As Burma loosens its grip on the media, Cambodia has begun to rank high among the countries repressing internet and telephone freedom in the name of national security, safety and social order. It is still not comparable to China or Vietnam, but Cambodia is moving in the wrong direction.
Last February, the Kingdom of Wonders adopted an “inter-ministerial circular”, according to which every Internet cafe in the country has to set up surveillance cameras and any phone shop has to register callers using its services. According to an unofficial translation obtained by the Asian Correspondent, the circular is meant to “promote protection of national security, safety and social order for the country”. Even though nothing has been implemented thus far, the circular is a threat to every phone and Internet user in the country. “This is not a law. The authorities simply decided to do whatever they want to regulate online content in the country only because it could violate khmer culture,” stated Norbert Klein, the “founding father” of the Internet in Cambodia and now the head of the Cambodia chapter of the Internet Society. To him, the circular is a “means of intimidation for Internet users more than a means to protect their safety “.
In 1990, Norbert Klein connected Cambodia to the web at the back of what is today an always-full restaurant in the heart of Phnom Penh, where NGO workers and the expat population mix. At that time, he wanted to help one of his colleague to complete an online fellowship. With a Colombian email program and a Singaporian modem it took them weeks to get connected and finally read and receive emails. Moreover, since the connection was asking for stable and steady supply, the electricity was generated by a Vietnamese truck battery stationed outside the house. At that time, never Klein would never have imagined that the Internet in Cambodia could deal with censorship. After all, the only censor they faced in 1990 was the price: $5 per minute of connection.
But then came human rights defenders like the Venerable Loun Sovath using online tools to advocate for a cause, scandals arose when the behaviors created by the Internet attempted to cult and religion and the feared Jasmine Revolution started in neighbouring countries. As of today, Cambodia has a bit more than 3% of its population online with one of the quickest rates of growth in the region since it is more than twice the number registered in 2011. These are some of the reasons behind the Internet crackdown, which is nothing but a simple agreement that the government can claim at any moment and that consulted no elected member.
According to the inter-Ministerial circular signed by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Post and Telecommunications, “past experiences […] have shown that criminals and offenders always used telecommunications services such as mobile phones, fixed phones, VoIP and Internet as a means to commit terrorism, trans-boundary crimes, robberies, kidnapping, murders, drug trafficking, human trafficking, economic offenses, illegal installment of and illegal corporation of all forms of telecommunications service, broadcasting of obscene pictures and debauchery, which affect national customs, traditions and social good moral values.” For these reasons, “all locations serving telephone and Internet services shall be equipped with closed circuit television camera and shall store footage data of users for at least 3 months. Telephone service corporation owners along public roads shall [also] record National Identity Cards of any subscriber”.
As of today, there are more than 19 million sim card holders in Cambodia. And it is still very difficult to get an ID card for Cambodian nationals. For the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, which organizes “good governance” forums in the country, the first obstacle to possess a national id card is the price. There is no fixed economic value to it and it can vary from $2.5 to $50.
According to the Ministry of Interior there are 9,27866 Cambodian holding ID cards. What does this circular mean for the almost ten million Cambodians with sim cards but no ID ? The will to control telecommunications is not new
This February circular is not the first attempt to control the use of telecommunications. However, it shows once again that the Ministry of Information is excluded from the decision and seems to be less relevant when it comes to regulation. In 2010, the same Ministry of Post and Telecommunications attempted to get the monopoly over the Internet cable industry in the country. There are about 30 internet service providers in the country and 10 phone operators, which causes a loss of profit to the state-owned services. To solve this, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications attempted to direct all international internet traffic through Telecom Cambodia, which would have charged other operators a transmission fee. However this time, because the ministry of information went publicly against it, it had to be abandoned.
Moreover, it has only been five years since the use of the peer-to-peer software Skype has been authorized. Even if it was possible to connect to it, it was still illegal for the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications was loosing money. This sounds like a false argument since the people using Skype were the ones who could not afford a phone call. There was a Cambodian version of Skype but its lack of popularity among the high ranking society and its difficulty to be used made the government give it in.
For most of human rights defenders, Internet remains a free space where sensitive topics can be discussed. For Chak Sopheap, online activist and contributor to the network Global Voices online, Internet is a “digital democracy”, which should be put in place in reality, outside of a computer screen. Internet activists in Cambodia are being more effective to advocate for themselves and denounce human rights violations. For example, when Loun Sovath records them, he get a double answer; the international community takes an interest while the Cambodian authorities arrest him. “Internet users are the ones that the government fears the most”, continues Klein. This is also confirmed by Ou Virak, from the Cambodia Center for Human Rights (CCHR), according to whom “activists use more the Internet during protests for example. They can advocate for themselves online, especially through Facebook. Before the Internet became popular, media were the target of the government. Today, activists are”.
This circular is not only limited to online and mobile content and usage but also to radio stations since “any radio communication wave system corporation shall require permission from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications”. The radio’s mission is mainly defined as a “public service”. Therefore, the decision maker should be an institution and not a private corporation. This could therefore apply to any independent media trying to set up as a private company to own airtime and a frequency.
UN special envoy Surya Subedi warns of possible unrest in Cambodia if the authorities refuse to embrace election reforms.
Cambodia may plunge into violence if it does not reform the current electoral system to allow for fair and free elections, Surya Subedi, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, has warned in a report.
He said there are "major flaws" in the administration of elections in Cambodia and called for "urgent and longer-term reforms" needed to give Cambodians confidence in the electoral process and in the National Election Committee (NEC), which organizes and manages polls.
"It is regrettable," he said, that most of the proposals by bilateral and multilateral agencies to reform the electoral process based on shortcomings identified in previous elections "remain unimplemented" by the Cambodian authorities.
In a report to be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva at its upcoming September meeting, Subedi said that he is "concerned by the capacity gaps that persist in the electoral process."
"If the electoral process is unable to command the trust and confidence of the electorate, the very foundation of the Cambodian political and constitutional architecture embodied in the Paris Peace Agreements will be shaken and the country may run the risk of a return to violence," he said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen's government "must therefore do its utmost to avoid such a situation," he said in the report released this week.
Exile return
Subedi also called for a "political solution" to enable exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia "to play a full role" in politics.
Saying that Sam Rainsy has been convicted on charges that are allegedly politically motivated, Subedi added that "a concerted effort by the ruling and opposition parties towards reconciliation is in the interests of stronger and deeper democratization of Cambodia," especially ahead of the 2013 elections.
Sam Rainsy, who is currently involved in efforts to merge Cambodia’s two key opposition parties into a united alliance against Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), went into exile in 2009 after leading a border protest and was convicted in absentia on charges of incitement and damaging property.
He has called his conviction groundless and unacceptable.
Subedi's proposal for electoral reforms was shrugged off by the national electoral body.
Tep Nitha, General Secretary of the NEC, said on Tuesday that Subedi’s report "sounds like he is only listening to the opposition party and certain NGOs rather than reflecting the NEC’s current work."
Tep Nitha claimed that Subedi’s recommendations had effectively been implemented, including the part about making the electoral panel independent and autonomous, and guarantor of voters’ rights.
He said Sam Rainsy's absence "will not affect the process of the elections and democracy in Cambodia.”
Recommendations 'necessary'
But the Executive Director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL), Koul Panha, stressed that all of Subedi’s recommendations "are vital and necessary" for electoral reforms.
"And the most urgent and immediate reform to be done prior to the national election in 2013 is the full guarantee of voters’ rights," he said.
