Split between asean leaders and civil society groups widens

By Kavi Chongkittavorn

The Nation

October 12, 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

THAILAND'S LONG STANDING plan to institutionalise the interface between Asean leaders and representatives of the more than 70 Asean civil society organisations (CSO) are crumbling. The noble objective of establishing a people-oriented Asean community will remain a pipe dream for the time being.

Last week, at the Asean Joint Coordinating Meeting in Bangkok, aa land locked member proposed any such meeting in the future, including the forthcoming Cha-Am summit (15th Asean summit), should be optional.

Asean senior officials quickly took up Vientiane's idea which reflected readily the high anxiety held by their leaders since the historic event last February during the 14th Asean summit.

With strong support from the majority of Asean members, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand decided to go with the flow. After all, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak would not be able to make it to the scheduled meeting with the CSO. Without them, the numbers of Asean leaders attending the event could further dwindle.

It is highly likely new Asean members (Laos, Cambodia, Burma) would be abstaining given unpleasant encounters in the past. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who almost boycotted the function, was much disturbed by the way the first interface was conducted including the selection process of CSO representatives, especially from his own country. Hun Sen wanted to have his hand-picked CSO representative, not a person chosen among the group.

So too did Burma object to the CSO representative from the Burmese in exile. In the wee hours, to save the interface, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya decided to hold a separate meeting with the Burmese group led by Khin Omar, a coordinator of the Burmese Partnership Network and Cambodian representatives, and Pen Somony, programme coordinator for the Cambodia Volunteers for Civil Society.

The attitude of the incoming Asean chair, Vietnam, to the upcoming interface remained to be seen. Hanoi's absence would certainly spell a death knell to promotion of the nascent dialogue process. At first encounter, Vietnam was forthcoming.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made news headlines by welcoming the idea of listing the interface between the Asean leaders and civil society into the Asean framework. He pointed out there must be a guideline governing such relations as stated in the Asean Charter.

Both Brunei and Singapore are not enthusiastic about the interface as their authorities have constantly questioned the legitimacy of CSO representatives and their mandates as non-state actors. In the 13th Asean summit held in Singapore, there was no such interface, only the CSO reports sent to the leaders via chosen representatives. At earlier summits in Kuala Lumpur and Cebu, there were brief face-to-face meetings between the Asean leaders and CSO members.

At the first interface, the CSO called on the Asean leaders to treat them as partners and institutionalise the interface to ensure the full implementation of the Asean Charter and people-oriented community. They urged the leaders to view them as partners in the grouping's planned integration.

To prevent any possible embarrassment this time, all nominated CSO names must be submitted in advance for approval by Asean senior officials. Each country can only submit one delegate, not two as originally proposed by Thailand. The scheduled informal summits with representatives of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and the Asean Youth are less controversial and will proceed as planned.

The CSO, comprising more than 70 organisations based in Southeast Asia, will hold a two-day people's forum beginning Sunday in Bangkok to prepare its input for the Asean leaders during the interface. In past months, the CSO has been critical of the terms of reference of the Asean Inter-governmental Commission for Human Rights.

Asean-based human rights activists would like to see the Asean rights mechanism focus on protection as well as promotion and maintain the same universal standards. For instance, the Asean members rejected strongly the idea endorsed by the CSO for periodic review and reporting on the human rights situation in all member countries.

Some Asean senior officials have blamed the CSO for moving far too fast instead of taking an incremental step by step. After all, it would take a long lead time for the Asean leaders before they came to accept the CSO's regular presence and views. Quite a few criticised the host for failure to rein in the CSO during the first interface.

Sad but true, on 23rd October from 11.50 am to 12.20 pm, it is possible less than half the Asean leaders will be attending the scheduled 30-minute meeting with the selective CSO members unless there are seismic changes in the leaders' mindsets. If the other half does not show up, the future of interface is doomed. Vietnam, as the next Asean chair, will certainly work closely with its successor Brunei in 2011 and Cambodia in 2012 to clip the CSO's ever expanding wings of progressive ideas.

Passion and terrible crimes

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/

By Frank Moher, Citizen Special

October 11, 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodian genocide

The Disappeared

By Kim Echlin

Hamish Hamilton Canada, $29

The first of the trials for genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s began this month, 13 years after the establishment of the UN-assisted tribunal, and fully 30 years after the end of the four-year period during which an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died.

The tribunal has been wracked by procedural delays and charges of corruption. Most recently, its chief judge warned that money is running out. Meanwhile, the first of the defendants, Kaing Guek Eav, who ran a secret torture facility and has confessed to being responsible for 15,000 killings, has expressed remorse for his deeds. It is entirely possible that is as much satisfaction as the world will get.

The impossibility of closure after great crimes, no matter how many tribunals and truth-and-reconciliation commissions we may launch, is the subject of Toronto author Kim Echlin's absorbing new novel, The Disappeared. Echlin, one of Canada's finest prose stylists, approaches her subject with the delicacy and solemnity it deserves. In the end, though, it begs the question: Is a beautiful work of art, which The Disappeared certainly is, the appropriate response to a holocaust?

