Bloggers are still skeptical of Khmer Rouge after agreement

After continuous delays in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia’s (ECCC’s) tribunal proceedings, the United Nations and the Cambodian Bar Association reached an agreement last week on how much the CBA can charge volunteer tribunal attorneys. Although this is a step forward in securing transitional justice for Cambodians, international bodies and the Cambodian government are still debating over when the actual trial will begin.

Cambodian bloggers, in response, are still skeptical over promises of reconciliation.

According to Details are Sketchy, the ECCC’s endeavors will never be good enough to heal the trauma so engrained in Khmer society. The trial, likewise, should be considered purely a justice initiative, rather than a form of emotional therapy for victims.

Can a trial at this late stage ever hope to ease such venomous hatred? Probably not. For all the KRT hopes to contribute, it will never be able to completely slay the demons of Cambodia’s past. Only time can do that.

KI Media, citing Stanford Review writer Allison Rhines, notes that this agreement is merely a small step towards a grander agreement on the tribunal, and that more pressing issues sit on the table.

The registration fee dispute has been only one in a long string of many minor issues that have stalled progress toward an international trial for the last decade. Agreement on whether to organize a court to try the leaders of the Khmer Rouge was reached only in 2003, at the culmination of five years and eleven rounds of negotiations. Last summer, the UN officially allotted three years for the undertaking; almost a full year of that time has already been spent on bureaucratic hang-ups.

Rhines also observes a possible “foot-dragging” strategy on the part of the Cambodian government—perhaps a tactic for former Khmer Rouge officials currently in the government to avoid accountability for their crimes. She argues that the political rhetoric of “justice” is hindering any real push for reconciliation.

Since this latest milestone, all sides have publicly stated their commitment to justice; however, in the face of continued bureaucratic and political maneuvering, it is unclear just how genuine their commitments are.

The coming task is monumental: the ECCC’s future meetings between international and local judges entail combing a list of over 100 laws, as tribunal blogger Stan Starygin notes in a recent Voice of America article. Cambodian judge You Bunleng assured the public that future talks are merely “technical discussions,” but bloggers are still questioning the extent of these discussions.

Similar meetings have failed to reach full agreement on the rules, which are imperative for the functioning of the courts. The latest round of talks only became possible after the Cambodian Bar Association relented on high fees for the participation of foreign lawyers, which had caused the UN-appointed international jurists to cancel a meeting at the end of May.

Political opposition leader Sam Rainsy also spoke out against the continued delays—perhaps a reflection of the current government’s affiliation with the Khmer Rouge regime—when he said that the Cambodian people require large-scale justice to move forward. According to Rainsy, Cambodia’s genocidal shadow will not disappear as long as the CPP is in power.

…I have a little hope that our current Khmer leaders are willing to allow the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to proceed fairly. It means that only democrats and people who are not linked to the Khmer Rouge crimes and are not absorbed in Khmer Rouge ideologies can urge for the proceedings of the tribunal for the prosecution of the former Khmer Rouge leaders whose hands are stained with blood of Khmer citizens to move forward with transparency.

Time is running out for justice, Rainsy argues, because most older Khmer Rouge leaders will die soon. Read more!

Poor Cambodian women are hoping for the worst from their government

Women work in a garment factory in the outskirts of Phnom Penh June 9, 2007. Cambodia has approved new labour laws allowing night shift work, a move that should boost its garment industry, which accounts for two thirds of the impoverished southeast Asian nation's exports. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea.
Cambodian women who are working in garment factory will get slashed of their pay salary. they are poor and they will get more difficult and also get beat up by their society,especially from the riches and high ranking government officials.

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A woman works in a garment factory in the outskirts of Phnom Penh June 9, 2007. Cambodia has approved new labour laws allowing night shift work, a move that should boost its garment industry, which accounts for two thirds of the impoverished southeast Asian nation's exports. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA) Read more!

South Korean company donates to help Cambodia train footballers

The Korean Technology Company ( KTC) from South Korea has decided to donate 105,600 U.S. dollars each year from 2007 to 2009 to help Cambodia train its national footballers, a sports official said on Friday.

"The finance will be used for paying salary for the players and purchasing materials," said Sao Sokha, president of the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC).

The consecutive donation will help strengthen Cambodian footballers' capacity, said Sokha, adding that the players used to have financial difficulties which led to unsatisfied match results.

In addition, he said, KTC will spend 100,000 U.S. dollars annually to hire South Korean coach to train Cambodia's national football team and qualified footballers will be sent to South Korea for further improvement.

Cambodia now has some 30 functional football clubs. It stays almost at the bottom of the International Football Federation's ( FIFA) world ranking.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia to cut pay for garment workers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

Cambodian lawmakers Friday approved reducing the nighttime pay rate for garment workers in a labor law amendment the government called necessary to boost jobs in the industry.

Currently dayshift garment workers earn about $50 a month, and those working the nightshift earn about $100 a month. The amendment sets pay for nightshift workers at only 30 percent more than dayshift workers, or about $65.

Eighty-two lawmakers from Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling coalition voted in favor of the amendment. Seven lawmakers from Cambodia's main opposition Sam Rainsy Party abstained from voting in protest.

"The amendment will contribute to creating more jobs for young people, whose number grows every year," Labor Minister Vong Soth said during the session of the National Assembly, Cambodia's lower house of parliament.

He said that up to 200,000 new garment factory jobs would be created by the amendment. The country currently has 300 garment factories that employ 355,000 workers.

Son Chhay, an opposition party lawmaker, said the amendment was unacceptable because, "it pleases only the factory owners and disregards difficult circumstances facing the workers."

Chea Mony, president of Cambodia's Free Trade Union which claims to have 74,000 members, condemned the amendment.

"I am very unhappy after hearing this unfortunate news ... It seems like, in approving it, those lawmakers are killing the workers by poking a knife into their throats," he said.

Workers from his union could protest at their respective factories, he said.

Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said last month only about 10 factories run night shifts because of the costs associated with high nighttime pay.

Last year's garment exports from Cambodia were worth about $2.8 billion, with 70 percent of the shipments going to retailers in the U.S. market, he said.

The amendment will come into force after it is approved by the upper house of parliament, the Senate, and signed by King Norodom Sihamoni. Read more!

Cambodia govt, AIDS Foundation to dedicate AIDS treatment center

Royal Government of Cambodia and AIDS Healthcare Foundation to Dedicate Newest AIDS Treatment Center in Partnership in Romeas Haek

(Full text of a statement. Contact details below.)

Svay Rieng Province, (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - After dedicating and opening its fifth free collaborative antiretroviral treatment center in Cambodia on Saturday, June 2nd in Koh Thum, Kandal Province, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the United States, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, and Asia, is pleased to announce the opening of the sixth such free AIDS treatment centers in Cambodia, which will open Thursday, June 7, in Romeas Haek, Svay Rieng Province, with a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony.

The six clinics have resulted from a partnership between AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia and Cambodia's National Center for HIV AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control (NCHADS). The partnership aims to provide life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to people living with HIV/AIDS in care centers in the Operational Districts (OD) of several provinces in Cambodia; other ARTC center locations include in Phnom Penh and in the Provinces of Kandal, Kampong Thom, Kampot and Stung Treng.

"AHF, the Cambodian Ministry of Health and NCHADS are pleased to have successfully opened our fifth collaborative ART center in Koh Thum on Saturday, and we are honored and deeply humbled to also now announce we will open our sixth facility in Romeas Haek later this week in Svay Rieng Province, bringing relief, positive changes, better quality life and above all hope of life" said Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

"Working together over the next five years, we will expand and increase our collaborative initiatives in Cambodia, and AHF will continue to provide technical support and strengthen the antiretroviral treatment roll out and scale up of ART delivery services in Cambodia. It is our sincere hope that this ongoing collaboration between AHF and NCHADS will not only improve increased access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment throughout Cambodia but be a shining example of a comprehensive model of care for people living with HIV/AIDS."

At Saturday's Koh Thum clinic dedication ceremony in Kandal Province, Dr. Mean Chhi Vun, Director NCHADS, and Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia, expressed his gratitude to AHF for standing alongside NCHADS and the people of Cambodia to help bring lifesaving services to its people. Dr. Vun also expressed gratitude to AHF for working together with his team at some of the more remote sites, situated in the country -- as the new Romeas Haek site is. He added that, "...together with AHF, we will make greater positive changes for people with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia."

"This newest antiretroviral treatment clinic being dedicated Thursday was first established by NCHADS in January 2007 and is located in the compound of the Romeas Haek Referral Hospital, Romeas Haek Operational District in Svay Rieng Province," said Dr. Chhim Sarath, AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Country Program Manager for Cambodia.

"The ART clinic is operating in a new building provided by UNICEF, and since January 2007, 56 people living with HIV/AIDS have registered at the clinic. Among them, 26 have already started on antiretroviral treatment, and we are honored to partner with NCHADS and the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia to help bring treatment to many more Cambodians who may be in need of access to such lifesaving
care and treatment."

The partnerships were first formalized in March 2006 in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between AHF and the Cambodian Ministry of Health, and in a letter of agreement (LOA) with AHF, the Ministry of Health, and the National Center for HIV AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control. Through these partnerships, AHF, the Cambodian Ministry of Health and NCHADS plan to work together on ART scale up in several Cambodian Provinces -- now including both Kandal and Svay Rieng Provinces -- with the goal of bringing 3,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia into treatment over the next five years. In mid-January of this year, a new clinic in the partnership also opened in Stung Treng Province.

