US Move To Boost Ties

AFP
A Cambodian boy plows a rice field in Takeo province, May 30, 2008.

Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org

2009-06-22

No longer on a U.S. blacklist, Cambodia could see bilateral trade ties expand.

...You could say some investors from America have waited." Chan Sophal, Cambodian Economic Association

PHNOM PENH—U.S. President Barack Obama's move to clear the way for the U.S. Export-Import Bank to help finance U.S. exports to Cambodia marks a small but significant step in improving relations, analysts say.

Obama this month issued two memoranda determining that Cambodia and Laos were no longer Marxist-Leninist countries, based on their market-opening moves.

That will allow U.S. firms to seek financing through the U.S. Export-Import bank, which provides working capital guarantees, export credit insurance, and loan guarantees.

Murray Hiebert, senior director for Southeast Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce East Asia department, called the move "a great opportunity to explore new options for expanding trade and investment between our two countries."

"Cambodia has been in all kinds of discussions with the U.S. government in the last year or two on expanding trade and economic cooperation…Cambodians have been very anxious to look for ways to broaden their economic relationships with the U.S.," Hiebert said.

'First step'

An Ex-Im Bank spokesman called the move "a first step" in financing to foreign buyers of U.S. goods and services in Cambodia.

"Now begins a process of updating the required studies that the U.S. government uses to determine the programs for which buyers in those two countries could be eligible to use, the products they could have access to, and the rates that would be used to determine the costs of that financing,” spokesman Phil Cogan said.

Ex-Im Bank is bound by U.S. government rules and minimum costs established by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), of which the U.S. is a member, he said.

The OECD bars exporting countries from undercutting each other based on the fees they charge for their financing and forces exporters to compete based on the quality of their products.

"Someone in Phnom Penh or in Laos who wants to start buying U.S. goods and they don’t have access to reasonable financing, or any financing, to buy from the U.S. will...be able to use their local bank, or bank in the U.S., to help them finance what they buy, with the Ex-Im Bank either providing the guarantee of that loan or providing a direct loan," Cogan said.

"The action the president took enables us to begin the process of opening up for business, but it’s going to be a period of months before we’ll actually be able to start accepting applications," he said.

Boosting relations

In the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, officials welcomed the move.

"The door has already been unlocked and it just needs to be opened. We welcome the removal [of Cambodia from the blacklist] because it will facilitate small investors to come to Cambodia," Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.

Cheam Yeab, chairman of the National Assembly finance, banking, and audit committee, called it "a gift to Cambodia and the Cambodian people to open their trade and agro-industrial markets to the U.S."

"In addition, more U.S. investments in other fields will come, besides Chevron which has exploited oil along the Khmer coast," Cheam Yeab said.

Son Chhay, an opposition member of parliament, said it would boost political and economic motivation but added that Cambodia "should have been removed long ago" from the trade blacklist.

Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodian Economic Association, hoped for increased U.S. investment in Cambodia.

"The blacklist did not bring Cambodia obstacles to [all trade]—a number of countries and investors still came for business in Cambodia—but you could say some investors from America have waited. We hope this good news will help them decide to…come directly to Cambodia for investments," Chan Sophal said.

Small markets

Cambodia and Laos, with a combined population of more than 20 million, are small markets for the United States.

Last year, the United States exported just U.S. $154 million worth of goods to Cambodia and just U.S. $18 million to Laos.

U.S. imports of mostly clothing and other textiles from Cambodia totaled more than U.S. $2.4 billion last year. The United States bought U.S. $42 million worth of goods from Laos in 2008.

Original reporting by Ath Bonny for RFA’s Khmer service. Khmer service director: Sos Kem. Translated by Uon Chhin. Written for the Web in English by Joshua Lipes. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

Pastors given sendoff for Cambodia mission

Community members at Salem Friends Church bid farewell to Brianna and Nathan Martin, center, who plan to leave in August as missionaries to Cambodia.

Mt. Pleasant News

http://goldentrianglenewspapers.com

by Erik Owomoyela
Monday, June 22, 2009

SALEM – Congregants at Salem Friends Church bid an emotional farewell to Nathan and Brianna Martin at the two pastors’ commissioning ceremony Saturday evening. The couple, who spent the last three years at the Salem church, hope to leave in August to serve as missionaries in Cambodia.

“To make a long story short, we have been feeling called to missions since high school,” Nathan Martin said. “We wanted to go someplace where there was a real need.”

Both were praised by several in attendance for the work they did at the church, and the profound impact they had made in people’s lives.

Although they won’t be leaving right away, as Brianna Martin told the well-wishers, they have been keeping busy.

“Every Sunday, we’ve been at another church,” she said. “We’ve been really blessed as we go to churches. We feel like our family is growing, and we feel we’re meeting so many wonderful people, and it’s really been a privilege to do that.”

They have raised about 80 percent of the support they need, she said; their next deadline is in August, when they will leave.

Immunity Pulled From Two Opposition Figures

http://www.voanews.com/

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 June 2009

The National Assembly voted to suspend the parliamentary immunity of two opposition lawmakers Monday, as journalists and diplomats were barred from the session.

The two Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers, Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, are each facing lawsuits from figures in the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which has a vast majority of National Assembly seats.

Mu Sochua is being sued by Prime Minister Hun Sen for defamation, and Ho Vann faces a similar charge from a block of 22 military officers, following public criticism of certificates they were awarded by the Vietnamese government.

Mu Sochua’s original lawsuit against Hun Sen, for allegedly degrading remarks made during the 2008 election campaign, has been dropped by the court.

Democracy advocates have said the cases represent political intimidation and an erosion on the freedom of expression.

Lawmakers from two opposition parties gathered after Monday’s session wearing masks to protest the immunity pull.

All 90 of the CPP lawmakers were present for the closed-door session Monday.

“The National Assembly is thinking of the [CPP],” Mu Sochua told reporters after the decision Monday. “The National Assembly is not an National Assembly belonging to the nation.”

She called the decision a “very serious” blow to Cambodian democracy. “The suspension of parliamentary immunity has no justice.”

Ho Vann called the decision “not fair or proper, because I corrected what I said.”

Am Sam Ath, chief of the investigation unit for the rights group Licadho, called the decision improper, as both cases were minor, while Rong Chhun, head of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Assocition, called on all 26 opposition lawmakers to resign from the National Assembly over the matter.

“The parliamentarians cannot defend themselves,” he said. “So the people will face a violation of their rights and freedoms, because the parliament represents the people, to protect the people, and now, parliamentary immunity is not guaranteed. This is a serious point.”

CPP parliamentarian Cheam Yiep said Monday the decision had been made “following the procedures and the law.”

“We must respect the law,” he said.

Journalists, diplomats and other observers were barred from Monday’s meeting.

“We’re surprised and disappointed about this,” Elizabeth Haven, deputy chief mission for the British Embassy told reporters in front of the National Assembly. “We do not understand why access has been denied. We normally monitor the National Assembly.”

“Usually, this should be a public session,” said German Ambassador Frank Mann, adding that he too was disappointed.

Mu Sochua reiterated Monday claims that she would not flee the country and would struggle by legal means against Hun Sen’s lawsuit. She did say, however, that she is to travel for business purposes to the United States and would be back in early July.

Critics Doubt Construction Investment

http://www.voanews.com

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 June 2009

A quarterly report by the government says more than 600 new construction projects worth nearly $1 billion were approved by the government in the first quarter of the year, a near doubling from the same period in 2008, but industry experts doubt the planned investment will come through.

