UN warned on drugs as Thailand starts new crackdown

BANGKOK: Thailand's new Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, is mobilising a crackdown on illegal drugs as a United Nations agency reveals a massive increase in the production and use of amphetamines across Asia.

The crackdown comes eight years after a ''war on drugs'' overseen by Ms Yingluck's older brother Thaksin Shinawatra during which almost 3000 Thais involved with drugs were killed by still unidentified assassins.

But this time Ms Yingluck said drug addicts would be treated as patients so they can later return to society. ''As a mother, I do not want to see children fall victim to drugs,'' she said.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Chalerm Yubamrung, who is setting up a one-year drug suppression unit, said the campaign will partly focus on blocking drug shipments into Thailand.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific warned yesterday that the manufacture of amphetamine-type substances has undergone an industrial revolution, outstripping the use of heroin and cocaine as organised crime groups have become involved in their manufacture and distribution.

At least 50 organised crime groups are involved in trafficking drugs from Burma, a major source of the region's methamphetamine pills, the agency said. The number of methamphetamine pills seized in south-east Asia grew from 32 million in 2008 to 133 million last year, it said in its three-yearly report on the global use of amphetamine-type substances, including ecstasy, that was released in Bangkok.

Amphetamines are attractive to millions of drugs users because they are affordable, convenient to use and are often associated with a modern and dynamic lifestyle, the report said. ''The risks are often underestimated in public perception,'' it said.

The report also warned of the emergence of so-called analogue substances that fall outside the control of international law enforcement agencies.

The substances sold as ''bath salts'' or ''plant food'' are used as substitutes for illegal drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy.

Australian authorities seized 602 illegal drug laboratories in 2009-10, the highest number of seizures in five years, the report said, but ecstasy seizures in Australian have hit a five-year low.

In Thailand, Mr Chalerm tried to head off human rights groups' concerns that there would be a repeat of the extrajudicial killings during the Thaksin anti-drugs campaign launched in 2003.

''There will be no licence to kill involved and there is no need to increase the severity of sentences,'' Mr Chalerm said. ''It will be up the court to decide which sentence is appropriate.'' An independent committee that investigated the killings in 2007 found the campaign was driven by political goals rather than respecting human rights and due process of law.

Human rights groups also have criticised the use of compulsory drug treatment centres where up to 15,000 Thai drug users are sent each year.

The centres are based on boot camp-style physical exercise and provide little or no medical supervision or medication, they say. Mr Thaksin, who is living in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid a two-year jail sentence for corruption, is due to fly to Cambodia on Friday, one day after an official visit to Phnom Penh by Ms Yingluck.

Mr Thaksin is a former financial adviser to the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen.

Analysts in Bangkok say Mr Thaksin's return to Thailand would stoke renewed political tensions in the country. Read more!

Groups urge UN to mull funding Cambodia NGO law

By Thin Lei Win

BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Ten international human rights groups have raised concerns in a letter about a draft law in Cambodia which they say will allow the government to shut down aid agencies.

The letter addressed to the heads of 17 U.N. agencies, urged them to press the Cambodian government not to enact the law, which is being considered by the Council of Ministers, and to think about a funding freeze for programmes involving state agencies if the law is adopted in its current form.

Cambodia relies on foreign aid to cover as much as 60 percent of its spending.

"As written, (the law) will allow the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) to intimidate and potentially shut down local, national, and foreign NGOs, associations, and informal groups that criticise the government or government officials," said the letter sent on Friday.

It was signed by groups including Global Witness, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and Southeast Asian Press Alliance.

Some of the concerns about the proposed law relate to all the red tape it would create and expensive requirements that will make it difficult for grassroots organisations to register as non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

It will also make it more difficult for civil society groups to ensure transparency and accountability in government and donor-funded projects, the letter added.

"This draft law violates core human rights and will severely damage participatory, grassroots development efforts that are so critical for Cambodia's future," Phil Robertson, deputy director at Human Rights Watch Asia Division, said in a statement.

There has been growing tension in the Southeast Asian country between the government and a burgeoning civil society which has become openly critical of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Last month the Phnom Penh Post reported that the Cambodian Foreign Affairs Ministry had warned an umbrella organisation of 88 NGOs over critical letters it sent to international donors funding a $142-million railway project.

The government also suspended a land rights NGO that signed the letter for allegedly inciting villagers to protest against the railway project and summoned another to meet with officials.
Read more!

Thaksin to visit Cambodia on Friday : Hun Sen

By THE NATION

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will visit Cambodia on Friday to attend a conference on the Asian economy - not to negotiate petroleum resources in the countries' overlapping claims area in the Gulf of Thailand as speculated, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday.

"Thaksin's visit to Cambodia was scheduled before the official visit of newly elected Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who will visit Cambodia on [Thursday]," he said during a graduation ceremony of 4,100 students at the National University of Management in Phnom Penh.

"But the visit of Thaksin on [Friday] until Sept 24 is to join the Asian Economic Future Conference, organised by the Royal Academy of Cambodia, not to talk with Cambodia on oil and gas issues," Hun Sen was quoted as saying by China's state-owned Xinhua news agency.

"Thaksin has no duty to negotiate on oil and gas deals and other issues with Cambodia at all, as it is the duty of the Thai government, not Thaksin," Hun Sen said.

Cambodia and Thailand entered into a memorandum of understanding regarding their overlapping maritime claims on the continental shelf in June 2001, setting out an agreed area to be delimited and an agreed joint development area, but the talks stalled during the administration of former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
No agreement has been reached on an oil and gas deal between Cambodia and Thailand, Hun Sen said.

Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit said in Parliament yesterday that for the sake of transparency, the government would bring the negotiating framework into the legislature for a reading before making any deal with Cambodia.

Thaksin will give a lecture on Asian Economics on Saturday at the Peace Palace, Hun Sen said. "After that, I will officially greet him at the Peace Palace and we will talk about economic development," he said.

He added that he would play golf with Thaksin on Sunday and that on Sept 24, Cambodian and Thai parliamentarians and high-ranking officials would play football together at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday expressed gratitude to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over Indonesia's role in facilitating peace efforts between Thailand and Cambodia.

THAILAND TO COOPERATE FULLY

Thailand would fully cooperate with Indonesia, which is handling the matter for Asean, Yingluck said in a meeting with Yudhoyono in Jakarta. Indonesia was the second country the new PM paid an official visit to, to introduce herself to her Asean leaders. Her first port of call was Brunei on Saturday, and she will visit Cambodia on Thursday, then Laos on Friday.

In a joint press statement in Jakarta, Yingluck and Yudhoyono said Thailand and Indonesia would boost cooperation in trade, energy and agriculture.

Indonesia was interested in cooperation on the halal food industry, Yingluck said.

Indonesian trade with Thailand rose by 34 per cent in 2010 to $US12 billion (Bt362 billion), Yudhoyono said.

"We believe that there will still be new opportunities to boost trade cooperation," he said.

Both sides also pledged to step up cooperation in tackling illegal fishing, combating transnational crime, and increasing the number of foreign tourist arrivals.

Yudhoyono said Indonesia would beef up its role in settling the Thai-Cambodian border dispute. Indonesia supported the Thai prime minister's plan to visit Cambodia in coming days, he said.

Indonesia, as the current chair of Asean, planned to dispatch a team of observers to assess the situation and monitor the withdrawal of troops in disputed border areas adjacent to Preah Vihear Temple.

Thailand and Cambodia have been at loggerheads over the temple for a long time but the recent conflict erupted when Phnom Penh pushed for World Heritage listing for Preah Vihear in 2008, a move which Thailand opposed.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear was situated on Cambodian territory, but Thailand claims ownership of land adjacent to the temple.

Cambodia asked the ICJ in April to interpret the scope and meaning of the 1962 judgement. The court is now in the process of interpreting the 49-year-old ruling. While waiting for this, the court issued a provisional order on July 18, instructing both countries to withdraw troops from a court determined demilitarised zone.