One key aspect contributing to the success of AHF's work with its partners in Cambodia includes the linkage of clinic services provided together with other community and home-based services. In addition, the Cambodian partnership focuses on integrating the delivery of services under a Continuum of Care (CoC) approach, an approach that recognizes the complexities surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to improve prevention efforts and optimize use of the oftentimes limited resources available in the successful care and treatment of those living with the disease.

Background on Svay Rieng Province

Svay Rieng Province, one of 20 provinces in Cambodia, is located in the eastern part of Cambodia. Romeas Haek serves as one of the Operational Health Districts (OD). Svay Rieng is located about 122 kms from Phnom Penh, and the population of the surrounding area is around 525,472. The Province consists of three (3) Operational Districts and 32 Health Centers (HC).

The Romeas Haek Operational District consists of one Referral Hospital and nine (9) individual Health Centers. Romeas Haek is in the northern part of Svay Rieng Province on the border with the country of Viet Nam.

The objectives of this latest collaboration in Svay Rieng is similar to the partnerships' other projects in Kandal, Kampong Thom, Kampot and Stung Treng Provinces as well as in the capital of Phnom Penh, and are as enumerated as below:
-- Capacity and skill building of the doctors and healthcare providers at the Romeas Haek Referral Hospital in collaboration with NCHADS.
-- Establishment of an ART Clinic at the hospital and provision of free ART to PLHAs -- including treatment of both adults and children.

The initial collaboration between AHF and these respected Cambodian institutions first began and were celebrated in March and April 2006 with formal ribbon-cutting ceremonies at the first two other free AIDS treatment facilities (Kampong Thom Province and Phnom Penh). The Phnom Penh facility is located at the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital, and that collaboration was also formalized in a separate MOU between AHF and the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

The goal of that facility is to bring medical care and ART to an additional 300 Cambodians.

The first case of HIV infection in Cambodia was reported in 1991 and was followed by a rapid rise in its transmission.

Cambodia's national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate -- around 3% in 1997 but decreasing to 1.9% in 2003 -- is still understood to be one of the highest in Southeast Asia. According to a recent AFP/France 24 News Report (as cited on Kaiser Family Foundation's Daily HIV/AIDS Report), "Almost 10,000 Cambodians die of AIDS-related illnesses annually, according to government statistics. About 1.9% of Cambodia's 13.8 million people are HIV-positive."

"This growing collaboration between AHF and our esteemed Cambodian partners includes the delivery of innovative medical and non-medical interventions; providing technical support and training resources to increase and strengthen the diagnostic and treatment capacity and skills of HIV/AIDS and ART treatment services providers in Cambodia -- all of which will now also take place in Romeas Haek," said Henry E. Chang, AHF's Chief of Global Affairs.

"AHF has significant expertise and experience in ART service delivery and skills and capacity building related to HIV/AIDS treatment and care, and we are therefore well-positioned to complement the Cambodian Ministry of Health in its efforts to enhance access to prevention, treatment and care at these facilities in Cambodia."

"It is an honor for AHF to be associated with such a successful and practical ART program as in Cambodia, and I thank our partners at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Vun and his team at NCHADS, as well as our own dedicated staff at AHF's Asia Pacific Bureau for helping contribute to making greatly stepped-up treatment availability in Cambodia a reality which increases significantly as each new clinic opens," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

SOURCE AIDS Healthcare Foundation
CONTACT: United States, Ged Kenslea, Communications Director of AIDS
Healthcare Foundation (AHF),
+1-323-860-5225, mobile, +1-323-791-5526,
gedk@aidshealth.org; or
India, Chinkholal Thangsing, MD,
Asia Pacific Bureau Chief,
+91.11.(0) 98.1827.0687,
chinkholal.thangsing@aidshealth.org; or
Cambodia, Chhim Sarath, MD, Country Program Manager,
+1855.12.912.124,
chhim.sarath@aidshealth.org; or
The Netherlands, Henry E. Chang,
Chief of Global Affairs,
mobile,+1.917.400.8900,
henry.chang@aidshealth.org, all of AHF Global Read more!

German ambassador urges Cambodia to join oil ethics group

Phnom Penh - Cambodia has been repeatedly urged to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to help it properly manage expected lucrative oil revenues, outgoing German ambassador to Cambodia Pius Fischer said Thursday.

Speaking at a Club of Cambodian Journalists roundtable discussion attended by dozens of local reporters, the ambassador again voiced Germany's concern that the country's economic boom was not trickling down to the rural poor and said it was vital that oil revenues were used to their best advantage to help society.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), founded in 2002, supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas, and mining, according to its website.

It works to build multi-stakeholder partnerships in developing countries in order to increase the accountability of governments.

'There is definitely a need to invest in Cambodia's human capital so Cambodia has the capacity to remain competitive in the globalized world,' Fischer said.

'More attention should be given on social equities because as the disparities between the urban rich and rural poor are growing this could lead to social conflict.

'With the beginning of the exploitation of Cambodia's oil and natural gas resources expected to begin probably by 2008 or 2009, it would be important also to develop concepts of how the revenue from these natural resources would be harnessed and used for the benefit of the Cambodian population

'In this context Cambodia's development partners have repeatedly suggested that Cambodia adopt the principals of the EITI. These principals, if they were observed by Cambodia, would be very beneficial for Cambodia's economy,' he said.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen branded people who claimed endemic corruption could hijack potential oil revenues 'stupid' and said countries critical of how resources might be plundered would be better served making positive input and ensuring their oil companies negotiated fairly with Cambodia.

It was unclear if EITI is going to be included in the draft law on oil currently being written by the government and government sources close to the oil industry have declined to comment until the law is unveiled later this year.

Critics have voiced fears that corruption and a lack of transparency, if unchecked, could send Cambodia the way of Nigeria and fail to benefit more than an elite few, instead of making it the success story of other oil-rich nations in the region like Brunei.

EITI is a global initiative strongly supported by oil producing countries including Britain and Norway with around 20 members worldwide including Chad, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Timor Leste, Mongolia, Bolivia and Peru. Neither Nigeria nor Venezuela are members.

Fischer ends his mission in Cambodia in mid-July and will then become German ambassador to Mongolia. Read more!

Cambodia's bourse plans reflect changing fortunes

PHNOM PENH, June 7 (Reuters) - Cambodia plans to launch a stock market in 2009, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Thursday, another sign of the southeast Asian nation's accelerating recovery from the devastation of Pol Pot's "Killing Fields".

Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge officer who lost an eye in the final assault on Phnom Penh in 1975 by the ultra-Maoist guerrillas, said his government was already drawing up the laws needed to establish a bourse.

"With the start of a stock market, Cambodian people will be able to collect their savings, which can then be used for long-term investment," he told a symposium hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Central bank governor Chea Chanto said the laws would be approved "soon".

Per capita income rose to $500 in 2006, Hun Sen said, double 1994 levels when the country was regarded as one of Asia's most desperate basket cases, beset by lingering civil war, a growing AIDS epidemic and defunct economy.

However, growth has taken off in the last few years due to relative political stability under Hun Sen, who has brushed aside accusations of authoritarianism during his two decades in charge.

The garment and tourism industries have mushroomed, with much of the expansion financed by foreign investors, and the new office buildings springing up across the once-sleepy French colonial capital are testament to a roaring construction sector.

The last two rice harvests have also broken records.

The economy grew 10.4 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which expects growth of 9 percent in 2007 and 7.5-8 percent in 2008, making it one of the world's fastest-growing economies, albeit worth only $7 billion.

In a big push to banish the legacy of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" revolution and its estimated 1.7 million victims, Phnom Penh has obtained B+ and B2 credit ratings from S&P and Moodys respectively this year.

The ratings should help pull in more foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as encourage commercial lending by the blossoming banking sector, which now boasts 20 institutions, IMF Asia and Pacific adviser Jeremy Carter said this week.

"You have new banks, small banks which have just started to grow rapidly. They are taking in a lot of deposits and they are issuing a lot of new loans," Carter told news conference.

FDI in 2006 was $4 billion -- another record -- and last month a South Korean consortium announced plans to build a $2 billion residential, commercial and cultural complex on the northern outskirts of the capital.

Hun Sen, whose government still relies on foreign aid for 60 percent of its revenues, said on Thursday foreign reserves rose to over $1 billion last year from just $100 million in 1994. Read more!

Humanitarian work fulfilling says Jolie

NEW YORK: Angelina Jolie, who won an Oscar for 1999's Girl, Interrupted, says she wants to be remembered for her humanitarian work.

"I have no animosity towards Hollywood or the demands of the red carpet, " Jolie, 32, tells Esquire magazine in its upcoming July issue.

"That's my job, and I'm happy to have it. But when I die, do I want to be remembered as an actress? No. I recently had an op-ed (column) published in a newspaper," she continues. "And at the end, it didn't say I was an actress. It said that I was a UN goodwill ambassador - that's all. And I was really proud."

Jolie, an activist for issues ranging from global poverty to wildlife conservation, says she has found meaning as a citizen of the world.

"I entered this business before I had focus and purpose in my life," she says. "I was very unhappy, very unhealthy, and when I sat down for an interview, I didn't know why. I felt like I didn't have anything to share. It was a very empty time."

Today, her life is far from empty. Jolie and her partner, Brad Pitt, 43, have four children: five-year-old Maddox, who was adopted from Cambodia; three-year-old Pax Thien, who was adopted from Vietnam; two-year-old Zahara, who was adopted from Ethiopia; and daughter, Shiloh, who was born to the couple a year ago.