In his report, Subedi cited a host of issues that needed to be addressed before parliamentary elections scheduled in July 2013. Among them:
== The NEC should have independent and autonomous status in the constitutional and legal structure of Cambodia, with its own independent budget allocated by the parliament.
== There should be consensus among the major political parties represented in the parliament on the appointment of the president and members of the NEC and the provincial election committees.
== There is a need to amend the law and to create another institution, such as a special election tribunal or election court within the judicial structure of Cambodia or a special election tribunal within the National Constitutional Council to resolve election-related disputes, rather than using the NEC itself to do so.
== All major political parties should have fair and equal access to the mass media to convey their messages to the electorate.
== All opposition parties must be free to organize and campaign without fear and hindrance. The Special Rapporteur "has been informed of cases of harassment and intimidation of people attending party political meetings of opposition parties by government officials and the secret police."
== There should be a more effective, impartial and non-discriminatory procedure for the registration of voters in Cambodia.
Subedi also cited a petition directed to him from a Cambodian citizen who had expressed "frustration with the existing electoral process.
The Cambodian wrote that "if the current state of affairs continued, the ruling party would win the elections forever and that there was no hope for other political parties."
Reported by Neang Ieng for RFA's Khmer service. Translated by Yanny Hin. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen arrives before a meeting at the National Assembly in Phnom Penh - Reuters
Cambodia’s leader Hun Sen says he has a “secret strategy” to prevent his Southeast Asian nation from being dominated by its much larger neighbors: casinos.
In a five-hour, 20 minute address to Cambodia’s parliament Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Sen explained that his plans to turn this country of 15 million people into a global gaming hub is in fact part of a longer-term strategy to prevent neighbors such as Vietnam and Thailand from encroaching on Cambodian turf.
Border disputes are a recurring problem in the region, with Thai and Cambodian troops occasionally locking horns in Cambodia’s east. A contentious border demarcation process with Vietnam is still under way, and Mr. Hun Sen’s opponents have accused him of giving away territory to regional rivals, especially Vietnam, in the past. But on Thursday he took them to task. “I don’t like casinos, but the biggest goal for giving permission to build casinos is to protect the border,” Mr. Hun Sen, 61 years old, told lawmakers in a marathon address, which was estimated by aides to be his longest yet. The predominantly Buddhist country now has more than 25 casinos, with more gaming tables on the way. “One can remove border markers, but one can’t remove five-storey hotels. Don’t be stupid.”
Worse, Mr. Hun Sen said, his critics had forced him to reveal his clandestine security plan. “This should be a secret strategy to protect the nation,” Asia’s longest-serving leader barked in his televised speech, which was mandatory viewing for civil servants, who watched their leader speak without breaks or taking questions.
It’s unclear how firmly Mr. Hun Sen’s tongue was planted in his cheek. His long and often rambling speeches frequently invite comparison with other long-winded leaders, such as Fidel Castro or Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, and he often upbraids erring ministers on live television.
Earlier this year, he also lashed out at foreign correspondents for daring to suggest that Cambodia might use its role as host of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year to prevent the trade and security-bloc from taking a common stand against one of Cambodia’s main allies, China.
“I think he was being facetious” when unveiling his secret casino plan, said Ben Lee, an analyst with Macau-based consultancy iGamix.
It wasn’t immediately possible to reach a Cambodian government spokesman, and Vietnamese government officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Cheam Yeap, a member of Mr. Hun Sen’s party in the legislature, said the casino plan “is Prime Minister Hun Sen’s own strategy to protect the border. The prime minister is serious with his speech.”
There has been an extraordinary surge in new casinos opening their doors for business in Cambodia in recent years. Its government is attempting to attract a slice of the gaming money that has made Asia a new global center for the industry, and Cambodia’s borders are lined with casinos catering to Thai and Vietnamese gamblers who are prohibited from gambling in their own countries.
Opponents regularly criticize Mr. Hun Sen for promoting casinos for visitors. Many Cambodians, who are legally barred from gambling, see the joints as morally degrading.
Yet the industry has also created thousands of jobs in a country that is still striving to overcome of the chaos of the 1970s, when the former Maoist Khmer Rouge regime killed or contributed to the deaths of an estimated 2 million people. The country’s casinos range from hard-scrabble affairs in border outposts to palatial buildings in Phnom Penh, such as the riverside NagaWorld resort, which is adding 220 rooms to its existing 500.
The government says gaming generated around $20 million in tax revenues last year, up 25% from the year before, and which is re-invested in health care and education.
Authorities are now eyeing more casino developments in other tourist areas, including the towns of Siem Reap and Sihanoukville as Cambodia hopes to follow in the path of other gaming centers such as Macau, which last year pulled in $33.5 billion in gaming revenue, more than the five times the amount raked in in Las Vegas.
It is unclear how successful Cambodia will be in capturing a larger slice of this market, though squeamishness over the suitability of gaming in a predominantly Buddhist society doesn’t appear to be getting in the way of the country’s longer-term commercial and, possibly, national security goals.
Correction & Amplification: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Cambodia is a land-locked nation.
By Ou Virak is President of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights The Phnom Penh Post
The announcement last week from Manila that Cambodia’s two largest opposition parties – the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and the Human Rights Party (HRP) – are to merge under the banner of the Democratic Movement for National Rescue (DMNR) represents a great sign of hope for Cambodia’s beleaguered democracy.
For the first time in two decades, the Cambodian electorate may be given the option of a genuine and viable alternative to the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).
Human Rights Party president Kem Sokha (2nd L), acting SRP president Kong Korm (C) and SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua (R) attend a meeting of the newly formed Democratic Movement for National Rescue party in Phnom Penh on Monday. Photograph: Vireak Mai/Phnom Penh Post
However, to attract Cambodia’s disenchanted electorate back to the polling booth – turnout for this year’s commune elections was just 60 per cent compared to 87 per cent ten years ago – and to maximise its chances of winning next year’s general elections, the DMNR should take the following steps:
Put party policy before personalities: Political parties in Cambodia have traditionally been projections of party leaders – not only Hun Sen’s CPP but also Kem Sokha’s HRP and Sam Rainsy’s eponymous party. Policy issues are relegated, with voters encouraged to vote for individual personalities rather than the parties that offer them the most.
The merger announcement indicates that Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha – president and vice president of the DMNR respectively – are willing to let their personalities take a back seat to the profile of the new party. It is essential, however, that the DMNR can fulfil this profile.
It must ensure that its members take central stage and are allowed to help determine strategy and policy.
Move to the middle: In order to present itself as a viable alternative to the incumbent CPP, the DMNR must reach out to a broader section of society than the SRP’s and HRP’s current support base. While the DMNR should maintain the social goals of those parties, including reform of the country’s land sector, it should also expand its horizons and promote policies that will attract the business vote.
One way of doing this is to propose policies that appeal to small and medium-sized businesses: a pro-business approach which counters the CPP’s elitist policies that favour a small number of well-connected tycoons.
De-radicalise: The marginalisation of the opposition over the past 20 years has given rise to a tendency to promote radical causes to attract voters’ attention and score cheap political points. The most obvious example is the tendency of some opposition members – most famously Sam Rainsy – to chastise the CPP’s links to Vietnam and condemn the loss of Cambodian land to Vietnam.
While such reactions may have some validity, they have not generally been constructive or discerning. If the DMNR is to be truly democratic, it must steer clear of anti-Vietnamese sentiments.
