Christmas in Thai

Thai transvestites dancers watch tourists on Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand, on Christmas Day, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008. Recent political unrest in Thailand coupled with a global economic slowdown has damaged the tourism industry with many hotels reporting cancellations.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)

A Thai vendor smiles as she sells roses in Phuket, Thailand, on Christmas Day, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008. Recent political unrest in Thailand coupled with a global economic slowdown has damaged the tourism industry with many hotels reporting cancellations.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Tourists look on as Thai transvestites dance in Phuket, Thailand, on Christmas Day, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008. Recent political unrest in Thailand coupled with a global economic slowdown has damaged the tourism industry with many hotels reporting cancellations.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Independent Appeal: 'I was shunned for disability, now I'm shown respect'

THE INDEPENDENT

A farmer whose legs were blown off by a mine is rebuilding his life with the help of a charity in Cambodia. Paul Vallely reports

Saturday, 27 December 2008

Ou Sarin was 43 when both his legs were blown off. You have probably never heard of the war in which it happened. Look in the record books and you won't find anything about minefields being laid in Cambodia as recently as 1991. It was just one of those small local wars – between a group of rebels whose cause was lost in the midst of history – and government troops.

When the fighting was over in the fields where Mr Sarin grew maize and rice, the departing government soldiers told him: "Don't worry. All the mines have been 100 per cent cleared." But they hadn't.

It took 24 hours for his friends to carry him from the village of Kamnop to the nearest hospital in Takeo province. By the time he got there the doctor had no other choice than to amputate both his legs, one below the knee, the other above. Because he also had severe malaria he was kept in hospital for two months. He told his relatives to sell all his oxen and his wife sold her gold jewellery. Between them they raised $2,500 (£1,700). It just about paid the hospital bill.

He returned to his village in a battered old wheelchair given to him by the hospital. "When I got back there was a big change in how everyone treated me," he recalls. "No one wanted to speak to me. I was shunned. Everyone treated me as a burden."

Worse than the ostracism was the mockery. The villagers gave him the cruel nickname "the Frog" because of his posture. "They said that all frogs were good for was eating." Cambodian drinkers like grilled frogs to eat while drinking alcohol. The disdain became so bad that, combined with his sense of shock at the condition in which he now found himself, he decided to kill himself. "I would have done it many times but my wife was strong and counselled me and built the strength in me."

For the first year his wife ran the farm. "All I could do was help clean the rice after the harvest and put it in sacks." But he was determined to keep on. From his wheelchair he began to plant trees – 20 mango, 15 jack fruit, 30 lemon trees. But, despite all his efforts, he could not make a success. Then, four years after the explosion which took his legs, an aid worker came to the village and suggested that he go away to a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities, to get some training. He learnt how to repair motorbikes and afterwards returned to Kamnop to set up his own one-man business.

"I had a lot of customers but they would only come to me when they had no money," he says. "They asked for credit, but they never paid the bills. They felt they could cheat me because they knew that I would not be able to catch them to get the money."

For Mr Sarin the turning point came with the arrival of workers funded by Action on Disability and Development (ADD) which is one of the charities being supported by this year's Independent Christmas Appeal. They taught him that he had rights under Cambodian law as a disabled person. ADD also offered to fund a scheme which had been germinating at the back of his mind since he first went to the training centre. "Until I went there I had never met another disabled person. I thought I must be the only one who had to live like this," he recalls. "I developed a plan to go to all the villages around Kamnop to find out whether there were other disabled people like me."

But he had lacked the confidence to set out to fulfil the plan. ADD gave him that confidence: "My son began to give me a lift on his motorbike to other villages." ADD expanded Mr Sarin's initiative and three other disabled people joined him in what it now calls the "counterpart" programme. "We now have joined up 294 disabled people in three different communes in 22 self-help groups," he says.

That work has been replicated elsewhere, thanks to ADD. The counterpart programme now reaches hundreds of disabled people – and educates local officials, teachers, council staff and community and religious leaders about the rights of disabled people. The status this has given Mr Sarin with the local authorities has rubbed off on the people in his village. "Today I am treated with respect. People have listened to me for the first time. They have begun to think what life must be like for someone with a disability. Attitudes have really changed."

Southeast Asia reflects on tsunami's anniversary

Western tourist and others gather to light candles during remembrance services at Dolphin Park on Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand, Friday, Dec. 26, 2008, on the fourth anniversary of the Asian Tsunami.More than 230,000 people were killed when the tsunami struck Dec. 26, 2004.

Dec 26, 2008
By MICHAEL CASEY, AP

BANGKOK, Thailand (Map, News) - Scientists thought it would take a decade for Southeast Asia's coral reefs to heal after 2004's deadly tsunami but they said Friday that Indonesia's reefs have bounced back with surprising speed, restoring livelihoods to countless small communities.

The findings came as communities across the Indian Ocean remembered the disaster that struck Dec. 26, 2004 with prayers, songs and tears. About 230,000 people were killed in a dozen countries when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered the tsunami.

Surveys of coral reefs after the tsunami showed that up to one-third were damaged and experts predicted it would take a decade for them to fully recover.

Scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, working with the Indonesian government and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, said their examination of 60 sites on 497 miles (800 kilometers) of coastline along Indonesia's Aceh province showed the reefs were bouncing back.

"On the 4th anniversary of the tsunami, this is a great story of ecosystem resilience and recovery," said Stuart Campbell, coordinator of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Indonesia Marine Program.

"Our scientific monitoring is showing rapid growth of young corals in areas where the tsunami caused damage, and also the return of new generations of corals in areas previously damaged by destructive fishing," Campbell said in a statement. "These findings provide new insights into coral recovery processes that can help us manage coral reefs in the face of climate change."

Healthy coral reefs are economic engines for Acehnese communities, Campbell added, supplying fish to eat and sell as well as tourism dollars from recreational diving.

The tsunami decimated coastlines across the Indian Ocean, wiping out villages, killing entire families and crippling the economies in parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The United Nations estimated that Aceh alone lost $332.4 million ($1,599/ha) from the loss of its reefs to the destructive waves.

But four years on, the multibillion dollar rebuilding process is almost complete with more than 120,000 homes built in Aceh alone and the reconstruction of tourist hotels and restaurants along Thailand's Andaman coast.

Thousands gathered Friday to celebrate the progress but to also remember the dead and reflect on a tragedy that turned their lives upside down.

"I don't think people will ever forget the tsunami. It changed a lot of people's lives," said Alisara Na-Takuatung, a local Phuket radio disc jockey who took part in a ceremony on Thailand's Patong beach attended by 200 people.

About 50 Buddhist monks prayed while school children played traditional Thai instruments.

"I know people who lost their husbands, their kids. Those people won't forget about the tsunami," she said. "They will see it as a lesson. You think about what you can do for others."

Ibrahim Musa, a 42-year-old civil servant who joined thousands in a prayer service in the hard-hit Aceh province of Indonesia, said it feels like yesterday that his family was taken by the sea.

"Even after four years, I cannot forget how I lost hold of my wife and baby," he said. "I have tried in vain to look for them for three years. Now I have no choice but to accept their departure as destiny."

Siti Hasnaini, 40, who still lives with her two sons and husband in a temporary shelter in Aceh, prayed "for my daughter who was washed away with my house."

In India, where thousands also perished, interfaith prayers and a moment of silence were held. The Sri Lankan government declared two minutes of silence for the 35,000 people killed there as well as other victims of natural disasters.

The healing trend embraced by those devastated by the tsunami has extended to the reefs with communities responding to calls to protect them from illegal fishing, pollution and coastal development.

Campbell said citizens have been particularly responsive in Aceh where fishermen have stopped using illegal techniques like dynamite and villagers have transplanted corals into areas that were hardest hit.

"The recovery, which is in part due to improved management and the direct assistance of local people, gives enormous hope that coral reefs in this remote region can return to their previous condition and provide local communities with the resources they need to prosper," Campbell said.

