Brilliant Film Premiers Monday in NYC, Offering Solution to Global Child Exploitation

Jim Luce

Thought Leaders and Global Citizens

Posted: June 19, 2010

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/


 

Not often does a filmmaker present both an untenable social problem - and its solution. Not often is its filmmaker an artist as well as a banker and a lawyer. Meet Guy Jacobson through whose eyes in the film Redlight we meet two remarkable women opposed to childhood sexual slavery in Cambodia. One, the head of the opposition party there, and the other a woman who escaped the brothels to dedicate her life to freeing others. I sat down this week with Guy to hear more about the opening of his film Redlight, produced and narrated by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lucy Liu.

The film "Redlight" is produced and narrated by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lucy Liu.

Having built a reputation of orphan care around the world known as Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW), and being a new friend of Cambodian legend, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Mu Sochua, I am familiar with the plight of sexually abused children. But the staggering figure of 2.5 million children aged 18 months to 18 years exploited for their young bodies made my skin crawl. They can be raped 20 - 30 times a day, and up to half of them will die from shock, torture, drugs, and/or AIDS.

The film "Holly" production shot of brothel room. Photographer: Elkana Jacobson

Two women are featured in the film, grassroots activist Somaly Mam and politician Mu Sochua. Filmed over a four year period, the incredibly moving Redlight focuses on the personal stories of the victims and two remarkable advocates for change in a nation that lived through the Killing Fields. Both women have since been nominated for the Noble Peace Prize and won other numerous human rights awards around the world. See the film's trailer on Vimeo.

This powerful, must-see film opens in New York City this Monday night, June 21, with a red carpet affair, followed by a VIP reception featuring celebrity guests. Tickets are also available to the general public.

Expected guests for the star-studded event include Ambassador Mark Lagon, Alyse Nelson, president and C.E.O. of Vital Voices, Cecilia Attias, Richard Attias, producer of the World Economic Forum in Davos, and Global C.E.O. Andrew Prozes of LexisNexis. A heavy media turnout is anticipated.

The Honorary Host Committee includes Congresswoman Congressmember Carolyn B. Maloney, Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Lauren Bush, and Abigail Disney, among others. The event is sponsored in part by LexisNexis.

This special evening will be a multi-pronged event with two screenings offered. The official World Premiere Red Carpet Screening with limited tickets open to the public opens at 6pm. VIP guests will join the VIP reception and Q&A at the CUE Art Gallery, 511 West 25th Street. All other guests are invited to a one-hour open bar after-party from 9:30pm at the Juliet Supper Club, located at 539 West 21st Street.

Producers Adi Ezroni and Guy Jacobson at "Holly" premier in 2007. Photo: Madhu Dhas.

The General Public Red Carpet Screening is scheduled for 9:00pm, with an after-party also at the Juliet Supper Club. Both screenings will be followed by a Q&A session featuring, M.P. Mu Sochua, UNICEF's Global Chief of Child Protection Dr. Susan Bissell, and filmmakers Guy Jacobson and Israeli actress Adi Ezroni, both of whom won the prestigious U.S. State Department's Global Hero Award for their work.

Ron Livingston stars as Patrick, an American card shark and dealer of stolen artifacts living in Cambodia for years, when he encounters Holly, a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl sold by her impoverished family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute inthe feature film Holly, a captivating, touching and emotional experience, that highlights the growing international issue of human trafficking. Photo: Elkana Jacobson.

This film is the second in Guy's trilogy, known as the K11 Project. Holly was the first in 2007, the story of a 12-year old prostitute who captures the jaded heart of a foreigner living in Cambodia who in turn goes out of his way to rescue her from the criminal element that controls her. This filmed premiered at the United Nations, with honorary committee members including Susan Sarandon and Hillary Clinton. All three films benefit from Guy's undercover work in Cambodian brothels, using espionage equipment and secret cameras to research the plight of child trafficking victims.

Filmmaker, banker and lawyer Guy Jacobson, standing, with his team in Batambang, Cambodia.

To make Redlight in Cambodia, where he was challenging the underground that profit off the lives of children, Guy had to surround himself with 40 bodyguards armed with automatic weapons. As Lucy Liu states in the film, the brothels are powerful and notoriously violent. "I come from Israel originally. I know how to take care of myself," Guy shrugged with a smile. At one point, Interpol contacted Guy to warn him to flee the country because the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cambodian mafia had hits taken out on his life.

In 2000, Guy left the intersection of investment banking and law here in NYC to spend two years travelling the world. In Phnom Penh he walked down one street where he was surrounded by a large group of girls competing to offer his sexual favors in exchange for cash. Just as my first visit to an orphanage 'warehouse' led to my epiphany, Guy's experience with these girls led to his life commitment to end the plight of red light children, leading him to found an organization to help end exploitation by the same name.

Children in Cambodia fishing villages, as children anywhere in the world, can be in danger.

Guy's cutting-edge strategy to end the sexual exploitation of children is to work with major law firms around the world s, and focus on filing civil suits on behalf of a victim against an exploiter in each city, sending a message of deterrence across oceans like a Tsunami. "This does not end exploitation on its own, but sends a chill down the spines of the exploiters." Guy told me. If it scared only 10%, it would save 250,000 children. "Governments in many countries are not strong enough to fight this scourge effectively. We need to fight for the children ourselves, in the civil courts and arena of public opinion."

The Redlight Children Campaign originally aimed at pressuring governments to enact or amend legislation to address this issue more effectively and allocate more resources towards enforcement of laws. This has proven to be difficult. Now, in addition to the original strategy, Guy wants to make it more difficult and costly for perpetrators to sexually abuse children. Redlight Children has partnered with LexisNexis to create both an international case law database for trafficking, and a trafficking offenders database to assist lawmakers and prosecutors.

