Struggling to Understand – Faced with Different Reports and Opinions – Sunday, 19.7.2009

Posted on 20 July 2009. Filed under: *Editorial*, Week 621
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 621
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

This time, we bring an assortment of reports, opinions, and references to other sources, and invite our readers to join into weighing them. Even a clear separation of information about facts and about opinions is not easy. And if one tends to trust – at least – clear figures, the famous warning by the Second World War time British Prime Minster Winston Churchill is a reminder to be cautious, as he said: “The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself.”

During the week, we mirrored:

“Moneaksekar Khmer – Khmer Conscience – which had been an opposition newspaper for more than 10 years, stopped its publication, and this newspaper can no longer be purchased at the newspaper stands in Phnom Penh since 10 July 2009… Moneaksekar Khmer halted its publication in exchange for the order from Mr. Hun Sen to government lawyers to withdraw 18 complaints, related to 18 articles previously published by Moneaksekar Khmer, which the government claims are inciting and provoking friction among the Cambodian People’s Party, and the complaints were brought to the court as criminal complaints. Because of these complaints by the government for alleged disinformation, the editor-in-chief wrote letters of apology to Mr. Hun Sen and to other leaders of the Cambodian People’s Party, surprisingly with the promise to support the government policy under the leadership of Mr. Hun Sen, and Mr. Dam Sith agreed to stop the publication of Moneaksekar Khmer.”

The report closed with these words:

“The spokesperson of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Phay Siphan, said that Mr. Dam Sith decided himself to close Moneaksekar Khmer. He said, ‘He did it for his personal reasons, and no one forced him to close Moneaksekar Khmer.’”

Then we mirrored that the Phnom Penh Municipality had prepared almost 700 uniformed personnel to evict the residents of Group #78 on 17 July 2009, if they do not agree to move out, accepting the compensation offered, leading to a solution (?) of the problems:

An Issue Dragging on for Three Years Ended by Removing the Houses of People of Group 78.

And a Deputy Governor of the Phnom Penh Municipality, Mr. Mann Chhoeun, denied that there were evictions of poor people. He said that critics just disrespect the Phnom Penh Municipality unreasonably, as people had agreed to accept the solutions proposed by the municipality.

Among those ‘unreasonable critics’ were also the following – we repeat some sections form the Saturday edition of the Mirrors:

“Development partners have appealed to the Cambodian government to stop evictions using force against citizens living in disputed locations in Phnom Penh and in other places in the country, until proper and transparent mechanism to solve land disputes and a broad resettlement policy have been organized.

“The Australian, Bulgarian, Danish, German, and US embassies, the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Union, the Asian Development Bank, and the Swedish Development Agency released a joint statement on 16 June 2009 with this appeal.

“The statement said that development partners have seen that land disputes are challenging the development in the country, and they call on the government to adopt proper and transparent systems to clarify land ownership by focusing on people living in cities, and to recognize all citizens’ equal rights, and to protect them. Development partners are prepared to help support the creation of a national policy instruction that will guarantee that evictions and resettlements are made following legal procedures and evictees are properly compensated.

“The World Bank and some development partners have worked closely with the government on secure land ownership in Cambodia. The government was praised for providing more than one million land ownership certificates to people, as this provides the opportunity to promote economic growth and to alleviate poverty…

“International experience shows that secure land ownership is quite important to ensure economic growth and poverty alleviation, and the appropriate implementation for resettlements is a key to create an effective system of land control and of provisions that will protect all citizens’ rights.

“Development partners would like to express their commitment again to cooperate with the government to help solve land problems with justice and morality, and they would like to ensure that the rights of poor people will be advanced and protected.”

The Cambodian Human Rights organization LICADHO reported about the final eviction of the remaining Group 78 residents, and has also, under LICADHO Videos, a documentation of the demolition team, arriving in the dark hours of the early morning. [Links to different LICADHO videos can be found here - Group 78 Evictions (17 July 2009 – mistakenly named as 17 April 2009)].

But even such evidence has been questioned – the following appears almost as a desperate act of defense when no other arguments are left: two famous and popular Cambodian comedians and their groups – Chy Koy and Krem – staged a number of TV plays since June, to ridicule anti-corruption NGOs, after a Clean Hands Concert, where the US ambassador had called corruption one of the main obstacles to the development of Cambodia.

The comedians accused critical NGO workers and journalists of staging fake evictions and scenes of poverty to motivate their foreign donors to provide money – with the main purpose to criticize the government. Anti-Corruption NGOs were said to be money hungry, making up stories about actually non-existent corruption – all on government controlled TV stations – saying that reports about socio-economic conflicts are made up so that some foreigners interested in money to stay in expensive hotels exploiting Cambodian women get funding.

The LICADHO website has many additional links to videos, and their Photo Albums are also worth to receive visits – LICADHO must have made tremendous efforts to “fabricate” these “fake” evictions during the last couple of months. Please see for yourself.

Please recommend us also to your colleagues and friends.

Ministers meet after Jakarta attacks

Big Pond News
http://bigpondnews.com

Monday, July 20, 2009

Asian foreign ministers met on Sunday ahead of the continent's biggest security dialogue, under the shadow of the Jakarta bomb attacks and North Korea's nuclear programme.

A proposed regional rights body that critics say will lack teeth to tackle violators such as Myanmar is also on the agenda at days of talks culminating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum.

The 27-member forum, which includes Asian nations, the EU and the United States, meets on the resort isle of Phuket on Thursday with a debut appearance from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan as well as tensions between Thailand and Cambodia over an ancient temple on their border are also on the long list of security problems facing Asia.

But Friday's twin suicide bombings at hotels in the Indonesian capital which police said left nine people dead have unexpectedly thrown the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) back into the spotlight.

Indonesian police Sunday confirmed JI as having carried out the attack, which has shattered years of calm in ASEAN's most populous member nation.

The group carried out the 2002 Bali bombings which left more than 200 dead.

'It remains for all of us to work vigorously in future to prevent terrorist acts,' Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said after meeting counterparts from the 10-member ASEAN in Phuket on Sunday.

'At the beginning of our meeting, all of us expressed condolences to the Indonesian government and people and especially to the bereaved families,' Kasit said.

Kasit meanwhile defended an unprecedented new regional rights body as ministers prepared to endorse its terms of reference on Monday, despite admitting that it would involve compromises on military-ruled Myanmar.

Myanmar, ASEAN's most troublesome member since joining the bloc in 1997, has stirred up fresh international outrage by putting democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on trial over an incident in which an American swam to her lakeside house.

Leaders of the bloc are set to launch the rights watchdog in October but critics say it will be powerless to investigate or punish abuses such as those by Myanmar but also by communist Vietnam and Laos.

'It is important to make this human rights body credible, but at the same time take into account the real situation in ASEAN member countries,' Kasit said.

Shortly before he spoke, Myanmar authorities detained around 20 members of Aung San Suu Kyi's party as they headed back from events to mark the anniversary of her father's death in 1947.

Myanmar also showed its defiance of foreign opinion earlier this month by refusing to allow UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit the opposition leader when he visited.

Meanwhile hopes of any resolution to the tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme dimmed after the communist state's foreign minister declined to attend the ARF and sent a roving ambassador instead.

US State Department officials said they expected the showdown over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests and political repression in Myanmar to be among the leading topics that Clinton will discuss when she arrives.

Regional tensions have soared since the North quit six-nation talks on nuclear disarmament and vowed to restart its atomic weapons programme in the wake of its recent defiant nuclear test and missile launches.

Foreign ministers from the other five parties - the US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea - will all be in Phuket.

But Bridget Welsh, an associate professor of political science at the Singapore Management University, said the ARF's role in containing North Korea would be 'very limited'.

'ASEAN countries (in particular) will not be able to do more than express their concern,' Welsh said.

Thousands of troops and police threw a ring of steel around Phuket to prevent a repeat of anti-government protests which derailed a key Asian summit in the coastal city of Pattaya in April.