Engage Cambodia’s youth: The CPP has ruled Cambodia for more than 30 years. The party leadership should be congratulated for its role in defeating the Khmer Rouge and for bringing peace and stability to this country. Rather than dwelling on these points, however, it is time for Cambodian politics – and the DMNR – to move on, reach out to the youth, so many of whom were born after the terrors of the 1970s and to whom the CPP’s achievements hold less resonance, and offer a vision whereby all sectors of society have a role to play and dreams to realise.
Promote gender equality: The CPP is now significantly outperforming the SRP and HRP in the area of female representation in politics. In the recent commune elections, 21 per cent of the CPP’s elected candidates were women, while only 11 per cent of the SRP’s elected candidates were women.
The HRP brought up the rear with a shameful 1.5 per cent. If the DMNR is to take office, it will do so riding the crest of a wave of hope and excitement. No such hope and excitement can exist if the new party is just another old boys’ club with the same backward patriarchal attitudes that are manifested in the SRP and HRP.
The DMNR must overcome these shortcomings and look to further gender balance in politics. It must listen to female perspectives from around the country and empower women to run as candidates in next year’s general elections.
Decreases in voter turnout in recent years have been testament to the growing conviction among the electorate that election results are a foregone conclusion and that real change can never really come from the ballot box.
For too long, the opposition has offered little more than a stamp of legitimacy for elections that they never really stood any chance of winning. After years of talks, the merger of the opposition parties represents the most exciting event in Cambodian politics for a long time.
These two erstwhile opponents must now seize their opportunity and offer the Cambodian voter – and the youth in particular – a viable alternative to the entrenched CPP for the first time in 20 years.
On July 12-13, the U.S. Government and the
Royal Government of Cambodia convened the first-ever Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment Policy Dialogue as part of the Lower Mekong
Initiative (LMI). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched the LMI
with the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in
2009 to enhance cooperation among the countries in the areas of
environment, health, education, and infrastructure development. Burma
formally joined the initiative in July 2012.
More than 150 representatives of government and civil society from
the five countries as well as Australia, Japan and New Zealand gathered
in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to find ways to ensure that women are fully
integrated both as change agents and beneficiaries in the development
activities of the LMI. Discussion topics included expanding women’s
political and economic participation, combatting gender-based violence,
including human trafficking, forging public-private partnerships,
promoting women’s education and health, and engaging women as
environmental leaders. Secretary Clinton, U.S. Ambassador-at-large for
Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister
Men Sam An, and Cambodian Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi
all participated in the conference.
The United States announced the following new commitments to advance the status of women in the region:
Strengthening Networks of Women Leaders in the Lower Mekong Region.
The United States is committed to working with the people of the
Lower Mekong Region to increase the number of women serving as leaders
in their communities and countries. An essential objective is the
creation of broad, sustainable regional networks of women leaders who
can advise, promote, and support each other in their work. The United
States has committed resources for several follow-on activities after
the policy dialogue.
Cambodia Women's Leadership Network. The U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) will launch a new initiative to
strengthen women’s leadership in Cambodia. This initiative will
establish issue-based dialogues between female civil society leaders and
female elected officials on developing policy solutions to critical
challenges. The initiative will also provide training to women leaders
to strengthen their leadership skills and empower them to become policy
advocates. This activity will seek to build upon and strengthen the
Women’s Leadership Caucus in Cambodia to enable cross-party dialogue.
The initiative will also support exchanges between Cambodian women and
other leaders in the Mekong region to share best practices and
strengthen regional networks.
Lower Mekong Women’s Network. USAID will provide
support to activities that build on the efforts and relationships
established during the Women’s Policy Dialogue. USAID will support the
meaningful involvement of women leaders in future events and discussions
on critical Lower Mekong issues that are often linked to conflict, such
as natural resources management. USAID will take the lead from
participants at the Dialogue on which issues emerge as the highest
priorities, and will work to connect women to regional policy dialogues
and regional decision making bodies to address those issues.
Women, Peace, and Security Fellows. The U.S.
government has taken significant steps to empower women in preventing
conflict and building peace in countries affected by war, violence, and
insecurity. We believe achieving this goal is critical to our national
security, and global security. As part of this effort, the Department of
Defense is hosting Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Fellows at the Asia
Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii. Participants
from the Lower Mekong region will participate as WPS fellows in the
Advanced Security Cooperation course, which starts in September. Through
a combination of lectures, seminars, electives and case studies, the
WPS Fellows develop capacities and build networks with other security
practitioners from the region in an effort to advance women's inclusion
in peace negotiations, peace building activities, and conflict
prevention; protect women from sexual and gender-based violence; and
ensure equal access to relief and recovery, in areas of conflict and
insecurity.
Investing in Women Scientists and Engineers
As in many other regions around the world, women in LMI countries are
traditionally underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math (STEM) fields. Increasing the numbers of women in these fields is
essential to improving both status of women and the pool of talent
engaged in these fields.
Scholarships for Vietnamese Women Engineers. USAID,
in partnership with Intel Corporation and Arizona State University,
through the Higher Education Engineering Alliance has invested over $10
million to develop a work-ready workforce. Part of this investment
includes scholarships for 75 Vietnamese students, of whom 26 are women,
to study abroad in the United States. In addition, the partnership has
awarded 20 women scholarships for vocational training in engineering in
Vietnam, and USAID is working to encourage women to apply for the
additional 80 scholarships slated to be awarded in Vietnam this year.
Exchanges for Female Scientists from LMI. USAID will
support opportunities for female scientists in Lower Mekong countries to
collaborate with U.S. scientists. Under the Partnerships for Enhanced
Engagement in Research (PEER) program, which is designed to enhance
international research collaborations and build science capacity,
developing country scientists can apply for funds to support research
and capacity-building activities. Funding will be provided for three or
four female scientists to undertake research on reducing threats to
biodiversity and improving management of vulnerable species and high
biodiversity ecosystems.
Facilitating Technical Exchange among LMI Partner countries to
Improve Women’s Health Women’s Health Leadership in the Lao People’s
Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). USAID is supporting a technical
exchange between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Lao People's
Democratic Republic to strengthen the Division of the Promotion of
Women's Advancement within the Lao Ministry of Public Health. This
exchange will enhance the focus on gender in health policies and
institutional structures, within the greater vision of improving health
outcomes for men, women, girls, and boys.
Public -Private Partnership for Women and Girls
Small grants to benefit women and girls in Burma. The
Abbott Fund, the foundation of the global health care company, Abbott,
and the State Department will work together to expand opportunities for
women and girls in Burma. Abbott will provide $1 million to fund small
grants to non-governmental organizations working to advance women and
girls' health, education, safety and economic empowerment. Such grants
will enable NGOS to continue, expand, or scale efforts that benefit
women. The US Embassy will work to identify eligible NGOs and worthy
projects.
Anti-Trafficking
MTV-Exit. In late 2012 USAID and AusAID plan to
launch the fourth phase of MTV-Exit’s public awareness campaign on
Trafficking in Persons in Southeast Asia. MTV-Exit seeks to educate
young people about the dangers of being defrauded or coerced into forced
labor, servitude, or sexual exploitation. Events are held in areas
where people are particularly vulnerable to trafficking.
This story is part of a series celebrating HIV/AIDS activists in honor of Thursday's World AIDS Day.
Her house has been burned down. She's had her car jacked. Her daughter was kidnapped, drugged and raped. But still, sex trafficking survivor Somaly Mam says she would rather risk death than give up her work saving slaves in Cambodia.
Sold into prostitution at 12 by her grandfather, Mam was brutalized and raped -- sometimes up to 10 times a day -- throughout her teenage years. While Mam made an unlikely escape to France from the brothel in Cambodia, she couldn't tolerate the cushy life there knowing that thousands of girls were being tortured at home. So in 1996, Mam returned to the slums of Cambodia and has been fighting forced prostitution and the rampant transmission of HIV/AIDS ever since.