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a reef expert from the University of Queensland in Australia who did not take part in the study, said the findings were not surprising since corals typically will recover if not affected by fishing and coastal development.

"The mechanical damage from the tsunami left a whole bunch of shattered corals on the bottom of the sea," Hoegh-Guldberg said.

"Left alone, these things can quickly grow back into what looks like a coral reef in a short time," he said. "We are seeing similar things around the southern Great Barrier Reef where reefs that experience major catastrophe can bounce back quite quickly."

John Bruno, a reef expert from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, agreed saying it shows coral reefs are able to recover after severe disturbances.

"There has been so much bad news about coral decline lately, and the threats to corals seem to increase every year. It is important to recognize that these invaluable ecosystems are not lost," he said in an e-mail interview. "We just have to implement some common sense policies locally and substantially reduce emissions of greenhouse gases at a global scale."

Nixon's Cambodian Shock Treatment

COUNTER PUNCH

Weekend Edtion
December 26-28, 2008

"Just Bomb the Hell Out of Them"

By HOWARD LISNOFF

I recently stopped in at a Cambodian restaurant that I have been going to for many years. Although eating the food for which a particular group is known is perhaps the most superficial of ways to communicate with people, I found myself involved in small talk with the people who staffed the restaurant on this particular winter day in Providence, Rhode Island. The young men and women who staffed the business were indistinguishable from those of their peer group. They were about my children’s ages. They spoke of their families, the holiday, and their dislike for the annoying reality program that played on the television meant to “entertain” those waiting for take-out orders.

When our conversations ended, I thought of the events of long ago that propelled me to become a war resister. The incursions of Richard Nixon into Cambodia in April 1970, purportedly to stop the flow of troops and armaments traveling down the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam into South Vietnam, unleashed consequences that even Nixon could not have foreseen, but needed to avoid. National Security Archive transcripts just released relate interchanges between Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Regarding the dropping of millions of pounds of bombs on Cambodia by the U.S., Nixon responds to Kissinger: “That shock treatment [is] cracking them. I tell you the thing to do is pour it in there every place we can…just bomb the hell out of them.”

Mass demonstrations broke out spontaneously on campuses across the U.S., students were killed at both Kent and Jackson State Universities, and I decided that I had had enough and became a resister to the war. The attacks inside Cambodia weakened the government of that country and hastened the murderous regime of Pol Pot that resulted in the massacre and torture of over two million people. The governments of the world, knowing the lessons of Hitler’s Holocaust, did little or nothing to stop the carnage!

In the early 1990s I asked one of the owners of the same restaurant about a jar placed next to the cash register in the establishment that bore a label about an agency working to support relief efforts in Cambodia. The owner spoke about her family members who had been killed during the Cambodian genocide.

What is the record of superpowers and world governmental organizations coming to the aid and stopping holocausts in the contemporary era? Holocausts and genocide are not to be confused with “traditional” warfare that kills millions, but rather according to the United Nations (1948):

“any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including: (a) killing a member of the group (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (c) deliberately inflicting on the group on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Few are ever brought to justice for carrying out genocide. The history of modern holocausts, contemporary with, and just prior to, the Nazi Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews include:
Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995- 200,000 deaths; Rwanda: 1994- 800,000 deaths; Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979- 2 million deaths: Rape of Nanking: 1937-1938- 300,000 deaths; Stalin’s Forced Famine: 1932-1933- 7 million deaths; Armenians in Turkey: 1915-1918- 1.5 million deaths (The History Place, 2000).

Added to the above are the more than 400,000 deaths in Darfur cited by the Coalition for International Justice, a nongovernmental agency working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (The Washington Post, “Darfur’s Real Death Toll,” April 24, 2005). Even in the present, the fact of a holocaust seems to draw attention for a short period of time and then fades from consciousness, both personal and official. The conclusion is that humanity hasn’t become any more advanced or humane in the 21st century in dealing with international crises and wars since the barbarian hordes of the ancient world!

For many years I worked with a woman in public schools who was instrumental in finding housing in Rhode Island for refugees as they entered the U.S. from Cambodia and resettlement camps outside of Cambodia. Her work made a lot of sense to me. It seemed more practical than my resistance to the Vietnam War had been, but people do what they can given their immediate circumstances. That the world, governments, international organizations, and international laws have become little better at preventing mass murder against a particular group is of grave concern to those who value peace.

Howard Lisnoff teaches writing and is a freelance writer. He can be reached at

howielisnoff@gmail.com.

Real Estate Crunch Hits Local Banks

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 December 2008

Nearly every morning over the last few weeks, owners of construction companies around Phnom Penh have gathered at their sites, looking sadly on under-constructed homes they've been unable to sell. These investors worry constantly over how to collect the large sums they need to pay back loans they made for real estate investment.

Experts worry that this inability to repay loans on large mortgages will lead local banks into their own economic crisis, echoing the global downturn that was itself caused by the failure in part of the US housing market.

Nearly 50 percent of Cambodian real estate investors, from almost 20companies, depend heavily on borrowed money from local banks, which had until recently provided them with great benefits in a booming sector, real estate agents say. But after the global financial crisis,the price for land and houses in Cambodia fell dramatically.

Somaly, who owns a self-named company, told VOA Khmer recently she owed the banks around $500,000, which must be paid back at the end of the year. Unfortunately, she said, she can't even pay the interest,about $5,000 per month.

"A lot of houses got stuck [and] can't be sold because there are many sellers and no buyers," said Somaly, who only gave one name. "If so,how can we find the money to pay them back?"

Investors like Somaly worry that their properties will be seized by the banks if they have no money to pay the interest.

Equity loans rapidly emerged at the end of 2006, as several large commercial banks competed with each other for investors. Land prices were high and rising, and by the end of 2007, property development loans reached $100 million, according to statistics gathered by the National Bank of Cambodia.

The market slowed in 2008, with a sharp drop in the final quarter, and investors will face collection from the banks in the first four months of 2009.

"Those who used bank credit, they now have no choice," said Sung Bunna, head of the Bunna Realty Group. "That will cause our land market even more silence."

In such a climate, economists worry that banks will not only fail to collect debt but can ruin their own credit in the process, as they collect confiscated property instead of cash.

Kong Chandararoth, president of the Cambodian Institute of Economic Study and Development, said banks in Cambodia could face a financial crisis if they couldn't get their loans back in cash.

"If [investors] are not unable to pay back the banks, mortgaged property will be confiscated," he said. "So the banks will face theirown financial crisis, because what they get back is not liquid cash."

"There will be a problem," said Sam Genthy, a banking expert at the Royal University of Law and Economics and former adviser to the National Bank. "We'll wait and see what happens. If the bank can't find resources to replace their ruined credit, they will suffer."

Economists worry Cambodia's banks will suffer the same fate as US and European banks that offered up nearly 100 percent of their credit to real estate loans and are now bankrupt, despite a regulation put out by the National Bank in July that permitted only 15 percent of total credit to be loaned to real estate borrowers.

Stephen Higgins, chief executive officer for ANZ Royal bank, said his bank had been insulated from the crunch through the selection of valued customers.

"We have some loans, property development loans, but they are from very good customers who have plenty of cash flow," he said. "So for ANZ Royal bank, we don't have a problem."

However, representatives of other local banks confessed anonymously that some of their resources were already stuck with real estate loans in collection.

Tal Nay Im, general director of the National Bank of Cambodia, saidshe hasn't received any reports of crisis, but she said banks thatface market downturn difficulties will have to sort the problems forthemselves.

Should Royals Be Kept From Politics?

By Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 December 2008

The appointment of princes and princesses to positions at the Royal Palace, effectively removing them from politics while preserving the royal image, has generally been welcomed, but views differ on whether a law should be put in place to officially keep them out.

In general, many royal family members have decided to leave positions in political parties, as advised by former king Norodom Sihanouk, said Prince Norodom Sirivuth, but they should still be allowed to express their ideas for the national interest.

"I myself am delighted and congratulate seeing the royal families help the king and the monarchy with some work that is non-political," he said. "I believe for sure that the government would support this move,because royal family members should have some role to serve the nation outside of politics."

Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who had been the most politically influential royal outside his father, Norodom Sihanouk, recently recused himself from politics and was promoted by King Norodom Sihamoni to supreme adviser, with a rank equal to prime minister.

Aside from him and Norodom Sirivuth, 25 other princes and princesses have been appointed as royal advisers, said Prince Sisowath Thomico,himself an adviser to the king.

Nguon Nhil, first vice president of the National Assembly, hailed the appointments of royals away from politics as a good move, adding that the appointments were not initiated by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

"Maybe His Majesty wishes for royal family members to stay in a cycle out of politics," he said. "If they stay in politics, inevitably there will be clashes that will have an impact on the image of the monarchy."

A law defining the work of royals and the expenses for their work was not unreasonable, he said, as the number of appointments was increasing.

Hun Sen has already said he would support a law to bar royals from politics, Nguon Nhil said.

"If there is no clearly defined law, they could become a group practicing politics from within the Royal Palace," he said. "There should be something to define them, with such a definition to prevent princes and princesses from politicking, which could damage the images of the Sisowath and Norodom bloodlines."

Sisowath Thomico said the appointments did not mean that royals would stop serving the nation through other initiatives that were not directly competitive with politics. This natural turning point was better than creating a prohibition, which would run counter to a constitution that guarantees each citizen the right to political involvement, he said. Such a law would also be a waste of human resources, he added, as many royals have high levels of education.

"The present leaders of the nation should give a clear definition of what politics are," he said. "If royal family members take leadership roles in activities in culture, health, education and humanitarianism,are they practicing politics? If the government doesn't want us to do anything, they can just open a museum and put all the royal family members into it and just sell tickets."

Sok Sam Oeun, executive director for Cambodian Defenders Project, said creating a law to ban any group of people from politics would be unconstitutional. "It would be better to find a solution other than creating such a law," he said. "Another solution would demonstrate that our country is continuing on the path of liberal democracy."

Sisowath Thomico, meanwhile, said history showed that when Cambodiawas invaded by foreign countries, or underwent some kind of chaos, itwas the royal family, representing national unity and hope, that wasmost popular. That was not the case, he said, in a time of independence and peace.

Vietnam Donates Khmer Rouge Films

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 December 2008

The Vietnamese government has agreed to hand over 16 documentary films about the Khmer Rouge to the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which help in the prosecution of leaders of the regime, officials said Friday.

The film donation marked a first among Asean countries in aiding the tribunal, which is preparing for the first trial of five jailed leaders in early 2009.

The films, which include English and Khmer language, were shot by Vietnamese soldiers between 1977 and 1982 and document several aspects of the regime: conditions for children, criminal evidence against Pol Pot in Prey Veng province, Tuol Sleng in 1979, the treatment of foreigners and the killing of Vietnamese nationals in Vietnam's Tai Ninh province.

"This is an indictment of war crimes," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center, as he prepared to travel to Hanoi Friday to pick up the films. "These documents are very important. They show a step forward in what was a clash between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese troops. And some of the documentaries are related to information that can serve as evidence that has not been use or analyzed yet."

Ethnic Vietnamese suffered heavily under the Khmer Rouge, and hundreds were killed in Tuol Sleng, the prison headed by Duch, who is scheduled to be the first leader of the regime to face trial.

"I think these documents will serve for research on the genocide of the past," said Trinh Ba Cam, a spokesman for the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh.

He did not comment on the reason behind the donation, but Youk Chhang said Friday it was likely due to the killings of Vietnamese soldiers and residents, as well as the independent nature of his documentation center.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said the films were "valuable for theevolution" of the courts, which have already used many of thedocuments gathered by Youk Chhang and his researchers over more theyears.

Pope: Christmas Greetings for the World Over

AssociatedPress

After reading a litany of the world's woes, Pope Benedict XVI added a lighter touch, reciting holiday greetings in 64 languages, including Latin, the Church's official tongue. (Dec. 25)

Queen Elizabeth II Gives Somber Christmas Broadcast

AssociatedPress

Queen Elizabeth II has delivered a somber Christmas broadcast, acknowledging the economic crisis and calling for people to show courage. (Dec. 25)

King Sihanouk: Ex-Cambodian king fighting cancer

In this Sep. 2, 2006 file photo, Cambodia's retired king Norodom Sihaouk, right, and former queen Monineath, left, greet well-wishers on their departure for China at the Phnom Penh International Airport, Cambodia. Sihanouk is fighting his third bout with cancer but is optimistic he will recover and return to his homeland from China, according to a message dated Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008 on his Web site.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

In this Sep. 2, 2006, file photo, retired Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk greets well-wishers before his departure for China from Phnom Penh International Airport, Cambodia. Sihanouk is fighting his third bout with cancer but is optimistic he will recover and return to his homeland from China, according to a message dated Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008 on his Web site.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

Cambodia Is Not on the List of 27 Countries Receiving Drugs Against the Drug Resistant Most Serious Tuberculosis of the World - Friday, 26.12.2008

Posted on 26 December 2008

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 592

“Phnom Penh: The director of th the National Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control said that Cambodia is excluded from a list of 27 countries of the world with cases of drug resistance related to the most serious tuberculosis, but there are 30 people dying quietly per day in this country.

“The director of the National Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control, and an advisor of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Mao Tan Ieng, telling state and private service providers during a workshop on Thursday morning that, according a new report of the World Health Organization, 27 countries of the world with high numbers of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis, Cambodia is not among those countries.

“He added, ‘Tuberculosis drug resistance is most devastating; it kills human quietly.’

“He went on to say that in Cambodia, there are between 1.2% and 1.3% of the patients that have drug-resistant tuberculosis, and around 5 to 6 people get infected by tuberculosis per day. At present, 50 to 60 patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis are receiving treatment, and there is still medicine left for curing 100 patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis. He said also that per year, Cambodia has between 400 and 500 patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis.

“He continued to say that drugs to treat a [normal] tuberculosis patient costs US$20 to US$30, while drugs for a drug resistant patient are US$5,000, when the drug is bought from specific organizations. If the national program and the government want to buy it from this chanel, they have to get the permission from the Green Light Committee in Geneva/Switzerland. If one buys from the outside, around US$30,000 are needed to be spent to buy drugs for a patient with drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Note:

As the article does not mention why Cambodia is not on the list of the Green Light Committee - whether it applied and was rejected, or whatever may be the reasons - we quote here from a document of this organization.
One point seems to be crucial: To receive Green Light Committee support, it is necessary to have a strict control of the procedures to apply the drugs - because otherwise the sickness will become more severe.

“SUMMARY

“Controlling multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is one of the six components of the WHO Stop TB strategy

“Although prevention must be the highest priority for TB control programs, many countries have patients with drug-resistant TB who must be treated too. Such countries should take specific measures to gradually incorporate appropriate strategies for treatment of this form of tuberculosis into their tuberculosis into their Misuse of second-line anti-TB drugs results in further resistance to these same second-line drugs, creating incurable forms of tuberculosis
“It is imperative that second-line anti-TB drugs are used wisely.

“The WHO Guidelines For The Programmatic Management Of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines) provide recommendations for appropriate management of drug-resistant TB so as not to generate further drug resistance. To help programs develop and implement strategies for the management of drug-resistant TB, the Green-Light-Committee for Access to Second-line Anti-tuberculosis Drugs (Green Light Committee) was created by the WHO and its partners in January 2000.

“The Green Light Committee consists of six to seven experts in programmatic, scientific, clinical, and microbiological aspects of TB that serve the WHO in an advisory capacity. The Committee is responsible for reviewing applications,evaluating proposed projects,assisting applicants,monitoring approved projects, and contributing to the evidence base for the programmatic management of drug-resistant TB. Each individual and his/her alternate represent a leading public health institution active in TB control internationally. Each institution is allowed one vote, and the Green Light Committee freely consults outside experts as needed. All members are required to adhere to rules of conflict of interest and confidentiality and, thus, are recused for voting onapplications from projects with which they have or had a direct relation.”