Keep extraneous issues out of the Asean meeting

http://www.asianewsnet.net

Editorial Desk
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date: 19-07-2009

Thailand as the host and chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should not allow any domestic controversies to dilute the substance of the Asean Ministerial Meeting in Phuket next week. Foreign ministers of Asean and their dialogue partners will have a series of discussions on the transformation of the group into a real legal-based regional community and many other important issues such as the deadly virus type-A (H1N1) pandemic and the ongoing global economic crisis.

Asean is in the process of becoming a community. Its charter came into force in December last year, and its economic, political-security and social communities are being established. The group aims to be a caring organisation, and terms of reference for the human-rights body are to be adopted by the foreign ministers during the Phuket meeting. The establishment of the mechanism will be officially announced at the 15th summit in October in Thailand.

The Asean Ministerial Meeting and Post Ministerial Conference in Phuket this week is also important for a high-profile dialogue partner like the United States, since Washington will sign in the Instruments of the Accession and Extension to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, a founding document of Asean, to foster the US role in the region.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will call a sideline meeting with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam on Mekong-basin development and cross-border issues, suggesting a significant move by the US in the sub-region under the Asean footprint. Clinton will also take the opportunity to address US concern over political developments in Burma, notably the ongoing trial of opposition leader Aung San SuuKyi.

Every move during the Phuket meeting is significant and important for the future of Asean and its members. Nothing should overshadow the meeting.

Thailand took the position of rotating chairman of the group last year, and officials at the Foreign Ministry are already aiming high for many remarkable turning points in Asean. The group was born in Bangkok in 1967 as an ad-hoc grouping, and Thailand hoped that it would turn into a legal-based international organisation in its native Bangkok last year.

The Asean charter really came into force with Thailand's chairmanship, but unfortunately the announcement could not be made in the Kingdom due to political difficulty after the airport closure by the protesting People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), of which the current foreign minister Kasit Piromya is an active member and the Democrat Party a major supporter. The charter's announcement was scheduled for the 14th Asean summit due in Chiang Mai in December but was made at Asean headquarters in Jakarta instead.

Thailand's domestic political problems have hurt Asean again since then. The PAD's enemy red-shirt movement took revenge on the Democrat-led government by disrupting a major Asean summit with partners from Asia and the Pacific in Pattaya in April, storming into the meeting venue.

Internal political conflict is not over yet. The government has not given up its attempts to hunt down its foe former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and Thaksin's supporters are not giving up either. The red shirts keep up anti-government protest.

They say they will not stage any protest in Phuket to disrupt the Asean meeting, but nobody believes them since Thaksin has called on them to take action against the meeting to discredit the government.

The military has stepped up restrictions and security measures to control the whole of Phuket island during the Asean meeting. Security is so tight as to disturb local people and tourists. The military has set up a lot of checkpoints on the island and will keep all unregistered vehicles off the island. The atmosphere in Phuket is almost like that in the restive South, where troops pop up everywhere hunting for insurgents.

The red shirts have not moved yet, but the opposition has begun to use the Asean event to campaign against the government. Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit on Tuesday petitioned Clinton via the US Embassy accusing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government of having no legitimacy to administer the country.

The government will not sit still and will take the opportunity of the Asean meeting to move against Thaksin, with Kasit in the chair informing his Asean counterparts of his government's stance on Thaksin and asking them to block Thaksin's movements.

The foreign minister used the forum of the Non-Allied Movement in Egypt to move against Thaksin, meeting his counterparts from Malaysia and Montenegro to verify recent reports of the presence of the deposed premier in those countries. Thaksin claims he holds a Montenegrin passport and has stopped over in Kuala Lumpur with the protection of the Malaysian special branch.

Kasit may repeat his performance during the Asean meeting and thus provoke Thaksin's supporters to retaliate. If both sides spoil the Asean forum for their own political gain, the meeting will be overshadowed by a domestic issue. If the retaliation is strong, it could turn into violence and disrupt the meeting.

The best way is for the government to concentrate on the substance of Asean and not try to bring Thaksin or anything related to Thaksin to Phuket.

Drug courier's child to remain at home

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Caroline Overington
July 20, 2009

Article from: The Australian

A CHILDREN'S Court magistrate has ordered that a four-year-old Cambodian girl stay in Australia to be raised by her foster parents when her mother, a drug courier, is released from prison and deported.

The girl's Cambodian mother came to Australia in 2006 with 50 pellets of heroin in her anus. She was arrested at Sydney airport and imprisoned for four years and is due to be deported this month.

A case worker at the NSW Department of Community Services told the NSW Children's Court that it was important for "Chanlina", who has lived with her Australian foster parents for three years, be deported, too, so she could develop a "Cambodian identity".

According to court documents, Chanlina's mother used her as a prop when she carried her into Australia in 2006, while also carrying heroin pellets in her body.

After her mother was arrested, Chanlina was put in foster care, and has since lived with a 65-year-old woman, Paula, and her 33-year-old daughter, Suzanne, and Suzanne's daughter, Fiona, 6.

Chanlina's case worker last week told the Children's Court that she was concerned about "the risk to Chanlina's sense of identity" should she lose touch with her Cambodian identity.

Chanlina's mother has argued that she didn't know she was carrying drugs until the day of the flight, but Magistrate Scott Mitchell rejected this saying: "I think she knew quite clearly.

"Certainly, she was well aware of what she was doing when, on the morning of the flight, she swallowed 168 pellets (of heroin) and inserted others in her anus."

Mr Mitchell said there were many risks in allowing her to return to Cambodia with her mother, including "the painful business of separating her from her foster parents".

In Cambodia, she would find herself in surroundings quite foreign to her experiences and in a family with links to the international drug trade and whose "criminal enterprise takes precedence over her own safety".

He said the DOCS plan was "not consistent with her safety, welfare and wellbeing".

He ordered Chanlina's case worker to come up with a new plan for her long-term care directed to Chanlina remaining in Australia.

He assigned full-time care to Paula and Suzanne, saying he was sure they would introduce her to Buddhism, and to the Cambodian community in Sydney. He agreed that she would lose some of her cultural identity "but in this migrant country of ours, that is the fate of a great many Australians".

Websites put Thai and Cambodia relations in a shaky ground

http://www.eturbonews.com

By Reinhard Hohler
Jul 19, 2009

Chang Mai, Thailand (eTN) - According to some Cambodian media sources, a new website launched by the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recently has caused a stir in the Cambodian local media as well as among top officials.

The website at the heart of the controversy, www.ilovethailand.org, claims that parts of today's Cambodia were in fact Thai territories.

The website's claims make headlines in most major newspapers in Cambodia. Khmerization was the first site that has opened the debate on this controversial website, when it received an e-mail from Mr. Dith Nimol alerting the website's claims relating to Thai "lost territory.”

Reaksmei Kampuchea newspaper picked up Khmerization's report. Then Khmer Sthapana, Deum Ampil and Khmer online website, www.everyday.com.kh, have all reported the Thai PM web-site's controversy extensively.

The major English daily Phnom Penh Post reported that Cambodian officials are scurrying to investigate the claims. It quoted Mr. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, as saying that "they (the Thai) are twisting the facts of history. It is completely exaggerated."

According to Phnom Penh Post, in 1794, Thailand - then known as Siam - annexed Siem Reap and Battambang provinces from the declining Khmer kingdom, but the territories were returned following a March 1907 treaty between Thailand and France.

And, according to historical records, other Khmer territories annexed by Thailand in the late 18th centuries include Kauk Khan (Sisaket), Surin, Sa Keo, Nokor Reach (Korat) and many more provinces.

Donors Ask to Stop Evictions of Cambodian Poor People from the Cities – Saturday, 18.7.2009

Posted on 19 July 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 621
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“Development partners have appealed to the Cambodian government to stop evictions using force against citizens living in disputed locations in Phnom Penh and in other places in the country, until proper and transparent mechanism to solve land disputes and a broad resettlement policy have been organized.

“The Australian, Bulgarian, Danish, German, and US embassies, the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Union, the Asian Development Bank, and the Swedish Development Agency released a joint statement on 16 June 2009 with this appeal.

