More Arrests Follow Land Clash

A former Borei Keila complex resident, who took off her shirt, gestures towards riot police during her protest in front of City Hall, in the capital Phnom Penh February 1, 2012. Police officers and residents clashed violently during the demonstration and at least 6 people have been detained. Police evicted hundreds of families from Borei Keila last month to pave the way for private development by a local private real estate firm, Phanimex, which plans to convert the residential area into a commercial one. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

RFA: A protester removes her clothing during a protest in Phnom Penh, Feb. 1, 2012.

More pictures here.

1st February, 2012

Two women remove their clothes to highlight the plight of evicted villagers in Cambodia’s capital.

Authorities in Cambodia’s capital arrested five villagers and beat another two unconscious in a clash Wednesday during protests over a forced eviction, with two women removing their clothing to draw attention to the case.

Some 50 villagers from Borei Keila gathered in front of City Hall to demand that Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Kep Chuktema order developer Phanimex Co. to compensate them for the demolition of their homes and to demand the firm honor an agreement to construct additional buildings for relocation.

A woman named Touch Vanna said the protesters also called on the governor to release six villagers who were detained amid clashes during the Jan. 3 eviction and are currently being held in a city prison. Many of the protesters are family members of the detained villagers.

“I came here to demand our houses back. We want Phanimex Co. to construct two more buildings as it promised us,” she said.

“Also, the government must release the villagers being detained in Prey Sar Prison.”

When Kep Chuktema refused to meet with the group, at least two of the women villagers removed their clothing in protest as police equipped with shields and riot batons moved in shortly afterwards.

They forced five protesters into a truck and detained them at the municipal police headquarters. None of the protesters have yet been released.

Municipal officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but in January had expressed solidarity with Phanimex over the development plan and eviction of the Borei Keila residents.

Forced eviction

On Jan. 4 scores of anti-riot police wrapped up a two-day operation removing 373 families from the Borei Keila community in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district, which had been earmarked for a controversial commercial real estate project backed by Phanimex.

A day earlier, police had clashed with evictees trying to protect their homes and arrested six villagers.

After police occupied the area on the second day of the eviction, the majority of protesters grudgingly agreed to accept relocation sites outside of the city center.

Nearly 100 other villagers marched to the U.S. embassy to continue protests before they were dispersed by police. Many of them said they had no alternative housing and criticized Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s administration.

Some of the group members had been squatting on the site illegally for years.

In early 2003, a land-sharing deal was proposed in which Borei Keila would allow Phanimex to develop part of the community for commercial purposes while providing housing for the residents on the remaining land.

Under the agreement, Phanimex was to build 10 six-floor apartment buildings for 1,776 displaced families on two hectares (five acres) of land in return for the ownership of the remaining 2.6 hectares of (6.4 acres) for commercial development.

But Phanimex had only constructed eight buildings, instead saying it would provide nearly 300 families from the area with housing outside of the city in Dangkao district’s Tuol Sambo and in neighboring Kandal province, in Ponhear Leu district’s Phnom Bath.

Most of the families agreed to relocate, but many held out for more compensation, saying the company had breached its agreement and provided them with an inadequate alternative.

Unnecessary force

Rights groups hit out at the government response to the continued protests, saying authorities overstepped their boundary by using violence against peaceful protesters on Wednesday.

Sea Phearum, an official from Housing Task Force, a Cambodia-based housing rights non-governmental organization, called on the government to negotiate with the protesters.

“The reaction was beyond the role of the authorities. They should be working to resolve the issue, not using force to crack down on protesters,” he said.

And Am Samath, a senior investigator for Cambodia-based rights group LICADHO who monitored the protest, said the use of violent measures against villagers by police is “not a solution” to the dispute.

“This is not a good solution. There should be negotiation between the villagers and city hall to avoid any confrontations,” he said.

Meanwhile, Borei Keila families who have been relocated to Srah Po village in Phnom Bath are suffering from diarrhea, skin ailments and fever after enduring consecutive days of rain in inadequate shelters, the Phnom Penh Post reported, quoting a physician from LICADHO.

Dr. Nhean Sarin said the group of evictees was also at a higher risk of catching malaria and cholera, and that people in Srah Po village were suffering from a shortage of food.

Residents also complained of urinary infections and other ailments they said they developed after drinking water from a well installed at the site.

Some of the evictees who have HIV/AIDS say that they are no longer able to access state clinics and lack medicine for treatment.

Reported by Mom Sophon for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

I volunteered to build houses in Cambodia

By Robin Pascoe
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2012

A postmenopausal, empty-nest, middle-class woman, looking for something useful to do in the third act of her life, decides to volunteer in Cambodia on a house-building project. Call it a cliché if you wish. Or cue the laugh track of friends and family who know how useless I am with a hammer.

Volunteering internationally, I learned even before leaving, is the ultimate good deed for anyone sharing my own fortune of time, resources and health. Everyone I told about my plans thought it was noble of me to be giving back in this way.

It was hardly a selfless act, though. It was the exact opposite. At this crossroads in my life, it was an opportunity for a unique cultural experience in a country I had never visited before.

Part of my giving back, in fact, was to the project’s team leader. She happens to be an inspiring woman from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., who spent years living overseas. She has organized seven of these journeys to Cambodia for families and individuals like me. She also, in the past, put those same organizational and volunteer skills to good use supporting my own work. So this was an opportunity for me to say thanks.

The project was for a homegrown organization: Tabitha Foundation Canada, an NGO based in Ottawa, with its Canadian founder at the helm of headquarters in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. Tabitha has helped two million Cambodians in more than 15 years of operation, working in the poorest parts of the country where the average family wage is less than $1 a day.

Unlike projects in other poverty-stricken regions of the developing world, there is an extra layer of despair when volunteering in Cambodia. It is a country that has seen years of civil war and a horrifying genocide of more than 1.5 million souls.

Tabitha’s formidable and indefatigable founder, Janne Ritskes, makes it mandatory for all volunteer house builders to visit the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh (the converted high-school campus used by Pol Pot for torture), then to see the actual Killing Fields (where those who survived the torture were brutally murdered.)

As well as providing us with the cultural context for our work, Janne made another point perfectly clear: It’s about the Cambodians, not us. In no uncertain terms, we were told to never complain about anything and to keep our emotions in check at all times. Our first real test of the latter rule happened during our visits to the memorials of the genocide.

Thankfully, Janne had also scared us during our briefing on workplace safety before we left Phnom Penh for Kampot province in the south, where we would be working. The temperatures would be hitting close to 40 degrees, among other health considerations (malaria, dengue fever and heat stroke, to name a few). So when we heard the word “water” shouted out on the half-hour by our team leader, it was not a call to drink: It meant to come and have a bucket of it thrown over your head so you don’t faint.

Over the course of the project we built 18 houses, basic shelters on stilts with one door and a window. I spent my days hammering in the floors.

There was a wide range of ages and life experiences on our 18-member team, from a 15-year-old girl travelling with her mother (the young woman never muttered a word of complaint, except perhaps to her mother for taking so many pictures of her), to a seventysomething retired educator who had bicycled through Vietnam with his wife before our work began. As we shuttled between our work site and the jungle eco-lodge where we were staying, the dynamics of the team made the conversations always stimulating.

And hilarious. As unexpected as that might sound, we laughed a lot. Although I wasn’t too amused by the captured, caged rat that fell out of my hut’s ceiling a foot from my toilet on our last morning, I had the presence of mind to take a picture of it with my BlackBerry, knowing that no one would ever believe me.

I certainly laughed at myself at the experience of leading a half-dozen women, desperate for a bathroom, to a Cambodian village storefront in search of relief. Confused by my request using the universal sign language of washing my hands, I shamelessly squatted down in front of the female shopkeeper, mimicking the Asian way. Mission accomplished.

On the final day of the project, when the houses are completed, it’s tradition to have a handover ceremony. Each family receives a quilt for their new home made by Tabitha’s own handicraft industry, another part of the foundation’s work in Cambodia. I found it harder to control my emotions during that ceremony than I did holding back my tears at the Killing Fields.

The sad history of Cambodia was too huge for me to get my head around. But watching the families happily take possession of their new homes, which by Canadian standards give new meaning to the word basic, was incredibly moving. What we had accomplished was so immediate and right before our eyes.

Who cared if a few nails didn’t get hammered in perfectly? We all could feel the difference we had made in the families’ lives. And in our own lives, too – even if that was against the rules.

