Cambodian PM leaves for Shanghai World Expo

Hun Sen shaking officials' hand at Pochentong Airport before leaving for China.

April 29, 2010
Source: Xinhua
The People's Daily Online

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday left here for Shanghai, China to attend the opening ceremony of the World Expo 2010.

Sriev Tham Ronn, senior adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen said at the airport that Cambodia and China enjoy a long history of friendship and such friendly relations have developed rapidly and enhanced steadily in recent years. "The Shanghai World Expo 2010 is the largest one in its history, so we are happy to have the chance to participate in it. We believe that we can learn more from it and let more people know Cambodia," he added.

The delegation included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong, Senior Minister and Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh and other members of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

During his visit, Hun Sen will hold official talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Pan Guangxue and other government officials saw Hun Sen and his delegation off at the Phnom Penh International Airport.

Air arrivals surged as tourism climbed 10pc in first quarter

Thursday, 29 April 2010
By May Kunmakara

Phnom Penh Post

Siem Reap airport saw upturn, boosted by South Korean and Japanese visitors

Monks stroll at Bayon temple in January this year. Siem Reap province saw its total visitors rise by more than 22 percent in the first quarter of 2010, compared with 2009. Bloomberg

INTERNATIONAL tourist arrivals surged by almost 10 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2009, showing key growth in the number of visitors from South Korea, China and Japan.

Government figures received by the Post late Tuesday state that 683,692 tourists came to Cambodia from January to March 2010, a rise of 9.87 percent on the 622,288 arrivals in the same period of 2009.

Potentially high-spending visitors from South Korea were up 31.5 percent, Chinese arrivals were up 27.2 percent, and Japanese visitors rose by 4.7 percent.

Air arrivals increased 10.83 percent to 371,506, up from 335,213 last year, with 10 percent more visitors entering the Kingdom at Siem Reap airport.

Total arrivals in the home province of Angkor Wat rose 22.8 percent, to 366,102.

Kong Sophearak, director of the Statistics and Tourism Information Department at the Ministry of Tourism, attributed the rise to the resurgence of global travel following “the darkness” of the financial crisis.

He welcomed the rise in visitors from Asia’s more developed nations, saying: “We now see that they are beginning to stay longer and spend more than last year.”

In 2009, South Korean tourists declined by 26 percent, arrivals from Japan went down 11 percent, and Chinese visitors fell by 1.1 percent.

Revenue generated from the sector declined 2 percent in 2009 to US$1.561 billion, despite overall visitor arrivals increasing.

The president of Cambodia’s Association of Travel Agents (CATA), Ang Kim Eang, noted the increase and commented that the government has opened more border crossings.

He said he hopes that in three years, Cambodia can target the “quality tourism” market and build up ecotourism – an area that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stated was an important factor for sector development earlier this month.

Luu Meng, president of Cambodia’s Hotel Association (CHA), said that occupancy within the hotel industry had risen by up to 10 percent quarter-on-quarter.

The tourists “spend more days here because we have lowered our prices to give them more of a chance to visit the country”, he said.

According to the data, tourist arrivals increased by 6.36 percent in January, by 10.74 percent in February and by 12.79 in March.

Ang Kim Eang predicted that the trend will continue. “I am optimistic that the foreign tourists will keep increasing. People are just getting to know our country after the long-lasting civil war,” he said.

SRP requests pardons for CFF members

Chhun Yasith, the CFF leader who is currently in American jail for tax fraud.

Thursday, 29 April 2010
By Vong Sokheng
Phnom Penh Post

EIGHT National Assembly lawmakers from the Sam Rainsy Party sent a letter on Tuesday to King Norodom Sihamoni and to Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana requesting the pardon of five imprisoned members of the former guerrilla group known as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) who were convicted of involvement in a series of attacks in November 2000.

Son Chhay, one of the lawmakers, said Wednesday that the letter had been received by National Assembly President Heng Samrin before being forwarded to the cabinet of the King and to the minister of justice.

“That group of CFF were former members of the SRP; therefore their wives and families have been asking us for intervention to secure their release,” he said.

“The men were tricked into participating in the attacks for political reasons,” he added.

“I talked with the minister of justice on April 27 about the request for a pardon and hope that the men will be free by November during the Water Festival,” he said.

Sam Pracheameanith, chief of cabinet at the Justice Ministry, said Wednesday that he was not yet aware of the letter.

Armed with AK-47s, grenades and B-40 rockets, members of the CFF attacked several government buildings on November 24, 2000, including the Ministry of Defence. At least eight people were killed and 14 wounded in the fighting.

One man, Hem Buntheoun, was sentenced to 13 years in Prey Sar prison, and four other men were sentenced to 15 years each for their role in the attacks.

The staunchly anticommunist but largely ineffectual CFF, led by Cambodian-American Chhun Yasith, emerged after the 1997 factional fighting and the subsequent period of turmoil that saw many influential Cambodian leaders flee the country while the Cambodian People’s Party assumed power.

Earlier this month, families of the five imprisoned CFF men sent a request to the King and Prime Minister Hun Sen in the hope that a pardon would be granted on Visak Bochea Day, which fell Wednesday.

New land concession granted in Ream park

Ream National Park and its wildlife.

Thursday, 29 April 2010
By Cheang Sokha
Phnom Penh Post

THE government has awarded nearly 1,000 hectares of land in coastal Ream National Park to a company run by a lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, in what observers say is another example of authorities doling out land in what is supposed to be a protected area.

According to a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on March 18, the government granted 987 hectares from the protected park in Preah Sihanouk province to Vimean Seila Ltd, a company run by Long Sakhan, a lawmaker from Prey Veng province.

Long Sakhan said the company has received a 99-year lease for the land in the protected park and has already submitted development plans for the site to the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the government’s oversight body for large developments.

“We are in the process of seeking foreign partners on the project,” Long Sakhan said Wednesday. “We will start the project when the master plan is approved by the government.”

MOST OF IT IS FOR SALE, AND PEOPLE ARE PURCHASING THOUSANDS OF HECTARES.


Vimean Seila’s website states that the company has been awarded 2,000 hectares on Koh Thmey Island in Ream National Park. Long Sakhan said the land awarded in March was part of that larger concession, and added that plans are in place to invest roughly US$1 billion in a new development.

The cost of that project would be almost double that of a similar project envisioned for nearby Koh Ses Island, where Vimean Seila is planning to invest $536 million on a luxury resort, Long Sakhan said.

Ream National Park included 21,000 hectares of coastal park area in Preah Sihanouk province when it was created in 1993. But in recent years, various land concessions have cut away swathes of land to private developers in what is officially designated as a protected area.

In February, the government awarded 1,650 hectares of park land to a company identified as Hong Kong Research Investment and Development Consulting Group Co Ltd.

Tensions flared earlier this year over a separate 3,300-hectare concession awarded to Yi Chea Company. The concession overlapped with the homes of 116 families. A military brigade was brought in to help clear the land, according to the rights group Licadho, and in February 2008, 58 families from the same area also faced threats in a separate land dispute with a company identified as Evergreen Success Asia Resort Company, the group reported.

Am Sam Ath, a senior monitor for Licadho, said the dispute between villagers and Yi Chea Company still has not been resolved, even as additional concessions are handed out.

