ASEAN Summit at Hua Hin, Thailand February 27, 2009

A policeman directs traffic outside the Hua Hin airport as state leaders arrive for the 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the Thai resort city of Hua Hin, about 200 km (125 miles) south of Bangkok February 27, 2009.REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (THAILAND)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) is greeted as he arrives for the 14th Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the Thai resort city Hua Hin about 200 km (125 miles) south of Bangkok February 27, 2009.REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (THAILAND)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen gets out of his plane upon his arrival for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit at Hua Hin airport February 27, 2009. The upcoming 14th ASEAN summit is scheduled to be held at the seaside resort town of Hua Hin from February 27 to March 1, 2009.REUTERS/Nicolas Asfouri/Pool (THAILAND)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) is greeted by supporters after arriving for the 14th Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the Thai resort city Hua Hin about 200 km (125 miles) south of Bangkok February 27, 2009.REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (THAILAND)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) is greeted by Thai Minister of Culture Teera Slukpetch (R) upon his arrival for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit at the Hua Hin airport February 27, 2009. The upcoming 14th ASEAN summit is scheduled to be held at the seaside resort town of Hua Hin from February 27 to March 1, 2009.REUTERS/Nicolas Asfouri/Pool (THAILAND)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen waves to supporters after arriving for the 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the Thai resort city Hua Hin about 200 km (125 miles) south of Bangkok February 27, 2009.REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (THAILAND)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) waves upon his arrival for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit at Hua Hin airport February 27, 2009. The upcoming 14th ASEAN summit is scheduled to be held at the seaside resort town of Hua Hin from February 27 to March 1, 2009.REUTERS/Nicolas Asfouri/Pool (THAILAND)

Foreign Ministers line-up for a group photo ahead of a meeting during the 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Thai resort city Hua Hin, about 200 km (125 miles) south of Bangkok February 26, 2009. Standing from left to right, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Rais Yatim, Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win, Laos' Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan.REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (THAILAND)

Indonesia's Trade Minister Mari Pangestu (R) smiles at Cambodia's Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh during a signing ceremony of ASEAN Economic Agreements in the seaside resort town of Hua Hin, some 200km (125 miles) south of Bangkok, February 26, 2009. The 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit is scheduled in Thailand's Prachuap Khiri Khan province from February 27 to March 1, 2009.REUTERS/Vivek Prakash (THAILAND)

International justice is a farce

Irish Independent
Friday February 27 2009

The fact that the first trial of a Khmer Rouge official is taking place 30 years after they committed their initial crimes is a damning indictment of the international community's ability to bring tyrants to justice.

Comrade Duch was by no means alone in his actions, yet so far he is the only member of this disgraceful horde to see the inside of a courtroom.

In 1998 Pol Pot, the architect of the atrocities was allowed to die comfortably in his bed, escaping the punishment he so richly deserved.

While there are a number of other trials planned for the surviving members of the regime, the fact is that most of the principal actors in the Cambodian tragedy have already passed away, leaving survivors without the closure they deserve.

In 1979, shortly after the liberation of Cambodia by Vietnamese troops, GOAL was one of the first relief agencies to enter the beleaguered country.

The situation we found was devastating -- thousands lay dying in the hastily assembled refugee camps, not because of any natural disaster but because of the regime's complete disregard for the suffering of its own people.

Naively, I believed that it would only be a matter of weeks before the international community forced these monsters to face the consequences of their actions.

Instead, the start of the judicial process has taken over three decades to materialise.

Having responded to almost every major man-made disaster since the Cambodian genocide, GOAL has witnessed tyrant after tyrant escape justice.

Idi Amin of Uganda died in a private villa in Saudi Arabia; Mobuto Sese Seko spent 32 years pillaging the DRC before dying in exile in Morocco; while Ethiopia's Mengistu Haile Mariam remains to this day in Zimbabwe, ignoring an Ethiopian court ruling that he should spend the rest of his days in prison.

Again and again, the international community has let despots off the hook for the destruction of their countries and exploitation of their people.

This is nothing short of farce, for which the international community should hang its head in shame.

John O'Shea
GOAL
PO Box 19, Dun Laoghaire

Security tight as leaders arrive

Bangkok Post

By: BangkokPost.com
Published: 27/02/2009

Almost 6,000 police were deployed in Cha-am district of Phetchaburi province as the three-day 14th Asean summit began there on Friday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen was the first Asean leader to arrive in Cha-am, at 10am. Leaders from Malaysia, Burma, Brunei. Laos and Indonesia were expected to arrive later.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban arrived at the Dusit Thani Hua Hin on Thursday evening. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was scheduled to arrive on Friday.

Hun Sen was scheduled to meet Mr Abhisit at 4.35pm on Friday for bilateral talks. Topics were expected to include the territorial conflict around Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple, which borders on Thailand's Si Sa Ket province.

A spokesman said about 5,700 police were deployed.

Man jailed for child pornography, neglect of daughter

Christchurch Court News (New Zealand)
February 27, 2009

By David Clarkson — See also the report below

A judge was left wondering whether a man’s long hours on his computers collecting child pornography was why he neglected the care of his 11-year-old daughter.

The girl was found with her hair lice-infested, clothes unkempt, and living in bad conditions at his home when the police raided the property and seized the man’s computers.

Judge Colin Doherty said: “The saddest part of your conduct to you has been the loss of your child. The saddest part to her is maybe the loss of her childhood, and her need to be rehabilitated.”

The man pleaded guilty to 12 charges of possessing objectionable images, and was found guilty at a Christchurch District Court jury trial on a charge of cruelty by neglecting his daughter.

He was jailed today for a total of one year nine months after Judge Doherty said, “I don’t think this is an appropriate case for consideration of home detention at all.”

He suppressed the 55-year-old man’s name, but only so that there would be no different or detrimental treatment of the daughter by people who knew her. “It’s not for your benefit but for hers.”

Judge Doherty also took the unusual step – with the consent of the crown and the police – of releasing one of the victim impact statements to the media at court.

In this case, one of the child victims depicted in the pornographic images had been traced by investigators and the police were able to provide a report on her. It was made available to the Court News website reporter after all references to her name and the name of her Cambodian village had been blocked out.

The images of the girl – among 1000 images of child abuse or torture found on the man’s computer – had been made by a Canadian offender who went to the village and conducted the activity there. He had since been caught and dealt with by the overseas authorities.

Judge Doherty described the girl’s victim impact statement as “chilling”.

Parliament had increased the available sentences to prevent and avoid the degradation and exploitation of young people. “It is often said that if people like you who want to view it were not about, perhaps the exploitation would not take place.”

The judge had not seen the images that the man had been viewing, but he cited some of the descriptions:

- A female school student being raped by her teacher.
- A pre-pubescent girl being raped by an adult male.
- A child being forced to perform oral sex on an adult male.
- Children being forced to perform indecent acts on other children.
- An image showing the torture of an adult woman who was tied up.

“The descriptions give me a sense of the degradation that each of the victims have undergone,” he said.

Defence counsel Colin Eason said the man explained that he had become involved with the pornography in an “insidious” way. It had started slowly but built up over time. “He doesn’t dispute that it was appalling behaviour on his part.”

Prosecutor Ruth Thomas said the crown disputed the man’s claim that he had inadvertently initially come upon the material, and more had arrived by accident when he tried to block it. She questioned his degree of acceptance and remorse for the offending.

Judge Doherty had received reports on the man’s daughter from Child, Youth, and Family and from the family now caring for the girl.

“She was in a parlous physical state. She had infestations of head lice, very unhealthy hair and skin, clothes in poor condition, and her living conditions were not the best to put it mildly.

“I expect her emotional development has been truncated by the way in which she was living with you.”

There was no suggestion that the man, whose marriage ended in 1999, had physically ill-treated his daughter. “You knew what was required but you didn’t care. You were reckless as to her welfare needs.