Robin Pascoe lives in North Vancouver, B.C.

Satellites to Track Rare Royal Turtle in Cambodia [Video]

WCS posted this footage of the terrapin’s release ceremony:

By John R. Platt |
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com
February 1, 2012

A member of one of the world’s most endangered turtle species is being tracked by satellites as it swims the rivers of Cambodia, helping scientists to learn more about how it navigates and the threats it faces in its native waters. With a satellite transmitter glued to her shell, the female southern river terrapin (Batagur affinis edwardmolli)—one of the last 200 wild members of a species which was once treasured by Cambodian royalty—was released into the Sre Ambel River on January 16 in a ceremony attended by dozens of cheering local residents, government officials and international conservationists.

The terrapin’s travels will be monitored by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in conjunction with Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Cambodia’s Fisheries Administration. This is the first satellite study of the southern river terrapin, offering a rare opportunity to learn more about this species, which was named one of the world’s 25 most endangered turtle species in February 2011.

You might think that with a species this rare, it would be worth keeping this turtle in captivity to protect it. But in a prepared statement, Heng Sovannara, deputy director of the Fisheries Administration’s Conservation Department, explained that the scientific information to be gained by tracking the animal is even more important. “By identifying areas [of the river] that are most utilized by the turtles, we can pinpoint our efforts to reduce the turtles being caught as fishery bycatch as well as targeted hunting.” The species was heavily overexploited for its meat and eggs after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, and nearly became extinct.

Working with local fishermen has been a key WCS initiative for more than 10 years, and in fact resulted in this turtle’s rescue in April 2011. She was accidentally caught by a fisherman working in the Sre Ambel River who voluntarily turned her over to the Batagur conservation project, which in turn brought her to the Angkor Center for Conservation of Biodiversity in Siem Reap, where she was cared for her until she could be fitted with a satellite transmitter and released. (The Angkor Center posted several photos of the terrapin on Facebook after her arrival.)

Brian Horne, a WCS conservationist working on the project, told me about their efforts to preserve turtles in the Sre Ambel River. “We have a good rapport with the local fisherman,” he says. “We have installed large billboard-like signs along the river detailing the plight of the turtles. In addition, the turtle team makes regular patrols to discourage the use of illegal fishing nets.” The project also employs local community members as nest site wardens. “These wardens know that if there are no turtles they are out of a job, hence they help ‘police’ the rivers as well.”

WCS also has an exchange program for any fishermen who make an incidental turtle capture in their fishing nets. “In exchange for turning over a turtle they receive a 50-pound bag of rice and are not prosecuted by the local wildlife police,” Horne says.

It’s too early to report on any information gained from the satellite transmitter, but WCS is also working meanwhile on breeding the rare turtles. “We are currently head-starting just over 100 juvenile turtles in a modest facility near Sre Ambel,” Horne says. “Some of these will be maintained as part of an assurance breeding colony while the others will be released back into the wild.” Any turtles released will be monitored with acoustic telemetry, because they are still too small to be fitted with larger satellite transmitters.

WCS Cambodia and the Angkor Center are also building a new breeding facility near Siem Reap. “We plan to build a number of ponds that can house adult turtles and provide them with nesting areas,” Horne says. “Offspring from this captive breeding will be released back into the Sre Ambel in hopes of increasing the number of wild turtles.”

The population of southern river terrapins in Cambodia needs the boost. Only about 10 of the turtles live in the wild in Cambodia, with the rest living in Malaysia and Indonesia. They used to exist in Vietnam and Thailand, too, but there are no current records of them nesting in those countries.

Five arrested, two faint in violent clash outside Phnom Penh City Hall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkJAmwa-G-w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvXvN_xd7vI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9VllGyDDac

More photos of police violently attacking children and women protesters.

Published: 01-Feb-12

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia Herald) - Five Borei Keila residents were arrested and another two fainted in a violent clash Wednesday between protestors and police in front of Phnom Penh City Hall, witnesses said.

One of the protestors who fainted was identified as Touch Vanna while the second was a man who fell from a police vehicle.

Authorities blocked off part of Monivong Blvd during the clash which came as about 200 residents of Borei Keila and Boeung Kok gathered in front of the City Hall Wednesday morning to demand solutions to separate land disputes.

Some of the Borei Keila residents had removed their shirts, some were holding photographs of Prime Minister Hun Sen and First Lady Bun Rany and some were HIV-positive, sources said.

A culture on the brink of change [primitivity taken over by civilisation]

A house belonging to the Bunong tribe, a once-reclusive tribe in Cambodia's Monulkiri province.

By Anne Renzenbrink and Deborah Seccombe
Friday, 27 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Orange dirt holds to our skin, secured by the dry sweat from a day of trekking through rainforests, down dusty roads, and past rivers, waterfalls and elephants. Our allegedly English-speaking guide disappears down the hill, leaving us alone in the empty village. He returns 20 minutes later, with his family of 10 at his heels and the key to his hut.

“Where is the toilet?” we ask.
“Sorry, ma’am. The toilet is the jungle,” Ly Orm replies.

Ly Orm is part of the Bunong tribe – an ethnic minority in Mondulkiri province, near the border of Vietnam, which is believed to date back 2,000 years. The 27-year-old Bunong man and his family are among 60 Bunong people living in Burang village, close to Mondulkiri’s capital Sen Monorom.

Though Ly Orm and his family are Cambodian, he is one of the few who speaks Khmer, and the only one who speaks English. The Bunong people have their own, unwritten language and their history is passed down through oral tradition. According to Ly Orm, the few Bunong elders who could write in their language died before passing on the knowledge.

“All this information is being lost. The traditional ways are vanishing fast and the elders who know the tradition are very rare,” says French linguist Sylvain Vogel, who recently published a study Aspects de la Culture Traditionnelle des Bunoong du Mondulkiri. His book, published in French and Khmer, provides insight into the culture, traditions and language of one of Cambodia’s overlooked ethnic minorities.

Blaise Kilian, coordinator of the Creative Industries Support Programme at the UNESCO Phnom Penh office approached Vogel to conduct the study. He says Vogel’s work is important because any form of publication on the Bunong culture is scarce compared with other “popular” topics like Angkor.

Vogel studied the Bunong people for 15 years, living with them on and off during that time. “I was impressed with the diversity of Bunong traditional oral literature, as with the consistency that their culture shows. There is a way to speak with the gods, a way to speak with the dead, a way to speak when hunting in the forest,” he says.

The Bunong people believe the forest is a spiritual entity, with each rock, tree and waterfall possessing a soul. Their culture strives to keep man and nature in balance.

According to 23 year-old Bunong fisherman Norb, “Everything belongs to everyone in our village. When you have food you give it to me. When I have food I give it to you.”

The inside of the straw hut was dark. The only source of light was a small flame from a lantern that hung above our heads. Ly Orm’s sister lit a fire in the centre of the hut and started to prepare dinner – a variety of rice with beef and yam, beef and bamboo and for the less adventurous, just plain beef. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness and the embers brightened the room, we saw more of the Bunong home. Empty rice wine jars lined the side of the hut, dried corn hung from the ceiling, pots and tools cluttered one corner and in the other sat a small, old TV and DVD player. It wasn’t long after that we heard the roar of a generator burst into life and the family flocked around the TV for karaoke and soapies. Modernity has stretched its legs into Burang village. “Nothing is how it used to be,” says Norb.

Life for the Bunong people has started to change. While we rough it in a primitive straw hut, a few other houses are a step up in construction and only three to four years old. The newer homes give way to the classic house form. One entrance is painted in yellow, red and green. We ask Ly Orm if these colours are significant to the Bunong. "Yes, yes, yes… colours… yes,” he says. You be the judge.

Norb is an example of modernity among the Bunong. He went to a private school in Sen Monorom to learn English and he knows how to use the internet. “I can learn everything, I can adapt,” he says, adding that young Bunong people don’t see the change as a problem.

Like Norb and Ly Orm, most Bunong people wear western clothes; jeans, hoodies, sandals and beanies.

Maybe we can be described as girls of comfort, but in our logic we thought toilets and running water would take precedence over western clothes and television.

“Mobile phones are used for security. Phones and TV help with communication and information. They also provide cheap entertainment. Running water and toilets were not problems in the past with abundant forest, rules for where to go to the toilet, and no big villages. The Bunong are interested in new music and films, and learning about the world, whether western or Asian,” says Has Thoeun.