The proposed projects came from small- and medium-sized investors from local and international companies, according to Im Chamrong, director of the Ministry of Urban Planning’s construction department.

“We are always worried about economic crisis, but investors are continuously applying [for construction licenses],” he told VOA Khmer in an interview. “There are some 10 or 20 big construction projects applied for by local and international investors every month.”

However, Sung Bonna, president of the Real Estate Assessment Association, warned that the figures only represented plans, and no actual work.

“They just applied first, but no actions were taken,” he said. “No money has been spent and there has been no work force.”

Sung Bunna said that the reality on the ground was that no large projects had begun construction. Meanwhile, smaller projects such as housing have increased roughly 5 percent in 2009, after failing 30 percent to 40 percent in late 2008.

Consruction boomed in 2007, by 160 percent from the year before, but the global economic crisis stunted the growth, and led to the cancelation of at least three mega-projects.

Vorn Chan Thorn, president of Royal Investment Realty, said his costumers had completely fallen off since the crisis.

“There are only rental costumers, but no buyers at all,” he said.

Lim Sovanara, an economist for UNDP, said the numbers, which exceeded annual foreign direct investment, were “unbelievable” without further investigation.

“The large investment that exists only on the paper will interrupt the strategy in strengthening the construction sector during the economic crisis,” he told VOA Khmer.

Cambodia’s main economic drivers, garments and tourism, have been hard hit by the global downturn, so the construction figures were a surprise. Construction and agriculture have been major components of Cambodia’s galloping economic growth, which before the slump enjoyed near double-digits.

The government’s quarterly report, issued June 2, identified plans for 34 large construction projects of more than 3,000 square meters, amounting to $864.9 million in investment; 584 smaller projects were valued at $72.7 million. Among the 34 large projects, only one project was delayed, the report said.

In 2008, Phnom Penh, provincial and ministerial authorities approved 2,156 projects, with an estimated value of more $3 billion dollars.

To Avoid Killing, Duch Betrayed Order

http://www.voanews.com

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 June 2009

Kaing Kek Iev, the jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief better known as Duch, told tribunal judges Monday he at least once disobeyed orders from superiors to poison an inmate.

Duch was head of the Tuol Sleng torture center, where prosecutors say he was responsible for the torture and murder of 12,380 people.

Duch said he had ignored orders from Pol Pot’s lieutenant, Nuon Chea, who is also in tribunal detention, to poison at least one prisoner, dispensing pain relief tablets instead.

“The reason was pity, and also to avoid killing the prisoner myself,” he said.

Duch has admitted to responsibility for ordering torture and killing, but he has never admitted to doing any himself.

Now 66, he faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, in the first trial to be undertaken by the UN-backed court.

HIV-Positive Cambodians Evicted From Phnom Penh Homes

Medical News Today
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

22 Jun 2009

To make way for a Ministry of Tourism garden, 20 families with HIV-positive members have been evicted from their homes and moved outside of the city, reports the Phnom Penh Post. The newspaper writes, "Despite municipal officials claiming that residents left voluntarily and will be better off at the new site, which has been condemned by local and international rights groups as being unsuitable for human habitation, residents said they were unhappy with the move" (Shay/Chamroeun, Phnom Penh Post, 6/18).

According to the China Post, "[t]he evictions from the Borei Keila community came after several months of strong protests by the families, who complained that they would be without basic services, have no means of income and lose access to medical treatment at the new location." The China Post reports that other residents in the neighborhood not infected with HIV were "resettled in apartments. The 20 families evicted Thursday were not given that option."

Naly Pilorge, director of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, said in a statement, "It is tragic that the government has chosen to create a permanent AIDS colony where people will face great stigma and discrimination," adding that the relocation area is far from medical services (China Post, 6/19). U.N.'s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights country representative Christophe Peschoux said, "What has been prepared so far is a warehouse-type shelter without running water or electricity," adding it "is not appropriate to receive families that have members with HIV." According to Peschoux, the U.N. submitted an alternative to the plan that would have integrated the now uprooted families into the community (Phnom Penh Post, 6/18).

According to the AP/Washington Post, "Officials say they evicted the families because they had illegally settled on state land where the government now wants to build new offices for the Ministry of Tourism. The evictions were carried out Thursday without force after a week of negotiations. About 50 police stood guard, helping the families to collect their belongings" (Cheng, AP/Washington Post, 6/18)

The secretary of state at the Ministry of Tourism "said the government had helped the community with all its available resources, and that no matter what the government did, the community would still have demanded more" (Phnom Penh Post, 6/18).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Is Cambodia the future shelter for Vietnamese climate exiles?

Neak Leung (Prey Veng, Cambodia). 16/11/2002: Storm near the Neak Leung pier, on the road from Cambodia to Vietnam
©John Vink/Magnum

Ka-set
http://cambodia.ka-set.info/

By Laurent Le Gouanvic
22-06-2009

Will Cambodia collapse under the weight of thousands of starving Vietnamese exiles, fleeing fields devastated by roaring waves? Much dreaded by Cambodians, the invasion of their territory by the children of Uncle Ho may result not from aggressive territorial ambitions, but from the dramatic consequences of a global warming that would force farmers into a rural exodus as their lands were gradually lost to the sea. If the scenario of a sudden arrival in mass of Vietnamese migrants on the Khmer soil seems unlikely today, several recent reports point out the major environmental risks which people in the Mekong Delta may be faced with in the forthcoming decades. A new challenge for the two nations after a long common history of much turmoil.

Predicting the future with maps, that is what researchers from the United Nations University, the NGO Care International and Columbia University have endeavoured to do in a report published in May 2009, entitled “In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Human Migration and Displacement”. Supported by documents and statistics, the three authors attempt to understand and explain “how environmental shocks and stresses, especially those related to climate change, can push people to leave their homes in search of ‘greener pastures’ … or just to survive.” On the eight maps intended to present regions of the world that are particularly vulnerable and symbolic of ongoing changes, two focus on the consequences of climate changes in the countries where the Mekong flows.

From the sources to the Mekong Delta
One of them features the enormous Himalaya chain, genuine “water towers of Asia” due to the presence of gigantic glaciers where mythical and vital rivers such as the Ganges, the Irrawady or the Mekong take their birth. The glaciers, which constitute natural water resources, are melting at a worrying pace, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The accelerated melting may jeopardise the survival of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians and Vietnamese whose farming lands are subjected to the Mekong’s whims.

The fast melting of the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau, the authors stress, will likely provoke important flooding, mainly downstream first, that is in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam and Cambodia. In a second time, in addition to the disastrous floods, there may be the consequences of the construction of new hydropower dams upstream - which will temporarily benefit from important flows but may tend, with time, to deprive inhabitants downstream of diminishing hydraulic resources. A tragedy that is already unfolding, the report underlines.

Increasingly dramatic floods
If floods have long become an integral part of the daily lives of those living in the Mekong Delta, as their lives follow the river’s ebb and flow, their seriousness and frequency have been on the increase and become more and more problematic. “[E]nvironmental change (flooding in this case study) is shown to be a trigger for independent migration decisions [in the Mekong Delta] when livelihoods are negatively affected,” the authors claim, citing the testimonies of Vietnamese who settled in Cambodia, in Phnom Penh, and were interviewed for a field study carried out between October and December 2007 for the “Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios” (EACH-FOR) program.