“I wonder whether your activity on the computer was something to do with that. I recall evidence that you seemed to spend large amounts of time on your computers in the evenings. It may be that immersing yourself in some of the stuff that was objectionable has inured you to her needs. I’m not sure.”

Rescued child abuse victim tells of her life

Christchurch Court News (New Zealand)
Courtnews.co.nz
February 27, 2009

A 12-year-old Cambodian girl has not been told that images of her being sexually abused were found on the computer of a Christchurch man whose home was raided in December 2007.

Staff at the foster home where she now lives say that telling her about the images would only add to her shame, embarrassment and insecurity five years after she was rescued from child prostitution.

She had been abused by a Canadian offender who travelled to her village north of Phnom Penh. He has since been caught and dealt with but the photographs he took as he carried out the abuse are apparently still in circulation.

When the Christchurch man was sentenced today – he went to jail for one year nine months on a series of charges – Christchurch District Court Judge Colin Doherty got the approval of the crown and police for the release of the Cambodian girl’s victim impact report to the Court News website reporter.

It was a very rare case where child pornography investigators had been able to identify and trace one of the children in the images, he said.

The released version of the report has the names of the girl and her village blocked out, as well as the name of the detective who made the connection, who was working undercover for the International Justice Mission while he was on leave from the New Zealand Police.

In January 2003, the girl was one of more than 50 children in the village between five and 12 years old who were “sold on a daily basis to Western paedophiles for sexual exploitation”, the report states.

“[The girl, then aged seven] worked in the brothels near her home for a year before she was rescued. During this time she was expected to perform sexual acts with the ‘guests’ who visited every day. In return, her parents received small amounts of money. There were many times she was photographed by guests.”

One guest was the Canadian whose crimes are described as brutal, violent, and degrading in the report. His young victims were verbally abused and repeatedly forced to perform oral sex while he videoed and photographed them.

He was arrested in 2004 and became the first Canadian to be convicted using extra-territorial legislation covering offences against children overseas.

The girl was rescued in 2003 and lived in a shelter before she moved two years later to another organisation, Hagar International, that provides long term care and rehabilitation.

“Following the rescue operation, those involved in debriefing [the girl] stated that they had never participated in a case involving such savagery against children so young,” the report states.

The girl still finds it distressing to talk about the abuse. She described her time in the village as “a big, black hole and sometimes I am scared I will fall back into it”. She experiences flash backs to that time.

The report describes her as a quiet girl with few friends. Through her art work she has described feeling “broken-hearted and hopeless”.

“Below the surface she is a hurt little girl afraid of the memories that still haunt her,” the report says.

In court today, Judge Doherty described the report as “chilling”.

Phnom Penh wants an end to border row

Bangkok Post
Deputy PM calls for troops to withdraw
By: WASANA NANUAM

Published: 27/02/2009

Differences between Bangkok and Phnom Penh over the Preah Vihear temple need to be settled by the incumbent governments, says Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Tea Banh.

"I want both governments to seriously discuss this issue as it has been a prolonged problem," said Gen Tea Banh, who doubles as national defence minister.

"Soldiers from the two countries are facing each other. I want both countries to withdraw their troops from the area. We should settle our negotiations during our [Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's] terms. We shouldn't let the problem go on any longer."

Gen Tea Banh said Thailand and Cambodia needed to negotiate through existing committees to foster a positive relationship.

The minister said he had talked to Thai Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon about the possibility of the two countries withdrawing their troops from the Preah Vihear area to end the military stand-off.

The two agreed that Preah Vihear should be settled bilaterally as the countries had a good relationship. There was no need for other countries to be involved, he said.

The minister said Thailand and Cambodia shared information on terrorist threats, particularly on the Jemaah Islamiyah group.

Gen Tea Banh attended the 3rd Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) in Pattaya this week along with fellow ministers from the 10 Asean member countries.

Gen Prawit and the other ministers signed the Joint Declaration on Strengthening Asean Defence Establishments to Meet the Challenges of Non-Traditional Security Threats at the meeting.

The declaration underlines the defence ministers' commitment to peace and stability in the region, as well as supporting the establishment of an Asean Political-Security Community in 2015.

The declaration also obliges Asean members to strengthen the ADMM as an instrument to counter security threats.

About 200 supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) rallied yesterday at the Pattaya hotel where the meeting was being held to demand that Gen Prawit withdraw 3,000 troops protecting Government House.

They also called on the defence minister to resign, claiming he had dragged the military into politics by helping the formation of the Abhisit government.

WHO warns over new malaria strain

Despite treatment and medical advances, malaria still kills more than a million people every year [Reuters]

Al Jazeera English
Thursday, February 26, 2009

The World Health Organisation has said there is evidence that a highly resistant strain of malaria could have emerged in the border region of Thailand and Cambodia.

The organisation said on Wednesday that studies in the area suggest that the most powerful anti-malaria treatment is ineffective against a new strain of parasite.

Artemisinin, a compound extracted from a Chinese herb, is viewed as the best drug against malaria and is recommended for use in combination with other medicines to stop resistance.

But the WHO said there was evidence that parasites resistant to artemisinin had emerged along the border between Cambodia and Thailand, where workers walk for miles every day to clear forests.

"If we do not put a stop to the drug-resistant malaria situation that has been documented in the Thai-Cambodia border, it could spread rapidly to neighbouring countries and threaten our efforts to control this deadly disease," Hiroki Nakatani, the WHO assistant director-general, said in a statement.

Deadly disease

The prevalence of malaria has been reduced over the past 50 years, but the disease continues to kill more than a million people every year.

Resistance along the Thai-Cambodia border started with chloroquine, followed by resistance to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and mefloquine, drugs that have been used to treat malaria for several years.

The risk of resistance to any drug increases when it is used on its own. The WHO has therefore recommended the use of artemisinin combination therapies.

An opening in cyberspace closes

Asia Times Online

By Shawn W Crispin

BANGKOK - When a state-linked Cambodian Internet service provider (ISP) blocked access this month to a critical non-governmental organization report detailing the government's alleged mismanagement of natural and energy resources, the censorship closed the loop on the region's fast-closing cyberspace.

The Cambodian government has prioritized improving its Internet controls and legislation, despite the fact less than 0.3% of the population is online, one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world. The recent bust of an alleged terror plot against the government revealed that authorities had capability to hack into suspects' - and perhaps perceived other adversaries' - e-mail accounts.

It wasn't long ago that Asia's Internet was being heralded as an inexorable force for democratic change across the predominantly authoritarian-run region. Rising Internet penetration rates and the proliferation of websites that provided alternative news and critical views, particularly in countries where the state had long dominated information flows, marked substantial democratic gains.

Across the world, governments are now bidding to claw back those gains and assert tighter control over the Internet through improved surveillance and censorship capabilities. Meanwhile, new laws are granting state authorities in many countries new powers to block and censor online content, often in the arbitrary name of maintaining social order or national security.

The battle for Internet freedom is particularly pitched in Southeast Asia, where even nominally democratic governments are now cracking down on journalists, bloggers and ordinary Internet users. China has emerged as the region's Internet censorship role model, with its successful use of sophisticated filtering and surveillance technologies, widely known as Beijing's "Great Firewall".

Those capabilities have been widened through a new government-run computer monitoring information system, known as the "Golden Shield Project". Of the 28 journalists now imprisoned in China, as tallied by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 24 of them were charged and sentenced for articles and commentaries they posted online.

In its recently released "Attacks on the Press" compendium, CPJ contends that a growing number of Southeast Asian governments have moved to emulate China's cyber-censorship techniques. The advocacy group argues that as Western nations have moved to engage China's authoritarian regime, several Southeast Asian governments no longer feel obliged to follow through on the democratic reforms - including commitments to Internet freedom - the West had once pressured them to adopt.

Those pressures are expected to diminish further as the US looks towards China to help bail-out its bankrupt financial and banking systems through the continued purchase of US treasury bonds. The US's collapsing demand for regional exports and flagging outward investments is expected to eventually translate into reduced diplomatic clout in Southeast Asia, a retrenchment that will likely enhance China's already rising regional influence.