According to RedLightChildren.org:

Every single day children are kidnapped or stolen and forced into the global, multi-billion dollar sex industry. Interpol estimates that this trafficking of children and young women is the third largest international criminal activity.

Its scope is shocking. According to UNICEF, over two million children are involved -- from kids around the world who are kidnapped from their families to children victimized on the internet via community sites and chatrooms.

To effectively counter the violent mobs who control child exploitation around the world, Guy turned to his artistic past and decided to incorporate film with law and finance. He began Priority Films. He understood that to solve a problem, he had to first bring people to the realization that such a problem existed. He chose to do this through film, using the law and financial pressure to provide a cutting-edge solution. His film company is a cutting edge 'micro studio' with a focus on low budget, high quality, commercial films. He has created a strong grassroots approach to film, producing the K11 Project, the most comprehensive film project about child trafficking and child prostitution to date.

At the end of the day, we must ask ourselves: are our world's children safe?

Human trafficking is a brutal and horrific reality. I hope you will support efforts in the fight against this global epidemic. Proceeds from this important event will benefit RedLight Children and Restore NYC, two not for profit organizations both working tirelessly to end slavery and child exploitation.

For further issues, facts and the rule of law, see LexisNexis website.
To by the DVD, go to Priority Films website.

British paedo running kids charity in Cambodia

EXCLUSIVE by Andrew Drummond in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Justin Penrose

20/06/2010

They are known as the ­rubbish dump kids… ­starving children who ­scavenge for scraps of food on a toxic mountain of waste.

He is a former hairdresser who runs a “charity” in Cambodia inviting you to send him money to save them.

David Fletcher, 65, appears to be the Good Samaritan, feeding hundreds of children who affectionately know him as “Papa”.

But Fletcher hides a dark secret – he was jailed in Britain for the ­statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl and videoing the horrific crime.

He now uses the guise of his unregistered charity in ­Cambodia – where he fled to six years ago – to spend every day with little girls, some as young as eight. The pervert raises money from tourists who believe they are providing food and shelter for the hundreds of poor and ­hungry children.

But a Sunday Mirror investigation can reveal how Fletcher has become ­worryingly close to a number of young girls – and spoke to our investigators of an eight-year-old he calls his “favourite little girl”.

Fletcher has even bought himself a 17-year-old Cambodian bride for £150 who he met on the dump – sold by her own mother to pay off debts. Genuine charities are so concerned they attempted to outbid him to keep the girl out of his clutches.

The Sunday Mirror joined Fletcher for one of his tours to the rancid rubbish tip on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh.

We met him at the Flora Bar where he had his hand inside the bra of a young ­Cambodian hostess and was ­happy to tell us: “She’s ­shaven, you know. That’s how I like them. No pubic hair. I prefer Cambodian girls. I tried ­Thailand first… went there for years, but here it’s much better. They’re more needy. You just have to be a little careful. I know I am being watched.”

He added: “My two grown-up sons have disowned me. They did not like the fact that my girlfriends were younger than theirs. Who cares? It’s their loss.”

Fletcher was convicted at Norwich Crown Court in July 1997 of the ­statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl who he had plied with champagne and offered £250 for sex.

He also admitted possessing offensive weapons. He was jailed for 18 months. At the time he ran a series of ­hair-dressing salons in Cambridge and Saffron Walden. When he was released from jail, he fled Britain.

When asked about his conviction he was unapologetic, saying: “Oh yes. She was just my girlfriend. They caught me. I just did it ahead of her 16th ­birthday. People will stoop very low to say bad things about me.”

Fletcher runs the Rubbish Dump Project and has a website which tells the moving story of Phnom Penh’s ­garbage dump kids. He invites readers to send donations to his private bank account and claims every penny is spent on the children.

The Sunday Mirror signed up for a tour of the dump and handed over US$50, the amount Fletcher says will feed 150 children.

When we got to the garbage mountain at Stung Meanchey on the outskirts of the capital he took a cream bun and some fruit to “my favourite little girl”.

With his tuk-tuk driver he dished out fruit to more than 100 desperate children amid the stench. The slum families try to survive on what they can scavenge, so flock to him when he has food.

The pervert preys on their desperation, building up the ­children’s trust – ­including his 17-year-old bride-to-be Yang Dany, who he met at the tip.

We accompanied him to Yang Dany’s home with a special bag of goodies for her mum.

President meets new Iraqi, Cambodian ambassadors

via Khmer NZ News Media

June 19, 2010

Vietnam is making the final preparations before opening its embassy in Baghdad as the country wishes to boost bilateral ties with Iraq, especially in economics and trade, said President Nguyen Minh Triet.

The Vietnamese President stated this when receiving the new Iraqi Ambassador to Vietnam, Faris A. Zarawi Al Ani, in Hanoi on June 18.

President Triet congratulated Iraq on its elections results last March and said he hoped that Iraq would quickly set up its new government.

When discussing the situation in Iraq, President Triet said he believed that with their traditional strong will and unity they will overcome their current difficulties and the country will soon prosper.

The same day, the President met with the new Cambodian Ambassador, Hul Phany, saying he was delighted to see the friendship between both countries growing and praised the increase in joint initiatives and expanding economic ties.

He underlined the great importance that Vietnam pays to strengthening and boosting its ties and friendship with Cambodia.

Both new ambassadors said they were delighted and honoured to be able to work in Vietnam and pledged that they will spare no effort in enhancing and expanding their countries’ friendship and co-operation with Vietnam.(VNA)

Doctor Gives Tips To Avoid Food-Borne Illnesses

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC
Friday, 18 June 2010

via Khmer NZ News Media

Photo: AP
A Cambodian street vendor, left, sells evening foods in Anlong Veng.