“Treatment takes from 18 months to 2 years, while treating normal tuberculosis takes only 6 months.

“According to the National Tuberculosis Control Program, since the start of cooperation between state and private services from May 2005 up to the present, the program has been expanded to 11 provinces and cities covering 36 operational districts among the 77 districts of the 24 provinces and cities.

“Aiming at effient cooperation between the state and the private services to encourage research about and treatment for tuberculosis patients, Dr. Mao Tan Ieng said that in early December, Ms. Monica from the Green Light Committee in Geneva assessed the cooperation and found good results and some inactive program problems that need to be solved.

“An official of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) associated with the National Tuberculosis Control Program, Dr. Nishiyama, said that JICA supports the cooperation between state and private services that are cooperating to send suspected tuberculosis affected people to be checked and treated with public services of the state.

“He added, ‘Some patients go to discuss with private services, which have a very crucial role to find suspected people and send them to receive state services, so that all Cambodian citizens have good health.

“A Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health, a pharmacist, Mr. Yim Yan, said that tuberculosis infection is very high hazard. Therefore, the Ministry of Health created a policy to link state and private services. He continued to say that we see progress which demands more efforts, and problems faced that we will solve in this workshop.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4778, 26.12.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Friday, 26 December 2008

Cambodia's Former King Has Cancer For Third Time - Web Site

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP)--Cambodia's former king Norodom Sihanouk has been diagnosed with cancer a third time, according to a message posted on his Web site.

The 86-year-old, who left for Beijing in July to receive medical treatment for another illness, wrote on Thursday that his Chinese doctors had found a new cancer, but he didn't disclose where it was.

Sihanouk has suffered from a number of ailments, including cancer, diabetes and hypertension.

Despite giving up his role as monarch, he remains a prominent figure in Cambodia who often uses messages to weigh in on matters affecting the country.

In his latest message he said the doctors, who had treated his two previous cancers, were optimistic about his treatment, saying the "current one is situated in a part of my body which will allow relatively simpler and easier treatment."

In another letter marked "confidential" but also posted on his Web site, the former king said his planned return to Cambodia in February would be delayed for treatment.

He said he will return when "my eminent (Chinese) doctors shall have healed me."

Sihanouk was first diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma, a cancer affecting blood cells crucial to the immune system, in 1993.

The cancer began in his prostate, and recurred in 2005 in his stomach.

Earlier this month Sihanouk said his health was deteriorating and hinted that he believed he didn't have long to live.

BBC drama aims to educate

Photo by: Photo Supplied

Scenes from the film The Village Nurse’s Charms.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Christopher Shay
Friday, 26 December 2008

The Village Nurse's Charms employs a compelling love story to provide viewers with useful tips on how to prevent malaria in Cambodia's rural areas

THE BBC World Service Trust released a 30-minute drama last week called The Village Nurse's Charms, which is aimed at educating Cambodians on how to better protect themselves against malaria.

In the short film, Samphors - a beautiful young nurse - returns to her village and finds herself caught in a love triangle between an ice cream salesman-malaria health volunteer and a handsome young actor. In order to compete for the love of Samphors, the smitten health volunteer will need to prove himself worthy. And, surely, his knowledge of malaria prevention will come in handy.

Entertaining education

"[The film] is very entertaining. It's important to create characters that people can relate to. It's not too dry and technical," said Vanessa Johanson, head of the project.

The film is part of a two-year project by the BBC World Service Trust that started in early 2008 and includes TV and radio spots aimed at educating Cambodians about malaria prevention.

Though none of the malaria-specific TV spots have run yet, prior BBC World Service projects designed to raise awareness about HIV and human trafficking have been deemed successful, according to Johanson.

One reason for Johanson's optimism about the project is the incorporation of audience research that has allowed the project to target specific knowledge gaps in malaria prevention.

"Our research has shown that there was a high usage of bed nets but not a high usage of treated bed nets, which are much more effective, and that's just one example," she said.

The film also focuses on teaching Cambodians that pregnant women and young children have low immunity to the disease and about the importance of taking a full course of unexpired medicines while avoiding dangerous cocktails of drugs.

Johanson said she hopes the film's theme song, "The Malaria Song", will prove to be a useful vehicle for education.

" [the film] is very entertaining ... it’s not dry and technical. "

Spreading the message

The film will be broadcast nationally seven times on TV5 and Bayon TV from March to May next year, just as Cambodia moves towards the wet season when anti-malarial measures are particularly important.

The film will also be distributed heavily in a workshop environment in Pailin, Battambang and Preah Vihear - provinces with high malaria rates - through provincial village health workers from the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control.

Johanson expects people to learn how to take steps to prevent malaria while at the same time thoroughly enjoying the first-of-its-kind film.

"To my knowledge, there has never been a drama focused on fighting malaria before, so this is a very exciting time," she said.

Malaria is found throughout Cambodia, except in Phnom Penh and Tonle Sap lake region, experts say.

About 262,000 Cambodians are diagnosed with malaria each year, according to 2006 statistics from the World Health Organisation. Pregnant women, small children and men who work in the forests are particularly at risk.

Indian company eyes local pharmacy plant

Photo by: Tracey Shelton

A local pharmacist displays an assortment of imported medications. Many drugs on Cambodian shelves are imported knockoffs.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Kunmakara
Friday, 26 December 2008

The company hopes that producing high-quality pharmaceuticals in country will cut demand for counterfeit medicines imported from abroad

AN Indian investment group has tabled a plan at the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce to recruit private partners to build a new pharmaceuticals manufacturing plant in Cambodia, the body's director general, Nguon Ming Tech, told the Post.

He did not identify the investors but said they were prepared to devote up to US$1 million to the new facility in a push to curb counterfeit drugs in Cambodia.

"They are interested in this sector because they don't want to see Cambodia rely on imported drugs," Nguon Ming Tech said.

"Thousands of pharmacies in the country offer imported medicine, much of which is counterfeit."

Yim Yann, president of the Pharmacists Association of Cambodia, said Cambodia has about 1,000 registered pharmacies, with an additional 1,000 pharmacies operating illegally.

"I think a new pharmaceuticals factory will bring new technology to Cambodia and will be able to take advantage of local resources," he said.

"Presently, there are only seven local pharmaceutical factories, which can produce only basic medicine and which serves only about 20 percent of the population."

"A new factory must be able to produce specialised drugs. Otherwise, it will be of little use to us," Yim Yann said, adding that Cambodia spends nearly $100 million on specialised medicines each year.

Nguon Ming Tech said India is a leader in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and that a facility to produce drugs locally would represent a significant developmental step for the country.

"The Cambodian Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the investment plan because it will improve health care in the country by allowing the production of locally made and safe medicines," he said.

"The Indian investment group wants to establish a partnership with local business people, and we are waiting to see their official proposal. Now, we are only helping to facilitate negotiations with relevant government ministries," he said.

Health Minister Mam Bun Heng said on Sunday that he welcomed investment in the pharmaceuticals sector but warned that any such plan must comply with foreign investment rules.

He said many kinds of medicines are available across the nation but acknowledged the benefits of a local manufacturing plant.

"If the proposed factory can produce specialised medicine for the treatment of heart and lung disease, cancer and liver ailments ... this would be very crucial for our country," he said.

He said curbing drug counterfeiting remains a priority for the Health Ministry.

China moves to make yuan global currency news

domain-b.com

26 December 2008

Armed with a staggering $1,89 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, the Chinese government announced the first step towards making the yuan, its currency, an international currency, by allowing it to be used as a mode of payment in business deals with some neighboring countries. The move would also curb the effect of the volatility of the dollar on trade settlements.

With trade settlements being done mainly with the dollar and also the euro, the yuan, currently not a freely convertible currency, this pilot project will be first tested by allowing the yuan to be used to settle trade payments between the delta regions of China's Pearl and Yangtze rivers and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Yunnan province will be allowed to use the yuan to settle trade payments with ASEAN countries like Thailand, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam and Indonesia.