“Disasters occurred so often [in my native region],” then explained one of the 32 Vietnamese migrants living in the Cambodian capital and interviewed for the study “[M]y family lost the crop [and] had to borrow money to spend. Now, my family is not able to pay off the loan so I have to come here to work to help my family to pay the loan.” Among the 32 people - a non-representative sample of the population of Vietnamese migrants in Cambodia -, three quarters of them spontaneously cited problems related to the natural environment as one of the causes that influenced their decision to leave their homes. Half of them even claimed that the environmental issues had been the reason for their departure. “[T]he floods and the storms occurred all the time, we decided to migrate to earn a living,” confided one of the respondents.

From climate change to human trafficking
In the same study, a Vietnamese doctor working in Phnom Penh reported even more tragic situations: some Vietnamese families allegedly sold their daughters to prostitution networks in Cambodia to ensure their survival, after their crops were destroyed by successive floods. Although this may not be made into a general statement, this observation seems to point to an unexpected consequence of climate change: the increase in human trafficking. The writers conclude that the link between the two phenomena is real, although it was not effectively measured.

Flooded worlds
In addition to the fears prompted by the melting glaciers in the Himalaya, there is another threat, which is more localised and addressed in another map of the report “In Search of Shelter”: the rising sea level. Here again, the researchers from the UNU, Care International and Columbia University echo the conclusions of a previous study made by the World Bank, which claimed that due to the density of its population and of threatened farming areas, Vietnam was one of the two countries at risk of suffering most seriously from a rising general sea level.

On the basis of predictions made in February 2007 by the experts mandated by the World Bank, the May 2009 report stressed that in the future, one Vietnamese out of ten would be faced with displacement due to a seal level rise in the Mekong Delta. Today, no less than 18 million people live in the Mekong Delta, that is 22% of the total population of Vietnam. Also and even more importantly, the region is Vietnam’s green belt, as it represents about 40% of the cultivated land in the country, which provide “half of its national rice production and 80% of its fruit production.”

Two-meter increase, 14 million migrants
The authors speculate that, should the global sea level rise of two meters, nearly 14.2 million Vietnamese - a figure higher than the total population of Cambodia, which currently stands at 13.4 million people - would lose their land to the waters. A frightening prospect. Especially when the figures are read in light of the introduction of the report: “[…] societies affected by climate change may find themselves locked into a downward spiral of ecological degradation, towards the bottom of which social safety nets collapse while tensions and violence rise. In this all-too-plausible worst-case scenario, large populations would be forced to migrate as a matter of immediate survival.”

Vietnam, but also the whole region, including Cambodia, would therefore be faced with an unprecedented migratory and humanitarian crisis that may have economic and political consequences. The Khmer Kingdom, itself subject to draught, in areas that already suffer from it, and to periods of flooding, would then also be faced with the arrival in mass of unwanted Vietnamese farmers ready for everything to save their lives.

Unpredictable consequences
However, the catastrophic scenario, which is based on a two-meter rise of the sea level, represents a hypothesis that not everyone agrees upon. The various patterns selected by the IPCC in the 2007 report, which serves as the reference on this issue, foresees that global warming will increase between +0.6oC and +4oC by 2099. According to the various envisaged predictions, the increases would result in the sea level rising from 0.18 to 0.59 meter by the end of the century. The IPCC warns that these figures are to be taken with a pinch of salt, as the Panel is issuing here scenarios that exclude “future rapid dynamical changes in ice flow”: “[T]he upper values of the ranges given are not to be considered upper bounds for sea level rise,” it stresses. “The projections include a contribution due to increased ice flow from Greenland and Antarctica at the rates observed for 1993-2003, but these flow rates could increase or decrease in the future.” Increase? Decrease? Under these circumstances, it is difficult to predict what the state of farming lands in the Mekong Delta will be in the next fifty years.

Prompting governments to react
The most pessimistic predictions therefore offer at least one interest: that of prompting governments of concerned countries to react in order to anticipate and adapt – if not to fight on their own against climate change. Thus, Vietnamese authorities have decided to set up a programme aimed at controlling population movements related to the new environmental phenomena, entitled “Vietnam Disaster Prevention”, which consists in relocating families living in vulnerable areas. The challenge is significant: the relocations are heavy operations as they require not only to find available land but also to make sure that the displaced families will have access to new means of subsistence and social, health and education structures.

In Cambodia, since 2006, the government drafted a “National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change” supposed to coordinate the various operations and information in this area. However, the Kingdom appears as one of the Asian countries least prepared, according to the “Climate Change Vulnerability Mapping for Southeast Asia” published in January 2009 by the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia. Cambodia is reportedly the country with the weakest “adaptive capacity” in South-East Asia. Although less exposed than other territories to storms and natural catastrophes, the country is, after the Philippines, most at risk of being affected by climate change, due to its weak adaptive capacities.

At the regional level, a lukewarm awareness
Finally, at the regional level, the issue of global warming and CO2 emissions has timidly started to appear at the top of the agenda. On June 16th and 17th, the Asian Development Bank sponsored a high-level meeting on climate change in Asia and the Pacific, while the institution announced the doubling, from 2013, of its investments in “clean energies.” However, a long way remains before the issue of internal and transborder displacements of population be tackled upfront.

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Climate “refugees” or “migrants”, fundamental issues behind the words
While some organisations refer to “climate refugees”, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recalls that the word “refugee”, as defined in the 1951 Geneva Convention on the statute of refugees, legally concerns only the individuals who have left the country of their nationality due to persecution or founded fear of persecution. Following this official definition, individuals who have left their place of residence for economic or environmental reasons may not be considered as refugees. The terms “environmental migrants or displaced people” are therefore used in the official jargon. The International Organization for Migration therefore uses the following definition: “Environmental migrants are persons or groups of persons who, for reasons of sudden or progressive changes in the environment that adversely affect their lives or living conditions, are obliged to have to leave their habitual homes, or choose to do so, either temporarily or permanently, and who move either within their territory or abroad.” The issues involved in these terms and their definitions go beyond the linguistic dimension: a person benefiting from the statute of refugee has the right to be accepted on the territory of state parties to the Geneva Convention, a right that “economic” or “environmental migrants” may not claim currently. The UNHCR therefore demands a global discussion on the statute of the new migrants to ensure their global protection and, if required, to be entrusted with new responsibilities… and the funds necessary.

Cambodia lawmakers protest

The case against Ms Mu Sochua (left) came after her attempt to sue the prime minister for what she says were defamatory remarks made about her during two speeches. --PHOTO: AFP

The Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com

June 22, 2009

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA'S Parliament stripped immunity on Monday from two opposition legislators who face defamation lawsuits by the prime minister and senior military officers. The two accused Parliament of serving the prime minister's interests as colleagues staged a walkout.

The National Assembly stripped immunity from prosecution from Ms Mu Sochua and Mr Ho Vann, both from the Sam Rainsy Party, pending a court investigation of the defamation lawsuits.

Ms Mu Sochua told reporters the immunity was lifted to serve the political interests of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling party, which dominates Cambodia's political scene. Immunity protects lawmakers from both criminal charges and civil suits.

All 26 members of the legislators' party walked out of the lower house of Parliament after the vote, wearing masks to express that their rights of free speech had been blocked.

The case against Ms Mu Sochua came after her attempt to sue the prime minister for what she says were defamatory remarks made about her during two speeches.

In early April, Mr Hun Sen referred to an unnamed lawmaker as a 'strong leg,' a term seen by some in Cambodia as particularly offensive to women. Ms Mu Sochua has said the speech clearly referred to her. She also denounced his remarks in another speech.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court rejected her lawsuit earlier this month, saying it was groundless, but it moved ahead with the prime minister's countersuit.

Close military allies of Mr Hun Sen filed a lawsuit against Mr Ho Vann after a local newspaper quoted him as allegedly saying in April that 22 senior military officers had received meaningless awards from Vietnam.