"Wash cutting boards frequently, use a clean plate or utensil for cooked meats, keep raw meat and poultry separate from other foods."

True food poisoning occurs when a person ingests a contaminating chemical or natural toxin, but most cases of food-borne illness are caused by a variety of food-borne pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, a US doctor said Thursday.

The contamination usually arises from improper handling, preparation, or food storage, Taing Tek Hong, a Florida-based physician, told “Hello VOA” Thursday.

Bacteria can cause food poisoning in two different ways. Some infect the intestines and other bacteria produce chemicals in foods known as toxins. He said bacteria such as staphylococcus produce a toxin in foods, while salmonellae causes food poisoning.

Campylobacter is the most commonly identified food-borne bacterial infection in the world. Campylobacter is transmitted by raw poultry, raw milk and water contaminated by animal feces.

Shigella is transmitted in water polluted with human wastes, Taing Tek Hong said. E. coli is transmitted by eating undercooked hamburger, unpasteurized milk or juices, or contaminated well water.

Giardia is a mild illness with watery diarrhea often lasting one to two weeks. It is transmitted by drinking contaminated water from lakes or streams. The infection can be spread from person to person by food or other items contaminated with feces from an infected person.

Symptoms of food poisoning typically begin several hours after ingestion and can include nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache, or fatigue, the doctor said. However, food-borne illness can result in permanent health problems or death, especially in babies, young children, pregnant women, the elderly and sick people.

Other causes of food illness can include the use of pesticides by fruit vendors, which can cause mild to severe illness with weakness, blurred vision, headache, cramps and diarrhea.

Most food poisoning can be prevented, the doctor said.

“To avoid food poisoning you need to follow the general safe food-handling tips such as washing hands before, during and after preparation and serving food,” he said. “Wash cutting boards frequently, use a clean plate or utensil for cooked meats, keep raw meat and poultry separate from other foods. Do not re-use items that held raw meat. Cool foods rapidly after preparation. Cook food thoroughly to kill bacteria.”

‘Sight Lines’ Displays Two Different Artistic Visions

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC
Friday, 18 June 2010

via Khmer NZ News Media

Photo: Courtesy of Noel - Baza Fine Art
The black and white ink drawings are done on rice paper, a reference to the primary food source in Cambodia.

“I draw portraits of today’s Cambodian girls torn between tradition and modernity, of what their hearts desire against what society demands of them.”

The Nobel-Baza Fine Art Gallery in San Diego is hosting this month two Cambodian artists. The gallery represents international artists who are making an impact on the contemporary art scene.

The show is called “Sight Lines,” and it runs from June 3 to July 3.

Pierrette Van Cleve, the founder and president of the Art Cellar Exchange, told VOA Khmer that ‘Sight Lines’ focuses on Linda Saphan, who was airlifted out of Cambodia as a small child, and Oeur Sokuntevy who grew up in Battambang and has lived in Cambodia her whole life.

The show explores the difference in vision between the two artists.

“Linda Saphan looks back into Cambodia at the women who were there, and sees herself in every woman she sees on the street, because she grew up in the West with all these advantages,” Van Cleve said. “Whereas Tevy sees herself looking forward into this new world and into new ideas of the new role of the women and the new role of the artist.”

Saphan was born in Phnom Penh in 1975 and lived in Canada and France. She traveled to Cambodia in 2006 and saw women aged similar to her still in traditional clothing, cleaning the streets, working in markets, working in shops.

She photographed them and then copied the photos in ballpoint pen. The women in the images have kramas on their faces. The works are called “Incognito.”

“I felt like these women wore incognito in their lives, just going to their lives working traditionally in small jobs and small shops without the education and opportunity that I had,” Saphan said.

Oeur Sokuntevy, meanwhile, studied painting at the Phare Ponleu Selapak in Battambang province and moved to Phnom Penh in 2007 to pursue art. She has had much interest in her work as one of the very few female contemporary artists currently showing in Cambodia.

“Sokuntevy’s work is also on homemade paper made from fiber and a very rough homemade paper,” Van Cleve said “And she painted in bright color in a folk art tradition about things and stories happening in Cambodia and her life right now, a woman’s role in the family, a woman’s role in relationships, a woman’s role in the world and how they’re changing dramatically from the traditional role of women that took place not more than a few years ago.”

Oeur Sokuntevy said Cambodian women today face high pressure “to be at the same time modern among their friends and traditional for their relatives.”

“My artwork presents myself as an artist who is not distanced from contemporary society,” she said. “I draw portraits of today’s Cambodian girls torn between tradition and modernity, of what their hearts desire against what society demands of them.”

Van Cleve said collectors and curators have come to the show and are fascinated by the comparisons of the two women—who are nearly the same age but have very different experiences.

“I have spent hours explaining how Cambodia is now moving forward very quickly into the 21st Century, and it is growing and is embracing contemporary changing modern thing at a tremendous way,” Van Cleve said.

“Most of the people are extremely interested in both,” she added. “We have sold pieces from both Tevy’s work and Linda’s work to two different kinds of people. People either react to Tevy’s color and her subject matter or they react to the quiet refinement of Linda’s work.”

In February 2011, “Sight Lines” will be part of a large collaboration with the US Embassy, the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington—which is currently hosting a display of ancient bronze work from Cambodia’s National Museum.

“At that time, we are going to have a huge season of Cambodia and will present a dance festival, an art festival, a photography festival, a film festival, in conjunction all of Cambodian arts and films,” Van Cleve said. “I have decided to spend a good part portion every year in Cambodia promoting Cambodian artists and art works along with Dana Langois of Java Art Gallery.”

Artwork for “Sight Lines” can be found at www.noel-bazafineart.com or www.vcfineart.com.

