Cyclo drivers seek to save their occupation

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Cyclos are becoming a less common sight on the streets of Phnom Pehn as locals and tourists alike opt for faster modes of transport.

via CAAI News Media

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 15:00 Khuon Leakhana and Ou Mom

Phnom Penh

WITH motorised transport ruling the streets of Phnom Penh, pedal-powered cyclos are becoming an increasingly rare sight around the city. And as their numbers dwindle, many of the remaining cyclo drivers are becoming worried about the future of their occupation.

In response, a group of drivers in January formed the Cyclo Conservation and Career Association, and last month about 200 seasoned pedallers met for the organisation’s first annual gathering, which took the form of a meal and festive get-together rather than a formal meeting.

Im Sambath, the executive director of the association, said the organisation was founded, as the name suggests, to “conserve cyclos as a traditional form of transportation in Cambodian society”.

“We are cooperating with the Ministry of Tourism and Phnom Penh Municipal Hall to promote cyclo services and reduce restrictions by traffic police,” he said.

“We are also working to establish contacts with tourism services to attract foreigners, and to spread the word to convince more locals to use cyclos as well.”

Im Sambath said drivers must pay a fee of 1,000 riel to join the association, but that they get benefits for doing so.

“We help them connect with foreign customers and also provide places to wash up, HIV/AIDS education, smoking prevention, training courses to raise their awareness of traffic laws, and training courses to teach skills like cooking to help them make more money,” he said.

Im Sambath said the number of cyclos in Cambodia has decreased significantly since 1999. “In 1999 there were about 9,000 cyclos. This dropped to about 3,500 in 2003 and 2,000 in 2008. Now there are only about 1,300 cyclos in Cambodia,” he said.

He said nearly all cyclo drivers are from poor families in the provinces, and moved to Phnom Penh to find jobs.

Among them is Pao Phearum, 33, who left his home in Kampong Cham in 2007 to become a cyclo driver in the city.

“I think that within 20 years cyclos will completely disappear. There are fewer and fewer, and profits are dropping,” he said. Pao Phearum said the challenges of being a cyclo driver include fatigue, competing with more modern forms of transportation like motorbike taxis and tuk-tuks, and having to pay money to security personnel or police to pick up customers.

Cyclo driver Sun Sokum, 59, from Kampong Speu said he’s worried about his future because he has no other means of making a living.

“It’s normal for people to use modern, faster transportation,” he said. “Before, I could find 10 to 15 customers a day and make about 15,000 to 20,000 riels a day, but now I earn less than 10,000 riels a day.”

However, he said that since joining the association he has had help finding more foreign customers, who sometimes give him tips of US$1-$3.

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

via Khmer NZ News Media

Asia-Pacific air growth heads for the skies

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 15:00 Jeremy Mullins

BERLIN – The airline industry should be profitable this year for the first time since 2007, led by strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region, the International Air Transport Association said on Monday. “We are upgrading our global industry forecast to a full year profit of US$2.5 billion (€2.1 billion),” IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani told the annual general assembly in Berlin. In March, IATA estimated its members would post a loss of about $2.8 billion this year, following a shortfall of 9.4 billion dollars in 2009. Bisignani said that while the industry would be profitable, "with a (profit) margin of 0.5 percent it will be a modest party." In 2007, before the global financial crisis broke, airlines posted combined profits of $12.9 billion. The recovery will be uneven, the IATA head warned, but “Europe with its weak economy will be the only region in the red, with a 2.8 billion (dollar) loss.” Last year, European airlines lost 4.3 billion dollars.

VN names task force on sustainable agriculture

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 15:00 Jeremy Mullins

THE government of Vietnam launched a public-private task force with twelve international firms to advance sustainable agriculture in Vietnam, a release said. The task force is intended to leverage public and private investment on both a strategic and operational level. “Government and business share the same goal: We both want to see strong and sustainable growth in Vietnam’s agriculture sector,” Vietnam’s minister of agriculture and rural development Cao Duc Phat said at the World Economic Forum that concluded today in Ho Chi Minh City. Participating firms include Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill, Dupont, METRO Group, Monsanto, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Swiss Re, Syngenta, Unilever and Yara International, according to the release.

Lake Dispute: Residents of Boeung Kak appeal to PM

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 15:01 Kim Yuthana

Lake Dispute

About 100 families from the city’s Boeung Kak lake area delivered a letter to the Council of Ministers on Monday, asking Prime Minister Hun Sen to spare their homes, which are slated to be demolished as part of a controversial development project. “We are very concerned that the master plan for development of Boeung Kak lake ... will encompass our houses,” said Ly Mom, a representative of the families from the lake’s Village 24. Saing Oun, an official with the Committee of Land Dispute Resolution at the Council of Ministers, confirmed that he had received the residents’ letter.

Blood Suckers: Villagers in R’kiri fear deadly spirits

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 15:01 Tep Nimol

Blood Suckers

Residents of Ratanakkiri province’s Korng Nork village fear that vampire-like spirits are responsible for the recent deaths of two men, a local official said Monday. Tan Suong, the deputy chief of Voeun Sai district’s Kok Lak commune, which borders Korng Nork village, said the men were found dead on their farms last month with wounds on their necks that looked like bite marks. “Villagers are now very scared because they believe that the deaths were caused by spirits who got angry with the men and sucked their blood,” Tan Suong said. Local residents, he added, had made offerings of meat and rice spirit in the hope of pacifying the angry spirits. Huoy Vannara, head of the communicable diseases office at the Ratanakkiri provincial health department, said the men died of natural causes. “I have already sent officials to educate the villagers and explain that the men were not killed by vampires,” he said.

Opposition Says There is Secrecy In Demarcation

RFAKhmerVideo — June 04, 2010 — http://www.rfa.org/khmer/

IAF Fireside Chat: Sam Rainsy, Cambodia

IAFgummersbach — May 06, 2010 — Sam Rainsy (Leader of the Sam Rainsy Party in Cambodia) in an Interview with Moritz Kleine-Brockhoff (FNF Project Director Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar).