“We see that the government is continuously granting land from the national parks and forests, which are protected areas, to private companies,” he said.

It is unclear whether the most recent land concessions in Ream National Park affect families who are already living there, said Mathieu Pellerin, a Licadho consultant. But with authorities continuing to distribute land concessions in national parks, it appears they are also ignoring the fact that they are officially protected, he said.

“I find it hard to understand why the government is calling this place a protected national park. It seems most of it is for sale, and people are purchasing thousands of hectares of this park for private projects,” Pellerin said.

Minister of Environment Mok Mareth, whose ministry oversees the Kingdom’s national parks, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

ANALYSIS: Graft likely to remain dominant feature in Cambodia

By : Robert Carmichael

Phnom Penh (DPA)- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (pictured) this week told a gathering of business leaders and government officials in Phnom Penh that there was no corruption in a deal by mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd, which pulled out of the country last year.

BHP Billiton, which is not saying much, is being investigated by the authorities in the United States and Britain for possible corruption offences. A number of media reports have cited Cambodia as one country where it might have paid bribes.

"They say that the company that explored for bauxite gave money illegally to Cambodia," Hun Sen was quoted as saying in the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. "We should ask: How can they bribe? It cannot be possible."

However, that seeming impossibility is well in line with international perceptions of the impoverished nation. Corruption monitor Transparency International rated Cambodia as one of the world's most corrupt countries, placing it 158th out of 180 countries with first spot going to the least corrupt country.

And you do not need to look hard in Phnom Penh to see the fruits of corruption. The streets are full of luxury vehicles, often driven by government employees whose official monthly earnings are just a few hundred dollars yet who live in expensive homes.

No one knows how much is siphoned off each year, but the US ambassador provided some indication last year - and riled the government - when she publicly said that graft costs Cambodia 500 million US dollars annually. That is around one-quarter of the national budget.

Cambodians are well aware of the problem. A 2007 study by independent market researchers Indochina Research examined attitudes toward corruption and found it is pervasive.

The report, called Perceiving and Fighting Corruption in Cambodia, noted that government employees routinely pay to get their low-paid jobs which means they need to extort money to recoup their "investment."

Half the respondents in the study blamed government salaries of less than 100 dollars a month as the main cause of corruption although they also pointed to greed and lust for power.

But likely the most significant finding was that Cambodia's judiciary was perceived as the most corrupt body. It is hard to fight graft when the mechanism needed to solve corruption is its biggest obstacle.

"Rigorous law enforcement must go together with salary improvement: The former is considered a necessary factor to reduce corruption," the report concluded. "This is a challenge given that the judiciary is unanimously considered the peak of corruption."

The extent and importance of graft explains why it has been on the donor reform wish list for 15 years. Finally in March, there was some good news when parliament passed a law the government claimed would combat the scourge.

But the law's many critics were not persuaded. They said the law is weak and flawed and maintained that political will to act against corruption is lacking.

But the new law does have some supporters. Bertrand de Speville is a leading international anti-corruption specialist and until 1996 headed Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption.

De Speville said a successful anti-corruption drive requires three elements: enforcement of the law, measures to prevent corruption and educating people about it.

"Their close coordination is the key," he said via e-mail. "Each of them is essential [and] they are interdependent - a success in any one of them enhances the other two."

But he warned that neglecting one would see the effort fail and added that political will is the "first essential."

De Speville was broadly positive about Cambodia's new law, saying it "provides a reasonably sound foundation" to combat graft, but he also pointed out some problems.

"The declaration of assets and liabilities regime is of very limited value," he said by way of example. "It fails to meet its true objective, namely the identification of conflicts of interests, and does not require declaration of the assets of spouses, parents and children."

Chea Vannath, an independent analyst and prominent campaigner against corruption, echoed de Speville's emphasis on education. So does she think the law is strong enough and the political will exists to make it work?

"Not in the near future because we are talking about reform, and for reform, you need a critical mass to make things change," Chea Vannath said. "[But] if among people in government [there are those] with a strong willingness to fight corruption, we might see hope."

Military tension at Ta Krabey temple led to chest-pushing between Khmer and Thai troops

Ta Krabey temple.

By Khmerization
Source: CEN

Cambodian and Thai troops have on 27th April engaged in chest-pushing at Ta Krabey temple located in Thmor Daun village, Kork Morn commune in Banteay Ampil in Oddar Meanchey after news that a group of Thai ultra-nationalists, led by the firebrand Veera Somkwamkid, plans to travel to uproot the border post near Ta Krabey temple from 2-3 May, reports Cambodian Express News.

A Cambodian military source from Battalion 42 based at Ta Krabey temple said the chest-pushing happened when nine heavily-armed members of the black-clad Thai Royal Guards from Company 2606 based at Phnom Dangrek district in Surin province had attempted to cross into Cambodian territory. The Cambodian troops based at a hill nearby tried to stop them from entering Cambodian territory and both sides started to push each others' chests with their hands and chests to chests. However, armed clash was averted when commanders from both sides met and reached an agreement.

But, at 11:30 am on 28th, a group of 20 Thai Royal Guards from the same Company 2606 came to threaten Cambodian troops based at border pillar number 22A in Thmey Daun village, Kork Morn commune, Banteay Ampil district in Oddar Meanchey province. However, those Thai troops withdrew after Cambodian troops, who had taken up positions around the areas, issued a stern warning that they will launch an attack if those Thai troops do not withdraw.

Other reports said that Thai jets had flown in reconnaissance over borders in Oddar Meanchey province in Thmor Daun and Choup Ongkounh villages and over Ta Krabey temple. As for the tracks at Thmor Daun, Choup Ongkounh and Ta Krabey temple where Cambodian troops used to patrol have been occupied by Thai troops and they would not allow Cambodian troops to pass through like what they used to do in the past. Thai troops had also constructed a wooden military camp with corrugated iron-roofing at Ongkounh village.

On 16th April, the Thai-lauguage Matichon newspaper reported that a group of Thai ultra-nationalist, led by the firebrand Veera Somkwamkid, will march to Ta Krabey temple and uproot the border posts which were planted temporarily by a mixed Cambodian and Thai border officials awaiting the discovery of the original border pillar number 23 planted by Franco-Siamese Border Commission in 1907 which currently went missing.

Lawyer: Court must create a mixed border committee or drop all charges against Sam Rainsy

By Khmerization
Source: CEN

Lawyer for Mr. Sam Rainsy, the leader of the eponymous Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), has put forward two proposals to the investigating judge to either create an ad hoc mixed border committee with members from both the opposition SRP and the ruling Cambodian People's Party or drop all charges against his client, reports Cambodian Express News.

Mr. Choung Chou-Ngy, lawyer for Mr. Sam Rainsy (pictured) who was was charged with disinformation and document falsification relating to border issues, said he had put forward these proposals to Investigating Judge Oeung Sieng on 13th April 2010. The first proposal isto request the plantiff, which is the government, to state clearly the coordinates of border posts numbers 184, 185, 186 an 187 located on the border with Vietnam in Chantrea district of Svay Rieng province. The second proposal is to request for the creation of an ad hoc mixed border committee comprising the Investigating Judge, the plaintiff's lawyer, the accused's lawyer, representative of the accused and the plaintiff [government] and, in cooperation from the government permanent Border Commission, travel to the demarcation areas in Chatrea district to physically inspect and to determine whether his client (Rainsy) had alleged in the past were right or wrong.