But Thailand and Cambodia have yet to reached an agreement how to comply with the court's instruction.
Read more!

Cambodia: commercial overload at Angkor Wat

Conservationists say the temples are suffering serious damage from millions of tourists.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — Angkor Wat’s magnificence has endured nature, invading armies, artifact bandits and occupation by Khmer Rogue communist guerillas.

But nearly a millennium after the 12th-century temple’s creation, it faces its greatest threat yet: millions of tourists marching upon its stones and pawing at its intricate stonework with greasy hands.

Tourism is exploding at Angkor Wat, a world of sandstone ruins considered mankind’s largest pre-industrial city. Jungled over for centuries, and more recently unreachable during Cambodia’s decades of war, the site now absorbs more than a million visitors each year.

But while preservationists cringe at the site’s commercial takeover, they might as well brace for more. The Disneyfication is just beginning.

“See that?” said Hyo-Soon Park, a South Korean developer, standing on a balcony outside his office in Cambodia. “You can see Angkor Wat from here.”

The temple’s tallest tower was visible, in the distance, as a finger of sandstone jutting above the tree line. “When all this is finished, guests will be able to stare at it from their hotel rooms,” Park said. “They’re going to love it.”

Park’s project, called “AngkorCoex,” is a 400-acre temple-themed sprawl of golf courses, hotel suites, duty-free shopping and a large convention center. Site plans also call for a wellness center and something described as a “Bohemian Island with Innovative Playground.” Completion is expected in a year or two.

“The point is this: how can we catch tourists, keep them in one place, here, where they spend all their money?” Park said.

After its long tourism twilight, Cambodia now expects 2.8 million arrivals throughout 2011. That’s double the number of arrivals in 2005 and it’s nearly 25 times more than the paltry 118,000 who visited in 1993.

Tour groups from Asia’s rising economies — not starry-eyed, dreadlocked thrill-seekers — are doing the most to drive Cambodia’s tourism figures up. Chinese tourists, according to Cambodia’s tourism ministry, have increased by 29 percent within the past year. Asian travelers are the demographic targeted by AngkorCoex, Park said.

The majority of those tourists will want to set foot inside Angkor Wat. But conservationists say the temples are suffering serious damage from all that traffic.

“You have to think of it like the Mona Lisa,” said Jeff Morgan, director of the Global Heritage Fund, a U.S.-based organization devoted to preserving historical sites in the developing world.

“If everybody goes and touches the Mona Lisa, it’s going to be worn out. That’s what is happening at Angkor,” he said. “You have millions of people climbing all over these sites.”

The temple was popularized in the West by a French naturist, Henri Mahout, who hacked through dense bramble to find the temples covered in vines. He later wrote that they were “grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome ... a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.”

That was 150 years ago. Today, a visit to Angkor Wat can resemble a Saturday at Six Flags. Visitors spill out of tour buses by the thousands, a noisy throng stampeding over stonework laid by servants of the long-dead King Suryavarman II.

All those sneakers wearing away priceless stone is unacceptable, Morgan said. His organization has advocated simple safeguards: wooden walkways, a per-day limitation on visitors and guards to stop tourists from scampering up temples.

“It’s not just tourists,” Morgan said. “It’s what the government does to cater to tourists.”

Edifices are sometimes restored with concrete and rebar, which causes “irreversible damage,” Morgan said. “They’re basing it off some sketches from a French exhibition in 1930. It’s unscientific,” he said.

A Global Heritage Fund team conserving a smaller temple called Bantaey Chhmar has vowed not to repeat the mistakes made at Angkor Wat.

Damage to Angkor Wat is especially disconcerting given its profound significance to Cambodians, said Sotheara Vong, a Khmer historian with the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

The ruins are a sorely needed source of pride for a country still healing from centuries of foreign invasion, French colonial dominance and warfare. “It’s our historical magnet of consolidation and national pride,” Sotheara said. “It’s our identity.”

But for now, Cambodia’s tourism authorities show little willingness to stem the tide of tourists paying to enter Angkor Wat. And as foreign conservationists stream in to preserve the temples, so do foreign developers with new plans to capitalize on the tourism gold rush.

“This here, it’s going to be a square for Cambodian artists,” said Park, gesturing to point on his wall-sized master plan for AngkorCoex.

“The artists can show guests how to make ancient crafts from wood, stone or silk,” he said. “And then the guests can purchase it.” Read more!

Taiwan civil group wants to build library for Cambodian kids

Bangkok, Sept. 10 (CNA) The Taipei-based Care Without Border Association (CWBA) has been raising funds to build a library for children living in poverty in Cambodia, CWBA President Chen Hsiang-chun said Saturday.

Chen, who initiated the project, told CNA via phone that the association wishes to raise NT$2 million (US$68,000) for the planned library in Sihanoukville Province, located 185 kilometers southwest of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

"We have collected NT$680,000, which were mostly from small donations," Chen said. Barring any glitches, he predicts CWBA volunteers will be able to set off for Cambodia in mid-November .

According to Chen, Cambodia has been suffering from a wide gap between the rich and poor since the Khmer Rouge era. Currently, 75 percent of its population is illiterate.

"There will be no hope without education. People do not know where their future is going if they do not receive education," Chen said.

He explained that his foundation wants to help poor Cambodian children get educated, and that the planned library will allow kids to learn English and acquire other knowledge. (By Namita Lin and Elizabeth Read more!

PM heads to Brunei on her first trip

Prime Minister Yingluck Shina-watra will make her first trip overseas, beginning with Brunei, this weekend aimed at cementing ties with Asean countries, a government source said yesterday.

Yingluck will make a one-day visit to Brunei on September 10, to Indonesia on September 12 and to Cambodia on September 15.

Foreign Ministry officials had recommended that Prime Minister Yingluck and Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul visit Asean members in alphabet order but the schedules of counterparts in foreign countries did not make this possible.

The Asean members in alphabetical order are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Although visiting the countries in alphabetical order was not possible, Yingluck has made Brunei her first foreign destination as PM.

Brunei is the country which her brother and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra often visited while in exile. Thaksin openly met former prime minister Banharn Silpaarcha, who is de-facto leader of the coalition Chart Thai Pattana Party, in Brunei recently to discuss a portfolio quota in the Yingluck cabinet.

Yingluck's next stop will be Indonesia, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of Asean. Jakarta is also playing a crucial role in facilitating peace efforts between Thailand and Cambodia following a border dispute at the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear.

Indonesia planned to dispatch an observer team to assess the situation and observe troop withdrawal from the disputed area adjacent to the temple in accordance with the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The court ordered Thailand and Cambodia to withdraw their troops from the court-determined demilitarised zone near the temple pending interpretation of the 1962 judgement on the Preah Vihear case. The court wanted the two countries to welcome an Indonesian observer team for the troop-withdrawal process. Cambodia decided to fully comply with the ICJ injunction. The previous Thai government under Abhisit Vejjajiva did not take any clear position on the order and Yingluck also has not yet announced her stand.

She will visit Cambodia on September 15, to introduce herself to the government in Phnom Penh while also attempting to improve bilateral relations after the boundary conflict.

Foreign Minister Surapong said he would be accompanying the prime minister to Phnom Penh and seek the opportunity to meet his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong to discuss various issues that have been at the core of the conflict between the two countries. The minister said he would seek ways to secure the release of the two Thai nationalist activists - Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Pipatanapaiboon - who are serving jail sentences in Phnom Penh on espionage charges.

Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha plans to visit Cambodia on September 23-24 to discuss troop arrangement along the border and the possibility of activating a meeting of the General Border Committee.

Meanwhile, in a separate event, the Kanthalalak court yesterday sentenced to two years' imprisonment a Thai national Suchart Muhammad, a Cambodian Ung Kimtai and a Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Don.

They were arrested on June 7 in Si Sa Ket's Kanthalalak district while driving a pickup truck to see the military outpost in the area. The court convicted them of spying on the locations of the military bases and bunkers of civilians along the border. Read more!

