Cambodian man killed by angry elephant

via Khmer NZ

August 01, 2010

A Cambodian man was killed by an angry elephant when he was trying to approach the animal with an improper manner, a police office said Saturday.

Khut Sophal, a district police chief said the man who was killed by an elephant was identified as Yang Mark, 52, living in Taing Krasaing Village, Samraung Tong district in Kompong Speu province.

He said the incident happened at around 6 am on Thursday when Yang Mark, the latter victim, was retaliated by an angry elephant after he had swatted the head of the elephant four to five times in a gesture to show that he was not scared of the animal even though he was earlier warned by the elephant owner that the elephant was wild, said Khut Sophal.

According to Khut Sophal, the elephant hooked Yang Mark and knocked him down to the ground soon after Mark swatted it four to five times to the head.

According to the police, the family of the victim did not file any lawsuit against the owner of the elephant, Chan Chok, 42, who is identified as the victim's friend, saying the incident was not caused by the owner but at the victim's fault.

Kompong Speu province is located about 60 kilometers west of Phnom Penh and is known as one of the provinces in the country where still many elephants are inhabited.

Source: Xinhua

Vietnam, Cambodia aim to build peaceful border

via Khmer NZ

08/01/2010

Building a shared border of peace and friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia was the main topic of a conference held in the south -western province of Tay Ninh from July 30-31.

Co-organised by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee (VFFCC) and the Solidarity Front for the Development of the Cambodian Motherland (SFDCM), the conference saw the attendance of VFFCC Vice President and General Secretary Vu Trong Kim and his Cambodian counterpart Min Khin, who is also Minister of Cults and Religions.

Representatives of the Vietnamese National Border Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Border Guard High Command, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations and border provinces of both nations also attended the event.

At the conference, leaders of the two countries’ Fronts reviewed the results of the implementation of a joint statement signed on April 10, 2009 between Vietnamese and Cambodian border provinces.

The two sides agreed to improve the awareness of the Vietnam-Cambodia traditional solidarity and friendship among residents living along the border and increase the dissemination of the two countries’ policies, laws, agreements, treaties and regulations on the border and the protection of national sovereignty.

Strengthening the administrations in border provinces, calling for assistance from border residents in the border demarcation and marker planting, increasing the exchange of information and visits at all levels, organising training courses and sharing operational experiences are also considered major tasks of the two Fronts in the coming time.

The two sides also agreed to take turns holding similar conferences every two year to examine the performance of the signed cooperation agreements.

Thai-Cambodian Border Normal as UNESCO Talks Postponed

Pattaya Daily News

via Khmer NZ

Published : August 01, 2010

The situation at the Thai-Cambodian border remains normal despite the ongoing dispute surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple, according to Thai military sources on Friday.

Bangkok, the 31st of July 2010: The UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) postponed management plans put forth by Phnom Penh and resultant discussions over the controversial Preah Vihear Temple until 2011 last week.

Following the announcement, Thailand significantly increased their military presence on the eastern approach to the temple over fears of a Cambodian encroachment into Thai territory. However, despite fears and the WHC ruling to postpone talks, the situation remains stable in the region, according to military sources.

Disputes about the ownership of the temple and the land demarcation that surrounds it have been ongoing for more than 60 years. In 1962, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) made a majority ruling (9-3) that the temple was part of Cambodian territory. This judgement is still in place today, although Thailand continues to dispute the findings and the resultant World Heritage Listing for fear of losing adjacent land in the area.

The temple site has history dating back as early as the 9th century although the majority of constructions as it stands today were done during the reigns of the Khmer kings Suryavarman I (1002 -1050) and Suryavarman II (1113 -1150). Originally dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, the site was later converted to Buddhism following the collapse of Hinduism in the region.

With both countries being at a standstill over the management and ownership of the Preah Vihear Temple and the land that surrounds it, the immediate concern is regarding the true naming of the site. Thailand refers to the temple as Phra Viharn whilst the Cambodians use Preah Vihear. Preah Vihear is the internationally recognised name due to the 1962 ICJ ruling mentioned above.

The increased military presence merely 5km from the temple on the eastern side are said to be guarding the disputed region to ensure that Cambodian soldiers do not encroach upon Thai territory, a must in order to gain access to the site.

Following Friday’s decision to postpone discussions regarding a management plan for the temple, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromyat praised the Thai delegation for successfully explaining the nation’s perspective on the impasse to the UNESCO-WHC.

He further stated that all party’s should now come together in an attempt to resolve the ongoing Thai-Cambodian border demarcation dispute and submit it to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Thailand’s major dispute is that the land surrounding Preah Vihear is part of Thai territory according to the 2000 land boundary demarcation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Thailand will not allow for the loss of any land in the ongoing dispute and insist that negotiations be done in a peaceful manner to facilitate the two neighbouring countries good relations.

Cambodia: We will proceed 'urgently' with Preah Vihear plan

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Published on August 2, 2010

via Khmer NZ

Cambodia said yesterday that Thailand failed all of its efforts to derail the Preah Vihear's management plan since the World Heritage Committee's decision to delay consideration of the plan's documents would never impede the implementation of temple conservation.