Mr. Sam Rainsy has been given a hefty fine and sentenced in absentia to two years jail on 27th January 2010 for sabotage and destruction of public property when he led 100 villagers to uproot six wooden border stakes in Chantrea district on 25th October 2009. Shortly after his sentence, he released a series of maps and documents purporting to show widespread Vietnamese encroachments of Cambodia's borders which the government said were fake documents.

Investigating Judge Oeung Sieng said he does not know whether to accept the proposals because the case is still under investigation. Mr. Ky Tek, the lawyer for the government, however, said that the decision of whether to charge or drop all charges against Mr. Sam Rainsy is the right and the previlige of the judge.

The auction of a perfect Khmer woman

By Khmerization
Source: Koh Santepheap

Special News for the new decade: Auction of “Srey Krup Leak” (the perfect woman) by name of Miss Nuon Neang Lom-orng. And starting price is.....from $1 million.

A Cambodian lady has put her beautiful daughter, "Srey Kroup Leak", or a perfect woman on auction to become a wife of a well to do man, reports Koh Santepheap.

The report said Chumteav [Lady] Nuon Voraneath has decided to auction her daughter named Nuon Neang Lom-orng, to the highest bidder, with the starting price of $1 million, after two many men had made marriage proposals to her daughter. In Cambodia, by traditions and practices, the family of a beautiful girl who has all the characteristics as a perfect woman [Srey Kroup Leak] often ask for a very high payments in a wedding dowry.

Miss Nuon Neang Lom-orng, who is a typical beautiful Khmer woman, comes from a well to do family. She is described as having the quality of a perfect modern household wife with high knowledge, having completed her study abroad, is highly knowledgeable about art, music, classical songs and she was born into a highly honorable family. She received a lot of marriage proposals from all sources, and as a result Chumteav Nuon Voraneath, her mother, was having difficulties making the decision as to which man she should hand over her daughter to be his wife. Therefore, she has decided to auction off her daughter with the aim of using 50% of the auction proceed to donate to an orphanage and old people foundations in Cambodia.

Condition for the auction:

The bidder must have a status as an aristocrat [a person from hanourable family], have a good standing and good name in the society, still single (not married yet or widowed) and must take her as his single top wife.

The auction price starts at $1 million. For detailed information, contact phone number: 012 802 718, or email: sambath_art@yahoo.com

Note: This could be just a film script as the postscript of the article says "A film script".
--------------------------------------
Apology: Koh Santepheap has just published an apology for not making clear about the article which has created a misunderstanding and confusion among readers. In fact the above article is just a film script. Khmerization would also like to offer an unreserved apology to all readers for not checking the veracity of the article. In fact, as an unpaid freelancer and without resources, Khmerization couldn't possibly check the genuineness of the article. My unreserved apology.

Cambodia takes action in fight against substandard and counterfeit medicines

Nearly 65 percent of illegal outlets closed in 5 months

Rockville, Md., April 28, 2010 — In a major crackdown, Cambodia has forced nearly 65 percent of illegal pharmacies operating in the country to close within the past five months. Led by an Inter-Ministerial Committee to Fight against Counterfeit & Substandard Medicines (IMC), the shops were targeted because of evidence that they were among the primary sources of substandard and counterfeit medicines in the country. This evidence was generated from medicines quality monitoring activities conducted in Cambodia by the Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) Program, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded program implemented by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), with additional support from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and the World Health Organization.

The string of recent activity by the Cambodian government has resulted in a reduction of illegal outlets from 1,081 in November 2009 to 379 in March 2010, or 64.9 percent, according to an April report by the Cambodian Ministry of Health. As part of this effort, the government also banned sales of products from five manufacturers in the country. These actions are an outgrowth of the IMC, which consists of Cambodia's Ministries of Health; Interior; Justice; Information; Commerce; Education, Youth and Sport; Economy and Finance; Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; and Municipality of Phnom Penh.

The IMC was formed in 2005 under the direction of the Cambodian government after 2004 figures showed that 16.2 percent of antimalarials sampled from retail pharmacy outlets in the private sector of four provinces were of poor quality. A major barrier identified in combating the presence of these medicines was lack of coordination among the various ministries. With financial and technical support from the USAID-USP program, the group developed an action plan to significantly reduce the number of substandard and counterfeit medicines. A January 2010 official order to close down illegal health services, including pharmacy outlets across the country, was the impetus for much of this recent progress.

"The resolution in such a short period of time is a major accomplishment on the part of the Cambodian government—and a significant step forward in assuring the quality of life-saving medicines for patients in the country," said Richard Greene, director of the USAID Office of Health, Infectious Diseases and Nutrition, Bureau for Global Health.

According to Patrick Lukulay, Ph.D., director of the PQM Program, "In the face of many challenges and spotty public awareness of the dangers of taking poor-quality medicines, this represents momentous progress. I am gratified that USAID-USP's PQM Program was able to contribute in this effort—part of our broader work to combat the proliferation of substandard and counterfeit medicines. We look forward to a continuing partnership with Cambodia to address this problem, which will ultimately result in advancing the public health."

The PQM Program (and a predecessor USAID-USP program) has been active in Cambodia since 2003, providing technical assistance to support the establishment and continued strengthening of a postmarketing surveillance program tracking the quality of antimalarial, anti-tuberculosis, antibiotic and antiretroviral medicines available to citizens. The current emphasis of the PQM Program in the country is on antimalarials and antibiotics. Much of this work is done through 12 "sentinel sites" established in the country by the PQM Program with additional support from The Global Fund, which are equipped with portable laboratories called Minilabs® that are used to detect substandard and fake medicines. Other PQM activities include organizing and conducting training workshops on good manufacturing practices and other topics, and providing critical laboratory equipment, supplies, and training on proper use and maintenance of equipment to the National Health Product Quality Control Center.

The PQM Program serves as a primary mechanism to help assure the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines that are essential to USAID's priority health programs. USAID is a U.S. government agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. USP, which implements the program, is a nonprofit scientific organization that develops globally recognized standards for the quality of medicines. The PQM Program is currently active in 30 countries throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.

PM scraps rice-export licences to boost trade

Wednesday, 28 April 2010
By Chun Sophal and May Kunmakara

Phnom Penh Post

Hun Sen calls food-security measure a ‘barrier’ for rice traders

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Prime Minister Hun Sen at the launch of the Government-Private Sector Forum, held in Phnom Penh Tuesday.

PRIME Minister Hun Sen axed rice export licences Tuesday in a bid to boost sales of the Kingdom’s “white gold”.

In a move widely welcomed by the business community, the premier ordered a 2008 circular to be cancelled. The document ordered would-be exporters to apply to a Ministry of Commerce-run company called Green Trade for a permit.

“We have to nullify applications for licences to export rice from Cambodia through the Green Trade Company now,” Hun Sen said at a Government-Private Sector Forum in Phnom Penh. “It is barrier for all rice traders at the moment,” he added.