Sokuntevy’s most recent solo exhibitions include ‘I Curl In Memory’s Belly’ at Java Gallery in 2010, ‘Family Ties’ at Java Gallery in 2009, and ‘Star Signs’ at Hotel De La Paix (Cambodia) in 2008.

This year Sokuntevy has been selected as the artist-in-residence for March at the New Zero Art Space (Mayanmar). In October, she will have a solo exhibition at the French Cultural Centre in Phnom Penh.

Fined Opposition Lawmaker Leaves for US

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Friday, 18 June 2010

via Khmer NZ News Media

Photo: AP
Mu Sochua, a Cambodian opposition party lawmaker, looks on in front of the Phnom Penh Municipality Court in Phnom Penh.

“It is to show the pain of Khmer children.”

Opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, who is facing court action in a suit brought by the prime minister, left for the US on Friday, claiming she wants to screen a film on human trafficking and deliver a petition to the US president.

A government spokesman said she was more likely fleeing court-mandated fines after being found guilty of defamation.

Mu Sochua, who lost an appeal at the Supreme Court earlier this month in a defamation suit brought by Prime Minister Hun Sen, has said she will not pay $4,500 in fines and compensation.

Her court battle with Hun Sen comes at a time when Cambodia’s courts are facing mounting pressure to reform. Earlier this week, the UN envoy for human rights, Surya Subedi, said he did not have faith in the courts’ ability to provide justice to Cambodians.

Subedi referred specifically to the case of Mu Sochua, who was sued by Hun Sen last year after she brought a suit against him alleging he had defamed her with sexist and degrading statements in a series of public speeches.

Prior to her departure, Mu Sochua, a lawmaker for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, distributed a petition through the Internet censuring the Supreme Court’s June 2 decision, which upheld defamation charges against her.

“She will submit the petition to US President Barack Obama,” Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Ho Vann said Friday.

Mu Sochua, who is a former minister of women’s affairs, plans to stay through June 25, to submit her petition to the administration and to take part in the screening of a documentary on human trafficking that she helped produce.

The film, “Red Light,” travels to Cambodia’s brothels and victim centers to underscore the need to eliminate trafficking.

“It is to show the pain of Khmer children,” Mu Sochua told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport prior to her departure Friday.

Human trafficking is a product of “inaction of the government and of poverty,” she said. “So this is to inform the government about the pain and about its responsibility in finding the criminals.”

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Mu Sochua’s film would not have an effect on the government’s anti-trafficking efforts, which he said are already underway. The US took Cambodia off a “watch list” of countries not doing enough to fight trafficking earlier this month.

Mu Sochua’s departure also came as court officials moved to collect the fines from her.

Chiv Keng, head judge at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said Mu Sochua would be “forced to pay.”

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Mu Sochua was likely fleeing potential arrest by the courts. “To meet Obama is not easy,” he said.

Companies Sign Up To Protect Human Rights

Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Friday, 18 June 2010

via KHhmer NZ News Media

Photo: AP
Cambodian garment factory workers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“There are consistent human rights abuses perpetrated by some business people because, firstly, they want to make more profit to enlarge their business and, secondly, because of a biased court and corruption in society, which forces them into taking part in the violation of human rights.”

At least 25 businesses last week signed an agreement of principle to ensure that their companies don’t violate the rights of workers or the public.

The agreement was signed during the first-ever meeting between the private sector, civil society, diplomats and government officials that was aimed at promoting human rights in business.

The agreement contained principles prepared by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and urges signatories to promote rights and an adequate standard of living for workers and to eliminate discrimination. It encourages employees to form and join unions and exercise rights of collective bargaining.

Ou Virak, president of the Center for Human Rights, said abuses occur across Cambodia’s industries, from commercial enterprises to real estate, construction, garments and tourism.

Companies withhold salaries, force long hours or illegally fire workers, he said. In some cases, companies use state security forces to push people from land to be used by their businesses.

“There are consistent human rights abuses perpetrated by some business people because, firstly, they want to make more profit to enlarge their business and, secondly, because of a biased court and corruption in society, which forces them into taking part in the violation of human rights,” he said.

Companies willing to sign the rights agreement included business associations, construction and transportation companies, tourism agencies and private schools.

“If our staff is happy to work for us, they will take good care of their responsibilities, so it benefits both sides,” said Quach Mengly, president of the American Intercon Institution, who was among the signatories. “If we respect their rights, it will motivate them to provide a good service, but if we don’t, we won’t get any result.”

Some companies said they were considering the measure, while others said they did not need to sign an agreement in order to respect the rights of workers.

In Channy, president of Acleda Bank, said he didn’t sign the agreement because his bank has maintained principles of human rights for many years. However, he said he did support the initiative.

Absent from last week’s signing were representatives from major garment factories or real estate companies—those who typically face protests from workers or residents.

In principle, Cambodia’s labor law incorporates principles of human rights, including eight-hour workdays, proper salary, a healthy working environment and respect for contracts.

In reality, rights groups have documented work environments that stifle worker rights to assembly and land rights for residents facing evictions under developments.

“The government must act as an arbitrator,” said Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc. “But the arbitrators in our society usually stand by the companies in order to receive some benefits. As a result, companies don’t care much about worker salaries and working conditions, like in other countries. Other countries will punish those companies, or shut those companies down, but that never happens in our country.”

Britain Ambassador Andrew Mace, who attended last week’s signing, said it was timely to discuss human rights and business as beneficial to all.

“A democratic society in which the rights of the community and individual are respected helps to grow markets,” he said. “The stability of the rights respected creates in businesses confidence to invest. The free exchange of ideas in society creates intellectual capital on which businesses can draw to innovate and improve their competitiveness. Lack of respect for rights, on the other hand, creates conflict that can seriously impact the profitability and sustainability of the businesses.”