There is no requirement that the Committee approves the plan because the role of the World Heritage Committee is not to approve or disapprove any progress report or Management Plan submitted by a state party, but to review those documents in order to take note, said a statement from Cambodia's Office of the Council of Ministers.

"The conservation work is too important to be delayed," it said.

Cambodia also released yesterday a summary of the result of the 34th World Heritage Committee meeting to show that the committee has recognised its reports on the management plan and its progress.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in his weekly television program that the delay was Thailand's success to block Cambodia's move to claim its right over the disputed border areas adjacent to the Preah Vihear.

Thailand and Cambodia were in the loggerhead over the controversial temple again over the past week during the World Heritage meeting in Brazil.

Thai delegation was worried Cambodia might take areas which are the subject of border dispute to be the buffer zone of the listed temple and complained it did not have enough time to study Cambodia's report.

As both sides failed to reach any common ground at the session last week, the committee decided to allow additional time for the distribution and consideration of the documents, which will be discussed at the next session next year.

"This decision in no way impedes our implementation of the management plan," Cambodia's government spokesman Phay Siphan said in a phone interview from Phnom Penh.

"We should not say it is a victory or failure of anybody but it is our obligation to conserve the heritage of human being," he said.

The Thai argument is irrational as the management plan and report on the conservation of the Phrea Vihear were delivered to the World Heritage Centre in January 2010 and after having the reports for 3 days, the Thai delegation had no substantive comment on the report, he said.

Cambodia would continue the implementation of the plan such as the convening of a preliminary meeting for the setting up of an international coordinating committee (ICC), the spokesman said.

"There is no single word in the (world heritage committee) decision to refrain Cambodia from doing the jobs," he said.

In fact, Cambodia obligated to invite Thailand and not more than seven other parties to sit in the ICC but Thailand declined the invitation while China, India, US, Japan, France and Australia have already agreed to join.

Thailand should have nothing to worry about its right over the border dispute since world heritage inscription would never affect the boundary claim, Phay Siphan said. The boundary demarcation would continue. Cambodia appreciated and would respect the work of joint boundary committee, he said.

Asked if Cambodian people disappointed with Thailand's move on the Preah Vihear, Phay Siphan said the people in Cambodia understood the situation that majority of Thai people disagreed with the government. "Prime Minister Abhisit's wish might be against the Thai people's will," he said.

"Among people of two nations, we are neighbours and hope to live in peace together," he said.

Defend Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said Thailand and Cambodia have no military tension as both sides have no plan to boost number of forces in the border areas near the Preah Vihear and they remained good relations.

Poll: Respondents fear temple row will impact Thai-Cambodian relations

http://www.mcot.net/

via Khmer NZ

BANGKOK, August 1- The Thai public is concerned about the impact of the current diplomatic wrangling and four out of 10 respondents in a new poll -- 40 per cent -- expressed concern that the current dispute over Preah Vihear temple could negatively affect relations between Thailand and Cambodia, according to a survey conducted by Dusit Poll.

The survey conducted among 1,148 people from July 30 through August 1 showed that one in four -- some 25 per cent of respondents worry that Thailand might eventually lose the area adjoining Preah Vihear temple.

Almost 21 per cent of the respondents fear that more clashes between soldiers of the two countries would take place, causing unsafe conditions for residents living near the border, while 14 per cent said the dispute would affect the livelihood of people living near the border and those in the tourism business.

The survey was conducted after UNESCO's World Heritage Commission on Thursday deferred its decision on Cambodia’s request to review its management plan for the temple for one more year. It will be reviewed during next year's WHC meeting in Bahrain.

Thailand and Cambodia recognise different border demarcations, having resulted in clashes along the disputed border between the two countries. The clashes have occurred periodically since the temple was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962.

The situation has worsened after the UNESCO named the temple a World Heritage site in 2008 after Cambodia applied for much-valued status.

The Dusit Poll said one third of the respondents -- 33 per cent -- believed the government should present facts on the temple to Thais and foreigners, 26.5 per cent said Thailand must prepare information and maps marking the boundary between the two countries in details and that it must work on an proactive basis.

Twenty-one per cent said Thailand must monitor Cambodia's movements and provide security to residents the border and 19 per cent suggested the Thai government to be patient and resolve the problem through negotiations. (MCOT online news)

A small measure of justice in Cambodia

The punishment given the ex-chief of the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison appears to be too lenient. And culpability for the reign of terror extends far beyond him.

By James Pringle

August 1, 2010

via Khmer NZ

Last week in a Cambodian courtroom, I watched as the former commandant of the Khmer Rouge's notorious Tuol Sleng prison and torture center was sentenced to 35 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

During Monday's 70-minute session, the former executioner, now a born-again Christian, listened attentively from the dock, holding what appeared to be a small Bible. "If you want to stone me to death, as they did when Christ was with us, the Cambodian people can do so and I will accept it," he told the tribunal during his trial. But he also asked for mercy.

Kang Kek Ieu — known in tribunal filings as Kaing Guek Eav but best known by his revolutionary name, Comrade Duch — fled Phnom Penh when the Vietnamese invaded and deposed the Khmer Rouge in 1979. He remained at large for more than 20 years until he was found, working for a Christian aid agency, by Irish photographer Nic Dunlop.