The circulation, numbered 02, was issued in 2008, as food security concerns spread throughout the world. All traders who wanted to sell more than 200 tonnes of the grain had to apply for a permit, in an attempt to secure Cambodia's rice and paddy supply.

Now, Hun Sen believes export obstacles will exist unless the circulation is nullified.

The government wants to sell more rice into international markets to develop the economy.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Cambodia plans to increase paddy yield by as much as 3 tonnes per hectare by 2012. This farm year, April statistics show, the Kingdom could have 3.5 million tonnes of paddy left over for export, a 10.75 percent increase from the 3.16 million tonnes last year.

Director General of Green Trade, Thun Vireak, said Tuesday that he would not object to the nullification.

He said the permit plan had been initiated by the government.

Mong Reththy, who asked Hun Sen to “review export procedures” during the meeting, was pleased at the progress made.

The co-president of the Private Sector Task Force on Agricultural and Agro-industry said: “The re-examination of legal procedure for exporting agricultural products and the elimination of the unnecessary process of applying for licences through Green Trade company and other institutions will help bring about transparency and suitable costs for the export of agricultural products.”

Outh Renne, secretary general of the Cambodian Small and Medium Industries Association (CSMIA), said: “It will enable exporters to integrate themselves into international markets successfully.

CSMIA says four rice buyers from Sweden, Lithuania and Belgium will arrive in Cambodia on May 9 to meet with 100 rice mill representatives to discuss export capability.

World Bank agrees to full investigation into land activities in Cambodia

Press Release

The Inspection Panel report is available here.

Read more

NGO letter to World Bank Board about LMAP in Cambodia 18 November, 2009 (Acrobat pdf 2 MB)

Cambodian communities facing forced eviction launch Inspection Panel complaint against World Bank, BABSA and COHRE, October 2, 2009 (BIC website)

Untitled: Tenure Insecurity and Inequality in the Cambodian Land Sector, Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia, Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, Jesuit Relief Services, October 2009 (Acrobat PDF, 1.38 MB)

28 April 2010

Human rights organizations welcomed news last week that the World Bank Inspection Panel will conduct a full investigation into the Bank-funded land-titling project in Cambodia, following a complaint that groups vulnerable to forced eviction have suffered serious harm from the project.

The complaint was filed in September by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), with the support of Cambodian housing rights groups, on behalf of more than 4000 families living around Boeung Kak lake who have suffered or are currently threatened with forced eviction. It alleges that the Bank breached its operational policies by failing to adequately supervise the Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), which has denied urban poor and other vulnerable households due process rights and protection against increasing land-grabbing and forced evictions in Cambodia.

In its response to the complaint issued in December, the World Bank acknowledged the validity of these claims and agreed to approach the Cambodian Government to discuss measures to mitigate the harms of the project. The proposed measures included improving the living conditions and livelihood opportunities for people who have been evicted or who are at risk of forced eviction. However, the Cambodian Government did not agree with the proposed plan and refused to partner with the World Bank to address the claims made in the complaint.

Salih Booker, COHRE Executive Director, welcomed the decision by the World Bank Board of Directors to conduct a full investigation into LMAP, but urged immediately implementation of the Bank’s mitigation efforts, with or without the Government’s involvement, saying “the housing rights of thousands of families are at stake at this very moment.”

David Pred, Executive Director of Bridges Across Borders Cambodia, highlighted similarities to a World Bank Inspection Panel case in Albania last year, in which a Bank-financed project was also implicated in forced evictions. At that time, World Bank President Robert Zoellick promised "the Bank would move promptly to strengthen oversight, improve procedures and help the families who had their buildings demolished." Zoellick added that "the Bank cannot let this happen again."

“They let it happen again,” said Pred, “and this time it is 4000 families losing their homes. The World Bank cannot walk away from these families just because the Government has closed the door. The Bank needs to provide a direct remedy to the people it has acknowledged have been harmed by this project.”

The Cambodian Government abruptly ended its agreement on the project with the World Bank in September 2009 after a disagreement about the applicability of World Bank social safeguards in cases like Boeung Kak. Despite the government’s termination of the agreement, human rights groups have demanded that the Cambodian government continue to be held accountable for its obligations to adhere to the project’s policy on involuntary resettlement.

The groups stated the Bank should carefully consider how it will engage in the future with a government that refuses to respect its contractual obligations to uphold resettlement safeguards. “This is an important test of the World Bank’s safeguard policies,” said Sia Phearum, Director of the Cambodian Housing Rights Task Force. “If the Bank is really committed to these policies, then there should be consequences for the Government’s actions.”

contacts

David Pred
Executive Director
Bridges Across Borders Cambodia
david@babcambodia.org
+855 92 285954

Sia Phearum
Secretariat Director
Housing Rights Task Force
cam.hrtf@gmail.com
+855 23 215 590

Bret Thiele
Senior Expert – Litigation and Advocacy
bret@cohre.org
+1 218 733 1370
Background on Boeung Kak case and forced evictions in Cambodia

Spanning 90 hectares in central north Phnom Penh, Boeung Kak lake is one of the only large open spaces left in Cambodia’s capital city. Prior to the recent evictions, approximately 4000 families lived on and around the lake with many depending on the lake for their livelihood. Families have been living around the lake since the early 1980s when they returned to the city following the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Most of these families have legal rights to their land under Cambodia’s 2001 Land Law.

Despite the legitimate claims to the land of many of the residents around Boeung Kak, when the titling team from the World Bank-financed Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP) adjudicated the area in early 2007, the residents were denied title en masse. In the same month, the Cambodian government entered into a 99-year lease agreement with a private developer, Shukaku Inc., over 133 hectares including the lake and surrounding areas. Shukaku Inc. is headed by Lao Meng Khin, a Senator and major donor to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, who is also director of the controversial logging company Pheapimex.

Families living in the development zone began facing pressure and intimidation to leave the area in August 2008, when the developer commenced filling in the lake as part of its development plans. While few details about the development have been made public, it is estimated that approximately 20,000 people will be displaced. Included in this figure are the more than 1000 families that have already been evicted without their land rights being properly adjudicated and acknowledged. In the absence of any legal protections, these families accepted woefully inadequate compensation under conditions of duress. This was in direct violation of the World Bank’s Policy on Involuntary Resettlement, which the Cambodian government agreed to respect in conjunction with LMAP.

Evictions and forcible confiscation of land continue to rank as one of Cambodia's most pervasive human rights problems. In Phnom Penh alone, approximately 133,000 residents, or 10% of the city’s population of over 1.3 million have been evicted since 1990. While precise nationwide figures are difficult to ascertain, the rate of forced evictions appear to have increased in conjunction with, amongst other things, the granting of concessions over vast tracts of land to private investors. Meanwhile, rural landlessness has skyrocketed from around 13% in 1997 to as high as 25% in 2007.

Coupled with the absence of tenure security, rapidly increasing land values have led to rampant land grabbing by powerful and wealthy elites, to the severe detriment of local communities. The pretext of development is used to justify the forced relocation of low-income households to remote and desolate resettlement sites. However, frequently the projects driving this displacement are beset with corruption and unjust practices, perpetuating a development model that favors powerful interests at the expense of deeper poverty and increased hardship for the most vulnerable. The impending Boeung Kak Lake development is the largest and most visible of these development projects.