Has Thoeun is the associate director of International Cooperation Cambodia, an NGO which works closely with Bunong and which, it claims on its website, is “committed to serving the least-served across the Kingdom of Cambodia.”

But it is not just Western influence that is making its mark. Norb says that it’s Khmer-Cambodians exploiting the land for profit. He and his cousin have just come back from fishing with empty nets. “There was still a lot of fish in my grandparent’s days, but now there is hardly any left,” he says.

“When we fish, we only take as much as we need to feed the village. But when the Khmer come, they take more than they need.”

Besides a shortage of fish, Norb says a lot of trees in Pu Tang have either been sucked dry of their resin or cut down. Resin is the Bunong’s most important source of cash.

Because of their spiritual ties with the forest, Bunong don’t think anyone can claim ownership of the land, making them vulnerable to investors.

“The environment has changed a lot in Mondulkiri and other remote provinces over the past years. Increased access due to the development of infrastructure, new investors from abroad and from the lowlands have placed Indigenous customs, languages and ways of life under strong pressure,” Killian says.

The once remote and secluded minority tribe has gradually etched their way into the broader community. But while their presence is occasionally noticed, there is still a big void of communication between the Khmer and Bunong .

ICC has been supporting the minority since 2001 when they launched the Research, Education and Development initiative. READ has Bunong staff on their team, thus giving them a unique connection with and insight to Bunong culture.

They have been teaching the Bunong how to use the computer and internet, explaining basic health principles like sleeping under mosquito nets, and providing them with rice.

Against the backdrop of these changes, Killian says the preservation of Bunong culture and way of life is under pressure.

“The younger generations of the indigenous people are even more tempted by modernity. It is therefore important to document and to safeguard when possible these customs and languages as the possibility of their disappearance is real on the medium term,” he says.

Vogel has written a second book on the Bunong oral tradition which will be published in February.

“Nobody besides a small number of academics seems to worry about so many cultures and languages disappearing unrecorded,” Vogel says.

Some Bunong people have expressed a similar concern, saying they want to share their ways with the outside world to help preserve it.

Norb says, “When the foreigners first came to our village no-one could talk to them to explain who we were and what we do. I decided to learn English so when the foreigner comes I can tell our story.”

Squeak, squeak, squeak. The three-year-old Bunong son of Ly Orm’s sister runs around on a dirt patch outside his mother’s hut in western sneakers that squeak with each step. Regardless of the language barrier and the 20 year age gap, the boy is determined to gain our approval by trying to win a friendly fight with his older brother. The two tackle and charge, every now and then glancing to see if we are still captivated by them.

Though fully aware of our foreign presence, in their innocence they remain unaware of the change and outside influences that are building momentum around them. The future and direction of the Bunong culture may lie in the small hands of young boys and girls like these.

Indonesia eyes Kingdom's rice, telco, tourism sectors

By May Kunmakara
Wednesday, 01 February 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Indonesian investors met with top Cambodian officials early yesterday to discuss investment from Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

Indonesian Ambassador to Cambodia Soehardjono Sastromihardjo discussed agriculture, tourism and telecom investments with Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, Council of Ministers spokesman Ek Tha said.

“They are seeking investments in rice production because we have high potential in agriculture, especially in rice,” he said.

Ek Tha said Indonesian investors were interested in purchasing rice from Cambodia.

Indonesia has also considered starting direct flights between the island of Bali to Siem Reap province and Phnom Penh, Ek Tha said.

“We welcome any investment and exports of our milled rice and rice paddy to their country, as well as [investments in] direct flight and telecoms in our country,” said he said.

Kingdom expects 15% economic growth in 2014

By Brennan Stark
Wednesday, 01 February 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

The Cambodian economy could potentially grow 14.9 per cent by the end of 2014, according to statements yesterday from Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan (pictured).

He said the official figures had come from the Ministry of Planning.

To achieve such growth, the ministry predicted that US$11.51 billion would need to be invested in public works over the next three years.

“The GDP cannot increase itself,” Phay Siphan said.

“We need road building, bridges and other travel channels in order to obtain this big increase.”

Market trends indicated that Cambodia would require an additional $2.76 billion from offshore aid, loans or the oil and gas industry in order to meet the $11 billion mark, he added.

The figure would be a substantial increase over the government’s prediction for 2012 growth, which is now set at 6.5 per cent.

University of Cambodia business and economics lecturer Chheng Kimlong said: “I think that’s a bit ambitious. It’s probably closer to 8 or 9 per cent, or a maximum of 10 per cent, based on current rates of investment and growth.”

Vietnam relationship back in KRT spotlight [Nuon Chea accused Vietnam of wanting to swallow Cambodia]

Wednesday, 01 February 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Former Khmer Rouge Brother No 2 Nuon Chea testified yesterday that he was “concerned” for the future of his country because of what he claimed were territorial ambitions of Vietnam, echoing earlier testimony in describing the situation as “a snake which tries to suffocate a rabbit”.

ECCC POOL

Former Khmer Rouge Brother No 2 Nuon Chea attends court.

Under questioning from his co-defence counsel, Michiel Pestman, about his early life, Nuon Chea said he did not know “what the future will hold” for Cambodia.

The 85-year-old defendant said that while in the past the two countries had cooperated, the “Vietnamese were regarded as enemies because they had the ambition to swallow Kampuchean territory”, Nuon Chea said.

“They were just ready and prepared to swallow us, even at present.”

Trial Chamber president Nil Nonn asked that Nuon Chea respond only to questions that were asked of him and stay within the confines of the first “mini-trial” of Case 002.

During evidence hearings in December last year, Nuon Chea testified that Vietnam had attempted to “swallow” Cambodia, in comments that prompted criticisms from civil parties and court observers.

Student Chhoeun Vathana, 17, who attended yesterday’s hearing, said he had been told that people from Cambodia and Vietnam had never liked each other.

“I heard from my grandfather that Khmer and Vietnam never liked each other,” he said.

“They always had arguments and sometimes they fought.”

Nuon Chea also testified that he had been in contact with current National Assembly President Heng Samrin and Senate President Chea Sim – both former Khmer Rouge cadre before fleeing to Vietnam to join the resistance against the regime – after he returned to Cambodia in the pre-1975 period.

Under earlier questioning from civil party lawyer Barnabé Nékuie, Nuon Chea said people who lived and worked in cooperatives in the countryside were not permitted to leave.

“If they were to live in the cooperatives they could not go anywhere, they would stay and live and work in the cooperatives,” he said.

Nuon Chea testified on Monday that he was not responsible for cooperatives organised by the Khmer Rouge.

Shooting blamed on firm [Hun Sen is playing God again]

By May Titthara
Wednesday, 01 February 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday threatened to fire one of his advisers, TTY Company director Na Marady, and withdraw his company’s economic land concession licence if the tycoon did not turn in security guards wanted over the shooting of villagers during a protest in Kratie on January 18.

Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Villagers blocked road 76A, after security shooting villagers.

A provincial court official announced yesterday that security guards Koe Sovanna, 29, Yon Chhaina, 32, and Phin Oeun, 35, were wanted for questioning over the shooting.

Speaking at the inauguration of national road number 76 in Mondulkiri province, Hun Sen said Na Marady had a responsibility to bring the wanted men to police and find a lawyer for them, warning that if he refused to comply, it would him being questioned.

“I will fire you as PM adviser [if you do not turn them in],” Hun Sen said.

“The company is not free from blame – we have to ask how the company got guns like these and who the shooters are, because we have the picture.”

If TTY was found to be protecting the three men, it would be punished, he said.

A TTY security guard fired an AK-47 assault rifle into a crowd of about 400 that had tried to block the company’s bulldozers from clearing their cassava plantations in Veal Bei village in Phi Thnou commune, Snuol district, on January 18.

One man was left in serious condition with multiple gunshot wounds and three others were also hit by bullets.

A photo later emerged of a security guard standing on machinery pointing an assault rifle at villagers.

“I regret this issue, and I regard it as a serious issue that cannot be pardoned – we’re dealing with villagers’ blood here,” Hun Sen said.

“I condemn this activity and cannot pardon it. I am sorry to the victims’ families . . . it should not have happened.”

In 2008, TTY was granted a more than 9,000-hectare economic land concession that included farms and homes in Veal Bei village. But last week, during a visit to Veal Bei, Environment Minister Mok Mareth promised to return the villagers’ land.

