ICAIC on April 4, 1959.

The diplomat highlighted the role the film institution has played in defense of the Revolution, transformation of people's spiritual life and the conservation of his country's historical memory.

Cambodia: A street food experience

Heath Robbins/contributed photo
Shrimp is grilled in the open markets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Daily News Tribune

By Jeffrey Fournier/51 LINCOLN
GHS
Posted Apr 08, 2009 @ 10:29 AM
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The relationship between a person and the food that they eat is very personal and powerful. Just as strong is the connection between a culture and its food. My first experience with Khmer food was a nervous and sublime one that will stay with me forever.

My first day in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, brought me to the Kandal Market. Food stalls created a river of activity into which a multitude of people flowed. Boston-based photographer Heath Robbins and I negotiated through this chaos, our senses overwhelmed by pungent odors and bright colors.

As we waded carefully through the throngs of locals, my experiences as a chef piqued my intuition that these are a people who take pride in their food, serving fresh and delicious products.

After allowing myself to absorb the environment, I found an intriguing food stall on the outskirts of the market. Stacked high with fresh basil, plates and jars of sauces I had never seen or tasted before, skewers of cuttlefish and head-on prawns smoked away over wood charcoal, tantalizing my tastebuds. Small children smiled at me and bit into the cuttlefish like it was a fruit roll-up.

I knew this was the place for me. Getting the attention of a young Khmer woman, I pointed at the shrimp and she quickly motioned me to sit a stool at her table.

My host presented me with a plate of fresh basil leaves (more powerful than any basil I have had in recent memory), crisp bean sprouts and a sweet, pungent ginger sauce. When the skewer of shrimp was delivered, the young woman smiled with pride, seeming to know that I was about to experience something unique and personal.

Everything around me disappeared as I bit into the crispy, salty head of the first shrimp. I found myself lost in the sweetness of the ginger sauce mingled with the strong flavor of the sea - a reminder of the simple pleasures of food.

There is no sense criticizing honest food. It was produced with no pretence and allowed me to dine without inhibition. These few bites felt like welcome into Cambodia and invited me to start my culinary adventure.

The flavors of Cambodia touched me deeply and I have paid homage to the street vendors by including some Cambodian dishes on my spring menu. Below is a recipe for Cambodian Skewered Shrimp.

Jeffrey Fournier is the executive chef and owner of 51 Lincoln in Newton. For reservations, call 617-965-3100 or go to www.51lincolnnewton.com.

CAMBODIAN SKEWERED SHRIMP WITH GINGER SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

For the shrimp:

2 pounds U-10 shrimp (10 shrimp per pound), shell on

8 bamboo skewers

1/4 cup kosher salt

1 bunch basil

2 cups bean sprouts

For the Ginger Sauce:

1/4 cup chopped garlic

1/3 cup simple syrup

Salt and pepper to taste

Juice of two limes

Pinch to 1 teaspoon of chili flake (depending on desired spiciness)

DIRECTIONS:

To make the shrimp: Place shrimp (in shell) in a bowl and sprinkle with salt.

Fill bowl lightly with water until shrimp are covered. Refrigerate and leave for 1 hour.

Remove shrimp from the water and skewer five shrimp on a double skewer (one going each direction through all shrimp).

Grill over charcoal, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Serve with basil and bean sprouts.

For the Ginger Sauce: Mix the garlic, simple syrup, salt and pepper, lime juice and chili flake, and serve in bowl for dipping.

Serves 4.

UN suggests anti-corruption measures for Cambodian genocide court

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh

UN News Centre

8 April 2009 – A senior United Nations legal official today underscored the need to address allegations of corruption surrounding the genocide tribunal in Cambodia, which has begun the first trial of a suspect accused of crimes committed during the notorious Khmer Rouge “killing fields” regime of the late 1970s.

Assistant-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Peter Taksoe-Jensen has submitted a provisional ethics monitoring mechanism to Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An for his consideration, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told the press in New York.

Mr. Taksoe-Jensen has met with Mr. Sok An, who is also chair of the Royal Government Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials, several times this week regarding the UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

In a statement to the press, Mr. Taksoe-Jensen stressed that for an ethics monitoring system at the ECCC to be credible, the staff should have the freedom to approach the Ethics Monitor of their own choice and put forward complaints without fear of retaliation.

“The United Nations will further strengthen its own anti-corruption mechanism within the Court,” added Mr. Taksoe-Jensen.

The trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as “Duch,” got underway last month, when he was charged by the ECCC in Phnom Penh with crimes including torture and premeditated murder while he was in charge of the renowned S-21 detention camp.

The ECCC, established in 2003 under an agreement between the UN and Cambodia, is tasked with trying senior leaders and those most responsible for serious violations of Cambodian and international law committed during the Khmer Rouge rule. It is staffed by a mixture of Cambodian and international employees and judges.

Estimates vary, but as many as two million people are thought to have died during the rule of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979, which was then followed by a protracted period of civil war in the impoverished South-East Asian country.

Revolution Meant Killing: Duch

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
08 April 2009

As his trial moved through its second week Wednesday, prison chief Duch said told tribunal judges the Khmer Rouge revolution had meant killing, even if young revolutionaries were not aware of it.

Duch, who was the head of Tuol Sleng prison while the Khmer Rouge was in power, also commanded a small jungle prison in Kampong Speu province, known as M-13, as the communist guerrillas rose to power in the countryside.

Duch said he would invite the rural poor and the young to join with him in the revolution. “And what was revolution work at the time? It was killing,” he said.

After Duch spoke Wednesday, a former French diplomat who was once held in M-13 defended his captor, saying Duch had been trapped in the Khmer Rouge revolution and could not have turned back.

Francois Bizot, whose book, “The Gate,” in part outlines his three months at a jungle prison known as M-13, in Kampong Speu province, in 1971, was the first witness to appear at a tribunal trial.

“The revolution was for the independence of Cambodia, on behalf of the Cambodian people, to eradicate poverty, and they had hope for the future,” Bizot said.

He acknowledged that some people had been mistreated at M-13, but he also said some prisoners had been released.

They were “released from their shackles,” he told Trial Chamber judges, “because they respected the conditions of detention and they did not resist or protest.”

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, as commander of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, where up to 16,000 Cambodians were sent to be tortured into confessions and later executed in “killing fields” outside Phnom Penh.

Five leaders of the regime are now facing atrocity crimes charges at the tribunal. Duch’s trial is the first, and as it continued into its second week Wednesday, the former prison chief admitted to recruiting young peasants to join the revolution.

Cambodia Not Harboring Thaksin: Official

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
08 April 2009

Cambodia will not jeopardize its relationship with Thailand by secretly housing the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

Theptai Senapong, a spokesman for Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, said on Saturday he believed Thaksin was staying near the home of Prime Minister Hun Sen on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, and on Tuesday Thailand’s foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, said ties between the two countries could be strained if the reports are true.

However, Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Kuy Kuong, denied Thaksin was in the country.

“Cambodia wishes to have a good relationship with its neighbors, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam,” he said. “There is no Thaksin in Cambodia. So bilateral ties between Cambodia and Thailand will not be affected.”

Thaksin, who is popular with rural Thais and enjoyed close ties with Hun Sen during his tenure as prime minister, has been found guilty of corruption by a Thai court and is living in exile.

Thailand’s ruling government is coming under pressure from demonstrators loyal to Thaksin to step down and allow elections, the latest round in a series of political turbulence.

“If the government allows Thaksin to come into Cambodia, the Cambodian government will declare publicly his entrance, without secrecy,” Kuy Kuong said.

Vietnam Assailed Over Khmer Krom Rights

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
08 April 2009

A US-based advocacy group for the Khmer ethnic group in Vietnam has prepared questions to send to the UN’s Human Rights Council, criticizing the Vietnamese government over its treatment of the minority group.

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom live in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, in areas that once belonged to a former Cambodian state. Their treatment under Vietnamese authorities has come under scrutiny in recent months, with the release of a Khmer Krom monk from a Vietnamese prison and a recent report on their persecution by Human Rights Watch.

The New Jersey-based Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation says it will forward its own criticism of Vietnam to Geneva for an upcoming Rights Council meeting May 8, outlining the limited freedom of religion and expression Vietnam allows for its Khmers.

The questions were prepared for the council, comprised of 47 countries and 192 representatives, for Vietnam’s presentation on its human rights report, Thach Ngoc Thach, president of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation, told VOA Khmer.

Khmer Kampuchea Krom organizations from Europe will hold a rally in front of the Rights Council’s office as the Vietnamese delegation presents its case, he said, adding that his group had recently participated in an international religious freedom meeting in Washington and had established good rapport with some members of the Rights Council.

“Our hope is to see more attention brought to the Khmer Kampuchea Krom issue by the international community and liberal countries that love democracy,” he said.