Last week, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia and New York-based Human Rights Watch criticised the lawsuits against the lawmakers.

'The lawsuits undermine the constitutional freedom of opinion and expression,' the UN said in statement.

Human Rights Watch said Mr Hun Sen had 'a long history of trying to muzzle Cambodia's political opposition and undermine the independence of the legal profession.' -- AP

Duch's testimony challenged

Kaing Guek Eav (left), better known by his nom de guerre Duch, is on trial for overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the hardline communist movement's notorious Tuol Sleng prison. --PHOTO: AFP

The Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com

June 22, 2009

PHNOM PENH - PROSECUTORS at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court argued on Monday that the Khmer Rouge prison chief has given inconsistent accounts of his seniority in the late 1970s regime.

Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his nom de guerre Duch, is on trial for overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the hardline communist movement's notorious Tuol Sleng prison.

The former jail chief has claimed numerous times that he worked under fear for his life, but prosecutor William Smith pointed to an April testimony in which Duch said he only became afraid after a superior was arrested in 1978.

'I put it to you that you were not scared (before) because you were one of the most highly connected (Central Party) members,' Smith said.

Duch, however, maintained he would have been 'beheaded' if he had not followed orders from superiors.

'We were a tool of the party.... It was the central committee that imposed the terror and if we failed to follow their orders we would be executed,' Duch said.

Earlier in his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Duch begged forgiveness from the victims of the hardline communist movement after accepting responsibility for his role in leading the jail.

But he has consistently denied prosecutors' claims that he played a central role in the Khmer Rouge's iron-fisted rule and maintains he tortured only two people himself and never personally executed anyone.

The court does not have the authority to impose the death penalty, but the former maths teacher faces a life sentence for war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and many believe the tribunal is the last chance to find justice for victims of the 1975 to 1979 communist regime, which killed up to two million people. -- AFP

Making connections at Angkor

AsiaOne Travel
http://travel.asiaone.com/

Mon, Jun 22, 2009
The Business Times

By Clarissa Tan

THERE is poor and there is poor.

In Singapore, being poor may mean you have never stepped into a fancy restaurant. In Cambodia, it likely means you have never tasted meat.


This is the kind of overwhelming divide between industrialised countries and emerging nations that we rarely have to face head on.

Except, of course, when we travel.

And Siem Reap - home of the breathtakingly beautiful Angkor temples, situated in one of the poorest nations on earth - is one place where the two worlds collide. Tourists flock here; they give the begging children dollars, euros, pennies, baht. But is there a more durable, responsible way for travellers to even begin to bridge the gap, a way that ensures the dignity of both sides?

Sewing school in Siem Reap

At least one hotel in Siem Reap is approaching this in a systematic, grassroots way. And it's a five-star hotel, no less.

The stylish, boutique Hotel de la Paix - at about US$300 per night for its cheapest rooms, way beyond the dreams of most Cambodians - has a programme that helps its guests foster ties with organisations such as orphanages and schools, if they wish.

In their rooms, all patrons will find a booklet called Connections, which offers to get them acquainted with the NGOs and institutions that run such projects. Guests can also choose to provide school supplies, rice or potable water, or the hotel can help them customise their own sponsorship package.

"Some people ask why you would choose to stay in a hotel such as ours, apparently insulated from the world," says general manager Nick Downing.

"I tend to look at it from the other side. Hotels and tourism organisations such as ours help bring awareness to the country in which we operate. We are instrumental in bringing people and resources to assist the development of the country that would otherwise not happen.

"However, I don't believe in 'guilt tourism' and we do not push people to participate. All we do is present options in a subtle and non-confronting manner."

The hotel, he says, was conceived with the social context in mind.

"Hotel de la Paix was created to be a very different hotel in Siem Reap. We were created to stand out in design, service and our commitment to the community. In such a developing country, it is important to participate and play a role."

Siem Reap still having that small-town feel, it's all about creating a web of connections between locals, foreign aid workers on the ground, and travellers.

(If you're going to Angkor Wat soon and are fortunate enough to afford the Hotel de la Paix, why not pack a few old toys and clothes into your bag? The hotel will take it from there, shuttling the items to the relevant parties.)

Last year, MasterCard got in on the act too, donating one bicycle for every Hotel de la Paix room paid for with their credit card between Sept 1 and Dec 31.

The American corporation, via its Asia-wide "social responsibility" platform called Purchase with Purpose, raised funds for 397 bicycles.

The bicycles encourage children to ride to school, something they are often deterred from doing by the long distances and other family responsibilities.

"One only needs to see the joy on the children's faces to understand how much these bikes mean to them," says Elizabeth Duke, MasterCard vice-president for business expansion.

"It is a treat to watch the laughter as they ride around for the first time. The children also realise that the bikes are more than a form of transportation, and represent independence and mobility that they never had before."

The bikes have a multiplier effect, she says.

A boy from the Sangkheum Centre for Children, an orphanage, using a bike sponsored by MasterCard.

"It is the norm for children to share a bicycle, so that not just one, but up to three children in a family will use the bicycle to get to school and run errands."

MasterCard will also sponsor 10 women for the Hotel de la Paix Sewing Training Centre, says Georgette Tan, vice-president of communications.

The 10-month programme teaches women to use a sewing machine, as well as offers education on setting up a business. "The programme will also include basic financial literacy to help the women manage their finances," says Ms Tan.

A visit to charming, rapidly growing Siem Reap reveals that much can be done. And that help, hope and goodwill abound in all quarters.

A poignant case is that of 40-year-old Hom Sophart, who spent about half her life begging on the streets of Siem Reap. Her husband, recently deceased due to cancer related to alcohol poisoning, used to beat her.

She scrounged in dustbins for food for her eight children. Despite her troubles, at one point she decided to adopt - bringing nine under her wing - because she met a child who was even worse off. Sophart cannot talk about her years on the streets without weeping.

She now lives in the compound of the Green Gecko Project, which offers shelter for street children and abused women.

Green Gecko, started by an Australian, is one of the various projects supported by Hotel de la Paix. "My life is so, so much better now," she says via a translator. She can say no more because she is crying again.

Then there is 18-year-old Soy Sareth, recently graduated from the Sewing Training Centre. She now works five days a week, eight hours a day, spending half a day to make one shirt. She earns about US$30.35 a month, she says through an interpreter.

What does she do with the money she earns? "I buy food. I give the rest to my mother. We buy chickens to raise. We had no chickens before."

Because they had never had chickens, they asked their neighbours to help them do the slaughtering. Then her family set about boiling the poultry.

Did she enjoy the meal? "Yes," she says, giggling. "I plucked the feathers myself."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Temples of chic

SIEM REAP is known mostly for its proximity to Angkor Wat, the world-famous complex of ancient religious buildings. But increasingly, on its bustling and colourful streets, it's gaining recognition for its temples of designer chic.

Showcase for local talent: Rather than a lobby bar area which remained static, the designers and developers of Hotel de la Paix committed a huge central space to developing the local arts scene, with new exhibitions ever six to eight weeks.

These stores are often set up by people who, tiring of their glamorous lives in larger metropolises, have opted for the slower but warm-hearted pace of the Cambodian city.

Elizabeth Kiester, for example, was the New York-based fashion editor for Marie Claire, Mademoiselle and Jane for 15 years. She was also global concept director for Abercrombie & Fitch and global creative designer for LeSportsac.

But last year, she packed her bags to set up a shop called wanderlust in Siem Reap.