Long-time US ally Thailand stands as a case in point. The Thai government has launched one of the most aggressive crackdowns on Internet freedom seen anywhere in the world - so far without a peep of dissent from Bangkok's US embassy. The crackdown was presaged by the passage of the 2007 Computer Crime Act, which among other measures made the use of proxy servers to circumvent government blocks on websites an offense punishable by imprisonment.

The Information Technology and Communication Ministry has since earmarked millions of dollars to develop and deploy improved firewall technologies and the ministry now maintains an Internet "war room" where officials conduct surveillance over Internet content. The ministry said in early January that it had closed down 2,300 websites for posting materials deemed critical of the Thai royal family.

The Justice Ministry has since indicated it will seek a court order to block another 3,000 to 4,000 sites for the same reason. At least one Thai Internet user is currently in prison for posting materials deemed offensive to the royal crown, and two bloggers were temporarily detained but not formally charged on similar charges in 2007.

Cyber-backslider
Nominally democratic Malaysia is another prominent backslider. The government pledged in 1996 not to censor the Internet to lure foreign funds to the Multimedia Super Corridor project, an ambitious state gambit that aimed to incubate Malaysia's own version of the US's Silicon Valley. The no-censorship policy allowed online news providers and bloggers to report and comment on news that the state-controlled mainstream media either neglected or was instructed from above to ignore.

That commitment was symbolically dropped last year when the government ordered local ISPs to block access to prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin's Malaysia Today news site, which has a larger readership than several established state-influenced newspapers. He has been charged and detained under both the Sedition and Internal Security Acts for online writings which were critical of the government.

According to the CPJ, it's still unclear whether Malaysian authorities have deployed the same type of filtering and monitoring technologies seen in China, but the government is known to monitor Internet content through three different state agencies, including the Prime Minister's Office. According to e-mail correspondence shared with this correspondent, Raja Petra, now temporarily released on Internal Security Act charges, is under family pressure to flee the country rather than stand trial in Malaysia's politically compromised courts.

The situation is worsening in less democratic countries. Vietnam, known to maintain some of Asia's most extensive Internet controls outside of China, has in recent months moved to introduce more stringent regulations governing bloggers and their postings. Singapore authorities recently harassed an Asia Times Online contributor for a November story that detailed the island state's mounting financial troubles.

Police claimed that the article had been sent with added malicious comments to the head of state, opposition politicians and newspapers from the reporter's e-mail account. The reporter denied the charge and police officials later indicated that an unidentified hacker had sent the message from her account. Either way, the reporter has been put on official notice that her online writings and e-mail activities are under surveillance.

Meanwhile, countries as repressive as Myanmar are dedicating significant resources to Internet censorship. The country's technological failure to control the Internet was apparent for all to see when undercover journalists sent footage and reports of the 2007 Saffron Revolution street protests to outside news organizations, forcing the regime to unplug the Internet altogether before its fatal, final crackdown. Still, it's unclear how many undercover journalists the authorities have been identified and jailed as part of their wider crackdown on dissent.

There are indications that Myanmar authorities have since received censorship training from Russian and Chinese officials. Some contend that this explains the mysterious distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on a number of exile media groups' websites last year. Soe Myint, editor of the New Delhi-based Mizzima News, said during a recent presentation in Chiang Mai that the cost to effectively protect his website from future DDoS attacks is beyond his news organization's financial means.

Despite these growing attacks, there is some cause for hope. Human rights organizations, investors and several prominent US Internet companies, including Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft, agreed in a joint initiative last October to follow guidelines to protect online expression and privacy when faced with repressive government requests for user identities or assistance in blocking targeted websites.

Meanwhile, some regional media groups have received foreign assistance to locate their servers anonymously and remotely in second countries to guard against future DDoS attacks. And ever-evolving proxy server and other roundabout firewall technologies continue to put Internet users in countries as isolated as Myanmar a step ahead of government censors.

Yet even with those agreements and technologies, Asia's Internet is a substantially more dangerous space than it was previously. Southeast Asian governments are now responding with bigger budgets and heavier hands to the technological and political challenge presented by online expression. Under that mounting assault, previous high hopes for the medium's democracy-promoting potential have in large measure faded.

Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia Editor and Asia Program Consultant to the Committee to Protect Journalists. He may be reached at swcrispin@atimes.com.

Cambodia's oil resources; Blessing or curse?

Economist.com
Feb 26th 2009

PHNOM PENH

From The Economist print edition

Waiting for the oil (and money) to flow

MANY countries have been afflicted by a “resource curse”. Discoveries of oil or other mineral deposits are hailed as offering a way out of poverty. But hopes are dashed as corrupt officials pocket the money or squander it on grandiose projects. Cambodia, giddy at the prospect of an oil boom, hopes not to go the same way.

A recent report, called “Country for Sale”, by a London-based NGO, Global Witness, points out that amendments to a 1991 law had the effect of placing the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA), the body administering oil contracts, under the direct control of Hun Sen, the prime minister, and Sok An, his deputy. It alleges that millions of dollars paid to the government to secure oil concessions do not show up in the official annual revenue reports. Meanwhile, unrestrained mining exploration has seen thousands forcibly evicted from their land in the north, and has damaged six of the country’s 23 protected wildlife areas.

The discovery of oil and other minerals was a godsend to Cambodia. Despite foreign-aid donors’ constant pleas for restraint, logging companies have largely exhausted the country’s once abundant forests. Chevron, a California-based oil giant, at first estimated its 2005 oil discovery in the Gulf of Thailand at 400m barrels, enough to earn about $1.7 billion a year, against the government’s budget last year of $1.2 billion. Chevron was awarded the largest exploration contract in the block thought to be most productive. But it has found that the oil is scattered in pockets and hard to extract. Despite the recent fall in the oil price, the government still hopes production will start in 2012.

It will be very welcome: aid still makes up half of the government’s budget, despite a decade of stalling on anti-corruption legislation that donors want to see. The World Bank consistently ranks Cambodia in the bottom 10% of all countries for controlling corruption. Michael McWalter of the Asian Development Bank, who advises the Cambodian government on oil, argues that the CNPA is underfinanced and ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of the oil business.

In March last year the United Nations Development Programme and the Norwegian government jointly organised a conference to discuss what the government should do. The advice included the creation of an independent, transparent oil fund. This however, was largely based on the experience of Norway, which has an effective system of checks and balances.

Cambodia does not, and Mr Hun Sen and Mr Sok An have still not come up with a coherent plan for managing the oil revenues. According to Global Witness, the government decided at a meeting with donors in October not to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an international coalition that would require full disclosure of oil, gas and mining revenues. Rather, it agreed to endorse only the principles underpinning the EITI, making its rules non-binding.

Government officials have responded to the allegations by lashing out at NGOs. At a conference in February, Mr Hun Sen called NGOs’ criticism of his oil policies “crazy”. And he has already alluded to the prospect that oil revenues may diminish the influence of aid donors—though he denies they have much anyway, since Cambodia can always turn to China, a generous donor, which, he says, despite its might, treats its partners with respect.

U.S. challenges several Asian countries on human rights

International Herald Tribune

By Mark McDonald
Published: February 26, 2009

HONG KONG: The U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights took a number of Asian countries to task over a broad range of issues in 2008.

Countries such as Myanmar, North Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia were sharply criticized, while Indonesia and Thailand received generally high marks.

The survey (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/index.htm), a worldwide roundup required by Congress, is compiled from reports by U.S. diplomats in each country.

CAMBODIA: The State Department said the government's record "remained poor" during 2008, and it criticized extrajudicial killings by security forces, arbitrary arrests, prolonged pretrial detentions, a weak judiciary and denials of the right to a fair trial.
Seizures of private land for government and commercial projects has caused extensive unrest in Cambodia, especially in the capital Phnom Penh, and the U.S. report cited land issues as "a continuing problem."