"Our foundation is about the survivor," said Mam, who estimates her age to be about 40. "A survivor in my program means no one can feel how we feel. We know how to talk to them. The foundation empowers the victims and lets them know that we are the survivors."
Mam has saved more than 4,000 slaves since she started her advocacy work.
While an estimated 30,000 children are sold into slavery in Southeast Asia, according to The Somaly Mam Foundation, young girls -- as young as 6 -- are particularly vulnerable in Cambodia. There, it's believed that sleeping with a virgin can cure AIDS.
But at the moment a girl loses her virginity, she completely loses her allure and value.
"Once you're in a brothel, you are bad luck," Mam told The Huffington Post. "You can't get married. They completely destroy you. So you come to hate the people around you. You can't be happy."
She feels as though she will never completely overcome the horror she experienced, getting locked in a cellar with snakes, getting raped on a constant basis and watching her friend get shot and killed. Now, she says the charity she founded and runs is what gives her strength to carry on.
Mam first established AFESIP (Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire) 15 years ago out of her two-room home. She raids brothels and scours health clinics for victims to save, risking her life each time as she enrages the pimps and brothel owners. Her program, which provides shelter, education and job skills to the victims of sex-trafficking, gained even more momentum in 2007 when she established her funding vehicle, the Somaly Mam Foundation.
Oftentimes Mam gets to the girls after they've already contracted HIV. But whether they're in good health or suffering with the fatal disease, Mam said she pushes all of them to meet their potential.
One survivor, who Mam named "Monday" after the day of the week she was saved, was sold into slavery when she was 6 years old. Today, she's 19 and studying law.
"She was talking about wanting to go [work at] the court because the court treated her really badly," Mam said. "She wore short skirts so the judge talked to her like it made sense that they raped her."
Part of the healing process, Mam shared from her own experience, is being honest and open with the pain she and the survivors have endured. Now divorced, Mam said she isn't interested in sex or developing intimate relationships. The smell of sperm and getting close with men is just too painful a reminder of the torture to which she was subjected.
Though she's abstaining from relationships, Mam makes sure to remind herself to tend to her needs, to stay strong and healthy to fulfill her work.
"I realized I had to take care of myself for my girls," Mam said. "I don't want any of them to get pain from me."
PHNOM PENH,Cambodia- China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), on Wednesday officially opened its branch in Phnom Penh, aimed at cementing Sino-Cambodia economic and trade cooperation.
The ICBC Phnom Penh Branch is the second Chinese bank operating in Cambodia after the first one--Bank of China-- launched here in May. The bank is the kingdom's 30th commercial banks. Speaking at the launching, the ICBC Board Chairman Jiang Jianqing said the establishment of the branch in Cambodia was not only an embodiment of ICBC's confidence in the future economic development of Cambodia, but also showed the bank's commitment to bridge Sino-Cambodia economic and trade cooperation.
"China and Cambodia have long benefited from a friendly, sincere, trustworthy and win-win partnership," he said. "The closer economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has provided wide space for ICBC's development in Cambodia."
He said the bank will reinforce its cooperation with Chinese enterprises in Cambodia and support the infrastructure development in fields like communication, transportation and electricity.
It will also extend its financial service to traditionally advantageous local industries such as grain and tourism and provide quality and convenient comprehensive financial service to indigenous enterprises and individual customers, he said.
At the meantime, Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon, minister of economy and finance, said the presence of the bank would build more public confidence in Cambodia's banking industry.
"It's great honor for Cambodia that the World No 1 class bank launches here," he said at the bank's launching.
He asked the bank to focus its loans on agricultural sector, especially rice sector, in order to help the government of Cambodia to achieve the target of exporting 1 million tons of milled rice in 2015.
Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), said the bank's presence would help attract more Chinese investors to Cambodia.
"The bank is vital to contribute to the development of Cambodia's economy," he said. "I believe that the bank would bring new technology and innovative banking products to develop Cambodian banking industry."
By the end of September this year, the customers' deposits in the banking sector grew by 17 percent to $4.72 billion, while the customer credits increased by 23 percent to $4.04 billion, according to the NBC's reports.
So far, some 1.43 million people have their money deposited at Cambodia's banks, while about 1.3 million people have borrowed money from the banks, Chea Chanto added.
During the launch, Pan Guangxue, the Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia, also expressed congratulation to the ICBC for opening the first branch in Cambodia.
"The bank will contribute to the development of economic and trade ties between China and Cambodia," he said.
He added that the bilateral trade volume between China and Cambodia had reached $1.6 billion in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 57.5 percent.
On the investment side, from 1994 to September this year, there have been nearly 400 Chinese investment projects in Cambodia with the accumulative investment of nearly $9 billion, making China the largest investor in Cambodia.
ICBC is the largest bank of China's big four state-owned commercial banks. It is ranked top among all listed banks in the world in terms of its market value, profitability, customers' deposit and brand value, according to the bank's press release.
By the end of this September, it has established 234 institutions in 31 foreign countries and regions, forming a global service platform covering the major international financial centers and China's economic and trade partners.
(Reuters) - Cambodian garment workers went on strike on Monday at a factory producing clothing for global brands Gap, J.C. Penney (JCP.N) and Old Navy, demanding that the plant reinstates suspended trade union representatives.
Garment-making has been Cambodia's main manufacturing industry as it recovers from decades of conflict. Last year, the sector grew 28 percent and contributed more than $3 billion towards the country's $11 billion economy. It employs 300,000 people, many of them women, at scores of factories, owned mostly by Chinese and Taiwanese companies but it has seen its share of industrial action over pay and conditions.
The president of the Workers Friendship Union Federation said the strike would go on until the South Korean-owned factory, Cambo Handsome Ltd, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, took back three union representatives suspended after one of them was accused of stealing two T-shirts.
The company should also withdraw what he called the trumped up charges against them.
"This is a plan by the company to remove union leaders who had advocated for better conditions," union president Sieng Sambath told Reuters.
He said about 1,000 workers were on strike but a representative of Cambo Handsome's parent company, Hansoll Textile, said only about 300 workers were out in front of the factory.
Van Rin, 31, one of the three suspended unionists, said the factory had singled him out because he was promoting workers' rights.
"Even when I went to the toilet, they followed me and took pictures, they warned workers not to talk to me and said they would not get a raise," Van Rin said.
The representative of Hansoll Textile denied that.
A representative of Cambo Handsome denied fabricating charges and said one of the unionists had been caught stealing T-shirts.
"The strike is illegal because they didn't inform the authorities," said the representative, who declined to be identified.
The representative confirmed that the plant produces garments for the Gap, JC Penny and Old Navy brands.
Cambodian factories also produce clothes for the likes of Nike Inc, Marks and Spencer Group PLC, Tesco PLC, H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, Puma, Next Plc and Inditex.
(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Corrects to show that only one of the suspended workers was accused of theft and adds comment from company on number of strikers.
Cambodian authorities must drop politically-motivated charges against four women involved in peaceful protests about the situation at Boeung Kak Lake in Phnom Penh, where almost 20,000 people have been forcibly evicted since 2008, Amnesty International said today.
Bo Chhorvy, Heng Mom, Kong Chantha and community leader Tep Vanny -- were charged with “obstructing public officials” and “insult” – crimes that carry hefty fines and prison sentences of up to one year.
Police and security officials used excessive force to break up Monday’s protest involving about 50 women outside a government building in the Cambodian capital. At least six demonstrators were injured and two reportedly attempted suicide.