“The statement said that development partners have seen that land disputes are challenging the development in the country, and they call on the government to adopt proper and transparent systems to clarify land ownership by focusing on people living in cities, and to recognize all citizens’ equal rights, and to protect them. Development partners are prepared to help support the creation of a national policy instruction that will guarantee that evictions and resettlements are made following legal procedures and evictees are properly compensated.

“The World Bank and some development partners have worked closely with the government on secure land ownership in Cambodia. The government was praised for providing more than one million land ownership certificates to people, as this provides the opportunity to promote economic growth and to alleviate poverty.

“However, in the recent situation, when land prices in the cities rose sharply in Cambodia, the selling and buying of land threatens people who live in cities with eviction, in order to claim land for property development with high prices. This creates a big problem in Phnom Penh and in other cities with fast economic growth in Cambodia, it creates uncertainty which puts poor people living in disputed regions into a hazardous situation. This is the result of the implementation of a policy that is not in line with appropriate international rules to solve land disputes and resettlement, when inefficient different procedures are applied, based on Cambodian laws.

“International experience shows that secure land ownership is quite important to ensure economic growth and poverty alleviation, and the appropriate implementation for resettlements is a key to create an effective system of land control and of provisions that will protect all citizens’ rights.

“Development partners would like to express their commitment again to cooperate with the government to help solve land problems with justice and morality, and they would like to ensure that the rights of poor people will be advanced and protected.

“However, a deputy governor of the Phnom Penh Municipality, Mr. Mann Chhoeun, denied that there are evictions of poor people. He said that critics just disrespect the Phnom Penh Municipality unreasonably. People have agreed to accept the solutions proposed by the municipality, based on policies for the provision of monetary compensation, houses, or land.

“Regarding the evictions of poor people, it actually happened recently to people living at Group 78 at Tonle Basak commune, Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4949, 18.7.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Saturday, 18 July 2009

ASEAN countries to set up 'evolutionary' human rights panel

Thailand News.Net
Sunday 19th July, 2009 (IANS)

South-East Asian foreign ministers Sunday agreed to set up a regional human rights commission, even as they noted that some members' coolness to the idea meant it would start off lacking the ability to investigate or monitor abuses by members.

The new commission would thus initially be tasked with raising awareness of human rights and engaging with civil society while seeking regional solutions to problems.

However, the panel would also be 'evolutionary', with plans to revisit and strengthen its makeup every five years.

'The draft terms of reference reflect the maximum consensus among ASEAN countries at this time,' Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said after the new commission was broadly agreed to at a briefing with the foreign ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phuket.

ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar, notorious for its human rights abuses.

Objections from Myanmar and other of ASEAN's less progressive members meant the commission would have to start life without the right to investigate and monitor reports of human rights abuses in member countries, sources said.

But Kasit stressed that the every five-year updates mean that powers can be added as members' stances change.

'It is a legal document that would provide an evolutionary framework for further measures for the promotion and protection of human rights,' the Thai foreign minister said.

He added that Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win had agreed to the terms of the new commission.

Myanmar's poor human rights performance and its failure to introduce democratic reforms is a constant embarrassment for ASEAN, which Myanmar joined in 1997.

But under ASEAN's new charter, that went into effect Dec 15, 2008, all member states have acknowledged the importance of promoting human rights in the region.

The ASEAN ministers are expected to officially approve the terms of reference Monday and launch the ASEAN Inter-regional Commission on Human Rights in October at the 15th ASEAN Summit, also to be held on Phuket Island, 600 km south of Bangkok.

Jakarta bombings loom over Asian security meeting

Asian foreign ministers have met ahead of the continent's biggest security dialogue, under the shadow of the Jakarta bomb attacks and North Korea's nuclear programme.
(AFP/Pool/File/Romeo Gacad)

by Danny Kemp Danny Kemp – Sun Jul 19

PHUKET, Thailand (AFP) – Asian foreign ministers met on Sunday ahead of the continent's biggest security dialogue, under the shadow of the Jakarta bomb attacks and North Korea's nuclear programme.

A proposed regional rights body that critics say will lack teeth to tackle violators such as Myanmar is also on the agenda at days of talks culminating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum.

The 27-member forum, which includes Asian nations, the EU and the United States, meets on the resort isle of Phuket on Thursday with a debut appearance from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan as well as tensions between Thailand and Cambodia over an ancient temple on their border are also on the long list of security problems facing Asia.

But Friday's twin suicide bombings at hotels in the Indonesian capital which police said left nine people dead have unexpectedly thrown the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) back into the spotlight.

Indonesian police Sunday confirmed JI as having carried out the attack, which has shattered years of calm in ASEAN's most populous member nation. The group carried out the 2002 Bali bombings which left more than 200 dead.

"It remains for all of us to work vigorously in future to prevent terrorist acts," Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said after meeting counterparts from the 10-member ASEAN in Phuket on Sunday.

"At the beginning of our meeting, all of us expressed condolences to the Indonesian government and people and especially to the bereaved families," Kasit said.

Kasit meanwhile defended an unprecedented new regional rights body as ministers prepared to endorse its terms of reference on Monday, despite admitting that it would involve compromises on military-ruled Myanmar.

Myanmar, ASEAN's most troublesome member since joining the bloc in 1997, has stirred up fresh international outrage by putting democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on trial over an incident in which an American swam to her lakeside house.

Leaders of the bloc are set to launch the rights watchdog in October but critics say it will be powerless to investigate or punish abuses such as those by Myanmar but also by communist Vietnam and Laos.

"It is important to make this human rights body credible, but at the same time take into account the real situation in ASEAN member countries," Kasit said.

Shortly before he spoke, Myanmar authorities detained around 20 members of Aung San Suu Kyi's party as they headed back from events to mark the anniversary of her father's death in 1947.

Myanmar also showed its defiance of foreign opinion earlier this month by refusing to allow UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit the opposition leader when he visited.

Meanwhile hopes of any resolution to the tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme dimmed after the communist state's foreign minister declined to attend the ARF and sent a roving ambassador instead.

US State Department officials said they expected the showdown over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests and political repression in Myanmar to be among the leading topics that Clinton will discuss when she arrives.

Regional tensions have soared since the North quit six-nation talks on nuclear disarmament and vowed to restart its atomic weapons programme in the wake of its recent defiant nuclear test and missile launches.

Foreign ministers from the other five parties -- the US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea -- will all be in Phuket.

But Bridget Welsh, an associate professor of political science at the Singapore Management University, said the ARF's role in containing North Korea would be "very limited".

"ASEAN countries (in particular) will not be able to do more than express their concern," Welsh said.

Thousands of troops and police threw a ring of steel around Phuket to prevent a repeat of anti-government protests which derailed a key Asian summit in the coastal city of Pattaya in April.

Southeast Asia human rights body criticized as toothless

The China Post
http://www.chinapost.com.tw

Sunday, July 19, 2009

PHUKET, Thailand — Southeast Asian officials on Sunday were finalizing an unprecedented regional human rights body which has sparked criticism from activists that it will be toothless.

Endorsement is expected Monday at a conference of the region's foreign ministers, with official approval coming at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, in October.

Critics say the ASEAN Human Rights Body is unlikely to have bite since the 10-nation bloc has traditionally operated by consensus and shuns interference in the internal affairs of its members, which include military-run Myanmar and Communist Vietnam and Laos.

The body would not investigate or prosecute human rights violators, according to the terms under discussion. Instead, it would take a "constructive and non-confrontational approach" to promote and protect human rights. There is no provision in the draft for human rights experts to sit on the body.

"The organization must be realistic by taking into consideration the political differences and readiness in promoting human rights of each ASEAN member country," a conference document says.

Such statements have drawn fire from private groups and academics.

"Members of the body should be able to consider human rights in places such as Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia or southern Thailand, or what's the point?" said Chalida Tajaroensak, president of the Thailand-based People's Empowerment Foundation.

The conference is taking place amid international outrage over the trial of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces up to five years in prison on charges of violating terms of her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home.