"Corruption was endemic," the report said.

The commercial sex trade continued to ensnare women and children, the report found. Cambodia has long been a regional destination for child-sex tourists, and the report cited "increasing reports that Asian men traveled to the country to have sex with underage virgin girls."

HONG KONG: The U.S. report found that the Hong Kong government "generally respected" the rights of its citizens in 2008 and passed new measures to protect women against violence, including marital rape.

One of the persistent "core issues" of concern for the State Department, however, is the semi-autonomous Chinese territory's Basic Law, which the report said "limits the ability of citizens to participate in and change their government."

"The legislature was limited in its power to introduce or amend legislation," the survey said, "and could not approve executive appointments."

INDONESIA: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton detoured through Indonesia last week during a trip to Asia - her first overseas mission for President Barack Obama - and she said the country had undergone "a great transformation" since the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago.

The State Department report, on balance, also was complimentary of Indonesia, referring to "significant measures to advance human rights and consolidate democracy."

"Indonesia deserves credit - really remarkable," said Zachary Abuza, a professor of political science at Simmons College in Boston and a widely recognized expert on Southeast Asia. "The story of this year's election is that there is no story: parties are out doing things parties do, candidates are campaigning, and there is little political violence. Democracy, albeit imperfect, is taking root."

But Abuza added that "the usual suspects deserve their comeuppance" in the report - the judiciary, well-connected business interests and the military.

"In practice," the State Department said, "the judiciary remained susceptible to influence from outside parties, including business interests, politicians, and the military."

MACAO: Incidents of official corruption, human trafficking and some limits on political activities were the principal blots - and largely minor ones, according to the U.S. report - on the record of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which the report said "generally respected the human rights of its citizens."

But the survey cited a number of cases of Hong Kong lawmakers, politicians and activists being denied entry to Macao, presumably for their opposition to the proposed Article 23, a broadly worded amendment to Hong Kong's Basic Law that prohibits subversion against the Beijing government. Macao's largely pro-Beijing Legislature passed a version of the measure on Wednesday.

MALAYSIA: The country's national elections in March were held in "a generally transparent manner," the U.S. report said, and the central government "generally respected the human rights of its citizens."
But the report also found worrisome and chronic problems, including "credible allegations of immigration officials' involvement in the trafficking of Burmese refugees" as well as governmental preferences given to ethnic Malays. Malaysia also continued to restrict some basic freedoms, including press, speech and religion, the State Department said.

In practice, the report found, "the country does not permit Muslims, born into Islam, to convert to another religion," and civil courts have not intervened in these apostasy cases that have come before courts enforcing Shariah, or Islamic law.

"The report completely skipped over the huge number of contentious cases regarding apostasy," Abuza said. "It mentioned the one case of Lina Joy, but none of the others. Communal tensions are as high as they've been in years."

MYANMAR: The report on Myanmar, which the State Department survey refers to as Burma, called the ruling junta "highly authoritarian" and said military officers "wielded the ultimate authority at each level of government."

The U.S. criticisms were harsh and wide-ranging: extrajudicial killings; official rape, torture and disappearances; the abuse, harassment and detention of political activists; the delay of international aid to cyclone victims; use of children as soldiers and forced laborers for the military; the trafficking of women and girls; and restrictions on speech, assembly and worship.

"Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn't influenced the Burmese junta," Clinton said last week. "Reaching out and trying to engage them hasn't worked either."

Two senior opposition leaders - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, a longtime political activist - remained under house arrest. Severe restrictions on aid workers and NGOs remained in place, despite a crippling cyclone in May that left some 130,000 dead and missing. The State Department assailed the junta for delaying the distribution of international humanitarian aid to citizens and areas affected by the storm.

NORTH KOREA: "A dictatorship under the absolute rule of Kim Jong Il" is how the State Department described the North Korean regime.

The report on 2008 reiterates the regime's many known abuses, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture of prisoners through the use of electric shocks, public nakedness and extreme stress positions. "Pregnant female prisoners underwent forced abortions in some cases," the survey said, "and in other cases babies were killed upon birth in prisons."

The regime's nearly absolute control of information meant Internet access was limited to high-ranking officials and select university students, the report stated, noting that Web access was routed by phone lines through China and a local connection linked to a German server.

SINGAPORE: The U.S. report assailed the government's use of its "broad powers to limit citizens' rights and to handicap political opposition," and also criticized the practice of preventive detention, executive influence over the judiciary and abridgements on freedom of speech and the press.

"Government intimidation and pressure to conform resulted in self-censorship among journalists," the report found. "However, there was a moderate level of debate in newspapers and on the Internet on some public issues such as rising income inequality and whether to repeal a statute that bans homosexual activity."

THAILAND: It was a fractious year for Thailand, with anti-government protests and court rulings leading to substantial political changes. Mass protests at one point shut down both the airports in Bangkok for eight days, causing a serious blow to the economy. The political street theater calmed in December, with the selection of a new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The U.S. report found that Thailand "avoided unconstitutional disruptions in governance, and the government's respect for human rights remained unchanged."

"In all, the State Department seems so pleased that Abhisit is in power and that there is the potential for political stability that it's willing to gloss over much of the undemocratic means that got him there," Abuza said.

"The report also glosses over the back-room machinations of the monarchy and the total politicization of the judiciary," he added. "It also generally ignores the fact that under the 2007 Constitution, half the senators are appointed, mainly by the crown."

The report tied numerous human rights abuses to a separatist insurgency in southern Thailand.

"The human rights community has documented more than 34 extrajudicial killings in the south, far above the State Department's reporting," Abuza said.

VIETNAM: The summary of the State Department report on Vietnam was sharp and to the point: "The government's human rights record remained unsatisfactory."
"Political opposition movements were prohibited," the report stated. "The government continued to crack down on dissent, arresting political activists and causing several dissidents to flee the country. Police sometimes abused suspects during arrest, detention, and interrogation. Corruption was a significant problem in the police force."

State controls were found to have been tightened on the press and freedom of speech; foreign human rights groups were barred from the country; and human trafficking, violence against women and Internet firewalls (particularly against sites affiliated with the Catholic Church) remained areas of concern to the United States.

"The country was a significant source for trafficking in persons," the report stated, and there were reports of women being sent not just to other countries in the region but also to Britain, Eastern Europe, and the United States. "Children were trafficked for the purpose of prostitution, both within the country and to foreign destinations."

Khmer Krom: Commemoration While Looking Ahead

UNPO
Thursday, 26 February 2009

The Khmer Krom mourn a fellow activist while looking ahead towards renewed UN involvement.

Below is an article published by: Asia Daily News

Khmer Krom monks in Phnom Penh prepare to mourn slain brethren, while Vietnam is called to defend treatment of ethnic Khmers amid fresh stream of criticism by rights groups.

In February 2007, a young politically active monk was found dead at the Tronum Chhroeung pagoda in Kandal province: His throat had been slit.

The body of the monk, an ethnic Khmer born in Vietnam named Eang Sok Thoeun, was discovered the morning after he had taken part in a demonstration at the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh protesting the treatment of ethnic Khmers in southern Vietnam -a group known in Cambodia as Khmer Krom, or Southern Khmer.

Police declared his death to be suicide and disposed of his body without further investigation. Rights groups and Khmer Krom activists suspected his murder was politically motivated.

This Friday [27 Feb 2009], Khmer Krom clergy will gather at Wat Samaki Reangsay, their spiritual base in Phnom Penh, to commemorate the second anniversary of Eang Sok Thoeurn’s death.

The commemoration comes on the eve of a much larger forum to address what rights groups and Khmer Krom activists describe as a persistent and often violent campaign by the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments to stifle the rights and distinct identity of the ethnic group.

Pledge of action

Two centuries ago, what is now the southern delta of Vietnam was part of the Khmer Kingdom. Vietnam says one million ethnic Khmers still live there. Khmer Krom leaders put the number 10 times higher and claim a further 1.5 million Khmer Krom have migrated to Cambodia.