To many survivors of the Khmer Rouge era, last week's sentence seemed far too light for a man who was "addicted to the sight of blood," as one of them described Duch in trial testimony. After taking into account the time he's already served and other considerations, he is likely to serve 19 more years, which leaves the distinct possibility that the 67-year-old will live to see freedom again.

Is that too lenient a sentence? Probably. But it's hard not to also think about how the culpability for Cambodia's horror extends far beyond one prison commander.

The first time I saw Cambodia was during the American "incursion" in the spring of 1970. Flying over the country in a rickety Vietnamese helicopter, I beheld a landscape pocked with craters, the result of the secret bombing that had been ordered by President Nixon and his national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, in 1969.

Some commentators have wondered since just how much the American bombings, which killed tens of thousands of Cambodians before being stopped by Congress in 1973, had to do with the ferocity of the Khmer Rouge, under whose rule an estimated 1.7 million people were put to death or died of hunger or overwork.

In 1979, I went to Phnom Penh as part of a press tour for half a dozen Western journalists who had been brought to see the "new" Cambodia. But everywhere we looked were signs of the despot Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge.

In the countryside, skinny oxen pulled wooden carts along mine-laden and bomb-blasted roads. In the city, mountains of wrecked automobiles stood alongside hillocks of rusting refrigerators, unacceptable bourgeois toys in Pol Pot's "glorious" Democratic Kampuchea.

At one point, having evaded our minders, we came across a handful of ordinary Cambodians who had crept past government barriers into Phnom Penh. They were kneeling in tattered clothes on the ground picking up individual grains of rice. The pathetic cavalcade of skeletons smiled shyly at a couple of foreigners before hauling themselves to their feet and tottering off, as if they felt their suffering was an eyesore to us.

Among the places we visited on that trip was Tuol Sleng, also known as the S-21 prison, where Duch had ordered the killing of thousands of Cambodians. Blood was still congealed on the prison floor when we visited, and it felt as if the last desperate scream still hung in the air. The whole awful place stank of death, fear and neglect.

Today, of course, Phnom Penh is a very different place, a busy city full of bars and restaurants. For decades, Cambodians have wanted to forget the past and move on with life, and it remains to be seen whether the government will muster the will to aggressively prosecute other war criminals. Only recently have young people even been taught much about the Khmer Rouge regime.

But as I watched Duch's sentencing last week, I found the past hard to forget. I remembered speaking to a mother and her 11-year-old son in 1979, soon after Pol Pot's ouster. The boy had lost both his legs in a mine blast while watching their cow. And he wasn't alone.

"The children of Cambodia have no legs," his mother, half-demented with grief, told me.

James Pringle covered the war in Vietnam and Cambodia as a correspondent for Reuters and Newsweek.

Govt to prepare to get prepared to fight against Cambodia's Preah Vihear management plan

The Nation

via Khmer NZ

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Sunday that his government would spend the next year in making preparations to fight against Cambodia's management plan of the Preah Vihear world heritage site.

The consideration of the management plan has been delayed for a year by the Unesco World Heritage Committee.

Speaking during his weekly TV programme on NBT, the prime minister said he had seen a copy of the management plan and his government would make preparations to dispute it.

He said he had not changed his stand, which he had when he was the opposition leader to oppose Cambodia's unilateral registering Preah Vihear as a world heritage site.

He said he had never accepted that Thailand had overlapping plot with Cambodia near the ruined Hindu temple, indicating that he regarded the plot belonged to Thailand.

The Nation

'Only joint listing can end Thai-Cambodia row'

via Khmer NZ

The Nation (Thailand)

Publication Date : 01-08-2010

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Saturday (July 31) that a joint World Heritage listing of Preah Vihear and its adjacent compound - claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia - was the "best and smoothest path to take" to end conflict over Cambodia's controversial management plan for the ancient Khmer temple.

Abhisit and foreign minister Kasit Piromya also disputed Phnom Penh's claims of victory following a decision by Unesco's World Heritage Committee to defer a review of Cambodia's management plan until its meeting next year.

The prime minister instructed concerned officials to come up with a detailed analysis of Cambodia's management plan for Preah Vihear to appraise how the plan adversely affects the country's sovereignty. Abhisit said the country would have enough time to study if the plan would bring about any problems before it was sent back to the World Heritage Committee.

The PM said he believed the bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreed in 2000 was useful for Thailand, especially provisions that ban Cambodia from entering the disputed zone. He instructed the foreign and defence ministries to scrutinise the management plan next week.

Asked to respond to Cambodian deputy prime minister Sok An's claim that the World Heritage Committee had accepted Cambodia's management plan, Abhisit said he needed to see exactly what the committee said.

He believed the committee was careful about its wording. "It will not use the word acknowledge, but acknowledge the submission of the plan. The plan was submitted to the office but the committee members have not considered it,'' he said.

Abhisit said he believed the best solution was to change from having Cambodia solely register the Hindu temple to a proposal by two countries so the World Heritage Site could be co-managed by both.

"This will depend entirely on the Unesco committee, whether it will accept this proposal and for Cambodia to accept the reality. But this is the best and smoothest way out,'' Abhisit said.

The PM said he wished to see Cambodia change its stance and seek cooperation instead of pressuring Thailand on this issue without heeding the country's opinion.