Myanmar's human rights record is expected to feature at a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, which follows the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting and includes 27 members including the United States, Russia and China.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who arrives Tuesday, is expected to bring up both Myanmar and North Korea's nuclear program.

The new human rights body is called for in the ASEAN Charter, promulgated seven months ago to serve as the 42-year-old bloc's constitution.

Last month, more than 200 groups urged in a letter to the drafters to make the rights body an "effective mechanism." But activists acknowledged that they had a hard struggle ahead, given opposition from Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

"Even Singapore and Malaysia have said our demands are difficult," said Yuyun Wahyuningrum of FORUM-ASIA, a Bangkok-based regional rights lobby.

In recent drafting sessions, Indonesia and Thailand said the body should at least be able to "monitor and review" the human rights situation in every member country and make country visits, said a Southeast Asian diplomat who insisted on anonymity since he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Some other ASEAN members such as the Philippines are not backing that suggestion because they say convincing Myanmar and others to accept a human rights body is enough of a milestone, as weak as it may be, the diplomat said.

Chris Mullin, MP, Joins Animal Campaigners In Call To UK Government Over Shocking Plight Of Primates In Cambodia

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com

Chris Mullin, MP, joins animal campaigners in call to UK government over shocking plight of primates in Cambodia

July 18, 2009 /EIN News/ -- The BUAV, with the support of Chris Mullin MP for Sunderland South and Chair of the All Party Cambodia Group, has today visited the Foreign Office to call on the British government to express its concerns to the government of Cambodia regarding the unacceptable cruelty and suffering that are being inflicted on the country's indigenous population of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), concerns regarding the conservation status of this species and issues surrounding the implementation of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) regulations.

The call comes following an investigation carried out by the BUAV which gathered shocking video and photographic evidence of the dreadful suffering endured by monkeys trapped in the wild in Cambodia to populate industrial-scale factory farms which supply the international animal testing industry. Primates from Cambodia have already been imported into the EU in 2008 and a CITES export permit was granted by the Cambodian authorities for primates to be exported to a UK primate supply company.

According to the latest available CITES data, over fourteen thousand macaques were permitted to be exported to China, Vietnam, Europe and the USA in 2008 (1). This is almost double the figure reported to CITES for 2007, which was 7,280.

The evidence obtained by the BUAV raises concerns about the exploitation of Cambodia's indigenous population of long-tailed macaques through a largely unregulated trade which has resulted in the indiscriminate and intensive trapping of wild monkeys to establish the numerous breeding and supply farms that have been set up within the country. Despite the establishment of captive breeding, the BUAV investigation has shown that monkeys are still being taken from the wild in large numbers to replenish breeding stock.

Cambodian primate trade industry is also failing to comply with international animal welfare guidelines - the International Primatological Society's (IPS) guidelines on the acquisition, care and breeding of nonhuman primates. Of particular concern were the inhumane and cruel methods used to trap wild monkeys and the inadequate conditions in which captive primates were housed at one primate breeding company.

BUAV investigators filmed trappers as they illegally hunted primates in the tropical swamps and jungles of Cambodia, including inside a specially protected wetland nature reserve. The film shows how habitat is destroyed to catch the monkeys, and gives graphic evidence of the obvious misery the animals endure as they are ripped from their families and homes.

A recent published paper from the Asian Section, IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, has raised concerns about the status of the long-tailed macaque in the Indochinese region, especially Cambodia, and stated that the available data "on the present status of populations such as numbers, distribution and population trends are deficient for most species, especially those that are widespread geographically, such as Macaca fascicularis" The paper concludes: "It is imperative that the conservation status of M. fascicularis be reassessed, particularly taking into account the impact of trade on the species, requiring as such a careful assessment by the CITES Secretariat." (2).

The BUAV has also recently learnt of the deaths, earlier this year, of over 200 long-tailed macaques destined for the research industry. The macaques, all captured from the wild in Cambodia, apparently suffocated to death during transit. The monkeys were on their way by road to China. The deaths occurred when the truck in which they were being transported was detained for many hours at the Cambodia border.

BUAV Chief Executive Michelle Thew said: "Our investigation has uncovered major concerns regarding the conservation status of the long-tailed macaque in Cambodia and the shocking cruelty that is being inflicted on this species for the research industry. The plight of these monkeys must no longer be ignored. We urge the UK government to make representation to the government of Cambodia on this important issue expressing the concerns of the British people."

Chris Mullin, MP and Chair of the All Party Cambodia Group said: "I appeal to the government of Cambodia to put an end to this awful trade and to do what it can to conserve this endangered species."

References:

1. CITES trade statistics derived from the CITES Trade Database, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK

2. Eudey, Ardith A. (2008) The Crab-eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis): Widespread and Rapidly Declining. Primate Conservation (23): 129132.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITOR

Copy of the letter, video footage and stills are available from the BUAV press office - contact details below.

The BUAV has been campaigning for over 100 years to achieve a world where nobody wants or believes we need to experiment on animals. We are committed to achieving our aims through reliable and reasoned evidence-based debate.

For more information contact: Sarah Kite at sarah.kite@buav.org or Erin Seymour +44(0) 20 7619 6978/Out of hours mobile: 07850 510 955 / Erin.Seymo

An Open Letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia

Daily PCIJ

http://www.pcij.org

Posted by: Jaemark Tordecilla
July 19, 2009

TThe Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and its members and allies working for the promotion and protection of free expression in Southeast Asia have issued an open letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, denouncing a “rapidly and palpably deteriorating environment for free expression in Cambodia.”

The groups and advocates have noted a rash of attacks against journalists, lawyers, advocates, and parliamentarians over the past year that has severely restricted the space for press freedom and political speech in Cambodia. SEAPA says Cambodia’s leaders must be taken to task for the situation, stressing that violations of people’s rights to free expression are ultimately a regional problem and concern. The open letter calls attention to Cambodia in the context not only of its constitutional guarrantees for free expression, but also in the light of the ongoing 42nd Ministerial Meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which is taking place in Phuket, Thailand. The ASEAN’s task this week to adopt Terms of Reference for the formation of an ASEAN Human Rights Body, SEAPA said, takes on significance and urgency precisely because of situations such as that unfolding for the free expression environment in Cambodia.

Please find below the open letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

An Open Letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen on The Deteriorating State of Freedom of Expression in Cambodia

The Office of Prime Minister Hun Sen
Phnom Penh
Kingdom of Cambodia

17 July 2009

Dear Prime Minister Hun Sen:

We, the undersigned, representing free expression advocacy groups from around Southeast Asia, are gravely concerned by a palpably deteriorating freedom of expression and civil rights environment in Cambodia.

Since 2008, the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen has been witness and apparent party to an alarming series of crackdowns on news editors, reporters, members of parliament and human rights defenders.

We perceive a systematic attack on the press, parliament, and the legal community, all of which — taken especially with the exploitation of a weak and politicized judiciary — have severely compromised the environment for free expression in Cambodia.

Consider:

•On 11 July 2008, Khim Sambo, a journalist of “Moneaksika Khmer” (Khmer Conscience) newspaper was shot dead along with his son over his reports deemed critical by the government.

•A month before that, “Moneaksika’s” editor Sam Dith was slapped with criminal charges over an article that suggested links between Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong and the past Khmer Rouge regime. While formal charges continued to hang over him, Sam Dith was released from detention after international pressure was brought to bear, and only after he was forced to apologize to the foreign minister. On 8 July this year, charges against Sam Dith were dropped, after another formal letter of apology (this time addressed to PM Hun Sen) — along with a “voluntary” resolution to cease publication of his newspaper.

•On 26 June 2009, Hang Chakra, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the “Khmer Machas Srok” was meted a one-year prison sentence. He was tried in absentia, despite the fact that he never fled or left the country. He was also fined 9 million Riel or (about US$2250), a considerable sum in Cambodia, for “disinformation” and for “dishonoring public officials”.

•On 22 June 2009, the National Assembly controlled by the ruling Cambodia People’ Party suspended the parliamentary immunity of two members of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). The move paved the way for defamation charges brought by PM Hun Sen and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces against opposition legislators Mu Sochua and Ho Vann.

