Duch appeal to begin today

Former S-21 prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, sits in the courtroom at the Khmer Rouge tribunal on the outskirts of Phnom Penh in July 2010. Appeals in Duch’s case will be heard at the tribunal starting today.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Monday, 28 March 2011 15:02 James O’Toole and Cheang Sokha

The Khmer Rouge tribunal will convene today to hear appeals in the case of former S-21 prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who in July became the first defendant convicted by the court.

The prosecution, defence and a number of civil parties have all appealed the original judgment, in which Duch was found guilty of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and sentenced to 30 years in prison. With credit for time already served, the 68-year-old now stands to spend roughly 18 more years in prison.

Duch’s trial began in 2009, with hearings stretching over roughly six months and dozens of witnesses and civil parties appearing. No new testimony will be heard this week, as the three planned days of hearings will instead focus on issues from the previous ruling including sentencing, reparations for civil parties and the jurisdiction of the court.

“These hearings will be very different from the Trial Chamber hearings, in the sense that it’s basically legal issues that are argued here,” United Nations court spokesman Lars Olsen said. “It’s not about factual findings at S-21.”

The defence has been granted the right to introduce new evidence during this week’s hearings, though this evidence will be limited to supporting their argument that Duch falls outside the court’s mandate to try “senior leaders” and those “most responsible” for Khmer Rouge atrocities and should therefore be released.

The defence first made this assertion during closing arguments in 2009, a stunning turnabout that followed months of hearings in which Duch had accepted responsibility and essentially pleaded guilty.

Observers say the Duch team’s arguments on this issue are weak and unlikely to be successful before the tribunal’s Supreme Court Chamber; at one point in their appeal brief, the defence lawyers reference a compendium of Cambodian folk tales to support a claim about criminal responsibility.

“I don’t think there’s a leg to stand on on this argument. It’s extremely weak,” said Anne Heindel, a legal adviser at the Documentation Centre of Cambodia. “They haven’t made any arguments that the sentence should be shorter – all their arguments are that the case should be dropped.”

The prosecutors, meanwhile, have called Duch’s original sentence “manifestly inadequate”, requesting in their appeal that the Khmer Rouge jailer instead receive a 45-year term, commuted from life in prison because of his excessive pre-trial detention following his arrest in 1999.

They also requested that “a further reduction be made as appropriate for the very limited mitigating circumstances” in the case, a reduction that co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley has said should be five years “at an absolute maximum”.

Civil party lawyers have also appealed, with some challenging the judges’ decision that their clients’ claims were inadmissible and others demanding more expansive reparations.

Today’s hearings will be devoted to the defence appeal and the issue of jurisdiction, while hearings on Tuesday will focus on sentencing and the prosecution appeal. Civil party issues will be discussed on Wednesday, with hearings extending into Thursday if necessary.

Court officials have said the Supreme Court will hand down a final judgment in the case by the end of June.

In the aftermath of the original verdict last year, a number of victims cried foul at the perceived brevity of Duch’s sentence, saying it was unacceptable for the head of a facility in which nearly all of the perhaps 14,000 inmates who entered were eventually killed.

S-21 survivor Vann Nath said yesterday that he was curious to see how many years Duch would ultimately receive, but that the most important thing was that the former warden had been found guilty.

“History will show that he has been found guilty,” Vann Nath said. “1,000 years later, his name will still be guilty.”

Centre sews seeds of change

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Monday, 28 March 2011 15:01 Post Staff

The Cambodia Skills Development Center recently held a graduation ceremony for students in two of its vocational training courses – pattern-making and production management for small and medium enterprises. Reporter Tom Brennan interviews one graduate about her experience.

Pin Phallah (right), head seamstress for the local boutique Spicy Green Mango, keeps a watchful eye over the production of clothes. Photo by: Tom Brennan

PIN Phallah runs a two-room sewing shop in Phnom Penh’s Toul Tom Poung commune where she and seven employees, all women from the neighbourhood, are responsible for most of the clothes sold at local boutique Spicy Green Mango.

As proud as the 43-year-old single mother is of her work, where she and her staff can turn out as many as 40 or 50 pieces of clothing a day, her shop isn’t quite where she’d like it to be.

Beyond the cramped workspace, Pin Phallah has, until recently, lacked the skills necessary to grow her business.

Like most Cambodian garment workers, she has known only “cut, make, trim”, which is just part of the entire manufacturing process. Nor has she had any formal methods for controlling costs, estimating prices or managing production.

Despite these obstacles, Pin Phallah seems focused on only one thing.

“I want a big business that has a lot of people” working for me, she said, standing outside her studio.

Spicy Green Mango owner Anya Weil wanted to grow her business without leaving Pin Phallah behind, so she reached out to the Cambodia Skills Development Center (CASDEC) for help.

She and CASDEC Director Tep Mona came up with a plan, part of which involved classes for Pin Phallah to take.

CASDEC is an NGO that provides training and consultancy services to the garment industry. The NGO is trying to help Cambodia compete for regional investment and jobs by developing the country’s companies and workforce.

Tep Mona has created two classes in particular: pattern-making, the first of its kind in Cambodia, and production management for small and medium enterprises.

Pattern-making will help to add a new element to Cambodia’s overall garment-making capabilities, Tep Mona said, while the latter course will teach workers all the different levels of the manufacturing process, whether it’s managing workers, estimating profit margins or simple housekeeping.

This will help the women get the jobs often held by visiting workers. As of 2007, the United States Agency for International Development found that foreigners accounted for 2 percent of the garment sector workforce but made up 10 percent of the total wages paid.

“So more and more investors can see [that] Cambodians are skilled now. They can do this and this and this and this. And [at] a much lower cost than other countries. So [investors] should come to Cambodia and invest in Cambodia’,” she said.

Most of the 32 students involved took one or the other of the classes, but Pin Phallah earned certificates in both.

Anya Weil has noticed a positive change in the interim.

“It really makes a big difference,” Weil said.