"I try to make sure that each of my children has enough of my attention to feel equal. I try to make sure that my relationship with the man in my life is solid and complete and we're very connected and having a great life together and enjoying our children and being part of the world. So that's my life," she says.

"We don't go to parties. We hardly ever leave the house. We try to schedule time when we're alone," says Jolie. Read more!

CAMBODIA:Denuded by Corruption, Plunder, Impunity

by Marwaan Macan-Markar , Inter Press Service News Agency
June 6th, 2007

'If (they) come to Cambodia, I will hit them until their heads are broken,'' says a government official from the South-east Asian country in a local newspaper report on Tuesday.

The speaker happens to be Hun Neng, brother of Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen and, currently, governor of Kompong Cham province. The targets he has in mind for such violence are the researchers of Global Witness, a London-based environmental lobby.

A few days before, Phnom Penh turned its ire on Global Witness by banning the object of such anger -- a 95-page report by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) released Jun.1 about illegal logging in the country. The title, ‘Cambodia's Family Tree,' offers a tongue-in-cheek image of a study that exposes the lengths to which members of the most politically influential families have gone to strip the country's natural assets with ‘'complete impunity.''

The dominant illegal logging syndicate, which goes under the name of the Seng Keang Company, is ‘'controlled by individuals related to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Chan Sarun and Director General of the Forest Administration Ty Sokhun,'' states Global Witness.

The annual timber haul from illegal logging is estimated to be over 13 million US dollars, reveals the report. ‘'Illegal logging in Cambodia not only fills the pockets of the political elite; it also funds the activities of a 6,000-strong private army controlled by Hun Sen. The Brigade 70 unite runs a nationwide timber trafficking and smuggling service, catering to prominent tycoons, that generates profits of two million dollars to 2.75 million dollars per year.''

The cost of such plunder on this country, where close to 40 percent of the population live in poverty and where nearly 30 percent of forest cover has been wiped off over a five year period, cannot be ignored, says Global Witness director Simon Taylor. ‘'The political culture of corruption and impunity means that Cambodians are still among the world's poorest people.''

‘'I don't view the government of Cambodia as the government of Cambodia. It has been captured by a kleptocratic elite,'' he said in an IPS interview. ‘'Lawlessness is an issue that starts at the top.''

But this showdown has broader implications. It comes days ahead of a major meeting of international donors in Phnom Penh, where rampant corruption, human rights violations and the culture of impunity due to flaws in the criminal justice system are expected to come under some scrutiny.

The meeting of the Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum, which runs from Jun. 19-20, will include representatives from the World Bank and officials from developed nations. Pledges made at this meeting, which previously met as the Consultative Group (CG) to aid Cambodia, often account for close to half of the country's national budget.

In March 2006, the CG pledged to give 600 million U.S. dollars in aid to Cambodia. Yet at the same time, it turned the heat on the Hun Sen administration, urging the government to crackdown on corruption through a comprehensive anti-corruption law, to implement broad judicial reform and to demonstrate genuine efforts to stem the destruction of the country's natural resources.

This push for cleaner government came in the wake of a law approved in early March last year by the 123-member National Assembly. It gave the power for a political party to form a government if it had secured a simple majority, rather than a two-thirds majority, as was the case before. The immediate winner was Hun Sen's Cambodia People's Party (CPP), which had 73 seats in the legislature.

That Phnom Penh has dragged its feet on the goals set out by the CG -- despite the CPP enjoying the right to govern alone for the first time and pass new laws -- is not only the view of Global Witness.

Even local, independent think tanks based in the country's capital are hardly impressed. ‘'There is hardly any sign of major change. There has been slow progress on legal reform and corruption is still a big concern,'' Im Sophea, a ranking member of the Centre for Social Development, told IPS by phone from Phnom Penh.

And rather than threaten critics, the government should ‘'conduct a proper investigation to find out if the revelations in recent reports are true,'' he says. ‘'The international donors must take note of this.''

‘'The donors have to hold the government accountable to deal with the lawlessness,'' adds Taylor. ‘'What is happening is that Hun Sen says no and they (the donors) stick their heads in the sand like an ostrich.''

In fact, Hun Sen has also been as caustic as his brother -- although less threatening in his words. His target is also another international voice that has levelled criticism at the country's human rights record. On Monday, the premier used a speech broadcast on national radio to attack Yash Ghai, a Kenyan lawyer who is currently serving as the U.N. human rights envoy to Cambodia.

‘'Even if you live for another 1,000 years and I am still alive, I will not meet you,'' Hun Sen was quoted as having said over the radio, according to the AFP news agency.

Cambodian government officials have continued to snub the U.N. envoy since he arrived in the country on May 29. This visit came after his recent report provided a critical account of the widespread impunity enjoyed by human rights violators, consequently undermining the rule of law.

‘'It is imperative that the Cambodian government embrace the rule of law to honour its international human rights obligations,'' the Hong Kong-based Asia Legal Resource Centre said in a statement soon after Ghai arrived in the country. ‘'The core element of the rule of law is an independent judiciary. In Cambodia, the judiciary is under the executive control as judges are mostly affiliated to the ruling CPP party.'' Read more!

Cambodia PM says offshore oil potential unsure

Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that there is still uncertainty about the commercial viability of Cambodian offshore oil deposits, qualifying his earlier optimism over their potential.

In February, Hun Sen raised hopes of a brighter future for his impoverished nation when he said Cambodia expects to begin tapping oil revenues in 2010.

"Whether it will be a curse or blessing, in fact it is still under the seabed, and it is still unknown how much there is," he said Wednesday.

"What if one day companies say, 'Oh, no, after exploration, it has no commercial viability?' Oil under the sea is still a dream," he said.

Hun Sen spoke during a ceremony to begin construction of a Chinese-funded bridge at a village about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the capital Phnom Penh.

China is among several countries that have lined up for opportunities to explore oil off the coast of Sihanoukville, in Cambodia's southwest.

U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp. discovered oil in 2005 off the Cambodian coast, 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sihanoukville. The company found oil in four wells in an area called Block A, and plans to drill 10 more wells by the end of 2007.

Critics and observers have expressed concerns that increased income from oil could exacerbate Cambodia's already widespread corruption if the government fails to develop proper legal environment to manage the expected revenues.

Hun Sen said Wednesday he is fed up with that point of view, and that "it is better to think about how to maintain growth of the current economy."

In a statement issued Tuesday at the end of a mission to Cambodia Tuesday, an International Monetary Fund delegation warned that there is still much uncertainty about whether Cambodia will become a significant oil producer. Read more!

Environment group slams Cambodia ban on logging report

Cambodia's ban on a report accusing the country's political elite of illegally plundering the kingdom's forests was denounced as "senseless censorship" Wednesday by the study's authors.

The London-based watchdog Global Witness, which released the report June 1, also condemned threats of violence against its staff that were made by Prime Minister Hun Sen's brother.

The report, a damning indictment of corruption in Cambodia, alleged that the country's most powerful illegal logging syndicate, the Seng Keang Company, is controlled by people related to Hun Sen.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Chan Sarun and Forest Administration director Ty Sokhun were also fingered for their alleged role in robbing the country of tens of millions of dollars in natural resources.

The report enraged government officials, who called it "fiction," and prompted the information ministry to ban it from the country Sunday.

"This is senseless censorship," said Global Witness Director Simon Taylor in a statement.

"Attempts to suppress this report will not make the facts that it presents disappear. We would very much like to know the legal basis for this decision," he added.

While the government has ordered its own forest monitoring unit to investigate the Global Witness allegations, some officials continue to react angrily.

The premier's brother, provincial governor Hun Neng, is reportedly annoyed by allegations against his wife and son and was quoted in local press Tuesday as saying: "If they (Global Witness staff) come to Cambodia, I will hit them until their heads are broken."

Taylor called the threat against his staff "entirely unacceptable."

"Such crude intimidation by a senior public official says little for the government's commitment to upholding human rights and freedom of expression," he said.

The row comes just days before the June 19-20 annual meeting of Cambodia's foreign donors, whose pledges make up at least half of the impoverished country's national budget.

Donors have repeatedly said they are frustrated over Cambodia's lack of reform, particularly the government's apparent unwillingness to tackle rampant corruption.

Global Witness has urged more action from the international community to force Cambodia's government towards accountability.

"The reaction to this report raises a serious question for Cambodia's international donors," Taylor said.

"Is the government sincere in its pledges to strengthen governance and the rule of law, or is it simply paying lip service to these ideals to secure aid and international respectability?" he added. Read more!

A WAY OUT OF POVERTY IN CAMBODIA

Muslim's microfinance project had heped Nan Sabtas making a good living.

After 30 years of washing fish, Nan Sabtas's hands are soft and wrinkled.

Hunched over a blue plastic bowl, she cleans some 50 kilos each morning, and yet her job is far from over. The fish has to be rubbed with salt, sugar and seasoning before being laid out on wooden slats to dry in the scorching Cambodian sun, and then taken to the market to be sold.

Helped by her husband, Nan Sabtas, 42, buys, dries and sells fish in the village of Chrang Chamres to support her six children. Like many other families in this mostly Muslim village on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, Sabtas was just making enough to make ends meet. She could not expand her business despite good prospects nor could she save or buy small extras to make her life more comfortable.

Others in her village were in a similar situation, unable to improve their cramped houses or buy new baskets for washing fish or send their children to good schools. Most of them could not afford running water or electricity. Living on the banks of the wide and fertile Tonle Sap River, they relied on it as the source of water and livelihood. .