Walk for needy kids

Walk The World at Sengkang Riverside Park yesterday raised more than $60,000 for needy school children in Cambodia. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM

via CAAI News Media

Jun 7, 2010

MORE than 1,500 people took part in a 1km charity walk yesterday morning to raise awareness and money to help needy school children in Cambodia.

Called Walk The World, the annual event, held at Sengkang Riverside Park, helped to raise more than $60,000 for the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP). Last year, the event, which was held at the F1 race track, raised around $80,000.

The money will be donated to the WFP's School Feeding Programme in Cambodia, providing daily breakfasts for needy school children throughout the year.

Yesterday's event was part of a global initiative that saw thousands of people from over 70 countries, including Australia, the Philippines and Iraq, walking for the same cause.

Walk The World was a local initiative started by international mail and delivery company TNT in 2003, in support of the WFP's School Feeding Programme.

Among yesterday's participants was Mrs Perlisa Yeo, 48, who signed up with her husband and two teenage children. 'It's good for my kids to learn about how they can help underprivileged kids,' she said.

Cambodia Doc Faces Ban and Political Obstruction

A scene from Bradley Cox's "Who Killed Chea Vichea." Image courtesy of the filmmaker.

http://www.indiewire.com/

via CAAI News Media

by Brian Brooks

Posted on June 7, 2010

Cambodia has banned American director Bradley Cox’s doc “Who Killed Chea Vichea?” which had its European fest debut at IDFA and most recently played at the Cannes Independent Film Festival. The film investigates the 2004 assassination of that Southeast Asian country’s most prominent union leaders, Chea Vichea, who devoted his life to improve working conditions and wages for Cambodia’s 300,000 garment workers. The film was also named one of Amnesty International’s “Top Ten Movies That Matter.”

Trade unionists attempted to show “Who Killed Chea Vichea?” at the very location where the union leader was murdered last month in honor of International Labor Day, but Cambodian police raided the area and dismantled the screen. The government of Prime Minister Hun Sen declared the film an illegal import and said it would prevent any screening of the film “wherever they are held.” The film implicates the government and police officials in Vichea’s murder, which was caught on screen.

Cox (“Cambodia: Anatomy of an Election”) is currently receiving treatment for a gunshot wound in Bangkok where he has been covering the Thai military crackdown. Cox was on the scene with his camera just moments after the fatal shots to Vichea, and conducted his own investigation over the next five years. In the film, Cox reconstructs a police plot that allegedly framed two men who were sentenced to 20 years in prison each.

The Cambodian authorities maintain the right to seize any media “that is produced or imported illegally,” and, after the attempted screening of “Who Killed Chea Vichea?,” Cambodian police repeatedly tried to confiscate the film from union organizers. Groups in Cambodia typically screen imported films without approval from the government. French films screen at the capital’s Centre Culturel Francais, while Hollywood or American independent films play at the Foreign Correspondents Club. The authorities denied that their decision had any connection to politics, but there is no other politically charged film that has been banned in Cambodia since the 1980s.

Cambodia is a major recipient of foreign aid from Western countries including the United States, the UK, France and Australia. Its constitution was written with the help of foreign donors and guarantees “freedom of expression, press, publication and assembly.”

“This is what governments do when they don’t want their own people to know the facts and when they can’t afford to show weakness, even for an instant,” said Rich Garella, one of the film’s producers, and a former managing editor of The Cambodia Daily. “I would encourage Cambodian government officials to practice what they preach,” said Cox. The government’s action, he added, is “the very stuff of dictatorships.”

“Who Killed Chea Vichea?” is a co-production of Loud Mouth Films Limited and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and debuted last month at the Cannes Independent Film Festival.

More Investigation Urged in ‘Terrorism’ Arrests

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Monday, 07 June 2010

via CAAI News Media

Photo: AP
Armed Cambodian police officers stand guarding outside the municipal court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“Before accusing any person, the court should find 50 percent of their evidence before they accuse them and detain them in jail.”

Human rights groups on Monday urged thorough court investigation into a case of alleged terrorism brought against two men who sent letters to Western embassies in April and were arrested and charged last week.

Rafiqu Leslami Aka Kalan, a 42-year-old cook from Bangladesh, and TD Taudyal, a 44-year-old marketing manager from Nepal, were charged following a monthlong police investigation into letters the had allegedly sent warning officials from the US, UK and Australia of an attack.

The letters now appear to be part of a business dispute with four other foreign men, who were found to be no threat. But the defendants are facing 20-year prison sentences under Cambodia’s anti-terrorism laws.

Representatives of the groups Licadho and Adhoc said Monday authorities must undertake more investigation into this case before the men are brought to trial.

Chan Saveth, Adhoc’s lead investigator, said Monday he welcomed the arrest of men involved in terrorism, but he appealed to Cambodian authorities to open further investigation in this case to show more proof for the terrorism charges of terrorism. He also urged a public trial for the two men.

“We don’t want to depend on little evidence,” he said, adding that the two men should be tried in public.

The court’s faced criticism for the 2004 terrorism trial of two Cambodians and a Thai man charged in a plot to attack US and UK embassies in 2002. Rights groups have said the men were tried with little transparency.

Cambodia has been eager to prove itself tough on terrorism and a good friend of the US in its own regional counterterrorism campaign, following the discovery that the former leader of the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah had been harbored in Cambodia’s Muslim community prior to his arrest in Thailand in 2003.

Am Sam Ath, an investigator for Lichado, said the case against Kalan and Taudyal was “complicated,” and he likewise urged more investigation.

“Before accusing any person, the court should find 50 percent of their evidence before they accuse them and detain them in jail,” he said.