Women have been at the forefront of a campaign to halt the eviction of families to make way for development around the Boeung Kak Lake area in heart of Phnom Penh. Peaceful protests take place regularly.
“Cambodian authorities must stop targeting activists who are peacefully defending their communities’ rights,” said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme.
“The politically-motivated charges against Tep Vanny and the other women, used in an attempt to silence legitimate protest, must be dropped. Authorities must immediately halt the use of excessive force against peaceful protestors.”
The four women spent Monday night in police detention in Phnom Penh and were denied full access to lawyers and medical care. Today they were charged and released under court supervision.
“The authorities’ decision to charge the four women reflects a worrying trend in Cambodia, where the space for legitimate public debate is narrowing,” said Sam Zarifi.
“Those seeking to peacefully claim their rights and voice their concerns are finding it increasingly harder to do so. Such a trend has worrying implications for the peaceful development of the country,” said Sam Zarifi.
In 2007, the Cambodian government granted the Boeung Kak Lake area, through a land concession, to a private development company, Shukaku. Many of the 4,000 families that lived around the lake have been forcibly evicted.
Authorities announced in August that the 779 families that remained near the late would be allotted 12.44 hectares for development.
However, a number of families were excluded from this arrangement, and the homes of eight families were destroyed in September 2011. Meanwhile, the process of granting land in the onsite development area has stalled.
PHNOM PENH(Xinhua) – Cambodia's Vice-Chair of National AIDS Authority Tia Phalla said Tuesday that it's estimated that some 2,500 HIV/AIDS patients died this year and the deaths would decline to about 2,300 in 2012.
"Cambodia has seen success in fighting HIV/AIDS -- the prevalence rate among adults aged 15 to 49 has dropped to 0.8 percent in 2010 from 2.5 percent in 1998," he said on Tuesday at a press meeting and photo exhibition to commemorate the World AIDS Day. "However, the deaths, new infections and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS still persist in this country. " He said that the number of new infections exceeds 1,000 a year.
In Cambodia, the first HIV infection was detected and diagnosed in 1991 and the first AIDS case was found in 1993.
Tia Phalla said that it is difficult to verify the number of Cambodian people who have died from the disease since then as some AIDS infected people had been killed by opportunity diseases such as hepatitis or tuberculosis.
Meanwhile, he said that the country has seen good results in promoting the use of condoms.
According to a recent annual research survey, he said, condom use of male clients of the entertainment industry and with sweethearts has been steadily increasing.
The survey showed that the condom use among commercial partners increased from 85 percent in 2008 to 96 percent in 2011 thanks to sustained investment and targeted outreach to this important target group.
On the other hand, condom use among sweethearts has increased from 58 percent in 2008 to 60 percent this year, he said.
Currently, the country has an estimated 67,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. Some 6,000 of them are children, according to the National AIDS Authority.
The country needs about 58 million U.S. dollars a year to fight against HIV/AIDS, said Tia Phalla, adding that the current challenge for the country is fund shortage due to the recent announcement of the cancellation of the next round of funding from the Global Fund to Cambodia.
“My house, possessions, clothes, all went up in smoke. Nothing was left”
Cambodian women are increasingly at the forefront of the battle against a wave of forced evictions sweeping the country, Amnesty International said today in a new report that urges the government to halt the practice.
Eviction and resistance in Cambodia: Five women tell their stories details through first-hand testimony the stories of Hong, Mai, Sophal, Heap and Vanny, women who have faced or continue to resist forced eviction from their homes and land. The stories illustrate the extent of the problem and show the trials faced at every stage of the brutal process. Some women have been able to resist eviction, others are virtually just clinging on, still more are left destitute.
Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director, said:
“In Cambodia, women are at the forefront of the fight against forced evictions. Many have taken the lead in their communities’ struggle for justice, putting themselves at risk to defend their communities.
“The Cambodian authorities must bring about an end to the practice of forced evictions, which contravene international human rights treaties and tear families apart.
“They must ensure that genuine consultations are held with the people affected, and that residents receive sufficient notice and compensation or adequate housing where there is no alternative to eviction. The government should listen to the women who are trying to protect their homes and families.”
Mai, 48, a mother from the province of Oddar Meanchey, in north-west Cambodia, was pregnant in 2009 when she watched her home go up in flames. “My house, possessions, clothes, all went up in smoke. Nothing was left,” she said.
Her house and 118 others in her village, Bos, were bulldozed and burned to the ground by 150 police, military, and others believed to be workers employed by a company that was granted a concession over a large swathe of land, including Bos village, for a sugar plantation.
In October 2009, Mai was imprisoned for eight months for violating forestry laws when she travelled to the capital Phnom Penh to complain to the prime minister about the eviction. She was released in June 2010, but only after signing an agreement to relinquish the rights to her land. She now has little to provide for herself and her eight children.
Donna Guest, said:
“Women not only face impoverishment from forced eviction but threats and imprisonment when they try to resist, with no protection from the law.”
In the Boeung Kak Lake area of central Phnom Penh, nearly 20,000 people have either been evicted from their homes, or are at risk of losing them since a commercial development company was granted a 99-year lease in the area in 2007.
Thirty-one year old Vanny helps lead community resistance to the Boeung Kak Lake eviction.
On 11 August 2011, the community achieved a partial victory when the prime minister ordered a portion of land to be handed over to the remaining 800 families for onsite housing in plots with legal ownership.
Vanny said: “A lot of people think that this is the first success of people’s demonstration… it’s a great example for other communities all over the country.”
Yet Vanny still feels insecure. “When I leave my house, I don't know whether I can expect to come home or not.”
Vanny has good reason to be concerned, as she now faces a defamation charge brought by the Municipality of Phnom Penh. In addition, eight more homes on the edge of Boeung Kak Lake were destroyed by bulldozers on 16 September and the families left homeless.
Rapid economic development within a newly privatised land market has seen an increase in forced eviction across Cambodia.
Forced eviction often leads to loss of possessions and livelihood, the breakup of communities, and a deterioration of a family’s mental and physical wellbeing.
Access to education and health services can be disrupted. Many victims of forced eviction receive inadequate compensation and are resettled in remote areas. Husbands may need to spend long periods of time away from home seeking work, leaving their wives to cope alone.
Donna Guest, said:
“Tens of thousands of people across Cambodia are unlawfully losing their homes because of the demands of big business.
“The Cambodian government must not sacrifice human rights in the name of economic development.
“The loss of one’s home and community is a traumatic experience for anyone, but women in their role as primary caregivers for their family face a particular burden. Forced evictions also threaten the gains made in reducing poverty in Cambodia over the last 20 years.”
Amnesty International exposed the Cambodian authorities’ systematic failure to protect people from forced evictions in a 2008 report.
Forced evictions violate a person’s right to adequate housing, and are banned under international human rights treaties to which Cambodia is a state party.
A mother of eight, Hoy Mai was five months pregnant when she was forcefully evicted from her house in northwest Cambodia in 2009, according to Amnesty International. Her village – once home to more than 150 families, some of whom are now homeless – is now a guarded sugar cane plantation surrounded by empty fields, the group says.
Ms. Mai is one of the five “human faces” featured in Amnesty’s latest report on forced evictions in Cambodia – an issue that has long captured the attention of activists and multilateral organizations, from local Cambodian groups to the World Bank. But Amnesty hopes the new report will humanize the statistics, especially by profiling the role of women in the struggle against evacuations.