PM, Thaksin in Cambodia next week

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will arrive in Phnom Penh next week to talk to the Cambodian government - a day after his sister, Yingluck, is due to arrive on an official visit.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets Cambodian ambassador to Thailand You Ay at Government House yesterday. You Ay was part of an Asean ambassadorial group that met Ms Yingluck for talks. CHANAT KATANYU


Ms Yingluck is expected on a one-day visit on Thursday, as she makes the rounds of neighbouring Association of Southeast Asian countries in her first foray overseas since becoming prime minister.

Thaksin is due in Cambodia a day later, for talks on Thai-Cambodian disputes regarding Preah Vihear temple and the disputed maritime area in the Gulf of Thailand. Unless one or the other changes his schedule, they are unlikely to meet.

Thaksin planned to visit Cambodia from Friday until the following Monday, said a Pheu Thai source. His legal adviser Noppadon Pattama will meet him in Phnom Penh. The two will talk to Cambodian officers about the Preah Vihear temple and the disputed maritime area.

They could also ask Cambodian authorities about helping two Thais - Veera Somkwamkid, a coordinator of the Thai Patriots Network, and Ratree Pipatanapaiboon, Veera's secretary - who have been jailed in Cambodia on a charge of spying and illegal entry since last December. The source said Thaksin and his legal adviser might try to convince the Cambodian government to agree on an inmates exchange.

Then, Veera and Ratree, who have been sentenced to eight years and six years in jail respectively, could be released from their prison in Cambodia while the Thai government would release Cambodian prisoners that have been jailed in Thailand on espionage charges.

It is unknown whether Thaksin intends to stay on until Sept 24 when Pheu Thai MPs will play football with representatives from the Cambodian government in a friendship match in Phnom Penh.

Pheu Thai list MP Natthawut Saikua said Pheu Thai MPs who will play football with the Cambodian government's team will not hold any talks with the Cambodian government because they are not representatives of the Thai government.

However, he will ask for suggestions from Cambodian officers on ways to help Veera and Ratree out of prison, said Mr Natthawut.

Cambodian ambassador to Thailand You Ay yesterday met Ms Yingluck at Government House.

He joined ambassadors of Asean member countries and chiefs of international organisations paying a courtesy call on Ms Yingluck.

The envoys offered congratulations to Ms Yingluck on her becoming leader of the Pheu Thai-led coalition government, said government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng. Among the visitors was the Indonesian ambassador to Thailand Mohammad Hatta, who said her government was ready to welcome Ms Yingluck to Indonesia next week.
Read more!

Cambodia: Officials, police disrupt rights training event again

By Aliran

For the second time in less than a month, a human rights training event in Cambodia has been disrupted by men carrying AK-47s, reports the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.

Village, commune and district authorities, together with police armed with AK­47s, disrupted a human rights training event on 7 September. The event was organised by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) and the Natural Resources Protection Group (NRPG) in Mean Rith commune, Sandan district, Kampong Thom Province. Those involved in the disruption threatened to arrest the organixers if the event proceeded. It was the second such disruption in a month.

While no arrests were made, officials and police photographed individuals seeking to participate in the event. The involved in the event were community members affected by the ongoing destruction of Prey Lang forest or other land conflicts as well as event organisers and observers.

The training event was the first to be held by the CCHR and the NRPG following a media report in The Cambodia Daily on 6 September. The report quoted Kampong Thom provincial police chief Phan Sopheng as accusing the two groups of inciting people through the provision of human rights training. He threatened to seek the suspension of both groups if further training events were conducted.

On 6 September, the chief monk at Wat Kiribotaram, under pressure from commune and district level officials, withdrew the permission he previously granted to both groups for the use of the pagod. The groups were supposed to hold a training event on 8 September in Dang Kambith commune for another community affected by the destruction of Prey Lang.

This morning at 8.30am, staff from CCHR and NRPG arrived in Mean Rith commune to prepare the venue for today’s training event. The training was organised in response to information from community members that deforestation activities in the area had increased of late.

In total, 34 participants registered to take part in the training although organisers were informed by participants that others had been stopped from traveling to take part in the event. Shortly after the venue was prepared, officials and police arrived and informed CCHR and NRPG that, if they were to proceed with the event, they would be arrested.

Commune and district officials stated that the organisers had failed to provide adequate notice of the event. But the Law on Peaceful Demonstrations provides that no such notice is required for “education dissemination activities” including training events. The organisers had nevertheless informed the provincial authorities of the event in writing.

Under the direction of deputy governor of Sandan district, Div Hok, police photographed all participants who had registered for the event as well as the organisers and observers from The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights (LICADHO) and The Community Legal Education Center (CLEC).

Div Hok requested that the organisers provide the identity cards of all participants and observers. This request was denied. After a two hour stand-off between the authorities and the organisers, the event was eventually allowed to proceed following a discussion with Sandan district council member Uch Bunhy.

In response to the intervention of officials and armed police, Ou Virak, President of CCHR, commented:

For the second time in less than a month, a human rights training event organised by CCHR and NRPG has been disrupted by men carrying AK-47s. Again, the authorities have claimed that CCHR and NRPG have failed to satisfy notification requirements that simply do not exist. To see the authorities resort to these kinds of tactics against ordinary citizens who simply want to inform themselves of their rights under Cambodian and international law is nothing short of shocking.

Nevertheless, what I will remember most from today is not the school yard bully-boy tactics deployed by the authorities; rather it is the defiance of the participants – ordinary people motivated by their desire to inform themselves of their human rights under Cambodian and international law facing down armed police. Read more!

Yingluck's visit to improve relations: Cambodian deputy PM

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The visit of the newly elected Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to Cambodia next week would definitely ameliorate diplomatic ties between the governments of the two neighbors, said Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on Friday.

Yingluck has scheduled to make a one-day official visit to Cambodia on Sept. 15 to pay courtesy call on Cambodian leaders as she just becomes the new Thai prime minister.

"The visit will build better bilateral cooperation between the two countries," he told reporters at the Phnom Penh International Airport upon his return from the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) in China's Nanning.

The urgent and facing issue the two countries need to tackle is troop pullout from the provisional demilitarized zone of surrounding the 11th century Preah Vihear temple to comply with the order of the International Court of Justice and to end the two countries' military confrontation.

It was still unclear if Prime Minister Hun Sen and Yingluck would raise this issue during the upcoming meeting, said Sok An.

Cambodia and Thailand have had sporadic border conflict over territorial dispute near Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple since the UNESCO listed the temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

However, the military tension has eased since the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in the general elections on July 3.

Meanwhile, Sok An, who is also chairman of Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, insisted that Cambodia and Thailand should resume oil deal negotiations for joint development at the overlapping maritime area in the Gulf of Thailand as soon as possible.

Cambodia and Thailand entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the area of their overlapping maritime claims to the continental shelf in June 2001, setting out an agreed area to be delimited and an agreed joint development area (JDA), but the talks was in limbo during the former Thai government under Abhisit Vejjajiva's administration. Read more!

UK paedophile jailed in Cambodia

The abuse took place in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh

A British tourist has been jailed for 12 years in Cambodia for sex attacks on children as young as nine.

Michael Leach, 51, from London, abused three children in Phnom Penh and was ordered to pay 12 million riel (£1,880) to one of his victims.

Leach was convicted after an operation between the Cambodian police and the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (Ceop).

Leach was convicted after an operation between the Cambodian police and the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (Ceop).

Leach, a former adviser to the UK government on telecommunications, will be deported on his release.

Five Cambodians, including the mothers of two of the victims and a guesthouse owner, also received sentences for acting as accomplices in child prostitution.

'Tip of iceberg'

The success of the co-operation between the UK and Cambodia was welcomed by campaigners.

But David Thomson, of World Vision, the charity which is now caring for Leach's victims, said it wanted that co-operation extended to all paedophile "hotspots".

"Of course it is great that they have been able to work together for a successful outcome: but this is just the tip of the iceberg."