Echlin's narrator is Anne Greeves, a middle-aged Montreal language instructor remembering her still raw-in-the-mind love affair with a Khmer exile 30 years before. She recalls Serey in the enraptured manner of the 16-year-old she was when she met him: besotted, helpless, aroused. The Disappeared takes its place with such other chronicles of female desire as Elizabeth Smart's By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept or Pauline Reage's The Story of O, here yoked to a history that makes it both larger and more keen.

When Serey returns to Cambodia, after the Vietnamese invasion and the fall of Pol Pot's regime, he disappears into a quagmire of political upheaval and continued killing, as the transitional government mimics democracy even while it suppresses dissent. Galvanized by what she is sure is a glimpse of her lover on TV, Anne forsakes "the liberties of the times, music and drugs and separatism," and travels to Phnom Penh to find him. She does, but, like a ghost darting around corners, he is soon gone again, among the missing after a grenade attack at an opposition rally.

"You cannot disappear," she laments, in the second-person voice that gives the novel the intimacy of whispered conversation. "Please do not disappear. No one can mend my sorrow. I love what I lost."

Echlin successfully links the void in Anne's heart with the void left in the lives of millions of mothers, widows and children, as well as with the erasure of cultural memory that was not only the intent of the Khmer Rouge but embraced by those who followed.

"What purpose to revisit the past?" asks an official charged with resisting Anne's effort at answers. Brian Fawcett covered similar territory 20 years ago in his odd duck of an essay/fiction collection, Cambodia: A Book For People Who Find Television Too Slow. "Most of the victims of the Khmer Rouge were killed merely because they could remember a different kind of world," he wrote.

Anne remembers a world in which she had love. Because of the circumstances of her childhood, raised by a maid and a distant father after the death of her mother, she is particularly desperate to have it back; love is, for her, a long, cool drink of which she can't have enough. And, unlike those around her on her journey of reclamation, she is not circumspect in the face of violence. Pure eros drives her, in a society that has largely lost its animating will.

The Disappeared is an expert novel which manages to penetrate to the aching core of the Cambodian tragedy. Eventually, though, its solemnity comes to seem more tragic pose than due regard for the dead, especially when it tips over into tendentiousness: "Get past the golden rule. Make the enemy inhuman. Call the enemy dog, snake, kraut, gook, kike, cockroach, slut, all that ugly talk." And there is something odd about a well-wrought treatment of chaos. Dark comedy or silence may be the only vehicles that can contain a genocide without reducing it.

Still, its heroine's sexuality is a force for life not only in the extinguished world in which she finds herself but in the novel itself. The Disappeared presents desire as an antidote to despair. We may need one, if those who committed the crimes that make memorials like this one necessary continue to, all these years later, elude karma.

Frank Moher is a playwright and the editor of backofthebook.ca.

Kim Echlin will appear at the Ottawa International Writers Festival on May 1 at 6:30 p.m.

Deaths in Cambodia ferry disaster

Sunday, October 11, 2009
(Post by CAAI News Media)

An overloaded river ferry has capsized in a tributary of Cambodia's Mekong river, claiming the lives of at least 17 passengers.

The ferry capsized some 160km upstream from the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh

The accident took place overnight in northeastern Kratie province, some 160km northeast of the capital Phnom Penh, Major Leng Sarum of the police said on Sunday.

Thirty passengers had been on the boat that was on its way to a Buddhist festival.

"There was no storm or heavy rain when the boat sank. The accident happened because it was overloaded with passengers," Sarum said.

Kham Phoeun, the governor of Kratie province, said the bodies of 17 dead, which included 14 women and two children under the age 5, were being given to relatives.

At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river

Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River from Svay Chrum village in Kamday province towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodian boys ride a ferry across the Mekong River from the city of Phnom Penh towards Svay Chrum village in Kamday province October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

During the Three Quarters of 2009 so Far, 61% of Rape Victim Were Underage Persons – Saturday, 10.10.2009

http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

Posted on 11 October 2009

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 633

(Post by CAAI News Media)

“Phnom Penh: The increasing number of rapes indicates that Khmer tradition is falling apart under the influence of bad foreign culture, spread through porn videos played at some coffee shops, and through drug abuse.

“Based on news from five local newspapers, Koh Santepheap, Rasmei Kampuchea, Kampuchea Thmey, The Phnom Penh Post, and The Cambodia Daily, information collected by End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking in Cambodia – ECPAT-Cambodia – shows in a Media Analysis of Rape, Trafficking for Sexual Purpose, Indecent Cases in Third Quarter 2009 [in Khmer] that there were 69 cases of rape involving 70 victims. To tally the numbers within the three quarters of 2009, there were 216 rape cases and 225 victims, where 137 of them, 61%, affected underage persons. It should be noted that an Australian woman, a tourist, also became a rape victim. [ECPAT-Cambodia is a member of the international network End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes - ECPAT International.]

“Compared to the corresponding period in 2008 with 211 cases, there were 5 cases more. The provinces and cities with a high number of rapes are Battambang with 43 cases, Phnom Penh 22 cases, Kompong Cham 19 cases, Kandal 18 cases, Pursat and Banteay Meanchey each 17 cases, Kompong Speu 12 cases, Takeo 11 cases, and the other cases in other provinces. There were 6 cases of rape-and-murder, where one young girl was raped by seven teenagers living in the same village and then murdered cruelly by cutting her throat and stabbing her several times.