He said the country lost its way when then foreign minister Noppadon Pattama accepted the joint communique in 2008 but since then Thailand had strongly defended itself against the move, and the country was now in a better position.

Abhisit said he understood the call of the People's Alliance for Democracy to scrap the MoU signed in 2000 with Cambodia, but he believed that stemmed from different interpretations and hoped this would not lead to quarrels.

He said although the border tension had subsided, the government was still vigilant and he had instructed foreign minister Kasit to consult with the defence ministry about the problem of Cambodia continuing to occupy the disputed zone. "I do not want to discuss repatriation in advance as I would like to refrain from making the atmosphere tense but we also have to protect national interests,'' he said.

Kasit said Saturday that the Unesco panel's decision in regard to Cambodia's development plan was not a victory for either Thailand or Cambodia.

He was responding to Cambodian deputy prime minister Sok An's earlier remark that Cambodia had achieved its goal when Unesco's panel agreed on Thursday at its meeting in Brazil to consider its management plan for the Preah Vihear Temple. The World Heritage Committee deferred its discussion on the issue to its meeting in Bahrain next year.

"Neither country wins on the issue. What he (Sok An) said, that Cambodia had won, was not correct," Kasit said, explaining that he did not understand why Sok An, who led the Cambodian delegation to the Brasilia meeting, made such an announcement.

The committee decided to defer its consideration of the matter for another year to enable the neighbouring countries to settle their differences regarding the disputed territory around Preah Vihear first, the foreign minister said.

The Associated Press earlier quoted Sok An as saying that, "Unesco has officially accepted our management plan documents, so there is no need to have a further discussion or voting. The result of the meeting is a big victory for Cambodia, a result we have been waiting for."

Abhisit told the media to carefully read the committee resolution about the matter. When asked to comment on Sok An's remark, he said "please find out and read the resolution".

Finding peace in her heart

http://www.capecodonline.com/

via Khmer NZ

By Sean Gonsalves
sgonsalves@capecodonline.com
August 01, 2010

I pushed a picture of Comrade Duch across the table as if it were a rook in a game of chess, then leaned back in my chair to gauge the reaction of Bopha Samms.

I'm not sure what I expected. An expression of anguish, perhaps. Or maybe she would crumple up the photo accompanying the BBC news article and throw it at me, spurred by vivid memories of being too weak to crawl to the communal cafeteria, just up the road from the agrarian nightmare she called home.

Either of those reactions would certainly be understandable. Duch was one of Pol Pot's murderous minions — chief of Cambodia's infamous Tuol Sleng prison, also ominously known as S-21, where men, women and even children were tortured and massacred.

Those lucky enough to avoid detention were forced to work in rice fields or farms, while many others were left to die of starvation — like Bopha's mother, father, and several of her 11 siblings; treated as if they were mere pawns in a cruel game of Maoist chess.

When the Khmer Rouge was finally driven from power by Vietnamese forces in January 1979 after four years of genocide, an estimated 2.5 million Cambodians were dead.

"If I were sitting face-to-face with him, right now, I wouldn't feel anger," Bopha says, holding Duch's picture closer to her face now to get a better look in the glaring sunlight beaming through the window of her Bourne restaurant, Stir Crazy.

"I find peace in my heart because I found forgiveness and mercy in Christ. I don't carry hate in me anymore."

She is looking at me now and appears to me as a picture of sun-bathed serenity. She reads the astonishment on my face.

"I learned to free myself from revenge and hate. I forgive but never forget," she says, explaining that, though she considers herself a Christian now, she has also drawn deeply from the Buddhism learned in her youth.

Earlier this week, Duch was sentenced to 19 years in prison by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in conjunction with a panel of international judges working on behalf of the United Nations. And while the 55-year-old restaurateur has come a long way — both geographically and spiritually — since she first came to Bourne in 1981, don't misunderstand. Forgiveness, in this case, emphatically does not mean to turn the other cheek and forsake this-world justice.

"He got a slap on the wrist. They do this to please international opinion. I don't see the real leaders being brought to justice."

Not only that, she says, unlike the tribunals that prosecuted high-level Nazi war criminals, the Cambodian people will never have the satisfaction of seeing Duch's puppet-masters in the dock. Pol Pot is dead, as are many of the Chinese communists he mimicked and whom Bopha ultimately blames, along with the former Soviet Union.

"There's no way these people (like Pol Pot and Duch) had the mind to do this on their own. They were brainwashed."

Bopha is convinced of foreign meddling — the only way she can make even a sliver of sense out of Cambodian military leaders killing so many of their own people.

But Bopha survived as an embodiment of America's promise, having come from "the killing fields" to a kitchen of her own choosing. She adores her adopted home, though she thinks Americans sometimes complain too much — about taxes, the government and each other. Still, like many of us, she is concerned about the future of this country for her children — the deficit, our relationship with China, even immigration.

"America has changed so much," she says, which leads to a discussion about a painting that now hangs in the S-21 prison-turned-memorial-museum. It's a painting that depicts detainees being waterboarded. I ask her what she thinks about the Bush administration authorizing such practices and that there are still many U.S. politicians and citizens who don't think of waterboarding as torture.