Abuses against Khmer Krom by the Vietnamese state will be raised at the United Nations Human Rights Council in May [2009], according to local rights officials.

In meetings with the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, and the UN refugee office in Bangkok last month, Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Phnom Penh-based Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organisation, was told the international body would call on Vietnamese officials to defend charges against its treatment of Khmer Krom and Montagnard hill tribes, as well as other indigenous groups.

“She said she would take action on the situation and that our case would be presented,” he said, adding that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok had also agreed to revisit past reports of official violent suppression received from Khmer Krom seeking asylum in Thailand. He said the UNHCR had previously not been receptive to these reports.

The news has renewed hope for Khmer Krom activists. For Young Sin, president of the Khmer Krom Buddhist Monks Association and a former teacher of the slain monk, the United Nations may be able to exert leverage over Vietnam in a way that regionalgroups cannot.

The government should be trying to engage in peaceful dialogue with the Khmer Krom, rather than throwing them in jail.

“If the UN intervenes and puts pressure on the Vietnamese government, it wouldn’t dare continue carrying out the kinds of repression it has inflicted on the Khmer Krom people,” said Young Sin, who is also abbot of Wat Samaki Reangsay.

A history of violence

Just how politically sensitive the topic is can be judged from the responses from Cambodia and Vietnam to a comprehensive report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the subject. Released last month [Jan 2009], the report stated that Khmer Krom monks in Vietnam seeking greater religious and personal freedoms had been unfairly threatened, defrocked and imprisoned. In Cambodia, the rights group said, activist Khmer Krom monks have been deported to Vietnam.

The report - “On the Margins: Rights Abuses of Ethnic Khmer in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta” - tracked escalating tensions between Khmer Krom and the authorities on both sides of the border.

Hanoi’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dzung rejected the report as a “total fabrication”, and said freedom of speech and religion in Vietnam were constitutionally protected, the state-controlled Viet Nam News agency quoted him as saying. A spokesman for the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh also rejected the report, saying that his government did not discriminate against any of its 54 official ethnic groups.

HRW also accused the Cambodian government of abetting Vietnam, “a close ally”, to suppress the voices of Khmer Krom who flee across the border to Cambodia and advocate for greater freedoms for their communities.

Citing eyewitness accounts and confidential internal documents prepared by Vietnamese security officials, HRW said Vietnamese agents have long operated inside Cambodia with help from the government to identify “cells of reactionary” Khmer Krom and devise “effective measures of interdiction and management”.

Rights advocate Ang Chanrith corroborated the charge, saying the Cambodian government allows Vietnamese agents to operate locally: “We often see Vietnamese agents at our gatherings. They wear plainclothes and videotape us in order to identify the monks who attend demonstrations. They speak Vietnamese to each other, and our demonstrators see them often and can now recognise them.”

Reaction from the Cambodian government to HRW’s report was unsympathetic. Religious Affairs Minister Min Khin declined to comment, while Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith rejected the report’s findings, saying “criticism by civil society groups of the [Cambodian and Vietnamese] governments does not help protect the Khmer Krom”.

“They don’t know anything. They work only for money,” he added. “But the Cambodian government works peacefully with Vietnamese authorities for the prosperity of the Khmer Krom.”

Reporting in the Cambodian press was mixed. The major newspapers affiliated with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, such as Rasmey Kampuchea and Kampuchea Thmey - did not mention the HRW report, saying they did not receive it. Opposition-affiliated papers did.

Um Sarin, president of the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists, said fears of government disapproval drove some newspapers to ignore the scathing report.

International image

Activists say the consequences of official suppression are thoroughly debilitating.
“Khmer Krom live in poverty, and their identity and religious practices have been destroyed,” said Thach Setha, head of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community. “The Vietnamese government doesn’t allow Khmer Krom to use the internet, to listen to Voice of America or Radio Free Asia on the radio, and has blocked our access to education.”

But Ang Chanrith is confident international attention to the issue will force Vietnamese authorities to relax their treatment, if not agree to real concessions.

“We have to use international groups to put pressure on the Vietnamese government to allow Khmer Krom to exercise their rights,” he said.

He recently returned from a trip to Stockholm, where he presented reports of abuses against Khmer Krom, including allegations of collusion between Cambodian and Vietnamese authorities to keep a tight grip on activists. He is banking on the UN, however, to bring results.

The human rights record of each UN member state is subjected to public scrutiny, or a Universal Periodic Review, every four years. This May [2009], Vietnam’s number is up, amid a fresh stream of criticism against its government’s treatment of ethnic groups living within its borders.

Sara Colm, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that given the lack of independent oversight within the tightly controlled communist state, international organisations, including her own, submitted reports to the UN Human Rights Council detailing rights abuses in Vietnam, including the situation of the Khmer Krom. Vietnam is thought to have filed its own report to the UN over statements accusing it of rights abuses, although a spokesman for the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh said he was unaware of any such response.

Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said that although Vietnam has a bitter past with much of the West and remains a communist state, its integration into global markets means it needs to take international opinion into account.

“It’s clear Vietnam cares about its international image, including its track record on human rights,” he said. “In recent years, it has taken pride in its enhanced global standing through its admission into the World Trade Organization and its election to a two-year seat on the UN Security Council.”

“The challenge now is to get the Vietnamese government to replace its rhetoric about human rights with actual progress on the ground. The government should be trying to engage in peaceful dialogue with the Khmer Krom, rather than throwing them in jail,” Adams said.

Meanwhile, as the UN prepares for its review, the monks at Wat Samaki Reangsay rehearse the prayers they will chant for the soul of their slain brethren. Abbot Young Sin said threats will not deter his monks from practising their religion and fighting for others to do so. And he rejected accusations that monks are overstepping their role as clergy.

“Buddhism is absolutely compatible with calling for peace,” he said. “Advocating for the freedoms for lay people is our responsibility.”

Health Trouble Delays Appeal Of Khmer Rouge Foreign Min-Court

Thursday February 26th, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP)--Judges on Thursday delayed an appeal by a former Khmer Rouge foreign minister for release from Cambodia's U.N.-backed war crimes court on health grounds, accepting that he was too ill to make his case.

Ieng Sary, 83, is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes but is asking for release from detention before trial on the grounds that life in jail is making him ill.

The decision to grant the postponement came despite accusations from the prosecution that he was trying to delay proceedings.

Judge Prak Kimsan told the court the appeal hearing was adjourned "because of the health condition of the charged person," and would resume Apr. 2.

Ieng Sary didn't attend Thursday's hearing, which occurred three days after he was hospitalized for blood in his urine.

He was discharged and sent back to his cell at the court Wednesday afternoon but his lawyer, Michael Karnavas, told judges he declined to appear because he was "very frail and gets high blood pressure."

Karnavas, a U.S. citizen, urged judges to provisionally release his client from jail and demanded a medical examination to see whether he was fit for trial.

"Pretrial detention is not a formal punishment and should not be used as formal punishment," the lawyer said. "A decision has to be made as to whether Mr. Ieng Sary is fit to stand trial physically or psychologically."

Ieng Sary has been rushed to hospital nine times since he was detained by the court in November 2007, and Karnavas has previously argued that staying in jail would kill him.

Karnavas told reporters he was interpreting Thursday's decision as a victory in his client's attempt to convince judges to release him.

Ieng Sary is one of five top regime cadres detained by the joint Cambodia-U.N. tribunal that was established in 2006, after nearly a decade of haggling over how to deliver justice for one of the 20th century's bloodiest episodes.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, as the Khmer Rouge's 1975 to 1979 regime emptied Cambodia's cities in its drive to create a communist utopia.

As the top Khmer Rouge diplomat, Ieng Sary was frequently the only point of contact between Cambodia's secretive communist rulers and the outside world.