"I came to do a volunteer vacation after a gruelling month-long media tour of Asia for the launch of the Stella McCartney for LeSportsac collection," she says. "Siem Reap touched something inside of me that no place ever really had, and I decided to drastically change my life. I also recognised the amount of cool young women who were living in Siem Reap, working at hotels, cafes and NGOs and I thought, 'Where are they buying their clothes?' The idea of wanderlust was born."

The red-windowed shop displays her current cheerful, boppy range of street wear.

The store also sells items designed and made by Cambodians, such as the Nikaya line of jewellery by the handicrafts arm of NGO Journeys Within.

"It was critical to me to have wanderlust be part of the local community. I respect and admire the Khmers enormously, and I am well aware of the tragedies that have befallen this country. And I will do what I can, in whatever small way, to help get this community back up on its feet and smiling and successful again."

Ms Kiester's wanderlust is located on the Alley West near the Old Market, which is lined with trendy retailers, restaurants and boutique hotels.

On this street you'll also find Poetry, a quirky design store run by artist and photographer Loven Ramos and designer Don Protasio. Ramos, a Filipino from Manila, has lived in Siem Reap for five years. "I stayed because of the great energy that you get to create here, rather than be part of the energy that the big cities have."

Cool shops to visit in Siem Reap include Eric Raisina's atelier/studio.

Mr Ramos is just one person among an influx of artists and designers who are behind the galleries and boutiques that have seemingly popped up overnight in Siem Reap.

There is the fashion atelier by Madagascar- born, Paris-trained Eric Raisina (visits by appointment only), and art and photo galleries such as the McDermott and Tiger Lily, as well as a lounge dedicated to local artists at the Hotel de la Paix, the largest space of its kind in the city.

One of the hotel's curators is Sasha Constable, an artist herself and descendant of the famous English Romantic painter.

Ms Kiester says it's only a matter of time before Cambodian art and design gets worldwide recognition.

"When you look at something as beautiful as Angkor Wat, you fully understand the depth of the creative spirit and craftmanship of the Khmers. The art world here is taking off; we have some incredibly fine artists who are showing their works locally and internationally.

Elizabeth Kiester, former fashion editor of Marie Claire and Mademoiselle.

"Trust me, in 10 years, Cambodia will be the hot spot for international design."

btnews@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Business Times.

Toll Group to operate Cambodian railways

Transport Intelligence
http://www.transportintelligence.com

22/Jun/2009

The Toll Group, one of the Asian region's leading providers of integrated logistics services, has signed an agreement with the Royal Government of Cambodia to operate the country's railways under a thirty year concession.

Under the concession agreement with the Cambodian Government, a joint venture between Toll, the majority partner (55%) and the Royal Group (45%), will become the operator of the Cambodian rail network and related freight logistics.

The Royal Group is a Cambodian conglomerate with successful operations in a range of businesses in Cambodia including banking, telecommunications and the media.

"This agreement complements Toll's existing presence in Cambodia through its oil and gas logistics operation. As the operator of the railways, we now have a strong strategic partnership with the Government of Cambodia that will see future benefits for Toll and the Cambodian people," said Paul Little, Managing Director of the Toll Group.

"The Cambodian Government has committed in our agreement to seeing more freight transported by rail. They have acknowledged that an efficient intermodal rail and integrated logistics operation will underpin Cambodia's economic development both locally and across the Asian region.

"Over time, the Cambodian railways are likely to become a vital part of the planned rail link between Singapore and China which will include Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. As the long term operator of the Cambodian railways through its involvement in the joint venture, the Toll Group will be excellently placed if the planned expansion occurs," said Mr Little.

Former Louisvillians find needs of Cambodian kids outweigh financial rewards

A child being treated for malnutrition after being given a donated American toy.
(Photo courtesy of Bill and Lori Housworth)

http://www.courier-journal.com

By Laura Ungar • lungar@courier-journal.com
June 22, 2009

One mother after another carried weak, dehydrated babies across an arid landscape in rural Cambodia to a tent where Drs. Lori and Bill Housworth were treating patients.

The babies had been sickened by polluted water after their families were displaced and left to live in tarp-covered shacks without toilets or running water.

The Housworths did what they could as volunteers, doctoring and helping build outdoor sanitation facilities. But this visit in 2002, and others, convinced them that they needed to do more.

"It was an experience that really impassioned me for the needs of the Cambodian people and the desperation many of them face," Lori Housworth, 39 said during a visit to Louisville.

The couple's calling eventually led them to leave two jobs in Louisville, move to Cambodia with their three small children and devote themselves to easing the suffering of children on the other side of the globe. Today, Lori, who used to work at Family Health Centers, volunteers her time holding medical clinics. And Bill, 41, directs the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, where he earns less than a quarter of what he did as an emergency room physician at Norton Audubon Hospital.

The experience has been difficult, even harrowing. They sleep beneath mosquito nets, and one of their daughters was once almost snatched by a zoo elephant. But the Housworths say they've gotten as much as they have given in their new lives.

In Cambodia, children are more than 10 times more likely to die before age 5 than in the United States. About two-thirds of Cambodians live on less than a dollar a day, and 45 percent of children show moderate or severe stunting in growth because of malnutrition. And there are only two doctors per 10,000 people, compared with about 26 per 10,000 in the United States.

"Thousands of children suffer and often die from preventable and treatable diseases: malnutrition, malaria, respiratory infections, diarrhea and diseases practically eradicated in the more-developed countries," said Danielle Hilson, chief executive officer of the non-profit Friends Without A Border, which runs the Angkor hospital.

While the Housworths can't fix every problem, they can ease some children's pain, said Steven Hester, a friend and chief medical officer for Norton Healthcare.

"We don't realize how many people we touch. I think impacting people one at a time is what Bill and Lori do," he said If they help save a kid, you never know what that kid is going to do, how they are going to improve their country."

The Housworths, who have been married almost nine years, met as medical residents at the University of Louisville. Rotations abroad reinforced for them the vast health-care disparities between the developing and the developed worlds.

After their residencies, they continued international volunteerism in various countries, sometimes in missions through Springdale Community Church.

"As we worked in more places, we had a growing interest in this type of work," Bill said.

Back in Louisville, both treated the uninsured and felt they were doing good. But they realized they could easily be replaced because there are so many other doctors. As they began thinking about full-time work abroad, they also built an international family, adopting two babies from Russia, Rachel and Will, in 2003. About two years later, Lori gave birth to Caroline.

Around the same time, they briefly moved to Massachusetts to earn master's degrees in public health from Harvard University.

All the while, Cambodia came into sharper focus, partly because they connected with the late Dr. Mickey Sampson, a Louisville native who created Resource Development International, a non-profit supporting water treatment and health initiatives.

"We fell in love with the people and the place, Lori said.

One day, Bill turned to Lori and expressed a wish that predicted the future: "I would like to run a pediatric hospital in Cambodia."

The opportunity soon arrived.

A job came open through Friends Without A Border, a secular, global non-governmental organization. Its 50-bed hospital, which operates on a budget of $3 million a year, treated more than 107,000 children in 2007, including nearly 4,000 inpatients.

Bill interviewed in New York, visited the hospital in Siem Reap and loved it. Lori realized they had good friends in the area and that their children could get a good education. It seemed a perfect fit.

So in February 2008, they moved halfway around the world — surprising none who knew them.

"It's completely in character," said Tammy Ackerson, a nurse at Audubon who worked with Bill.

Living and working in Cambodia, the Housworths are reminded each day of why they are there.