“Women increasingly are at the forefront, and are leading civil action against this,” said Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific deputy director. She added that women are typically the caretakers of the family and often stay at home, so the burden falls on them to protect their families from eviction.
Forced evictions have become commonplace in Cambodia, activists say, as investors look for more land for development, especially for natural resources. Amnesty contends that even though there are laws on the books in Cambodia to prevent forced evictions, those laws are often selectively applied or ignored. By Amnesty’s count, an estimated 10% of Phnom Penh’s population was evicted between 1990 to 2011.
Cambodian officials dispute activists’ accounts of the problem, and say many of the residents who are moved are given compensation.
“The report should not use the words ‘forced eviction,’ because it is just relocation for development,” said Beng Hong Socheat Khemro, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.
“People always complain about the compensation and relocation, but they have to know that they live on state land illegally,” he said, though people who live on land legally are compensated by the government according to market prices. He said that when there are cases of people who have lived on their land illegally, but for a long time, the government will provide some compensation as a “humanitarian policy.”
Land ownership is often hard to prove in Cambodia, ever since the Maoist Khmer Rouge regime that controlled the country for several years in the 1970s abolished Cambodia’s land titling system and outlawed ownership of private property.
The Amnesty report is different from some previous studies of the issue in that it goes into deep detail about five women from cities and indigenous forest communities in Cambodia who said they had been forcibly evicted, or threatened of eviction.
“The court has no justice for poor citizens,” said Tep Vanny, a 31 year-old resident of Phnom Penh, in a video prepared by Amnesty. “[Poor] people don’t have any money to give them to deal with our problems.”
Ms. Vanny was one of the leading figures in a high-profile struggle against the developers of a project involving the Boeung Kak Lake in central Phnom Penh. After a private development company was granted a 99-year lease over the site – aimed at building a luxury residential and leisure complex – residents complained to City Hall, attracting international attention and prompting the World Bank to suspend loans to Cambodia. In August, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen granted 12.44 ha of land around the lake to the displaced residents, in what activists have described as a rare victory against forced evacuations.
Amnesty acknowledges the government’s move at Boeung Kak Lake was a positive step. But the group says officials still need to do more – and acknowledge that the right to land and home ownership is guaranteed under international law. The report calls for the government to suspend all mass evictions until a clear prohibition on forced eviction is adopted, and stricter legislative guidelines are adopted.
“Land disputes can be solved, but not if politics is behind [the dispute],” said Nonn Pheany, a former spokeswoman for the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction who is now retired. She added that victims and “land grabbers” often do not understand each other, with the latter sometimes having no respect for the law.
“It is not easy to solve land disputes since it is so large scale,” Ms. Pheany added. “We have to spend much time studying the problem behind it.”
She said the government often does provide evicted residents with sufficient compensation. Amnesty’s report, though, said many residents would rather stay in their homes and not accept the compensation — but are forced to do so under duress. At one point, the report said residents of the Boeung Kak Lake area were offered US $8,500 for their houses regardless of the size of their plots of land, and were told to move to an area 20 kilometers outside Phnom Penh.
Ms. Pheany suggested that the government should register both private and public land and take steps to evaluate the consequences of private development on the land before selling that land to investors.
“Private business has to ensure that no human rights abuses occur on their development,” said Ms. Guest of Amnesty International. She added that Amnesty was appealing to international governments and using multilateral forums like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and the United Nations to ensure cooperation from both foreign investors and private companies.
According to the World Bank’s country director for Cambodia, Annette Dixon, the institution has not made any new loans to Cambodia since December 2010, and is continuing to watch the situation there closely.
RFA Photo Homes built on Boeung Kak Lake in central Phnom Penh.
Cambodian authorities scuffle with villagers over a land dispute in the capital.
Four women were injured and another four detained on Monday following a clash with Cambodian authorities over a controversial development project in the nation’s capital, according to villagers.
The women had gathered in front of city hall with other villagers from central Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Lake community to protest the loss of their land to a Chinese-Cambodian company.
The company has been filling in the lake with sand in preparation for the construction of a luxury residential site.
The villagers, many of whom had already lost their homes to a forced demolition, said they held the demonstration to ask for help from local officials after a group of land title officers visited Boeung Kak Lake to take measurements over the weekend.
“After being ordered to disperse, we scuffled with authorities who beat four women unconscious and detained another four,” said one villager, who asked to remain anonymous.
“Members of (the Cambodian rights group) Licadho assisted us in bringing the four injured women to a nearby hospital for treatment.”
The whereabouts of the four detained women were unknown and authorities could not be reached for comment.
Before the villagers' protest, Kong Chantha, a representative of the Boeung Kak Lake community, demanded that all residents whose homes had been demolished by developer Shukaku Inc. and local authorities be entitled to land within an area earmarked by Prime Minister Hun Sen in August.
According to Hun Sen’s decree, 12.44 hectares (31 acres) were to be set aside for 794 families who were facing eviction.
But local authorities say scores of families lack property titles recognized by the government and have excluded them from the land. Villagers contend that implementation of the decree has lacked transparency.
“I represent the people. I have no other means to exhaust in order to keep my house for my children,” Kong Chantha told RFA.
Sam Ath of Licadho said Cambodian authorities need to move faster in assigning the designated land to families facing eviction.
“We haven’t seen any discussions or dialogue taking place between the people and the authorities on the issue yet,” he said.
“What will happen if the government finishes measuring out the 12.44 hectares of land agreed to for the people, but some residents are left out?”
Nearly 20,000 people have either been evicted from their homes or are at risk of losing them since Shukaku Inc., which is owned by a politician from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, was granted a 99-year lease in the area in 2007.
Boeung Kak suicide
Meanwhile, the husband of a woman from the Boeung Kak Lake community said her body was found Saturday after she committed suicide out of desperation over being forcibly evicted.
Chea Dara, a 30-year-old mother of two, threw herself off of a bridge last week after she was left with no other option to protect her home from local authorities and the developer, according to her huband Doeung Phou.
Doeung Phou said his wife had struggled since 1980 to save money to purchase their eight square meter (86 square foot) home, but had been forced off of the premises as authorities prepared to demolish structures in the area.
“She just told me that she was hopeless and very worried about having no property—no land ownership and no home—for her children to stay in the future. She said she was afraid that the children would end up living on the street,” he told RFA.
A funeral was held for Chea Dara at a nearby pagoda on Saturday evening.
Cambodia’s land issue dates from the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, which banned private property and forced large-scale evacuations and relocations throughout the country.
This was followed by mass confusion over land rights and the formation of squatter communities when the refugees returned in the 1990s after a decade of civil war.
Housing Cambodia’s large, young, and overwhelmingly poor population has posed a major problem ever since.
An estimated 30,000 people a year in Cambodia are driven from farmland or urban areas to make way for real estate developments or mining and agricultural projects.
Reported by RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Sum Sok Ry and Yanny Hin. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Cambodian people pass the time in the ruins of a house at the Boeung Kak Lake in Phnom Penh. The World Bank called on the Cambodian government to halt the eviction of another 10,000 people at a controversial real estate development and offered to help those who had lost their homes, (file).
Amnesty International called on the Cambodian government last Thursday to halt a wave of forced evictions affecting tens of thousands of people, a problem that shows no sign of letting up. Amnesty says women are increasingly putting themselves at the forefront in standing up for land rights.
Amnesty’s report tells the story of five women from across Cambodia who have been affected by forced evictions. The rights group says the Cambodian government is ignoring its international obligations by pushing ahead with forced evictions, and says Phnom Penh risks reversing 20 years of hard-won gains in reducing poverty.