Hun Sen said yesterday that he had already ordered Interior Minister Sar Kheng to arrest the security guards who fired on villagers and also urged the alleged perpetrators to hand themselves in, warning that Interpol officers would catch them if they fled abroad.

Heng Sarath, deputy-general of TTY, said he did not have information about the whereabouts of the security guards.

“I am investigating those who destroyed the company,” he said, adding that the security guards’ actions had resulted in the government taking back land.

Hak Hoin, deputy provincial prosecutor in Kratie, said details about the case had already been sent to an investigating judge and he could confirm that the three security guards wanted for questioning were Koe Sovanna, Yon Chhaina and Phin Oeun.

“The investigating judge will take a measure according to law and do more investigating to learn about their background.”

The prime minister also threatened action against com­panies who used violence against villagers.

“We will withdraw all licences from companies who received economic land concessions if they use violence,” he said.

Any company given the right to develop land has a duty to ensure villagers were not mistreated and to find resolutions for those affected by development, he said.

Hun Sen challenged companies to develop in areas that would force fewer people from their farmland.

Ouch Leng, head of the land program for rights group Adhoc, said he welcomed the prime minister’s speech, but asked why the perpetrators were not arrested at the time of the shootings.

“If the gunmen are arrested now, Hun Sen will be shown to be a justice-maker. If they are not arrested, Hun Sen’s speech will have been made for his own political benefit.”

I’ve won already, says PM [Hun Sen]

Meas Sokchea with additional reporting by David Boyle
Wednesday, 01 February 2012

The Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday that at least one element of the 2013 National Assembly election is a foregone conclusion – he will still be in charge when it’s over.

Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen casts his vote on Sunday in Phnom Penh for the national senate election. The Prime Minister is confident of the outcome.

Speaking only three days after his party won control of the Senate for the third time in a row, the premier said yesterday that there is no chance he will be displaced as prime minister, given the fact that he is the only candidate.

“Don’t worry; the opposition party has no possibility of breaking [the Cambodian Peoples Party],” he told a crowd at a ground-breaking ceremony inaugurating national road 76 in Ratanakkiri.

“At that time, who will be a Minister of Public Works? [We] don’t know yet, but the only candidate for prime minister is me.”

The premier also expressed his thanks to 797 members of Funcinpec, the Norodom Rannaridh Party and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, who voted for the CPP at Sunday’s Senate election, including 179 councillors from the SRP.

From Paris, where he lives in self-imposed exile following a spate of criminal convictions in Cambodia, the eponymous party leader Sam Rainsy said the prime minister risked damaging international perceptions of his legitimacy by making such statements.

“So, Hun Sen, in Cambodia, the results of the election are predetermined. If it is a foregone conclusion, there is no need to organise elections, and it would be silly to pretend Cambodia is a democracy then,” he said.

The opposition leader said he would rather congratulate the 2,503 SRP councillors who voted on party lines, resisting attempts by the CPP to buy their votes – which had succeeded in only a small number of cases.

Last week, CPP member Cheam Pe A was fined US$1,230 by the Battambang Provincial Election Committee after he was taped trying to buy the Senate vote of an SRP councillor.

Preliminary results released on Sunday showed that the CPP had extended its existing Senate majority by one, winning 46 of 57 contested seats, while the SRP also increased its standing from two to 11 seats.

The four remaining seats in the Senate are appointees.

Enslaved fishermen to get help from ministry [Enslaved by Thai fishing boat]

Mom Kunthear with additional reporting by David Boyle
Wednesday, 01 February 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken measures to help rescue 14 Cambodians who have made desperate pleas for help to escape from a fishing boat they have been enslaved aboard for the past two years.

Families of the men told the Post yesterday that they had received phone calls on Sunday when the boat enslaving their loved ones, who disappeared two years ago after traveling to Thailand with a broker, briefly docked at an Indonesian island.

Yesterday, Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said he had acted on the information, ordering the Cambodian embassy in Jakarta to cooperate with Indonesian authorities and find the men.

“We will try our best to help them as soon as possible,” Koy Kuong said, adding that families of the men had been asked for detailed information, which was then forwarded to embassy officials in Indonesia.

Cambodian embassy officials in Jakarta were not available for comment.

Gnan Van, 33, said yesterday she was relieved the government was paying attention to the security of her husband Yean Phean and the other men.

“I am very thankful to the government officials who will intervene to help my husband and the other 13 men to return back home. I really want to be with my husband,” she said.

On Monday, the families of the 14 men from Trea commune in Kampong Thom province’s Stoung district filed a complaint to rights group Licahdo seeking help to rescue them.

The men have told their families members, some of whom said they warned them not to go, that they were being forced to work night and day without any salary.

Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Cambodian Legal Education Centre, said the government had to stop acting reactively to the problem and start focusing on issues such as low wages and the complicity of border officials in trafficking.

“The government has to look at job creation within Cambodia and then look at working conditions within the country. The wage condition should allow workers to be living above the poverty line,” he said.

Mobile subscribers exceed population

By Don Weinland
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia's mobile subscribers surpassed the country's estimated population in November, according to data obtained yesterday by the Post.

The Kingdom had 14.96 million subscribers in November, the data showed. The CIA World Factbook estimated Cambodia's population at 14.7 million people in July.

Cambodia telecoms operator Smart Mobile yesterday said that its subscribers exceeded 2 million in January, making the company the Kingdom's third largest provider by subscriber numbers after Metfone and Mobitel.

Coverage expansion onto a nationwide level in January accounted for the increase in Smart users, according to a company statement.

The data obtained by the Post showed Smart with 1.59 million subscribers as of November, or the market's No 4 spot. Hello Axiata held the No 3 spot in November with 1.67 million subscribers.

Metfone claimed 7.35 million subscribers in November, an increase of about 28 per cent since May, the data showed. Mobitel subscriber numbers have been at 2.9 million since May.

Smart CEO Thomas Hundt said yesterday that it was normal for subscriber numbers to exceed the population.

“Generally speaking, it is a global tendency that mobile penetration rates go beyond 100 per cent,” he said via email, adding that Vietnam and Dubai had a penetration rate of more than 150 per cent.

Cambodia would likely hit a rate of more than 150 per cent due to continuous growth in the sector and the use of devices such as tablets, he said.

Hello CEO Simon Perkins said yesterday that reported subscribers numbers were questionable because the definition of an active subscriber varied between operators.

Some analysts put the actual market for mobile services at around 7.5 million users, the Post reported last year.

Garment report tightens focus

By Vincent MacIsaac
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Better Factories Cambodia’s latest report on garment exporters’ compliance with Cambodia’s Labour Law and international standards aims to be more relevant than the last one and to “drive change”, BFC program manager Jill Tucker said yesterday.

Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Sok Sreylak, a 22-year-old garment worker, is carried to a hospital after fainting at the Sportex factory in Phnom Penh in December.

“We were roundly criticised for the last report,” Tucker said.

Unions said it skipped key issues, while factory owners called it “meaningless” for veering off into unreasonable recommendations “like adjustable backrests to chairs”, she said.

“We wanted to stay relevant, so we asked ‘how do we make this report relevant and drive change?’” Tucker added.

It does so, union representatives said, by focusing on compliance with laws and standards related to workers’ health and welfare, particularly factors researchers linked to the spate of mass fainting incidents that hit the industry during the reporting period.

The incidents raised questions about working conditions at Cambodian garment factories as well as Better Factories’ ability to monitor them.

The report found high rates of noncompliance related to overtime, and noted that fewer factories were keeping a single payroll ledger. “Failure to comply with this [payroll ledger] requirement can indicate attempts by management to hide overtime work,” the 27th Synthesis Report on Working Conditions in Cambodia’s Garment Sector notes.

It focuses on factors researchers linked to the mass fainting incidents that hit 11 of the 300 garment factories monitored by the program in the six months to October 31. These included “poor nutrition, poor hygiene, the lack of a morning meal, heat stress, poor ventilation, excessive working hours, poor industrial relations and mass psychogenic behaviour”.

“Compliance levels are lower than 50 per cent on several requirements . . . relevant to the fainting incidents,” the report found.

Only 5 per cent of the factories monitored complied with legal requirements on “exceptional overtime” and only 16 per cent complied with the two-hour overtime limit.

Tucker denied that Better Factories was assuming an advocacy role.