•Far from stopping there, the government then also went after the oppositionists’ lawyers. Kong Sam Onn, the legal counsel who represented Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, was himself charged with defamation by PM Hun Sen. He was also threatened with disbarment. Like the editor Sam Dith, Kong Sam Onn was forced to apologize to the prime minister, and then compelled to join the ruling party, in return for the withdrawal of the case against him.

The developments above seem not only to be politically motivated, but also symptomatic of a general attempt to restrict the overall environment for free expression in Cambodia. We note that in all their cases against journalists, the country’s political leaders have totally ignored Cambodia’s Press Law of 1995, and instead invoked the more disproportionate provisions of the country’s criminal code.

We urge the government of Cambodia to cease this campaign threatening freedom of expression and the fundamental rights of its citizens. PM Hun Sen and the ruling party of Cambodia must:

1.Drop all politically motivated charges against their critics, without precondition or further harassment;

2.Revamp Cambodia’s rigid criminal code which contains broad and vague provisions, particularly on defamation and disinformation;

3.Use only appropriate legal instruments, namely the Press Law of 1995, to deal with issues concerning the media; and

4.Ensure the safety and respect for the work of human rights lawyers and advocates, and put a stop to all harassment (legal and otherwise) against the country’s media community. Any legal proceedings against the government’s critics should be pursued only in a transparent and fair manner, under assuredly independent courts, in accordance with the Cambodian Constitution and international norms.

Ultimately, Cambodia must demonstrate its commitment to its own Constitutional guarantees for free expression as well as to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which it is a party and signatory. It must also begin to live up to the spirit and values now expressed in the new ASEAN Charter which, among other things, acknowledges the need to uphold “respect for the fundamental freedoms (and) the promotion and protection of human rights” consistent with a principle for “upholding the United Nations Charter and international law”.

The recent actions of the Cambodian leadership threaten the rights of its citizens, and undermine the stated values, principles, and directions of the larger ASEAN community to which it belongs.

(Sgd.)

Nazar Patria, President, Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Indonesia
Um Sarin, President, Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ)
Virak Ou, President, The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), Cambodia
V. Gayathry, Executive Director, Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ), Malaysia
Melinda Quintos de Jesus, Executive Director, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Philippines
Tedjabayu, Director for Traning Program, Institute for Studies on the Free Flow of Information (ISAI), Indonesia
Peter Noolander, Media Legal Defence Initiative, London
Malou Mangahas, Executive Director, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalists (PCIJ), Philippines
Boonrat Apichattraison, Vice President, Thai Journalists Association (TJA), Thailand
Dipendra, Coordinator, Southeast Asian Media Defense Lawyers Network (SAMDLN)
Hon. Teddy A. Casino, Representative, Bayan Muna Party List, Philippines House of Representative
Roby Alampay, Executive Director, Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

For more information or queries, please email roby@seapa.org or call Mr. Roby Alampay, SEAPA Executive Director at +66 81-5501120, or Ms. Kulachada Chaipipat, SEAPA Campaign Officer at +6681-3734202

Drilon to observe Cambodia case for IPU

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/

By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer

07/19/2009

MANILA, Philippines -- Former Senate President Franklin Drilon said he was chosen by the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) as an observer in the defamation trial of a Cambodian opposition member of the parliament.

Drilon said the IPU, a worldwide organization of parliamentarians, designated designated him as its representative and observer in next week's trial of Cambodian opposition MP Mu Soncha for a defamation suit filed by strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Drilon, in a statement sent to media outfits on Sunday afternoon, said he was informed of his designation by Anders Johnson, IPU secretary general, and Ingeborg Schwarz, secretary of the IPU Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians.

The IPU is monitoring the celebrated trial of Mu Soncha, a member of the Cambodian National Assembly and a known advocate of women and children’s rights.

Mu Soncha, a one-time Nobel Prize nominee and a former minister of women affairs, was in the forefront of the campaign against sex and human trafficking in Cambodia and was vocal against the Hun Sen government’s alleged failure to crack down on offenders.

She will stand trial on Friday in Phnom Penh on a defamation countersuit filed by Hun Sen in retaliation to an earlier suit she filed against the prime minister, according to Drilon’s press statement.

The case against Hun Sen was earlier dismissed by the courts.

Mu Soncha claimed the courts were biased and that no lawyer in Cambodia was courageous enough to represent her for fear of reprisal from government.

“I intend to put the (Cambodian) justice system on trial,” she was quoted as saying recently.

Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesman, dismissed Mu Soncha’s claims that the courts were biased.

But the accusations have gained traction among international human rights groups, as well as donor countries, which pledged almost $1 billion in foreign aid to Cambodian in 2008.

Reports said the Cambodian government launched at least nine criminal cases against politicians, journalists and activists recently.

Critics such as Human Rights Watch accuse the ruling Cambodia People’s Party of using the legal system to silence opposition voices.

Johnson and Ingeborg informed Drilon that he was chosen as IPU trial observer and representative in his capacity as former chairman of the IPU Human Rights for Parliementarians Committee and as a former justice secretary in the Philippines.

In July 2006, Drilon was elected chairman of the IPU committee, a prestigious international body that investigates violations of human rights of lawmakers.

He is the first Filipino legislator to be elected to the position since the IPU was established in 1889.

The IPU, the oldest multilateral political organization, brings together 146 affiliated parliaments and seven associated regional assemblies. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland. It serves as a Permanent Observer at the United Nations.

The IPU Committee of Human Rights of Parliamentarians was established in 1976 and was created to ensure that the human rights of the world's parliamentary community - composed of more than 40,000 members - are respected.

In 2005, Drilon was elected assembly president of the 112th General Assembly which was held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila and was attended by over 1,500 parliamentarians from over 45 countries.

Prior to his election as president of the IPU assembly, Drilon was also a member of the IPU Executive Committee.

Drilon is the current chairman of the Liberal Party.

2009, evicted 20 families afflicted with HIV from their homes in the capital, forcing them to move to a tiny

HIV affected Sok Tra, 38, sits in a room at Tuol Sambo village in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 17, 2009. Cambodian authorities, June 18, 2009, evicted 20 families afflicted with HIV from their homes in the capital, forcing them to move to a tiny settlement on its outskirts in an action critics called discriminatory. Tra is among 20 families forced to relocate here.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A local Cambodian farmer walks by Tuol Sambo village in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 17, 2009. Cambodian authorities, June 18, 2009, evicted 20 families afflicted with HIV from their homes in the capital, forcing them to move to a tiny settlement on its outskirts in an action critics called discriminatory.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

HIV affected Cambodians sit outside their houses at Tuol Sambo village in Phnom Penh,Cambodia, Friday, July 17, 2009. Cambodian authorities, June 18, 2009, evicted 20 families afflicted with HIV from their homes in the capital, forcing them to move to a tiny settlement on its outskirts in an action critics called discriminatory.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Relocated Cambodians, affected with HIV, carry a huge jar to fill up water at Tuol Sambo village in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 17, 2009. Cambodian authorities, June 18, 2009, evicted 20 families afflicted with HIV from their homes in the capital, forcing them to move to a tiny settlement on its outskirts in an action critics called discriminatory.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Woman Had Been Temporarily Detained for Around Three Years without Any Hearing Yet, and It Is Suspected that Her Case File Had Been Lost

Posted on 18 July 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 621
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“Banteay Meanchey: A really long waiting continues. A woman is the only [suspected] culprit who has been temporarily detained already for three years and two months in a prison in Banteay Meanchey, but she has not been summoned by the court for a hearing according to legal procedures. A source said that because her case file had been lost, the court has not dealt with her case.

“A source close to that woman told Rasmei Kampuchea on 16 July 2009 that her name is Roeun Sophea, 29 years old, from Palelai village, Poipet; she was arrested on 9 June 2006 and four days later, the Banteay Meanchey court issued a warrant to detain her temporarily in the prison of this province – where she is until now.

“This woman was accused of smuggling 1,130 drug tablets at the above place, and the woman has admitted that she had done what she was accused.