“I see her being much more confident in everything.” Other graduates of these courses have seen changes, too. Suon San, 27, used to be one of the Phnom Penh dump children targeted by French NGO Pour un Sourire d’Enfant, but now she works for PSE as a sewing manager.

At the graduation ceremony, she called the production management for SMEs class “very beneficial”, saying her operation, which makes clothes for the kids still collecting trash in order to survive, now boasts an assembly line process just like a professional factory.

Kuy Chenda, a 29-year-old assistant production manager for the Daughters of Cambodia’s sewing department, said the pattern-making class benefited more than just her.

“It’s very good not only for me, but also I can transfer the knowledge to others,” she said.

Still, there are limits to what students can achieve with just these two classes. And Tep Mona admits as much.

Few are ready to open their own shops, but they can at least work as a pattern-maker’s assistant.

Others, meanwhile, have merely added a bit of knowledge to their overall understanding of the industry.

Pin Phallah, though, seems determined. Thanks to the classes, she feels “better than before”, she said, and is ready to grow. Her plan now is to seek a loan from the bank and build above where she is based so as to escape the rains that often flood her workspace.

“Maybe two or three [more] floors,” she said.

Traders sour after export ban on limes

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Monday, 28 March 2011 15:00 Sieam Bunthy

THE export of Cambodian limes into Thailand was banned at Chom International Gate in Oddar Meancheay on Friday following chemical concerns, an official said.

Lime exports were halted due to accusations over the level of chemicals contained in the citrus fruit, said the Cambodian chief of the border gate Neth Dara.

He added Thai authorities were also asking traders to pay a 30 percent tax on the fruit.

Exporters, who deny that their fruit has been treated, say they have lost out.

Citrus trader So Rath said he normally brings untreated fruit from Chba Ampov commune, in Phnom Penh, to the border. He has in the past imported 25 tonnes of limes at one time and said the ban had so far lost him 10 million riel (US$2,479).

So Rath, along with officials, have strongly denied any concerns over the fruit.

“They do not want us to export because our lemons have sold well,” he said.

While Neth Dara claimed that Cambodian lemons were cheaper and of better quality than their Thai equivalents.

Hong Va, Camcontrol’s official at Chom International Gate, also claimed that natively grown limes were chemical free.

Mao Thora, secretary of state for Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce, said that the ministry had yet to receive a complaint on the issue but would “cooperate with relevant institutions to solve [the issue] with Thailand”.

A representative from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh was unavailable for comment last night.

Thailand plans trade mission to Cambodia

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Monday, 28 March 2011 15:00 Soeun Say

A GROUP of Thai businessmen have planned an investment and trade mission to Cambodia for the end of the month, officials at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh told The Post yesterday.

“There are 30 Thai businessmen visiting here on the 29th to the 31st,” said Jiranan Wongmongkol, commercial counselor at the Royal Thai Embassy. She added that the trip had been confirmed two weeks ago.

“They are coming here to look for opportunities to invest in agriculture and to export [Cambodian] rice to other countries in the world,” she said.

The Thailand Export Association will host investors seeking land to grow rice, cassava, corn and other agricultural products, as well as businessmen looking to enter the Kingdom’s rice export business.

The delegation plans to meet with Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh, the Cambodian Rice Millers’ Associations, the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce and the state-owned Green Trade Company. “We try to do everything to attract Thai investors to invest in here,” Jiranan Wongmongkol said, “Such as our plan to do a trade fair two times this year.”

“We always told them about the real situation in here – which is that [Cambodia] is a] good, safe and confident [place] for them to invest,” she said.

Chan Nora, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Commerce, said yesterday that in general, Cambodia’s export to Thailand amount to only 1 percent of the Kingdom’s total, consisting of are mostly agriculture products.

Thai businesses have already invested in the retail, hotel and telecommunications sectors in Cambodia.

Signs that tourism is in for the long haul

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Monday, 28 March 2011 15:00 Steve Finch

THE scheduled arrival today of the first Air France flight to Phnom Penh in more than 35 years represents the first sign Cambodia is finally starting to establish itself as a long-haul destination in its own right, a key aim of the tourism industry.

When Air France’s Airbus A340-300 touches down in the capital today at about 2:30pm it will become the first major European airline to operate scheduled flights to Cambodia since the fall of the Khmer Rouge. And further intercontinental connections could follow.

Recent reports of talks between the government and Aeroflot point to possible flights to Russia, while the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation recently started talks with the United Kingdom and Turkey with the aim of setting up direct routes.

The key to developing new intercontinental routes will be whether airlines believe there is sufficient demand for scheduled services to Cambodia.

In Europe this certainly seems to be the case. In January, Europe was the fastest growing region as arrivals climbed 22 percent on a year earlier, Ministry of Tourism data showed. Over the same period, the number of Russian visitors more than doubled suggesting there is huge potential for Aeroflot flights.

One in every eight visitors to Cambodia now comes from Russia, the UK or France, a sign of how important the European market has become for the domestic tourism industry. The convenience of new, direct services to these countries is therefore vital if Cambodia is to tap into the fast-growing, high-spending European market.

Although Air France has finally returned to Cambodia, the fact its new scheduled services go through Bangkok is a reminder the country remains a spoke in world aviation connecting to more prominent hubs such as the Thai capital and Singapore. For Cambodia to really branch out its national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air would have to develop services beyond Asia, a possibility that appears some way off.

The Asia-Pacific region still accounts for two-thirds of all visitors to Cambodia including the top three destination countries, South Korea, Vietnam and China respectively.

Of the four airlines set to begin new connections to Cambodia during this year’s off-peak season, aside from Air France the rest are all within Asia. Airport operator Societe Concessionaire des Aeroports is scheduled to confirm flights by Tiger Airways to Singapore and Skywings Airlines on a new triangular route connecting Siem Reap, Seoul and Hanoi to add to Myanmar Airways International flights that started in February.

For many intercontinental airlines, connecting to Cambodia remains a leap of faith. But continued strong visitor growth suggests some long-haul carriers are starting to take the Kingdom seriously.