"When I went on my early morning trip to the fish seller, I knew I would not be able to buy as much I could sell, and that was frustrating," said Nan Sabtas. "The fish seller would charge me about one-fourth extra for each kilo of fish because I was taking it on credit. At the end of the day, when I paid the money off it was to the benefit of the fish seller, leaving me with only the smallest of profit margins."

But after April 2007, Sabtas's life changed when she became the recipient of a loan from Muslim Aid Cambodia. The £125 enabled her to buy as much fish as she could process as well as three plastic baskets and two bamboo baskets. Her capital increased month by month.

To be repaid in installments of £13 over 10 months and best of all, with no interest, it was a loan Sabtas was comfortable in taking.

"Other places charge high interest and so my business can't make much profit," said Nan Sabtas. "But with this loan, I'm not worried about not being able to repay."

She also pays a service charge of 50 cents a week and saves 25 cents. In addition to the funds, Muslim Aid Cambodia's credit officer is on hand to provide training and advice in management, planning and handling finances.

Nan Sabtas wants to use the extra cash to give her children a good quality education and to improve her own standard of living.

"Without the Muslim Aid Cambodia loan I would have lost the opportunity to expand my business and I would have lost my capital," she said. "Now everyone else wants a loan and asks me how they can get one."

The Cambodia office is one of the newest of the Muslim Aid's field offices, but the international relief agency has already initiated a number of projects in the country. Saif Ahmad, CEO of Muslim Aid, recently met with Cambodian prime minister Samdech Hun Sen to explain the vision, mission and goals of Muslim Aid. .

Read more!

World Bank Approves US$33.5 Million for Cheaper and More Reliable Electricity for Mekong’s Poor

Communiqué de presse n°:2007/420/EAP

Contacts:

In Phnom Penh: Saroeun Bou (855) 23-217-301,sbou@worldbank.org
In Vientiane: Viengsamay Srithirath (856) 21-414 209,vsrithirath@worldbank.org
In Washington: Elisabeth Mealey (202) 458-4475,emealey@worldbank.org

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2007¾– People living in Cambodia ’s poorest provinces, who currently pay among the highest tariffs for electricity in the world, will see their power bills drop dramatically as a result of grants approved today by the International Development Association (IDA).

Under the World Bank’s Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Power Trade Program, a grant of US$18.5 million to the Kingdom of Cambodia will be used to construct cross-border transmission lines to neighboring Lao PDR and Vietnam. Along with transmission links under construction with Vietnam through the IDA-funded Rural Electrification Project, the new funding will further expand power trade with Vietnam, enabling Cambodia to import electricity and bring down the cost for poor consumers.

Another US$15 million grant to Lao PDR will support the construction of lines to export power to Cambodia and build a transmission system that links Lao PDR, Cambodia and Thailand. This will help improve the supply of electricity to Saravan Province in the south of Lao PDR.

Ian Porter, the World Bank Country Director for Cambodia and Lao PDR said the Strategy for World Bank Regional Support to the GMS – of which the power trade program is one part – seeks to strengthen regional cooperation and integration so that the Greater Mekong Sub-region can benefit from the development of South-East Asia ’s natural resources and rapidly growing economies. Other elements of the strategy include water resource management, trade and transport facilitation, and labor migration.

“For the people of the Mekong region to benefit, they will need strong institutions, good policies and reliable infrastructure,” Mr. Porter said. “The World Bank will be working with the Asian Development Bank and other partners to provide technical assistance, analysis, capacity building and investments so that GMS countries can work together to attract investors and improve services for their people.”

In Cambodia, where the average person earns only about US$380 a year and more than a third of the population lives below the poverty line, very few people (less than 18 percent) have access to electricity. In Kampong Cham and Stung Treng, two provinces where people have limited access to electricity, customers can pay up to US30 cents per kilowatt hour. After the new transmission lines are built, tariffs in these provinces are expected to drop to about US10-15 cents per kWh.

“With the GMS Power Trade Project, Cambodia will see a lot of positive impacts in the development of Stung Treng and Kampong Cham provinces,” said Mr Yim Nolson, deputy managing director of Electricite du Cambodia. “It will contribute to the poverty reduction and speed up the rural electrification in those provinces.”

“Power trade in the GMS can bring major economic and environmental benefits and improve energy security in the Mekong sub-region,” said Mohinder Gulati, Lead Energy Specialist for the GMS Power Trade Program. “Helping Mekong countries to realize those benefits will increase access to electricity for the poor and support the economic development of the region.”

Lao PDR, is also one of the poorest countries in the region, with a per capita income of US$460 a year. However, the country is rich in water and mineral resources. Through a strategy to develop hydropower for exports to neighboring countries, close to 50 percent of people now have access to electricity and the country is earning foreign exchange from power exports.

“We are fortunate to have a country endowed with so many natural resources and we are working to develop these in a sustainable way,” said Mr Viraphonh Viravong, Director General of the Department of Energy Promotion and Development. “This project will help us deliver reliable electricity to the Lao people, while also giving us the opportunity to expand our regional trade.”

During the preparation for the two projects, Cambodia and Lao PDR conducted comprehensive analyses of the social and environmental impact of the proposed transmission systems. This included extensive consultation with the people in the project areas and with civil society groups. The expected environmental and social impacts in both countries were found to be relatively minor.

The GMS Power Project in Cambodia is expected to be completed by August 2011 and the Lao Project by 2013. Read more!

IMF sees positive growth but warns of external risks for Cambodia

Phnom Penh - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised Cambodia's macroeconomic policies Tuesday, saying positive economic growth should continue but warning that China and Vietnam could pose increasing competition to its narrowly based economy.

An IMF delegation from Washington ended a two-week high-level visit to the country Tuesday with a rosy overall impression of the national economy, IMF Asia Pacific advisor Jeremy Carter told a press conference.

However looming competitive pressures on the vital garment sector due to a lifting of safeguards on China's garment industry at the end of next year, competition in the same area from neighbouring Vietnam following its World Trade Organisation accession and the danger of poor weather affecting the agriculturally dependent nation still loomed as risks, the IMF said in a statement.

'Prudent macroeconomic policy implementation has provided stability, in turn boosting investors' and consumers' confidence, and has underpinned very strong macroeconomic performance,' the statement said.

'Impressive rates of growth have been sustained, inflation remains low, external debt is sustainable and headway is being made in a number of important structural reforms.

'The mission noted that the environment provides ideal conditions to re-energise reforms in key areas where progress has been less rapid, and to address the key constraints to broader poverty reduction.'

It said these factors had encouraged significantly increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which augured well for the economy.

The IMF said it estimates real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to increase by around nine-per-cent this year, fanned by increased agricultural production and 'robust growth' in the areas of tourism, garment export and construction.

'Services, in particular finance and telecommunications, are increasingly contributing,' it added.

However the domestic growth in the key industries which form the narrow pedestal of the country's economy - garments, construction, agriculture and tourism - were also subject to fluctuation due to international trends and environmental factors beyond the control of the government, it warned.

International oil price hikes had also had an influence, with inflation recently ticking up to 4 per cent, the IMF statement said, but assuming broadly stable international oil prices for the rest of 2007 it said it expected this rate to remain in the low single digits.

Carter told journalists the IMF expected oil revenues to prove a positive. These may begin trickling into the economy as early as 2009 when drilling begins on promising offshore oil and natural gas fields.

The IMF team met with a range of government officials during its visit, including Prime Minister Hun Sen and senior ministers and officials, as well as non-government representatives and union representatives.

The IMF provides technical assistance to Cambodia and has focused much of its work on reforming the rapidly developing country's banking and finance sectors. Read more!

Sumner M. Redstone Charitable Foundation Awards $500,000 Grant to the Cambodian Children's Fund

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Sumner M. Redstone today announced a grant of $500,000 to the Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF), a non- profit program that provides a wide range of critical health and educational services to impoverished and abused children in Cambodia's capitol city of Phnom Penh.

Founded in January 2004 by Scott Neeson, then an L.A.-based film executive, the CCF currently serves more than 250 children through three facilities that provide shelter, food, in-house health services, cultural classes, and a range of educational and vocational training, including English and Cambodian language training and computer studies. The majority of children served by the CCF lived and worked at Steung Meanchey, Phnom Penh's notorious garbage dump.

Sumner M. Redstone, said, "Until very recently I was unaware of the horrible conditions under which multitudes of children live in Cambodia. I am hopeful that, just as Scott has raised my consciousness about this intolerable situation, my contribution will bring awareness to others who may also seek to contribute to the important lifesaving mission of the Cambodian Children's Fund. This initial donation, which is the maximum amount that the CCF can currently absorb from one donor, is just the beginning of what I expect will be an ongoing program of support from the Sumner M. Redstone Foundation."

Mr. Neeson said: "Mr. Redstone's remarkable generosity brings an immediate new future to nearly one hundred of Cambodia's most impoverished and at-risk children. These children will now have what every child deserves: shelter, food, health care and education, all in a caring and secure facility. They will be provided with the chance of a productive, healthy life. Equally important, the children that pass through the Sumner M. Redstone Child Rescue Center will possess the ability to stop the inter-generational cycle of abuse, impoverishment and illness for their family and community, an issue that has plagued Cambodia since the reign of Pol Pot."

Funding provided by the Sumner M. Redstone Charitable Foundation will be used to establish and fund The Sumner M. Redstone Child Rescue Center, a new stand-alone facility for children aged 5 to 16 that will provide a new life and home to nearly 100 of Cambodia's most impoverished, at-risk and abused children. The Center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007. In addition, the CCF will purchase land and create a "passion for life" child development center to be named after Sumner M. Redstone. This center will provide residence and meals for the children, as well as a range of vital services including modern agriculture techniques, state of the art vocational programs, multi-level English and Cambodian language classes and advanced computer studies.