He said that in one project alone in Cambodia in 2009, the charity had referred 53 abused girls to courts.

And Christine Beddoe, director of ECPAT UK, the anti-child exploitation charity, congratulated the Cambodian authorities on the conviction.

"However much more needs to be done on this case and others like it to identify how the UK could have prevented the abuse taking place," she added.

"A thorough case review should take place looking at what the UK authorities knew about Leach's activities before he was arrested by the Cambodian police."

Leach does not automatically go on the UK Sex Offender Register, which ECPAT UK said was "a major weakness" in the protection of children.

Leach worked as a telecommunications adviser for both the Department of Trade and Industry and communications watchdog Ofcom.

Ofcom confirmed Leach worked for the regulator for three years until 2008.

"It was a very junior role advising on radio spectrum matters," a spokeswoman said. Read more!

Highlights of Cambodia and Laos in a Single Tour by Buffalo Tours

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About Buffalo ToursBuffalo Tours was originally founded as a small adventure tour operator in 1994 and has grown to become an award winning inbound tour company, with licensed offices and operations in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The company currently employs over 150 full time and 200 part time staff, hailing from Indochina and Vietnam, Australia, England, the USA, Nepal, France, Denmark, and Germany. For information please visit: http://www.buffalotours.com/ /
Read more!

Thai PM to Visit Cambodia on September 15

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will pay an official visit to Cambodia on September 15 to introduce herself after the assumption of her post.

Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said that he would also accompany the prime minister and seek an opportunity to meet with his counterpart Hor Namhong in order to discuss ways to improve bilateral ties, local media reported.

The foreign minister told the press that he was looking at a possibility for Yingluck to visit neighboring Laos right after her mission in Cambodia.

The PM's visit to Cambodia is part of her overseas tours to ASEAN members. Brunei will be the first country she will visit on September 10 and followed by Indonesia on September 12.

The foreign minister said that originally he and the premier planned to visit the ASEAN countries in alphabet order but schedules of counterparts in those nations did not make this possible.

Surapong stressed that major responsibilities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at present are to enhance relationship with neighboring nations, take less engagement in politics and bring Thailand back as an ASEAN frontline state.

Bilateral relations between Phnom Penh and Bangkok have been deteriorated since the enlisting of Preah Vihear as a world heritage site by Cambodia in 2008. Relations reached the bottom during the Democrat-led administration when the two countries witnessed fierce border fighting in February and April. Read more!

Three men jailed for border espionage

Cambodian, Vietnamese authorities set to appeal

A Thai provincial court has sentenced a Thai, a Cambodian and a Vietnamese to two years in jail for espionage along the Thai-Cambodian border in June.

Nguyen Teng Dang, a 37-year-old Vietnameseman,is taken to a prison in Si Sa Ket yesterday after being sentenced to two years’imprisonment together with a Thai andaCambodianfor espionage along the Thai-Cambodian border in June. SERMPONG THONGSAMRIT


The court in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province yesterday announced the sentences of Suchart Muhammad, a 32-year-old Thai, Cambodian citizen Ung Kimtai, 43, and Nguyen Teng Dang, 37, a Vietnamese national.

Suchart, who drove a pickup for the alleged spies, and Ung also received additional jail terms of four months and three months respectively because they had drugs in their possession.

The jail sentences were halved from eight months and six months, respectively, due to their confessions.

The three men were arrested in the border district of Kantharalak, Si Sa Ket, on the evening of June 7. Their alleged Cambodian spymaster, identified as Wichai or Ya Pao, 48, managed to flee.

Man Wanna, Cambodian consul in Thailand, and Pham Minh Tuan, secretary to the Vietnamese ambassador to Thailand, were present at the ruling along with Thai soldiers and police.

Relatives of the three men also were also present. Some of them burst into tears after the ruling. They saw off the three men from the court as they were escorted to a prison in Kantharalak district.

The Cambodian and Vietnamese authorities will appeal against the verdict.

Meanwhile, Thai Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa said he planned to visit Cambodia on Sept 23 and 24 and has asked if his Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh would be available for a meeting.

The minister said he had to inform his Cambodian counterpart that the Thai cabinet and parliament had to approve in advance the framework for negotiations for the next meeting of the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee.
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Cambodia Becoming Asia’s Newest Casino Gambling Destination

Cambodia is currently one of the hottest markets for casino developers in Asia, as mega-casino development projects are on the rise.

Cambodia is a budding democracy with a population of fifteen million and has one of the fastest growing casino tourism industries in the world.

According to casino gambling news, last year, Cambodia begun regulating its casino industry, closing down thousands of questionable operations and licensing only those who’ve passed the government benchmark.

Cambodian Primer Minister Samdech Hun Sen, has so far done an admirable job of balancing the needs for infrastructure development required by all modern nations while at the same time ensuring that revenues are directed towards health and education projects benefitting local villages and towns.

Cambodia shares borders with Vietnam on the east and Thailand on the west. Thailand prohibits all forms of gambling within their borders for its 68 million citizens and frequently sentences arrested home game players to lengthy prison terms.

Such draconian laws force the Thai people to either play online blackjack, or go to local illegal casinos owned by Thai police. However most choose to travel the four hours and play at a licensed and regulated Cambodian casino without worrying about breaking Thai gambling laws.

Thailand has a large and wealthy upper class of ethnic Chinese for whom gambling is an ingrained part of their cultural traditions, and even a religious requirement during funeral wakes to ensure the soul of their loved one is successfully reincarnated.

Funeral wakes for Thais of Chinese ancestry are now frequently held in Cambodia to ensure that this religious requirement is not interrupted by a police raid.

Developers have been strategically building enormous casinos to service Thais and Vietnamese gamblers. Special short term entry pass aimed at Vietnamese and Thai gamblers have even been created which do not require a passport.

In fact, the first thing a visitor would notice upon crossing main land borders with Cambodia would be Las Vegas style casinos just passed the immigration control building.

Asian gamblers are extremely superstitious and great care was taken about the smallest details to ensure maximum luck and profitability including the use of colors, shapes, styles, the positioning of the doors, and even the number of steps.

Casino developers have to ensure that every aspect of the architectural and design plans for a casino is first examined by Feng Shui consultants to ensure that the ‘universal forces’ and ‘auras’ are in balance.
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Long Beach Expo Seeks Ways to Boost Cambodian Trade

Long Beach, Calif., saw its second annual business expo last weekend, where US and Cambodian partners looked for new ways to increase the flow of trade between the two countries.

Danny Vong, an adviser to the Cambodian-American Business Association, which hosted the expo, said trade was moving forward.

“Last year we did not have permission to import rice from Cambodia,” he said. “This year, two companies are selling Cambodian rice in Long Beach.”

The Imperial Rina Group is one of two companies in Long Beach currently importing rice from Cambodia.

“This is a huge success for IRG, to bring rice produced by Loran, Inc.,” said Burnen Ben, a sales representative for the company. “This is the first time we’ve imported rice from Cambodia to the US.”

“Our first shipment arrived in Long Beach in May,” said Phannarith An, president of Angkor International, the other rice importer. “We’ve had three shipments since then. Many people have supported us, because they want to support Cambodian rice farmers.”

Pan Sorasak, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce, said Cambodia was hoping to export more products to the US.

“First we pushed for rice,” he said. “When we have more experience, we will bring other products, especially agricultural products.”

Aside from promoting trade, the business association also seeks to promote culture, bringing to this year’s expo a fashion show, classical dance and Cambodian martial arts.

Khim Sarith, secretary of state for the Ministry of Culture, praised the efforts of the Long Beach community.

“Our brothers and sisters in the United States have Khmer heart and Khmer blood,” he said. “It is reflected in the expo today. Everyone who’s come to this expo today can get to know some of Cambodia’s characteristics.”

Madeline Chea, 14, was among those who came out for the expo. Born in the US to Cambodian parents, she said she is proud to be Cambodian-American.