Vietnam is signatory to international conventions on civil, political, economic and cultural rights, but the country is widely criticized for rights violations and restrictions of political freedoms. Vietnamese officials say the country’s rights record is improving.

“The Khmer Kampuchea Krom people come at a real disadvantage, in that they are quite vulnerable,” Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, told VOA Khmer by phone. “We apparently see that the Vietnamese government treats certain ethnic groups with real either skepticism or hostility.”

Human Rights Watch reported in January that Khmer Krom were being jailed for political expression and suffered other rights suppression.

Khmer Kampuchea Krom issues came under a spotlight in 2007, following the arrest of one of its former monks, Tim Sakhorn, who was running a pagoda in Cambodia’s Takeo province. He was defrocked by Cambodian Buddhist authorities, for allegedly fomenting unrest against Vietnam and claims he was taken by Cambodian authorities to Vietnam, where he was imprisoned until July 2008.

Tim Sakhorn returned for a visit to Cambodia this week but will have to return to Vietnam by April 17, according to local media reports. Rights groups say at least five Kampuchea Krom monks remain in Vietnamese detention.

Cambodian officials light incense and place offerings as they offer prayers at a grave site in the former Khmer Rouge prison complex, known as S-21

Cambodian officials light incense and place offerings as they offer prayers at a grave site in the former Khmer Rouge prison complex, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Cambodia is remembering the souls of the thousands of citizens who perished in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian Buddhist monks walk in the former Khmer Rouge prison complex, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Cambodia is remembering the souls of the thousands of citizens who perished in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodians pray at a grave site in the former Khmer Rouge prison complex, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Cambodia is remembering the souls of the thousands of citizens who perished in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian woman offers rice to Buddhist monks at the former Khmer Rouge prison, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Cambodia is remembering the souls of the thousands of citizens who perished in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian girl burns incense sticks as she prays at the former Khmer Rouge prison, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Cambodia is remembering the souls of the thousands of citizens who perished in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian Buddhist followers pray at the former Khmer Rouge prison, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Cambodia is remembering the souls of the thousands of citizens who perished in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian Buddhist monks bless a small shrine in a room of the former Khmer Rouge prison, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Cambodia is remembering the souls of the thousands of citizens who perished in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

French witness at Khmer Rouge trial empathetic to prison chief

Monsters and Critics

Asia-Pacific News
Apr 8, 2009

Related articles

Khmer Rouge torture chief says he never wanted to run prison
Khmer Rouge victims promised freedom before deaths 00000401681532, others available (Roundup)
Khmer Rouge torture chief asks for bail during genocide trial
Khmer Rouge torture chief begs for forgiveness (Roundup)
Khmer Rouge torture chief begs for forgiveness available (1st Lead)

Phnom Penh - A French man detained at a Khmer Rouge torture prison said the facility's chief reminded him of his own friends, during his testimony Wednesday as the first witness before Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal.

Francois Bizot, an anthropologist who was imprisoned for three months the ultra-Maoist group's pre-revolutionary prison, expressed sympathy for Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who faces charges of crimes against humanity, torture, premeditated murder and violations of the Geneva Conventions.

'Duch was a man who looked much like many friends of mine, a Marxist who was prepared to surrender his life for the revolution,' he said. 'I had expected to encounter a monster ... but I realized then things were much more tragic, more frightening.'

The Khmer Rouge abducted Bizot in 1971 and detained him at the prison, known as M13, on suspicion of being a CIA spy. Bizot was working as a researcher in Cambodia at the time.

He was interrogated and shackled to iron bars, but was freed after Duch requested his release from his superiors.

Bizot said he spoke regularly with Duch and enjoyed many luxuries not afforded to other prisoners, such as higher quality food and access to bathing facilities. He said he was even thrown a farewell party when he was released.

While Bizot testified that he was not tortured and never witnessed other prisoners being tortured, he added there was evidence of such crimes at the prison.

'Duch, quite unhesitating, (told me) that sometimes he did the hitting, that he would hit the prisoners because they would lie and their testimonies would come up with contradictions. He said that he hated lying, lying was abhorrent to him,' he said.

Duch, 66, is the first of five detained Khmer Rouge leaders to go on trial, and while the charges mostly relate to his time as head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, this week's hearings have focused on his involvement in acts committed at M13.

The Khmer Rouge ran the prison camp during their insurgency against the US-backed military government from 1971 to 1975.

After overthrowing the government in April 1975, the group sought to transform modern Cambodian culture into an agrarian-socialist utopia and erase history.