Out, dam spot, say rafters

Volunteers float down the Mekong River from Kampi to Kratie to raise awareness of threats posed by new dams upstream in Laos

Rafters launch at Kampi for their float downriver. Photo by: ZAC TIONGCO

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Monday, 28 March 2011 15:00 Laura Hodges

SCHOOL pupils and townspeople gathered to watch 21 people set off along the river from Kratie – accompanied by 20 police escorts – for a float down the Mekong River in inner tubes to raise awareness of dams and their consequences.

The group brought banners to parade from the pavilion along the riverside, before clambering into waiting tuk tuks and heading for the start of their flotilla at Kampi.

Accompanied by police and with their bright orange lifejackets serving as beacons, the convoy drew plenty of attention from villagers along the way last Thursday.

The diverse group of 21 people taking part in the 20km float included staff and volunteers from local NGOs Cambodian Rural Development Team and Community Economic Development, staff from international organisations VSO and IPADE, Kratie business owners and interested tourists.

“This is a great way to celebrate the river and have a great time with people who share the same ideas,” said Julie, a CRDT volunteer.

One of the organisers of the event, Walker Stephens, explained that the flotilla was to raise awareness of the proposed 1,200-megawatt Xayaburi Dam in Laos.

He drew attention to the seriously flawed environmental assessments, the dramatic impact on food security and its irreversibility, should construction take place. He also highlighted the impressive work of NGOs such as CRDT which bridges the gap between sustainable development and conservation.

Sun Mao, executive director of CRDT, emphasised the substantial impact the Xayaburi Dam would have on tourism in Kratie. He said each year 180,000 tourists came to Kratie each year to marvel at its unique biodiversity. “Today we will float amongst four of the world’s top six biggest freshwater fish, including the legendary Mekong catfish which is as big as a bear.”

Kampi’s chief of security, Pak Sokhan, said he feared that each year as the river level sank, there were fewer dolphins and would be fewer tourists if this continued.

Last week a letter was signed by 263 NGOs, from 51 different countries, calling for the cancellation of the Xayaburi Dam. The Mekong is the lifeblood for more than 60million people for jobs and fish, and irreversible changes to the Mekong’s ecology will push a number of species closer towards extinction, including the critically endangered Irrawaddy river dolphin.

Tola, one of the event’s organisers, said: “I have spent a lot of time taking tours along the Mekong and each time I feel that there is a union, a coming together of two forces.” Respect for the Mekong enables him to enjoy its beauty and adventure.

Before setting off from Kampi, Tola gave necessary safety instructions and everyone fitted their lifejackets. The first 10 minutes were full of laughter as everyone struggled to get into the float, but patience and persistence left the group easing along in the jet streams, avoiding the fast moving navigation columns from the French colonial era and swirling in the rapids.

Joining inner tubes together for the final push from Koh Trong to Kratie, The Mekong for Life event signified the united effort to celebrate the river and raise awareness of the detrimental consequences of the Xayaburi Dam. Despite some sunburn and one stubbed toe, the group is eagerly looking forward to the next float in 2012.

However, the 2 million employees of the US$300 million-a-year freshwater fisheries, and the 24 tourism boats at the dolphin pool in Kampi, await their fate. For more details, contact Walker Stephens at Mekongforlife@asia.com

Film stars join Earth Hour in Cambodia

Earth Hour Ambassador Tep Rindaro.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Monday, 28 March 2011 15:00 Post Staff

TWO of Cambodia’s most famous actors joined forces on Saturday to celebrate Earth Hour by switching off the lights for an hour to raise awareness of taking action for the planet.

Tep Rindaro, who began his film career in the 1980s, urged his fellow Cambodians to help make a difference by taking actions to save power in everyday life.

The businessman and legendary actor joined Yuthara Chhany, one of the most famous faces in Cambodia’s film industry and vice-president of Cambodian Artists’ Association, as Earth Hour Ambassador.

Groups across the world celebrated Earth Hour by switching off their lights for one hour at 8.30pm in their local time zones.

About 60 businesses and restaurants in Phnom Penh joined the efforts, including several international hotels and riverside eateries.

“As individuals, we can do our own little part to reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere and take action on climate change for 365 days,” said Yuthara Chhany.

Earth Hour is the world’s largest environmental movement which encourages individuals to make a small change for a positive impact, and is supported by WWF in Cambodia.

Corn on the Cambodian cob suits Korean farmer

Lee Woo-chang, head of KomerCN, examines corns grown at his farm in Cambodia. Provided by the company

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/

via CAAI

March 28, 2011

Lee Woo-chang, 42, set up a farming company called KomerCN in Cambodia back in December 2008 to grow corn. Lee started out small. His initial farm was on 21 hectares (51.89 acres) of land in Wiwalton Village, Kampong Speu Province. However, he wants to expand the farm to 13,000 hectares.

Lee also formed a corn agricultural cooperative with 1,400 Cambodian farmers who are cultivating 7,000 hectares of land. Lee plans to purchase all the corn produced by the cooperative and export it to Korea, which is heavily dependent on corn imports.

According to Lee, it will be one of the first times that Korea has imported corn from a Korean-managed overseas farm.

Lee is in talks with Daesang, a major local food producer, for the Cambodian corn supplies. “If the corn is tested to be safe from toxins or molds, it may happen,” Lee said.

Daesang buys 500,000 tons of corn a year. KomerCN and Daesang are now doing a field study of the farm.

“This is a feat achieved only two and a half years after we entered Cambodia,” Lee said.

Lee started looking outside Korea in 2007 when the international price of grain began shooting up. Lee was originally a livestock farmer, owning a large cattle farm in Asan, South Chungcheong.

But the price of animal feed, including corn, increased so much that he decided to start his own farm outside Korea. The prices kept raising and the feed was not only expensive but also hard to get.

“I thought if I go overseas and do farming myself, I could at least get a stable supply of grain,” he said.