“According to the same source, this woman’s affairs were registered as Case #284, dated 12 June 2006 by the judge Tob Chansereyvuth (now a prosecutor of the Pursat Municipal Court).

“Based on the same source, the woman has never been interrogated about the [suspected] crime, nor has she been informed how long she will be jailed (as she has not yet been prosecuted). The woman has been detained temporarily without knowing how many years the court might sentences her to serve in prison, making her to wait for this information in the prison.”

[It is surprising that the report does not mention at all that the maximum pre-trial period, according to Cambodian law, is six months – after that time a suspect has either to be presented to a court or to be released.]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4948, 17.7.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Friday, 17 July 2009

Vietnam-Cambodia ties continuously grow

Nhan Dan
http://www.nhandan.com.vn

July 18, 2009

The Vietnam-Cambodia relationship in recent years has been developing unceasingly both in depth and scope, attaining higher efficiency.

Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong made the remark while receiving a delegation of the Cambodian National Assembly’s Committee for Foreign Affairs, International Co-operation, Information and Media, led by its Chairman Chheang Vun, in Hanoi on July 17.

Chairman Trong said the two sides should further co-ordinate in order to complete border demarcation and landmark planting by 2012, and to accelerate co-operation programmes and projects.

The two countries also should co-ordinate more at multilateral forums, he added.

On the occasion, Chairman Trong expressed thanks to the Cambodian government and people for their support and assistance in the search for and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers in Cambodia, and in stabilising the lives of overseas Vietnamese.

Chairman Chheang Vun said his country’s achievements in the past struggle for national liberation and the current cause of national construction were inseparable from Vietnam’s valuable assistance.

He briefed his host on the results of his talks with the Vietnamese NA Committee on Foreign Affairs, where the two sides agreed to promote the teaching of the Vietnamese and Cambodian languages and the tradition of friendship and co-operation to benefit the young generations of the two nations.

He also spoke of the necessity to strengthen the co-operation between the Committees on Foreign Affairs of the NA’s of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in order to support their Governments in developing their border areas, where a large population of ethnic minority people are living in poverty.

The Cambodian delegation, during their working visit to Vietnam from July 16-27, will attend a conference to be held in Kon Tum province on the legislative body’s role in boosting friendship and co-operation and developing the border areas of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

During their stay in Vietnam, the Cambodian delegation will have working session with the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, and visit Da Nang city, Kon Tum province and Ho Chi Minh City. (VNA)

Cambodian gov't increases budgets for maintaining, repairing roads

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

July 18, 2009

Cambodian government has decided to increase a budget of 62.5 billion riel (about 15.63 million U.S. dollars) for a regular road-repairing program, in addition to 244.5 billion riel (about 60 million U.S. dollars) provided for road repair and construction project in 2009, official news agency AKP (Agence Kampuchea Presse) reported on Friday.

The additional fund will be used for maintaining and repairing asphalted and laterite roads with a total length of 3,652 kilometers in the cities and provinces in the country, according to a news release of the ministry of Finance and Economy.

The program is carried out by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport with the budget provided by the Ministry of Finance and Economy.

Besides the fund for implementing the regular road-maintaining program, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport reserved a budget of 10 billion riel for emergency repairing in case the traffic on the roads is accidentally closed because of the possibility of the damage to the road in unexpected way.

However, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Ministry of Finance and Economy acknowledged that the implementation of the regular road-repairing program is so big because the royal government gained many achievements of road and bridge construction.

It is noted that in 2008 the royal government provided 33 billion riel (about 8.25 million U.S. dollars) to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport for a regular road-repairing program with a length of 2,463 kilometers, additionally an annual budget of over 201.3 billion riel (roughly 60 million U.S. dollars) for road and bridge infrastructure project.

Source: Xinhua

Murder, Torture. Duch on Trial

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

KMFCambodia

Cambodian Films

Accused of mass murder and horrific torture, Duch (aka Kaing Guek Eav) - the Chief of Tuol Sleng (aka S21), the notorious Khmer Rouge interrogation centre - is now on trial in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

KMF is making weekly televised summaries of the trial week, broadcast at peak time on CTN, Cambodia's most watched TV chanel.

This is the 1st part of the trial's 9th week.

More to be posted soon.

All with English subtitles.

(Series funded by the British Embassy, Phnom Penh.)

Guard describes prisoners stripped, beaten to death

http://www.irishtimes.com

Friday, July 17, 2009

PHNOM PENH – A senior Khmer Rouge prison guard has told a war crimes tribunal he was forced to send thousands of prisoners to an execution site.

At that location, he said, they were then killed and their bodies dumped into mass graves.

Him Huy (54), a guard at Phnom Penh’s notorious S-21 prison, said he was ordered by Pol Pot’s chief jailor to transport prisoners to a rice field where they were stripped naked and beaten to death with clubs. “All prisoners were blindfolded so they did not know where they were taken and their hands were tied up to prevent them from contesting us,” Huy told the joint United Nations-Cambodian tribunal.

“They were asked to sit on the edge of the pits and they were struck with stick on their necks,” he said, his voice breaking as he gave his harrowing account of the Choeung Ek executions.

“Their throats were slashed before we removed their handcuffs and clothes, and they were thrown into the pits.” Him was testifying against S-21 chief Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, the first of the five indicted former Khmer Rouge cadres to face trial.

Duch faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder.

Him said he saw the charred bodies of four westerners on a pile of burning tyres a few blocks away from S-21, where he said about 100 children were detained inside a compound with their mothers.

All were later executed.

“No one could dare to do anything without Duch’s approval,” Him added, as Duch listened.

Choeung Ek, 17km (11 miles) south of Phnom Penh, is now a memorial to the horrors of the Khmer Rouges 1975-1979 “Killing Fields” reign of terror, when 1.7 million Cambodians were killed.

The burial site, one of 343 across the country, is covered with 129 graves, with the skulls of about 5,000 Cambodians on display in a stupa.

Duch, who has been detained since 1999, wept as he prayed before the skulls of his victims during a visit to Choeung Ek in February last year.

The tribunal has also indicted second-in-command Nuon Chea, former president Khieu Samphan and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, both lifelong friends of Pol Pot.

Duch has admitted involvement in the killings of 14,000 at the S-21 prison, but says he was only following orders. The others facing trial have denied knowledge of the atrocities, while “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, the architect of the revolution, died in 1998 near the Thai-Cambodia border. – (Reuter)

Finland donates $2,7 million to Cambodian poverty reduction

http://www.scandasia.com

ScandAsia.Finland News

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced Wednesday that Cambodia will receive a US$3.45 million technical assistance grant from Finland and other donors aimed at boosting the skills and incomes of people living in and around the Tonle Sap basin. The money is to be used to help low-income groups in the area to diversify their vocational skills with the help of training programmes, demonstrations on modern farming techniques and Internet-based communication facilities.

"The technical assistance will help diversify and improve the incomes of small land holders, marginal farmers and poor households in the Tonle Sap basin by increasing their access to good agricultural practices, technologies and information," Giap Minh Bui, rural development economist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department, said in a statement released Wednesday.

The Finnish government is donating $2.7 million to the project. The money will be used in four provinces around the lake - Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom and Siem Reap. ADB has stated, that the project will include a pilot communication project using Internet linked e-kiosks to provide up-to-date information on agricultural practices to be passed on to locals.

Created 2009-07-17

LICADHO - Beyond the Watchdog

Part 1



Part 2



A peep into the challenges human rights workers face in Cambodia. This movie was produced in April 2008 as one part of a full-day presentation of LICADHO's work in Cambodia. LICADHO (The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights) is popularly referred to as 'Cambodias leading human rights watchdog'. More information on www.licadho-cambodia.org

Group 78 community representative Khen Sok Roath talks to Amnesty

AIAustralia

Around 80 families living in Group 78 in Phnom Penh have received a final eviction notice to dismantle their homes or face Military Police "implementation" of the forced eviction. These people have legal title over the land and are at risk of forcible eviction. Call on the Cambodian authorities to end the forced eviction of Group 78 residents.