Up to 2 million people - a quarter of Cambodia's population at the time - are believed to have died through execution, starvation or overwork during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 reign.

Duch is alleged to have supervised the murders of more than 15,000 people at Tuol Sleng prison, a former high school in Phnom Penh's suburbs.

Bizot has since written a memoir about his time at the prison, called The Gate, and judges asked him whether a sympathetic but unnamed character in the book was in fact Duch.

He replied by saying the character's 'dichotomy of good and evil' did not apply to Duch.

'The Gate was written 30 years later through the recollection of my fears and my emotions and sensations back then, which never left me over the past. What I relate concerning Duch and M13 was what I saw with my own sensitivity. It's a literary approach,' he said.

Judges asked Duch if he had read the book and he replied that he had not.

The court will continue questioning Bizot when the trial resumes Thursday.

Rescue Mission

Photo courtesy of Trudy Albert / The South County Spotlight
RAISING AWARENESS – Trudy Albert of Scappoose works with a group of young Cambodian girls during a recent mission trip to Southeast Asia. While there, Albert heard horror stories of human slave trafficking. Now home, Albert wants to help raise awareness of this global crime.

A Scappoose woman’s mission trip to Cambodia opens her eyes to the international human trafficking of young girls

By Darryl Swan
The South County Spotlight, Apr 8, 2009

Trudy Albert wasn’t sure what God wanted her to see when she undertook a mission trip to Cambodia in November.

Mounds of trash choked the scenery in the capital city of Phnom Penh. Extreme traffic congestion in the city of more than one million residents overwhelmed Albert, who stared dazed at the frantic, disorganized rush of buses, vans, mopeds and bicycles.

Poverty was everywhere, both within the city that is known for its population of rooftop slums and in the outlying villages still defined by hunting-gathering societies. Many of roads to reach the villages were washed out or still under floodwater.

“I kept thinking, ‘Why am I here?’” she recalls. “What is it I’m supposed to see here, Lord?”

It was between the waves of culture shock and jet lag that she found her answer: the people.

“They just absolutely stole my heart,” Albert says.

It was the first mission trip for Albert, a native of St. Louis, Mo., who moved to Scappoose 12 years ago. “I have always wanted to do a mission trip,” Albert says. “I knew that it was a third-world country, but I was not prepared for everything I saw.”

She discovered Cambodians to be humble, quiet and quick to light up when something tickled their fancy. Their courtesies to a stranger were boundless.

But through her work with World Hope International, the faith-based mission that sponsored the trip, she also saw the toll chronic poverty and social inequality have extracted from the country’s humanity.

Today, months later, she still wrestles her emotions when she recalls the plight of a 19-year-old woman in a village outside Phnom Penh who had recently escaped the forced sex trade industry.

“One of the girls, she looked at me and said, ‘I cry every night for my mom,’” Albert recalls, motioning her hands down over her face to mimic the effect of falling tears, a gesture not unlike the rain in the fairy tale “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

“I’m sure they all cry for their mothers,” Albert adds.

Through an interpreter, Albert heard story upon story of the victims of human slave trafficking, a crime globally on the rise and with a strong foothold in South Asia.

Cambodia, which borders Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, has emerged as a dominant feedstock for the illicit sex industry.

The International Labor Organization estimates at least 12.3 million people worldwide are held in forced labor, including prostitution. Other agencies estimate that figure is higher, closer to 27 million.

Many of the victims range in age from five to 26 years old. Most are vulnerable women and children who are impoverished and illiterate. Some have been sold to brothels or organized crime outfits by their own family members.

It’s a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide, and to find examples of its reach requires a journey little farther than our own doorstep.

In February, a multi-agency task force of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies rescued seven juvenile girls found to be working in forced prostitution throughout the Portland metropolitan area, the youngest only 12 years old.

“Four of those girls are already back with the traffickers because there were no services for them,” says James Pond, executive director of Transitions Global, a Hillsboro-based nonprofit that operates a healing center in Cambodia, called the Transitional Living Center, that provides job training and other resources to victims of human trafficking.

Transitions Global is now fundraising for a $1.2 million center in Multnomah County where domestic victims of human trafficking can rebuild their lives.

Pond says there are three to five cases of juvenile prostitution in the Portland metro area daily, and that most of the trafficking occurs over popular trading and networking Web sites, such as Craigslist. The Federal Bureau of Investigations estimates there are 300,000 American girls being trafficked for commercial sex.