In May 2008, Lee joined a government program and went to Cambodia to check out farming conditions there. Lee chose Cambodia because of the weather. The area’s average temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Except for the dry season between November and March, it is possible to have three rounds of harvests a year. “The Russian Far East is too cold. I thought it would be more productive to do farming in Cambodia,” Lee said.

Cambodia covers 181,040 square kilometers (44.7 million acres) of land and is twice as large as South Korea (99,000 square kilometers). However, the population is only 15 million and unlike China and Russia, there is less likelihood that Cambodia may limit grain exports. The fact that teenagers and young adults make up a large portion of its population is also a plus.

“There are a lot of human resources. Because manufacturing has not yet developed much, farming is still a major source of income in Cambodia,” he said.

In December 2008, he invested 2.5 billion won ($2.2 million) including 800 million won he borrowed from the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and founded a company, which he named “KomerCN,” a combination of Korea and Khmer, the old name of Cambodia.

Wiwalton is a remote village with 30,000 people. There is no reservoir or electricity. Lee spent six months of the year there starting to develop the farm. He has imported a total of 69 tons of corn from Cambodia to Korea so far.

Of course, the project is not without difficulties. Because of the high humidity and temperature, corn becomes easily molded. A large amount of corn is wasted because of the toxin from mold.

“We are now building a drying storage facility. When it is completed in June, we’ll no longer need to worry about mold,” he said. South Chungcheong provided 39 million won for the facility.

In July 2009, Lee and local residents formed a farming cooperative association. Lee gave them corn seeds and taught them how to grow corn. The number of cooperative members increased rapidly as Lee promised to purchase all harvested corn. Now it has 1,400 members and the number is expected to reach 3,000 next month.

“Buying and cultivating lands on one’s own can be stable but it costs too much money,” said Cho Rae-cheong, a deputy director at the Agriculture Ministry. “It is a good idea to spread the risks by purchasing from the cooperative.”

“The price of grain surged in 2008 and some 50 companies went abroad to establish overseas food production bases but they have exported only a small amount of grain to Korea,” said a ministry official. “But large exports will help stabilize food prices here.”

By Lim Mi-jin, Limb Jae-un [jbiz91@joongang.co.kr]

Khmer Rouge jailer's war crimes appeal to begin

A Cambodian woman point to a portrait of former Khmer Rouge prison chief (S21) Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch

via CAAI

By Suy Se (AFP) –

PHNOM PENH — Lawyers for former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch will call for his release on Monday when Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court begins hearing appeals against his 30-year sentence.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, was found guilty in July of war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing the deaths of some 15,000 people at the notorious torture prison Tuol Sleng in the late 1970s.

He was the first Khmer Rouge cadre to face an international tribunal.

During his trial, the jailer repeatedly apologised for overseeing mass murder at the detention centre -- also known as S-21 -- but shocked the court by finally asking to be acquitted in November 2009.

In their appeal hearing on Monday, Duch's lawyers plan to argue that the court has no jurisdiction over their client because he was not one of the regime's senior leaders, nor one of those most responsible for the crimes committed.

"The court is not allowed to try a person that does not fall into one of those two groups," defence lawyer Kang Ritheary told AFP, adding that Duch was only following orders.

The 68-year-old was initially given 35 years in jail but the court reduced the sentence on the grounds that he had been detained illegally for years.

Taking into account time already served, Duch could walk free in less than 19 years, to the dismay of many victims of the 1975-1979 hardline communist movement.

Prosecutors, whose appeal will be heard on Tuesday, are hoping to have Duch's sentence increased to life, to be commuted to 45 years for time served in unlawful detention.

They say in their appeal brief that the verdict did "not adequately reflect the seriousness of the crimes or the respondent's role in those crimes".

They also want enslavement, imprisonment, torture, rape, extermination and other inhumane acts to be added to Duch's list of convictions.

The tribunal's Supreme Court Chamber is expected to announce its ruling on the appeals in late June.

Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population through starvation, overwork and execution.

S-21 in Phnom Penh was at the centre of the regime's security apparatus and thousands of inmates were taken from there for execution in a nearby orchard.

Duch has been detained since 1999, when he was found working as a Christian aid worker in the jungle. He was formally arrested by the tribunal in July 2007.

Four more of the regime's former members -- including "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea -- are due to go trial later this year and Duch is expected to appear as a witness in the case.

The zoo of horrors

Photo by: Adam Miller

An emaciated elephant attempts to eat grass by poking her head through the fence of a pen where she is confined at Teuk Chhou Zoo in Kampot province’s Thmei Village.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Sunday, 27 March 2011 21:09 Adam Miller

Kampot province’s Teuk Chhou zoo is a place where no one seems to care about how animals are treated, a place where animals are kept in cramped, roofless shelters and rely largely on food from tourists to survive.

The zoo is privately owned by Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management Vice President Nhim Vanda and staffed by just a handful of people.

It has no roofed-in shelters as the wet season approaches or even any semblance of a natural habitat for the animals as witnessed during a visit over the weekend.

Orangutans and baboons swing restlessly back and forth between the steel bars of their three-metre square enclosures, while eagles and other birds of prey scarcely have enough space to spread their wings, let alone fly – that is if they are one of the lucky few whose wings aren’t badly damaged.

The state of the zoo’s two elephants is heartbreaking, as their emaciated necks stretch through the thick bars of their enclosure in an attempt to eat blades of grass, seemingly one of their few sources of nourishment.

The skeletal bodies of the two animals are hard to ignore and the two have become aggressive, lashing out at visitors who step near their enclosure.

“We feed them bananas and grass,” said a staff member who declined to be named or to comment further.

Yet the elephant enclosure contained only dried-up bamboo shoots, piles of faeces and a pit of stagnant green drinking water that the elephants avoided.

When initially asked about conditions at the zoo last Thursday, Nhim Vanda acknowledged that some of the animals were “thin and sick”, but the zoo would remain “operating as usual”, with an entrance fee of US$4.

Nhim Vanda condemned local NGO Wildlife Alliance today for past criticisms about his zoo and said he paid for the care of his animals out of his own pocket.