Keat Chantharith, a spokesman for the national police and a three-star general, said the case has already been sent to the court. “Police can investigate any case, but it depends on the court order for the police,” he added.

Ke Sakhorn, an investigating judge for Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said the case had just arrived at the court last week. “It is early for the court to investigate,” he said. “This week, I will invite police to question them more about this case.”

Stockholm Water Institution Awards City Authority

Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer | Washington, D.C
Monday, 07 June 2010

via CAAI News Media

Photo: AP
A Cambodian villager pours use water into a jar at his home in Chriev village, Kandal province about 24 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

“My team is encouraged by this prestigious award to carry on our mission to increase collection efficiency, improve water regulation, and deliver affordable water to the poor."

The Stockholm International Water Institute has given its annual award to Phnom Penh’s water agency for self-sufficiency and high-quality performance in water supply.

“The [Phnom Penh Water Authority] has successfully fought corruption and shown this can be achieved in a developing country on a large-scale basis using simple but effective management techniques that are based on well-accepted business principles and strategies,” the institute said in a statement.

The award will be conferred to the Phnom Penh Water Authority during World Water Week in Stockholm, which begins Sept. 5.

“My team is encouraged by this prestigious award to carry on our mission to increase collection efficiency, improve water regulation, and deliver affordable water to the poor," said Ek Sun Chan, director general of the water agency.

The authority worked to refurbish the city’s entire supply system and introduced cost-effective billing and payment collection methods, as well as management to provide water to almost all of the city’s residents, starting from 1998, the institute said in its statement.

“The PPWA has a strong commitment to social and environmental responsibility,” it said. “It has shown the developing world as a whole that large cities can expect continuous access to clean water.”

SOS Children in Cambodia

via CAAI News Media

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Destroyed by decades of war, civil strife, political repression and economic depletion, political stability did not arrive until a coalition government was formed in 1998. Unexploded landmines continue to be a grave danger, especially for children in rural areas, which is where the majority of the population live. With nearly half of the population under the age of 18 years, there are serious concerns for their economic and social well-being. The average salary per person is less than £1 per day (it is approximately £50 per day in the UK).

Nearly 1% of people in Cambodia are HIV positive, and the impact on many households in human and financial terms is devastating. As nearly 10% of children in Cambodia are orphans, the need for our work is great.

The charity opened its first community in Cambodia in the summer of 2001 in the capital, Phnom Penh. The village has fourteen family houses built in traditional Cambodian style, and is home to 140 children. It also has lots of open space for the children to play together and make friends. For many of the children the village not only provides protection and security but also the opportunity to attend school for the first time in their lives. Like most SOS Children communities, there is an SOS nursery which has room for 200 children, the majority of whom are from the local community. An SOS Secondary School for 430 pupils will open shortly, and thirty older children live in the nearby SOS Youth Homes. Here, they can continue with their studies under the guidance of an SOS youth leader, while taking their first steps to independence.

A second village, SOS Children Angkor-Siem Reap, opened in 2002, a few miles from the famous temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia's greatest tourist attraction. The village, on the main road to the City of Temples, has fourteen family houses for 140 orphaned or abandoned children. An SOS nursery for 200 little children and an SOS school for 500 pupils opened a few years later.

Forty five vulnerable teenagers in Angkor-Siem Reap study craftsmanship at the SOS Vocational Training Centre. The skills they obtain here are relevant to the local economy and will help ensure they obtain secure employment.

A third SOS Children's Village opened at Battambang in the north-west of the country in 2006, as the HIV rate is particularly high here. There are 15 family homes for 150 children, all built around a courtyard. There is an SOS Nursery School for 120 children. An SOS Social Centre is based at the Nursery School, which helps children and their families in the community. These families, most of whom are affected by HIV/ AIDS, are given medicine and food and are helped to send their children to school. Ultimately, we are trying to prevent these families from abandoning their children due to poverty or emotional stress.

The SOS School in Battambang, which will open soon, will have three science laboratories (for physics, biology and chemistry), a computer and language lab, a music room, an arts and crafts room, a library and a multi-purpose hall for sports and school functions. It will offer all three levels of school education in Cambodia: primary (1st to 6th form), secondary (7th to 9th form) and higher secondary (10th to 12th form). Up to 500 children will be able to attend.

At present we support 1,400 people in Cambodia through three SOS Children’s Villages, two SOS Youth Homes, three SOS Nursery Schools, one SOS School, one SOS Vocational Training Centre and one SOS Social Centre.

Kiri was four years old when he came to SOS Children's Village Angkor-Siem Reap. His mother died when he was two months old. His father was terminally ill and could not take care of him and thus abandoned him. "When Kiri came he was wearing dirty clothes, his hair was unkempt and his head was unusually bigger than his body," the village director recalls. But his appearance did not stop the excitement which his SOS brothers and sisters had on the arrival of a new brother.

"When I think about my first day at the SOS Children's Village, what I remember is that mama was smiling with open arms and all the children wanted to see me and be close to me," said Kiri. "I had never seen a sofa set, bed and dining table." "In the earlier days he did not speak much but he liked to play with his SOS brothers and sisters", his SOS mother said. "He had never been to school and it was not an easy task for me to put him to study. Every time I opened a book, he would throw a tantrum", she added. But she did not lose patience and soon Kiri began to listen to her.

Today, Kiri is seven years old and attends is in Year 2 at school. He is a very cheeky child. He also enjoys playing football: In the evenings he is usually seen in the village grounds with his ball and friends. When asked what he wants to be in the future, he says "doctor".

Local contacts

SOS Children’s Villages of Cambodia

House No. 16D

Street 360

Sankat Boeung Keng Kang III

Phnom Penh

Kham Chamkarmon

CAMBODIA

Tel +855/23 222 916

Fax +855/23 222 915

e-mail: soscvcnd@online.com.kh

Child Sponsorship Report 2009, from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

via CAAI News Media

Jun 07, 2010

Dear friends,

May we also take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks for your great kind support and encouragement. We would like to inform you about the ongoing activities of SOS Children's Village Phnom Penh.