Madsen: 'Swine flu virus began life in lab'

RussiaToday

The number of confirmed cases of swine flu has topped over a hundred thousand, with the World Health Organization calling the pandemic 'unstoppable', and suggesting mass vaccination.

Thai drug maker guarantees vaccine safety amid A/H1N1 flu outbreak in Asia-Pacific region

http://www.chinaview.cn/

2009-07-17

HONG KONG, July 17 (Xinhua) -- As the A/H1N1 flu continued to plague the Asia-Pacific region, Thailand's state-run drug manufacturer guaranteed the safety of its vaccine for A/H1N1 flu, amid growing concerns there would be limited time to test it.

Bangkok Post online Friday quoted Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) chairman Vichai Chokewiwat as saying that the nasal-spray vaccine against the new flu virus would meet global standards with the close supervision of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO-sponsored production of the vaccine will begin next month after the GPO's receipt of the seed virus and 350 eggs from Germany to grow the vaccine.

"If things go as planned, we will have the Thai-made spray vaccine by the end of this year," he said, adding that Bangkok will sell 10 percent of the total production of 10 million doses to the WHO at a low price.

Vichai made the assurance amid growing concerns about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine due to its rushed production.

According to Vichai, the vaccine development team plans to conduct trials on 430 volunteers of different age groups.

The clinical test on humans, which takes 120 days, will be closely supervised by the Public Health Ministry's Ethical Review Committee for Research in Human Subjects.

The newly made vaccines will also be submitted for the Food and Drugs Administration's approval before being introduced to the public.

The government will provide the vaccine to about five million people for free.

In Hong Kong SAR, 88 new cases of influenza A/H1N1 were confirmed, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,640 in the city.

The new cases involve 43 males and 45 females, aged between 5 and 64 years, said the department. The newly confirmed cases included an outbreak of six people from a residential workshop for the physically and mentally disabled in Eastern District, including four workshop attendees, two residents and a staff member.

The neighboring Macao SAR also reported eight new cases Friday, bringing the total number of such cases to 102, passing the 100 threshold.

Some 20 patients who tested positive for the A/H1N1 flu virus were still receiving medical treatments at local hospitals, while 80 patients have recovered and have been discharged from the hospitals.

Myanmar's flu tally rose to four when a 22-year-old woman has been confirmed with the infection, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.

The authorities continue to take preventive measures against the possible spread of the global human flu pandemic, advising all private clinics in the country to report or transfer all flu-suspected patients, who returned from abroad, to local state-run hospitals or health departments for increased surveillance.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health confirmed 18 more influenza A/H1N1 cases, bringing the country's tally to 338.

The ministry said there is a high possibility of the spread of flu A/H1N1 virus in schools and communities in the coming time. Therefore, it urged people coming to Vietnam from affected areas to observe self-quarantine and limit their contacts with other people within seven days from the time of entering the country.

Cambodia confirmed new flu cases on foreign tourists Friday.

A four-member American family (a man and three women) were confirmed the positive test of A /H1N1 flu in Cambodia.

A 22 year-old Irish man was also confirmed positive in the test of A/H1N1 virus in Cambodia, a Cambodian health official said late Friday.

"We always found the most case on the foreign travelers into the country, and we are still investigating the case for local people because foreign travelers walked many places in the country," he said. "They have rights to walk anywhere they like but when they were confirmed the positive test of the flu. They need to be treated," he stressed.

Editor: Yan

American family confirmed influenza A /H1N1 in Cambodia

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

July 17, 2009

A four-member American family (a man and three women) were confirmed the positive test of A /H1N1flu in Cambodia, a Cambodian health official said on Friday.

"The family traveled from the U.S. to Cambodia in July 7 and they were confirmed positive test by our doctors on Thursday," said Ly Sovan, deputy director of communicable disease control of Health Ministry, adding that "they are being treated at main hospital in Phnom Penh and so far they are getting better."

Ly Sovan said that up to now, Cambodia has 14 cases of infecting A/H1N1 virus and the latest cases are the four members of American family.

Source:Xinhua

TV chef gives those volunteering abroad in Cambodia food preview

i-to-i
http://www.i-to-i.com

17 Jul 2009

The BBC last night broadcasted the first installment of a series of TV shows examining the food culture of Asia.

Offering a taster for those planning a gap year in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia or Thailand, TV chef Rick Stein will journey to these areas on the show to explore the exotic cuisine available on the continent.

Cambodia was the first destination visited by Stein, who looked at the indigenous Kampot pepper, a product that he described as having great depth of flavour and aroma.

Also featured in the programme were beef dish Lok Lak, handmade noodles and freshwater shrimp, supplies of which the chef highlighted could be under threat due to plans to build dams along the Mekong River.

Rick Stein’s Far East Odyssey screens on BBC2 on Thursdays from 8pm and takes in Sri Lanka and Bali on August 13th before ending in Bangladesh on August 20th.

Cambodian security forces forcibly evict 60 low-income families

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
http://www.amnesty.org/

17 July 2009

Sixty low-income families in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia were forcibly evicted from their homes by security forces on Thursday and Friday.

The families dismantled their homes after three years of government harassment and intimidation, with no choice but to accept inadequate compensation rather than have their homes demolished.

"Amnesty International strongly condemns this forced eviction and the deeply flawed process that led to it," said Brittis Edman, Amnesty International's Cambodia researcher.

Before dawn on Friday, at least 70 security forces, some armed with guns and electronic batons, moved in and blocked off the area known as Group 78 where four remaining families were holding out. Human rights workers and journalists were monitoring the situation. Dozens of hired workers demolished what was left of the dismantled houses. Within hours, the resisting families had agreed to leave.

The families in Group 78 had been living under the threat of forced evictions for three years, with the Cambodian authorities following none of the safeguards required under international law.

"Group 78 was clearly cut off from due process and denied justice. The Municipality of Phnom Penh made no attempts to properly consult with the affected community or explore any feasible alternative to eviction," said Brittis Edman. "This makes a mockery of the government's obligations to protect the right to housing."

The Municipality issued a final eviction notice to Group 78 in April 2009 and, in a series of subsequent meetings, officials, including Phnom Penh's deputy governor, warned the community that the police and military police would demolish their homes if they did not accept the compensation on offer. The community had also received information that up to 700 security forces had been mobilized for the eviction.

Group 78 residents started moving into the area on the riverfront in 1983 and have applied for formal land titles several times since 2006, but the authorities have ignored their applications in spite of official documentation proving strong ownership claims.

The final eviction order was issued by the Municipality, which has no mandate under national law to issue such a document, and without the judicial overview required under the 2001 Land Law. It was issued despite the fact that a local Commission has yet to determine who owns the disputed land. The options for alternative accommodation and compensation offered by the Municipality were inadequate.

Under international law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESCR), Cambodia is prohibited from carrying out forced evictions, and must protect people from forced evictions.

The Cambodian Government has consistently failed to guarantee the right to adequate housing and protect its population against forced evictions. In 2008 alone, Amnesty International received reports about 27 forced evictions, affecting an estimated 23,000 people. Amnesty International is repeating its calls on the government to end forced evictions and introduce a moratorium on all mass evictions until the legal framework protects human rights.

As part of its Demand Dignity campaign, launched in May 2009, Amnesty International has called on the Cambodian Government to end forced evictions and introduce a moratorium on all mass evictions until the legal framework protects human rights.

The organization also called on governments globally to take all necessary measures, including the adoption of laws and policies that comply with international human rights law, to prohibit and prevent forced evictions.

Read More:

Hundreds left homeless in Cambodia after forced eviction (News, 27 January 2009)
Security forces in Cambodia forcibly evict 300 families (News, 20 November 2008)
Law used against housing activists in Cambodia (News, 26 September 2008)
Cambodia: Lake filling must not lead to forced evictions (Press release, 27 August 2008)Cambodia burns homes of the poor (Report, 11 February 2008)

How To Treat Allergic Rhinitis

By Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Washington
17 July 2009

Allergic rhinitis and post-nasal drip can be treated, but patients should know the best way to do it, a doctor said Thursday.