“If they know that my animals have gotten thin ... please give me the money to buy food for my animals. They should be proud of me and encourage me because I like my animals more than my own son.”

He also said there was no government policy to provide monetary support to the privately owned facility.

“It is so hard for me to find food and clean water to provide to the animals because in one day I get money from tourists totalling about 20,000 riel (US$5) to 100,000 riel but I pay much more than that for food,” he said.

Nick Marx, wildlife rescue director at Wildlife Alliance, said yesterday that his organisation had previously assisted the zoo.

“We have helped out in Teuk Chhou zoo before and have paid money for food and medicine for animals,” Marx said.

“We even paid for treatment for one of their elephants when it was seriously injured … the problem is that we

don’t have the money to help extensively.”

He said some members of Wildlife Alliance’s rapid-rescue team went to the zoo last week to assess conditions and he concluded that it was “the same as it has always been”.

“Nhim Vanda I’m sure loves his animals, but apparently doesn’t have enough money to support them is what we’re told,” Marx said.

“If it was a question of helping the animals, we would take what we can [to Phnom Tamao zoo], but I can’t give thousands of dollars, I just do not have the money to give.”

There has been some conjecture about the number of animals who may have died at Teuk Chhou zoo over the years.

Marx said it remained unclear what happened to the tiger cubs once at the zoo and that a few years ago there were five bears there.

An otter photographed by a visitor and posted on local website Khmer 440 on March 9 shows the mammal in a sickly state, struggling to breathe while covered in green scum from its only source of water.

On Friday there was merely an empty enclosure where the otter once lived.

“Before there were a lot of animals to see, now they’re all gone, I don’t know why,” said Sokna, a nearby resident.

His girlfriend, Chanthy, concurred, saying: “We came to look at all of the animals but there is nothing left.”

In a four-hour period on Friday, they were the only two visitors to the zoo.

The Ministry of Tourism’s website describes the zoo as “a wonderful place to spend a fun-filled afternoon with your family; children especially love the experience”, adding that the zoo featured lions and tigers and their cubs.

Yet only one tiger remains in a small cage bereft of any cubs, while no lions could be found in the larger enclosed space designated for them.

It also said that the zoo included “bears, including a couple of sun bears”, yet only one bear remains at the zoo.

Jack Highwood, head of the NGO Elephants Livelihood Initiative Environment who runs the Elephant Valley Project sanctuary in Mondulkiri province, told The Post on Friday that “elephants aren’t meant to walk the streets of Phnom Penh, or circle Angkor Wat, or live in a zoo”.

A place like his sanctuary in Mondulkiri is more like “their natural habitat. We have a huge area of land here. This is where they are meant to be”.

With regard to the Teuk Chhou zoo, Highwood said: “While I can’t comment on the specifics of this case, here at the EVP we welcome any elephants from any zoo.”

Alma Robinson, a volunteer at the EVP who spent three months working with elephants in Mondulkiri earlier this year, gave a first-hand account of what she had seen in February on a trip to the zoo in Kampot.

“It is now six weeks since I last visited Teuk Chhou Zoo and I am still haunted by what I saw,” she said on Thursday.

“In the midst of all of the surrounding green and beautiful natural habitat I was shocked to find what I can only call ‘a concrete prison’ not only for the two elephants but for all of the animals.

“Small, dirty enclosures – cages lacking clean water – in some cases no water at all and no sign or even remnants of food. My heart went out to these poor, suffering and traumatised animals.”

She said the state of the elephants was of particular concern and their struggle to survive on a day-to-day basis was horrific.

She described their enclosure as “a pathetic, distressing, shocking scene indeed which needs to be brought to the attention of the Cambodian people”.

If the zoo management does not have the financial stability to maintain the facility and the animals in its care, then a high-level investigation must be undertaken by the government and drastic action is warranted.

Inability to deport 'undesirable' illegals frustrates U.S.

Dung Le

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/

via CAAI

By Rich Cholodofsky

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Convicted killer Loeun Heng walked out of a Massachusetts detention center a free man last fall.

The illegal alien from Cambodia was supposed to be deported after serving almost a decade in prison for killing a 16-year-old boy in a Boston suburb.

But Cambodia is among several countries that won't take their citizens back when the United States wants to jettison them.

Officials from Immigration and Custom Enforcement, or ICE, detained Heng for six months as they tried to ship him out.

They failed.

Since 2008, ICE has been forced to release 1,741 illegal immigrants because their home countries would not allow deportation, said Harold Ort, an ICE spokesman in Newark.

Heng, 26, and three other men in the Blood Red Dragons gang attacked, stabbed and beat 16-year-old Charles Ashton Cline-McMurray in Revere, Mass., on Oct 13, 2000. Prosecutors worry ICE won't be able to deport the other killers when they get out of prison.

In the wake of Heng's release, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the immigration issue.

Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said U.S. policy is being dictated by unfriendly, uncooperative foreign governments — such as Cuba, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos — that continuously refuse to allow their undesirable citizens to be deported.

The U.S. House Immigration Reform Caucus is examining the issue.

"How many more innocent people have to die because of these failed policies? What part of illegal don't people understand?" said U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-California, who chairs the reform caucus.

"Illegal immigrants should be kept behind bars until they are deported. A deputy sheriff was killed last year in my region by an illegal alien who slipped through our system. We must fight to ensure that criminal aliens are not released into the public," Bilbray said.

A local member of the reform caucus, U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, declined comment after repeated requests for an interview.

"It's disappointing and frustrating that federal authorities have been unable to deport Loeun Heng. Our understanding is that ICE took every possible step in this case, but circumstances like Heng's really erode public confidence in the system," said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Don Conley.

Last month, as he was being led from a Westmoreland County courtroom, a convicted sex offender from Vietnam told his lawyer that he will never be deported.

Dung Le, 40, pleaded guilty to failing to register on time as a sex offender in Pennsylvania. He was sentenced to one to five years in prison.

"He's of the opinion he won't be deported," defense attorney Patricia Elliott said.

Le might be right.