SOS Children's Village Phnom Penh has been developing from day to day. At present there are 127 children in the care of the village in 12 family homes of whom 59 are boys and 68 are girls and 57 boys are outside in the youth house. 13 children are studying at nursery, 54 children in Primary School, 95 children in Secondary school, 8 children are in the University; 12 children are undergoing Vocational Training Center. 3 children who reached the youngster ages are moved to youth facility and another 2 children are preschooler. Health issue becomes very important for children that draw our attention to need for diseases prevention immunization (Hepatitis B, Measles, small pox, mump, polio Etc) duly completed during this year.

The educational performances of the children in academic year 2009-2010 are 18 have joined Higher Secondary School, Six children have passed high school exam that have joined college 1 Major in Management, 1 in Economics, 1 in Rural development, 1 Finance and banking and 2 in Pharmacy. Moreover, 2 youngsters who awarded scholarship in university last year help to teach his brothers and other youths in youth house such as mathematics, Physic, chemistry and computer. For the highlight of SOS football club, 5 boys are selected as national team member by national committed of Cambodian football federation to have a tournament match at Vietnam, 1 girls is also selected as national team member to have a friendly tournament match at Lao. From the 74 children who have performed with Karate class, 42 were upgraded from the blue to brown belts, and 32 students upgraded from white to yellow belts. The major event of 60 th SOS anniversary were celebrated with a lot of joy and happiness in the meantime the children performance the traditional dancing, Karate-Do and football shows and made all participants enjoyable and admirable. During 2009 all the children have enjoyed holiday activities. We celebrated the holidays in different way one thing that we have made constant is to reward the children who have excelled them selves at school scoring high marks in their studies . To celebrate this achievement we have this year decided to organize a trip to the different tourist places in Siem Reap district and other trip to Tamao Mountain (Zoo) for family houses.

Your kind help enables us to perform excellent work. Therefore on behalf of all Co-workers, mothers and children, we would like to extend our warm thank and best wishes for a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr. Chea Phon

Deputy National Director.

SOS Children’s Villages Cambodia

World Economic Forum

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (L) chats with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen as they attend the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Economic Forum on East Asia in Vietnam's commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City June 6, 2010. Ho Chi Minh City will host the two-day forum on June 6 and 7. REUTERS/Kham

 

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen attends the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Economic Forum on East Asia in Vietnam's commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City June 6, 2010. Ho Chi Minh City will host the two-day forum on June 6 and 7. REUTERS/Kham

Leaders from Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and the World Economic Forum attend a working lunch during the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Ho Chi Minh City June 6, 2010. From left, the leaders are Laos's Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, World Economic Forum founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab and Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen. Ho Chi Minh City will host the two-day forum on June 6 and 7.  REUTERS/Kham

Mekong countries vow to strengthen cooperation

via CAAI News Media

06/07/2010

Countries in the Mekong sub-region need to undertake new initiatives and enhance their leadership for the sake of regional development, leaders of five Mekong River countries agreed at the 19th World Economic Forum on East Asia in HCM City on June 6.

The Prime Ministers from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand affirmed strong commitment of the Mekong River Commission members to continuing cooperation and pushing up sustainable development, using, protecting and managing Mekong River water and other resources in the river’s lower basin.

Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung said that strengthening and raising the efficiency of bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms in the region and with non-regional partners is one of the four priorities for quick and sustainable development in the Mekong sub-region.

He stressed the need to protect natural resources, particularly water resources in the Mekong basin, and eco-environment toward building a green development Mekong.

Apart from taking advantages of capital and assistance from international organisations as well as developed partners in East Asia and the world, sub-regional countries also need to create a favourable legal corridor and offer financial incentives in order accelerate cooperation projects under the public-private partnership format, especially for development of infrastructure, transport, urban areas, investment and trade, Mr Dung said.

The countries also need to join hands to draw out priorities in each country’s economic development strategy which focuses on hard and soft infrastructure development, transport, human resource development, services, telecommunications, and new and renewable energy sources, according to PM Dung.

The Mekong sub-region is an important area in Southeast Asia, a potential destination with investment opportunities in agricultural, aquatic and forestry production, hydro-power and mining.

The region is emerging as an attractive centre for developed partners, including major economies in East Asia like Japan and other important partners like the US and Europe.

VOVNews/VNA

Man ages 12 years after Swedish court decision

http://www.thelocal.se/27078/20100607/

via CAAI News Media

Published: 7 Jun 10

A Swedish court has ruled that a Cambodian man should be allowed to change his Tax Agency (Skatteverket) birth date records, thereby adding 12 years to his age.

The man told the court that after 10 years in Sweden he felt sufficiently secure to register his correct date of birth and establish his true identity.

The court was told that the UN refugee organ the UNHCR had helped him to secure his release from the military prison in Cambodia where he had been interred as a political prisoner, formally on suspicion of involvement in a plot to murder the prime minister Hun Sen.

On release from prison the man feared for his life and he fled to Thailand where the UNHCR deemed him to be in acute need of leaving south-east Asia and arrangements were made for him to come to Sweden as a so-called quota refugee in 2000.

The Resettlement Registration Form submitted by the man to the UNHCR formed the basis of the information that was handed over to the Swedish authorities on his arrival in July 2000, establishing his date of birth as January 1st 1960.

After settling in Sweden the man sought to have his information amended to reflect his correct birth date of August 12th 1947 but the tax agency, which is responsible for personal identification registration in Sweden, refused on the grounds that the proof submitted was not sufficiently reliable.

The man explained to the court that he had decided to submit deliberately erroneous information to the UNHCR in order to make it harder for the Cambodian authorities to track him and hinder the perceived threat of arrest by Thai police.