"I lived through it. It is torture. I ran from that to come here. ... This country gave me opportunity to be successful, to try to move on. ... Now I see all of this happening. I do not understand why these things still happen. All over the world."

It's like the whole planet has gone stir crazy.

"I don't know what the answers are." Bopha shrugs. She pauses, as if to take in the complexity of it all, before sharing with me a simple belief her mother expressed before she died: "It won't always be like this. Don't give up. I promise you, one day it will change."

In chess, if a pawn makes it all the way to the other side of the board, it is promoted to be a queen — the most powerful piece on the board. On the chessboard of life, Bopha is a queen. No doubt about it.

Sean Gonsalves' column runs on Sundays and Wednesdays. Comment on this column or read past columns at www.capecodonline.com/gonsalves. Sean can be reached at sgonsalves@capecodonline.com

FM Kasit says no country wins or loses over delayed decision on temple

http://www.mcot.net/

via Khmer NZ

PHUKET, July 31 -- Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya said Saturday that the decision by the UN cultural agency to postpone reviewing Cambodia’s development plan for the area adjacent to the ancient Preah Vihear temple by one year to 2011 did not represent either Thailand or Cambodia winning or losing.

Mr Kasit responded to Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An’s earlier remarks that Cambodia achieved its goal when UNESCO’s World Heritage Commission (WHC) agreed Thursday at its meeting in Brazil to consider its management plan for the Phra Vihear temple, listed as a World Heritage site.

But the WHC deferred its discussion on the issue to its meeting in Bahrain next year.

“Neither country wins on the issue. What he [Sok An] said Cambodia had won was [not correct]," Mr Kasit said, explaining that he did not understand why Mr Sok An, who led the Cambodian delegation to the Brasilia committee meeting, made such an announcement.

The WHC decided to defer its consideration of the matter for another year to enable the neighbouring countries to settle their differences regarding the disputed territory around Preah Vihear first, he said.

The International Court of Justice in 1962 ruled that the temple belongs to Cambodia. For Thailand the issue worsened on July 7, 2008, when Preah Vihear was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Under the terms of the listing, Cambodia is required to submit a management plan for WHC approval.

Vasin Teeravechyan, an adviser to the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry and also chairman of the Thai side on the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), said there has been no progress since the commission's last meeting because of differences in referring to the historic temple, the Cambodia and the United Nations referring to it in Cambodian, while the Thais wish to refer to it in Thai.

The Thais call the 11th century temple as ‘Phra Viharn’ while the Cambodians call it ‘Preah Vihear.’

The differences between Cambodia and Thailand in describing the temple is still under consideration by Parliament, said Mr Vasin. The JBC meeting could resume once a settlement on the name is reached.

Regarding the WHC decision to consider Cambodia’s management plan for the temple environs for another year, Mr Vasin said the decision would not have any effect -- positive or negative -- on the border demarcation as border talks are difficult by nature, but the pressure is rather from “within Thailand as people have different views on Preah Vihear temple.” (MCOT online news)

Child pornographer gets longer term for acts 'far beyond heartland of depravity'

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/

via Khmer NZ

Judges called former construction company executive William Irey's conduct 'horrific' and 'far beyond the heartland of depravity.'

An appeals court increased William Irey's sentence for child pornography to 30 years.

By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel

July 30, 2010

A man who prosecutors say raped and sexually tortured dozens of little girls, then photographed the acts and posted them on the Internet, has been sentenced to the maximum 30 years in prison.

William Irey, 53, chief executive of Lake Buena Vista-based Frank Irey Construction, was originally sentenced to 17 1/2 years in federal prison.

Prosecutors appealed, and in a strongly worded decision spanning 256 pages, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta called Irey's crimes "horrific." The appeals judges ruled the the trial judge made a sentencing error.

Irey engaged in "sexual torture that went far beyond the heartland of depravity even for child molesters," the appeals court ruled. The court said Irey created "some of the most graphic and disturbing child pornography that has ever turned up on the internet."

Irey took the photos while he was in Cambodia, where, the court said, he preyed on vulnerable, poverty-stricken girls, had sex with them, sexually tortured them and wrote obscene, degrading words on their bodies. Investigators found more than 1,200 images on his computer.

The appeals court ruled the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell, placed too much weight on positive testimony by Irey's wife and other relatives, who said he was kind and supported charities and civic groups. Presnell handed down the lighter sentence in January 2008 because he concluded Irey was a victim of the "illness" of pedophilia and therefore could not control himself.

"The record does not support the district court's finding that because he is a pedophile Irey could not much help raping, sodomizing, and sexually torturing little children, posing them as trophies, and smiling while he did it," the majority wrote.

"The record actually contradicts that finding" because Irey did not seek treatment and he apparently did not abuse children in the U.S., the judges wrote.

The appeals court said a more stringent sentence would act as a deterrent for others.

According to the judges' ruling:

A psychiatrist said the long-married defendant visited prostitutes weekly and engaged in sado-masochistic acts with them for 15 years.

He began visiting Asian brothels during business trips to China. The 200-pound man had sex with children between the ages of 4 and 16 and paid $1,500 for the use of each child, typically buying two or three at a time. This pattern lasted for four or five years until August 2006, when law enforcement caught up with him.