“These inhuman acts were done by 261 suspects, among whom 20 were underage people. Most of the crimes were committed by Khmers, but there were also some cases involving others: 2 Koreans, 3 Vietnamese, 2 Thais, 1 Cambodian Muslim, and 1 case of a woman. Notably, gang rapes [where several teenagers raped one girl or woman] add up to 21 cases, where 2 to 7 perpetrators were involved in the gang-rape cases. There were 15 cases where both the victims and the suspects were underage people. As for the relations between the victims and the suspects, there were 103 cases where the victims were raped by their neighbors in the same villages, in 40 cases by family members and relatives, in 35 cases by people knowing each other, in 9 cases a boyfriend raped his girlfriend, and in 24 cases there is no report about the relationship. As for the law, 217 suspects were arrested, and 147 cases were sent to be solved by the counts, 56 cases were under further investigations by police, in 39 cases the suspects escaped, in 2 cases the suspects were released on bail, and 1 case was addressed out of the court system. There was only one case with a comparatively high verdict, in which the court indicted the suspect for rape, and the perpetrator then was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison and was ordered to pay a fine of Riel 4 million [approx. US$975].

“There were some factors reported which were involved frequently in rapes cases, where there were 69 cases where the perpetrators used special opportunities, 47 cases were planned, 22 cases involved drug abuse and alcohol, 6 cases resulted related to watching porn movies and pictures, and for other cases no such circumstances were reported. There were 65 cases resulting from a situation where the victim stayed alone, 35 cases where the victim trusted to go with the suspect, 32 cases happened where the victims were attacked while sleeping, and 20 cases happened while the victims went out for a walk at night.

“During this time, there were 5 cases of human trafficking victimizing 8 women and 5 underage girls, 1 person was 1 Vietnamese. Compared to the same period in 2008, there was a decline of 3 cases. There were 8 suspects, including 1 Chinese man, and 2 were women. Four of them were arrested, and 3 were sent to be prosecuted by the court. Two suspects were under police investigation, and one escaped. There were no reports about how the suspects were convicted by the courts. Places of human trafficking are the road from Takeo to Banteay Meanchey, the city of Phnom Penh, Pailin, and Battambang.

“Within the same period, there were 11 cases of producing child pornography, involving 12 victims, where 10 were girls between the ages of 5 and 17. Among the 12 victims, 2 were Vietnamese and 10 were Cambodian. Involved in these cases were 11 suspects from age 19 to age 68, and most of them are tourists from America, England, France, Japan, and Switzerland. Nine of them were arrested and convicted to serve 3 years in prison. Those cases occurred in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Battambang, and Kandal.

“ECPAT-Cambodia noticed that there was a slight increase in the number of rapes, and a slight decrease in the number of human trafficking, based on the information in those newspapers. But the number of victims who were underage is alarmingly high. Also there were cases of extreme cruelty like gang rapes and murders, while the number of suspects that were prosecuted is low. Therefore ECPAT-Cambodia appeals to relevant organizations and institutions, especially to the Royal Government of Cambodia, to strengthen law enforcement by the courts and the police, and to make the related laws widely known to the citizens. All parents have to be very careful about the safety of their sons and daughters, especially when they are very young.”

Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #67, 10-11.10.2009

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:

Saturday, 10 October 2009

Cambodian ferry capsizes killing 17: official

(AFP)

(Post by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH — An overloaded river ferry capsized in northeastern Cambodia killing 17 passengers, including two young boys, an official said Sunday.

The ferry, travelling to a ceremony at a Buddhist temple, was crammed with 30 people on board when the accident happened in Kratie province on Saturday night, said Kham Phoeun, governor of the province.

The dead included two boys aged under five, he said. The bodies were recovered on Sunday morning and were being returned to their relatives.

The other 13 passengers swam to safety after the ferry, which was designed to carry 20 people, capsized at around 8pm Saturday (1300 GMT) on a branch of the Mekong River.

"The accident happened because it was overloaded with passengers. There was no strong wind or anything, just a drizzle," Kham Phoeun added.

Cambodia, Myanmar to strengthen military cooperation

http://www.chinaview.cn/

2009-10-11

(Post by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Myanmar will work together to strengthen and expand the military cooperation between the two countries, the local media reported on Sunday.

Pol Saroeun, commander-in-chief of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces(RCAF) told visiting Ye Myint, chief of security affairs department of Defense Ministry of Myanmar that under recommendation of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia has purpose to build up areas along border with neighboring countries into a peace, security, safety and development area, the Khmer language newspaper Raksmei Kampuchea reported.

Pol told Myint that Cambodia has had the border conflict with Thailand at area near 11th century Preah Vihear temple, and Cambodia's stance has always been that to respect the sovereignty of neighboring countries, at the same time, Cambodia also does not want to lose a millimeter of its land, it added.

Ye Myint's visit is to strengthen the military cooperation with Cambodia and exchange experiences in field of military sector, it said, adding that Pol Saroeun will visit Myanmar in appropriate time.