“When people ask me what nationality I am, I’m proud to say I’m Cambodian,” she said.
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Clothing brands 'to probe Cambodia faintings'

PHNOM PENH — More than two dozen global clothing brands on Tuesday pledged to investigate a spate of mass faintings among Cambodian garment workers, the UN's labour agency said.

The retailers said they would provide resources and international expertise to find out why hundreds of their suppliers' employees have collapsed recently, the International Labour Organisation said after a meeting in Phnom Penh.

Among the retailers who supported the initiative were Gap, H&M, Walmart and Target, a source who attended the gathering but wished to remain anonymous told AFP.

"More research is urgently needed to identify possible new causes that will explain the fainting phenomenon, as well as eliminate ones we know about, in areas such as occupational safety, health and nutrition," said Tuomo Poutiainen of the ILO's Better Factories Cambodia Programme.

He welcomed the call to action from the brands and noted that the Cambodian government had also set up an inter-ministerial task force to address the issue.

The mass fainting episodes, which appear to be unique to the Cambodian garment industry, are often blamed on workers' poor health, bad ventilation in the workplace or exposure to dangerous chemicals.

The ILO estimates there have been around 10 mass fainting incidents so far this year in the country, which has nearly 300 factories making clothing for export.

Last month, nearly 300 workers had to be hospitalised after falling ill in a factory that supplies knitwear for H&M, which is still investigating the incident with Better Factories Cambodia.

Earlier this year, German sportswear giant Puma said long working hours and numerous health and safety breaches at a footwear supplier were to blame for more than 100 employees collapsing.

The garment industry is a key source of foreign income for Cambodia and employs more than 300,000 workers, mostly women. Read more!

Australia asked to defend Cambodian Non-Government Organisations

The Australian Greens want the Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd to publicly defend the rights of Cambodian Non-Government Organisations facing a crackdown by Phnom Penh.

The Cambodian government warned NGOs after they wrote to the Australian government's aid agency, Ausaid, about the impact of a railway project on local families being resettled.

The resettlement is being managed by Cambodia but Australia has contributed about 20 million US dollars towards the 140 million dollar refurbishment project.

The letter advised Ausaid and its aid partner, the Asian Development Bank, that two children had drowned fetching water at a relocation site due to a lack of proper facilities.

The Greens say these NGOs have been pivotal in highlighting other problems with the resettlement program, including claims of intimidation and forced removal of families.

The warning comes as Phnom Penh tries to pass a new law regulating NGOs, which observers fear is an attempt to silence those critical of the government.


i>Presenter:Joanna McCarthy
Speakers: Lee Rhiannon, Greens Senator Read more!

PM heads to Brunei on her first trip

Yingluck begins Asean tour at the weekend to cement relations; Indonesia and Cambodia also on travel itinerary


Prime Minister Yingluck Shina-watra will make her first trip overseas, beginning with Brunei, this weekend aimed at cementing ties with Asean countries, a government source said yesterday.

Yingluck will make a one-day visit to Brunei on September 10, to Indonesia on September 12 and to Cambodia on September 15.

Foreign Ministry officials had recommended that Prime Minister Yingluck and Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul visit Asean members in alphabet order but the schedules of counterparts in foreign countries did not make this possible.

The Asean members in alphabetical order are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myan-mar (Burma), the Philippines, Singa-pore, Thailand and Vietnam. Although visiting the countries in alphabetical order was not possible, Yingluck has made Brunei her first foreign destination as PM.

Brunei is the country which her brother and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra often visited while in exile. Thaksin openly met former prime minister Banharn Silpa-archa, who is de-facto leader of the coalition Chart Thai Pattana Party, in Brunei recently to discuss a portfolio quota in the Yingluck cabinet.

Yingluck's next stop will be Indonesia, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of Asean. Jakarta is also playing a crucial role in facilitating peace efforts between Thailand and Cambodia following a border dispute at the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear.

Indonesia planned to dispatch an observer team to assess the situation and observe troop withdrawal from the disputed area adjacent to the temple in accordance with the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The court ordered Thailand and Cambodia to withdraw their troops from the court-determined demilitarised zone near the temple pending interpretation of the 1962 judgement on the Preah Vihear case. The court wanted the two countries to welcome an Indonesian observer team for the troop-withdrawal process. Cambodia decided to fully comply with the ICJ injunction. The previous Thai government under Abhisit Vejjajiva did not take any clear position on the order and Yingluck also has not yet announced her stand.

She will visit Cambodia on September 15, to introduce herself to the government in Phnom Penh while also attempting to improve bilateral relations after the boundary conflict.

Foreign Minister Surapong said he would be accompanying the prime minister to Phnom Penh and seek the opportunity to meet his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong to discuss various issues that have been at the core of the conflict between the two countries. The minister said he would seek ways to secure the release of the two Thai nationalist activists - Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Pipatanapaiboon - who are serving jail sentences in Phnom Penh on espionage charges.

Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha plans to visit Cambodia on September 23-24 to discuss troop arrangement along the border and the possibility of activating a meeting of the General Border Committee.

Meanwhile, in a separate event, the Kanthalalak court yesterday sentenced to two years' imprisonment a Thai national Suchart Muhammad, a Cambodian Ung Kimtai and a Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Don.

They were arrested on June 7 in Si Sa Ket's Kanthalalak district while driving a pickup truck to see the military outpost in the area. The court convicted them of spying on the locations of the military bases and bunkers of civilians along the border. Read more!

Artist Vann Nath, Khmer Rouge Survivor, Dies at 66

Paintings by human rights icon and artists Vann Nath depicting how torture devices were used hang on the walls of Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 2011.


Family members say Cambodia's Vann Nath, one of only seven survivors of a vast and notorious Khmer Rouge torture center, died Monday at age 66.

The human rights icon and artist was hospitalized late last month after suffering heart problems and has been in a coma for days. His son-in-law told the French news agency Agence France Presse his death was "a big loss for the history of Cambodia."

Vann Nath was one of only a handful of people to emerge alive from the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, where more than 12,000 people died in the 1970s under Khmer Rouge rule. In later life he became a leading advocate for victims of Khmer Rouge atrocities.

His 1998 memoir - A Cambodian Prison Portrait: One Year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21 Prison - is the only written account by a survivor of the prison.

News of Vann Nath's death comes as an international tribunal prepares to begin the long-awaited trial of the four most-senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders - all charged with atrocities during the group's 1975-1979 rule. The defendants, including the nominal Khmer Rouge head of state, 79-year-old Khieu Samphan, face charges of religious persecution, torture and genocide in the deaths of as many as 2 million people.

The tribunal also is deliberating an appeal by convicted war criminal Duch, the one-time chief of Tuol Sleng prison. Duch was convicted of war crimes and imprisoned earlier this year for 30 years - a sentence later reduced to 19 years because of time served in detention. Read more!

Land rights acrimony in AusAID Asian project

A TAXPAYER-FUNDED development project is mired in controversy after the Cambodian government launched a crackdown against land rights organisations critical of the compulsory resettlement of families.

The Cambodian government has cautioned a small group of foreign organisations against stirring up unrest among those being forced off their land and has banned land rights organisation Sahmakum Teang Tnaut from operating for five months.

AusAID first assistant director general Richard Moore told The Australian the agency was concerned and had co-written a strongly-worded letter with the Asian Development Bank to the Cambodian government on August 17.

AusAID has contributed $US21.5 million ($20.3m) towards the $US141m project to renovate Cambodia's decrepit rail system, with the Asian Development Bank providing $US84m in concessional loans.

The Cambodian government is responsible for resettling and compensating people who are forced off their land.

But STT has accused the Cambodian government of ripping people off by downgrading the value of land being compulsorily acquired through the project.

Mr Moore conceded there were problems with the project and that the Department of Foreign Affairs was working through more than 300 complaints.

"We knew that managing the resettlement issues was going to be complex," he said.

STT program co-ordinator Ee Sarom said his organisation did not want to stop the development, but wanted problems highlighted. Project partners should "address anomalies and ensure the affected people are aware of their rights".