Albert, while stressing that the mission’s purpose does not solely focus on the sex trade and instead aims to bring relief wherever it is needed, points to the work of World Hope International and other missionaries in Cambodia as a stepping-stone toward reducing the proliferation of human trafficking in the global sex trade.

Albert says she worked with one group of rescued women in the village of Svay Pak, several miles outside of Phnom Penh, that taught the younger children how to brush their teeth.

“They’re like any other kids. They’re like the kids here in America,” Albert says of the experience. “It was wonderful to watch.”

Vietnam to share power with Cambodia

ThanhNien
Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Vietnamese and Cambodian power utilities set up a 220-kilovolt transmission line Monday to enable Vietnam to sell power to its neighbor.

The power line, connecting An Giang Province with Cambodia’s Takeo Province, can transmit 900 million-1.4 billion KWh a year, Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) said.

EVN and Electricity of Cambodia officials are tying up technical and commercial issues so that EVN can sell electricity at the earliest, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported.

The line was built under an agreement signed in 2003 by the two governments and a contract between the two utilities.

Reported by Nhu Nguyen

From Cambodia to Columbia

CU Columbia Spectator
by Nettra Pan

Through the phone, the voice sounded cracked and distorted, heavy with genuine concern, aged by more than enough traumatizing experiences for any one lifetime. Thinking of the crime, violence, and general danger present at the time in a war-riddled nation, my grandmother wasted no time making herself clear regarding an offer my father had received. She told him, “I want my granddaughter to still have a father.”

This was my grandmother’s reaction to my dad’s announcement that he would be accepting a position in Cambodia’s United Nations Transitional Authority in 1992. At a time when refugees were still fleeing from the postwar conflict in Southeast Asia, seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness anywhere but home, my father was among those headed in the opposite direction—to help, toward home (if you could even call it “home,” seeing as he had not been there in 20 years). To my grandmother, I imagine that my father’s acceptance of this job encompassed many negative doubts and fears. Accepting meant to abandon his stable post at Unocal, an oil company now absorbed by the corporate giant Chevron. It meant leaving Southern California, the place where most of the surviving members on my father’s side had sought refuge from the Khmer Rouge genocide of 1975-1979.

For my mother, my father’s choice didn’t translate easily either. She had just recently moved to the United States from France, where her side of the family found protection from the war. For her, it was only after countless garage sales, selling our car and our house, and transits in France, Switzerland, and Thailand, that she and I, a wide-eyed toddler at the time, finally reunited with my father in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh.

Here in New York, nearing the end of my first year at Columbia, I’ve been flattered to see a rise in the number of people curious about my past, especially given the great diversity on our campus. Like high school students will be asking themselves this month, I’ve had my share of the typical “Why Columbia?” question. True, a lot of students choose their colleges because of the distance between their school and home. New York City is the ultimate destination for students who may be habituated to a small town—students thirsty for more everything, especially more freedom. But my grandmother had a point when she spoke to my dad 30 years earlier. Isn’t moving halfway around the world a bit much?

The international student would know: College abroad means trading in real phone calls for Skype and IM at odd hours of the night. For some, this difference means sacrificing frequent visits from home for frequent packages from Lerner. It involves exchanging long transit hours at airports for even longer winters away from home. For my parents, their only child’s choice of college probably led to a more severe case of Empty Nest Syndrome and accentuated their characteristics as protective, demanding parents. (Yes, Cambodians fit the Asian stereotype as well.) My father seemed most convinced that the crime, violence, and general danger of a big city automatically dropped Columbia from the list from which I was choosing. He also preferred Stanford and Berkeley for the fact that I would be closer to family. Ironic, no?

Maybe not. As the sun, squirrels, and acceptance letters come out again, existential questions begin to resurface in the classic Columbia fashion as I ask myself how I got here. I remember the plane ride, the excitement, how new and not quite familiar everything felt at first but how natural and comforting everything ended up being. Columbia helped, of course, by arranging a dinner for international students on our first night at school. Six months later, the friends I made there are still some of my closest friends, hailing from Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. These friends helped as well. I was lucky enough, as an international student, to be adopted by an American family for a weekend and get a chance to indulge in the American traditions of Thanksgiving and Christmas, or Hanukkah.