CCF's Star Bakery opened in November 2006, providing children with professional baking training and producing nutrient-enhanced bread that is given to the districts poorest families. The CCF also has a number of community-based programs that provide health care and nutrition to the families at Steung Meanchey.

Mr. Neeson, who is Executive Director of the CCF, spent most of his 26 year career in the film business and was involved in the release of such films as Titanic, Braveheart, Star Wars, Independence Day, Minority Report and Ice Age. In July 2003, while on a five week international travel holiday between his former position as president of 20th Century Fox International and a similar new position with Sony Pictures International, he was struck by the plight of the impoverished and abused street children in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capitol city. Mr. Neeson ultimately spent 4 weeks in Phnom Penh and started the process of creating the CCF. In January 2007 Neeson received the Harvard School of Public Health and Quincy Jones "Q Prize" for his work in child advocacy.

CCF's first facility was opened in July 2004, while Neeson was still at Sony Pictures. In December 2004, he quit his position at Sony, sold his belongings (Brentwood house, motor yacht, cars and other belongings) and moved to Cambodia, where he now lives and works full-time on behalf of CCF.

The Sumner M. Redstone Foundation announced in April a commitment of $105 million in charitable grants to fund research and patient care advancements in cancer and burn recovery at three major non-profit healthcare organizations. Cash contributions of $35 million each were pledged to FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions, based in Washington D.C.; the Cedars-Sinai Prostate Cancer Center in Los Angeles, California; and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Sumner M. Redstone Charitable Foundation

CONTACT: Carl Folta, Sumner M. Redstone Foundation, 212-258-6352; or
Scott Neeson, CCF, 310-694-6334 Read more!

Cambodian prime minister lashes out at UN envoy

Phnom Penh - A UN human-rights envoy who visited last week was unnecessary, unwelcome and bent on destroying Cambodia's international reputation in the interests of collecting his own salary, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday.

In a speech broadcast on national media, Hun Sen reiterated earlier promises that he would never agree to work with Yash Ghai, the UN human-rights envoy to Cambodia, telling the Kenyan he should get his own country's human-rights record in order before daring to criticize Cambodia.

'You said the Cambodian government violates human rights systematically. This seems to me a very strong term,' Hun Sen said at a series of bridge inaugurations in Kandal province just outside the capital.

'This guy comes from a country which completely violates human rights,' the premier added. 'You can come here, but I do not need you. If I live to be more than 1,000 years old, I will still never meet with you, so please do not come to see me. The prime minister is not obliged to meet you.'

Ghai's visit was meant to gather additional background before he presents his report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva later this month.

In it, he accuses the Cambodian government of systematic human-rights abuses, derides the country's notoriously inept judicial system as a tool of oppression wielded by the government and laments wide-scale land grabs by the rich and powerful.

He was snubbed by all members of the government during his visit except for Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng.

Hun Sen said Ghai's report could be compared to a Cambodian proverb that says the dog barks, but the ox cart still rolls forward.

'However, I will not compare you to a dog,' he said, referring to Yash Ghai. 'They try to destroy us from Geneva, but we strengthen human rights ourselves.'

The Interior Ministry on Friday issued a press release that did not deny human-rights abuses existed in the country but claimed Ghai's report was unfair, biased and failed to acknowledge any progress the government had made, focusing instead only on negatives.

Ghai has been consistently critical of the Cambodian government's human rights record during three visits to the country since he took over the position from Peter Leuprecht in 2005, and Hun Sen's speech Monday indicated that his relationship with the government would not improve in the foreseeable future.

Hun Sen said Monday that he had told former UN secretary general Kofi Annan personally that he never expected to hear a good report on Cambodia's human-rights record while the human-rights envoy worked for a salary.

'If you say good things about the government's human-rights efforts, you will lose your salary,' he said, adding that he viewed UN human-rights officials as tourists.

'But do not worry. I will not close your office because you rent out the homes of Cambodian people and they pay the government 10-per-cent tax. Bring 500, 1,000 more to work here,' he said. Read more!

Lack of awareness of HIV infections makes controlling AIDS difficult, says UN

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Fewer than 10 percent of the Asia-Pacific's estimated 8.5 million people who are living with HIV are aware of their status, the United Nations said Monday, calling on the region's governments to boost access to health services.

«With so few people aware of their status, efforts to prevent new infections and treat those who are positive are becoming more difficult,» said a joint statement from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund _ UNICEF _ and the U.N.'s coordinating body against the disease _ UNAIDS.

Lack of testing and counseling are major obstacles in the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region, they said, calling on the region's governments to boost access to health services.

The U.N. agencies released the statement at the opening of a three-day conference of health experts, scientists and community activists about the HIV/AIDS situation in the region. The meeting is being held in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

WHO regional director Shigeru Omi said in the statement that awareness of a person's HIV status is a public health and human rights imperative. It leads to life-extending treatment, care and support services, and serves as evidence for prevention interventions, he said.

There are an estimated 64,000 children living with HIV in the region who need treatment, but only one in five of them are receiving it, the statement said, adding nearly all them are in three countries _ Cambodia, India and Thailand.

«By increasing access to early diagnosis of HIV in infants and children, we are in a better position to improve the quality of life for children who test positive by providing better care, support and treatment,» said Anupama Rao Singh, director of UNICEF's East Asia and Pacific Regional Office. Read more!

CFHS club reaches fundraising goal early

By JON ERICSON, Courier Staff Writer

CEDAR FALLS --- When the Cedar Falls High School Amnesty International club started raising money for a school in Cambodia, they figured they'd reach their goal by January 2008.

They finished before the school year ended.

The club raised $15,050 to go toward building a school in Cambodia. The club's donation will be matched by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The Cedar Falls High School club started up just three years ago and this was its first major fundraising project. They began their fundraising on Valentine's Day.

Senior Sheila Moussavi founded the club. She said they were inspired to work on the project after watching the documentary film, "Born into Brothels." Moussavi and other club members developed a serious concern about child trafficking, and then came across the Cambodia program.

"One of the main ways to prevent child trafficking is education," Moussavi said.

Club members started fundraising by getting other groups involved. They brought in sports and arts organizations.

An exhibition basketball game between students and faculty proved a money-making venture, as did a night of one-act plays done by the high school's drama students.

They had bake sales and garage sales, and accepted donations from other high school clubs.

Pablo's Mexican Grill helped out on four occasions by sponsoring Amnesty International days. On those days, the restaurant gave half of the profits to the club from any customers who mentioned Amnesty International.

"Without the community we wouldn't be anywhere near the $15,000," Moussavi said.

The Cambodia schools program requires a $13,000 initial commitment to start up a school. It is also recommended that donors bring in another $1,000 to $2,000 every couple years to keep the school updated. The Cedar Falls club figures its $15,000 commitment can keep their school going for several years.

As a reward for its efforts, the Cedar Falls club will be able to name the school.

"We're thinking some pretty simple names that would incorporate Cedar Falls," Moussavi said.

While Moussavi graduated last week, the Amnesty International club will continue on at the high school.

In the future, the club may be able to communicate with students at the Cambodian school.

Journalism teacher Brian Winkel serves as adviser to the club. He said reaching the fundraising goal so far ahead of schedule shows how motivated the students have been.

Contact Jon Ericson at (319) 291-1402 or jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com.

Read more!

Redstone to help Cambodian kids

Mogul offers grant of $500,000 to charity

By PETER GILSTRAP

After meeting a 13-year-old named Lyda, Sumner Redstone has turned an entire country of in-need children into one of his most personal causes.
Redstone has made a grant of $500,000 to the Cambodian Children's Fund, a nonprofit program that provides a wide range of critical health and educational services to impoverished and abused children in the capital city of Phnom Penh.

Org was founded in January 2004 by Scott Neeson, who as president of 20th Century Fox Intl. was involved in films such as "Titanic," "Braveheart" and "Ice Age."

In 2003 Neeson became head of Sony Pictures international marketing; he left shortly thereafter to start the charity after witnessing the Cambodian situation during a vacation. Neeson, who now acts as full-time CCF executive director, covered all initial costs for the establishment and operation of the CCF facility.

"From Hollywood to Cambodia was a really tough transition," Neeson said from his Phnom Penh headquarters. "The biggest was how little power you have here to help people. In Hollywood you can get most things fixed; here there are limitations to what you can do," he explained.

"I was intrigued that Neeson quit his job and sold everything and went to Cambodia to help these kids," Redstone told Daily Variety. "I had no idea what went on in Cambodia. When I met him, he had with him a little girl named Lyda. She had been abandoned by her parents like tons of kids. Scott found her at a dump where countless poor (children) lived, scrounging for food or something to sell. She had a back deformity."

In addition to his donation, Redstone is making 13-year-old scoliosis victim Lyda a personal priority.

"I've given big money to big charities, but you never get in touch with the actual person, even though you help a lot of people," said the philanthropist. "But I met this little girl, and I've arranged to have her operated on by a top pediatric surgeon at Cedars-Sinai."

Currently, the CCF aids more than 250 children through three facilities that provide shelter, food, inhouse health services, cultural classes and a range of educational and vocational training.

Among other projects, Redstone's contribution will be used to create the Sumner M. Redstone Child Rescue Center, a stand-alone facility scheduled to open this fall for children 5 to 16.

"The amount I gave was very small for me, and I will give more, but it was the maximum amount he can accept without losing his status as a public charity," said Redstone. "My real motive in getting the story out is to inspire others to help."