However, the Chinese government did not specify how and when the pilot project would start.

The recession in the US, Japan and many EU nations, led to decline of China's exports declined by 2.2 per cent in November, the first decline in more than seven years. Chin now plans to boost its sagging export sector by allowing the yuan to settle trade payments with neighboring countries along with a series of other measures.

After a meeting of China's State Council yesterday, the cabinet released a document announcing a raft of more measures to encourage domestic spending by doling out more subsidies for buying household appliances and other merchandise to the rural people and increasing the number of stores and distribution centres in the hinterland.

The government will also renovate the urban food markets, provide more variety of goods, build new second-hand markets, encourage distribution companies to merge and consolidate by giving them more incentives, and shore up small and medium-sized business.

Export tax rebates for high-technology products will be hiked, foreign investment will be encouraged and lower the inspection fee for exports.

As ASEAN countries, Hong Kong and Macau constitute 20 per cent of mainland China's total trade volume and has reached $402.7 billion last year, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the central bank said last month that trade settlements using the dollar is not feasible due to the high volatility of the dollar and once the yuan is accepted in Asia, then it would be easier for China to make the yuan an international currency in the future.

In its effort to boost the appeal of the yuan among other countries as a currency to hold as foreign exchange reserves, China had already signed trade settlement agreements with Mongolia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Russia among others to voluntarily use the yuan as a currency of choice to settle trade payments and had let Chinese banks issue yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong earlier this year.

With China's foreign exchange reserves rising at a rapid pace and standing at $1.89 trillion, the yuan had been getting greater acceptance from its neighbours in recent years and there has been many Chinese economist who were advocating making the yuan an international currency, with the weakening dollar having caused a decline in China's foreign exchange reserves.

China is now looking towards expanding the yuan to other financial markets by make the yuan fully convertible and giving yuan holder's investment channels and also allow the currency to enter the country freely for investment in stock or real estate.

Some Chinese experts are hesitant on fully converting the yuan citing the Asian crisis of 1998 where the country came unscathed because the yuan was not fully convertible under capital accounts and was also the main reason why it has not been affected fully in the current global financial crisis.They also believe that by liberalizing the fund flow, the economy will be susceptible during regional or global economic crisis.

Travel: Ambel Surprise

2008-12-26 16:56

Sre Ambel, Cambodia, has become a memory I hope to retrieve some day. It’s name is washed-out in the limelight of its popular surroundings such as the Cardamom Mountains and the more distant neighbour Sihanoukville. Contrary to travel descriptions of the place, I have found my stay there nothing but friendly, an adjective still too weak to justify the people’s warmth and graciousness.

Two college friends and I spent three days there, though not much in retrospect. These were the days that saved our backpacking trip to Thailand and Cambodia from being just another guidebook travel – to me a kind that has created a touch-see-and-leave image, the drunken, often over-exposed dressing and sometimes boisterous mass. Exciting nonetheless. At times it seemed a ‘lonely’ travel experience, set apart from the country’s people I was visiting and it got Very lonely when I walked down Kao San or visited convenient suggestions. Conscience pinched at the thought of being part of those able to travel the region “on a shoestring” when others were trying to live. I felt as if I was gawking at my surroundings. In this midst, Sre Ambel came to be a surprising engagement.

With gratitude to a study-service trip our college organized, two of our college-mates had been posted at a peace-based NGO in Sre Ambel for a month. We heard about it and were determined to get there despite travel guides’ unfamiliarity with it. In the end, quite expectedly, if you spoke in the “dallah” (USD) you’d get a ride. If not, you better be Cambodian. Speaking the “dallah” we arrived at the NGO and managed to receive an invitation to sleep on the porch. Those two volunteers were indeed well-behaved forerunners to our arrival.

We ventured the long stretch of red gravel and visited the market. An austere restaurant provided us with dinner, and it was a culinary experience I couldn’t forget. With my broken and freshly learnt Khmer, I tried to make orders and exposed the fact I wasn’t my companions’ interpreter; I too was a tourist. The owner invited me into the kitchen where my somewhat Chinese-ness aided in the knowledge of ‘strange foods’. At least I could play a food guide to the bamboo shoots and the satay sold outside that I was certain smelled like genuine marinade of asam jawa and kicap manis. Everything, everthing, proved delicious.

For dessert, it was a stop at what looked like an English shop. They sold English to a bunch of students and two monks seated on the benches. A big black board stood in the front, creating the teacher’s backdrop and a divider that separated the class from the prayer altar. Peeping in, we were spotted and my companions were found to be Americans. “Ah, they speak the Original English”, like the fried chicken I thought. My degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and art were revealed and thus the public questioning began for conversational purposes. Later, I was asked to teach in the remaining time. It turned out to be a lovely post-meal event, and we were invited the next day to which we agreed.

In our full day there we met another employee, whom I spent a day with. She was a lady just two years older than me and knew a significantly more English than I did with Khmer. My phrase dictionary became the mediator while mutual patience to befriend beyond spoken words broke the ice and bonded a friendship. She became a kakak. Never have I had so much meaningful time not talking all that much, chit-chatting through motions and the few words, going on her motor and being taken arm in arm through the aisles of the wet-market to buy mee soup, local style. Later we also met a mother and child who sat around but not in the stance of waiting; the guard on his motorbike plucked the stubble of his beard, one by one. All of us became lounging friends and the little boy a smiling playmate. The town air had a lovely sense of timeless-ness while we feasted on watermelon, boiled corn and fruits from the trees in the garden.

After the evening class we received an invitation to the teacher’s house, where we used games to communicate. I had wondered if they knew how to play batu seremban and as guessed, they did. We proceeded to teach my American friend. By that time the adults had made a fence around us, amused at both how a Malaysian could look like them, and at this mat salleh playing such games. One of the students, S__ whom I had talked the most to in class lives next door and invited us for dinner. I asked to help in the kitchen and got a whole session that puts Anthony Bourdain’s ratings in my book, very low. Preparing a meal was sibling event I gratefully participated in. We stirred, chopped, fanned the flames and practiced pronouncing food nouns in both English and Khmer. S__ had trouble with “soogar” and I, with how they said ‘oil’ – something impossible to phonetically translate. Her mom went on to play American karaoke videos that our American friend had never heard of. Cautious to prevent overstaying their kindness that offered a place to sleep, we made our way out in the dark. That night I saw what I had read about in the Bible – the poor lady that gave all her coins though amounting to less than a fraction given by the rich.

S__ then tied a homemade bracelet around my wrist before we left. I had to restrain tears as she said “Thank you. I feel very happy tonight”.

I acquired the teacher’s contact in hope one day my travels will mean to live in a place for a committed time, perhaps in Sre Ambel itself. I’ve come to ask what does traveling mean? More so how will I choose to travel from now on especially when thinking what the backpacking spots in this region, more so in a ‘West meets East’ situation, tend to carry. What is the “Lonely Planet” intended to mean? Why ‘Lonely’? What does it mean to backpack? A noun so strong, now also a verb. To travel light; to travel cheap? Descriptions are constantly changing as the paradigm of travel is, joining in the momentum of the Wheelers (founders of the Lonely Planet) and globalization. With all the factors it comprised how we travel, how much and especially Who travels are put in place according to leisure time and relative wealth. Tourism is celebrated economically, yet is also suspiciously viewed in what additions it might bring into a locale. How does one become a ‘backpacker’ that would fulfill what the Wheelers consider “Responsible Travel”? And to more importantly fulfill what it means to be caretakers of the earth and to love one another. I would like my travels to be more than a mere touch-see-and-leave because that would be lonely. Perhaps in approaching the question of travel is to explore the conditions of life. At least for now, I’d want to embrace the courtesy of engagement in any travel I make.

(By MIRIAM LOH/ MySinchew)

She is a recent graduate involved in teaching and learning of new languages and art.
MySinchew 2008.12.26

Indian investor plans to open pharmaceutical plant in Cambodia

The Hindu

Friday, December 26, 2008

PHNOM PENH, (Xinhua): An Indian investment group has tabled a plan at the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce to recruit private partners to build a new pharmaceutics manufacturing plant in the kingdom, national media said on Friday.