The Week in Charities [for Cambodian Children's Fund]

The Cambodian Children's Fund has appointed Red Hot PR to work for the launch of the UK arm of the charity, following the granting of charitable status in England and Wales.

Cambodian child: UK launch

PRweek.com

The charity provides education, housing, food, clothing, healthcare and vocational training to more than 450 children and their families.

Forster has developed a climate change initiative for UNICEF UK, featuring an online carbon calculator. The Carbon Positive initiative helps individuals and businesses take responsibility for their footprint and then invest in projects to help children living in environments affected by climate change.

YouGov research has revealed that 79 per cent of the public support the use of shock tactics in adverts, particularly for charities working in domestic violence (82 per cent) and animal cruelty (75 per cent).

Cancer Research UK PR manager Jane Warden is leaving to be PR manager at Juniper Sport, where she will handle its portfolio of sport and luxury clients.

EveryChild, the international children's charity, is launching an online campaign, Every Child Deserves a Family. It will highlight children growing up without parental care and how they are absent from international development policy.

Group to screen Chea Vichea film

Wednesday, 28 April 2010
By Meas Sokchea
Phnom Penh Post

Unionists propose screening the documentary near the site of the labour leader’s 2004 murder

Image courtesy of Bradley Cox
A screenshot from the documentary Who Killed Chea Vichea? shows the union leader moments after he was shot dead on Street 51 and Sihanouk Boulevard.

UNIONISTS plan to mark the May 1 Labour Day holiday by screening a documentary that explores the infamous unsolved murder of leader Chea Vichea near the spot where he was gunned down, union officials said Tuesday.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), said he is planning to show the film, titled Who Killed Chea Vichea?, on Saturday in an attempt to pressure authorities, who critics say have dragged their heels in finding the perpetrators of the January 2004 slaying.

“We want this case to be investigated,” Rong Chhun said. The government “should not allow this case to go unresolved”.

Chea Vichea’s family believes the murder was political, and that he was targeted because he was a prominent union leader. Two men were arrested and convicted after his death, but
Chea Vichea’s family has insisted they are not guilty.

Screening the film could prove controversial. Organisers plan to show it next to the gates of Wat Lanka, near the street corner where Chea Vichea was shot.

Filmmaker Bradley Cox said that rather than focusing on who pulled the trigger, the documentary seeks to ask the question of who ordered the murder.

“Based on the evidence and reasonable deduction, I think the movie goes a long way in answering this,” he said last week via email.

Chea Mony, who succeeded his murdered brother as leader of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said organisers hope the film will shine a light on the government’s failure to solve the case.

“Many well-known persons were killed, but the killers have never been arrested,” said Chea Mony, who urged authorities to allow organisers to screen the film. “The government must not prohibit the showing of this film because people have suffered greatly from this murder.”

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said authorities would not stop anyone from showing the film for political reasons.

However, he said organisers must obtain permission from Phnom Penh municipal officials first because the screening will be in public.

“For [the government], it is no problem, but normally if you are showing it in a public spot, you must ask permission from the authorities,” Khieu Kanharith said.

“If we cannot find [the killers], let them criticise us. It doesn’t matter.”

Union organisers said they have sent an official request to City Hall asking for permission to show the film.

Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema could not be reached for comment.

Election monitor says SRP has been left out of Assembly decisions

Cambodian parliament in session.

Wednesday, 28 April 2010
By Kim Yuthana
Phnom Penh Post

A REPORT released Tuesday by the election monitoring group Comfrel criticised the power wielded by Cambodian People’s Party lawmakers in the National Assembly, contending that all decisions issued by the body during the first year of the party’s fourth mandate were made exclusively by its own representatives.

“The power in the assembly is in the hands of a single party,” the report states.

The authors of the report note that members of the CPP hold the positions of president and vice president on all nine of the assembly’s committees.

Kim Chhorn, a senior coordinator for Comfrel, said the report covered the period from September 2008 to September 2009, and that all activities performed by lawmakers had been investigated.

In a speech marking the launch of the report, Comfrel investigator Sok Pitou said all draft laws put forward by the government had been adopted without amendment, regardless of objections from opposition lawmakers.

“No agendas or draft laws raised in assembly sessions aren’t adopted,” he said. “Even when there is controversy during discussion, they must be finally adopted.”

SRP lawmaker Yim Sovann said he welcomed the Comfrel report, and described it as an accurate portrayal of the balance of power in the National Assembly.

“The assembly is just working to seal every request of the Cambodian People’s Party,” he said.

But Chhean Von, a CPP parliamentarian, contested the report’s assertion that opposition lawmakers had been left out of decision-making processes.

“There is not only one party that governs the whole Assembly, but [decisions are made] with all parties who have seats in the assembly,” he said.

“All assembly members are decision makers on agendas and drafts, so any parties without having a majority voice can win any jobs in the committees,” he said.

However, he noted that members of the assembly never support bids by opposition lawmakers to assume leadership positions.

Kim Chhorn urged voters to play an active role in helping to monitor the legislative process.

“Voters have to not only elect a representative during the national election period, but also to investigate and watch over their activities after the election,” he said.

Cambodia tells diplomats it is no 'banana republic'

Impovrished children play in the Boeng Kak slum community, Phnom Penh where poverty affects many people

PHNOM PENH (AFP)— The Cambodian government has told all foreign diplomatic envoys to avoid criticising the country, insisting it is not a "banana republic", in a letter seen by AFP Wednesday.

The foreign ministry letter sent to all diplomatic missions in Cambodia asked them to "avoid interfering in the internal affairs" of the country, regardless of the power of their home nations.

"There have been many occasions, in which some heads of diplomatic missions behaved like a 'proconsul' of his/her country to the Kingdom of Cambodia. They indulged themselves to criticise or to give lessons to the Royal Government of Cambodia," the letter said.

"Such behaviours are not acceptable for Cambodia as a sovereign country and a member of the United Nations. Cambodia is not a BANANA REPUBLIC," it added.

Asked about the letter dated April 26, foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told AFP it was issued to remind all diplomats not to "exceed the limit of their mandate".

Cambodia last month threatened to expel a United Nations envoy if UN agencies continued "unacceptable interference" in the country.

The move came after UN agencies in Cambodia urged "a transparent and participatory" process as parliament debated an anti-corruption law that was criticised by the opposition and rights groups.

Ranked one of the world's most corrupt countries, Cambodia passed the anti-graft law in parliament on March 11, more than 15 years after legislation was first proposed, but only days after the draft was shared publicly.
-------------------------------
Cambodian government warns foreign embassies not to criticise it

Phnom Penh (DPA)- A Cambodian government spokesman on Wednesday warned foreign embassies and institutions against criticising the authorities or interfering in internal affairs.

The comments came one day after the Ministry of Foreign Affairssent a blunt letter to embassies complaining that some mission heads had behaved like proconsuls in giving lessons to the government.

"Such behaviours are not acceptable for Cambodia as a sovereign country," the letter stated. "Cambodia is not a BANANA REPUBLIC."

Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said the purpose was to remind diplomats to adhere to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which prohibits interference in the internal affairs of host nations.

"We cannot accept lessons like lectures from foreign envoys and diplomats," Koy Kuong said. "We cannot accept any negative criticism."

The letter followed a statement last month by the United Nations country head Douglas Broderick calling on the government to allow more time for civil society and donors to comment on a long-awaited draft anti-corruption law.

Cambodia is ranked by Transparency International as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

The law, 15 years in the making, was made public just days before being pushed through parliament, which is dominated by the ruling party.

Broderick's statement infuriated Phnom Penh, and the government threatened to expel him for meddling in legislative matters.

Koy Kuong refused to name the missions which had earned the government's wrath.

"We do not specify, and we do not focus on a specific case," he said. "I would rather not say a specific country or institution. We just remind them of the contents of the Vienna Convention."

Cambodia relies heavily on donors for funding. Foreign nations provided 951 million dollars in 2009, or roughly half of the government's budget.

Cambodian lessons for South Korea

By Donald Kirk
Asia Times Online

SAIGON - North Korea's apparent torpedoing of a South Korean navy ship and getting away from the scene of the crime with no more than recriminations and oratorical flourishes ringing in the ears of the perpetrators demonstrates a reality from which there is no escape. The North still has thousands of artillery pieces within range of metropolitan Seoul and the nearby port of Incheon as well as missiles with the range to reach anywhere in the South, and nobody in South Korea really wants to challenge that kind of threat.

South Korea is doing so well economically and living standards are so high that the idea of seeking anything other than rhetorical revenge for the sinking of the Cheonan with a loss of 46 lives on March 26 appears almost unthinkable. Certainly South Korea would get no support for such a venture from its American ally, bogged down in wars in the Middle East and attempting to force

South Korean generals reluctantly to believe they should take full command of all forces in the South in the event of a second Korean war.

While South Korea's economy grows at a pace ahead of that of the rest of the industrial world, South Korean military people worry over what they see as the North's alarming new strategy. That is, to chip away at the South Koreans with attacks such as that on the hapless navy corvette in the West or Yellow Sea - and maybe bold quick hits on Seoul and Incheon.

The point, according to JoongAng Ilbo, one of South Korea's major newspapers, would eventually be to occupy a portion of metropolitan Seoul and then to negotiate a ceasefire. The paper quoted a military intelligence source as saying North Korea had strengthened its mechanized forces near the line with South Korea. At the same time, North Korea is bolstering naval forces on its southwest coast and threatening new attacks on South Korean vessels along the Northern Limit Line below which the South bans all North Korean boats.

While reluctant to do anything that might provoke armed conflict with North Korea, US and South Korean analysts wonder how long the North can carry on with such impunity. They see no let-up in the harshness of life for the vast majority of North Koreans - and ask whether any system can endure forever while the economy deteriorates, citizens gain slightly more knowledge of the outside world via illicit cell phones and short-range radios and ailing Dear Leader Kim Jong-il smoothes the way for transition of power to his youngest son.

For precedent, it's tempting to turn to the case of Cambodia after the victory of the Khmer Rouge in April 1975.

The Dear Leader's rule may not be cruelest the world has seen since the defeat of Adolf Hitler's Germany in 1945 or the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953. That distinction probably belongs to Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, who ruled from the once tranquil capital of Phnom Penh until December 1978 when Vietnamese communist troops drove them out. About two million people are estimated to have died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge from starvation, executions, torture and disease.

Although comparisons may seem far-fetched, the suffering under the Khmer Rouge is reminiscent of that endured for many more years in North Korea.

Today, however, Phnom Penh is bustling, alive with shops selling an incredible range of exotic silk, statuary, silver objects and souvenirs. Restaurants offer any kind of menu. The streets are swarming with traffic as motor scooters dart in and out and larger vehicles carry people and commercial products. Motorcycles pulling what look like small old-fashioned carriages offer taxi services. Internet cafes thrive in every market place. Casinos and nightclubs lure those in search of higher-priced fun, and the National Museum and Royal Palace offer lush and rich glimpses into Khmer civilization and heritage going back 2,000 years.

So what lesson is there in the transformation of Cambodia from a frightening dictatorship into a hustling if not exactly democratic society? Cambodia's present system, in which Hun Sen has ruled as prime minister with the backing of Vietnam almost constantly for 25 years, is obviously not ideal. Many of the country's 15 million people continue to suffer economically.

And it's fair to assume that torture and killing go on, although not on a mass scale. In an imperfect world, however, Cambodia gives every appearance of having recovered its erstwhile reputation as an "oasis of peace". That was how then prince Norodom Sihanouk - who before and after ruled as king - described Cambodia when it was navigating a treacherous course of neutrality as American and South Vietnamese forces fought the North Vietnamese until the US-backed regime fell in Vietnam two weeks after the defeat of that in Cambodia in 1975.

Incredibly, Sihanouk has survived, so much so that in his old age he endures as a kind of king emeritus above the tawdry power politics that periodically shakes up the elite of the capital six years after his eldest son, Norodom Sihamoni, was crowned as his successor.

The survival of the throne, however, represents a grand compromise in which momentous changes had to occur before Cambodia could begin to reach its current level of peace and prosperity. The Pol Pot regime had to fall, and the men around him, those responsible for forms of torture matched and exceeded only by the security apparatus of Kim Jong-il, had to flee, be killed or captured, to disappear forever. The lesson here may not be lost on South Koreans or their American ally.

There is, however, another irony here: that communist Vietnam, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, united between North and South Vietnam, drove out the Khmer Rouge. How was it that the forces of a communist country, against which the Americans and South Vietnamese, supported by two divisions of South Koreans, had fought for a generation, could have accomplished such a stunning success for the everlasting benefit of the Cambodian people?

The answer in part is that Vietnam, after the communist victory in 1975, was never a terrible dictatorship on the scale of North Korea. As Vietnam's leadership went through its own tortuous policy shifts, market capitalism began to flourish. Vietnamese gained a level of cultural and economic freedom that had not appeared possible in 1975. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh, who led Vietnam's communist regime until his death in 1969, never gained a reputation for pervasive cruelty over his own people even as he ruthlessly suppressed opponents.

Vastly different though the societies and cultures of Cambodia and North Korea undoubtedly are, the conclusion seems clear. There can be no real compromise with the Kim Jong-il regime. The history of regimes such as that in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge is they do not willingly yield, do not suddenly adopt humanitarian policies and do not give up the props of their rule, notably their weapons. It's wishful thinking to expect North Korea to shift its policies or honor any agreement on much of anything, including its nuclear weapons program. It took an upheaval to bring about relief from suffering in Cambodia, and it will take another to reform North Korea.

Donald Kirk, based in Seoul, covered the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia for newspapers and magazine, writing two books about them. He has also written three books on Korea, most recently Korea Betrayed: Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine.

Cambodian PM denies BHP paid bribe for exploration deal

PHNOM PENH (AFP)— The Cambodian prime minister on Tuesday denied mining giant BHP Billiton paid a large bribe for an exploration contract in his country.

Australian media last week reported that authorities in the United States were probing BHP over a 2.5 million US dollar payment related to a project in Cambodia.