Antihistamines are used to treat both conditions, but picking the right one is important, said Taing Tek Hong, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

Sedating antihistamines, such as Benadryl and Clemastine, can work, he said. But these should be avoided in patients who need to drive or use dangerous equipment. Alternatives include non-sedating medicines like Zyrtec or Claritin. Most of these are found over the counter.

Decongestant sprays quickly reduce swelling of nasal tissues by shrinking the blood vessels, the doctor said. They improve breathing and drainage over the short term. The most common decongestant is Sudafed, an oral decongestant that temporarily reduce swelling of sinus and nasal tissues.

Montelukast, or Singulair, can be used by patients who do not wish to use nasal sprays or who have co-existing asthma, Taing Tek Hong said.

Nasonex is the only prescription nasal spray clinically proven to help prevent most seasonal nasal allergy symptoms in adults and children, he said.

It helps treat nasal allergy symptoms caused by dust mites, pet dander and tree and grass pollen.

Other treatments include immunotherapy, such as a weekly injection of a solution containing allergens that increases gradually, reducing the sensitivity to the allergen.

Surgery can help in complicated conditions, such as chronic sinusitis, severe septal deviation causing an obstruction, nasal polyps or other anatomical abnormalities, Taing Tek Hong said.

A caller from Kampong Cham province asked how a food allergy might be treated.

While many people assume they have an allergy after they experience a reaction to food, the doctor said, such allergies are rare. However, food intolerance can affect nearly everyone at some time, he said.

US Aid ‘Fits’ Cambodian Needs: Officials

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
17 July 2009

With questions arising over the focus of US developmental assistance, officials and analysts say US involvement in Cambodia can help the country stay on a democratic path and respect human rights.

Oxfam America issued a report in June saying US assistance in Cambodia needed clarity of purpose and guarantees it was reaching those it was meant to help.

The report comes amid improving bilateral relations between the two, with the US lifting of a ban on direct aid in 2007 and the recent removal of Cambodia from a US list of Marxist-Leninist countries.

Cambodia says the aid has come with clear objectives that match the government’s development priorities, especially in the social sector.

“US aid has so far fit with what Cambodia wants,” Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said by phone last week. “For example, assistance in the health sector that the US focuses on is in infectious diseases, maternal health, and, recently, the flu.”

Oxfam acknowledged a positive impact from US aid in protecting citizens’ rights through legal advocacy, improving income and active participation in community work. But the report also highlighted doubts over a policy shift, with civil society concerned that democracy and human rights were no longer a US priority.

“Cambodia still has problems related to the respect for human rights and democracy,” Yeng Virak, executive director of Community Legal Education Centre, told VOA Khmer in a phone interview. “We think it is still a priority…and we need support from America.”

US assistance to Cambodia averaged $41.55 million between 2002 and 2007, with its focus mainly on health, especially in HIV and AIDS treatment and prevention. Some of the money went to strengthening the rule of law, human rights, good governance and civil society.

“We’ve had a long history of working on specific areas with the government and civil society, and in general we try to seek a coordinated approach,” US Embassy spokesman John Johnson told VOA Khmer recently. “And so on all the issues that come up, whether human rights or rule of law, we work in cooperation with the Royal Government of Cambodia and with our partners in civil society and the NGO community.”

Hang Chhuon Naron, secretary-general of the Ministry of Finance, said most US development is executed by civil society.

“There is still confusion, that once the US improves its relations with Cambodia, it will stay away from civil society,” he said. “This is impossible.”

Development needs remain: post-war Cambodia is plagued by corruption, repressed freedoms, impunity and exploitation.

The country must improve if its leaders expect outside support to continue, said Sam Rainsy, the head of the opposition, whose officials often point out to donors where their money is being spent.

“US policy is very broad,” Sam Rainsy said. “It has helped civil society, and now it has extended its assistance to strengthen better management of our country.”

“If we don’t improve, [the US] won’t help,” he said. On the other hand, “unless it provides assistance, it won’t have access to improving what it deems bad activities within the government.”

Film Commission to Aid Ailing Industry

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 July 2009

The Cambodian Film Commission officially launched Thursday in what local and international filmmakers say could help save the country’s flagging film industry.

Staffed by experienced local and foreign filmmakers, the CFC will train Cambodian professionals in film production and seek to attract more foreign companies to shoot movies in the country.

“The goal is to attract more productions in Cambodia and to be the gate for foreigners,” CFC Executive Director Cedric Eloy said.

Many filmmakers in America, Australia and Europe were previously reluctant to shoot in Cambodia because the country did not make it easy for them to do so, Elroy said. Foreign filmmakers have to go through several ministries and authorities before they are granted shooting permits, he said.

Cambodia’s film industry reached its peak during the 1960s under the leadership of former king Norodom Sihanouk, who directed and starred in myriad films. Although film productions re-emerged a decade ago, the industry has seen a sharp decline for the past few years.

Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Him Chem said at the inauguration Thursday Cambodia welcomed foreign filmmakers.

“Cambodia is a destination for foreign film productions,” he said, adding that the presence of more professional cameras capturing Cambodia could mean the salvation of dying Cambodian films.

Rithy Panh, an internationally recognized filmmaker and director of the Bophana Audiovisual Center, a partner of the CFC, said Thursday that Cambodian film would not die out.

“The CFC will be a training group to make Cambodian films stronger,” he said.

Cambodia Readies for Disability Law

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 July 2009

King Norodom Sihamoni recently approved a historic law for the disabled, which seeks to improve their lives and promote their rights.

The 60-article law, signed July 3, aims to provide annual financial support for people with serious disabilities, including the elderly, while providing training for people who wish to seek jobs.

In Phnom Penh, the law went into effect Friday, while in all other provinces and municipalities it goes into effect July 22.

The law calls for jail sentences up to five years and fines up to 10 million riel, or $2,500, for those who intentionally abandon the disabled or exploit them.

“This is the first disability law to be implemented in Cambodia’s history,” Sem Sokha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Social Affairs, told VOA Khmer. “I believe it is a very important law for promoting the lives of disabled people and protecting them.”

Three decades of war have given Cambodia more than half a million people with disabilities, creating a large disadvantaged group that faces discrimination in employment, health and education.

This year’s law is the result of heavy lobbying by non-governmental groups since 1996.

“It’s great to have the law signed,” said 45-year-old Yous Pisey, who lost both legs to a landmine 21 years ago and had lived in a Phnom Penh pagoda and sewn scarves until the global financial crisis put her out of work.

“I hope that from now on the government will take a good care of us and search for people with disabilities, like me, to promote our livings by providing an actual career,” she said in a recent interview.

Not everyone is optimistic.

“I don’t think a law can help all people with disabilities,” said one woman who was nine months pregnant with one disabled leg. “I don’t believe this is so.”

Whether or not it helps everyone, the law will help promote the lives of some through education, training and job centers, said Lash Urike, coordinator for Handicap International France.

Ngin Saorath, executive director of Cambodia’s Organization, said his group plans to monitor the implementation of the law closely to ensure people with disabilities benefit from it.

Donors Call on Halt to Evictions

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 July 2009

Six foreign governments, the UN and major international development institutions called on the government to put an end to forced evictions Friday, as workers began dismantling a neighborhood of shanties in the capital.

Some 88 families are being evicted from the Group 78 area, near the National Assembly building in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district, to make way for development.

This week’s eviction was only the latest to oust impoverished residents from a capital city that has seen skyrocketing land values.

“We cannot say whether we agree or not, but we have to get compensation of $20,000 for our living,” Uk Sophear, a resident of the Group 78, said. “This is our last choice.”

“We have much sorrow, and we are very disappointed in the compensation, because our land is bigger than others’,” he said.

In a letter Friday, the embassies of Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, United Kingdom, United States and Denmark, along with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other donors called on the government “to stop forced evictions from disputed areas in Phnom Penh and elsewhere in the country until a fair and transparent mechanism for resolving land disputes is put in place and a comprehensive resettlement policy is developed.”