The investors prepared to devote some 1 million U.S. dollars to the new facility in a push to help curb counterfeit drugs in Cambodia, said English-language newspaper the Phnom Penh Post.
"They are interested in this sector because they don't want to see Cambodia rely on imported drugs," said Nguon Ming Tech, the group's local representative.

Yim Yann, president of the Pharmacists Association of Cambodia (PAC), said that "a new pharmaceutical factory will bring new technology to Cambodia and will be able to take advantage of local resources."

"Thousands of pharmacies in the country offer imported medicine, much of which is counterfeit," he added.

Cambodia has about 1,000 registered pharmacies, with an additional 1,000 pharmacies operating illegally, according to PAC.

Ex-Cambodian king fighting cancer

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Cambodia's former King Norodom Sihanouk is fighting his third bout with cancer but is optimistic he will recover and return to his homeland from China, according to a message on his Web site.

The 86-year-old Sihanouk, in a statement dated Wednesday, said he was being treated by Chinese doctors in Beijing for lymphoma B cancer and would not return to Cambodia as planned in February.

Sihanouk, a dominant figure in Cambodian politics for six decades, abdicated in 2004, citing poor health. He was succeeded by one of his sons, Norodom Sihamoni, and has since spent much of his time in China.

In recent years, he has suffered from a number of ailments, including colon cancer, diabetes, hypertension and two strokes.

Sihanouk is also one of the world's great survivors having lived through wars, the Khmer Rouge terror and fierce political struggles beginning with his quest for independence from France in the early 1950s.

On the Web site, Sihanouk said he would return to Cambodia several months after his scheduled arrival when he was well again. He successfully battled two earlier bouts with the disease.
"In this regard, they (doctors) are optimistic," he wrote.

___

On the Net:
http://www.norodomsihanouk.info,

Palm Springs man helping to clear Cambodia of explosives

Bill Morse, who helped set up the Landmine Relief Fund in Cambodia, holds a Cambodian sign telling people to stay away from land mines. Morse used to own a marketing and sales consulting business, but now focuses his efforts on helping to clear land mines. (Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun)

Stefanie Frith • The Desert Sun • December 26, 2008

The humidity is intense. More than 80 percent, on top of the 90-degree weather. He uses a kroma — a thin scarf — to wipe the sweat out of his blue eyes and over his closely cropped gray hair. He carries rice, water, Spam, Cup of Noodles, coffee and tea on his back. Maybe tonight there will be something else to eat with it other than rat.

Ahead of him in the Cambodian jungle, one of the metal detectors goes off with a “wow, wow” sound. A land mine has been found. Palm Springs resident Bill Morse never thought he would be running a charity to help clear the unexploded bombs and land mines in Cambodia.

Read Bill Morse's mydesert.com blog about his work in Cambodia.

He owned a marketing and sales consulting business, which he closed last year to focus his efforts in Cambodia. Now he spends up to eight months a year working in Cambodia, in the Landmine Relief Fund office or in the jungle, clearing land mines, eating whatever he can catch, and sleeping in huts or on the ground.

“There is a perception that Cambodia is handling it,” Morse said recently, sitting in his living room, surrounded by artifacts from his trips around the world. “Our objective is to clear land mines in low-priority villages.”

The land mines and bombs are from when the United States infiltrated the country and when the Khmer Rouge was in power in the 1970s, Morse said.

More than 500 people were injured from exploding land mines in Cambodia last year, Morse said. An estimated one in every 250 Cambodians has been injured since the 1980s, he said.
Finding Aki Ra

Five years ago, Morse traveled to Cambodia. He had heard of a man named Aki Ra from a friend who had raised money to buy him a metal detector so he didn't have to search for land mines by hand.

Aki Ra has cleared 50,000 land mines — and still has all his limbs. By age 5, he was orphaned. By age 10, he was fighting with the Khmer army, laying the land mines he would later seek to eliminate. When he was a soldier, he could lay 1,000 land mines a day. “Nobody kept a record,” Morse said.

He survived the genocide that killed 1.7 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979 — more than 20 percent of the country's population, according to Yale University's Cambodia Genocide Program.

It wasn't easy finding Aki Ra. He ran a land mine museum on a dirt road, but the hotel concierge either didn't know of it, or wouldn't tell Morse where it was. When he did find him, Morse said he was overwhelmed by this man, and knew he had to help.

Morse not only set up the Landmine Relief Fund and became its director, but he returned to Cambodia to help Aki Ra with international certification. He joined Aki Ra in the jungle, hunted for meals as they looked for land mines, and stood by his side as he located them in the ground.

“You dig the hole at an angle, so if you hit the land mine, you hit it on the side,” Morse said.

Land mines were never designed to kill, said Morse, who spent a year in the U.S. Army. Injuring people was more effective in the war — as the injured had to be carried by at least two people. This is not to say the mines haven't killed.

Recently, Aki Ra was clearing land mines in a village when the government ordered him to stop. Shortly after, five people were killed when their truck went over one.

Morse spends several months a year in Cambodia, working in the Landmine Relief Fund office and in the jungle with Aki Ra and a five-member crew. When land mines are found, the area is roped off and the devices are blown up. Morse said he used to stand next to Aki Ra as he did his work.

Now, with recent government accreditation, Morse said he goes into the area last and documents what the team does. It takes a team of five to clear the mines — four people are needed to carry a stretcher — he said.

There are several land mine clearing organizations in Cambodia. The issue gained prominence when Princess Diana campaigned for the clearing of devices. There are also several groups affiliated with the cause. Project Enlighten provides educational opportunities for children in Cambodia, including those living at the Landmine Museum run by Aki Ra.

Project Enlighten Founder Asad Rahman knows Morse well and said he is one of the “most honest and driven men” with whom he has worked.

“His vision and passion to help eradicate the land mine issue is unparalleled. He is a saint,” Rahman wrote in an e-mail from Laos to The Desert Sun.

Morse only wishes he could do more. Donations have dribbled recently and he said he would like to have a celebrity step in as a spokesperson to help gain publicity for the cause.

He wants to raise $45,000 to put another team of five into the Cambodian jungles. “I couldn't think of a better way to spend my money and my time. We are going after the stuff we left there. I'm (just) a janitor.”

Cambodia faces problems enforced new sex trafficking law

Prostitutes wait for business outside a bottom-end brothel in Phnom Penh. The Cambodian government began prosecuting a new "Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation" in February after years of pressure from the United States to clamp down on sex trafficking

Cambodian sex workers in Phnom Penh. Chantha says there was nothing else she could do in Cambodia but become a prostitute

by Kounila Keo – Thu Dec 25,

PHNOM PENH (AFP) –Chantha said there was nothing else she could do in Cambodia but become a prostitute.

"If you don't even have a dollar in your pocket to buy rice, how can you bear looking at your starving relatives?" she said.

"You do whatever to survive, until you start to realize the consequence of your deeds."

Chanta, in her early twenties, was working in a small red-light district west of the capital Phnom Penh several months ago when she was arrested under Cambodia's new sex-trafficking law.

Police nabbed her in a raid and charged her with publicly soliciting sex, fining her nearly two dollars. Then, Chanta claims, the arresting officers gang raped and beat her for six days in detention.

Bruises covered her body, but none of her assailants were brought to court, she said.

The Cambodian government began prosecuting a new "Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation" in February after years of pressure from the United States to clamp down on sex trafficking.

Since then, authorities have conducted brothel raids and street sweeps, but rights groups complain the new law has in many ways worsened the exploitation of women.

"The law allows police of all levels to arrest and punish sex workers," said Naly Pilorge, director of local human rights group Licadho.

"The sex workers are arrested to police stations and rehabilitation centres and then they are abused."

More than 500 women were arrested for soliciting sex in the first nine months of 2008, according to anti-trafficking organisation Afesip, with many of them forced into rehabilitation centres.