"This type of work is important in ensuring development projects are equitable, sustainable, and beneficial to all Cambodians."

AusAID and the development bank came under fire from STT and other land rights groups in May after two young children drowned at a resettlement site for residents displaced by the project.

The Cambodian government cautioned staff from the NGO Forum, an umbrella organisation, over letters it sent to AusAID and ADB officials alerting them about the situation at resettlement sites.

It also summoned staff from Bridges Across Borders Cambodia, another land rights group, to warn them about making "false" claims. Read more!

US companies find Asean market increasingly important

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 5, 2011): American companies expect the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market to become increasingly important for their businesses, according to the findings of the Asean Business Outlook Survey 2011.

The majority of companies or some 73% of the survey respondents said they expect Asean's importance to their business will increase over the next two years, with 85% of them planning to expand their business in Asean.

No company is planning on any cutback, it said.

The survey also revealed that the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement was vital for US businesses, with 80% of respondents saying that their companies used the tariff benefits of the FTAs Asean has completed with its trade partners.

"The Asean-China FTA was also highly rated with 49% of companies using its benefits," the survey revealed.

The Asean Business Outlook survey, which is now in its 10th year, seeks to understand the outlook on business growth and perceptions of doing business in Asean.

It interviewed 327 senior executives from US companies in Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The survey was conducted by The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (AmCham Singapore) in collaboration with many other related associations and chambers.

Meanwhile, on Malaysia, the survey said Malaysia improved in a number of local business factors, such as the availability of raw materials and low cost labour in 2011.

"However, new concerns have appeared, including the availability of trained personnel for some positions and problems with laws and regulations.

"Corruption, a long-standing issue, has greatly improved, with only 35% dissatisfaction this year compared to 63% in 2010," the survey said, adding that overall, 80% of the respondents still predicted that their business will expand in Malaysia.

The survey also revealed that all respondents had predicted an increase in the housing cost as well as living cost and three quarters of the respondents expect an increase in the interest rate.

Vice President of AmCham Malaysia, Datuk Tim Garland said the American companies' positive business forecast and expansion in Malaysia were great testaments to the effective implementation of Malaysia's Government Transformation Program (GTP) and Economic Transformation Program (ETP).

"AmCham Malaysia is excited to be part of Malaysia corporate expansion in Asean and we will be working closely with all key stakeholders towards reducing regulatory barriers and improving the ease of doing business locally and in Asean, for existing and potential American investors as they share in Asean growth," he said.

The majority of respondents, he said, are satisfied or neutral towards the government’s guidelines and the fairness of their applications, and with local government institutions. – Bernama
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Cambodia makes 7th troop withdraw from border with Thailand

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Monday pulled out another 500 troops from the border area with Thailand, marking the seventh of such withdrawals since the two neighboring countries' military tension began to ease in July.

The troops in the Battalion No. 408 stationed along Cambodian and Thai border, some 32 kilometers west of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, moved back to their barracks in Siem Reap province.

The troop pullback ceremony was held on Monday with the participation of Gen. Kun Kim, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Force, and Gen. Chea Dara, deputy commander-in-chief of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces for Preah Vihear Direction.

Kun Kim reiterated that the pullout was made at the behest of Prime Minister Hun Sen, adding the withdrawals have been made only outside the provisional demilitarized zone (PDZ) defined by the International Court of Justice.

"The pullout from the PDZ of about 17 kilometers surrounding the Preah Vihear temple must be done simultaneously with Thai troops," he said.

On July 18, the International Court of Justice ordered Cambodia and Thailand to immediately withdraw their military personnel from the provisional demilitarized zone on the disputed border near Preah Vihear temple and allow ASEAN observers access to the provisional demilitarized zone to monitor ceasefire.

The conflict between Cambodia and Thailand broke out just a week after the Preah Vihear temple was listed as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 sq km of scrub next to the temple.

However, the military tension has eased since former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in July's general election.
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US broadcaster stands by its reporting in contempt of court row

Phnom Penh - US broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) on Friday shrugged off a contempt of court citation by judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, describing it as 'unwarranted.'

VOA added that it was concerned the citation could have a 'chilling effect' on coverage of the UN-backed court.

Investigating judges at the war crimes court said Wednesday that they had started proceedings against VOA after its Cambodian language service, VOA Khmer, quoted from a confidential court document and showed the document in two broadcasts in August.

The document, which was leaked this year, is the prosecution's file detailing crimes allegedly committed by three suspects in the tribunal's fourth case. The investigating judges are currently examining those allegations. 

'The careful use of confidential sources and documents that provide important insight into critical issues is a well-established practice by independent journalists the world over,' VOA argued in a statement.

'Furthermore, the documents in question have been used by other news organizations,' the broadcaster said.

The court estimated that 1.7 million to 2.2 million people died during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule of Cambodia. The three suspects in case four are under investigation for their alleged roles in some of those deaths.

On Thursday, tribunal spokeswoman Yuko Maeda said the investigating judges would not disclose any details of the contempt investigation, but she said judges were pursuing VOA Khmer because 'they had already given a public warning in June [about quoting from the case four file, and VOA still quoted from that confidential document.'

Legal experts said this week that it was unclear how the court would proceed against VOA Khmer not least since the staff involved are based at VOA's headquarters in Washington.

The investigating judges office was widely criticized this year for closing its third case, which was against two former Khmer Rouge military officers, without interviewing the two suspects or investigating crime sites.

Its decision to close that case, which the international prosecutor has appealed, led to a number of foreign staff resigning from the office.

The investigating judges later denied accusations they were bending to the will of the Cambodian government, which has stated repeatedly it would not permit any prosecutions beyond case two. Observers said they fear case four would also be scuttled.

Case two, testimony in which was expected to start next year, sees the four surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The elderly defendants have denied all charges.

In its first case, the court last year sentenced the regime's security chief, Comrade Duch, to 30 years in prison after finding him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Duch has appealed his conviction.

This week, the tribunal's Supreme Court chamber said it would try to rule on Duch's appeal by the end of this year.
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Suthep reaffirms no secret talks with Cambodia

BANGKOK, Sept 3 - Former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban on Saturday denied Cambodia's claims over alleged secret talks on overlapping oil and gas-rich maritime territories during the tenure of Abhisit Vejjajiva administration, while challenging the Thai government to speed up investigation of the matter.

Mr Suthep made remarks following a statement by the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) claiming that secret meetings between him and his Cambodian counterpart Sok An were held several times in various locations such as Cambodia’s Kandal province, China’s Kunming city in Yunnan, and Hong Kong, to deal with overlapping claims to the offshore area believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves.

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra also assigned Foreign Minister Surapong Towichakchaikul to look into the case.

Mr Suthep, former deputy premier who supervised national security, reasserted that it was Cambodian deputy prime minister Sok An who contacted him for unofficial meetings, before an official meeting on maritime demarcation would be officially held.

"After the unofficial talks, I reported the outcome to concerned agencies, with about 30 to 40 people being informed of the meeting results," stated Mr Suthep. "So it was not a secret."

The Democrat MP said that an official meeting however was not held due to the ongoing tensions between Thailand and Cambodia stemming from a border dispute.

"If the government will set up a committee to probe the case, I have no problem, and I challenge them to speed up the investigation and reveal the results to the public no matter who may benefit from the outcome," reaffirmed Mr Suthep.

Following allegations by the foreign minister saying Mr Suthep, former defence minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan and Cambodian deputy premier Sok An jointly opened an energy investment firm, Mr Suthep asserted he has never invested in any energy business with anyone, while urging those who have evidence that he formed such a company to disclose the details.

Mr Suthep said he was willing to divest the business for public benefit if it was found that he had such a business.

Foreign minister Surapong earlier said he would send a letter to Cambodia seeking more details on the allegations regarding Mr Suthep, while defending there was no hidden agenda over the Cambodian move, as Phnom Penh has affirmed that it wanted to improve relations with Thailand.