Mace said to promote human rights, the country needs to eliminate corruption in state institutions and increase confidence in the courts.

Government officials, meanwhile, say they are working to improve human rights.

Por Pheak, director of the Ministry of Interior’s international relations department, said the ministry has a good governance project that began in 2009 and will run through 2013 in an attempt to strengthen transparency and reduce corruption in the private sector.

Hun Sen Statue Removed After Dust-Up

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Friday, 18 June 2010

via Khmer NZ News Media

Photo: AP
Prime Minister Hun Sen making a speech in Phnom Penh.

“I would like make a public apology and would like Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen to pardon me favorably.”

A senior government adviser removed a statue of Prime Minister Hun Sen from the Anti-Corruption Institute Friday following strong criticism by the premier’s cabinet chief.

The cabinet chief, Ho Sithy, told VOA Khmer Friday the statue ran counter to Cambodian culture, where general practice is to honor the dead, not the living, with statuary.

The adviser, Om Yentieng, who is also head of the nascent Anti-Corruption Unit, said in a statement Friday he had the statue erected “without prior permission and by my own decision.”

“I completely removed a statue of the prime minister, Hun Sen, from display at the Anti-Corruption Institute,” Om Yentieng said. “I would like make a public apology and would like Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen to pardon me favorably.”

Meach Pon, an adviser for Khmer traditions at the Buddhism Institute said that typically statues are erected for Cambodian heroes, like Lady Penh, the woman of legend from whom the capital draws its name, and others.

Ho Sithy said Friday he wanted “all state institutions and the public to stop displaying or selling statues of top Cambodian leaders from now on.”

Combing Cambodia for Missing Friends

Tim Page, a photographer, during the latest of many fruitless trips to find the remains of his friend Sean Flynn, who disappeared during the Vietnam War.

By SETH MYDANS

PKHAR DOUNG, Cambodia

Terry Khoo, courtesy of Perry Deane Young
Dana Stone and Sean Flynn, riding motorcycles into Communist-held territory in Cambodia on April 6, 1970

“LET’S rock ’n’ roll,” said Tim Page, once one of the wild and daring young photographers of the Vietnam War, strapping himself into the front seat of a four-wheel-drive van.

“Like Flynn and Stone, three intrepid journalists left Phnom Penh on a hot morning headed for Kampong Cham,” he said, narrating his departure recently with two colleagues.

He settled back for the long ride, past the town of Skun, known for its fried spiders, past hypnotic rows of rubber trees, out to this dusty village near the Mekong River where he believed the bones of two missing war photographers, Sean Flynn and Dana Stone, were buried.

It was not an unusual journey for Mr. Page. Now 66, he has been on this hunt for years, determined to find answers and to come to terms with the war that has dominated his life.

Forty years ago, Mr. Flynn and Mr. Stone headed down an empty road with their cameras in search of Khmer Rouge guerrillas. They were never heard from again.

Their disappearance has become one of the enduring mysteries of the war, two young journalists — like movie adventurers — riding their motorbikes into no man’s land and losing a bet against fate.

Mr. Flynn, the dashing and glamorous son of the movie star Errol Flynn, had in fact briefly been an actor, and he brought an aura with him to Vietnam that gave his disappearance at the age of 28 a mythic quality.

“Sean Flynn could look more incredibly beautiful than even his father, Errol, had 30 years before as Captain Blood,” wrote Michael Herr in his classic book about the war, “Dispatches.”

“But sometimes he looked more like Artaud coming out of some heavy heart-of-darkness trip, overloaded on the information, the input!”

Mr. Page had shared some of those journeys into darkness, and his visit to Pkhar Doung was the latest of many searches in what he called “a 25-year madness” in pursuit of the bones of the man he calls his brother.

Weeks earlier two bounty hunters made a false claim to have found them, reviving interest in the disappearance and spurring American investigators to step up the search for the missing journalists.

Mr. Page said, “I don’t like the idea of his spirit out there tormented,” a wandering ghost that could find rest, as many in Asia believe, only after proper funeral rites. “There’s something spooky about being M.I.A.”

Mr. Page is also seeking a measure of peace for his own soul, scarred like his body from the traumas of combat, from nearly fatal wounds and from the loss of friends, trying to put together what he calls “an enormous jigsaw puzzle, bits of sky, bits of earth.”

“I don’t think anybody who goes through anything like war ever comes out intact,” he said. “I suppose the closure of Sean’s fate also has to do with closure of the whole war experience.”

Theirs was an intimacy forged by shared danger and by what Mr. Page calls the magnetic pull of two only sons searching for a bond.

“We could have been brothers, and felt as though we were,” Mr. Page wrote in a memoir, “Derailed in Uncle Ho’s Victory Garden.” “We would sit for hours in the same room, hardly speaking yet in total communication, a vibration as intimate as between lovers.”

FOR Mr. Page a lonely intimacy has continued, and he hears what seems to be the voice of his friend from time to time, the voice of a tormented spirit.

“We have conversations in strange moments, and often enough to remind me of the presence of his spirit,” Mr. Page said on his recent drive to Pkhar Doung. “It’s there but not there, and you’re aware that there’s something somehow lurking, just out of reach.”

As he drives past the rubber trees, whose rapid regular repeated rows create the illusion of some ghostly shifting world in the distance, he said, he often hears his friend’s voice: “What are you doing, man? What are you doing, boy? What are you doing, mate?”

Mr. Flynn’s lost bones and wandering soul are not alone in Cambodia, where as much as a quarter of the population died in the late 1970s during the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge. Many of their remains, like those of Mr. Flynn, are still unidentified in killing fields around the country.

Cambodia was a particularly dangerous place for foreign journalists during five years of war before the Khmer Rouge victory in 1975. At least 37 died or disappeared, including 15, along with Mr. Flynn and Mr. Stone, in a six-week period in 1970.