In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that immigration detainees must be released from custody if they cannot be deported within six months.

That ruling centered on German national Kestutis Zadvydas, a cocaine dealer imprisoned for 16 years. In 1994, immigration officials tried to deport him to Germany and then Lithuania, his parents' country of origin. Neither country wanted him.

By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled the United States had to release Zadvydas from custody, saying it was unlikely he would ever be deported.

Ort said ICE is forced to release illegal aliens if they are unable to deport them within the 180-day period. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, they can ignore that requirement under very limited circumstances, "including a threat to national security, adverse foreign policy consequences or contagious disease concerns."

"There has been a lax attitude toward enforcement," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington. "We no longer have a choice. We as a matter of law should be in control of our own immigration policy."

Krikorian said Congress needs to change immigration law to close the loophole left open by the Supreme Court. "Congress needs to push back. We need to make sure that countries that don't take people back know we're not going to issue entrance visas to their citizens," Krikorian said.

Le might slip through the loophole.

Le came last year to work at a Rostraver nail salon. He legally entered the United States in 1993, according to ICE records. In 2004, he was convicted in Vermont of a felony count of lewd and lascivious behavior for improperly touching a woman at a nail salon where he worked. He served about one year in a Vermont jail and then left the United States, ICE said.

Ort said Le tried to return through Honolulu International Airport on Oct. 15, 2005, when he applied for admission back into the country. Le was ordered to appear before an immigration judge.

U.S. Immigration Judge Dayna Beamer in Honolulu ordered that Le be deported back to Vietnam. He was released in 2006 when immigration officials could not do so.

Le resurfaced in Rostraver and was arrested after he was late in registering as a sex offender with Pennsylvania State Police.

"Every alien's removal requires the cooperation of another country. Thus, the difficulties involved in deporting aliens with final orders of removal are not unique to Mr. Le's case. In fact, some countries flatly refuse to accept their nationals back into their communities, while others might simply prolong and delay the issuance of the necessary travel documents for repatriation," Ort said.

It is believed convicted killer Heng is living somewhere near Boston. Local officials are concerned about two other defendants who pleaded guilty in the gang slaying, two more illegal aliens who would be subject to deportation upon release.

Viseth Sao pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, but he is eligible for parole in 2016.

Savoeun Heng, 26, and Savoeun Po, 26, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Savoeun Heng received a 12- to 14-year sentence. Po was sentenced to eight to 10 years.

ICE will try to deport Savoeun Heng and Savoeun Po upon their release.

North Wales Police will question Cambodia orphanage paedophile Nick Griffin over rape claim

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/

via CAAI

by Darren Devine, Wales On Sunday

Mar 27 2011

A LIFELONG friend of paedophile Nick Griffin has told Wales on Sunday she became suspicious after he took a teenage boy who has since accused him of rape on a camping trip alone.

Janet De Selincourt allowed Griffin to live on the trout farm she one ran in North Wales and spoke out after we revealed the teenager’s allegations last week.

Following our exclusive story, North Wales Police have also promised to quiz Griffin, 53, about the alleged two-year campaign of abuse against a teenager in the Llangollen area when he is released from jail in Cambodia.

The orphanage-founder is serving a year behind bars for abusing boys younger than 15 at his charity institution in South East Asia.

Mrs De Selincourt, 69, admitted that despite her suspicions about Griffin she has written to him in Cambodia and will stand by him because “a friend is a friend”.

She said: “I know he’s been convicted, but I find it very difficult to believe what I’ve heard.

“I did write to him. I sent a letter to the British Embassy in Cambodia and enclosed a birthday card for him.

“In the birthday card I said: ‘We’re with you all the way whatever.’ A friend is a friend regardless.”

Mrs De Selincourt has known Griffin since the mid 1980s when he became her lodger in Addlestone, Surrey.

In the early 1990s Griffin went to live in Shepherd’s Bush, London, where he set up his own business and employed Mrs De Selincourt’s daughter.

In 1996 Mrs De Selincourt came to Glyn Ceiriog, near Llangollen, to run the Upper Mill’s trout farm. About two years later Griffin joined her in North Wales, from where he ran the Ives Management Services property firm, met his alleged Welsh victim and became a scout leader.

The alleged victim last week told Wales on Sunday Griffin wormed his way into his confidence for two years before abusing him for two years between the ages of 13 and 15. The man, who is now 23, has since been convicted of possessing child porn and is on the sex offenders’ register.

But Mrs De Selincourt said despite her unease over the camping trip she is certain the alleged victim was never abused at the trout farm.

She said: “There was nothing going on at the house – I can guarantee that.

“There was one occasion when I sort of didn’t like the idea that Nick had gone camping (with the boy). But I wasn’t (the boy’s) mother. His mother and father were the people who had the say.”

When the police began looking into the allegation in 2009 she told them the alleged victim slept on the floor in Griffin’s room only once at the trout farm.

The alleged victim told WoS last week he originally complained to police about the abuse in 2004, but his allegation was not properly investigated.

A spokesperson for the force confirmed they had been investigating since 2009, but said there was no record of a complaint going back to 2004.

Detective Inspector Arwyn Jones said they hoped to arrest and interview Griffin once he is released from his Cambodian jail.

The pervert will be thrown out of the country he left for in 2006 once he is released in about 12 months’ time.

Cops here will immediately arrest him if he returns to the UK or goes to a country with which there is an extradition treaty in place.

Mr Arwyn Jones said the force had been in regular contact with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOPS) throughout the investigation.

North Wales Police put Griffin on the police national computer as a wanted man before being told by CEOPS he was under investigation in South East Asia.

Mr Arwyn Jones added: “The enquiry will be pursued and brought to a conclusion once Griffin is released from custody.”

Sihanoukville to list

http://www.portstrategy.com/

via CAAI

26 Mar 2011

SBI Phnom Penh Securities Co, Ltd. has been appointed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia to lead manage an initial public offering of Cambodia's state-owned Sihanoukville Autonomous Port ("PAS"), the company said in a press release.