The Phnom Penh Post earlier reported a CNPA statement saying meetings between high ranking officials including Prime Minister Hun Sen, Deputy Minister Sok An, former Thai deputy prime minister Suthep and former defence minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan took place between June 2009 and July 2010 at various locations, and that Mr Suthep at the time “indicated a strong preference to resolve this issue during the mandate of the Abhisit government.”

As Mr Abhisit earlier accused deposed premier Thaksin Shinawara of having secret interests with Cambodia, the CNPA statement said it needed to reveal the truth “to protect the interests of Cambodia and H.E. Thaksin Shinawatra against baseless allegations made on the part of the Democrats.” (MCOT online news) Read more!

FM: Dems must explain 'secret talks'

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul has demanded that former Democrat prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy Suthep Thaugsuban clarify the alleged secret talks about oil and gas interests in the overlapping marine area with Cambodia during their government's tenure.

Mr Surapong said on Friday he will investigate the case openly to ensure all sides are happy and that the investigation will not yield benefits to the current administration.

"When Mr Suthep was assigned to negotiate with Cambodia, the Democrat-led government had not revoked the Thai-Cambodian memorandum of understanding [on an overlapping maritime border area]," the minister said.

The Cambodian government had no hidden agenda when revealing the alleged secret talks, he said.

Mr Surapong said he will visit Phnom Penh on Sept 14 to discuss ways to help yellow-shirt activist Veera Somkwamkid and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon, who were convicted of illegal entry and espionage and jailed in Cambodia.

The newforeign minister said he had decided to arrange his Asean tour schedule in alphabetical order and will travel to Brunei first on Sept 11.

The regional tour will encompass all the nine other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

"I will start with Brunei as it is first alphabetically, but Indonesia will come second because it's currently chairman of Asean," he told reporters.

The alphabetical order will then resume with a trip to Cambodia, on Sept 14, and then Laos.

Mr Surapong, whose appointment last month attracted criticism because of his lack of real experience in foreign affairs, said he would visit all other Asean nations -- Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam -- during September but gave no specific dates for each country.
Read more!

Thai Foreign Minister to visit Cambodia Sept 14

BANGKOK, Sept 1 - Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Towichakchaikul said on Friday he would visit Cambodia on Sept 14, as part of his introductory trip among the members countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and at the same time will seek additional information on the alleged secret talks on overlapping oil and gas-rich maritime area between the previous Thai government and Cambodia.

The foreign minister said he planned to visit the other nine members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in alphabetical order, beginning with Brunei.

Mr Surapong said he will visit Cambodia on September 14 and he will seek the opportunity to help secure the release of two activists of Thailand's Patriot Network, Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, now being detained in a Cambodian jail for illegal entry and spying charges.

Regarding the allegation of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) that secret meetings between former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban and his Cambodian counterpart Sok An were held several times to deal with overlapping claims to the offshore area believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves, Mr Surapong said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has assigned him to look into the case.

The foreign minister urged Mr Suthep to come clean to the public as the meetings were allegedly held secretly without acknowledgement of the Thai foreign ministry and other concerned officials.

"I will send a letter to Cambodia seeking more details on that and will inform the public if any evidence or facts are established," Mr Surapong said, assuring the public that there is no hidden agenda over the Cambodian move as Phnom Penh has affirmed that it wants to improve its relations with Thailand.

"In the statement, Cambodia insists it needs to disclose the information as Mr Suthep had been assigned by Mr Abhisit to discuss the matter secretly several times and the Thai public may be curious about it," Mr Surapong said.

“I also doubt why the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the maritime conflict of interest was cancelled by a Thai cabinet resolution on Nov 10, 2009, but not made official, and then a year later Mr Suthep was re-appointed to chair a committee on the matter,” he added.

The Cambodian statement said that meetings between high ranking officials including Prime Minister Hun Sen, Deputy Minister Sok An, former Thai deputy prime minister Suthep and former defence minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan took place in June 2009 and July 2010 in various locations including Cambodia’s Kandal province, China’s Kunming city in Yunnan, and Hong Kong.

The statement claimed Mr Suthep at the time “indicated a strong preference to resolve this issue during the mandate of the Abhisit government.”

As Mr Abhisit earlier accused deposed premier Thaksin Shinawara of having secret interests with Cambodia, the CNPA statement said it needs to reveal the truth “to protect the interests of Cambodia and H.E. Thaksin Shinawatra against baseless allegations made on part of the Democrats.”

Meanwhile, former Thai prime minister and the opposition Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva explained that he assigned Mr Suthep to oversee the matter as talks between the sides were needed to fine-tune some information before bringing the case to Parliament. All moves however were suspended after Phnom Penh appointed the fugitive ex-premier Thaksin as its adviser.

Mr Suthep has clearly clarified the issue and there was nothing unusual, Mr Abhisit said, “If there was something wrong, why did we have to suspend the 2001 MoU?"

Mr Abhisit also commented that the statement of Cambodian government casting his government in a bad light is clear in itself that his government had no vested interests with the neighbouring country.

The Democrat leader added the foreign ministry advised him to put the 2001 MoU on hold as it affects the maritime demarcation. He urged the public to closely monitor the cooperation between Cambodian government and the current Thai government, which he says is preferred by Phnom Penh. (MCOT online) Read more!

Boy, 3, readied for open-heart surgery

LOS ANGELES - An impoverished Cambodian boy in need of an open-heart operation met with hospital staff Thursday and appears set for the procedure.


Bunkek Song holds her 3-year-old brother, heart patient Bunlak Song, in the Cambodian New Year Parade in Long Beach on Saturday. (Jeff Gritchen / Staff Photographer)


Children's Hospital Los Angeles has set Sept. 23 as the tentative date for surgery for Bunlak Song, according to Peter Chhun, whose Long Beach-based nonprofit is sponsoring the boy.

Before the boy can have the heart procedure, he needs dental work done. That will be done Tuesday, which had initially been the the proposed date for the surgery. Bunlak had been scheduled to meet with heart surgeon Cynthia Herrington, who will perform the operation, but she was unavailable.

The 3-year-old boy from a small village in Cambodia suffers from a large hole in his heart called a ventricular septal defect and several other less severe heart ailments.

Because of the hole, blood is shunted backward through the heart and sends oxygenated blood into the lungs, damaging them. Left untreated, it becomes irreversible. In the United States, the defect is usually treated in the first year of life.

Bunlak has been unable to receive treatment in Cambodia and was brought to the United States by Chhun and his nonprofit, Hearts Without Boundaries.

The boy is the fourth heart patient the group has sponsored. The other three, Davik Teng, Soksamnang Vy and Socheat Nha, all had successful surgeries and have returned to their homeland.

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, Read more!

Climate Change Poses Major Threat to Cambodia’s Rural Poor

The Cambodian economy faces major problems for its predominantly rural population in the event of more erratic climate shifts, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s 2011 Cambodian Human Development Report.

“This is an agrarian economy that depends very much on weather. And we are among the poorest countries in the world,” said Dr Tin Ponlok, deputy director general of the Ministry of Environment’s Climate Change Department, in a press conference, as quoted by the Phnom Penh Post.

About 80 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people live in rural areas, and rely mainly on agriculture as their primary source of livelihood. According to some studies, rice production – a key agricultural product – could decline significantly if the temperature rose by just one degree Celsius.

"Seasonal practices are now changing and the growing cycle for rice is changing more and more," said Richard Friend, co-author of the report.

"Many farmers lose their seedlings when the rains are delayed," he said. "The rains appear to be coming later than usual in line with climate change projections for Cambodia and the region."

Dr Ponlok added that the country’s economic structure had made it particularly susceptible to climate change.

“We have very limited adaptive capacity… so climate change poses additional threats to efforts to develop the country,” he said.

The poorest Cambodians are expected to experience the worst effects of climate change. As a result, the report suggests that it is important for the country to it alleviate poverty by “ensuring universal access to health care, improving disease monitoring and surveillance, and establishing social safety nets”.