He has denied any involvement in past atrocities but researchers say he was also one of the biggest public supporters of the regime's mass purges.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 before facing justice, and fears over the health of aging suspects hang over the court.

Thursday February 26th, 2009
Source : Dowjones Business News

Lack of Funding Dogs Khmer Rouge Tribunal

Security personal stands next to empty dock where hearing of Ieng Sary, former Khmer Rouge foreign minister, was expected to take place in Phnom Penh, 26 Feb 2009

By Luke Hunt
Phnom Penh
26 February 2009

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia began hearings less than two weeks ago. However, officials are already warning the trial is headed for bankruptcy unless donors increase their financial commitments and deliver on previously pledged cash donations. From outside the court in Phnom Penh, Luke Hunt reports.

Funding for the tribunal is divided between the Cambodian and the United Nations parts of the court. It is the Cambodian section that is experiencing a massive shortfall, with some donors yet to make good on promised assistance.

According to a revised budget forecast, the courts established to try surviving leaders for the deaths of 1.7 million people will need an additional $44.1 million, on top of the original $56.3 million, if it is to last until the end of 2009.

Tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis says time is of the essence.

"February payroll has been paid, but we don't have enough to pay the March payroll, so its certainly a serious matter. However, we've have long believed this court is not going to close down because of a lack of money and we imagine and we are confident that this crisis will be overcome," she said.

The United States, Japan, the European Union and Australia have all contributed to the tribunal, which is expected to last at least two years. But diplomatic sources say they will be careful in handing out money for the trial after witnessing cost overruns at other war crime tribunals - especially in Rwanda.

About a third of this country's population died under Pol Pot's rule, from 1975 to 1979. Justice has been a long time coming, as ongoing civil wars and marathon haggling with the United Nations about the make-up of the court resulted in lengthy delays.

Detention hearing for Khmer Rouge official delayed

International Herald Tribune

The Associated Press
Published: February 26, 2009

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Judges at Cambodia's genocide tribunal say they have delayed a hearing on whether to release the Khmer Rouge's former foreign minister from pretrial detention, citing his poor health.

Head judge Prak Kimsan said Thursday the hearing was postponed until April 2 following an appeal by Ieng Sary's attorneys on health grounds. Ieng Sary did not appear in court.

It is the second time that Ieng Sary, 83, has filed a petition for release since his arrest in 2007 on charges of crimes against humanity.

He was hospitalized Monday with a urinary infection and returned to his cell Wednesday.

The U.N.-assisted tribunal has charged five people in connection with the estimated 1.7 million deaths during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.

Two British tourists die after taking heroin 'they thought was cocaine'

MAIL ONLINE

By Mail Foreign Service
26th February 2009

Two British tourists have been found dead at a hotel in Cambodia after mistakenly taking heroin.

The bodies of university graduates Mark Ganley, 34, and David Hunt, 36, were found in a hotel room in capital city Phnom Penh.

Mr Ganley and Mr Hunt, a sports journalist, had bloodied noses and it is thought they died of overdoses after inadvertently snorting a form of heroin, believing it to be cocaine.

Fishing boats on the Mekong River north-east of Phnom Penh: The two men were found in a hotel room in the Cambodian capital on

A bag of white powder and 2,000 riel, the Cambodian currency, worth around 34p, were found in the room.

A report by Cambodian police said Mr Ganley, a businessman, and Mr Hunt had returned to their shared hotel room in the evening and did not emerge the following day.

They were found dead by a hotel maid the day after that.

Municipal deputy police chief Hy Pru has been reported as saying he believes the pair died of drugs overdoses and the white powder was heroin-based.

It is commonplace for Cambodians to sell heroin to tourists who ask for cocaine, which is more expensive.

Mr Ganley and Mr Hunt were staying near the largest slum in Phnom Penh (pictured)

The practice is thought to account for a dozen deaths in the capital every year.

The popular guide book range, Lonely Planet, warned tourists in its pages on Cambodia, saying: 'Be very careful about buying "cocaine".

'One look at the map and the distance between Colombia and Cambodia should be enough to make you dubious, but it's much worse than that.

'Most of what is sold as coke, particularly in Phnom Penh, is actually pure heroin.

'Bang this up your hooter and you are in serious trouble - several backpackers die each year in the lakeside guesthouse ghetto of Boeng Kak in Phnom Penh.'

Today tributes were paid to the pair, who were described as 'hugely loved'.

Mr Hunt's sister Kate Sanderson said: 'This was a tragic accident and we are devastated at our loss.

'Both David and Mark were talented individuals and were hugely loved and respected by family and friends alike.

'They will be sadly missed.'

A full investigation into their deaths has been launched.

Following the discovery, the bodies of Mr Ganley and Mr Hunt were taken to the morgue at nearby Calmette Hospital.

The men both grew up in Southampton, Hants, and their bodies are being flown back to the city this Friday for formal post mortem examinations to take place.

Mr Ganley attended Southampton Solent University and graduated with a business degree before emigrating to Australia.

He and his partner Susan then moved to Vietnam after she was offered a job with a multinational company there.

Mr Ganley, a fan of Southampton Football Club, was general manager of clothing line Thumb Vietnam.

He was a founding member of the Saigon Saints expat football team, named after his beloved team, and wore the number seven shirt.

Mr Hunt was a sports reporter at Portsmouth-based news agency M&Y.

He had been a journalist for three years and would often cover Saints games in nearby Southampton.

Nick Illingsworth, chairman of Southampton FC supporters group the Saints Trust, said: 'It is very saddening.

'Mark and Dave were devoted fans and the thoughts of the Saints Trust are with their families at this sad time.'

It is understood Mr Ganley and Mr Hunt arrived in Cambodia on Friday February 13 and retired to their hotel room on Sunday February 15 before being found on Tuesday February 17.

Posting on a website forum about Cambodia, one internet user wrote: 'If you snort a good dose of high quality H thinking it is coke you will OD and your nose will bleed out.'

Another wrote: 'At least a dozen foreigners die in Phnom Penh because they snort pure heroin thinking it is cocaine. This makes the matter a public health issue.'

Two UK men found dead in Cambodia

The Press Association

Two British men have been found dead in a Cambodian hotel room after apparently snorting heroin by mistake.

Mark Ganley, 34, and David Hunt, 36, both originally from Southampton, were found in a hotel in the capital city Phnom Penh earlier this week while on holiday, sources said.

The Foreign Office added that consular assistance was given to the families of the men after the deaths were reported.

Cambodian police said businessman Mr Ganley, believed to be living in Vietnam at the time of his death with his partner, and journalist Mr Hunt had bloodied noses.

It is thought they died of overdoses after snorting heroin-based powder but believing it to be cocaine.

The men were found in a shared hotel room with a bag of white powder and some local currency after a maid entered.

Cambodian police are investigating the deaths.

Mr Hunt's sister Kate Sanderson told the Southern Daily Echo: "This was a tragic accident and we are devastated by our loss.

"Both Mark and David were talented individuals and were hugely loved and respected by family and friends alike. They will be sadly missed."

Mr Hunt worked for the Portsmouth based news agency M&Y and its director Pat Symes said: "David worked for us for three years and we were deeply shocked and saddened by the news. He was an outstanding news and sports journalist and is already greatly missed."

Cross-Border Eggs a Bird Flu Worry

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 February 2009

Many duck eggs are imported from Vietnam to Cambodia during the night, across the porous border at Takeo province’s Kirivong district from An Giang province, but health officials worry the illegal trade could increase the risk of avian influenza.

Of 254 deaths of bird flu worldwide since 2003, 52 have occurred in Vietnam. Seven have come from Cambodia. That discrepancy has led to fear of Vietnamese birds and eggs and a ban on their import and export since the first outbreaks of the disease.

However, trade continues, as egg importers bribe corrupt police and soldiers at the border, Nhem Chanreaksmey, Kirivong chief of animal health for the Ministry of Agriculture, told VOA Khmer.

This is a worry for the spread of bird flu, he said.

Border police and military officials could not be reached for comment.