Read more!

Cambodian government orders ban, confiscation of illegal logging report

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia ordered the banning on Sunday of a stinging report which accuses senior government officials and relatives of the prime minister of illegally stripping the country's forests.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, who is also the chief government spokesman, issued a statement calling on the Ministry of Interior, which controls the police force, to ban and confiscate the report by the London-based environmental watchdog group Global Witness.

Khieu Kanharith did not specifically reject the report's allegations but said they were politically motivated.

"The report centers its accusations on the government leader (Prime Minister Hun Sen) with an aim to provoke political animosity in the country, which exceeds the business of this organization," said Khieu Kanharith.

Global Witness released the 95-page report titled "Cambodia's Family Trees" Friday. It came ahead of the June 19-20 meeting of international donors to pledge new aid for Cambodia. It was not clear yet if Global Witness plans to distribute the report in Cambodia.

Son Chhay, an opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker, said he doubted that the attempts to ban and confiscate the report will be effective since it is available on the Internet in both Cambodian and English languages.

He said the government would be better off acting on the report's recommendations to stop the plunder and investigate those involved in the illegal logging activities.

The report alleges that tycoons, relatives of Hun Sen and senior military and police officers and ministers closely linked to the prime minister are illegally felling some of the country's last, once-great forests.

International donors, who bankroll the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, do virtually nothing to stop the plunder, the group said.

"When are the donors going to start addressing the asset-stripping, Mafioso behavior of the current regime?" Simon Taylor, the Global Witness director, said in a statement Friday.

In an interview ahead of the release of the report, Taylor described the logging business as "part of a massive asset stripping for the benefit of a small kleptocratic elite.

"The forests of Cambodia have been ransacked over the past decade by this mafia with little or no benefit flowing down to the ordinary people," he said.

The report specifically focused on the Seng Keang Company, the country's most powerful logging syndicate headed by Dy Chouch, Hun Sen's first cousin.

Dy Chouch, along with his ex-wife Seng Keang, an intimate friend of the Hun Sen family, and her brother Seng Kok Heang, runs the company which Global Witness says is illegally taking timber by the truck loads from Prey Long under the guise of a rubber plantation development scheme.

Prey Long, located in the central province of Kompong Thom, is the largest remaining lowland evergreen forest in mainland Southeast Asia and home to endangered wildlife, including elephants, tigers, the Asiatic black bear and gaurs, a type of ox.

The land was awarded to Seng Keang Company by Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun, brother-in-law of one of the company's business partners who is related to Ty Sokun, director-general of the Forestry Administration and an adviser to Hun Sen.

Ty Sokun has called Global Witness staffers "insane, unprofessional people" with no knowledge of forestry, and said their report was deceptive.

Global Witness has monitored Cambodia's forests for the past 12 years and was expelled from the country in 2005 after the government became annoyed by its constant criticisms. Read more!

A high-tech, luxurious base for exploring Cambodia

Siem Reap, the increasingly popular base for visitors to Angkor Wat, is beginning to feel a little like the Las Vegas of Cambodia, with one showy hotel after another being built.

THE LOCATION

Though you'll be tempted not to leave the grounds of the Hotel de la Paix, except for excursions to Angkor Wat and other temples, much of what Siem Reap has to offer -- the Old Market selling Cambodian handicrafts and the late-night hangouts on aptly named Bar Street -- is within easy walking distance.

THE HOTEL

Even the standard rooms are huge: a soaring loft space with a large seating area, a comfortable, spacious bed on a wooden frame, and a terrazzo bathtub big enough for two, as well as a walk-in shower. The floor-to-ceiling windows are perfect if you are overlooking the lushly landscaped, lagoonlike pool -- but a little unnerving if you are facing the street, and throw open the curtains in the morning to find yourself face to face with workmen on the construction site across the road. The high-tech rooms come with a TV, a DVD player and even a fully loaded iPod. No clocks, however.

The hotel has a small, but well-appointed gym, plus a superb spa. The excellent -- and addictive -- massages start with a foot scrubbing and end with a warm cup of herbal tea, sending you off to your room in a haze of woozy contentment. The hotel has Wi-Fi and a limited room service menu. Most guests will want to eat in the comfortable main restaurant.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Rooms start at about $190 a night, and a particularly good deal is the Experiences Connect package, starting at $639, which includes a three-night stay for two, guided tours of the market and the temples and dinner at the hotel restaurant, Meric.

Hotel de la Paix, Sivutha Bd., Siem Reap. (011-855-63) 966-000; www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com. Read more!

AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the Royal Government of Cambodia to Partner in New Free AIDS Treatment Clinic in Koh Thum

Formal Ribbon-cutting and Dedication Ceremony Takes Place Saturday, June
2nd in Kandal Province. Facility is Fifth in Partnership Between Royal
Government of Cambodia, the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and
STI Control (NCHADS) and US' Largest AIDS Organization; Others Sites Are In
Kampong Thom, Kampot & Stung Streng Provinces and in Phnom Penh

KANDAL PROVINCE, Cambodia, June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AIDS
Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the United
States, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin
America/Caribbean, and Asia, and which early last year joined together with
the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia and Cambodia's
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control (NCHADS) in a
partnership to provide life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to people
living with HIV/AIDS in four provinces in Cambodia, announced the opening
of its newest free AIDS treatment clinic in this partnership: a clinic
facility in the Koh Thum District, in Kandal Province, Cambodia. The Koh
Thum ART Treatment Clinic will open with a formal ribbon-cutting and
dedication ceremony at the facility in Kandal Province this Saturday June
2nd.

"We are deeply honored to announce the opening of this newest free
antiretroviral clinic in Cambodia in Koh Thum District in Kandal Province,
one of five AIDS treatment clinics now operating in the country in our
partnership with the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia and
the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI," said Dr. Chinkholal
Thangsing, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Over
the next five years, AIDS Healthcare Foundation with NCHADS will expand and
increase our collaborative initiatives to provide technical support and
strengthen the antiretroviral treatment roll out and scale up of ART
delivery services in Cambodia via designated facilities in at least twelve
sites in at least twelve provinces as well as in Phnom Penh. We will also
work closely together to support the Royal Government of Cambodia's overall
HIV/AIDS ART treatment initiatives. It is our sincere hope that this
collaboration between AHF and NCHADS will improve access to HIV/AIDS care
and treatment throughout Cambodia."

At a previous clinic dedication ceremony in the partnership, in Kampot
when the Kampot ART Treatment Clinic opened with a formal dedication
ceremony attended by over 200 people in late September, Dr. Mean Chhi Vun,
Director NCHADS, and Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of
Cambodia, said, "NCHADS is very grateful and highly appreciates AIDS
Healthcare Foundation's commitment to support ART clinics and save more
lives of people living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia. We highly treasure our
relationship with AHF."

"The antiretroviral treatment clinic in Koh Thum being dedicated
Saturday in this partnership was first established in November 2005 by
NCHADS, and is located in the compound of the Koh Thum Referral Hospital,
Koh Thum Operational District in Kandal Province," said Dr. Chhim Sarath,
AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Country Program Manager for Cambodia. "The ART
clinic is operating in a new building provided by NCHADS, and since
November 2005 until now, 172 people living with HIV/AIDS have registered at
the clinic. Among them, 84 have already started on antiretroviral
treatment, and we are both honored and humbled to partner with NCHADS and
the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia to help bring ART to
many more Cambodians who may be in need of access to such lifesaving care
and treatment."

The partnerships were first formalized in March 2006 in a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) between AHF and the Cambodian Ministry of Health, and
in a letter of agreement (LOA) with AHF, the Ministry of Health, and the
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control. Through these
partnerships, AHF, the Cambodian Ministry of Health and NCHADS plan to work
together on ART scale up in several Cambodian Provinces -- now including
Kandal Province -- with the goal of bringing 3,000 people living with
HIV/AIDS in Cambodia into treatment over the next five years. In
mid-January of this year, a new clinic in the partnership was also opened
and dedicated in Stung Streng Province.

One key aspect contributing to the success of AHF's work with its
partners in Cambodia includes the linkage of clinic services provided
together with other community and home-based services. In addition, the
Cambodian partnership focuses on integrating the delivery of services under
a Continuum of Care (CoC) approach, an approach that recognizes the
complexities surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to improve
prevention efforts and optimize use of the oftentimes limited resources
available in the successful care and treatment of those living with the
disease.

Background on Kandal Province

Kandal Province, one of 20 provinces in Cambodia, is a relatively high
prevalence area for HIV/AIDS. It is located in the southern part of
Cambodia, and its capital provincial town is Ta Khmau. The Province
completely surrounds, but does not include, the national capital, Phnom
Penh, which is its own separate municipality. In Kandal Province, Koh Thum
serves as one of the Operational Health Districts (OD). Ta Khmau, the
provincial town, is located just 11 kms from Phnom Penh, and the population
of the surrounding area is around 1,224,433. The Province consists of eight
Operational Districts, with each Operational District containing one
Referral Hospital and number of individual Health Centers. Koh Thum is in
the southern part of Kandal Province (about 70km from the provincial town,
Ta Khmau) on the border with the country of Viet Nam.

The objectives of this latest collaboration in Kandal is similar to the
partnerships' other projects in Kampong Thom, Kampot and Stung Streng
Provinces as well as in the capital of Phnom Penh, and are as enumerated as
below:
* Capacity and skill building of the doctors and healthcare providers at
the Kandal Referral Hospital in collaboration with NCHADS.

* Establishment of an ART Clinic at the Kandal Hospital and provision of
free ART to PLHAs -- including treatment of both adults and children.