Looking back, perhaps the parallel between my father’s move to Cambodia and mine to New York is not that unexpected. It’s likely that the same thing that lured my father to Cambodia was exactly what I found in the City that Never Sleeps; a dynamic life, internationalism, and the ability to give back to our land of origin, still in dire need of assistance. I guess you could say the United Nations headquarters located here was also factor in my decision. But most importantly, another similarity is how well our seemingly arbitrary choices worked out. Raising me in the international environment of a developing country provided me with an interesting perspective. I feel lucky to have gotten the best of all three worlds, compared to American or French cousins whose parents did not return to Cambodia. Thinking of how strongly these three countries influence me now, I don’t know how I ever imagined myself elsewhere else. Riding the subway downtown, walking across campus, or even just sitting in John Jay, I realize New York is the one place where nearly everyone here is also from somewhere else. But the fact I cherish most is this: It feels like home.

The author is a Columbia College first-year.

Cambodia seeks to free souls of Khmer Rogue dead

Cambodian Buddhist monks walk in the former Khmer Rouge prison complex, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Cambodia is remembering the souls of the thousands of citizens who perished in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Taiwain News

Associated Press
2009-04-08

Cambodian officials and Buddhist monks gathered Wednesday in the building that once was the country's most notorious torture facility to honor the many who perished during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

The hour-long Buddhist ceremony took place as the center's former warden, Kaing Guek Eav, testified during the second week of a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal aimed at getting justice for the estimated 1.7 million Cambodians who died under the Khmer Rouge.

The man better known as Duch _ who last week apologized to his victims and accepted responsibility for his crimes _ has spent the past two days detailing the torture techniques he used to force confessions from victims at the Tuol Sleng center, including tying prisoners to posts, beating them with tree branches and tossing them into communal pits.

As many as 16,000 men, women and children are believed to have been tortured there before being executed.

The Buddhist ceremony for the dead took place in the compound of the torture center, which has been converted into a genocide museum. Surrounded by photos of the Khmer Rouge leaders, four monks chanted prayers while 20 government officials stood in silence.

"We dedicate this ceremony to all people who died under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, not only at Tuol Sleng," said Chey Sopheara, the museum's director. "May their souls rest in peace and be reborn in a new life."

Since some victims died of torture, Chey Sopheara said they were forced to "remain on earth" and the ceremony was aimed at setting their souls free.

Duch is the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial, and the only one to apologize for his actions. Four more are in custody and are scheduled to be tried sometime over the next year.

UN: Women, children affected most by crisis in Cambodia

People's Daily Online

April 08, 2009

Women and children of Cambodia bore the brunt of the current global financial crisis, as it cut down on the kingdom's exports and led to job loss, said the Office of UN Resident Coordinator on Wednesday.

"Women will be disproportionally affected by this crisis. They make up the bulk of the labor force, and they are the backbone of this economy. We know that when women's incomes are lost, the whole family suffers, especially the children," said UN Resident Coordinator Douglas Broderick in a press release.

To survive, more and more Cambodian women and children may find themselves in the informal economy for lower wages, poorer conditions, and greater risk of sexual exploitation and trafficking, he said.

Meanwhile, maternal mortality in Cambodia is already unacceptably high, with five pregnant women dying every day, he said.

With even less income to pay for food and health services, UN fears more women will forgo good nutrition and health care during pregnancy, exacerbating maternal and neo-natal mortality rates, he said.

To make things worse, "UN fears many poor families will adopt 'unhealthy' coping measures such as reducing their number of meals per day or eating less nutritious foods; cutting back on health services; removing children from school to work; and selling household assets or land," he added.

This concern is supported by the 2008 National Anthropometric Nutrition Survey, which showed an increase in acute malnutrition in poor urban children aged under five years in link with higher food prices and reduced earnings among the urban poor, according to the press release.

"The global economic crisis has a human face. In Cambodia, it's not just people's livelihoods are at risk, it's people's lives," said the coordinator.

Informal coping measures all have implications for long-term human development: stalling health, nutrition, and literacy, he said, adding that deterioration in these areas not only sets back the country today, but also long into the future, long after Wall Street has recovered.

"There is a human imperative to help Cambodia maintain growth and provide social welfare for all its people," he added.

As part of the response, the UN System in Cambodia is working closely with the government to design an effective social protection system aimed at safeguarding Cambodia's most vulnerablefrom economic and other shocks, said the release.

"Investing in women and children is the best way to ensure long-term prosperity. There is real opportunity in this crisis to transform ongoing vulnerability into sustainable futures for all Cambodians," said Douglas Broderick.

Social safety nets in health, education, food, and work can help break the poverty cycle and we must not lose sight of this focus, he added.