Rights groups say the new law makes women easier prey for traffickers, and could increase rates of sexually-transmitted infections as prostitutes stop carrying condoms out of fear they will be used as evidence against them.

They also allege that detainees are regularly abused at the two rehabilitation centres controlled by Cambodia's ministry of social affairs, Prey Speu and Koh Kor.

Koh Kor has the added grim reputation of being on an island which was the site of a prison and execution camp under Cambodia's murderous 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime.

Despite Chanta and others testifying to instances of rape, beatings and extortion at the hands of police in the rehabilitation centres, authorities have repeatedly denied the abuses.

Major General Bith Kimhong, director of the interior ministry's anti-trafficking department, said he does not believe anyone has been abused under the new law because he has received no complaints from victims.

More than 100 people were arrested this year, as human trafficking prosecutions increased by 50 percent, Bith Kimhong said.

The raids on brothels and streetwalkers proved a commitment by the government to end sex trafficking, he said, vowing they would continue.

"We'll continue to cooperate with local authorities to enforce the law," Bith Kimhong said.

The new law is one of several moves by the Cambodian government over the past year to show that it is cracking down on sexual exploitation.

In March it imposed ban on foreign marriages amid concerns of an explosion in the number of brokered unions involving South Korean men and poor Cambodian women, many of whom were allegedly being set up for sex slavery.

There have also been a string of arrests of alleged foreign paedophiles, as Cambodia seeks to demonstrate sex tourists are not welcome.

Pich Socheata, deputy governor of one Phnom Penh district, leads "clean-ups" of prostitution on the streets but said she empathizes with sex workers.

"They are female and I am too, so I do understand no girls want to do that job. But we are only practising law," she said.

But Keo Tha, a staff member at sex workers' rights group the Women's Network for Unity, says many more Cambodian women are still being forced into prostitution as jobs dry up amid the global financial crisis.

A more sensible law, she said, would legalise prostitution.

"We are sandwiched right now -- we are oppressed by the police, the law and rising living costs," she said.

Crackdown on Poipet touts

Photo by: Tracey Shelton

Poipet Deputy Tourist Police Chief Prum Chandy says after recent complaints, his department has targeted tourist harassment.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Kunmakara
Friday, 26 December 2008

Tourism Ministry issues new guidelines for tour operators

CAMBODIA'S Tourism Ministry this week reached an agreement it hopes will end aggressive tactics by private tour operators at the Poipet border checkpoint that have tarnished the Kingdom's image and led to complaints by tourists.

Problems first arose in late November after political unrest in Bangkok led to the closure of Thailand's two principal airports, increasing the number of tourists passing through the Poipet checkpoint by more than 11 percent, said Chhung Lim, director of the Tourism Bureau in Banteay Meanchey.

The increase in border traffic led to rival tour operators fighting for business, which escalated earlier this month with tourists being shouted at, having their luggage snatched from them and being forced into vehicles by five competing tour companies, border officials told local media at the time.

Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the new agreement would require private tour companies to operate on a fixed schedule that would eliminate unruly competition for clients and provide transparent fares and fixed visa prices in US dollars.

"I have offered them a schedule whereby tour associations work in shifts - one per day - to avoid problems and improve their image among foreign tourists," he said.

Prum Chandy, deputy chief of the Poipet Tourist Police, said he has seen tourist security and services increase dramatically in his three years of service, and complaints from tourists overall have decreased nearly 95 percent.

The frequency of the once daily complaints of pickpockets, visa and money changing scams, as well as hassles from transport companies, have dropped to an average of less than one per month, he claimed.

But Prum Chandy said the increase of tourists in late November posed a threat to safety and order at the crossing, so his department has been working with immigration police to get rid of pickpockets and the forceful tactics of private tourism companies.

"We completely cracked down 100 percent," he said. "This doesn't happen anymore."

Groups seek freedom for labour killers

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Christopher Shay and Cheang Sokha
Friday, 26 December 2008

Advocates say Chea Vichea's murderers were framed, seek Supreme Court dismissal

THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Amnesty International have demanded the release of two men convicted of murdering outspoken union leader Chea Vichea, ahead of their final appeal before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The groups urged the court to impartially consider the evidence against Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, who are widely believed by human rights advocates to have been framed for the crime.

Chea Vichea was assassinated in broad daylight in Phnom Penh in January 2004.

Six days later, police arrested Sok Sam Oeun and Born Samnang. Despite a lack of evidence, the men were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Amnesty has demanded that the Supreme Court dismiss the case, saying in a statement: "In view of the human rights violations perpetrated during their detention and trial ... [a dismissal] is the only fair and just outcome for this case".

An ILO report from the Switzerland-based Freedom of Association Committee also blasted the Kingdom's judiciary as "unable to exercise its functions in an impartial and independent manner" and said that the "emerging climate of impunity cannot effectively be remedied without first addressing this underlying problem".

International NGOs, as well as Chea Vichea's family, saw the hearing as an opportunity for Cambodia to prove to the world that it has taken steps towards establishing a truly independent judiciary.

Sara Colm at Human Rights Watch said that a dismissal "would put Cambodia's judiciary on the road to international recognition that it could be unbiased and fair".

Chea Vichea's brother, Chea Mony, also said he hoped the two men would be freed. "Otherwise, it would bring shame from the international community.

"The Supreme Court's mandate was to review the court proceedings at the municipal and appeal court levels, and Colm said that even a cursory glance at the case will reveal "a prime example of a miscarriage of justice in Cambodia".

For example, the prosecutor relied on a confession from Born Samnang that rights group Licadho says was extracted under torture.

Doctors see spike in TB rate

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Bith Se, a 36-year-old tuberculosis patient, receives medicine Wednesday at the National Centre for Turberculosis and Leprosy Control in Phnom Penh.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Khoun Leakhana and Mom Kunthear
Friday, 26 December 2008

Doctors disagree whether the increase in tuberculosis cases means more people are seeking help or more are becoming infected with the disease

THE number of tuberculosis patients in Cambodia has jumped five percent since last year, with 28,000 cases in the last nine months of 2008, said Dr Mao Tan Eang, the director of the National Centre for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control.

While some doctors say this spike is the result of a successful campaign to treat people who would not otherwise have sought medical care, others simply say the epidemic is growing.

Health professionals, however, can agree that seeking proper medical treatment for tuberculosis is more important now than ever.

"We are very happy with this number because it follows a new strategy to find more patients," Mao Tan Eang said. "When we find more patients, we can give them medicine and reduce the spread of the disease."

Mao Tan Eang says Cambodia is well-equipped to fight tuberculosis for years into the future.

"We have enough tuberculosis medicine in our warehouse to support patients for two years, and we have the funds to buy the medicine for three or four years after that," he said.

But Dr Leng Saroeung, the head of the Tuberculosis Department at Ang Roka Hospital in Takeo province, told the Post, "The national anti-tuberculosis program has reported a remarkable increase [in cases] and that makes us worried".

"We have conducted careful research that has shown us that the number of people who are affected by tuberculosis has increased," he said.

" Resistance can happen when patients use inappropriate medicines. "

As the number of tuberculosis cases increases, so has the number of drug-resistant patients. The threat of resistant tuberculosis further underscores the importance of seeking professional medical help.

"Sometimes resistance can happen when patients use inappropriate medicines from private clinics or stop taking medicines in the middle of the treatment," he said.

Ros Samart, 47, who has had tuberculosis for almost a year, stressed the importance of hospital care.

"I didn't know I had tuberculosis, so I bought the medicines near my house, but I did not recover," he said. "I have been at the hospital for more than a month."

Teang Sy Vanna, the deputy director of the National Anti-tuberculosis Centre at the Ministry of Health, said that due to new multi-drug treatments, the amount of time it takes to cure tuberculosis has halved to only six months - if patients get the proper treatment.

"We know that the medicines we are using at moment are more effective than those we used before. Now, one tablet is made from a combination of two or three different drugs," he said.

It is not just better drug cocktails, but also improved training that has made the nation's hospitals better at fighting the deadly disease.