Irey pleaded guilty in July 2007 to one count of employing, using, or enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct outside the U.S. to produce a visual depiction of that conduct for the purpose of transporting it to the U.S. His pictures, known as "The "Pink Wall Series," were distributed worldwide on the Internet.

He spent 13 months In a psychiatric hospital after being released on bail.

"I've hurt a lot of people and I can't undo that, but I can learn from that and I'm willing to learn," Irey said in an apology to the judge, the government, family, friends and his victims.

In a video statement to the court, Irey's wife of then-25 years called him as "a loving and wonderful husband and father" who is "mindful of other people's feelings."

The appeals court, however, said Irey lied to his wife, stole from the business his father started 50 years earlier and drove Frank Irey Construction into the ground. The company, named after Irey's late father, a contractor and longtime Republican Party chairman in Washington County, Pa., was dissolved last year, corporate records show. The Ireys are from Monongahela, Pa.

"No number of civic club memberships can outweigh the harm that Irey caused his wife and family and the community," the judges wrote.

Irey is serving his sentence in a Federal Correctional Institute in Butner, N.C., a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney said.

Temple Row Sours Thai-Cambodian Ties—Again

via Khmer NZ

By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR / IPS Saturday, July 31, 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BANGKOK - Thailand’s tempestuous relationship with its eastern neighbor Cambodia looks set to worsen, fueled by the latest round of anger over the future of a 10th-century Hindu temple perched atop a steep cliff along the two countries’ border.

By Friday, Bangkok and Phnom Penh were both claiming victory following a decision by the UN-backed World Heritage Committee (WHC) to postpone until next year a decision about a management plan for the temple, a World Heritage Site listed by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Cambodia had an edge going into this week’s WHC’s meeting in Brasilia, after the much poorer and less powerful Southeast Asian nation had succeeded in getting the committee to recognize Preah Vihear as one of its own UNESCO heritage sites at a 2008 meeting in Quebec.

That decision enraged nationalists in more powerful and affluent Thailand. Nationalist groups rallied near the temple, chanting inflammatory slogans and accusing Cambodia of having “stolen” the temple from Thailand.

This wave of Thai hysteria, which drove both countries to increase their troop strength along the border to a dangerous level, sought to stamp out history that stood in Cambodia’s favor. In 1962, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had ruled that Preah Vihear was within Cambodian territory, a ruling that was not challenged by Thailand, which was then under a military dictatorship.

But what the court in The Hague did not resolve was a 4.6 square-kilometer stretch of overlapping territory near Preah Vihear, making it a flashpoint along the disputed 800-km border the two kingdoms share. In fact, Thailand and Cambodia use different maps to demarcate their respective borders.

Fearing that a Cambodian plan to manage Preah Vihear may lead to a loss of Thai territory, the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva instructed its team at the WHC meeting, which included three ranking military officers, to challenge Phnom Penh’s management plan even to the point of Thailand threatening to quit the committee.

Thai anger was also reflected in protests staged outside the UNESCO office in Bangkok, prompting a letter of concern by Irina Bokova, the UN body’s director general, who called for “dialogue in safeguarding the Temple of Preah Vihear.”

“Protecting and enhancing our natural and cultural heritage, means building the peace, respect and solidarity which lies at the heart of UNESCO’s mission,” Bokova added. “It is our common responsibility to make these sites emblems of peace, dialogue and reconciliation.”

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya upped the ante with a stern letter to the WHC saying that Bangkok would not cooperate with any plans approved at the Brasilia meeting.

“As long as the demarcation (of the border) has not been finished, Thailand cannot cooperate with any decision by the WHC,” Kasit argued in his letter. “The WHC has also neglected the fact that the management plan for the Preah Vihear temple cannot achieve concrete results and be a success because it has ignored the Thai role in helping preserve the temple.”

But Kasit’s Cambodian counterpart dismissed attempts by Thai protesters to reverse the World Heritage listing of the Preah Vihear temple under Cambodia. “The enlistment of Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site is already done,” Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong was quoted as saying by the Phnom Penh Post. “Whatever Thailand is doing cannot be changed.”

Chea Dara, deputy commander of Cambodia’s armed forces in Preah Vihear, offered a more ominous warning to Thai nationalists threatening to “invade” Cambodia. “Thai extremists should stop bothering Cambodia, because we will not welcome them,” he was quoted as saying in the Phnom Penh Post. “We will welcome them with guns.”

This brings to mind the past clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops assigned to protect their borders near the temple. In April 2009, an encounter between Thai and Cambodian troops there left three people dead.

“We cannot ask the WHC to delist the temple as a World Heritage Site,” said Puangthong Pawakapan, an assistant professor in international relations at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “That decision will worsen the relationship.”

“To solve the territorial dispute, both side haves to be sensitive to each other’s concerns,” she told IPS. “There has to be give and take.”

But Thailand’s deeply divided political environment after two bloody crackdowns in recent months complicates this border dispute, she said. “As long as Thai politics cannot find unity, the Thai-Cambodian issue will not be resolved. The relationship will go up and down.”

The current spike in tensions over Preah Vihear exposes a broader fault line that has marred Thai-Cambodian ties in the past year.