According to UN, after a decade of double-digit growth, driven by the manufacturing, construction, and tourism sectors, the Cambodian economy is predicted to contract significantly in 2009.

Shrinking demand from U.S. and EU markets has already forced 60,000 job losses in the garment sector, reduced foreign direct investment has seen a further 25,000 jobs lost in construction, hotel occupancies is well below last year, and economic migrants in neighboring Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia are facing increasing pressure to return home, it added.

Source:Xinhua

Peacekeepers set for Africa

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
Cambodian peacekeepers line up at a press conference during a clearing exercise Tuesday in Kampong Speu province.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith
Wednesday, 08 April 2009

CAMBODIA is set to dispatch 40 peacekeepers to Chad and the Central African Republic for one year as part of an ongoing UN security mission, Prak Sokhon, a secretary of state at the Council of Ministers, said Tuesday at a press conference at the Institute for Peacekeeping Forces, Mines and ERW (Explosive Remains of War) Clearance in Kampong Speu province.

He said they were in discussions with the UN to determine a specific departure date.

Tuesday's announcement about the deployment of 40 peacekeepers represents only one-tenth of the 400 that Hun Sen announced last month would be deployed.

Previously, Hun Sen claimed that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon specifically asked him to send deminers and peacekeepers to Africa. But Prak Sokhon said Tuesday that Cambodia's decision was predetermined by a January agreement with the UN that necessitated that "we have our forces when the UN needs them right away".

In addition to the UN agreement, the secretary general of the International Organisation of French-speaking Nations specifically requested that Cambodia send peacekeepers to Chad and the Central African Republic as a way to raise Cambodia's profile internationally, Prak Sokhon said.

"During a summit in Quebec, French-speaking countries wanted to promote [other] French-speaking countries like Cambodia on the international stage by [having them] send troops for peacekeeping operations," he said.

The UN has operated in Chad and the Central African Republic since 2007 to ensure the security of about 700,000 refugees, Prak Sokhon said.

He added that the Cambodian soldiers' roles in Chad and the Central African Republic were to be typical of international peacekeeping operations - running security checks and ensuring the safe movement of refugees.

Suong Khunny, deputy director general of the Institute for Peacekeeping Forces, Mines and ERW Clearance, said the institute had a total of 1,041 deminers and peacekeepers, including those still in training.

Prak Sokhon said Cambodia was also to send 50 deminers and peacekeepers to Sudan at the end of May to replace the Cambodians who have been there since 2008.

Dissident to seek residence

Photo by: BRENDAN BRADY
Khmer Krom monks at Wat Samaki Reangsay, a spiritual centre for exiles in Phnom Penh's Meanchey district.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chrann Chamroeun and Sebastian Strangio
Wednesday, 08 April 2009

During Khmer Krom activist Tim Sakhorn's temporary visit to Cambodia, rights groups say they will lobby the govt and UN in a bid to head off his return to Vietnam next week.

DESPITE being allowed to return to Cambodia after nearly two years of detention in Vietnam, former Buddhist monk Tim Sakhorn faces an uphill battle to extend his stay beyond the Khmer New Year.

The 41-year-old Khmer Krom activist arrived in Takeo province Saturday, where he attended a funeral ceremony for his mother and religious services at Wat Phnom Den in Kiri Vong district.

But his visa is only valid until April 17, and local and international rights groups are campaigning to head off his impending forced return to Vietnam.

"We are now trying to find ways to intervene and allow Tim Sakhorn to return to Cambodia to live with his relatives, since he is not willing to return to Vietnam," said Thach Setha, general director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association.

"It is a violation of human rights to separate him from his family and clamp down on his freedom of speech."

Thach Setha said also that the former activist has been under the close eye of the authorities since his arrival in Takeo and could risk further jail time if he speaks out against the Vietnamese or Cambodian governments.

"Tim Sakhorn feels scared for his safety and fears speaking openly now that police are patrolling around his house and [near the pagoda] during the ceremony," he said.

Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organisation, said that Tim Sakhorn could not meet with reporters Tuesday due to fears for his security.

But in a Monday interview with Radio Free Asia, Tim Sakhorn said that he had been "forced" to live in Vietnam and said he wanted to return home to Cambodia.

"I want to stay with my father and my brother in my hometown and farm the land," he said during the interview.

"I am calling on the Royal Government, the King, the United Nations and other NGOs to help me stay in the country and guarantee my security."