“We are factually monitoring the situation and using it to drive change in the best possible way,” she said. “The information is factual. It is not really an opinion piece.”

Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said the report had a different “format”, but he saw no significant change in its content. Low compliance in overtime-related requirements had been noted previously, he said.

Still, the report, which GMAC comments on prior to its publication, “could be a helpful tool [for GMAC members] to identify some problem areas”, he said.

He stressed that factory owners and buyers were working to alleviate the conditions that caused the faintings, but were hindered by the inability to “accurately identify and pinpoint a single factor”.

The government’s policy that exporting factories must be monitored created a competitive advantage for factories here, he said, but factories were under far more intense media scrutiny than those in some competing countries.

Both Loo and Tucker agreed Cambodia was benefiting from a shift in manufacturing from China to Southeast Asia.

Cambodia's industrial zones attract 1.15 bln USD investments since inception

PHNOM PENH, Jan 31, 2012 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Cambodia's Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have attracted a total investment capital of 1.15 billion U.S. dollars since their operational inception in 2006, according to a government report on Wednesday.

Since 2006 to 2011, the zones have received 96 investment projects with the total capital of 1.15 billion U.S. dollars, according to the record of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).

It added that the zones had created 61,400 jobs.

Sok Chenda Sophea (pictured), the CDC's Secretary General, attributed the investment growth into the SEZs to the country's preferential investment law and low labor cost. "Cambodia's law is very open and gives a lot of fringe benefits to investors," he told a seminar Wednesday.

SEZs have been firstly established in Cambodia in December, 2005 in order to attract investors to build factories inside and manufacture goods for exports. To date, the CDC has granted licenses to 21 SEZs, however, less than a dozen of them are operational.

Those SEZs are located along the borders with Thailand and Vietnam, and on the outskirts of Phnom Penh as well as in Preah Sihanouk province, where the international port is located.

Currently, products being produced in those SEZs include vehicles and spare parts, garments, bicycles, foot-wears, jewelry packaging, pure drinking water, electric products, sugar and agro- products.

The government sees the SEZs as an important part of the country's economic development as they bring infrastructure, jobs, skills and enhanced productivity, according to the CDC's report.

Investors in the industrial zones will benefit from a number of fiscal incentives, including income tax, customs and VAT benefits.

Cambodia’s garment sector continues to grow: BFC

February 01, 2012 (Cambodia)
http://www.fibre2fashion.com

The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) has released its “27th Synthesis Report on Working Conditions in Cambodia’s Garment Sector”, which assesses compliance with Cambodian Labour Law and international
labour standards in garment exporting factories.

The 27th Synthesis Report reflects compliance data from monitoring reports completed between May 1 and October 31, 2011. During this six-month period, BFC produced monitoring reports for 169 of the 300 factories registered with the programme.

The 27th Synthesis Report contains a range of information drawn from these reports, including information on factory size across the industry, as well as comparative data on compliance with fundamental rights and selected working conditions to facilitate tracking of compliance levels over time.

This report shows employment in garment export factories reaching its highest level since that seen in the 21st synthesis report dated 31st October 2008, with 345,364 workers employed in the 300 active factories registered with the project.

Compared with the previous report, there has been a 9 percent growth in the number of factories, and a 7 percent increase in the size of the workforce. 90.7 percent of the workers currently employed are women.

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, garment exports from Cambodia rose to US$ 3.47 billion during the first 10 months of 2011, an increase of 34 percent compared with the same period during 2010.

During the period covered by the report, at least 11 garment factories experienced fainting incidents and over 1500 workers fainted or collapsed during working hours.

Various studies have indicated a number of possible causes, such as poor nutrition, poor hygiene, the lack of a morning meal, heat stress, poor ventilation, excessive working hours, poor industrial relations and mass psychogenic behavior in which one worker falls unconscious and others who witness this collapse as well.

The 27th synthesis report demonstrates that compliance levels are lower than 50 percent on several requirements that are relevant to the fainting incidents, such as exceptional overtime (5%), overtime limited to two hours per day (16%), sufficient soap and water available near the toilets (48%), and acceptable heat levels (38%).

According to figures from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), during the reporting period garment factories experienced 14 strikes involving 16,498 workers, which resulted in 81,584 lost work days.

Among the key findings in the report are the following:
• Three quarters of the workforce is employed in factories with 1000 or more employees, even though most factories monitored employ less than 1000 workers.

• 66 percent of the factories monitored have at least one union, down 10 percent from the previous report.

• The percentage of factories that engaged in discrimination is at 18 percent, up from 13 percent in the last report; the percentage that engaged in anti-union discrimination is at 4 percent, up from 3 percent; and the percentage that interfered with workers’ right to freedom of association is at 5 percent, up from 2 percent.

• Monitors found no evidence of forced labour, but 7 workers were confirmed to be below the legal working age of 15.

• Compliance with exceptional overtime and overtime limited to two hours per day dropped to 5 percent and 16 percent, from 7 percent and 25 percent respectively, in comparison with the previous report, while compliance with voluntary and exceptional work on Sundays grew 6 percent, to 70 percent.

• Compliance with payments for maternity leave is at 65 percent, down from 73 percent, and the percentage of factories paying the US$ 7 attendance bonus when workers take annual leave is at 62 percent, down from 68 percent.

• Compliance with acceptable heat levels in factories is 38 percent, down 4 percent from the last report, but 1 percent more factories provided sufficient soap and water near the toilets (up to 48% in the current report).

Better Factories Cambodia

Cassava demand up 111%

By Sieam Bunthy
Wednesday, 01 February 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia's cassava exports to foreign markets in 2011 jumped 111 per cent compared to 2010, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Farmers harvest cassava in Pailin province in late 2011.

The exports in 2012, however, face challenges as buyers delay cassava purchases from the Kingdom. Some farmers reported a ban in Thailand on cassava exports from Cambodia.

Cambodia exported 277,291 tonnes of fresh and dry cassava worth US$12.44 million in 2011, up from 131,312 tonnes worth about $4 million the year before.

Cassavas exports grew because farmers increased production on increased international demand and rising prices, Ministry of Commerce secretary of state Chan Nora said.

“Farmers saw the increase in cassava price and that made them grow more.”

But the price has since fallen after farmers in Cambodia’s western provinces flooded the market with the crop, Chan Nora said.

Delayed orders in Thailand have caused difficulty for many Cambodian farmers who abandoned other crops, such as corn, to harvest cassava, he said.

Sam Yin, president of Malai Trading Company in Banteay Meanchey province, said Thai border authorities banned cassava exports from Cambodia on January 24. Farmers have been left with excessive unharvested cassava, he said.

“Now farmers are very worried because the cassava market is not stable and 50 per cent of the cassava in Banteay Meanchey has yet to be collected,” Sam Yin said, noting the surge in cassava farming in 2011.

Prices have dropped substantially since farmers turned to cassava as a cash crop, he said. But exports to Thailand could resume as soon as next month when the Thai supply of cassava runs out, he said.

USAID Provides $2.71m Loan Guarantee to Cambodian Microfinance Institution Thaneakea Phum to Support Agriculture

Wednesday, February 1, 2012
MicroCapital.Org
Posted by Kristha Abores

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has signed a four-year agreement to provide a 50-percent guarantee on a loan of up to USD 2.71 million for Cambodian microfinance institution Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Limited (TPC). Sok Voeun, TPC’s chief operations officer, reportedly said that USAID “will support us in providing more loans to the agriculture sectors in the four provinces” referring to Kampong Thom, Pursat, Battambang and Siem Reap.

TPC was launched in 1994 in Cambodia as part of the Small Enterprise Development program of US-based nonprofit organization Catholic Relief Services (CRS). In 2002, the initiative was incorporated as a limited liability company and given the name Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Limited. In 2003, TPC received its license from the National Bank of Cambodia to operate officially as a microfinance institution. As of December 2010, TPC reported to US-based data provider Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) return on assets (ROA) of 2.78 percent and return on equity (ROE) of 14.7 percent. As of September 30, 2011, it reported to MIX a gross loan portfolio of USD 29.2 million and 91,033 active borrowers.

By Kristha Abores, Research Associate

About United States Agency for International Development (USAID): The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a government agency that provides international economic and humanitarian assistance. It focuses on areas such as economic growth, agriculture, trade, health, democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance. Under the Development Credit Authority (DCA), it provides credit guarantees that cover up to 50 percent of defaults on wholesale loans made by private financial institutions to institutions that lend on a retail basis to underserved borrowers. USAID had a total of USD 23.8 billion in budgetary resources in 2011.

About Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Limited (TPC): TPC was launched in 1994 in Cambodia as part of the Small Enterprise Development program of US-based nonprofit organization Catholic Relief Services (CRS). In 2002, the initiative was incorporated as a limited liability company and given the name Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Limited. In 2003, TPC received its license from the National Bank of Cambodia to operate as an official microfinance institution. As of September 30, 2011, it reported to US-based data provider Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) a gross loan portfolio of USD 29.2 million and 91,033 active borrowers. As of December 2010, it reported to MIX return on assets (ROA) of 2.78 percent and return on equity (ROE) of 14.7 percent.

Sources and Additional Resources:

[1] The Phnom Penh Post: “USAID injects cash in MFI,” http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012013054210/Business/usaid-inje…

MicroCapital.org article, January 3, 2011, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Makes $1.8m Local-Currency Loan to Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa (Komida) of Indonesia and Thaneakea Phum Cambodia (TPC), Chamroeun Microfinance of Cambodia,”http://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-grameen-credit-agricole-m…

MicroCapital.org article, June 27, 2011, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: USAID, VEGA/IESC Announce Second Phase of “Lebanon Investment in Microfinance” Program,” http://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-usaid-vegaiesc-announce-s…

MicroCapital Universe Profile: United States Agency for International Development (USAID), http://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Uni…

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Limited (TPC), http://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Tha…

Browse the MicroCapital Universe and add your entry to the wiki at: http://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/

Thailand extradites four Khmer prisoners to Cambodia

Madam You Aye (R) talked to the extradited Cambodian prisoners (seated).

SA KAEO, Feb 1, 2012 - Thailand on Wednesday extradited four Cambodian prisoners, but the Sa Kaeo prison chief denies it was an exchange for two Thai activists jailed earlier in Phnom Penh for espionage.

Sa Kaeo Deputy Governor Chat Kittinoppadon and Sa Kaeo Provincial Prison Commander Kittipat Dechapahun witnessed the handover ceremony of four Cambodian prisoners -- two men and two women -- to the Cambodian government through Cambodian ambassador to Thailand You Aye.

It was the first time that a handover was held at a local checkpoint as the event was held in Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province.

The four men were jailed at Sa Kaeo Provincial Prison for drug-related offences and have completed one-third of their jail term. They are now entitled to be extradited to finish their jail terms in their homeland.

Mr Kittipat stressed that the extradition handled normally, without a hidden agenda as some have speculated that the transfer of the Khmer prisoners may lead to the release of two Thai activists who were put behind bars in Phnom Penh, and that they may be handed over to Thai authorities.

He said the release of Veera Somkwamkid, a leader of the People's Network against Corruption and a high-profile activist in the Thai Patriots Network, and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon, depends on Cambodia.

Mr Veera and Ms Ratree were arrested on Dec 29, 2010, along with five others including then Democrat Party member of parliament Panich Vikitsreth, after they illegally entered Cambodian territory to observe the border demarcation process.

The five were released in late January, 2011 after the Cambodian court suspended their sentences of nine months in jail.

A Cambodian court on Feb 1, 2011 ruled that the pair were guilty of espionage, illegal entry, and trespassing in a military zone. Mr Veera was sentenced to an eight-year jail term and fined a 1.8 million riel (US$450) while Ms Ratree was handed a six-year jail term and a 1.2 million riel ($300) fine.

Cambodia later reemphasised that the two Thai activists must serve two-thirds of their jail terms before a royal pardon could be granted, but said it was possible for the pair to be released earlier if the two countries could agree on a prisoner exchange

Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said after an official visit to Cambodia last month that Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister/ Foreign Minister Hor Namhong insisted that Mr Veera and Ms Ratree must serve two-thirds of their jail terms before a royal pardon from the Cambodian monarch could be requested.

However, there is a possibility for early release if Thailand and Cambodia can agree on a prisoner exchange programme. (MCOT online news)

Sin Sisamouth - Linh Ju Meas Bong (Linh Ju, My Love)

Another song: Sin Sisamouth- chloey Chas Mok Orn (Please answer yes, my darling!)

Two cruise ships with 2000 passengers docked at Cambodia's Sihanoukville Port

By Khmerization
Source: Kampuchea Thmey

Two cruise ships, ​The Zaandam, the Netherlands-made American cruise ship, and The Nautica, which carried a total of 2000 passengers, have docked at the Sihanoukville Seaport on Tuesday 31st January.

The Zaandam is 237.95 metres long​ and 32.24 metres wide and is carrying 1336 passengers from 31 nationalities, of which the majority are Americans. The Nautica is 82 metres long and is carrying 628 passengers.

According to the report, The Zaandam has cruised into Sihanoukville Seaport for the fifth time, each time bringing many tourists.

Read article in Khmer below:
នាវា​ទេស​ចរណ៍​ចំនួន​២​គ្រឿង​នាំ​ភ្ញៀវ​ទេសចរណ៍​ជិត​២០០០​នាក់​មក​ធ្វើ​ទស្សនកិច្ច​នៅ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា

31-1-2012-dព្រះសីហនុ៖ ​ នា​ព្រឹក​ថ្ងៃ​ទី៣១ ​ខែ​មករា ​ឆ្នាំ ​២០១២ ​នា​វា​ទេសចរណ៍​ចំនួន​២​ គ្រឿង​នាំ​ភ្ញៀវ​ទេសចរណ៍​ចម្រុះ​ជាតិ​សាសន៍​ចំនួន​ជិត​២.០០០​នាក់​ ចូល​ចត​កំពង់​ផែ​អន្ដរ​ជាតិ​ក្រុ​ង​ព្រះ​សីហនុ​ ដើម្បី​ធ្វើ​ទស្សន​កិច្ច​រយៈ​ពេល​១​ថ្ងៃ ​នៅ​ព្រះ​រា​ជា​ណា​ចក្រ​កម្ពុជា​ ។

លោក ​ស៊ី ​ណូ ​មន្ត្រី​នាយក​ដ្ឋាន​ចលនា​នាវា ​និង​កណ្ណធារ​ អោយ​ដឹង​ថា ​នា​វា​ឈ្មោះ ​Zaandam​ ជានា​វា​របស់​សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក ​សញ្ជាតិ​​ហូល្លង់ ​មាន​បណ្ដោយ ​២៣៧,៩៥​ម៉ែត្រ ​ទទឹង​៣២,២៤​ម៉ែត្រ​ មាន​ភ្ញៀវ​សរុប​ចំនួន​១៣៦៣​នាក់ ​ក្នុង​នោះ​មាន៣១​សញ្ជាតិ ​ហើយ​​សញ្ជាតិ​​ដែល​ច្រើន​ជាង​គេ​ គឺ​សញ្ជាតិ​​អាមេរិក​។ ​នាវាទី២ ​មាន​ឈ្មោះ ​Nautica ​មាន​បណ្ដោយ​ប្រវែង ​១៨១​ម៉ែត្រ​ ដែល​មាន​ភ្ញៀវ​ចម្រុះ​ជាតិ​សាសន៍​សរុប​ចំនួន​៦២៨​នាក់​ ។
គួរ​បញ្ជាក់​ដែរ​ថា ​នាវា​ទេសចរណ៍​ឈ្មោះ ​Zaandam ​បាន​ចូល​ចត​នៅ​កំពង់​ផែ​អន្ដរ​ជាតិ​ក្រុង​ព្រះសីហនុ ​កាល​ពី​ដើម​ខែ​មករា​ ឆ្នាំ ​២០១២ ​នេះ​ម្ដង​រួចមក ​នាវា ​Zaandam ​នេះ​មាន​គម្រោង​នាំ​ភ្ញៀវ​ទេស​ចរណ៍​ចម្រុះ​ជាតិ​សាសន៍ ​ចូល​ចត​ធ្វើ​ទស្សនកិច្ច​នៅ​កម្ពុជា​ចំនួន​៥​លើក​៕

Hundreds of SEAN A3 workers strike in Kompong Speu

Published: 31-Jan-12

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia Herald) - About 500 factory workers went on strike with a list of 18 demands Tuesday outside the SEAN A3 garment factory in Samroung Tong district, Kompong Speu.

Strike leader Than Thul said the workers also wanted doctors in the factory and were demanding that their union leader be allowed to return to work after being dismissed.