The administrative court of appeal (Kammarrätten) has now ruled that the wealth of evidence supporting the man's case - including a release form from Cambodian military prison, copies of an identification card, human rights card and press card, a 1991 certificate from the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia, several newspaper articles and a Cambodian family book - is at least as comparable with the original UNHCR forms.

The court thus overturned a county administrative court (Länsrätten) ruling to uphold the tax agency's decision.

"The court considers that it should be sufficient if on assessment the new details appear to be correct when compared to the older information and taking into account the wider circumstances," the court stated.

"Existing erroneous information is just as false as new erroneous information," the court added.

The court found that the man had plausible grounds for wanting to hide his real identity details in the "Resettlement Registration Form" submitted to the UNHCR in June 2000.

Peter Vinthagen Simpson

news@thelocal.se
+46 8 656 6518

Improving Communication by Communicating – Sunday, 6.6.2010

http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

via CAAI News Media

Posted on 7 June 2010

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 667

The major event during the week was the meeting of the Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum, which brought more than 100 representatives from donor countries and from international financial organizations to Cambodia, to meet with representatives of the Cambodian government. One newspaper quoted a Cambodian official as saying, before the meeting: “Cambodia Hopes to Get US$1 Billion Aid as Expected.” As expected! On the other hand, just days before this meeting, a group of local NGOs released a study with a critical call to the donor community, suggesting that donors should press the government to fulfill agreed requirements carrying out major reforms in the country and to apply Joint Monitoring Indicators defined in the past. Global Witness, the UK based monitoring agency supported by 17 trusts and foundations, 4 development organizations from different countries, and 7 governments, suggested that the donors should take “a coordinated stand against the horribly subverted dynamic of aid in Cambodia in which their country’s money props up the basic functions of the state, leaving an elite free to exploit the state’s assets for personal profit.”

There are voices saying that the pledge of about US$1 billion is a sign that the donors don’t care about critical statements – either deploring the fact of the pledges realize “as expected,” or taking the pledges as a sign of a flat endorsement of the Cambodian government’s policies. Both these opinions are wrong.

To publish critical evaluations of aid effectiveness some days before such a meeting helps to get broad attention. But to expect that it would greatly affect the meeting, assumes that the international donor delegates arrive to sit around the table and then decide on the spot how much to pledge. They all come with the results of a year’s deliberations at home, considering information and opinion gathered and discussed with others, and decisions prepared towards the meeting.

Both sides then, in the formal meeting, share their well considered long range statements:

“Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen: The aid provided by development partners is a very important contribution for the development of Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that the government will use the aid effectively, adding that the government will continue to solve major problems such as corruption, land ownership, and judicial reform.”

“The World Bank country director, Ms. Annette Dixon, said, representing the donors, that she lauded the development of Cambodia since the Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum held in December 2008, but the progress of the government is still limited in terms of its work to improve strategic planing and to manage aid. She said, ‘It is important for the government to take the lead in aligning resources to development priorities.’”

That is more than a hint that the donors think that available resources are not aligned to development priorities.

What went on during the closed-door meetings may have been more mutually engaging – but the most important things will happen – or not happen – during the course of the year which starts now towards the next meeting. And it will depend on the monitoring of ongoing events and the related discussions – including the regular follow-up in the press and by government and non-government agencies’ observations.

This is a field of hard work: to observe, to analyze, to compare, to speak up, to share – regularly and consistently.

There will be questions requiring answers, and if the questions do not get answers easily, they have to be repeated and made more precise and receive follow-up, maybe again and again. This is the role of the public, and especially of the media. That is why the press is also called “the fourth power” in a state – independent also, like the three others: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, mutually separate, as Article 51 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia requires.

The Mirror tries to contribute to this important process.

One element of regular surprise is information like the following, which we carried during this week:

- Oknha Ly Say Kheang, a Big Trader Destroying the Forest, Appeared in Sihanoukville after Having Escaped from Arrest for a While [he was spotted driving a luxury car and relaxing in Sihanoukville]

A fugitive from prison. Was he arrested?

- More Than 60 Persons [police, military police, soldiers, as well as a prosecutor, a commune chief and a village chief] Surrounded a Site where a Military Captain is Storing Luxury Grade Wood [seizing 922 pieces of wood, but the owner of the wood has not been arrested]

Why 60 persons for one suspect? And he was not arrested?

- The Authorities Seek to Arrest Citizens over a Land Dispute [with the Heng Development Company; two persons were arrested for inciting villagers to go to protest in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen's residence]

“Every Khmer citizens shall be equal before the law” says Article 31 of the Constitution. But some get arrested and others not! So many cries for help trust in the highest authority of the government, carrying pictures of the Prime Minister and the First Lady. When will this confidence wear out if there are too many disappointments?

- The Government Declared to Fight Corruption [Prime Minister Hun Sen said that there are only a handful of corrupt officials, and the government will encourage other officials to fight corruption together]

We will read it in the press.

And here is a variety of related observations:

An interesting source of income for the state reported:

- Within Three Weeks, Nearly Riel 2 Million [approx. US$470] Has Been Charged from Those Throwing Away Rubbish in Public Places

Not much, less than US$500. There is no report how much was collected from new, big cars driving around town without neither temporary nor permanent license plates. Almost every day when I am driven around town on a motorcycle-taxi, I see some. Probably there was nothing to report because nothing is being collected from them.

The President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin Does Not Allow Sam Rainsy Party Parliamentarians to Visit and Monitor the Putting of Border Marker Number 270 in Takeo [at the Cambodian-Vietnamese border; the Sam Rainsy Party claims that the marker is planted on Khmer territory, while the government denies it]

Members of the National Assembly, elected by the people (The Cambodian people are the masters of their own country. All power belongs to the people – says Article 51 of the Constitution), need a permission before they can travel inside of the country? Article 40 of the Constitution sound different: Citizens’ freedom to travel, far and near, and legal settlement shall be respected. We did not reed that the parliamentarians claimed this Constitutional right.