In November 2009, both countries recalled their respective ambassadors after Bangkok protested Phnom Penh’s appointment of fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The same month saw the Thai government revoke an agreement with Cambodia to develop overlapping areas in the Gulf of Thailand rich in oil and gas.

That tense chapter came six years after a wave of nationalist hysteria in Phnom Penh saw protesters burn down the Thai embassy. The Cambodians had been angered by a Thai actress’ statement that allegedly questioned Cambodia’s ownership of the historic Angkor Wat complex. Thaksin was the Thai premier then.

How can we help the children of Cambodia??

REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea: Daily life

A Cambodian boy sleeps in a hammock in Kandal province in the outskirts of Phnom Penh July 31, 2010. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Vendors rest as they await customers in Kandal province, located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, July 31, 2010. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

A fisherman casts a net to catch fish on the Tonle Sap river in Kamdal province, located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, July 31, 2010. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodians transport rice in Kandal province, located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, July 31, 2010. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Tea Banh rules out joint development

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By Panya Tiewsangwan

The Nation

The World Heritage Committee's decision to delay the Preah Vihear management issue to next year must have hit Cambodia hard, but Phnom Penh's Defence Minister Tea Banh took it on the chin, albeit quite bitterly.

"We know from history what the issue is like," he told The Nation in a phone interview. "What has happened doesn't give any new signal. It's an old issue, nothing new."

While saying that the Unesco setback will not create military tension at the border, Tea Banh, who is also deputy prime minister, couldn't help feeling Thailand could have just stopped being "stubborn" and learned to "let go".

"To us it's deja vu all over again. Thailand has never let go in spite of the World Court verdict and Thais have tried everything" to oppose Cambodian rights over the temple, he said.

Members of the People's Alliance for Democracy, who demonstrated at the Bangkok head office of Unesco yesterday against Cambodia's management plan for the temple, cheered the World Heritage Committee's decision. But observers believe the one-year postponement is unlikely to soften the PAD's sometimes vociferous campaign for Thai territorial claims around the temple.

It was the PAD's strong protests that galvanised the government to resort to tough diplomacy that saw Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva threatening this week to sever ties with the Unesco committee.

The World Heritage Committee, part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, had been scheduled to rule on Thursday on the Cambodian management plan for the 11th-century Hindu temple. But at the meeting in Brasilia, the Thai-Cambodian conflict flared up. As a result, the 21-member committee decided to postpone the decision until next year's meeting in Bahrain, after Thai accusations of procedural errors.

"The Thais know best what they want and I can't speak for them," Tea Banh said. "You don't have to ask me what caused the delay after Thailand threatened to end its Unesco membership.

"Should this conflict be mediated by a third party? I really don't want to comment. Let me just say if one side refuses to accept truth, it will be very difficult to move on."

The stone Hindu temple ruins were listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site two years ago and Phnom Penh was required to submit a management plan to the committee. Thai opponents of the management plan feared it "hid" some sensitive territorial information that would bolster Cambodia's territorial claims in the future.

"Cambodia never thinks about violating Thailand's sovereignty," Tea Banh said. When asked if a joint development of the site would be a solution, he replied: "There are principles for everything. You cannot try to be co-owners of properties you don't have rights over them."

Trade Unions Should Have Only One Voice to Negotiate with Employers – Friday, 30.7.2010

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Posted on 31 July 2010. Filed under: Week 675 |
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 675

“Trade unions agreed that they should have only one voice to negotiate with enterprises if disputes take place.

“The head of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, Mr. Rong Chhun, said on Thursday, 29 July 2010, that in a meeting about the draft of a Trade Union Law it was suggested by the government that in an enterprise, even though there are many trade union representatives [there are by now 49 different labor federations and associations], there should be only one person chosen to negotiate with the employer. He went on to say that there is no adequate opportunity provided for trade unions to voice their opinion responding to the government and to the Ministry of Labor that created that draft. He said that this law is restrictive and leaves less power to trade unions when they act to support workers.

“The head of the Cambodian Confederation of Trade Unions, Mr. Vong Sovann, said on Thursday that a closed door meeting had found that this draft states the obligations of workers and of employers. He said, ‘We think that the draft should be changed to a [general] law on “expert organization,” but it is just our idea and we will send it to the government after the meeting.’ He added that trade unions want the government to consider this and to remove some points. He said, ‘There should not be a requirement to state the financial situation of a union to the Ministry. The draft might rather suggest that trade unions have to be transparent for their members, which is not a problem.’

“Mr. Vong Sovann does not agree with the requirement that legally registered trade unions will have to register again after the draft will have been adopted. Therefore, the meeting will suggest to the government to remove this point. He said, ‘If strikes or demonstrations due to labor conflicts happen, the law should not consider them as crimes which might lead to the arrest of some representatives of the workers.’ Trade union representatives met to discuss also some important key issues like strikes, unjust implementation of the labor law, penalty conditions, and the court system.”

Phnom Penh Post [Khmer Edition], Vol.1, #226, 30.7.2010

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Friday, 30 July 2010

PM tells media to study UNESCO resolution as Cambodia claims victory on Preah Vihear issue

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BANGKOK, July 31 -- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Saturday told media to carefully read the World Heritage Commission (WHC) resolution after Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An claimed a 'victory' as the heritage agency agreed to review its Preah Vihear temple management plan, despite the action coming a year from now.