The IPO will be launched when the stock exchange becomes operational, expected to be this summer. It is the first time a Japanese-backed company has been involved in a Cambodian IPO.

As a lead managing underwriter for the IPO, SBI will contribute to the growth of the Cambodian capital market through assisting PAS in its listing, and will also conduct sales of the underwritten stocks in Japan in conjunction with subsidiary SBI Securities Co, the company added.

With a gross throughput of 1.87m tonnes, Sihanoukville's main business is defined as the development and management of Sihanoukville's Special Economic Zone which includes Cambodia's only deepwater international port. The port is one of three major state companies that the government is planning to list, reportedly in the course of this year.

The SBI Group established the Phnom Penh Commercial Bank Limited in September 2008 with its investment of 40% of the bank’s shares, and will now endeavor to contribute to Cambodia’s economic development in both the banking and securities sectors. The SBI Group will continue the overseas development of its financial service businesses, primarily in the Asian emerging countries.

Former Khmer Rouge prison chief seeks acquittal

http://news.asiaone.com/

via CAAI

AFP

Sat, Mar 26, 2011

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia’s war crimes court will hear appeals next week in the case of of former Khmer Rouge cadre Duch, who is seeking acquittal despite admitting running a feared jail where thousands died.

Duch, 68, was sentenced to 35 years in prison last July for war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people at the notorious torture prison Tuol Sleng in the late 1970s.

The jailer, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, was the first former Khmer Rouge cadre to face an international tribunal.

His sentence was reduced to 30 years on the grounds that he had been detained illegally for years. And given time already served, Duch could walk free in less than 19 years, much to the dismay of many victims of the brutal 1975-1979 regime.

Prosecutors are also appealing, hoping to have Duch’s sentence increased to life, to be commuted to 45 years for time served in unlawful detention.

During his trial, Duch repeatedly apologised for overseeing mass murder at the detention centre, also known as S-21, but shocked the court by asking to be acquitted in his closing statement in November 2009.

The defence team will claim in their appeal on Monday that the UN-backed court has no jurisdiction over Duch because he was not one of the regime’s senior leaders nor one of those most responsible for the crimes committed.

“The court is not allowed to try a person that does not fall into one of those two groups", Kang Ritheary, one of Duch’s lawyers, told AFP, adding that Duch was only following orders.

“He had to try his best at work in order to save his life.”

Anne Heindel, a legal adviser at the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which collects evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities, said the defence strategy was “reckless” because the court “has wide discretion in determining whom to prosecute”.

“Instead of responding to the prosecution’s multiple arguments for a longer sentence, the defence keeps reiterating this one untimely and uncompelling argument,” Heindel said.

Prosecutors say in their appeal brief that the verdict did “not adequately reflect the seriousness of the crimes or the respondent’s role in those crimes”.

They also want enslavement, imprisonment, torture, extermination and other inhumane acts to be added to Duch’s list of convictions.

The tribunal’s Supreme Court Chamber is expected to announce its ruling on the appeals in late June.

Chum Mey, 80, one of the few survivors of S-21, said “there would be no justice” if Duch is released and he should be jailed for life.

Led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population through starvation, overwork and execution.

S-21, in Phnom Penh, was at the centre of the regime’s security apparatus and thousands of inmates were taken from there for execution in a nearby orchard.

Duch has been detained since 1999, when he was found working as a Christian aid worker in the jungle. He was formally arrested by the tribunal in July 2007.

Four of the regime’s most senior surviving members are due to go on trial later this year and Duch is expected to appear as a witness.

The tribunal, dogged by allegations of political interference, has yet to announce whether it will pursue two more cases against five more former Khmer Rouge cadres.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a mid-level cadre before he turned against the movement, said late last year no new trials would be allowed.

But observers say Duch’s court proceedings were free from political pressure, even though one of his lawyers has also acted for the premier.

Former Khmer Rouge prison chief seeks acquittal

via CAAI

Mar 26, 2011

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA'S war crimes court will hear appeals next week in the case of of former Khmer Rouge cadre Duch, who is seeking acquittal despite admitting running a feared jail where thousands died.

Duch, 68, was sentenced to 35 years in prison last July for war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people at the notorious torture prison Tuol Sleng in the late 1970s.

The jailer, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, was the first former Khmer Rouge cadre to face an international tribunal.

His sentence was reduced to 30 years on the grounds that he had been detained illegally for years. And given time already served, Duch could walk free in less than 19 years, much to the dismay of many victims of the brutal 1975-1979 regime.

Prosecutors are also appealing, hoping to have Duch's sentence increased to life, to be commuted to 45 years for time served in unlawful detention.

During his trial, Duch repeatedly apologised for overseeing mass murder at the detention centre, also known as S-21, but shocked the court by asking to be acquitted in his closing statement in November 2009. -- AFP

Answers sought over death of NZer in Cambodia

http://www.radionz.co.nz/

via CAAI

A New Zealand man has returned to Cambodia to seek answers about his brother's death from the Khmer Rouge leader responsible.

Kerry Hamill was tortured and killed at the Phnom Penh prison run by Kaing Guek Eav, also known as 'Comrade Duch', in 1978.

Duch was sentenced to 35 years in prison last year for overseeing the deaths of up to 15,000 people in the 1970s.

Rob Hamill wants to know where his brother is buried.

He says 'Duch' is seeking a pardon, while prosecutors are calling for a longer sentence. He will make another request for an interview once legal arguments have finished.

Cambodia to see more participation in Earth Hour event

http://www.investors.com/

via CAAI

PHNOM PENH, Mar 26, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Some eighty businesses, and groups of individuals in Cambodia switched off their lights and electrical devices for an hour, starting at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday to celebrate "Earth Hour".

About 80 hotels, restaurants and shopping malls in the capital, including Hotel Cambodiana, Hotel Le Royal and Hotel Inter- Continental, as well as many individuals from across Cambodia have turned off their lights or partly turned off their lights for one hour to celebrate their action in protecting the environment.