Cambodia and Myanmar are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Editor: Anne Tang

17 die as river ferry sinks in Cambodia

(Post by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — An overloaded river ferry capsized on its way to a Buddhist ceremony in Cambodia, killing 17 passengers in a tributary of the Mekong River, an official said Sunday.

The boat was crammed with 30 passengers when it capsized in midstream in northeastern Kratie province, said Police Maj. Leng Sarum.

He said 13 passengers were rescued after the accident, which happened while the boat was headed to a ceremony at a Buddhist temple Saturday night.

"There was no storm or heavy rain when the boat sank. The accident happened because it was overloaded with passengers," the officer said, speaking by telephone near the site of the incident.

Kham Phoeun, governor of Kratie province, said the bodies of 17 dead, which included 14 women and two children under the age 5, were being given to relatives.

Late last month, Typhoon Ketsana swept into central Cambodia and toppled dozens of rickety homes, killing at least 18 people and injuring some 100 others.

Saturday's accident happened about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of the capital Phnom Penh.

10 die as river ferry sinks in Cambodia

(Post by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — At least 10 passengers died in Cambodia when an overloaded river ferry capsized in a tributary of the Mekong River, police said Sunday.

Rescue workers were searching for seven other missing passengers Sunday, a police official said.

The boat was crammed with 30 passengers as it headed to a ceremony at a Buddhist temple, capsizing in midstream Saturday night in northeastern Kratie province, said Police Maj. Leng Sarum.

He said 13 passengers were rescued after the accident and 10 bodies have been recovered, he said.

"There was no storm or heavy rain when the boat sank. The accident happened because it was overloaded with passengers," the officer said, speaking by telephone near the site of the incident.

Late last month, Typhoon Ketsana swept into central Cambodia and toppled dozens of rickety homes, killing at least 18 people and injuring some 100 others.

Saturday's accident happened about 99 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of the capital Phnom Penh.

Happy 10 years Anniversary for the Auckland Cambodian Youth and Recreation Trust

Leader of The Auckland Cambodian Youth and Recreation Trust

Join by the singers from Cambodia Mr. York Doung DAra and Miss Chea Channy

The Cambodian Association Auckland Inc. would like to congratulates the Auckland Cambodian Youth and Recreation Trust for their successful event of celebrating its 10 years anniversary at Carol Reef Chinese restaurant on the evening of Saturday the 10th October 2009.

‘Climatological’ Totalitarianism

Residents navigate by boat on a flooded street following the passage of Typhoon. (Photo courtesy: AFP PHOTO/HOANG DINH Nam) Ketsana in the tourist town of Hoi An in Viet Nam on September 30. (Photo courtesy: AFP PHOTO/HOANG DINH Nam)

2009-10-10

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Two months before the Copenhagen climate change conference, there are no concrete actions yet on how developed countries will compensate developing countries for their greenhouse gas emissions.

It was a week of disasters. Two days after typhoon Ketsana submerged 80 per cent of the Philippine capital Manila—hitting Taiwan, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos along the way—a tsunami struck the Pacific island of Samoa and an earthquake flattened houses and buildings in West Sumatra, Indonesia.

Scores of people died and thousands lost their homes. The scene from the Philippines to Indonesia up to Samoa was of hopelessness. As many disasters in history have shown, governments and people were caught unaware of the extent of the damage and disaster preparedness was lacking if not missing.

While these recent disasters were unfolding, experts, lobbyists, environmentalists, activists and government negotiators had just started their two-week talks on climate change in Bangkok.

Amid pronouncements by scientists that the world should keep global warming well below 2?C and that this can only be achieved if we cut gas emissions that cause climate change by more than 45 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, by 95 per cent by 2050; and global emissions must peak by 2015, the Bangkok talks have so far not translated into concrete actions.

With two months to go before the talks resume in Copenhagen, the Bangkok talks ending October 9 provide an opportunity to enhance action on mitigation and adaptation, including on how to integrate disaster risk reduction in adaptation measures. Recent climatic events in the Philippines, Viet Nam and Cambodia serve as chilling reminders about the urgency of such action to eliminate or reduce the negative impacts of climate change.

These recent events just show that disaster risk reduction and enhanced adaptation cannot be pushed aside during climate change talks.

During a side event at the Bangkok talks, Zenaida Delica-Willison, disaster risk reduction advisor at the United Nations Development Programme, said there is a need to harmonise adaptation and disaster risk reduction. In order to promote resilient communities, adaptation alone is not enough.

Negotiators from Indonesia and Bangladesh were present during the side event. Coming from two disaster-prone countries, they have experienced climatic changes as evidenced by increased flooding in Jakarta and stronger typhoons that hit Bangladesh in recent months. They claimed that their respective governments have improved systems, disaster response and provided education to the public.

Developing countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia are adapting measures to combat the negative effects of climate change through domestic measures. Now, the matter of negotiation at the climate talks is for developed nations to also undertake drastic cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions through domestic measures and to give full reparations for the ecological debts they owe the developing nations.