After pursuing various theories and false trails, Mr. Page said he now believed that Mr. Flynn survived for a year after his disappearance and might have been killed by lethal injection at a field hospital here. On a visit last year, Mr. Page recovered some medical vials and turned them over for analysis to the American military office in Hawaii that seeks to recover the remains of missing soldiers.

This new visit to Pkhar Doung did little to solve the mystery. Since the bounty hunters ravaged the site with a backhoe, the American military office, known by its acronym, JPAC, has sealed it off. Mr. Page was turned away by the local police.

In the future, he said, he planned to talk with nearby villagers who might have some memory of captive foreigners long ago and what became of them.

Even if he never does succeed, Mr. Page said his search had helped him honor both Mr. Flynn and other journalists who had died or disappeared in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

HIS pursuit has inspired a documentary, a new memorial to dead and missing journalists in Phnom Penh, journalism courses for local reporters and most significantly a book titled “Requiem,” which includes the work of 135 photographers from all sides who died covering Indochina’s decades of war.

Mr. Page, who grew up in Britain, taught himself photography and covered the war as a freelancer from 1965 to 1969, sending pictures to major American and French publications, including Time and Life, Look and Paris Match.

He became known for his vivid combat pictures and also for the risks he took and the wounds he survived. At the time Mr. Flynn disappeared, Mr. Page had suffered his most severe injuries, from a mine explosion that sent shrapnel into his brain and body.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital, he said, but surgeons revived him for a long and painful recovery. The thin borderline between life and death still seems to draw him.

“At the end of the day, the mysticism of it — living, not living — becomes a mystery,” he said, “and I don’t think we are ever privileged except on death’s doorstep to actually understand it.”

He hovers close, though, pouring his energies into his search for the unmarked grave of his friend, then sometimes finding comfort in the quiet of a cemetery.

“It’s always peaceful in a cemetery,” he said. “Everyone there has found rest. All the tribulations of life are over, and you return to the peace of nothingness.”

Cambodia creates best conditions for Vietnamese businesses

via Khmer NZ News Media

The Cambodian parliament, government and people welcome and support Vietnamese businesses and investors to the country, said Secretary General of the Cambodian National Assembly Leng Peng Long.

Leng Peng Long, who is leading a delegation of the Cambodian NA Secretariat on a current working visit to Vietnam, made the affirmation while meeting with Vice Chairman of the Vietnam National Assembly Uong Chu Luu in Hanoi on June 17.

He said his visit is aimed at studying experiences from the Vietnam National Assembly in applying information technology and the organisation of the General Assembly of ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), Mr Long said.

He thanked the Vietnamese State and people for helping Cambodian people escape from the Pol Pot genocide in the past and in national construction and development at present.

Vice Chairman Luu expressed his pleasure at the fine development of relations between the two parliaments in recent years, saying the two sides have regularly exchanged delegates and boosted cooperation within both bilateral and multilateral frameworks. He hoped that both legislatures would continue to well implement signed agreements and asked the Cambodian NA to actively contribute and cooperate with the Vietnamese NA as Chair of the AIPA 31.

The Cambodian delegation began its five-day visit on June 16.

VOVNews

Advisor to Cambodia's PM apologizes for making statue

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June 18, 2010

An advisor to Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has apologized for making a statue without permission.

In a letter made available to the media on Friday, Om Yintieng, advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen said he had made a statue of the Prime Minister in a way to express his respect and gratitude, but without knowledge or consent from him.

He thus made a public apology and asked for forgiveness from the premier.

Om Yintien made the apology soon after the Cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a statement on Thursday saying a number of places have been displayed with statues of the country's leaders or certain artists make sculpture or reproduction in objects of the leaders for decoration at homes or as souvenirs.

The statement said the gesture has affected the country's tradition and culture which does not allow any statue or sculpture of the leaders be displayed while they are still alive.

In the letter of apology, Om Yintieng did not mention the details of Hun Sen's statue that he had built and where exactly it will be displayed, but local media has reported Friday saying the premier's statue was designed for display inside the premise of government's anti-corruption unit, where is chaired by Om Yintieng.

The statue which was seen Thursday by reporters under the wraps was already removed from the site on Friday.

Source: Xinhua

Cambodia's anticorruption chief apologizes for Hun Sen statue plan+

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Jun 18 2010

PHNOM PENH, June 18 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The chief of Cambodia's anticorruption commission has apologized for planning to unveil a massive statue of Prime Minister Hun Sen at his commission's headquarters, a letter seen Friday showed.

Om Yin Tieng, one of Hun Sen's personal advisors as well as anticorruption chief, sought "forgiveness" in the letter dated Thursday for having a 5-meter statue of the prime minister made and planning to install it at the anticorruption headquarters.

Hun Sen has reportedly banned making statues of himself and other living Cambodians and installing them on public property because it "goes against Cambodian culture" and, according to some, because it is attracting strong public criticism of those being "honored" for thinking far too highly of themselves.

Om Yin Tieng said in the letter he had planned the statue to honor Hun Sen on his own.

But some Cambodians argue Hun Sen, who has been premier since 1985, was the real power behind the plan.

US expert sees widening resistance to malaria drug

US expert sees widening resistance to malaria drug

via Khmer NZ News Media

HANOI — Resistance to new anti-malarial medication appears to be spreading beyond the western Cambodia area where it was first detected, according to a US health official.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned early last year that parasites resistant to the drug artemisinin had emerged along the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

Artemisinin-based medication has been largely credited in recent years with increasing recovery rates from the mosquito-transmitted disease that kills nearly one million people a year worldwide.

Timothy Ziemer, the US government's global coordinator against malaria, said that after first being spotted in western Cambodia in 2007, "there are now indications of artemisinin resistance in other parts of the region".