"We have turned off the lights and lit candles instead during the Earth Hour, let the guests enjoy the unique atmosphere of romance, they feel very happy," a manager of Hotel Le Royal said.

Earth Hour is the world's largest environmental movement which encourages individuals, businesses and communities around the world to turn off their lights for one hour on March 26 at 8.30 p. m. local time in a bid to raise awareness about climate change.

Seng Teak, WWF-Cambodia's director, said Saturday that this is the second year that WWF has encouraged people in Cambodia to participate in this international event.

"It's still few participants, but it has doubled the number in 2010's event and I believe that year by year, more people will be aware of it and there will be more participation," he said.

WWF-Cambodia has assumed two Cambodian famous actors Yuthara Chhany and Tep Rindaro as the Earth Hour Ambassadors.

"Action for earth of these legendary actors will be a great example and will influence fans, families and friends to join forces with the rest of the world in the celebration of one thing that unites all of us -- the planet," he said.

Yuthara Chhany said, "The planet is ours and we can do our part to protect it, make your action for our only planet with the rest of the world."

"As individuals, we can do our own part to reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere and take action on climate change for 365 days," he added.

The event was launched in 2007 in Sydney, Australia.

In 2010, hundreds of millions of people, in 128 countries and territories across the world, took part in the event.

Mekong countries to have extra meeting for controversial Xayaburi dam

via CAAI

Saturday ,Mar 26,2011

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand have agreed to convene a special session on the prior consultation process for Laos’ controversial proposed Xayaburi hydropower dam on the Mekong River before determining how they should proceed with the proposal, the Mekong River Commission announced Friday.

The four Lower Mekong Basin countries reached this decision at the 33rd MRC Joint Committee Meeting in Cambodia’s Preah Sihanouk Province on Mar. 24-26.

They agreed that they would join with the intent to seek a conclusion at the newly-scheduled meeting on April 21, 2011, said the MRC – the inter-governmental body responsible for cooperation on the sustainable management of the Mekong Basin.

The Xayaburi project, proposed by the Lao Government, falls under the MRC’s Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement (PNPCA) process, which require the four countries come together with the aim of reaching a conclusion on the proposal within six months of its submission. The deadline for the end of this formal process is April 22, 2011.

A picture shows the location of the proposed Xayaburi dam

The Xayaburi project, designed to generate power for consumption in Thailand and Laos, is tabled for consideration, among other management, organizational and procedures-related matters, at this internal meeting.

The Joint Committee Members, comprising one senior official from each of the four countries, agree to hold a special joint committee meeting in Laos’ Vientiane to come to a conclusion on the project, according to the MRC.

Since the notification of what would be the first dam project on the mainstream of the Lower Mekong River, the countries have conducted national consultations with related stakeholders including potentially affected communities, to gauge their views and perspectives on the project.

The MRC Secretariat – the operational arm of the MRC – also commissioned a team of experts in several sectors including fisheries, sediment and dam safety design to review documents including the Environmental Impact Assessment submitted by the Lao Government to other MRC countries.

The Secretariat acts as a facilitating body for the prior consultation process.

Friday’s MRC statement said the JC Members also agreed to disclose to the public the MRC technical review which has been used by the four countries as part of their consideration of the Xayaburi project.

MRC added that the report was presented at the meeting Saturday in Preah Sihanouk Province but the member countries have not provided their official comments on it yet. Laos, as the notifying country, commented that the report is a valuable contribution to the process of considering the Xayaburi project as well as other similar development initiatives but will provide its detailed comments at a later time.

The Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement state that member countries must notify the MRC’s Joint Committee in the event they wish to engage in any major infrastructure developments, such as hydropower schemes, on the mainstream Mekong or tributaries, particularly as those developments may have significant trans-boundary impacts on people or the environment downstream.

The Xayaburi hydropower project would be the first such project on the Mekong mainstream downstream of China and would be capable of generating 1260 megawatts of electricity, mainly for export to Thailand.

The Xayaburi dam is located about 150 km downstream of Luang Prabang City in northern Laos. The dam has an installed capacity of 1,260 megawatts with a dam 810 m long and 32 m high and has a reservoir area of 49 km2 and live storage of 1,300 cubic metres. The developer is Ch. Karnchang Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand.

There are concerns that Xayaburi Province might be hit by an earthquake.

AFP - A picture taken on March 25, 2011 in the area of Myanmar's northeastern city of Tachilek shows large cracks running along a road a day after an earthquake struck the area.

On the Mar. 24 night, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the east of Myanmar near the borders with Thailand and Laos and was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. The powerful earthquake killed 74 people in Myanmar and one in Thailand, according to officials from the two countries.

By Tuong Thuy

UK Appoints Openly Gay Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia

Mark Gooding, appointed this week British Ambassador to Cambodia.

photo courtesy Foriegn and Commonwealth Office, London

http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/

via CAAI

LONDON, March 25, 2011 – Mark Gooding has been appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, it was announced yesterday.

Currently Mr. Gooding is Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives in Colombo and is due to take up his new appointment in September.

He is openly gay and has a civil partner, Dr Christopher McCormick.

“I am honoured and delighted to be appointed HM Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia,” he said in a press statement.

“The UK and Cambodia have strong shared interests in a variety of fields, including trade, development, tourism, climate change, security, and human rights. I look forward to developing further the strong ties that already exist between our two countries and to creating new partnerships in the years ahead.”

Generally speaking, Cambodia – a predominantly Buddhist country – accepts homosexuality.

The highly-regarded King Sihanouk famously said in 2004 that he supported gay marriage. But Cambodia is not an ‘absolute monarchy’ and the King has no executive powers.

And three years later Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly announced at a graduation ceremony attended by almost 3,000 people, that his youngest, and adopted, daughter Malis was a lesbian – and that had disowned her. However, in the same speech he asked Cambodians to accept homosexuals.

A Gay Pride has been staged in the capital Phnom Penh every year since 2004, and is usually held to coincide with International Day Against Homophobia. This year, Phnom Penh Pride is between May 10 and 17.