Kirivong Governor Toeuk Tong Lim denied reports the eggs came over the international border crossing, saying the government has taken strict measures to carry out the ban.

Government Defends Rights Record

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 February 2009

Cambodia’s human rights record remains poor, the US said in an annual report Wednesday, but a senior government official said the situation was improving.

The US State Department’s 2008 “Human Rights Report” cites security forces that act with impunity, the abuse of detainees, forced evictions, endemic corruption, a weak judiciary and the denial of rights to fair trial as reasons for the poor rating.

However, Om Yentieng, a senior government adviser and head of Cambodia’s Human Rights Commission, told VOA Khmer that Cambodian rights situation was progressing year by year.

This year was better than last year, but the government continued to make improvements, he said.

The US report had the same findings as Adhoc, according to an investigator for the rights group, Chan Saveth. The government has so far failed to show commitment to human rights, he told VOA Khmer.

“The Cambodian government should take action against human rights abuses,” he said.

Am Sam Arth, an investigator for the rights group Licadho, said 17 cases of extrajudicial killing in 2008 proved the rights situation had not progressed.

Corruption and a biased judiciary supporting the powerful meant the loss of rights for the impoverished, he said.

FBI Helping Investigate Bomb Plot

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
26 February 2009

The FBI has joined an investigation into a failed bomb plot on government buildings in January, US and Cambodian officials said Wednesday.

Six suspects in the plot, which was uncovered Jan. 2, when three explosive devices were found near two government buildings.

“The FBI have participated in the case because there are some dual citizens involved in the group, called the ‘Tiger Head Movement,’ who are responsible for planting the grenades,” a top police general told VOA Khmer. One of the group’s leaders, a suspect named Som Ek, confessed while in detention, the official said.

US Embassy spokesman John Johnson confirmed FBI cooperation in the case, saying they had joined at the request of the Cambodian government.

Neither side would give details of the investigation, but a Cambodian general said briefly the FBI had provided satisfactory results.

Cambodian officials say the Tiger Head Movement is a smaller group than the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, which are blamed for a night of gunfire in an alleged coup attempt in November 2000.

Work-related accidents: first shaky steps for the Cambodian social security system

Chom Chao (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), 29/09/2008. In the space of three months, the National Social Security Fund registered 350 accidents among garment workers on their way to work

©John Vink/ Magnum

Ka-set

By Ros Dina
26-02-2009

Close to 350,000 Cambodian workers, mainly working in the textile manufacturing sector, have been benefitting for the past three months from a brand new insurance service regarding work-related accidents. The service is funded by specific employers' social contributions and is managed by a new public institution, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Before, the Cambodian authorities only cited a dozen accidents at work per year, most of which were revealed by media like newspapers. Since the establishment of the system in November 2008, 350 work-related accidents have been reported, of which 20 serious cases and three cases of death, thus proving the usefulness of the service, on both sides, employers and trade unions.

More than 380 companies accepted to play the game
Adopted in March 2007, the law regarding work-related accidents requires every employer in Cambodia to have their employees registered with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and pay for work and health social contributions which correspond to 0.8% of the gross salary of every one of them. Sum Sophorn, deputy director of the public institution and in charge of managing the new social security system, is very pleased that this legal obligation saw 386 companies comply with it since the establishment of the NSSF in November 2008.

Textile companies constitute the main part of this first batch and therefore appear as pioneers in that field, in a country where the concept of national social insurance is timidly developing: 280 of them accepted to play the game. This finally represents slightly more than half of the textile companies who officially operate in Cambodia but, as claimed by the NSSF deputy director, others have expressed their intention to conform to the new requirement in the few months to come and simply ask for an extra delay for them to adapt to the new system, and this, in the difficult context of global financial crisis. As for the odd 100 illegal textile sweatshops still not listed on the registers of the Ministry of Commerce, their fate is not sorted yet...

Insecurity on the road, commuting from home to work: first cause of accidents
The 350 accidents declared since November at the NSSF logically and mainly concern workers in the country's best-represented sector, i.e. the textile industry, followed by construction, hotel business, the banking sector and restaurants. This social insurance does not only cover risks related to working conditions but also those inherent to journeys to or from the working place. Indeed, most of the accidents listed happened on the road, between home and the factory.

In the event of an accident, victims can benefit from the payment of 70% of their medical expenses without having to advance any money, provided they go to a NSSF referral hospital. To this day, three hospitals are listed with the Fund: Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh, and the provincial hospital centres of Kandal and Kampong Speu. The network will progressively extend to other provinces of Cambodia in the course of the year 2009: Siem Reap, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng and Preah Sihanouk.

Medical expenses and pension
“At the beginning, we found it hard to reach an agreement with hospitals because it is something new and usually, patients have to pay in advance. But little by little, we managed to find a compromise and workers can now benefit from the service”, Sum Sophorn says, very pleased. A night in a hospital room with air-conditioning at Calmette Hospital will cost an insured worker 7.20 dollars, and the remaining 16.8 dollars are directly covered by the NSSF. However, only 35% of expenses related to home-nursing can be covered. If patients wish to be admitted to a non-referral hospital - and same goes for external consultations and the purchase of medicines prescribed as part of care linked with their work-related accident - they will have to advance payment themselves and then present an invoice to the NSSF in order to obtain the reimbursement of the 70% of their out-of-the-pocket expenses.

Besides, the system allows for the payment of incapacity benefit, if an accident has caused them a serious disability, as well as financial help to the insured person's family members, should the patient die. “If they have a spouse and children, maintenance will be provided until their children turn 18 years old, if not 21, in some cases. The payment of such spousal support will end in the event of remarriage”, Sum Sophorn details.

Social contributions limited by a ceiling
For employers, the amount of contributions to be paid out corresponds to 0.8% of the gross salary of each worker, with yet a minimum and a maximum for each: the gross salary used to calculate the amount of the monthly social contribution will have to equal at least 200,000 riels (USD 50), even when the employee receives less than this sum of money, and at most a million riels (USD250), i.e. monthly contributions amounting to 1,600 riels (0.4 dollar) and 8,000 riels (2 dollars) per employee.

Before the establishment of the system, compensations paid to employees who have been victims of work-related accidents used to be debited from the company's budget and depended much on the good will of the employer. For serious accidents, the case was generally solved through negotiations between the employer and victims' families: for example, the payment of a 1,000 or 1,500 dollar compensation in case of death.

Trade unions denounce the policy of free as theoretical
In theory, the system should satisfy workers and those who defend their interests, i.e. trade unions. But the latter are already pointing at the malfunctioning of the system, which deprives many potential beneficiaries from having real access to the service. Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), the main union in the textile industry, says the system is too complex and does not protect workers from abuse and corruption. The FTUWKC president cites an example: in order to assert their rights after a road accident, the insured person must provide the NSSF with a statement and a letter in which the employer acknowledges the facts. But obtaining the first one from police services can cost a lot (at least 10 dollars) when companies do not necessarily find any interest in drafting the second one. “If that system was implemented in a correct way, it would really benefit workers' health. But I do not trust that social security system, because there is still far too much corruption and because we do not consider the interest of workers as a top priority”, FTUWKC president says.

The young insurance system also suffers from a lack of transparency, Chea Mony criticises, and most union representatives have only managed to obtain very little information on the way it works. Nuon Veasna, a coordinator at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Cambodia, in charge of trade unions and workers, acknowledges there is a lack of information, but nevertheless stresses that these are only the beginnings.

Employers: too slow, too expensive
On the other side, that of bosses and employers, the system was also greeted with lukewarm feelings. Cheat Khemara, a high-ranking representative in charge of labour conflicts at the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) is rather positive about the establishment of an insurance system, which should clarify their responsibilities. But the situation has not changed in three months: in the event of a work-related accident, although he has paid contributions, his company keeps paying compensations to victims as it used to do before, since the NSSF reimbursements are far too slow. And he is not the only one in that situation, he claims. “These are therefore extra difficulties for employers”, he says, yet hoping for improvement: “Problems are usual at the beginnings.”