Signs of resistance to artemisinin had been found in southern Myanmar and possibly on the Chinese-Myanmar border, and in southern Vietnam near Cambodia, the retired rear admiral told a regional conference that ended Friday.

The WHO warned last year that emergence of the resistance could "seriously undermine" efforts to bring malaria under control.

Artemisinin-based medication was regarded as a replacement for older drugs that were fast becoming useless in several areas of the world as the malaria parasite developed resistance to them.

Ziemer said the number of malaria cases had still fallen. In Vietnam, for example, they were down from about 190,000 in 1991 to 15,000 by 2008, he said.

"But it is essential that national governments remain focused to contain and eventually eliminate these multi-drug resistant strains," he told the conference on international cooperation against infectious diseases.

Important to that strategy is the elimination of fake and substandard medicines, which increase resistance, he said in a speech Thursday.

DAP News ; Breaking News by Soy Sopheap

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Professor Surya Subedi's Evaluation on Cambodia's Justice and Court System

Thursday, 17 June 2010 13:47 DAP-NEWS

CAMBODIA,PHNOM PENH June 17, 2010- "The judiciary in Cambodia is facing tremendous challenges in delivering justice for the people of the country, especially the poor and marginalized," said Professor Surya Subedi, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right Situation in Cambodia, speaking in Phnom Penh on Thursday. He welcomed the adoption of a series of new laws in recent years, including a new penal code, an anti-corruption law, and a criminal procedure code, which are designed to strengthen the system of justice. " However, a combination of a lack of adequate resources, organizational and institutional shortcomings, a lack of full awareness of the relevant human rights standards, and external interference, financial or otherwise, in the work of the judiciary, has resulted in an institution that does not command the confidence of people form many walks of life, " The Special Rapporteur added.

Wrapping up his ten-day fact-finding mission on the functioning of the judiciary in Cambodia, Professor Subedi on Thursday concluded that" there are an alarmingly high number of people in detention due to various shortcomings in the criminal justice system, and the instances of miscarriage of justice are far too numerous. The constraints on the judiciary's ability to act according to its mandated role in the constitutional order of Cambodia are manifold while some are related to gaps in their capacity to deliver justice (including funding, infrastructure and training), other constraints are linked to gape in their knowledge of human rights standards. Many judges may have the necessary commitment to deliver justice according to the law, but for many this commitment is compromised by external interference, and for other commitment is just not there."

While considering the overall state of the judicial system in Cambodia, Professor Subedi also looked at the performance of the judiciary in particular areas of law. He raised specific concerns relating to the judiciary's role in protecting freedom of expression, and in cases involving land-related rights.

"I am troubled by the impact of land disputes, land concessions and resettlements on the lives of ordinary people, both in rural and urban areas, miscarriages of justice, and the narrowing of political space for critical debate in society, due to the disproportionate use of defamation, disinformation and incitement lawsuits against journalists, human rights activities and political opponents," he observed. "I call on the Royal Government of Cambodia to introduce appropriate measures to enhance the independence and capacity of the judiciary to enable it to function as an institution capable of providing justice to all in Cambodia. If you are poor, weak and dispossessed of your land, you seem to have limited chance to obtain redress either through existing administrative land management systems, or through the courts."

He encouraged the government to push ahead with its programs of action to enhance and strengthen the judiciary and to improve the situation of human rights. He further commented Cambodia for being one of very few countries which have accepted all 91 recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council earlier this year, as part of the four-yearly Universal Periodic Review. He added that now the time had come for the Government to come up with a strict time-table to implement these recommendations in a meaningful manner, and offered his assistance to the Government in his regard. He encouraged the Government to work with other major stakeholders, including civil society organizations, in following up these recommendations.

During his mission Professor Subedi had an audience with His Majesty King Sihamoni, who chairs the Supreme Council of Magistracy, a body entrusted, among other things, with the task of recommending the appointment of judges and taking disciplinary action against incompetent and corrupt judges. He also met with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minster Mr. Hor Namhong, the President of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee Mr. Om Yentieng, the President of the Supreme Court Mr. Dith Munthy and other judges, prosecutors and government officials as well as Civil Society representatives and victims of human rights violations. He highly appreciated the willingness on the part of his interlocutors, both in the government and the judiciary, to acknowledge shortcoming and engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with him about change and reform.

Professor Subedi will be submitting a report containing his detailed recommendations on judicial reform and other measures to be taken in Cambodia to the United Nations Human Right Council, at its session in Geneva in September this year.

Cambodia faces big challenges in providing justice for the people- UN

Thursday, 17 June 2010 13:22 DAP-NEWS

PHNOM PENH, June 17, 2010 (DAP) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Cambodia, Professor Surya P. Subedi said on Thursday that “the judiciary in Cambodia is facing tremendous challenges in delivering justice for the people of the country, especially the poor and marginalized”.

Professor Subedi, who wrapped up his ten-day fact finding in Cambodia, told reporters that “there is serious short in Cambodian judiciary.”

Subedi said “a combination of a lack—of adequate resources, organizational and institutional shortcomings... external interference, financial or otherwise, in the work of the judiciary—has resulted in an institution that does not command the confidence of people from many walks of life.”

Although he welcomed the adoption of a series of new laws in recent years, including a new penal code, an anti-corruption law, and a criminal procedure code, which are designed to strengthen the system of justice.

But he concluded that “there are an alarmingly high number of people in detention due to various shortcomings in the criminal justice system, and the instances of miscarriage of justice are far too numerous”.

He said that he is “troubled” by the impact of land disputes, land concessions and resettlements on the lives of ordinary people, both in rural and urban areas; miscarriages of justice; and the narrowing of political space for critical debate in society, due to the disproportionate use of defamation, disinformation and incitement lawsuits against journalists, human rights activists and political opponents.