The result:

- Sam Rainsy Party Parliamentarians Were Prevented from Visiting and Checking a Border Marker [in Takeo, as their visit was blocked by more than 30 armed forces and more than 50 local citizens]

And finally a dilemma:

- The Opposition Party President Sam Rainsy Plans to Go to the Philippines to Meet with Parliamentarians and Democrats in Asia [at the end of this month, to welcome the newly elected president of the Philippines when he takes office]

Probably there will be many international guests there, especially from the ASEAN region. Among them politicians from Cambodia. But Mr. Sam Rainsy is facing the court in Cambodia, though he is abroad to avoid arrest – but he is free in France, and he is free to travel.

Could another politician from the ASEAN region, the former Thai Prime Minster Thaksin Shinawatra, also go to the Philippines? Maybe not. There is a search warrant for him from Interpol, and the Thai government is now in the process to send arrest warrants for Mr. Thaksin through Interpol to 187 countries, which makes it more and more difficult to travel anywhere. Except to Cambodia:

- Cambodia Expressed [through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs] the Position Not to Extradite Thaksin to Thailand

He was convicted by a Thai court for corruption – for arranging the sale of valuable Bangkok land without bidding and at a low price, to his wife. But he left the country – “temporarily for about a week,” after paying bail – and did never return.

Everybody is equal before the law? Not quite.

Please recommend The Mirror also to your colleagues and friends.

Thai PM offers promise of early election

via CAAI News Media

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has told participants and media at the World Economic Forum on East Asia here that if Thailand pursues its reconciliation plans, elections could be held in the country sooner than later.

"If we pursue the reconciliation plan, if we get good cooperation, especially from people in the opposition, I think we could look at elections sooner rather than later," the Bangkok Post quoted Vejjajiva, as saying on the sidelines of the meeting.

The demand for early elections is one of the focal points of months of anti-government protests, which ended last month.

The government's tenure is due to end at the end of next year.

His Majesty the King yesterday endorsed the appointment of eight new ministers and deputy ministers proposed by Vejjajiva.

They will take an oath before His Majesty at Siriraj Hospital today.

The new cabinet line-up, which includes members of the Matubhum Party, gives Vejjajiva a comfortable majority in parliament as the coalition parties will now have about 265 votes in the 475-seat lower house.

Vejjajiva said during his weekly address yesterday the government needed a strong majority in the House to move its policies forward. (ANI)

Cambodia school built in memory of Cobham teen

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/

via CAAI News Media

Thoeun Sergeant

By Rebecca Connop Price

June 07, 2010

A SCHOOL in Cambodia being built in memory of a Cobham teenager will welcome its first pupils in 2010.

Just over two years ago, Thoeun Sergeant, a 17-year-old A-level student at Esher College, died in a fire at his house in Byfleet Road.

Since the tragic accident, his mother Ingrid Morris has set up Thoeun’s Trust in an effort to do something positive following his death.

Thoeun spent the first six years of his life in a poor area of Cambodia where many children still have little or no access to regular education.

Thoeun’s Trust aims to help the children in this area get access to education.

Helped by family and Thoeun’s friends from the Thames Ditton college, Ms Morris has worked with a local charity to establish the plans for the school.

Once completed, it will be a six-classroom school in the Cambodian village of Leap.

Ms Morris said: “The villagers were so keen to give their children an education that they donated the land and built a road to the site themselves.

“The provincial governor approved the project and the Cambodian government has agreed to supply teachers and text books.”

Building started in February and the school is expected to be completed this autumn, ready to serve more than 500 children from Leap and the surrounding villages.

Ms Morris said: “As an additional bonus, the construction project is bringing work to a desperately poor area and a sense of optimism to the community as a whole.”

Fundraising dinner

There are plans to take students from Esher College to the Cambodian village during the next academic year.

Thoeun’s Trust, now a registered UK charity, was set up following the teenager’s death in April 2008.

He had lived in an orphanage in Cambodia before he was adopted by Ingrid and her husband Karl Sergeant.

Ingrid said Thoeun - who died from smoke inhalation at the family home - was a bright child who wanted a career where he could help people.

She said he would have liked the idea of the school.

“He was a very kind and generous person, he really was.

“We took him back to Cambodia and I think he wanted to help out.

“But it’s very hard to know what to do when something that awful happens. I’m doing it for him and for me and for the community.”

The trust is holding a fundraising dinner and auction with entertainment at the Inn on the Lake, Silvermere Golf Club, Cobham, on September 17 .

For more information, visit http://www.thoeunstrust.com/.

Cambodia's aid donors slammed for silence

ASIA TIMES ONLINE

via CAAI News Media

By Irwin Loy

PHNOM PENH - P Yuen Mach sat on the floor of her wooden home, her hands nervously twisting a stalk of lemongrass into fibrous strands. Her days have been filled with worry ever since authorities told her that the plot of land that her family occupies and which overlooks Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak lake no longer belonged to her, but to a local company that plans to flip the site into a real estate development.

"The government took the land from the poor and gave it to the rich people," she said. "We are the poor people. Now they say we're living on state property illegally."

Yuen and her relatives are among an estimated 4,000 families that will likely be relocated as part of the 133-hectare development - the largest real estate project in Cambodia's rapidly changing capital.

With numerous other land disputes simmering across the country, housing-rights advocates here say Boeung Kak lake is just one potent symbol of the worsening problems affecting the landless poor. But with international donors having pledged a record US$1.1 billion this year in aid to the government, some advocates say that those who hold the most influence have failed to use it to urge the government to pursue faster reforms.

"There are donors who give money and then keep quiet. We are sorry for that," said Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of the coalition NGO Forum on Cambodia, which is composed of local and international non-governmental organizations working in the South-east Asian country. "People are crying and they just stay quiet."