But Cambodian leader Hun Sen (pictured) said the money was for a "social fund" established in an agreement between Australia and Cambodia, and was used to build a hydroelectric dam, schools and hospitals.

"These days, they have been saying BHP paid illegal money to Cambodia. Let's see the contract -- it was a social fund," Hun Sen said in a speech.

"This issue is written in the contract. It is not the under-the-table money," Hun Sen told a meeting between the government and private sector which Australia's ambassador to Cambodia also attended.

"It is written in the contract. It is not secret," he said.

The Anglo-Australian miner on Wednesday said it had evidence of possible corruption involving "interaction" with government officials, related to a minerals exploration project which was terminated about a year ago.

It declined to reveal the location of the project, but said it was not in China, where four staff of rival miner Rio Tinto were jailed for bribery and commercial espionage last month.

BHP has said it paid 2.5 million US dollars to a community in Cambodia's east and one million US dollars to the government for bauxite exploration rights, according to The Australian newspaper.

Hun Sen added that French oil company Total had also contributed eight million dollars towards a "social fund" as part of an 28 million dollar payment to explore for oil offshore from Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand.

Total "also has paid this kind of money", Hun Sen said.

BHP declined to comment on the reports in Australian press. On Wednesday, it said it had handed evidence to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and was also conducting an internal investigation.

Anti-corruption watchdog Global Witness said in a statement last week that Cambodian government accounts do not appear to reflect large amounts of money paid by BHP and other companies for mining concessions.

NUTS for doughnuts

Daily photos by John Godbey The 1,500 to 2,000 doughnuts made fresh each day at K-May Donuts & Coffee House on Sixth Avenue Southeast include those dipped in chocolate, caramel, vanilla or maple and some topped with nuts or sprinkles. BUY THIS PHOTO (More info)

Cambodian native opens shop in Decatur, continuing hardworking family tradition
By Patrice Stewart
Decatur Daily Staff Writer
Daily photos by John Godbey

The 1,500 to 2,000 doughnuts made fresh each day at K-May Donuts & Coffee House on Sixth Avenue Southeast include those dipped in chocolate, caramel, vanilla or maple and some topped with nuts or sprinkles.

The early riser gets the biggest selection when K-May Donuts & Coffee House opens at 4:30 a.m.

Cambodian native Chy Khoun comes to work at 2 a.m. to start making the glazed, cream-filled, cake and many other types of doughnuts for the month-old business at 1815 Sixth Ave. S.E., across from Gateway Shopping Center.

“I’ve done doughnuts most of my life,” said Khoun, 53, who starts with a mix and adds water and yeast. He has lived in the United States for about 20 years and previously ran doughnut shops in California, Arizona, Arkansas and Mississippi.

“There are about 4,000 doughnut stores in California owned by Cambodians,” he said. “We don’t have other skills, so we do this — and I’m used to working 14 to 18 hours a day.”

He was in high school in the late 1970s when the Communists came and closed the schools and banks, and he was sent to work in the fields and on road construction. They worked hard, with little food, medicine or money, he recalled.

“I still think about that two or three times a week and wonder why they did that,” Khoun said.

“Things were bad, and when I left Cambodia, I had to walk 150 miles to Thailand. After I escaped, I stayed in a refugee camp in Thailand for five or six years. But I am a lucky one.”

About 2 million Cambodians were executed for political reasons or died from starvation or forced labor during a four-year period.

When someone wanted to purchase Khoun’s shop in Batesville, Miss., he drove around to look for his next location and discovered Decatur, where he didn’t know anyone.

He named his shop K-May for Khmer, or the nationality of the Cambodian people.

His wife helps him make doughnuts, and his brother Chhanarith, who moved from Massachusetts, assists with customers.

“I like the river here, because I like to fish,” Khoun said. “I like this town, and the weather is about like Cambodia. I’m tired of big towns now.”

He is also planning to open a doughnut shop in Cullman in May.

The 1,500 to 2,000 doughnuts he estimates he makes every day includes those made with yeast and then glazed or dipped in chocolate, caramel, vanilla or maple. The doughnut holes, an offshoot, often sell out quickly, as do the Long Johns and styles filled with vanilla, chocolate and various fruity creams.

Customers have a hard time choosing from the wide assortment, which also includes pineapple fritters and apple fritters, bear claws, cinnamon twists and cake doughnuts made with sour cream, buttermilk, blueberries or chocolate.

Along with doughnuts and various coffee beverages, they prepare breakfast any time.

“Mornings are busy, and a lot of people are getting omelets, two eggs over easy or breakfast burritos,” he said.

They finish preparing trays of doughnuts at 10 a.m. and then until 2 p.m., they make sandwiches such as Chicken Montana with grilled chicken, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms and melted cheese.

“A lot of people like our sandwiches, because they are different,” Khoun said.

The doughnut shop is open from 4:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Dinner to aid Miss CT quest, Cambodian clinic

Mike Orazzi | Staff Brittany

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

By The Bristol Press

BRISTOL — Brittany Decker (pictured), Miss Hartford County 2010, will present “One World,” a benefit pasta dinner to support her Miss Connecticut quest and the Sok Sabay Medical Clinic in Cambodia, Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Nuchie’s Restaurant.

There will be entertainment and presentation of Decker’s documentary which won first-place honors for feature reporting in the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press radio and TV contest.

A Western New England College communication major, Decker, a junior from Bristol, produced a documentary on a local charitable foundation’s efforts to help the poor in Southeast Asia.

In October, Decker travelled to Cambodia with Dr. Mary Anne Herron of The Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation to document the foundation’s efforts to provide education and medical care to villagers outside of Phnom Penh.

Tickets are $15 per person and can be reserved by e-mail at Brittany: Misshartfordcounty@gmail.com or Bdecker02@sbcglobal.net or call (860) 620-7069.

Families of Missing Fishermen Demand Gov't Action

The Chodun Ilbo

The families of fishermen who went missing when a 99-ton fishing boat sank while searching for survivors of the sunken Navy corvette Cheonan on Tuesday protested against the government's failure to help them salvage the ship and retrieve their loved ones' bodies.

Since the Kumyang 98 sank after being hit by a Cambodian cargo ship 55 km west of Daecheong Island on April 2, the government has taken hardly any action.

Some 20 relatives of missing fishermen headed by Lee Won-sang visited the Central Government Complex on Tuesday morning and demanded the government take steps to salvage the ship, arrange funerals and give the men some kind of posthumous recognition.

In principle, the government's position is to honor the victims, and Prime Minister Chung Un-chan is looking for ways to work this out, but the government is apparently reluctant to salvage the ship as it would cost W1 billion to raise. Some officials are even against honoring the fishermen as the Kumyang 98 sank not during the actual search but while returning to port afterwards.

Currency swap pool wins votes

Cambodian parliament in session.

Wednesday, 28 April 2010
By Vong Sokheng
Phnom Penh Post

A MAJORITY of Cambodia’s lawmakers voted for the Kingdom’s entry into the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) on Tuesday.

A total of 81 of Cambodia’s 91 officials, from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), supported Cambodia’s entry into the US$120 billion currency swap pool among ASEAN member countries, China, Japan and South Korea.