The initial collaboration between AHF and these respected Cambodian
institutions first began and were celebrated in March and April 2006 with
formal ribbon-cutting ceremonies at the first two other free AIDS treatment
facilities (Kampong Thom Province and Phnom Penh). The Phnom Penh facility
is located at the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital, and that collaboration was
also formalized in a separate MOU between AHF and the Preah Ket Mealea
Hospital of the Royal Government of Cambodia. The goal of that facility is
to bring medical care and ART to an additional 300 Cambodians.

The first case of HIV infection in Cambodia was reported in 1991 and
was followed by a rapid rise in its transmission. Cambodia's national
HIV/AIDS prevalence rate -- around 3% in 1997 but decreasing to 1.9% in
2003 -- is still understood to be one of the highest in Southeast Asia.
According to a recent AFP/France 24 News Report (as cited on Kaiser Family
Foundation's Daily HIV/AIDS Report), "Almost 10,000 Cambodians die of
AIDS-related illnesses annually, according to government statistics. About
1.9% of Cambodia's 13.8 million people are HIV-positive."

"This growing collaboration between AHF and our esteemed Cambodian
partners includes the delivery of innovative medical and non-medical
interventions; providing technical support and training resources to
increase and strengthen the diagnostic and treatment capacity and skills of
HIV/AIDS and ART treatment services providers in Cambodia -- all of which
will now also take place in Kandal Province," said Henry E. Chang, AHF's
Chief of Global Affairs. "AHF has significant expertise and experience in
ART service delivery and skills and capacity building related to HIV/AIDS
treatment and care, and we are therefore well-positioned to complement the
Cambodian Ministry of Health in its efforts to enhance access to
prevention, treatment and care at these facilities in Cambodia."

"The Royal Government of Cambodia has undertaken significant efforts to
treat its people living with HIV/AIDS and to try to arrest and eliminate
the epidemic, and we salute them for a pragmatic and visionary approach to
fighting the disease," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare
Foundation. "This partnership brings together many respected stakeholders
with expertise and clinical, public health and management skills that are
essential for any successful HIV treatment program, and it is a privilege
for AIDS Healthcare Foundation to partner with the Ministry of Health,
Royal Government of Cambodia and NCHADS to support the scale up of HIV/AIDS
treatment in Cambodia through this initiative." Read more!

A Wrap of Weekly News from Cambodia

Are the Khmer Rouge trials closer to becoming more than an joke with no punch line? Perhaps.

Thursday saw the beginning of a two-week meeting of the Judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) … the official website is here … that is supposed to resolve all remaining disputes between Cambodian and International jurists on how the tribunal will be run.

Once the internal rules are settled, investigations can begin. Not to say that they WILL begin, but that it will then be possible. Investigators are to be sworn in on the 13th.

I, for one, will be amazed if they actually manage to accomplish anything … amazed, impressed and very happy to eat my cynicism. This being a UN gig, I so have my doubts about it being more than an exercise in keeping people employed.

And speaking of the UN …

UN special representative of the secretary-general, Yash Ghai, made a return trip to Cambodia this week, surprisingly.

Although he welcomed legal reforms in the country and expressed hope that there are more to come addressing unjust court actions and human rights violations, he criticized a recent decision of the Appeal Court to uphold convictions for the murder of a trade union leader, “despite strong exculpatory evidence and ‘fundamentally flawed’ proceedings.

“The upholding of these sentences is a grave injustice and the Special Representative reiterates his calls for a thorough, impartial and credible investigation into the murder of Chea Vichea, and for the prosecution of those responsible,” he said in a statement.

He was apparently pleased with the way the commune council elections were conducted, but voiced concern over continuing intimidation of worker’s movement leaders.

Only Deputy PM Sar Kheng would meet with him during the visit. No one else was ‘available’ to see him.

Cambodia’s Human Rights Committee Chairman has rejected Amnesty International’s Annual Report that alleges the Cambodian government doesn’t respect human rights, evicts residents from their land, won’t pass an anti-corruption law, and obstructs the process of the courts.

In a statement I can’t figure out at all, the Chairman said, “If they said we chased Cambodian people out of Phnom Penh and they love Cambodian nation, we as Cambodians love it a thousand times more than they do.”

Huh?

And the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development is announcing support for a $11.5 million project aimed at helping rural poor.

Saying this is the agencies first targeting of the poor, ethnic, rural population … really? … the “Rural Livelihoods Improvement Project” is supposed to do something … haven’t heard what yet … with 22,600 households in Kratie, Preah Vihear and Ratanakiri provinces.

Bringing is cash, the tourist trade saw a 20% jump in the first four months of this year over the same period in 2006. (2006 drew 1.7 million tourists, generating $10.5 million)

This bump in the biz is attributed in part to new routes between Cambodia, Viet Nam and Thailand, with a 70% increase in Vietnamese tourists.

Here’s a story I don’t get:

A recent survey by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) showed that a tobacco control policy will receive enormous support in Cambodia …

Hmmmm. A country that can’t manage much in the way of reform and where very close to anything goes is reported to be gung-ho about an “immediate ban” on cigarette advertising.

Please. Can’t we deal with adoption issues first?

And here’s something to keep an eye on; a group of South Korean companies is saying it will be spending somewhere around $2 billion to build a whole new city on 119 hectares on the northern edge of Phnom Penh.

Oh my.

Yes, folks, Cambodia is booming, and total bursting at the seams isn’t far off.

A side effect? Possibly evictions, as detailed by the NGO LICADHO.

Borei Keila, located opposite the Bak Tuok High School in central Phnom Penh in Veal Vong commune of 7 Makara district, covers 14.12 hectares of land and it is divided into 10 communities. It houses at least 1,776 families —including 515 families who are house renters and 86 families who reportedly have HIV/AIDS. Villagers first settled on the land, the site of a former police training facility, in 1992.

In early 2003, in the lead up to the July 2003 general election, a “land-sharing” arrangement was proposed for Borei Keila, which would allow a private company to develop part of the area for its own commercial purposes while providing alternative housing to the residents there. The idea was hailed because, rather than the villagers being evicted, they would be compensated for the loss of their land by being given apartments in new buildings to be constructed on part of the site.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way, however. Read the story for a lot of details.

And China’s big-four steel companies are preparing to start operations in Cambodia at a comcession with 200,000,000 tons estimated as iron ore reserves.

And, of course, stories about new golf courses are become a regular feature of Cambodian news.

Under the plan, the golf course will cover an area of 120ha with half each to be located in Viet Nam and Cambodia. The golf course will consist of a park, 18 hole-course, hotels, restaurants, and tax free shops.

Progress? Schmogress!

The British government is handing out radios to members of the Khmer Cham, Cambodia’s Muslim community, in an effort to give them access to Cham-language programs.

The British Embassy in Phnom Penh claimed in a statement, “The program helps to engage the Muslim community throughout Cambodia and works to promote peace, democracy, human rights, and combat terrorism.”

Bernard Krisher, formerly of “Newsweek”, is raising money to build more than 300 small schools in rural Cambodia.

A school can be built for as little as $13,000 from a private donor, which is then matched by about $20,000 by one of the two international aid organizations. Schools built on land donated by a village include three to six classrooms, desks and chairs. Fully constructed schools are given to the village.

Follow the link for more info.

A tragic story of love and death, this article about a Cambodian widow and her young American husband who died in a fall while hiking, and about her struggle to be allowed to come to America, has a familiar theme.

Here’s a nice little piece about Cambodian classical dance and a group of dancers who fled the KR and kept Apsara alive.

A history like Cambodia does give the country an edge in somethings, and no shortage of contestants for wheelchair races could be one.

They’re preparing for competition next year in Beijing under banners that read: You don’t need legs to run like the wind.”

Sandra Hanks Benoiton writes on International Adoption and adopting as an Older Parent for Adoption.com, and on everything under the sun on Paradise Preoccupied from her sun-drenched veranda on the island of Mahé in the Indian Ocean. Read more!

Southeast Asia: More Death Sentences for Drug Offenses

Southeast Asia continues its macabre response to drug trafficking and manufacturing, with nine people being sentenced to death in Indonesia this week for manufacturing ecstasy and three more sentenced to death in Vietnam for manufacturing and trafficking in methamphetamines. Another four people were sentenced to death for heroin trafficking in Vietnam the same day. The region, along with China, is responsible for most drug offense death sentences.

In Indonesia, the Indonesian Supreme Court Tuesday pronounced death sentences on a French man, a Dutch man, two Indonesians, and five Chinese men. The Europeans were the manufacturing experts, the Indonesians ran day-to-day manufacturing, and the Chinese funded the whole venture, which produced millions of ecstasy tablets.

"The Supreme Court considers the Frenchman and Dutchman experts," said Justice Djoko Sarwoko. "If we let them be, they would be able to produce in other place, or teach others their skills. This is a threat to the next generation." [Ed: The judge's statement is Orwellian -- even if one were to agree that the defendants should be prevented from manufacturing drugs in the future, that could be accomplished by methods other than execution.]

That same day, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City pronounced death sentences on three men and a woman for buying methamphetamine powder in neighboring Cambodia, pressing it into pills of various colors and shapes, and selling them to customers in the city. One other man was sentenced to life in prison, while 17 other codefendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 18 years.

"They produced and sold 24,000 pills weighing up to 6 kilograms in the period between 2003 and March 2005, when the ring was busted," said presiding Judge Vu Phi Long said. "This is one of the largest non-heroin drug cases so far."