Asked to comment on the report, Mr Abhisit told journalists succinctly to "Please find out and read the resolution [yourself]...."

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) heritage commission on Thursday postponed discussing the issue until next year when it meets in Bahrain.

The heritage commission dropped the issue because its meeting secretariat had not distributed the Cambodian-prepared document to committee members six weeks beforehand as required but gave it to members less than one day before the WHC meeting.

It postponed discussion on the thorny issue because the two neighbouring countries could not find common ground to settle the disputed 4.6 sq km of lightly forested land near the temple.

Mr Abhisit’s remarks followed Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An's live TV speech by satellite from Brazil boasting that Cambodia had achieved its goal when the UNESCO committee agreed to consider its plan for managing Preah Vihear temple -- but not emphasising it would be next year.

The Associated Press reported from Phnom Penh quoted Mr Sok An as saying Friday that “UNESCO has officially accepted our management plan documents, so there is no need to have a further discussion or voting. The result ... is a big victory for Cambodia, [the] result we have been waiting for.”

The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962 and the ruling has rankled in Thailand ever since.

For Thailand the issue worsened on July 7, 2008, when Preah Vihear was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Under the terms of the listing, Cambodia is required to submit a management plan for WHC approval. (MCOT online news)

Conference on building border of peace and friendship held

via Khmer NZ

July 31, 2010

Nhan Dan – An international conference on building a common border of peace and friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia was held in Tay Ninh province on July 30.

It was co-chaired by Vu Trong Kim, Member of the Party Central Committee and Vice Chairman cum General Secretary of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and Min Khin, Minister of Cults and Religions of the Kingdom of Cambodia and Permanent Vice Chairman cum General Secretary of the National Council for the Solidarity Front for Development of the Cambodian Motherland.

At the conference, the two chairmen expressed their happiness and pride over new developments in solidary and friendly relations between the two peoples in the past.

Many delegates said that the conference symbolised the traditional friendly and co-operative ties between the peoples of the two countries, especially those who live in the provinces along the common border.

The conference also aimed to promote co-operative ties between the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the National Council for the Solidarity Front for Development of the Cambodian Motherland.

Thai-Cambodia border 'normal' but Thai military on high alert

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via Khmer NZ

BANGKOK, July 31 -- The Thai-Cambodian border situation remains normal but Thailand's military is on high guard after a United Nations agency agreed to postpone discussions on the disputed management plan around the Preah Vihear temple proposed by the Phnom Penh government to 2011.

Thai troops are now posted some five kilometres from the historic temple on its eastern approach.

They are guarding the disputed area contested by the two neighbouring countries round-the-clock to ensure that Cambodian soldiers do not encroach the Thai territory.

In an attempt to boost morale of Thai soldiers guarding the border, Col Nirut Ketsiri, commander of 16th Infantry Battalion, visited them.

Thailand's foreign minister said Friday that the country is not disadvantaged after UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (WHC) on Thursday postponed its scheduled discussions on the management plan to next year's meeting in Bahrain.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromyat praised the Thai delegation at the meeting, led by Suwit Khunkitti, minister of natural resources and environment, for voicing and explaining the Thai perspective on the impasse to heritage committee members until they decided to postpone discussion of the issue.

He said that Thailand should now find a way to resolve the Thai-Cambodian border demarcation problem and submit it to the House of Representatives for consideration.

The immediate challenge, Mr Kasit said, is that Thailand wants to refer to the temple as Phra Viharn, while Cambodia calls it Phreah Vihear. If it is agreed by Phnom Penh then both countries could move jointly to resolve their territorial disputes.

The Thai government wants to resolve the problem according to the 2000 land boundary demarcation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cambodia agreeing not to change any environment in the frontier zone, pending the survey and demarcation of the common land boundary.

Thailand will not allow its territory to be lost and the disputed, overlapping boundary must be settled by negotiation, he said, adding that the next round of talks should be done in a friendly atmosphere as the two countries are close neighbours. (MCOT online news)

Unesco To Discuss Temple Plan Next Year: Minister

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Friday, 30 July 2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: AP
World Heritage Preah Vihear temple sits on the edge of a plateau that dominates the plain of Cambodia.

“The UN World Heritage Committee decided to consider Cambodia’s Preah Vihear management plan to discuss in the next session.”

Following an international meeting with Unesco in Brazil this week, Council Minister Sok An said Friday the UN body will postpone consideration of a management plan for the contentious Preah Vihear temple in a session next year.

Cambodia issued a management plan for the World Heritage temple this week, against opposition from Thailand, which claims a disputed strip of land near the temple.

“The UN World Heritage Committee decided to consider Cambodia’s Preah Vihear management plan to discuss in the next session,” Sok An said in a public statement from Brazil that was carried by national television.

Thai Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti said he approved of the postponement.

A delayed discussion will “allow us to have more time to have bilateral discussions and communications to find the common and the mutual agreement between two countries,” he said in remarks quoted by international media.

Preah Vihear temple, an 11th-Century structure that sits on an escarpment overlooking the plains of Preah Vihear province, remains at the center of an ongoing border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, who each have troops amassed along the northern frontier.

At least eight soldiers have died in brief skirmishes stemming from the standoff.