"Many international partners have given us advice about how to use of the new multi-substance medicine. The medicines have few adverse side effects because now we are properly trained," he said.

Land fight prisoners released in Kampot

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha
Friday, 26 December 2008

FOUR villagers suspected of robbing and damaging property in a land dispute with military Brigade 31 have been released from a Kampot provincial prison, a defence lawyer told the Post.

Chin Lida, a defence lawyer from the rights group Licadho, said the Kampot provincial court dropped charges against three Chey Sina villagers on December 15. A woman charged with damaging property was sentenced to six months but released Tuesday after finishing her term.

"All suspects involved with the land dispute case are now free," Chin Lida said Wednesday. "They should have been released because they were innocent."

Nhek Chantha, 52; Vong Ma, 46; Moeu Sopheak, 19; and Noeu Kak-Kada, 18, were arrested and incarcerated on June 23 after protesting the seizure of their land by Brigade 31.

Nhek Chanthol, daughter of Nhek Chantha, confirmed that her mother returned home and said the court should not have detained her.

"She spent six months in prison without being found guilty," she said. "She should have been released a long time ago."

Sun Saroeun, the commander of Brigade 31, told the Post that the villagers could return home and make a living as they did before. He placed the blame for the dispute on seditious ringleaders.

"If they recognized their mistakes, then they should be released," Sun Saroeun said Wednesday. "I do not want them to be in jail, but they need to stop listening to others' provocation."

Presiding Judge Pech Chhoeurt, who ordered the release, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

City Hall dismisses critical Boeung Kak report as biased

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
A protestor demonstrates against evictions from Boeung Kak lake in this file photo.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda
Friday, 26 December 2008

Housing rights group released report calling lake lease agreement illegal, says development does not justify evictions

THE municipality has called a report that condemns the development of Boeung Kak "one-sided", saying that its authors have made no attempt consult with the government over the lake's privatisation, which will result in the eviction of thousands of people.

The report, "Legal Analysis of the Boeung Kak Lake Case", was prepared by the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions and determined that the lease agreement between Phnom Penh and the developer Shukaku Inc is illegal.

Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Pa Socheatvong said he was never given a copy of the report.

"The group should send us a copy and ask for a discussion," he said Wednesday. "They studied this alone according to their own feelings and it is one-sided."

The lake, which is under a 99-year lease to Shukaku, is currently being filled in by the company in preparation for development that will eventually displace some 4,000 families.

Those set to lose their homes argue that they are not being fairly compensated. Rights groups, meanwhile, say the evictions are symptomatic of a general disregard for property rights.

"Evictions in Cambodia fail to respect the law. The government has failed to ensure access to adequate housing," said the Center for Housing Rights' legal officer Natalie Bugalski. "Access to alternative livelihoods and compensation and relocation offers have been generally insufficient," she added.

Bugalski said her organisation would consider meeting with municipal officials at a later date.

Lawyers for lake residents contend that the evictions violate the Constitution and highlight the power the government has over the judiciary.

Cambodia, Malaysia reach agreement on anti-trafficking pact

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Vong Sokheng
Friday, 26 December 2008

A forthcoming Memorandum of Understanding is expected to improve cooperation between both countries to combat human trafficking

CAMBODIA and Malaysia have pledged to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will allow them to better combat human trafficking, according to Bith Kimhong, director of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department at the Ministry of Interior.

"We are in the process of drafting an MoU now, and we hope that it will improve cooperation between the two countries," Bith Kimhong told the Post on Wednesday.

San Arun, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Women's Affairs, told the Post the Cambodian government has already signed MoUs about human trafficking with six countries in the Mekong basin.

But last week's repatriation of 17 Cambodian trafficking victims who escaped Thai fishing vessels in Malaysia re-emphasized the global nature of the human-trafficking trade and demonstrated the importance of international cooperation, specifically between Cambodia and Malaysia, to prevent and respond to human trafficking.

Male trafficking

The recent trafficking legislation in Cambodia and Malaysia covers both male and female trafficking. Though it has not received the same media attention and the exact numbers of trafficked men are unclear, Malaysia has become an important stop in the male trafficking network, according to Manfred Hornung at the rights group Licadho.

As in the case of the 17 returnees, Cambodian men who have been trafficked onto fishing boats often jump ship in Malaysia. Many of these men end up working illegally on Malaysian plantations, afraid to contact authorities, Hornung said.

One of the issues that make both legal and illegal migrants prime targets of exploitation is that many of them are not aware of their rights abroad or how they can assert them.

If someone, regardless of gender, gets classified as a trafficking victim in Malaysia or Thailand, then that country's authorities are not supposed to treat the person as a criminal, but rather help facilitate their return home. But most human trafficking victims simply do not know that they can be classified as victims, Hornung said.

Rights education

The Ministry of Women's Affairs held a conference last week on how migrants can assert their rights abroad.

"We are working to encourage people to understand the legal process before they migrate for work to other countries, so they will not take unnecessary risks," San Arun said.

Oum Mean, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, said that while illegal workers "will face a lot of problems with the authorities", legal migrants "will have the Cambodian embassy and authorities to help them".

A recent report said that currently 13,324 Cambodians work legally in Malaysia, but Oum Mean said that though the exact number of illegal workers is unknown, they eclipse the number of legal workers.

Additional reporting by Christopher Shay

Controversial artist fights back

REAHU

A controversial erotic graphic depiction of an female Khmer Rouge fighter.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith and Cornelius Rahn
Friday, 26 December 2008

The mysterious artist whose depictions of bare-breasted Apsara dancers and Khmer Rouge soldiers unleashed a public outrage has fought back in a series of pointed attacks on critics

AFTER generating a firestorm of criticism for depicting topless Apsara dancers and scantily-clad Khmer Rouge soldiers, the Khmer-American artist who calls himself Reahu lashed back at his detractors in a series of web postings.

"If this brings down the Khmer culture, then your Khmer culture is still under the Khmer Rouge," he wrote in a recent message posted on his website, reahu.net.

Reahu's nude images have struck a nerve with conservative Cambodians, prompting scathing messages on his website and government calls for an outright ban of his website.

Among the critics is noted Cambodian painter Vann Nath, one of the few survivors of Tuol Sleng prison who called the paintings of a bare-breasted female Khmer Rouge soldier disrespectful.

"I am concerned because [Reahu] took the sadness of millions of Cambodian people who suffered during the Khmer Rouge regime and joked around with it like this," he said.

Ing Kantha Phavi, minister of Women's Affairs, said she has requested that the website be blocked in Cambodia, claiming that 70 percent to 80 percent of Cambodian women were offended by the paintings.

"At that time, if [people had been naked] in such a picture, they would have been killed by Khmer Rouge cadres," she said.

But the artist is standing defiant in the face of the public backlash.

"Please enlighten me: [How can] a picture destroy Khmer culture?" he challenged critics. "Unless there is something wrong with the culture. If the culture is strong and you have confidence, you shouldn't worry," he wrote in response to often angry comments on his website.

"Judging from the complaints, I wonder how we as Khmer will be able to make it in the 21st Century. Please be open-minded, you must be able to see beyond the four walls surrounding your hut."

Youk Chhang, director of the Document Center of Cambodia, said that many artists expressed their anger at the Khmer Rouge through art.

"Artists use emotional resistance and provocative design, painting what was impossible in the regime in order to reflect their cruelty back at the former Khmer Rouge leaders," he said.

"This is like [artists] pointing an AK-47 into the mouths of former Khmer Rouge leaders."

Reahu's work has also attracted support from many viewers, who accused critics of ignorance of Cambodian art.

"All Apsara women on the walls of our temples reveal the beauty of Khmer women the same way," one person posted on the site. "Are Khmer saying that our Angkor artists were bad too?"

Another user suggested that critical comments should be kept on the website. "It will [show] the contrast between what is art and what is ignorance about art, history and culture."

On his Myspace.com profile, Reahu describes himself as a "pure-bred Khmer" and a college graduate from Chicago.