Meanwhile, in the People's Court of Son La province imposed the death sentence Tuesday on three men for trafficking in less than 35 pounds of heroin. A woman in the case was sentenced to life in prison.

Under Vietnamese sentencing guidelines, possession, distributing, manufacturing, or smuggling more than 600 grams (approximately 1.25 pounds) of heroin or 2500 grams (a little more than five pounds) of synthetic drugs is punishable by death. Vietnam has now sentenced 22 drug offenders to death this year.

Vietnam and the nine other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) have vowed to create a drug-free region by 2015. Read more!

Cambodian prince appeals guilty verdict in breach-of-trust case

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A former Cambodian prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, has appealed his conviction of breach of trust against the Cambodian royalist party he once led, the prince's lawyer said Thursday.

In March, a muncipal court judge sentenced Ranariddh, son of former King Norodom Sihanouk, in absentia to 18 months in jail for breach of trust against the royalist Funcinpec party in a sale of a party property. The party had ousted Ranariddh as its leader in October.

Ranariddh's lawyer, Muong Arun, called the ruling "unacceptable" on Thursday, adding that he had filed the appeal two days before.

Ranariddh was also ordered to pay US$150,000 (€110,000) in compensation to the party in his sentence, which was in connection with the sale of the Funcinpec party headquarters.

The judge in the trial said Ranariddh had intentionally registered the property in his own name, rather than in the party's name, but said there was insufficient evidence to prove the party's allegations that the prince had embezzled US$3.6 million (€2.7 million) in the sale.

Funcinpec rejected him as its leader on Oct. 18, citing his alleged incompetence and frequent absences from the country.

Ranariddh is now president of the party he formed after his ouster, the Norodom Ranariddh Party.

His spokesman, Muth Chantha, originally said of the March ruling that seeking an appeal would amount to recognizing the guilty verdict, but on Thursday he said that Ranariddh "wants to show to the world whether the Appeals Court can guarantee him a justice or not."

Ranariddh is currently living in France.

If the verdict is not reversed, Ranariddh will be barred from running for public office in Cambodia unless he serves at least two-thirds of his jail term or receives a pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni, his half brother. Read more!

Cambodia's elite stripping last forests while foreign donors do little, NGO claims

BANGKOK, Thailand: Senior government officials and tycoons in Cambodia, including relatives of the prime minister, are illegally felling some of the country's last, once-great forests while international donors who bankroll the impoverished nation do virtually nothing to stop the plunder, a non-governmental organization said Friday.

"Logging is part of a massive asset stripping for the benefit of a small kleptocratic elite," said Simon Taylor, director of the London-based Global Witness, referring to powerful businessmen, senior military and police officers and ministers closely linked to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

"The forests of Cambodia have been ransacked over the past decade by this mafia with little or no benefit flowing down to the ordinary people," Taylor said in an interview before the release of a 95-page report detailing massive corruption and illegal logging which continues under the eyes of foreign donors who annually provide some US$600 million (€446 million) in aid — equivalent to about half the national budget.

Taylor said the destruction has further impoverished Cambodia's already hard-pressed rural people by depriving them of forest products, including food and medicines, as well as vital water sources.

Two individuals cited in the report as among the kingpins denied all wrongdoing, while the government spokesman, Khieu Kanharith, provided with a copy of the report, did not respond despite numerous attempts to reach him.

The aid-giving Consultative Group on Cambodia, which includes Australia, the European Union, Japan, the United States and the World Bank, has over the years voiced concern over Cambodia's forestry sector. But non-governmental groups like Global Witness say the group has applied little pressure on the regime to institute genuine reform despite the leverage they could exercise.

Hun Sen has made promises, normally before the aid givers gather, and strident verbal attacks against foreign critics of Cambodia's record on logging as well as human rights and corruption. The next group meeting is scheduled for late June.

"The donors have failed. They are basically spineless. The message that Hun Sen gets from the donors is that they don't really give a damn," Taylor said.

He said the only hope for Cambodia's remaining forests would be for the international community to make tough demands, and speak with one voice.

Under criticism, the government in 2002 suspended widespread logging concessions to foreign and local companies which had blatantly raped the forests.

But these, the report says, have simply been replaced by devious ways to continue illegal felling, including "economic land concessions" under which forests are cut down to make way for plantations and the timber sold in contravention of a 2001 law. Permits and licenses are illegally issued by government officials to cronies, while the armed forces "have kept up an assault on the country's forests that does not even pretend to be legitimate," the report says.

Brigade 70, the reserve force for Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit, is also the country's timber transport and trafficking service, according to Global Witness, which has monitored Cambodia's forests for the past 12 years and was expelled from the country in 2005.

The most powerful logging syndicate is headed by Dy Chouch, the prime minister's first cousin. He, along with his ex-wife Seng Keang, an intimate friend of the Hun Sen family, and her brother Seng Kok Keang, runs a company which Global Witness says is illegally taking timber by the truck loads from Prey Long under the guise of a rubber plantation development scheme.

Prey Long, located in the central province of Kompong Thom, is the largest remaining lowland evergreen forest in mainland Southeast Asia and home to endangered wildlife, including elephant, gaur, tiger and the Asiatic black bear.

The land was awarded to Seng Keang Company by Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun, brother-in-law of one of the company's business partners who is related to Ty Sokun, director-general of the Forestry Administration and an adviser to Hun Sen.

Ty Sokun described Global Witness staffers as "insane, unprofessional people" with no knowledge of forestry, and said their report was deceptive. He said Cambodia has increased its forest cover in recent years.

However, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the country lost 29 percent of its primary tropical forests between 2000 and 2005, and most foreign experts agree that the loss continues at an alarming rate.

Seng Kok Heang said his company had legal permits to cut and transport logs out of Prey Long, having won a concession from the government to turn 6,200 hectares (15,320 acres) hectares into a rubber plantation. He said the accusations against him were "unacceptable," also dismissing Global Witness allegations that he attempted to kill two community forest activist who had protested illegal logging in Prey Long.

Reporters Ker Munthit and Cheang Sopheng in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report. Read more!

CAMBODIA: Government urges pressure to save lorises - 01/06/2007

Not much is known about lorises. They are small, nocturnal primates found only in South and Southeast Asia, but they're about to be put in the spotlight at the Hague in the Netherlands. Representatives from some 170 countries are meeting to ensure that trade in wild animals and plants don't threaten the survival of animals like lorises.

Presenter - Parthena Stavropoulos Speaker - Vincent Nijman, Zoological Museum in Amsterdam; Chris Shepherd, senior program officer with the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC in Malaysia

listen windows media >

STAVROPOULOS: Lorises live in tropical and subtropical rainforests and have low reproductive rates. They are often poached from the wild and traded as exotic pets, or killed for traditional medicines, and it is suspected their numbers are declining. Vincent Nijman from the Zoological Museum in Amsterdam:

NIJMAN: There was an assessment for their conservation status last year in Cambodia - of all Asian primates, not just slow lorises - and it was decided mainly on the basis of loss of habitat (not trade because not too much data on trade was available at that time), that all five species are threatened. Some are vulnerable, some are endangered, and that's only on the basis of habitat loss. If you add to that the information that's coming available on trade both nationally and internationally, they're not doing very well, so yes, they are threatened.

STAVROPOULOS: The lorises are currently listed on Appendix II of CITES, which means they can be traded only with a permit.
The Cambodian Government says the listing isn't strong enough, because it makes them vulnerable to commercial international trade. It wants them elevated to Appendix I, the most protected category under the Washington Treaty. But already its proposal is creating some controversy within environmental circles. Chris Shepherd is a senior program officer with the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, based in Malaysia.

SHEPHERD: The biggest threat to the slow loris is the domestic trade. In some countries, for example Indonesia, there's quite a large domestic market for slow loris. You go to any bird markets and chances are you'll find them. Over the years we've seen hundreds of them for sale in the markets in Indonesia, and that's probably a very big threat to the conservation of these animals, but that is purely a domestic issue.

STAVROPOULOS: While the network supports moves to better protect the animal, Mr Shepherd says there's not enough evidence the international trade is a major threat to the species.

SHEPHERD: Obviously we want increased protection for the species. CITES only governs international trade, and international trade may not be the greatest threat to the species. Having said that though, there is a lack of information out there.

STAVROPOULOS: Mr Shepherd says the illegal trade is prevalent in Indonesia and Cambodia, and throughout Southeast Asia, but little is done to combat the crime.

SHEPHERD: In cities like Jakarta, Madan, Surabaya, in Indonesia, that have huge bird markets, and slow lorises are just one of many protected species that are illegally traded there, these are openly displayed, and that just points to a lack of effort to shut them down. In other countries, such as Cambodia, there's quite a large trade there for traditional medicines. But again this is a domestic issue and not an international issue and therefore falls under domestic legislation and not CITES.

STAVROPOULOS. But Cambodia is hoping recent incidents of the illegal trade will change that view. Only last week, 40 of the animals were detected by customs officials at Narita airport after being smuggled from Bangkok, the biggest single such seizure of its kind. Mr Nijman says the list of lorises being illegally traded to Europe and the US is also growing.

NIJMAN: We have a very, very long list of individuals that have been traded, so very regularly lorises are being confiscated in countries outside where they occur naturally, I think the list of animals that have been traded in the last few years, is quite long and quite impressive.

STAVROPOULOS: TRAFFIC says lorises are already protected by national legislation throughout their range, and therefore any existing trade is illegal. It says listing them on Appendix I won't change the situation, unless national enforcement efforts are increased. Cambodia needs two thirds of the vote at next week's convention for its proposal to pass. Read more!