Disaster risk reduction

A cooperation framework is supposed to have emerged when all the participating countries agreed to integrate disaster risk reduction in adaptation measures within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). All countries acknowledged historical responsibilities, committed to take deep cuts in emission levels (mitigation) and provide adequate structures for finance and technology (adaptation). But, according to Martin Khor of the South Centre, an inter-governmental organisation of developing countries, “we are far from operationalising this framework” because of the stonewalling by developed countries.

In a press conference convened by the South Centre at the Unescap building where the UNFCCC meetings were being held, Ambassador Lumumba Di Aping, head of delegation of Sudan and chairman of the G77 plus China, stressed that developed countries have very “low ambitions in meeting their emission targets” and gave “no positive response at the establishment of financing and technology structures within the Convention.” This only shows that the ground is being prepared (by developed countries) for commitments not to be honoured, he added.

The G-77 is the largest intergovernmental organisation of developing states in the United Nations, which provides the means for the of the South (developing countries) to articulate and promote their collective economic interests and enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all major economic issues within the UN system.

“G-77 is absolutely committed to a successful completion of talks in Copenhagen... for the survival of humanity. And for Copenhagen to succeed, we must all work for an equitable and just deal. We cannot duplicate the inequity and imbalances which have been the hallmark of 200 years of human development,” Lumumba said.

The negotiations challenge

The G77 countries and China had proposed the establishment of a financial mechanism under the UNFCCC ratified in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the 1992 Earth Summit that “shall enable, enhance and support mitigation and adaptation actions by developing countries”.

Under the UNFCCC, developed nations should provide financial resources to developing countries for climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, developing countries pointed out that the former is shifting the burden towards markets and to poorer countries by adopting protectionist attitudes like imposing tariffs.

However, developed countries have noted what they called alarming statements by developed nations, especially the European Union and the United States, suggesting the termination of the Kyoto Protocol.

Developed countries, known as Annex I Parties under the Protocol, are bound to agree to subsequent commitment periods for greenhouse gas emission reductions beginning in 2013. Annex 1 Parties have consistently stalled talks to agree on the figures.

Lumumba called this the “climatological” totalitarianism of rich countries which “impose their own interests to advance their economic superiority to support their lavish lifestyles at the expense of the rest of the world”.

“These commitments should be free from conditionalities and is the right thing to do. It is what global leaders must do. So the question that must be asked of developed countries is why (they have) such a disgraceful low level of commitment,” he told the press.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) said in a paper that climate change is an additional burden to developing countries already striving to achieve poverty reduction and urgently needed development.

This was highlighted by the clash in the talks between G77 and the United States when the latter proposed to have a formal process to consider textual proposals on “mitigation elements common to all Parties”, which developing countries emphasised were not consistent with the UNFCCC and even went beyond the mandate of the Bali Action Plan. The Plan was a result of the 2007 Bali Climate Conference.

To say that the Bangkok climate change negotiations are crucial is an understatement.

Ambassador Lumumba aptly summed up the crucial nature of both the Bangkok intersessional meeting leading to Copenhagen when he said during the September 30 press conference, “there can’t be any successful conclusion of Copenhagen unless there is economic development to address climate change.”

He noted that if politicians around the world, especially those from the developed countries, were able to pump in US$1.1 trillion to address the global economic crisis should “it be considered more important than (financing) climate change?”

That question takes on added urgency as negotiations shift to higher gear in preparation for Copenhagen in December. (By Jofelle Tesorio and Red Batario in Bangkok/ Asia News Network)

(Red Batario, a freelance journalist based in Manila, was in Bangkok to observe the intersessional talks. He is the executive director of the Centre for Community Journalism and Development and Asia-Pacific coordinator of the International News Safety Institute.)

MySinchew 2009.10.10

Mudslides kill 100 in northern Philippines

The northern Philippines has been pounded by heavy rain since Typhoon Parma hit the country on Saturday Photo: EPA

Parma hit the Philippines exactly one week after tropical storm Ketsana pounded Manila to the south on Luzon, killing at least 337 people Photo: EPA

More than 100 people have been killed in a series of landslides brought about by heavy rain in mountainous provinces of the northern Philippines.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
09 Oct 2009
(Post by CAAI News Media)

Seventy-five people were confirmed dead with 36 still missing in Benguet province as landslides struck in five towns, said provincial police chief, Superintendent Loreto Espinili.

Officials said the death toll would likely rise.

"Our estimate is that more than 100 people were buried," warned provincial civil defence chief Olive Luces.

"The damage in the region is massive. We have several reports of landslides across the region, especially in Benguet. Bodies are being recovered," she said.

In the mountain resort city of Baguio, 17 people were killed as landslides buried whole houses in different parts of the city, said city administrator and civil defence official Peter Fianza.

A landslide also left five dead and 32 missing in Mountain Province, said provincial governor Maximo Dalog.

The northern Philippines has been pounded by heavy rain since Typhoon Parma hit the country on Saturday.

Parma weakened into a tropical depression but has lingered over the north of the Philippines' main island of Luzon.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council's death toll from Parma on Friday morning was 25, however council administrator Glen Rabonza said the latest fatalities from landslides in the north were not yet included in that tally.