“Amnesty International has been calling for an end to forced evictions for several years now. We’ve documented this extensively and of course the vibrant civil society in Cambodia has also been documenting and reporting on this practice which is unlawful under international law,” said Donna Guest, the deputy director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific department.
Women tell their stories
Guest says Amnesty wanted to focus on women and tell their stories as human rights defenders, as mothers and as wives.
"And this is to show the more human face - that these people are not just a statistic, these people have lives," she explained. "These people have had very adverse consequences - some of them have lost their homes, all their possessions, families have been split up. So that is why we are here today - to show the human face.
At the launch of the report, Guest was flanked by three Cambodian women who have been affected by evictions.
One of those women, Hong Mai, was evicted from her home in northwest Cambodia two years ago to make way for a sugar concession awarded to a ruling party senator.
She says armed authorities destroyed her house and all her possessions when they burned down her village and evicted the residents.
Hong Mai was five months pregnant, yet when she traveled to the capital days later to seek help from Prime Minister Hun Sen, she was accused of violating the Forestry Law and put in jail.
Eight months later she was released after signing an agreement to withdraw her claim to her land.
Hong Mai has not seen her husband since, and she and her five children are destitute.
Sanctions requested
She wants consumers in the European Union to boycott Cambodian sugar because, she says, "it is made from the land, life and blood” of people who have been thrown off their land.
Guest says Amnesty does not take a position on issues such as sanctions, but the organization is adamant that development should not come at the expense of human rights.
And as a European-based organization, Amnesty’s staff will continue to meet policymakers in Brussels and other European countries.
“We will ask our membership in the European countries - which are extremely active on this issue - to appeal to their members of parliaments, and also to raise awareness. I think part of any advocacy strategy must be to raise awareness so that people are aware of what’s going on. A lot of people have no idea what’s going on in Cambodia and this report today is an attempt to raise this profile, bring it to international attention, including in the EU countries,” Guest stated.
Amnesty’s focus on women and land rights was bleakly highlighted when a prominent land rights activist at the huge Boeung Kak eviction site in central Phnom Penh committed suicide this week.
Chea Dara, the mother of two children, threw herself off a bridge Tuesday - reportedly after her family was refused land at the lakeside site after a five-year battle.
At the release ceremony for the Amnesty report, Chea Dara's fellow activists wore black in tribute to her.
Cambodia is seeking more signatories to an international landmine treaty, as it hosts a weeklong international conference with nearly 100 countries represented in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia was one of the original supporters of the Ottawa Convention, which has garnered 158 supporter nations since 1999.
An unexploded land mine, right, lies in the field at a clearance site of land mines near the Cambodia-Thailand border, in Pailin province, once a Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011. Cambodia on Sunday is hosting a six-day international conference on land mine clearance in Phnom Penh.
“If we do not accelerate the speed and the efficiency of the resolution of problems, we will not reach our final goal for a world free of mines,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said at the opening of the conference Sunday.
“I hope our other friends who are not yet members of the convention will join us in achieving this goal,” he said.
At least 10 countries who are not signatories to the convention—including China and the US—are participating in the conference. China is expected to address the gathering on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, landmines have killed an estimated 1 million people in the last 10 years. And they remain a major obstacle to development.
“In the countries emerging from conflicts, these weapons slow the repatriation of refugees… deprive communities of the productive and safe use of land and natural resources,” said Helen Clark, the international head of UNDP.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says her government will keep its troops positioned in the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple and protect Thailand's national sovereignty along the border.
Ms Yingluck was speaking after talks on the territorial dispute with Cambodia around Preah Vihear with Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa, army commander-in-chief Prayuth Chan-ocha and Atchaporn Jaruchinda, secretary-general of the Council of State. Ms Yingluck said a case had been prepared for presentation to the International Court of Justice, which is hearing a territorial complaint about the land in the vicinity of Preah Vihear from Cambodia. The court 1962 gave Cambodia juridiction over the ancient khmer temple, but the ruling was vague on the immediately adjacent, disputed area.
The International Court of Justice recently said the disputed area should be demilitarised pending a settlement, but Ms Yingluck said her government had not withdrawn Thai soldiers from a disputed area.
It would wait for a decision from the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee (GBC) meeting.
The government would then propose the GBC's report to the parliament for approval.
Ms Yingluck said her government would do its best to protect the national sovereignty.
Preah Vihear temple is on the border of Cambodia and Thailand's Si Sa Ket province.
With per capita GDP well under a thousand dollars and a government dependent on foreign aid, Cambodia is among the poorest of the poor in Southeast Asia. But with workers in China, Thailand and Vietnam, demanding and obtaining heftier paychecks, Cambodians are getting a residual lift. Rising wages, labour unrest, as well as currency instability and political turmoil in some cases, elsewhere in the region’s traditional manufacturing centers are improving the prospects of Cambodia, an industrial minnow.
The country’s garment exports have soared in the past year, increasing by nearly 40 per cent, according to the government. Independent observers might put the figure lower, but they would agree with Ken Loo, the secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, when he points to rising wages and work stoppages in China as one of the main causes of Cambodia’s increased share of the market. It’s an important boost in a sector that has been Cambodia’s main engine of growth since the late 1990s, when the country stabilized after years of debilitating civil strife. The garment and footwear industry employs some 400,000 people in this country of just over 14 million (the Gap, H&M and Nike are among the major brands that have suppliers in Cambodia) and account for more than two-thirds of Cambodia’s exports.
But the spillover effects of higher labour costs in China and elsewhere aren’t limited to the textiles sector. Slowly but surely, Cambodia’s industrial horizons are expanding as well, with Japanese companies leading the charge. Minebea, a Tokyo-based producer of micro motors, for example, started operations in Cambodia at the end of last year. The Japanese company began outsourcing manufacturing to Thailand 25 years ago, where it has grown to employ over 30,000 workers. Because of rising wages there, it’s now assembling some of its products in a special economic zone in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Other manufacturers—making headphones and wetsuits, among other products—have opened plants there too, lifting the sophistication of the Cambodian manufacturing sector above T-shirts and sneakers.
“It’s unrealistic to say Cambodia is adding huge value-added chains,” said Peter Brimble, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank in Cambodia. But growing hurdles in Asia’s main production centers are “enough to tip the scales” to attract investor interest in Cambodia. Gordon Peters, an investment adviser with Emerging Markets Consulting, which operates in Southeast Asia, said the number of international companies contacting his consulting firm about business scoping opportunities in Cambodia has grown exponentially this year. More investors are looking at Cambodia as an attractive “long-term bet,” one with limited dividends now but high-growth prospects in the near future, he said.
Observers often criticize the heavy-handed influence of Beijing on Cambodia. But if rising wages in the regional powerhouse can lift business and employment prospects in Cambodia, this is a spell under China’s shadow that the Southeast Asian country is likely to enjoy.
Brendan Brady (www.brendanbrady.com) reports widely on diplomacy, business, human rights and environmental issues across the Asia-Pacific.
A year after more than 350 people died on a bridge stampede in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh – an event that drew headlines across the world – a new report says the government hasn’t conducted a “meaningful” inquiry into the tragedy, and advocates are calling for new investigations.
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), responsible for the report, is recommending that the government reopen a “full investigation” into the incident, which Prime Minister Hun Sen himself labeled as the greatest tragedy to befall the country since the Pol Pot regime.
“The anniversary of this tragedy falls on International Day to End Impunity… a timely coincidence as despite the gravity of the event, no one has been held accountable,” said Ou Virak, the President of CCHR.