The terrible legacy of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime remains. According to Friends Without a Border, 1.5 million people were executed, starved or died as the result of forced labor at their hands in the 1970s. "The genocide left the country's infrastructure decimated and her people orphaned," the organization wrote. "Today, many Cambodians still struggle to reconstruct their lives, while battling abject poverty."

Children suffering everything from dengue fever to heart defects come to Angkor from 60-190 miles away, often coming by ox-cart and motor scooters and selling belongings or borrowing money for travel expenses.

Bill recalled a girl who fell out of a tree. As her chest filled with blood, her family traveled 60 miles down a bumpy dirt road to the hospital, where she spent a week, but survived.

Bill said the hospital sees 400 children a day, and every evening the staff must make hard decisions about who is sickest and can stay. Many families set up camp on the grounds while children are treated, cooking food rations the hospital gives them.

Bill spends about a fifth of his time doctoring and the rest teaching residents and overseeing a mostly-Cambodian staff of 240, including 30 doctors and 100 nurses. Under his leadership, the hospital recently launched a heart surgery program in which donors pay for congenital defect repairs costing about $6,000. Six surgeries have been done so far, one on a little girl named Mey who had a hole in the wall between the two upper chambers of her heart.

"Through a one-time surgery, she's fixed," Bill said.

Angkor is now building a satellite clinic about an hour away, where Lori plans to work In the meantime, she volunteers at mobile clinics throughout the area, often seeing 40 people in three hours.

Outside of work, family life has been an adventure. The Housworths live in a Cambodian neighborhood, where they have befriended local families. They have a three-bedroom house, which is extravagant by local standards but still lets in bugs. The family jokes that it's like camping all the time.

In the past year, their house was burglarized and 6-year-old Rachel was grabbed by an elephant as she tried to feed it through a zoo cage with widely-spaced bars. As the trunk began to reel her in, two family friends saved her.

Their life has been much tamer since early June, when they returned to the United States for a month-long visit. On a recent afternoon, they stopped by Audubon, where Bill's former colleagues shrieked with delight and offered hugs.

Bill and Lori said they miss family and friends in Louisville. But for now, Cambodia is home — and living there is no sacrifice.

"When you give yourself away, you really do get so much back," Lori said. "You have so much joy."

Reporter Laura Ungar can be reached at (502) 582-7190.

Cambodian PM warns foreign diplomats not to meddle in politics

World Bulletin
http://www.worldbulletin.net

About 20 military and police blocked the public road in front of the National Assembly and barred reporters and others from watching the parliamentary vote.

Monday, 22 June 2009

Prime Minister Hun Sen warned foreign diplomats not to meddle in Cambodian politics on Monday after envoys were barred from a parliamentary session that voted to remove the legal immunity of two opposition lawmakers.

Mu Sochua of the main opposition Sam Rainsy party now faces a charge of defaming the government and risks a hefty fine. Another lawmaker, Ho Vann, is accused of spreading false information and risks a three-year jail sentence if found guilty.

"Foreigners, do not interfere in Cambodian laws. We choose the way of the court to solve problems because we want to avoid violence," Hun Sen said in a speech aired on national radio.

Turning to the lawmakers, he added: "Although you are MPs, when you act wrongly, you will be punished by the court".

About 20 military and police blocked the public road in front of the National Assembly and barred reporters and others from watching the parliamentary vote.

"There has been no reason given why today this is not a public session," German Ambassador Frank Mann told reporters outside the gate to parliament, where he stood with diplomats from the United States, Britain and France.

Critics and human rights activists have accused the government of using the courts to muzzle the opposition.

Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla, has dominated Cambodia for more than two decades.

His party won a landslide victory in the last general election in July 2008 and although European Union observers found some irregularities in the polling, they said these were not enough to alter the result.

Reuters

Cambodia lawmakers, stripped of immunity, protest

Taiwan News

http://www.etaiwannews.com

Associated Press
2009-06-22

Cambodia's Parliament stripped immunity Monday from two opposition legislators who face defamation lawsuits by the prime minister and senior military officers. The two accused Parliament of serving the prime minister's interests as colleagues staged a walkout.

The National Assembly stripped immunity from prosecution from Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, both from the Sam Rainsy Party, pending a court investigation of the defamation lawsuits.

Mu Sochua told reporters the immunity was lifted to serve the political interests of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling party, which dominates Cambodia's political scene. Immunity protects lawmakers from both criminal charges and civil suits.

All 26 members of the legislators' party walked out of the lower house of Parliament after the vote, wearing masks to express that their rights of free speech had been blocked.

The case against Mu Sochua came after her attempt to sue the prime minister for what she says were defamatory remarks made about her during two speeches.

In early April, Hun Sen referred to an unnamed lawmaker as a "strong leg," a term seen by some in Cambodia as particularly offensive to women. Mu Sochua has said the speech clearly referred to her. She also denounced his remarks in another speech.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court rejected her lawsuit earlier this month, saying it was groundless, but it moved ahead with the prime minister's countersuit.

Close military allies of Hun Sen filed a lawsuit against Ho Vann after a local newspaper quoted him as allegedly saying in April that 22 senior military officers had received meaningless awards from Vietnam.

Last week, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia and New York-based Human Rights Watch criticized the lawsuits against the lawmakers.

"The lawsuits undermine the constitutional freedom of opinion and expression," the U.N. said in statement.

Human Rights Watch said Hun Sen had "a long history of trying to muzzle Cambodia's political opposition and undermine the independence of the legal profession."

Cambodia strips MPs of immunity

Mu Sochua faces a defamation charge from Prime Minister Hun Sen

BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Monday, 22 June 2009

Cambodia's National Assembly has voted to strip parliamentary immunity from two opposition members.

The vote means the two politicians, Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, can be prosecuted on defamation charges.

The UN's human rights organisation has criticised the government's increasing use of the courts against its critics.

The government has defended its use of the courts, saying in one case a critic had attempted to cause "chaos and confusion" with inaccurate remarks.

The ruling Cambodian People's Party has a large majority, so the vote against the two members of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party was never in doubt, says the BBC's Guy DeLauney in Phnom Penh.

The two politicians are among at least six critics of the government who have been the subjects of recent legal action.

Mu Sochua had originally launched a defamation suit against Prime Minister Hun Sen. That was dismissed and the prime minister counter-sued.

Ho Vann is being sued for defamation by senior military officials, over allegations that he insulted the quality of their university degrees.

The UN's human rights office in Phnom Penh recently issued a statement expressing concern about the use of defamation and disinformation laws to silence government critics.

But the government has consistently defended its human rights record, pointing to the success of several democratic elections since the return of peace in the 1990s.

Cambodia FM: Thailand threatens Cambodia and UNESCO over Preah Vihear temple

People's Daily Online
http://english.people.com.cn

June 21, 2009

Top Thai leaders are using the words to threaten Cambodia and UNESCO over listing Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple as World Heritage Site, a senior Cambodian official said on Saturday.

Hor Namhong, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation told reporters at a press conference at the ministry that Thai prime minister, deputy prime minister and foreign minister are using words of lack of thoughts on the matter of the belongs of Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple and sending a threaten message to UNESCO before the meeting of World Heritage Committee to be held in Spain on June 23.

UNESCO agreed to register Perah Vihear temple as World Heritage Site of Cambodia in July 7, 2008. But since then from July 15, troops from both Cambodian and Thailand have confronted at the border near Preah Vihear temple.

Hor added that Thai leaders wanted to review about registering Preah Vihear temple (of Cambodia) with the Committee of World Heritage of UNESCO and also wanted to register jointly for Preah Vihear temple. "Preah Vihear temple and land surrounding areas belongs to Cambodia not Thailand according to the verdict of World Court's rule in 1962," Hor stressed.