Parma hit the Philippines exactly one week after tropical storm Ketsana pounded Manila to the south on Luzon, killing at least 337 people.

Young circus talents to compete in regional contest

Saturday, October 10, 2009
(Post by CAAI News Media)

Circus artistes from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia compete in the first Young Circus Talent Competition opened on Thursday in Hanoi

Sixty-four circus artistes from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam started competing in the first Young Circus Talent Competition that opened on Thursday (October 8) in Hanoi.

The four-day contest is held at the Experimental Theater of Vietnamese Intermediate School of Circus and Vaudeville Art in Mai Dich St., Cau Giay Dist.

Ranging in age from 16 to 25, the athletes have been competing for prizes in 21 different acts including acrobatics, sleight of hand and balancing. Each act is presented twice, with the higher score being picked.

The Vietnamese delegation has 35 professional artists from Vietnam Circus Federation, Intermediate School of Circus and Vaudeville Art in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and the Long An Circus.

The contest is organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the departments of Performing Art and International Cooperation and the Association of Vietnamese Performing Artists.

Reported by Hoang Oanh

Cambodia to host Asia Int'l Youth Movie Festival contest

http://www.chinaview.cn/

2009-10-10

(Post by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will host the preliminary contest for the Asia International Youth Movie Festival on Oct. 12 at the multi-purpose hall of the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center (CJCC), DAP news of Cambodia reported at its website on Saturday, citing a press release from the Japanese Embassy on Friday.

Winners of the contest will be invited to Japan in December to participate, together with students from other Mekong region countries (Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) and Japan, in the final round of the Asia International Youth Movie Festival which will be held in Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.

"The festival will be held in commemoration of the Mekong-Japan Exchange Year 2009, and it has been made possible by the initiative of famous Japanese actor and singer Sugi Ryotaro," the press release said. "Sugi himself will visit Cambodia and join the panel of judges at the preliminary contest."

This preliminary contest has been co-organized by the Embassy of Japan, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) and CJCC. Twenty three-minute movies produced by Cambodian high school students have been submitted for the screening at the contest.

The Japanese company Canon donated five advanced video cameras for the contest.

Editor: Anne Tang

Khmer Rouge case judge 'biased'

By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh
Saturday, 10 October 2009
(Post by CAAI News Media)

Ieng Sary's lawyers say the judge has trampled over his rights

Lawyers for Cambodia's former foreign minister have called for the removal of the judge investigating his role in the Khmer Rouge era.

Ieng Sary is charged with crimes against humanity for his part in the deaths of as many as two million people in the late 1970s.

His defence team claims the judge at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, Marcel Lemonde, is biased.

The controversy is the latest in a series of problems to hit the tribunal.

'One-sided investigation'

The defence team's claims are based on a sworn statement by a former member of the investigating judge's staff.

Wayne Bastin accused his boss, Mr Lemonde, of instructing his team to concentrate on finding only incriminating evidence.

Under the rules of the tribunal, the investigating judges are supposed to be impartial - and should also seek out evidence which might exonerate defendants.

Mr Bastin admitted that Ieng Sary's defence team had encouraged him to make the statement.

But he insisted that he had enjoyed a good working relationship with Judge Lemonde - and only came forward because he felt "morally and ethically" obliged.

Ieng Sary's lawyers said the investigating judge had "trampled over" the rights of their client.

The tribunal's pre-trial chamber will now rule on whether Mr Lemonde should be disqualified.

It has already rejected two attempts to disqualify court officials on the grounds of bias.

Progress in the case against Ieng Sary and his three co-defendants has been slow.

But closing statements in the trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison chief are expected next month.

Cambodia to re-develop typhoon-hit region

http://www.chinaview.cn/

2009-10-10

(Post by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the government officials and relevant ministries to work together to restore the infrastructures in the Typhoon Ketsana-hit region.

The prime minister made the order at Friday's cabinet meeting. "We have to restore the agricultural infrastructures which were hit by the storm, and set up the top priorities for maintenance with our own financial abilities," Hun Sen said in a statement.

"We should ensure that no one died of hunger," he said, adding we have to facilitate to rebuild housings for victims to accommodate.

Hun Sen highly appreciated the local forces and officials who contributed to help victims timely, and thanked the charitable organizations and people for their help, according to the statement obtained here Saturday.

Nit Nhel, chief cabinet for National Disaster Management Committee told Xinhua that "so far we have not valued the cost of the damage. We have focused on offering shelters and foods for the victims, monitoring their health and other diseases.

"We played for a key role for coordinating other organizations in providing food because we want to provide for all victims," he said, adding the flood is starting to recede in some areas.

At the same time, Seang Soleak, spokesman for the Oxfam international in Phnom Penh said that "we are concerned about the food supply and its price for next year because many rice fields of local people were destroyed by storm and flood.

Now, the flood following the rise of water level of the Mekong River is affecting Kratie province and rice fields in Kratie could be affected, he said.

Last week, Ketsana storm hit Cambodia and killed at least 20 people in Kompong Thom, Preah Vihear, Siem Reap, Ratanakiri, and Mondulkiri provinces, and also destroyed hundreds of houses, roads, dam for agricultural irrigation, and thousands of hectares of rice fields.