Union and company representatives entered into negotiations but there was no agreement as of noon.

Ministry of Labour officials did not appear to be involved in the negotiations.

China-funded road inaugurated in Cambodia's northeastern provinces

January 31, 2012

MONDOLKIRI, Cambodia, (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Tuesday inaugurated a 127-kilometer China-funded road here, aiming at developing eco-tourism in Cambodia's far northeastern provinces.

The inaugurated national road No. 76 stretches from Kratie province's Snuol district to Mondolkiri province's Sen Monorom city.

The inauguration was presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen and Pan Guangxue, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia, and was also attended by top government officials, diplomatic corps, some 6,000 local people.

Speaking at the inauguration, Hun Sen said the construction of the road was begun in February 2007 by the China Road and Bridge Corporation as a cost of about 52 million U.S. dollars under the soft loan from the Chinese government. "The road not only contributes to the development of Cambodia' s eco-tourism provinces, it also helps develop the triangle development area with Vietnam and Laos," he said. "On behalf of the government of Cambodia and Cambodian people, I'd like to express sincere thanks to the government of China and its people for providing both grants and loans to Cambodia for social and economic development", said the premier. "Today's achievements come from the close and sincere cooperation between Cambodia and China,"he said.

Pan Guangxue said that the road inauguration was a new symbol of good cooperation between China and Cambodia. "We believe that the road will help boost economic development and poverty reduction in Cambodia's eastern provinces,"he said. "China will still continue supporting Cambodia in infrastructure development projects."

The ambassador said that since 1992, the government of China has provided a total of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in soft loans to Cambodia.

With the loans, more than 1,500 kilometers of roads in Cambodia have been constructed.

Meanwhile, the premier and the ambassador also broke ground for the construction of an extended national road No. 76 in the length of 172 kilometers from Sen Monorom city to Rattanakiri province under China's soft loan of 91.7 million U.S. dollars.

It will take 42 months to complete.

The hilly province of Mondolkiri is located some 386 kilometers northeast of Cambodia.

China's brutal face: Uyghurs sentenced to life imprisonment [after being deported from Cambodia]

Tuesday, January 31, 2012
http://www.expertclick.com

According to a January 25 Radio Free Asia (RFA) report , citing local sources, Musa Muhammad, one of 20 Uyghur asylum seekers who was deported from Cambodia on December 19, 2009, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison by a Chinese court during a closed trial. According to unconfirmed information from local sources obtained by the Uyghur American Association (UAA), two other Uyghur asylum seekers deported from Cambodia, Nurahmet Kudret and Islam Urayim, were sentenced to life in prison. These sentences highlight the harsh persecution, including torture and imprisonment, facing Uyghur asylum seekers and refugees who are refouled to China, and underline the urgent need to ensure the safety of Uyghur asylum seekers and prevent their deportation. UAA calls upon Chinese authorities to confirm the information about the sentences and disclose the whereabouts and treatments of the other 17 Uyghurs who were deported, including a pregnant woman with two young children.

"We condemn the sentencing of Nurahmet Kudret, Islam Urayim, and Musa Muhammad, and ask the international community to protect other Uyghur asylum seekers from suffering the same fate," said UAA president Alim Seytoff. "The imprisonment of these men, who were forcefully deported from a place of refuge, should serve as a wake-up call to the world about the brutal treatment awaiting Uyghur asylum seekers who are sent back to China. The Uyghurs in Cambodia were sent back to the very repression they were attempting to flee. We cannot allow the long arm of Chinese pressure to govern the treatment of Uyghur asylum seekers in other countries.

According to information obtained by UAA, 40-year-old Nurahmet Kudret, originally from Gulbagh town in Yarkand County, is serving his life sentence in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Prison No. 3 in Urumchi, and 32-year-old Islam Urayim, originally from Uchturpan County in Aksu Prefecture, is serving his life sentence in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Prison No. 1 in Urumchi. It is unclear when the two men were sentenced, or what charges they were convicted of.

Islam Urayim was one of two Uyghur asylum seekers who reported having witnessed security forces killing and beating Uyghur demonstrators on July 5, 2009 in Urumchi, the regional capital of East Turkestan. He was one of only four Uyghur asylum seekers who had agreed to be named while still in Cambodia. Urayim told RFA before being deported that Chinese authorities had misrepresented the truth about events on July 5, by covering up news about shootings and killings of Uyghurs, and only publicizing acts of violence committed by Uyghurs. Urayim wrote to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about how he had learned of mass detentions of Uyghur males in the wake of July 2009 unrest in the regional capital of Urumchi. He told RFA that he "feared living abroad but wanted to tell the world what he witnessed during the July clashes."

"Living abroad is a terrifying thing for me, but I have no choice," he said. "They're hiding the fact that the police shot at demonstrators, that Uyghurs were killed, and they're showing only Chinese fatalities to the world. I fled the country so I could do my part in revealing the facts about July 5."

According to RFA's January 25, 2012 report, Muhammad, 25, was sentenced to prison by the Kashgar Intermediate Court on October 20, 2011. It is unclear what charges he was convicted of. Originally from Uchturpan County in Aksu Prefecture, Muhammad was detained at the Uchturpan detention center after being deported from Cambodia in December 2009. He was later transferred to the Kashgar Yanbulaq Prison. According to unconfirmed reports, prior to his sentencing, his relatives attempted to visit him in Yanbulaq Prison twice but were refused by prison authorities. After hearing rumors that Muhammad had been sentenced to 17 years in prison, his relatives went to the prison a third time to ask for his sentencing documents. However, prison authorities told them that the documents had been given to Muhammad and would not be provided to family members. They told Muhammad's relatives that he had been transferred to Daheyan Prison in Turpan Prefecture to serve his sentence.

Western governments, including the United States, sought to apply pressure on Cambodian officials to refrain from deporting the 20 Uyghurs. International human rights groups have expressed concern over the 20 Uyghurs in the wake of their deportation, with Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch telling the media "Uighur asylum seekers sent back to China by Cambodia have disappeared into a black hole." Chinese authorities have refused to publicize information about their fates, despite international please and Chinese officials' promises to deal transparently with the Uyghurs' cases upon their return.

Both Cambodia and China are parties to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1984 Convention on Torture. These conventions forbid the return of people to their home countries if they would likely be subjected to persecution, torture or execution there. Cambodian officials abandoned their international obligations by deporting the 20 Uyghurs to China, gaining favor and funding from China in return for this action. The deportations took place just prior to a visit to Cambodia by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, during which he signed a US$1.2 billion economic aid agreement with the government in Phnom Penh.

On the eve of Vice President Xi's February 14 visit to the United States, UAA calls on the U.S. government to address the situation of the Uyghurs deported from Cambodia in its dialogue with Xi, and asks U.S. officials to express deep concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in East Turkestan.

One of the 20 Uyghurs told staff of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) who cared for them " I would prefer to die than be returned to China ". The 20 Uyghurs, including a pregnant woman and her two young children, were deported after Cambodian authorities forcibly removed them from a safe-house. They had fled persecution in China in small groups between May and October 2009, many with the aid of Christian groups within China. Most of the Uyghurs had fled the unrest and the clampdown on Uyghurs that occurred during and after July 5, 2009 in Urumchi. They had all been in the process of applying for refugee status at the office of the UNHCR in Phnom Penh.

The prosecution of Uyghurs accused of committing crimes related to the unrest in Urumchi in July 2009 has been marked by a demonstrated lack of due process and transparency. Both prosecutors and judges in East Turkestan received instructions from Communist Party authorities regarding the handling of cases related to July 5. In addition, political criteria were used to select judicial personnel assigned to handle the trials. Death sentences for those convicted of crimes related to July 5 were handed down amidst a climate of intense repression and following highly politicized trials. China's state media has reported that 26 individuals have been sentenced to death and nine individuals have been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for murder and other crimes allegedly committed during the July unrest.