"It is big mistake and serious one that were created by Thai leaders," he said, adding that they have spoken without thoughts.

"If they want to have armed conflicts for third time, we welcome," he said, adding "today we have known that Thai command for second region put their troops on alert, our troops also is ready for fighting, but so far the situation there is calm."

Moreover, Hor Namhong said "the border tension was caused by Thai side. We (Cambodia) want to resolve the border issue peacefully and friendly. But our effort made no result."

"Military tension has not occurred yet today, but tomorrow I do not know," Hor said, adding that Preah Vihear temple already registered as cultural and humanitarian matters for all people.

"We are ready to deal border issue with Thailand by using peaceful resolution, international law, military, or diplomatic ways," he noted.

According to Thai newspaper The Bangkok Post on Wednesday, that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit would request that UNESCO's World Heritage Committee review last year's decision to register Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site when the body convenes its annual meeting later this month in Spain. He would also request that the temple be registered jointly as a World Heritage Site by Thailand and Cambodia.

Source: Xinhua

Thai Premier hits back in Cambodia temple squabble

Border tensions: Cambodian soldiers standing guard nearby the Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, around 540 kilometres north of Phnom Penh in this picture taken in April. Cambodia on Saturday rebuked Thailand for reopening a debate over an ancient temple on their disputed border that has led to seven soldiers being killed in recent months. Picture: AFP

The Brunei Times
http://www.bt.com.bn

BANGKOK

Monday, June 22, 2009

Soldiers from both countries continue to patrol the border

THAI Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva refused to back down yesterday after reopening a debate over an ancient temple on the disputed border with Cambodia which has provoked bloody clashes.

Bangkok this week asked world heritage body Unesco to reconsider its decision to formally list the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia, as ownership of land surrounding the ruins is still in dispute.

Cambodia on Saturday rebuked Thailand for raising the matter, saying that its soldiers would defend their land again if necessary following outbreaks of violence in the past year which have left seven dead.

But Abhisit who made a one-day visit to Cambodia last week in an attempt to push forward border talks said the Unesco move itself was to blame for the tensions.

"We are concerned that the moves by Unesco may speed up conflicts, tensions or a border clash," the Oxford-educated Abhisit said on his weekend television programme.

He said Thai deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban would soon travel to Cambodia to explain Thailand's position, but said that Bangkok still believed all border issues should be solved by peaceful measures.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades, but tensions spilled over into violence last July when the temple was granted UN World Heritage status.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.

Soldiers from Cambodia and Thailand continue to patrol the area, with the last gunbattle in the temple area in April leaving three people dead.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said in Phnom Penh on Saturday that his country "welcomes Thailand militarily, diplomatically, internationally or through peaceful negotiations".

"(But) it (border fighting) has happened twice... (so) if they want to send their troops to Cambodia a third time, we will welcome them too," he said.

The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Abhisit will make a one-day official visit to Singapore today, he said on his weekly radio address yesterday.

The visit will centre on improving economic cooperation and strengthening ties in the aftermath of the global economic slump that saw the economies of both countries contract.

Abhisit said he hoped to increase joint investment between the countries. He will meet with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President SR Nathan and return to Bangkok tonight.

Agencies

War and conservation in Cambodia

http://news.mongabay.com

Jeremy Hance

mongabay.com
June 21, 2009

The decades-long conflict in Cambodia devastated not only the human population of the Southeast Asian country but its biodiversity as well. The conflict led to widespread declines of species in the once wildlife-rich nation while steering traditional society towards unsustainable hunting practices, resulting in a situation where wildlife is still in decline in Cambodia, according to a new study from researchers with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Although many biodiversity hotspots have seen their share of conflict—the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Vietnam—the relationship between war and conservation has rarely been studied. Social scientist Michael Mascia with WWF and Colby Loucks, Deputy Director of the WWF's Conservation Science Program interviewed Cambodian villagers to understand the impacts of war on village’s surrounding wilderness.

Bokor National Park, Cambodia. Heavily armed forestry rangers and their Australian security consultant arrest a poacher with an endangered Hog Badger during a night patrol. TRAFFIC Asia 2006. Photo by: Adam Oswell with WWF.

“Armed conflict is a social phenomenon often detrimental to wildlife and wildlife habitat, but the legacy of armed conflict for wildlife in post-conflict settings remains unexplored,” Loucks and Mascia, along with other authors, write in their paper published in Conservation Letters.

Since scientific data for wildlife abundance in Cambodia was lacking, Loucks and Mascia depended on the knowledge of locals in the Sre Chis commune, a collection of six villages in eastern Kratie province. Asking the interviewees about 18 different species, the researchers found that the decades-long conflict in Cambodia caused deep-declines in wildlife abundance, the loss of some species altogether, and moved the society from subsistence hunting to commercial exploitation.

“We looked at how conflict directly and indirectly shaped people’s use of wildlife – during and after conflict. The influx of guns, the emergence of new markets, the forced hunting teams – all were directly related to conflict. It was the conflict, lastly, for well over two decades that created the environment for permanent shifts in livelihoods to the dependence on the trade of wildlife,” Loucks and Mascia told mongabay.com

The Kouprey Bos sauveli, a species of wild ox. Illustration by: Helmut Diller.

Wildlife declined from pre-1953 (when the conflict began) to 2005, but the most measured declines occurred in the 1970s—when the conflict was at its worst. The researchers found that 14 of 18 species declined, while five disappeared altogether, including the Asian elephant, the kouprey, Eld’s deer, hog deer, and Siamese crocodile. Before the conflict arrived in Sre Chis, the villagers only sold one species to outside markets—the guar—but by the 1970s seven more species were being trafficked: elephants, banteng, Eld’s deer, hog deer, tiger, leopard and sun bear.

“It is clear to [the villagers] that there are fewer individuals of the species…and that they need to go further from the villages to find them,” Loucks said.

Shockingly every one of these species (or subspecies) is threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List, except the Indochinese leopard which hasn’t been surveyed. The sun bear is considered Vulnerable, while the Indochinese tiger, Asian elephant, Eld’s deer, and hog deer are all listed as Endangered. The Siamese crocodile, the banteng, a species of wild cattle, and a wild ox known as the kouprey are each Critically Endangered.

The Asian elephant has been hunted out of the forest around Sre Chis. Photo by: Rhett Butler.

As related by Loucks and Mascia, these declines consistently followed societal changes brought on by war: additional firearms, the beginning of a wildlife trade for international markets, and a Khmer Rouge policy that actually mandated hunting. Prior to the 1970s villagers hunted with the crossbow, since guns were either illegal or difficult to obtain, but when the Khmer Rouge came to Sre Chis they handed out guns to locals and paid them to hunt. During the conflict, wildlife meat went to soldier on the front lines.

The conflict in Cambodia ended in 1991, but the interviewers discovered that wildlife declines continued due to the technological and social changes brought on by war. Instead of hunting for soldiers, the villagers had now begun to hunt for commercial sale in markets both in Cambodia and abroad.

“Documenting these impacts and the subsequent ripple effects in post-conflict society – shifting livelihood strategies and the decline of wildlife – allow us to understand the links between conflict and wildlife decline,” Loucks and Mascia said. “This sheds light on the importance of re-engaging with communities, empowering them to manage their resources, and providing economic opportunities soon after the cessation of conflict. With this information, we can design more effective conservation strategies, tailored to local conditions.”