On Thursday, Hun Sen said the government and the World Bank will study the impact and the bank will contribute for re-development of the region destroyed by the typhoon.

Editor: Anne Tang

Dozens families evicted in Cambodia

Saturday, October 10, 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH: Authorities in Cambodia have evicted around 76 families and destroyed their homes in the country's northwest, a rights group said Saturday.

The villagers were forced to move when their homes in Oddar Meanchey province were bulldozed and set on fire Friday, local human rights group Licadho said.

Police, however, said they were only removing the temporary shelters of people illegally settling on a plantation belonging to a sugar company.

"All those families are now staying in a pagoda, but they refused to accept the offers of land exchange by the company," said Srey Naren from Licadho.

The Cambodian government has faced criticism for forced evictions carried out by the army and police throughout the country, which have increased as land prices have risen over the past few years.

Last year over 20,000 people were reported affected by forced evictions from their homes in the Southeast Asian country, according to rights group Amnesty International.

The Head of the Royal Government Warned Donor Countries – Friday, 9.10.2009

Posted on 10 October 2009

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 633

(Post by CAAI News Media)

“Phnom Penh: Ahead of a meeting about the provision of development aid for Cambodia, the head of the Royal Government of Cambodia, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, warned donor countries not to link conditions with development aid for Cambodia.

“Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen considers the linking of conditions with aid as being under more pressure than during the presence of Vietnamese experts in Cambodia after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.

“During the 30th anniversary celebration of the creation of the National Bank of Cambodia on Thursday, 8 October 2009, at the Chaktomuk Conference Hall, the head of the Royal Government of Cambodia warned that the government will not accept, or even stop receiving foreign aid, if aid is linked with conditions. Recently, the government has canceled the assistance of the World Bank for a land registration program.

“Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen told donors that the government welcomes the involvement to develop Cambodia, but donors should not interfere and link conditions with aid.

“Getting tired of conditions set by donors at present, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen added that, after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, though Vietnamese troops and experts came to Cambodia, Vietnam respected the independence of Cambodia. Decisions in politics and economy were under the authority of Cambodia, different from nowadays.

“Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen stressed that at present, the development aid from the World Bank, from the International Monetary Fund, and from other donors forces the government to listen to their orders.

“In the meantime, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen appealed to donors and friends that assist Cambodia, to understand and respect the independence of Cambodia.

“Donors will meet the Cambodian government later in this year to announce development aid for Cambodia in 2010. After the international meeting in 2009, international development partners decided to provide about US$1 billion to Cambodia, linking it with conditions about the respect of human rights, the solution of land disputes, resettlement of the poor, and especially the creation of an anti-corruption law, an old intention of Cambodia.

“Human rights activists of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) pointed out that some conditions of donors aim, for example, at encouraging the Cambodian government to respect human rights or to address corruption, but not to apply pressure on the government. In this way conditions direct the implementation of laws and fill gaps of the government, so that the aid can reach the poor, and Cambodia becomes a state of law.

“ADHOC activists asked the government to soften their position and to accept aid to assist Cambodia’s poor people, rather than to reject international support, as the country needs aid.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5016, 9.10.2009

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:

Friday, 9 October 2009

Killing Fields Survivor Brings Cambodian Classical Dance To America

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Mike Siv, Posted: Oct 10, 2009

Dancer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro survived the killing fields of Cambodia. Under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime artists and intellectuals were killed or packed off for re-education. Sophiline never gave up on dance. After the fall of Pol Pot's regime she left Cambodia and settled in Long Beach, California. There she established the Khmer Arts Academy. As she teaches young Cambodian Americans the thousand year-old tradition of Khmer dance, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro tries to dance her way back from the horrors of the Killing Fields. In 2009 she received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Khmer Arts Academy (Long Beach, CA/Phnom Penh, Cambodia). She has choreographed some of Cambodia’s finest performing artists, and teaches, lectures and tours internationally, from the Venice Biennale to New York’s Joyce Theater to the Hong Kong Arts Festival. She was commissioned by director Peter Sellars to premiere her original work Pamina Devi at Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival in 2006. As one of the first generation to graduate from Phnom Penh’s Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) after the fall of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime, she became a member of RUFA’s faculty until she immigrated to Southern California in 1991 where she studied dance ethnology at UCLA and established Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach, expanding her organization to Phnom Penh in 2006.

Mu Sochua Appeal Court Hearing on Oct 28

Written by DAP NEWS -- Saturday, 10 October 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Mu Sochua, a Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) lawmaker who lost a defamation case against Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, will face the Appeal Court on October 28, accor-ding to a recall letter signed by Cabodia’s Appeal Court Co-Prosecutor Cheth Khemra on September 28.

The Appeal Court hearing comes following Mu Sochua’s disatidsfaction with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court verdict that saw her fined CR16.5 million.

“I will appear at appeal court as I rejected with the ruling of Phnom Penh Municipal court prosecutor in my case as this ruling was not right,” Mu Sochua told reporters at National Assembly on Friday morning. “I hope that the appeal court prosecutors will check more properly than the Phnom Penh Municipal Court Prosecutors.”