The majority of the population in Cambodia lacks legal land titles, a result of the tumultuous Khmer Rouge regime that emptied Phnom Penh of its inhabitants and stripped away private ownership. When the regime fell in 1979, refugees flooded back to the cities from the countryside, many settling in abandoned buildings and squatting on vacant land.

"When we moved here, everybody just emerged from death, from the Khmer Rouge," Yuen said. "We just grabbed it and lived on the land. If the government had told us that living here was illegal, I would never have moved here."

An ambitious donor-funded land titling project begun in 2002 was supposed to have helped people like Yuen. The $28.8 million Land Management and Administration Project, or LMAP, was designed to create a government-run land management program and distribute official land titles. Nearly one million land titles were issued as part of LMAP across the country.

But when the Boeung Kak lake residents demanded titles as part of the program, authorities rejected the requests, claiming the residents were living illegally on state property. The residents soon learned the land had been leased to a private developer, whose plans for new office towers and villas did not include them.

After the project's proponents raised concerns about evictions with the government, authorities responded by abruptly canceling the program in September 2009.

The issue of land rights is just one of many on which critics are urging donors to take a tougher stand. The international watchdog organization, Global Witness, slammed international donors last week for continuing to hand over huge sums of aid money, "despite evidence of widespread corruption and mismanagement of public funds."

"The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years, but nothing has changed," Gavin Hayman, the group's campaigns director, said in a statement.

The government, however, called the accusations part of a "hugely damaging smear campaign" to discredit authorities. "The request from NGOs to put pressure on the government and donors is a bad approach. They insult the government and they insult the donors," said government spokesman Phay Siphan.

"We are all partners here. We respect each other and we respect the partnership. And the country donors respect this nation's right to be a nation."

In the end, the government said the donors had cumulatively pledged roughly $1.1 billion toward the national budget.

Rafael Dochao Moreno, the charge d'affaires for the Delegation of the European Union to Cambodia, said he believes the country is making strides toward development.

"It would be impossible for NGOs and development partners to agree 100%," he said. "At the end of the day, nothing is black or white. I think there is a consensus that this country is moving in the right direction."

Still, now that the money has been pledged, some critics believe donors should be acting more aggressively to ensure the funds are well spent.

"The donors should make it clear that if the government is not willing to use the aid effectively, they can find alternative ways to do so," said Ou Virak, president of the non-governmental Cambodian Center for Human Rights. "The problem is that message has never been clear."

Though donors insist they are urging Cambodian authorities to increase transparency, Ou said their efforts have done little to ensure Cambodians themselves can hold their government to account. Despite the promises, it remains unclear just where all the aid money will go, he said.

"It's easy to call on the donors to bring about change," he said. "But the fundamental challenge here is how the donors can put conditions in place that will allow the Cambodian population to be able to hold its own government accountable.

"When you ask, has the money been used effectively? I just don't know. There's no transparency in this money and what kinds of projects they help to support."

Cambodia's colonial architecture faces modern threat

Hotel Le Royal, a landmark French colonial building in central Phnom Penh that was beautifully restored by the Raffles hotel group. [Robert Carmichael]

The remains of the Ecole Professionale in Phnom Penh, a former warehouse and then training school built in 1908. It is rumoured to be replaced with a shopping centre and a hotel. [Robert Carmichael]

via CAAI News Media

Robert Carmichael, Phnom Penh

Experts are warning not enough is being done to protect what remains of Cambodia's French architectural heritage.

Much of the French colonial architecture in Phnom Penh and some provincial capitals has been destroyed, with some experts reckoning that 40 per cent of perhaps three hundred colonial era buildings have been demolished in the past 20 years.

Michel Verrot, the head of the French-funded Mission du Patrimonie, which works to assess and sometimes helps to restore the capital's shrinking pool of colonial buildings, says the government is keen to preserve buildings in the tourist town of Siem Reap.

But he says interest does not extend to Phnom Penh, which is seen as the business and economic hub of the country, and not a tourist zone.

"Phnom Penh must be a very modern town, an economical town," he said.

"And the heritage is in Siem Reap, and the tourism must be on the sea and in Siem Reap. But not in Phnom Penh. It's wrong. It's clearly wrong, but it is [how it is]."

Samraing Kimsan, a deputy minister at the Cambodian Ministry of Culture, says a lack of funding is one of the major problems in protecting the country's older buildings.

"This is the problem - I do believe this is the problem," he said.

"It depends on the plan - how to preserve the building, how to get money to preserve. But if we have no money to preserve, so we cannot stop the development of the modern building."

But Michel Verrot says demolishing an existing building and putting up something new actually costs more, because modern buildings use more imported materials and make less use of Cambodia's cheap labour.

He also says the demolition of colonial buildings is costing Cambodia tourism dollars.

But Samraing Kimsan says there is also the attitude of many Cambodians towards old buildings - in a land where modern and new are desired, old has limited appeal.

"They do not understand or do not love the traditional and old style of building," he said.

"They do not understand."

Cambodia's missing 'jungle woman' found in toilet

Rochom P'ngieng, the Cambodian woman who apparently spent 18 years living in the jungle, has been found again

via CAAI News Media

PHNOM PENH — A Cambodian woman whose story gripped the nation after she apparently spent 18 years living in the jungle has been found in a dugout toilet 11 days after she disappeared again, her father said Monday.

Rochom P'ngieng, 29, was reported missing late last month by her family, who at the time said they believed she had fled back into the forest.

She was found in an outdoor toilet about 100 metres (300 feet) from her home after a neighbour heard her crying, Sal Lou, the man who says he is her father, told AFP by telephone.

"She was discovered in a 10-metre deep toilet. It's an unbelievable story. She spent 11 days there," he said, adding that her body was soaked with excrement up to her chest.

"We are still wondering how she could get into the toilet" which has a small entrance hole covered in wood, he said, adding that she had been admitted to hospital following the incident.