In the initial months following the stampede – which occurred on the Koh Pich bridge on Nov. 22, 2010 during Cambodia’s annual three-day water festival, which draws millions of people to Phnom Penh – a government inquiry found that victims panicked when the suspension bridge started to sway, setting off a domino effect that resulted in the deaths. What caused the panic, however, has remained a subject of debate, and many human rights groups and residents were dissatisfied with the government-led investigation, which they said did not hold anyone accountable or responsible for the deaths of so many people.
The new report criticized the make-up of the government-sanctioned committees responsible for the investigation, which included the developer of the Koh Pich bridge, people responsible for planning the festival, and other government officials.
The report also questioned what provoked the panicked reactions on the bridge. At the time, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said in local media reports that the stampede happened because people became “scared of something.” The report, based around interviews with hundreds of victims, their families and witnesses, found that many people interviewed still do not know what caused the panic. Others said rumors were circulating that the bridge was collapsing, and some others mentioned gang involvement.
The report also noted that some victims – about a quarter interviewed – said they had heard victims were electrocuted after police fired water cannons at people on the bridge to get them to move off of it — a charge vehemently denied by government officials.
At the time of the incident, no state officials were held personally responsible or called to step down, according to the report. The human rights organization says that this is partly to blame for what it described as insufficient reforms to improve crowd management and emergency response.
Government officials disagreed with the report.
“This was not carelessness, but it is an unpredictable incident,” said Phay Siphan, a government spokesman for the Council of Ministers, in response to queries from the Wall Street Journal. “The investigation on the stampede has been conducted already.” He added that the government had built two additional bridges to manage crowds during future festivals, and also erected a stupa, a mound-like Buddhist structure, in memory of the tragedy, bearing the name of each deceased victim.
According to government statements from last year, families of deceased victims were set to receive compensation of 5 million Cambodian riels (US $1,250) with injured victims receiving 1 million riel (US $250). Additional sums were given to victims from private sector donations. The government says that this compensation was sizeable and an indication that officials were doing their best to help the victims, but according to the report, some of this compensation was not distributed in a transparent manner.
Mr. Phay Siphan said that even though human rights organizations have the right to call for a deeper investigation, the government has been “responsible” and “responsive” in dealing with the aftermath of the stampede, adding that new crowd control procedures are in place.
Any new procedures around crowd management, such as the two new bridges, were not tested during this year’s water festival, though, as the popular boat races were cancelled amid massive flooding in Cambodia.
“CCR is not saying that any particular person or agency is to blame… [but] does think that a greater amount of responsibility should be taken for the incident,” the report said. “A serious discussion should take place about what systems and procedures should be in place to reduce the likelihood of similar events happening in the future.”
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The highest-ranking surviving Khmer Rouge leader, accused in the deaths of 1.7 million people, defended himself on Tuesday by casting his actions as part of a patriotic struggle to keep Vietnam from annexing Cambodia and exterminating ethnic Cambodians.
Presenting what could have been the condensed version of a political address from his days as the Khmer Rouge’s chief ideologue in the 1970s, the defendant, Nuon Chea, 85, spoke of threats from Vietnamese agents as a justification for the purges that led to the torture and killings that defined the Khmer Rouge regime.
It was the first time a Khmer Rouge leader offered a detailed defense in court for the atrocities committed by the radical Communist regime from 1975 to 1979.
“I have been given an opportunity today that I have been waiting for for so long, and that is to explain to my beloved Cambodian people and their Khmer children the events that occurred in Cambodian history,” Mr. Nuon Chea said.
Placing himself in the heroic company of Cambodian patriots, he said, “I would like to pay my respects to our ancestors who sacrificed their flesh, blood, bone and life to defend our motherland.”
His audience in the courthouse, including two busloads of university students in white shirts, listened intently to the explanation Cambodians have been seeking from the trial for why the Khmer Rouge ravaged their country.
“We don’t know which part is wrong and which is right,” said Radet Hak, 21, a law student. “I want to hear more later.”
The court sessions this week, including statements by prosecutors and defendants, are being broadcast around the country.
Mr. Nuon Chea is one of three top Khmer Rouge leaders being tried on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity at the tribunal, which is backed by the United Nations.
Frail and unsteady on his feet, Mr. Nuon Chea seemed to swell in the witness box with the certainty that he had been wronged by history. He accused the court of being “unfair to me since the beginning,” because the trial was addressing the acts of the Khmer Rouge without reference to their cause and context.
“I must say only the body of the crocodile is to be discussed, not its head or tail, which are the important parts of its daily activities,” he said.
He did not address in detail the horrifying catalog of brutality and mass killings presented by prosecutors, saying merely that “whatever was indicated in the opening statements is not true.”
The prosecutors have accused him and his co-defendants, Ieng Sary, 86, and Khieu Samphan, 80, of command responsibility for atrocities committed according to their plan and with their involvement. A fourth defendant, Ieng Thirith, 79, the former minister of social affairs, was dropped from the case last week when the court found her to be unable to participate because of dementia.
In an earlier case, Kaing Guek Eav, 69, known as Duch, the commandant of the main Khmer Rouge prison, Tuol Sleng, was sentenced in 2010 to 35 years in prison, later reduced to 19 years.
“My position in the revolution is to serve the interests of the nation and the people,” Mr. Nuon Chea said. “Oppression and injustice compelled me to devote myself to fight for my country. I had to leave my family behind to liberate my motherland from colonialism and aggression and oppression by thieves who wish to steal our land and wipe Cambodia off the face of the earth.”
Another law student at the courthouse, Vessna Roschan, 21, said: “I don’t believe him, because 1.7 million people died. Nuon Chea says, ‘I am protecting the Cambodian people, I protect Cambodian culture,’ but I don’t believe him because many people in my family died, around 24 people.”
Mr. Nuon Chea began his statement with an account of the early years of the Cambodian Communist movement and its struggle to remain independent of the larger and more powerful Vietnamese Communist Party during the years of the Vietnam War.
He said the Vietnamese Communists, who had hoped to control their Cambodian counterparts, were disappointed when Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, fell to the Khmer Rouge on April 17, 1975, two weeks before the fall of Saigon to the Vietnamese Communists.
After the war was over, he said, “Vietnam’s cadres still continued to remain discreetly on Cambodian soil in order to conquer this country in accordance with the ambition to occupy, annex and swallow Cambodia and rid Cambodia of her race and ethnicity” — an ambition he said continued today.
In Cambodian society, suspicions of Vietnam run deep, and it is not unusual for people to imagine the involvement of Vietnamese agents in local events.
Mr. Nuon Chea said this suspicion of subversives and traitors was part of the reason for the evacuation of Phnom Penh and other cities immediately after the Khmer Rouge victory, forcing most people into the countryside, a policy that prosecutors said cost thousands of lives.
He denied that the Khmer Rouge had tricked and then murdered officials of the former government who surrendered after the overthrow, saying that impostors disguised in the black outfits of the revolutionaries were responsible.
He said the American bombing of Cambodia in 1969 radicalized many Cambodians and fueled the growth of the Khmer Rouge, but he blamed Vietnam for all that went wrong after the group took power.
“The Vietnam factor is the main factor that caused confusion in Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979,” he said, using the formal name for the country under the Khmer Rouge government.
He said nothing to the court about the systematic atrocities described by prosecutors, nor about their contention that he had personally ordered the torture and killing of particular prisoners.
But in video recordings played by the prosecution before he testified, he is heard acknowledging the killings, saying that “if we had shown mercy to these people, our nation would have been lost.”
“We didn’t kill many,” he continued. “We only killed the bad people, not the good.”