Times unfavourable to social progress
The unfavourable economical context adds up to these administrative complexities, the GMAC representative also argues. These times of economical turmoil are not appropriate for the establishment of such a system, when employers, he says, are in a “very difficult situation”, faced with a drop in orders and financial difficulties. “Some entrepreneurs in the textile industry balk at complying with that system. They are unhappy. They were not given the choice. If we were in a period of strong growth, like in 2007, it would not be a problem. But now... Sure, this is the law, but what can we do?” Cheat Khemara wonders.

The GMAC representative hopes the government will soon answer employers' concerns: according to him, authorities said they were ready to pay for some of the employers' social contributions - 0.3% of gross salaries - which will leave employers to pay for the remaining 0.5%. However, that decision has not yet been officialised by the government.

For their part, representatives in charge of the NSSF say they will welcome criticism rather than object to it. To this day, only two seminars gathering spokespersons for employers and trade unions have been organised to explain in detail the functioning of the work-related social insurance. “It is true that some unions have only received little information on the subject”, the deputy director of the public fund admits. “We are going to launch a hotline so that workers can directly get information and know their rights. But circulating all this information is expensive and for the time being we must limit our expenses as we have already spent an important amount of money in administrative functioning.” Before launching a more ambitious information campaign, the NSSF organises small informative meetings every Thursday, during which workers' and employers' representatives can share comments about the problems they are faced with regarding the implementation of the system.

Planned sanctions
Private companies who do not conform to these new obligations face sanctions, in theory: along the lines of the day-fine system, the fine will be ten days per worker, with a basis of 8,000 riels (2 dollars) per day, i.e. USD20 per person, when the average annual social contribution per employee only amounts to 7.60 dollars. But until now, no company has been punished. “We are trying to explain first [to lawbreakers] the good of that system, by presenting clear arguments to them, to avoid fines”, Sum Sophorn justifies. “First, we must draw the attention of investors. If they refuse to understand that principle, then we will enforce sanctions”.

The National Social Security Fund therefore favours a smooth approach: first, it urges the concerned entrepreneurs to take part in meetings about the new insurance system. Bosses then have a month to fulfil their duty and obtain more information. If by the end of that “reflection” time they haven't satisfied requirements, they will receive within fifteen days a notice from the NSSF telling them they have a month to register their employees and pay out contributions.

An extensive pattern
After the launching of the social insurance system for work-related accidents, the NSSF hopes to bring two other projects to the surface: a health insurance system in 2010 and two years later, a pension fund. Social contributions are put into a bank account with the private bank Acleda, and they will possibly be invested into the property sector or into government bonds. “If we manage to collect a lot of money, we will invest above all into the state, which offers long-term security. But each placement must be decided by the Council of Administration”, Sum Suphorn insists on saying. Useful precision, given these times of financial turmoil.

Khmer Rouge foreign minister too ill to attend genocide tribunal

Monsters and Critics.com

Asia-Pacific News
Feb 26, 2009

Phnom Penh - Judges at Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal on Thursday postponed a hearing for the fallen regime's ailing former foreign minister after doctors declared him too ill to attend court.

Ieng Sary, 83, was due in court to appeal an order to extend his pre-trial detention but an early-morning health check found him unfit to attend the session.

Prosecutors and defence lawyers argued over whether to hold the hearing in his absence, but judges decided to adjourn the hearing to April 1.

The former schoolteacher suffers from heart disease and high blood pressure and was rushed to hospital on Monday night after blood was found in his urine.

It was his ninth hospitalization since he was arrested in November 2007.

He returned to the tribunal's detention facility on Wednesday afternoon.

Ieng Sary's lawyers argued for his release, saying his provisional detention was jeopardizing his physical and mental health.

'Provisional detention should not be used as punishment for alleged crimes, but there is indication it might be used in this way in this case,' international co-defence lawyer Michael Karnavas said at a press conference after the hearing.

Ieng Sary is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders facing trial for their roles in the deaths of up to 2 million people through execution, starvation or overwork during the radical group's 1975-79 reign of terror in Cambodia.

His wife, Ieng Thirith, is among the detainees.

The first stage of the trial of former Tuol Sleng torture facility chairman Kaing Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary name Duch, was held last week.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal announced on Monday that Duch's trial would resume on March 30.

He is the first detainee to be indicted for crimes against humanity.

Growing concern about new oil wealth in Cambodia

Oil wealth may not help alleviate poverty in Cambodia. File photo Michel Bührer

Human Rights Tribune

Source: IRIN

26 February 09 - Having allegedly exhausted Cambodia’s timber resources business and military elites are plundering mining resources while failing to uphold international human rights and transparency standards, a new report alleges.

IRIN, Phnom Penh - The long-term effects could fuel corruption and contribute to a "resource curse", whereby a tiny elite soaks up the profits instead of using oil and mining revenues to alleviate poverty, London-based Global Witness states in its new report Country for Sale.

Cambodia is Southeast Asia’s second-poorest country after East Timor, with 35 percent of its population living on less than US$1 a day, according to government statistics.

Revenues from the 2005 oil find, which could total more than $1.5 billion annually, according to some estimates, should be directed to achieving its 2015 Millennium Development Goals, say critics.

"I see the rise of Cambodia’s mining and oil sectors as just one part of the wholesale diversification of natural resource and state asset exploitation in Cambodia," Eleanor Nichols, a campaigner for Global Witness, told IRIN.

"Historically, the revenue generated by their misappropriation has reinforced the position and impunity of elites, further strengthening their hold on the levers of power," she said.

Global Witness has had a rocky relationship with the government, having closed its office in Phnom Penh in 2005 after threats over a report implicating top officials of illegal logging.

The Nobel-prize nominated group first monitored the country’s forestry resources in the 1990s when international donors urged logging reform.

Greater transparency demanded

The group, with several other NGOs, continues to urge international donors to demand more transparency in Cambodia’s young oil and mining sectors as a condition for aid.

Cambodia receives about $600 million in aid every year. In 2009, the national budget is $1.77 billion, with donors pledging around $1 billion.

"It is fair to say that the revenue generated would be significant for a country which still relies on donor countries to provide the equivalent of over 50 percent of the annual government budget in development aid," Nichols said.

Secretive mining contracts, mostly in the country’s remote northern provinces, allegedly require the forced, mass evictions of rural poor and indigenous people.

"On some sites, land has been taken from local people and cases of intimidation of residents are reported," Global Witness stated. "There has been no free, prior and informed consent by the local population in any of these cases."

The Cambodian embassy in London issued an angry response to the report, denying the accusations.

"The Global Witness report was fairly underhanded and failed to recognise the tireless work and vision of some in government," Michael McWalter, the Asian Development Bank’s oil and gas adviser to the government, told IRIN in an e-mail.

Oil worries

The International Monetary Fund estimated the find off the southwest coast at two billion barrels, though energy giant Chevron has been tight-lipped about numbers.

Cambodia could follow the patterns of Nigeria, Venezuela and Iraq, where mismanagement and secrecy surrounding oil contracts plunged the countries into further poverty, said Ou Virak, an economist and head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

"There’s every indication Cambodia is heading towards Nigeria. We fit very well of a profile of countries facing a resource curse," he told IRIN. "The fact that all key institutions with money are headed by only a few people indicates there is no intention of having a system in place for transparency and accountability."

Donors last year asked the government to consider joining the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) a global coalition of governments, companies and civil society groups that requires full disclosure of oil, gas and mineral revenues.

The government originally considered signing on to EITI, but reportedly said in October it would not endorse the initiative.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) hosted a conference last March to address how the government should manage oil and gas revenues to alleviate poverty.

At the conference, delegates from the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, Supreme National Economic Council, and Norwegian Petroleum Directorate discussed the possibility of establishing an independent fund to manage revenues transparently, a model that has worked in Norway.