Chheang Vun, chairman of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Commission, said that the objective of the initiative is to finance short-term liquidity difficulties in the region, to supplement the existing international financial arrangements and to address balances of payments.

Cambodia has contributed a promissory note worth $120 million to the fund. The country would be able to borrow $600 million from the body if a financial crisis occurred.

“Together we will demonstrate the solid commitments of ASEAN+3 members to further enhance regional capacity and safeguard against risks and challenges in the global economy,” said Chheang Vun.

“It will build confidence among investors in the region.”

Cambodia warned all foreign diplomatic missions

By Khmerization
Source: CEN

The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has on 26th April sent a diplomatic note to all foreign diplomatic missions in Cambodia reminding them not to interfere in the internal affairs of Cambodia, reports Cambodian Express News.

The note reminds all foreign embassies that they must conduct themselves within international diplomatic norms. The note reminds all foreign embassies to respect article 41.1 of the Viena Convention regarding international diplomacy which states "they also have the duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State".

It is not sure what triggers the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue such warning, but according to the wording of the diplomatic note, it is referring to some certain chiefs of diplomatic missions who have acted like they are proconsuls in Cambodia by acting as government's critics and giving Cambodia lessons on all issues.

In the past, many foreign embassies, notably the U.S Embassy, have been very vocal about Cambodia's human rights abuses and official corruption in Cambodia. In June 2009, Ambassador Rodley said that Cambodia is losing $500 million annually through official corruption. And on 26th April 2010, she had called on the Cambodian authority to punish those responsible for the illegal timber trades and the deforestation of Cambodian forests which were found out to be committed by powerful officials and rich businessmen with ties to the the Cambodian top leadership.

Hun Sen denied warning unionists not to march on International Labour Day

By Khmerization
Source: CEN

Prime Minister Hun Sen (pictured) has denied reports that he had issued a warning to unionists not to march during International Labour Day on 1st May, but at the same time he is publicly declaring that the Cambodian parliament will adopt laws to legislate the activities of all trade unions in Cambodia by the middle of 2011, reports Cambodian Express News.

On Monday 26th, local media reported that Mr. Hun Sen issued a stern warning to unionists not to hold any demonstration to demand any payrises. The reports said that at least 7,000 workers planned to march to the National Assembly building to present petitions to lawmakers demanding payrises.

Speaking during the Government and Private Forum on 27th, he said marching on International Labour is the rights and privileges of all workers and unionists around the world. He categorically denied that he had issued any warning to unionists not to hold any marches. He said that he had never condsidered any union leaders like Mr. Ath Thon, Yon Rith, Chea Mony and Rong Chhun as his enemies. He publicly declared that these union leaders can hold marches during International Labour Day like in any other years.

At the same time, Mr. Hun Sen also publicly declared that the government, in cooperation with the International Labour Organistation (ILO), will enact laws to legislate the activities of workers and trades unions which in the past have gone too far in bullying and intimidating factory owners and employers into submission or scare potential foreign investors away.

Mr. Hun Sen said the laws will contain 17 chapters and 90 articles and will be completed at the end of 2010. In the first quarter of 2011, it will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval and in May 2011 it will be submitted to parliament for ratification.

Cambodia hosts international Buddhist festival

Thousands of Khmer and foreign Buddhist monks march in religious procession in Siem Reap on Vesakha Buja Day.

By Khmerization
Source: RFI

Cambodia is hosting one of international Buddhist festivals, the Vesakha Buja, from 25-29 April to celebrate the Buddha's birthday, reports Radio France Internationale.

Thousands of Buddhist monks from China, Japan, India, Korea and the 10 Asean countries converged in Siem Reap City to pray for peace and to celebrate the Vesakha Buja or Buddha's birthday which falls on the 15th day of the moonrise in the lunar calendar or the 28th of April in the solar calendar.

Today's event will include performances of an epic about Buddha's enlightenment by artists from Japan, India, Korea, China and the 10 Asean countries. Cambodian performers will perform the part when the Buddha attained his enlightenment and when he outsmarted the demon (pchanh mear).

On 28th of April, which is today, there will be a big religious procession around Siem Reap town with many vehicles will be donned in Buddhist decorations and a ceremony of Buddhist monks chanting religious blessing.

Mr. Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism, said the event is a cultural and tourism cooperation to attract more international tourists to the Angkor tourism sites.

Linguist races to save a dying language spoken in Cambodia

With no more than 10 speakers remaining of S'aoch, a language spoken on Cambodia's sea shore, French linguist Jean-Michel Filippi is in a race against time to preserve a disappearing culture.

By Jared Ferrie,

Christian Science Monitor Correspondent

April 27, 2010

Samrong Loeu Village, Cambodia

In halting, creaky tones, the elderly chief of this tiny community spoke in his indigenous language, S'aoch, an ancient tongue linguists predict will be extinct within a generation.

• 

Rich Clabaugh/Staff

Noi, who goes by a single name, is one of 10 still fluent in S'aoch, and this village of 110 people is the last vestige of a disappearing culture.

S'aoch is one of about 3,000 languages endangered worldwide, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: One of them disappears about every two weeks. In Cambodia alone, 19 languages face extinction this century.

READ: The world's 18 most endangered languages

In this impoverished country where one-third of the population lives on less than $1 a day, saving a dying language is a low priority. One of the S'aoch's few allies is Jean-Michel Filippi, a French linguist who has learned their language and transcribed about 4,000 of its words over the past nine years.

"Once a language disappears, a vision of the world disappears," says Mr. Filippi, explaining his commitment to preserving S'aoch.

His task is made harder by the fact that the S'aoch do not share his fascination. They associate their language with poverty and exclusion from Cambodian society, which is ethnically and linguistically Khmer.

"We don't use our language, because we S'aoch are taowk," said Tuen, the chief's son, using the Khmer word meaning "without value."

Khmer Rouge dealt fatal blow

Perhaps the fatal blow to the S'aoch was the Khmer Rouge, whose policies caused the deaths of up to 2 million people between 1975 and 1979. The communist regime uprooted Cambodians from their homes and forced them into labor camps. The S'aoch were pushed from their land and prohibited from using their native tongue. "They said we couldn't speak our language or we would be killed," says Noi, drawing his finger across his neck, during an interview in his wooden house perched on stilts about five feet above the ground.

The S'aoch who survived settled here, near the coast, where some of them had been taken by the regime.

The loss of their land signaled the death of their culture because the S'aoch were no longer self-sufficient and instead survived by selling their labor, which plunged them into poverty. Since their animist beliefs were intrinsically linked to the land, Filippi says the S'aoch also lost the core of their cultural identity.

Two nongovernmental organizations, International Cooperation Cambodia and Care, are working to preserve minority culture by incorporating four minority languages into 25 schools in rural, indigenous communities. The Education Ministry cooperates with those programs, though they do not include S'aoch.

Filippi says there are at least five indigenous groups in Cambodia with 500 members or fewer. With only minimal support for preserving their languages, they are likely to follow the S'aoch into obscurity, their "unique view" of the world forever cast into the void of undocumented history.

"The fact is [the S'aoch] lost everything," Filippi says. "And the language is going to be lost in a few years as well. They might just remain a mystery forever."