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It is a violation of human rights to separate him from his family.
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Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the state would do its best to ensure a legal resolution to Tim Sakhorn's requests.

"The state will do its best to guarantee his Cambodian citizenship," he said, but added that the fact that Tim Sakhorn holds a Vietnamese passport might complicate matters.

"This issue will be considered by the Royal Government and the King."

Christophe Peschoux, country representative of the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), confirmed UN officials would meet Tuesday with Tim Sakhorn to assess the nature of his situation and "how his rights should be best protected".

"Being a Cambodian national, Tim Sakhorn should be able to remain in Cambodia if he wishes so, and his citizen's rights and safety should be protected by the Royal Government," Peschoux said by email.

Secret extradition
Tim Sakhorn's fate after April 17 will likely hinge on perceptions about the legality of his arrest and extradition. On June 30, 2007, Tim Sakhorn, a leading activist for the rights of ethnic Khmers in southern Vietnam - also known as Khmer Krom - was arrested in Takeo by Cambodian police and defrocked by senior monks before being extradited to Vietnam.

In November, a People's Tribunal in Vietnam's An Giang province sentenced him to one year in prison on charges of violating national unity under Article 87 of the country's penal code.

One of the crimes under this article is that of "undermining the implementation of policies for international solidarity".

Non Nget, supreme patriarch of the Buddhist Mohanikay sect - whom Tim Sakhorn claimed in Monday's interview was responsible for defrocking him after his arrest - told the Post he had little sympathy for the arrested monk.

"I have not paid any interest to Tim Sakhorn's arrival in Cambodia," he said. "He broke Buddhist discipline when he incited people and attempted to destroy the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam."

But activists say the extradition was illegal and that the government has a legal obligation to allow him to remain in Cambodia. Ang Chanrith said Tim Sakhorn was a Cambodian citizen under local laws, which also provide protections against unlawful deportation.

Article 2 of the Kingdom's 1996 Law on Nationality states that "any person who has Khmer nationality/citizenship is a Khmer citizen", and is therefore exempt from being "deprived of nationality, exiled or extradited to any foreign country unless upon [sic] there is mutual agreement".

Although a Kampuchea Krom native, Tim Sakhorn moved to Cambodia in 1979 and was a full Cambodian citizen by the time of his arrest. In a 2007 report, OHCHR argued that Tim Sakhorn's deportation was a "prima facie violation" of these prohibitions.

Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, described his condition in Vietnam in the past year as one of "illegal house arrest" and said the ex-monk also enjoyed protection under international refugee agreements to which the Kingdom is a party.

"The Cambodian government should abide by the [1951 UN] Refugee Convention by not deporting people to countries where they have a well-founded fear of persecution," he said.

"The Cambodian government - and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees - should provide protection to Khmer Krom fleeing persecution in Vietnam, allowing them to seek asylum in Cambodia if they want."

Vietnamese embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

'Road Safety Week' to tackle rising fatalities

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Mom Kunthear
Wednesday, 08 April 2009

Program aims to raise road safety awareness as the number of road accidents increases.

MORE than 300 people gathered at Olympic Stadium on Tuesday to celebrate Road Safety Week, a government awareness campaign aimed at reducing the number of fatalities on Cambodia's roads.

According to Tram Iv Tik, minister of public works and transport, and a chairman of the National Road Safety Committee, four people are killed and another 59 are injured in traffic accidents on an average day in Cambodia.

"According to our yearly data, traffic accidents have been increasing by 15 percent every year, and the number of vehicles on the road has been increasing by 10 percent," he said at the ceremony at Olympic Stadium.

In Cambodia, motorbike collisions account for 77 percent of accidents, with many victims suffering head injuries, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhayly said at the event that road safety week provided an opportunity to motivate all road users to change negative behaviours and to improve the overall level of respect for the rule of the road and traffic laws while they are driving.

"The main cause of traffic accidents is people themselves. They don't respect traffic laws, they speed, they show negligence and drink while driving. I want to suggest to all relevant ministries and authorities taking actions on a serious scale to punish these road-rule offenders," he said.

Yim Chhayly also said more efforts needed to be taken to build footbridges for pedestrians over busy roads, particularly those near large factories.

Young people main victims
Dr Michel Thieren, representative of the World Health Organisation in Cambodia, said that each year around 400,000 people under 25 die on roads around the world, and that most deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries including Cambodia.

"I hope that this ceremony will help promote public health awareness to all drivers and passengers, and call for greater attention on road safety in order to prevent death, injury and disability," he said.