Ky Tech, the premier’s lawyer, told DAP News Cambodia on Friday that he has so far not received any notification of the hearing. However, he was confident over the hearing, saying that “I am ready to face this hearing with Mu Sochua.”

The Appeal Court Prosecutor General on October 2 recalled Mu Sochua to question her further about her case.

“I don’t have any more ways to protest,” Mu Sochua told reporters after the session. She claimed that she represented herself at the Appeals Court.

“I could not have another lawyer as I don’t want any lawyers to suffer like Kong Sam On,” Mu Sochua said, referring to her former counsel.

The case between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Mu Sochua came following the premier’s speech on April 4, 2009 in Kampot province, when the PMsaid that “In this Kampot province, one woman is very strong and is good at making a row.”

At a press conference, Mu Sochua accused the premier of defamation. The premier counter filed a complaint against Mu Sochua.

RFA Delays Facing in Ministry of Labor

Written by DAP NEWS -- Saturday, 10 October 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Radio Free Asia (RFA) has been repeatedly accused of unfairly dismissing staff, but RFA had yet to send a representative to explain the situation to the Ministry of Labor on Friday, an RFA staff said.

The source added that the RFA will give an explanation to the Ministry of Labor next week, claiming that RFA is currently busy preparing its account.

Some of the dismissed staff earlier this month protested in front of RFA’s Phnom Penh office and burned a tire.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has said he was very surprised to hear of RFA’s alleged wrongdoing towards its staff, and wondered why the US embassy has not intervened.

Staff from RFA Central Broad- casting in Washington were among those who lauded the bravery of the dismissed staff members protest over the alleged mismanagement of the RFA branch in Cambodia. On October 8, the RFA Camb- odia manager fired popular agricultural sector beat reporter San Sovichea.

San Sovichea stated that “RFA kicked me out, because they noticed me … lead some of members to protest about RFA’s news leaders Kim Sos and Sam Poly.”

San Sovichea, the 7th RFA member to be fired, said the station lacked a good code of conduct and journalistic ethics.

RFA wrote a letter to the US Embassy assuring they would solve the recent difficulties, according to local media NGO the Cambodia Daily.

There has not yet been any public reaction from RFA Cambodia to the accusations.

Cambodia, World Bank Work to Promote Exports

Written by DAP NEWS -- Saturday, 10 October 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

The Cambodian Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the World Bank (WB) have been working together to help promote exports of local product into international markets, an MoC press release said on Friday.

The World Bank provided US$30,000 through the MoC to help local enterprise and product associations to enhance the promotion of the Cambodian product exports to international markets, the statement added.

Companies and associations aiming at exporting their products to foreign markets may ask for technical and financial support from Export Market Access Fund (EMAF) administered by the MoC. This assistance from the MoC and the WB will help increase exports from Cambodia, the statement claimed.

There is also a focus on research into new potential export markets, and plans to take part in product fairs after companies and product associations gain standard licensing, a requirement for products to gain access to many foreign markets.

The fund should also support to service companies, the statement said.

Cambodia to Host Asia International Youth Movie Festival

Written by DAP NEWS -- Saturday, 10 October 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodia will host the preliminary contest for the Asia Internatio- nal Youth Movie Festival from 3 pm on October 12 at the multi-purpose hall of the Cambodia-Japan Cooper- ation Center (CJCC), a press release from the Japanese Embassy said on Friday.

Winners of the contest will be invited to Japan in December to participate, together with students from other Mekong region countries (Laos , Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam) and Japan, in the final round of the Asia International Youth Movie Festival which will be held in Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. “The festival will be held in commemoration of the Mekong-Japan Exchange Year 2009, and it has been made possible by the initiative of famous Japanese actor & singer Sugi Ryotaro,” the press release said. “Sugi himself will visit Cambodia and join the panel of judges at the preliminary contest.”

This preliminary contest has been co-organized by the Embassy of Japan, the Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports (MoEYS) and CJCC. Twenty 3-minute movies produced by Cambodian high school students, have been Submitted for the screening at the contest.

The Japanese company Canon also extended its generous support by donating five advanced video cameras for the contest.

NBC Celebrates 30th Anniversary Amid Doubt, Confusion

Written by DAP NEWS -- Saturday, 10 October 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) celebrated its 30th anniversary on Thursday.

But Cambodians were more concerned, and confused, by the recent volatility in the Cambodia riel-US dollar exchange rate.

An accountant of Phnom Penh company told DAP News Cambodia that “I deposited CR1 million, equal to US$250, when I took checked the amount in dollars on October 9, I had only US$238,20. So I lost by keeping my money in the bank.”

“If we take riel to exchange, we will lose,” she said. The Cambodian Economist Association’s (CEA) Chan Sophal told DAP News Cambodia that such changes in the exchange rate are normal in any country, with wider variations to be expected because of the uncertainty caused by the global financial crisis and ensuing downturn.

A Department of Transportation official said that Cambodia uses US currency to make large purchases, whereas Cambodian currency is generally used for incidental and small scale buys.

“If we want to make the Cambo-dian market stable, it should be done by strengthening on export sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and tourism,” said Chan Sophal. “Dollars will flow and our Cambodian currency exchange rate will increase too.”