“I call on the Royal Government of Cambodia to introduce appropriate measures to enhance the independence and capacity of the judiciary to enable it to function as an institution capable of providing justice to all in Cambodia,” he said.

New Land Regulation to Deal Resettlement on State Land

Thursday, 17 June 2010 10:28 dap-news

CAMBODIA,PHNOM PENH,June,17,2010-The land issues is a hot issue that occurred in Cambodia after the land price is higher,” Im Chhun Lim, Minister of urbanization, land management said on Thursday.

“Now we have new regulation of resolution of temporary settlement of state land which illegally lived, “he said.

He added that the new circular on the resolution on the temporary settlements on land which has been illegally occupied in the capital, municipal and urban areas officially is effective from now on.

It focused on data collection on actual numbers of temporary settlements, identification and mapping classification of the sites of temporary settlements, households and population census in temporary settlements, solution finding, and coordinated discussion in order to identify solution policies, basic public infrastructure and services to support livelihood, and participation of stakeholder in development.

At the same time, Kep Chutema, Phnom Penh governor said that sometimes we are difficult to deal relocation of poor people in city because it intervened from many people.”Our officials sometimes committed badly through increasing the data of poor families and impacts are huge,” he said. We have to cut their intervention, he added. The meeting this morning took part from the all stakeholders related to seek land resolution and relocation of poor. Phnom Penh is core place of poor and relocation.

Buzz off!

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

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Friday, 18 June 2010 15:00 Uong Ratana

An actor dressed as a mosquito leads a parade Tuesday that was organised to raise awareness of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.

International footy at home

Photo by: Sreng Meng Srun

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Friday, 18 June 2010 15:00 Sreng Meng Srun

Build Bright United goalkeeper Hem Simay (right) leaps to grab the ball ahead of teammates Bun Sophea (left) and Augustine Ogbemi of Nigeria (second right), and Naga Corp’s Nigerian striker Joseph Oyewole (centre) during their match Wednesday at Olympic Stadium. The top two teams in the table played out a disappointing 1-1 draw. In the main football action in the world, Nigeria plays Greece today. SRENG MENG SRUN

Lakeside corruption claim

Photo by: Vandy Rattana
A man removes planks from his home on Boeung Kak in September 2008, after authorities started filling in the lake with sand

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Friday, 18 June 2010 15:03 May Titthara

Kep Chuktema accuses commune officials of fabricating ‘ghost families’

COMMUNE officials in Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak lake area are intentionally inflating the number of families affected by a massive development project in order to pocket compensation payments, Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema alleged Thursday.

In a meeting with provincial governors addressing controversial guidelines on so-called temporary settlements, Kep Chuktema claimed corrupt commune officials are hindering efforts to relocate residents living on disputed land by adding non-existent “ghost families” to the actual number of those affected.

“They add in ghost families,” the governor said.

“If there are only 100 families living in their commune, they report to us that there are 140 families.”

Kep Chuktema cited the Boeung Kak lake real estate development as an example, charging that some commune officials in the area are eager to claim promised compensation funds.

“When we started to develop Boeung Kak, the number of families increased because of our policy to provide US$8,000 and 2 million riels (about US$476) in compensation,” he said.

With this money, he added, “It’s not hard for a commune chief to get a Land Cruiser.”

Kep Chuktema said he had already sacked one commune official for listing “ghost families”, though he did not give a name.

“I am so hurt,” he said. “I did not fire my commune chief. But I fired my commune councillor. This is the experience I have.”

Many of the villages affected by the lake development are in Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune, which forms a crescent around the lake from the southwest to the north.

The commune’s deputy chief, In Saphan, who is in charge of Boeung Kak lake issues for the commune, declined to comment about the governor’s “ghost families” claim.

“I don’t know about what the Phnom Penh governor said because I did not attend the meeting,” she said.

Housing rights advocates, as well as villagers who stand to be affected by the 133-hectare development say they have heard similar allegations before.

Be Pharom, who lives in the commune’s Village 22, said she had heard of officials trying to inflate the number of families living near her, though she did not name anyone in particular.

“If we have one family, they increase it to two or three families,” she said.

Sia Phearum, secretariat director of the Housing Rights Task Force, said he, too, has heard villagers report claims of inflated numbers. But he said it is unclear how often this is done.

Rights workers say roughly 4,200 Boeung Kak families are facing eviction. But Sia Phearum said that is the government’s statistic, and that rights workers have not taken their own tally.

Also during Thursday’s meeting, provincial governors and land-management officials discussed the implementation of guidelines for removing “temporary settlements” that have been “illegally occupied” in urban areas.

The Council of Ministers approved the guidelines last month. Officials say they were drafted to assist in dealing with communities settled after the Khmer Rouge fell from power.

The guidelines cover how population data must be collected by local officials; how sites must be mapped and classified; and how authorities must install basic infrastructure and ensure access to education, healthcare and employment opportunities.

Rights groups have expressed concern that the guidelines could be used as a legal justification for evictions.

“Villagers who live illegally on state land have been living there for a long time,” said Chan Soveth, a senior investigator for the rights group Adhoc. “The government should be responsible for them.”

Officials at Thursday’s meeting, however, defended the government’s eviction policies, and took issue with the use of the word itself.

“Our government can not accept the word ‘eviction’. Only during the Pol Pot regime did they evict,” said Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Im Chhun Lim.

She added that she believes the practice could make it harder for families actually living on the land to reach an agreement with City Hall because it drags out the process of securing compensation.

Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor for the rights group Licadho, said villagers frequently report claims of “ghost families” appearing on official tallies.

“We always urge authorities to get clear statistics first before relocating people to new relocation sites,” he said. “We don’t want authorities to profit while people suffer.”