Rochom P'ngieng went missing as a little girl in 1989 while herding water buffalo in Ratanakkiri province, around 600 kilometres (400 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh and home to some of the most isolated and wild jungle in Cambodia.

In early 2007 she was brought from the jungle, naked and dirty, after being caught trying to steal food from a farmer. She was hunched over like a monkey, scavenging on the ground for pieces of dried rice.

Cambodians described her as "jungle woman" and "half-animal girl" and since rejoining society she has battled bouts of illness after refusing food.

Cambodia's post to go public for increasing transparency

via CAAI News Media

June 07, 2010

Some 20 local and foreign companies are licenced to do business in postal services, but only half are presently in operation, he said.

Cambodia's postal system presently includes 700 employees working at 80 post offices in 24 cities. Employees working for both the postal system and government ministries will have to choose one employer when the move to a public enterprise takes place, Sarak Khann said.

The Cambodian Securities Exchange is scheduled to launch by the end of the year, and any qualified private firm or public enterprise is eligible to list, Cambodia Securities and Exchange Commission (SECC) director general Ming Bankosal said.

Source: Xinhua

Recovering drug addicts claim abuse in Cambodia

THE NATIONAL

via CAAI News Media

Jared Ferrie, Foreign Correspondent

Last Updated: June 06. 2010 10:41PM UAE / June 6. 2010 6:41PM GMT PHNOM PENH // They are abducted and held against their will in centres where many – some of them children – are beaten, whipped, and shocked with electric batons. These are allegations made in two recent reports about conditions in drug treatment centres in Cambodia, including one that receives funding from the United Nations’ child protection agency, Unicef.

The claims, which government officials denied, have UN agencies scrambling to come up with a cohesive response. Both UNAids and the World Health Organisation have called for all the facilities to be closed immediately, while Unicef has denied that there is abuse in Choam Chao, a youth centre to which it provided US$28,440 (Dh104,000) last year.

In late March, Unicef’s representative in Cambodia, Richard Bridle, told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that Human Rights Watch (HRW) had made a mistake when it alleged abuse of children at Choam Chao. Mr Bridle suggested that researchers had confused Choam Chao for another centre.

HRW said it made no such mistake.

The National interviewed two street youths who said they were taken by police to Choam Chao in early April, after the HRW report was released and the allegations were reported by local media. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

“They beat me twice. I used my hands to block the blows,” said one. “They beat me with a baton.”

The other boy said he was not abused, but he witnessed guards at the centre beating two boys who had scuffled during a game of football.

Other youth and adults told similar stories and worse to HRW and to researchers who contributed to a joint report made public April 27 by the Open Society Institute and the University of Melbourne. Both reports detailed systematic abuse in 11 drug treatment centres across Cambodia, including severe beatings and rape perpetrated by guards.

In light of such reports, the UNAids executive director, Michel Sidibé, wrote to HRW expressing concern that conditions in the centres would “discourage people who use drugs from accessing health services, including for drug dependence and for HIV prevention, treatment and care”.

“I believe that the centres in Cambodia should be closed,” Mr Sidibé wrote in the letter.

HRW said it received similar correspondence from the World Health Organisation, which called for the closing of all 11 centres, including the one funded in part by Unicef.

The chief of communications for Unicef’s Cambodia office, Marc Vergara, declined to comment. At the time, he said Unicef was meeting with other “partners” to discuss the response to allegations of abuse at Choam Chao and other facilities.

“We know about that, but we have decided not to comment until we have come to the end of this discussion,” he said in a telephone interview last month, adding that he did not know when the talks would conclude.

Joe Amon, HRW’s director of health and human rights, said his organisation met with Unicef staff in Cambodia, Bangkok and New York to inform them of conditions at Choam Chao long before the report was released.

“Quite honestly, I’m shocked,” Mr Amon said. “Unicef’s mandate is to protect children and they’ve had nine months to investigate the evidence we’ve provided them of the torture, arbitrary detention and forced labour of children.”

The UN’s Cambodia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) were contacted by telephone and were submitted questions by e-mail. Both agencies declined to comment.

UNODC is leading the UN’s efforts, in co-ordination with the Cambodian government, to overhaul the country’s drug treatment system. Some details of the plan were highlighted in a recent presentation given by Juana Tomas-Rossello of UNODC’s East Asia and Pacific regional office.

The $9.7-million programme plans to extend health services for drug users to communities throughout the country. Community health workers would then refer them to one or possibly two national rehabilitation centres where they would voluntarily submit to treatment. The plan has a timeframe of five to eight years, according to Dr Tomas-Rossello.

“At the same time, the UN recommends that while the new model drug dependence treatment system is being developed and the current drug detention centres remain open, compliance with Cambodia’s international human rights obligations is guaranteed,” Margaret Lamb, a spokeswoman for the office of the UN resident co-ordinator in Cambodia, said in an interview.

But human rights groups remain sceptical that conditions in drug detention centres will change without international pressure on the Cambodian government.

“When thousands of people have been abused, subject to torture and forced labour in these centres, the UN should really find the courage to plainly say that the centers should be immediately closed and those responsible for the torture held to account,” Mr Amon said.

Licadho, a local human rights group, said it provided evidence including photos of abuse at two drug detention centres to the ministry of social affairs in 2008.

“Nearly two years after, the ministry has yet to conduct a credible investigation,” said Naly Pilorge, the director of Licadho. “Quite the opposite, the ministry went on publicly rejecting undeniable evidence of unlawful detentions in the two centres and took actions to cover up the abuses.”

Kong Chhan, the deputy director general of the ministry, declined to comment on alleged abuse at detention centres, including Choam Chao, and he directed questions to the National Authority on Combating Drugs.

“In terms of my position as a government officer I say that everything’s OK in the centres,” said Neak Yuthea, the authority’s director of prevention and education. But, he added: “You can ask someone who is independent.”

foreign.desk@thenational.ae