Importance of conservation to postconflict society

The UN has drafted important guidelines for ‘disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration’ of combatants (known as DDR), but they don’t take into account the conservation of natural resources, according to Loucks and Mascia. Even though many conflicts begin with—or in some way involve—over-exploitation of a nation’s resources.

Critically Endangered Siamese crocodile in Thailand: the species has disappeared from the Sri Chis forests. Photo by: Rhett Butler.

Therefore the authors suggest “that conservation investments in postconflict societies should be integrated within and support broader peace-building efforts targeting combatants, noncombatants, civil society organizations, and the state”.

Mascia goes on to say that “many conservation strategies are consistent with current approaches to peace-building, such as capacity-building for government agencies and local communities, fostering good governance and rule of law, and promoting alternative livelihoods and income generating activities. In societies where natural resources are a source of conflict, strengthening civil society and good governance in the environmental sector is necessary not just for effective conservation of biodiversity, but for peace-building generally.”

Loucks and Mascia see conservation as a tool to aid with disarmament in postconflict society by justifying confiscating weapons when used for illegal hunting. In addition, conservation organization act as important support for newly formed governments by “promoting rule of law; encouraging participatory and transparent decision making; and supporting other activities that foster good governance within the conservation sector and beyond,” according to the paper.

While tigers still reside in the forest around Sri Chis, their population has declined according to interviews. Photo by: Martin Harvey with WWF.

Furthermore, the authors argue, conservation groups have the capacity to monitor postconflict efforts to make certain both individuals and large-scale investments are not engaging in unsustainable natural resource exploitation. Instead of handing such postconflict countries over to international corporations for large-scale monoculture plantations, industrial agriculture or mining—which may degrade the environment and stoke further conflict—conservation organizations could manage environmental restoration projects.

Such restoration projects “would serve multiple purposes” the authors write, including “employment of both ex-combatants and noncombatants, enhanced delivery of ecosystem services to resource-dependent communities, critical habitat for wildlife, and reduced wildlife trade by providing alternative sources of income.”

Finally, the authors recommend that conservation groups be allowed to perform capacity-building at the community level in order to reach out to remote areas, places where a new government may not have influence or even means of communication. According to the paper, such programs “can empower local actors and strengthen local governance regimes, absorb ex-combatants into the labor force, and provide legal economic opportunities for ex-combatants and noncombatants alike.”

The people—not just the wildlife—of post-conflict nations would benefit greatly from increased conservation and environmental awareness, according to the paper.

“We believe that the UN, governments, civil society, and NGOs all have a role they can play to integrate natural resource conservation, biodiversity protection, and peace-building efforts from the local to national or global scale. To design conservation strategies that are both ecologically and socially sustainable, we need to build tailored solutions that bridge the traditional divide between security and the environment.” Loucks and Mascia told mongabay.com.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia. An anti-wildlife trade billboard outside a local school. Part of a government education program that aims to educate Cambodians about the country's wildlife laws. TRAFFIC Asia 2006. Photo by: Adam Oswell of WWF.

Birthday in absentia

Photo by: AFP

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by AFP
Monday, 22 June 2009

Around 30 Myanmar activists and civil-society members light candles in celebration of the 64th birthday of jailed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday evening. The celebration was held at the office of the Community Legal Education Centre, a local legal aid group, after monks prevented the group from meeting at Wat Lanka. "They didn't give us a reason for disrupting the event," said a spokesman for the Myanmar activists who organised the event. "We are praying for someone who deserves freedom."

Tensions mount on border

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by CHEANG SOKHA AND THET SAMBATH
Monday, 22 June 2009

Thai PM refuses to back down over Preah Vihear comments.

THAI Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday defended his request that UNESCO reconsider its listing of Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site after being harshly criticised by Cambodian officials and accused of bolstering Thai military forces along the border.

"We are concerned that the moves by UNESCO may speed up conflicts, tensions or a border clash," Abhisit said during his weekend television programme.

But Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said that if UNESCO's World Heritage Committee decides to de-list the Preah Vihear temple complex, it would heighten border tensions, where gunbattles between Thai and Cambodian soldiers have left at least seven people dead over the last year.

"We don't understand these comments, whether they want to threaten Cambodia or want to send a message to the UNESCO committee, which will meet on June 23 in Spain," Hor Namhong told reporters at a press conference on Saturday. "I do not understand whether these speeches were made with a lack of thought or out of ignorance or because they want to cause trouble."

Cambodia and Thailand have never fully demarcated their 805-kilometre-long shared border, in part because the area is littered with land mines.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya told Thai media Saturday that Thailand's objection to the unilateral World Heritage listing of the 11th-century temple is an issue between Thailand and UNESCO, and does not involve Cambodia.

Abhisit also said on Friday he would send his deputy prime minister, Suthep Thaugsuban, to meet Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to explain their objections.

Hor Namhong said that the Thai comments have been backed up by a Thai military buildup, and that if the border dispute requires a military solution, Cambodia is ready.

"I heard that the Thai commander of Region 2 added more troops along the border, and they are on alert. I would like to stress that Cambodia is also prepared. If they want to seek a political resolution peacefully, if they want to use international laws, or if they want to seek a military resolution, we are already prepared in all ways." he said.

"Border fights have occurred twice, and if they want to send their troops to Cambodia for a third time, we welcome it," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An departed for Seville, Spain, on Saturday to attend the UNESCO meeting.

Colonel Om Phirom, chief of Heritage Police for Preah Vihear temple, said Sunday that tensions were growing along the border as Thai soldiers prepared heavy weapons and tanks.

"We can't conclude what will be happen at the front line because both sides are full of heavy weapons and ammunition. We are concerned that the explosions will be bigger this time, if a clash does occur," Om Phirom said.

"We are worried about the temple's safety because it was damaged by Thai soldiers' bullets in many places in the clashes between Thailand and Cambodia over the last year," he added.

Sao Socheat, deputy commander of military Region 4, said the activity started about two weeks before Abhisit's request to delist the temple.

"The Thai military right now at the front line and behind their front line is busy in their territory. Their activities for the last two weeks have been strange in this area, but we know what they want to do here," Sao Socheat said.

The World Court in 1962 ruled that Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia, but 4.6 square kilometres of land surrounding the ruins remains in dispute.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP

NGOs look to graft law as Penal Code OK'd

http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Sam Rith
Monday, 22 June 2009

THE Council of Ministers has approved the new draft Penal Code, which observers say they hope will pave the way for the passage of the government's long-delayed Anti-Corruption Law. During a plenary session Friday, the Council formally approved the 672-article draft law, which will now be sent to the National Assembly for adoption.

If passed, the new Penal Code will replace the UNTAC Law, which has provided the Kingdom's penal framework since 1992, adjusting it to new legal demands and updating it to "ensure freedom, prestige, social security and public order", according to a statement by the Council.

Civil society groups said the passage of the Penal Code left no excuses for the government not to pass the anti-graft legislation.

Yong Kim Eng, president of the People's Centre for Development and Peace, an NGO, said that if the Penal Code is adopted, it should provide the supporting legislation government officials have long claimed is lacking.

"Very often, the government has promised that after adopting the Penal Code, [they] would send the draft Anti-Corruption Law to the National Assembly for approval. That is why we are observing this closely," he said.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan confirmed Sunday that the draft Anti-Corruption Law was at the Council and waiting for the Penal Code - which contains articles related to corruption - to be adopted by the National Assembly.

But he said that if the Assembly objects to some points in the draft, they could send it back to the Council for amendment.

"So the fate of the Anti-Corruption Law is linked to the fate of the Penal Code," he said.