In the wake of the Cambodian deportations, Uyghurs have been deported in unprecedented numbers from countries that are susceptible to Chinese economic and diplomatic pressure. Eleven Uyghurs were deported from Malaysia on August 18, 2011 , in a flagrant violation of international law on the part of Malaysian officials. This most recent deportation followed the August 8, 2011 deportation of five Uyghurs, including a woman and two young children, from Pakistan ; the August 6, 2011 handing over of Uyghur Nur Muhammed from Thai authorities to Chinese officials , who likely deported him; the May 30, 2011 deportation of Uyghur refugee asylum seeker Ershidin Israel from Kazakhstan to China ; seven Uyghurs who were deported from Laos in March 2010 ; and 17 Uyghurs who were deported from Myanmar on January 18, 2010 . There is an urgent need for Western countries and international organizations to do more to ensure the protection of Uyghur refugees and asylum seekers. Chinese officials have refused to release information about the fates of any of these deported Uyghurs.

For more information, please contact

Uyghur American Association +1 (202) 478 1920

International Uyghur Human Rights & Democracy Foundation

1420 K Street, NW Suite 350

Washington, DC 20005

Phone:202-478-1906

Fax:202-478-1910

Senge Sering
Institute for Gilgit Baltistan Studies
Washington DC, DC
202 689 0647

Birkenhead man to cycle 350 miles from London to Paris for Cambodian orphans

February 1, 2012

by Linda Foo Guest,

Heswall News

A WIRRAL man is cycling 350 miles from London to Paris to raise money for orphans in Cambodia.

Steve Robinson, 28, from Birkenhead, who has recently moved to London, is doing the charity ride with his girlfriend Nicole Spaude, over three days from April 18 to 21.

The couple’s target for The Cambodian Children’s Charity – Cam Kids is £3,000, they have so far raised £2,099. Cam Kids provides support to orphans, street children and those living in poor rural areas, plus youngsters affected by natural disasters such as flood or famine.

Steve told the News: “I went to Cambodia with a friend last summer and visited an orphanage in the Siem Reap region of Cambodia. The experience was overwhelming and I will never forget the faces of the children, smiling though they have very little. Some mornings, the staff would wake up to find a child as young as three at the front gate, this was when it really hit home to me. I cannot imagine what they must be going through.

“Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Nicole and I want to help such a great cause. Every child deserves a good start in life so all support, however small, can help give them the start they so deserve.”

To sponsor Steve visit www.justgiving.com/Nicole-Steven

More about the charity can be found at www.camkids.org

[Cambodian-registered] Cargo ship sinks off Turkey, 8 crew missing

(Reuters) - A dry cargo ship sank off the Black Sea coast of Turkey Tuesday and eight members of the 11-strong Polish crew were missing, Turkish media said.

The Cambodian-registered dry cargo ship Vera was sailing from Russia to the Turkish Aegean port of Aliaga and sank in a storm one mile off the coast of the Black Sea port of Zonguldak, CNN Turk said.

Three members of the crew were saved and taken to hospital, the television channel said, but coast guards and police were still searching for the eight others.

Turkey has been hit by extreme weather and snow storms over the past week. There were gale warnings Tuesday for parts of the Marmara, Black Sea and Aegean, a shipping agent said.

The Bosphorus Straits, a key shipping route passing through the city of Istanbul, was closed to all vessels Tuesday because of poor visibility caused by a snowstorm, coast guard officials said.

(Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Tim Pearce)
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10 missing after freighter ship sinks off Turkey coast

The Associated Press

Date: Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012 3:20 PM ET

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish Coast Guard boats were searching for 10 Polish crew members after a Cambodia-flagged freighter ship sank in stormy seas off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Tuesday, officials said. Two other crew members were rescued.

The ship "Vera" was sailing to Turkey's Aliaga port from Russia when it sank off the coast of Eregli during a storm, Gov. Erol Ayyildiz said.

He said police were also searching the shore for the missing crewmen.

"By the time the Coast Guard arrived in response to the distress call, the ship had already sunk," Irfan Erdem, head of the Chamber of Commerce for the region, told Turkey's NTV television.

He said a storm likely caused the ship's cargo to shift, tilting the vessel to the side and causing it to take on water.

The accident occurred some 10 days after another cargo ship brushed against two anchored vessels during severe weather off the coast of Istanbul, taking on water for hours before authorities were forced to pull it ashore using a tug boat.

graduate biking across U.S. to benefit cambodian kids

Quincy Briscoe with his bike.

Written by Aaron Burgin
UT San Diego
Jan. 31, 2012

Quincy Briscoe

Age: 18

Education: La Jolla High graduate

Family: Father, Christopher Briscoe, mother, Shona Stargill; siblings: Ayla and Dacoda Stargill.

Quest: To bike across America for Project Enlighten benefiting underprivileged children in Cambodia.

While the average 18-year-old is entering the second semester of college, Quincy Briscoe is on a bicycle somewhere on the Florida Panhandle — and his parents couldn’t be prouder.

For every mile Briscoe rides, he raises money for the impoverished youth of Cambodia.

Briscoe is making the 3,044-mile trek from St. Augustine, Fla., to San Diego for Project Enlighten, a nonprofit that raises money for underprivileged Cambodian children.

At 14, Briscoe witnessed the poverty that many Cambodian children face, when he and his father, Christopher Briscoe, spent two weeks in the Southeast Asian nation.

After graduating from La Jolla High School in 2011, Briscoe decided to take a year off before he starts college to pursue the path of altruism. He hopes to raise more than $3,000 and is set to pedal back into California in six weeks.

Q: So when did your love affair with the bicycle begin?

A: When I was 14, I was in Cambodia with my dad. We stayed in this little village where I met this young boy who couldn’t go to school because it was too far of a walk everyday. So I did the only thing that I, as one 14-year-old kid, could do at the time to make a difference in that boy’s life: I bought him a bicycle so he could go to school. Now at the time I don’t think I realized what kind of an effect that bike actually had on that boy. Now that he could go to school, he could get a better job than working in the rice fields all day, which could lead him to being able to buy a tractor for his village, which would allow the villagers to not have to work all day in the horrible heat. The ripple effects are endless. Being over in Cambodia, I realized that being born in America is like being born on third base. We have so many greater opportunities than other people in other countries. And so doing this bike trip across America I want to help with something that is bigger than just me. I want to help make a dent in the universe, even if it is by helping one boy in Cambodia get to school. Through the efforts of Project Enlighten I think I can, at least, come close to making a dent.

Q: Tell us a little more about Project Enlighten and the cause you’re championing?

A: Project Enlighten is a nonprofit organization that raises money to help build schools and help communities in Cambodia. They donate their time and money to help children in Cambodia that have been the victims of land-mine explosions and other less-fortunate kids so they can have a chance at a better life. What I am trying to do is raise $1 for every mile that I ride — about 3,034 miles in total — so that money can be donated to Project Enlighten so they can use it the best way possible. The way I got involved with PE was through a man name Sao in the village in Cambodia. His son was the boy who I bought the bicycle for. Sao was already connected with PE and introduced my dad and me to the founder of PE. Now with the help of the co-founder, Asad Rahman, I have created a site where people can donate as much or as little as they want.

Q: The site is www.causes.com/causes/649253, right?

A: That’s right. All people have to do is go to www.causes.com and search “Quincy Briscoe Bicycles Across America.” Once on the page, click “donate.” It’s super simple and fast.

Q: How does your trip across U.S.A. compare to your European expedition last fall?

A: Being in the U.S. has been wonderful. The tough thing about riding across France was I didn’t speak French, so it was quite lonely. Also the drivers didn’t seem to be as “biker friendly.” They didn’t give me the room that drivers here in America do. But my ride across France and Spain was more for the scenery. Also, riding across France to Barcelona was totally wild for me. I bought a bike for 130 euros. Then, I went to an old dump pile behind the train station, sifting though trash to find metal scraps, which I zip-tied to an old rack that I had to bend around my bike frame so it would stay on. I then just bungee-corded grocery bags filled with all of my belongings to the side with a spare tire and my tennis racket on top. It was quite funky. Riding across America, I feel it’s more about the different kind of people I meet, from the old farmer on his tractor to the nice lady behind the counter at the local diner. It’s those kind of things that makes my trip so great.

Q: How did your parents react when you told them you’d be taking a year off from your education to pursue this?

A: Yes, I have to admit that I am extremely lucky that my parents are OK with me taking this year off before college. But even though I have taken a year off from college, I don’t believe that I have taken a year off from “education.” I know that I am not the same person who graduated high school seven months ago. Traveling has given me such a broad view of the world, and I think my parents realize that — thankfully. They have been nothing but supportive of me and my adventures. I do have to admit that they weren’t quite sure about my bike ride across America at first, but they have been wonderful and I am nothing but lucky to have such great parents.