“By strengthening these critical areas of vulnerability and poverty, the likely impacts of climate change can be reduced,” the report says.

“At the same time, the human capital of the country can be strengthened and directed to the kinds of actions needed to make positive, longer-term development changes.”

According to Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon, addressing the effects of climate change is now one of the government’s highest priorities. However he warned that future action had to be thoroughly incorporated into strategic policies across all sectors at the national and sub-national levels in order to build future resilience.

"This needs to be done particularly in the sectors that are the backbone of the national economy such as agriculture, water resources, fisheries, forestry, energy and physical infrastructure," he said.

Dr Ponlok supported his views and stressed the importance of developing any future national development strategies with climate change in mind.

“We are at the early stages of our development, so it’s quite important to design the most appropriate development pathway. We call it the green growth economy, that takes climate change into account,” he said. “It’s not very easy, because no such model is in place.” Read more!

FEATURE-'Land grabs' mar Cambodia's boom, rattle investors

 
* As economy grows, forced evictions rise

* Lack of documents cause of land disputes

* EU concerned; duty-free deal may be withdrawn on some produce

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Kong Song's farmland was his family's livelihood for three decades until the bulldozers moved in and tore down his home in rural Cambodia to make way for a multimillion dollar foreign-led business.

His family was one of 253 forcibly evicted five years ago in southern Koh Kong province to accommodate a $90.6 million sugar project by a firm lured by duty-free exports to the European Union that were designed to help the world's poorest countries.

This is the flip side of a foreign investment boom in which the rich and powerful cash in at the expense of what rights groups estimate is about 30,000 Cambodians forcibly evicted from their homes a year.

The evictions and so-called "land grabs" have angered donors, putting at stake hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid as well as a trade scheme that gives Cambodian produce tariff-free access to the European Union.

Kong Song is fighting back. He and his neighbours have filed a lawsuit against the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Ltd, a joint venture with Thailand's Khon Kaen Sugar and Taiwan's Vewong Corporation. But, as with most legal challenges against Cambodia's business elite, it has gone nowhere.

"We're demanding that Cambodia's development is development for all, not the kind that makes its people shed tears," Kong Song said during a visit to the capital Phnom Penh.

Neither Koh Kong Sugar nor Khon Kaen Sugar responded to interview requests when contacted by Reuters.

Kong Song's story is common in Cambodia. He survived the 1975-1979 "Year Zero" revolution by the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge regime and rebuilt his life, cultivating a small plot of land in the countryside.

But land ownership was abolished under the brutal regime and most legal documents were destroyed, leaving Kong Song and millions of Cambodians without title deeds.

That leaves him and others in a legal grey-zone, particularly during a wave of development led by politically connected businesses and foreign firms, mostly from China, that line up to buy up disputed land to start agriculture, mining or real estate projects.

International donors and lenders such as the World Bank have criticised the government and threatened to halt loans until a solution is found. The government's response has been to cancel its annual meeting with donors, citing global economic uncertainty and Western countries "mired in crisis".

ALARMING TREND

The trend has raised questions about whether Cambodia should be entitled to an initiative by the European Union, which allows 48 of the world's poorest nations to export any produce other than weapons to EU states, without paying tariffs.

Foreign firms have capitalised on the deal, known as the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative, and many more are showing interest in Cambodia, including sugar, rice and rubber exporters from neighbouring Thailand.

The subsequent foreign investment has created thousands of jobs, especially in garment manufacturing, which employs 300,000 of Cambodia's 13.4 million people and is the third-largest revenue source for its fledgling $11 billion economy.

It has also elevated Europe as a crucial export destination. The EU was Cambodia's second-largest export market last year after the United States, generating some 930 million euros ($1.3 billion) up 29 percent from 2009.

The most-recent EU data shows the revenue generated in the first five months of this year is already double that of the whole of 2010. Rice exports are expected to swell further after doubling to 40,000 tonnes in 2010 from the previous year.

The EU's Charge d'Affaires in Cambodia, Rafael Dochao Moreno, said tax incentives had made the country an attractive destination for investment and said the EU was "seriously concerned" about land disputes and evictions.

"Thousands of families have been expelled from their land. We want the government to take the necessary steps to avoid this kind of eviction especially when they are done by force and with violence," he said.

Cambodia's government needed to conduct proper consultations before granting future economic land concessions, he said, adding that certain projects could have privileges withdrawn if found to have been involved in unlawful evictions.

"There are indeed provisions ... outlining the procedure of temporary withdrawal of certain products originating in a country benefiting from the EBA," he said.

Such penalties could undermine Cambodia's efforts to position itself as one of Asia's most-promising frontier markets and instead highlight its struggle to tame corruption.

Alexandra Herbel, head of the French-Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, said Western companies looking to do business in Cambodia were keen to "invest correctly" and most would avoid projects associated with disputed land or evictions.

Cambodian Commerce Secretary of State Mao Thura said steps should be taken to ensure EBA privileges were not withdrawn, but he declined to provide specifics.

"The people who benefit from the EBA are a few million," Mao Thura said during a recent forum on the EBA. "We're not just talking only about the garment sector, millions of our people are farmers." (Editing by Martin Petty and Jason Szep) Read more!

CAMBODIA-THAILAND: Men trafficked into "slavery" at sea

PHNOM PENH, 29 August 2011 (IRIN) - Taing Ky* and his cousin were told they would be gardeners in Thailand, but instead they were forced to work on Thai fishing boats.

Each year, hundreds of Cambodian men, many impoverished farmers, are lured from their homes with the promise of better-paying jobs in Thailand, only to find themselves on Thai fishing boats plying the waters of the South China Sea.

"We were told we would earn good money," Taing Ky, 37, a father-of-five from Cambodia's Kampot Province, about 200km southwest of Phnom Penh, told IRIN. After six months, they managed to escape while the boat was offloading on Benjina island in northern Indonesia. There they were picked up by local authorities.

Thousands of Cambodian men are now believed to be working against their will in exploitative working conditions on long-haul trawlers well beyond the reach of law enforcement agencies, and often alongside Burmese men.

"It's slavery. There's no other way to describe it," Lim Tith, national project coordinator for the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), told IRIN.

Thousands exploited
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), about 125,000 Cambodians are registered as working legally in Thailand, including more than 25,000 in the fishing sector.

But with formal migration costs becoming prohibitive and limited economic opportunities for Cambodians at home, it is widely believed the number of undocumented Cambodians in Thailand is significantly higher; many are trafficked.

Of the 89,096 Cambodians deported from Thailand in 2009 for illegal migration, more than 20,000 (23 percent) were reportedly trafficked, according to a 2010 UNIAP Human Trafficking Sentinel Surveillance.

And while about 31 percent of Cambodian fishermen deported from Thailand reported being trafficked, those on fishing boats far from Thai shores for up to a year at a time are more difficult to track and regularly drop off the radar.

"This is a big problem, but the cases we actually receive are really just the tip of the iceberg," said Lim Tith. "The true number of men being trafficked in this manner is much higher."

In addition, the problem appears to be shifting from Malaysia to Indonesian waters, where more and more men are now being reported, 25 this year alone, he said.

Traumatized
Those lucky enough to escape report 20-hour work days, food deprivation, regular beatings and threats at the hands of the crew, many of whom are armed.

"The captain had a gun. We had no choice but to work," said one survivor.

So bad are conditions that those deemed expendable are tossed overboard.

"Many of these men have been badly traumatized by what's happened to them," Mom Sok Char, programme manager for Legal Support for Children and Women (LSCW), a local NGO and one of the first to monitor the trafficking of men, explained. "After months of forced labour, that's understandable."

Culturally, most men do not seek psychological support, he said, making follow-up and adjustment back into the community particularly difficult.

"More and more men are falling victim and this is a genuine concern of the Cambodian government," San Arun, chairwoman of the Cambodian Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT) taskforce, agreed. "It's not just women and children any more," she said, calling for greater regional cooperation on trafficking.

Thai action urged
Earlier this month, the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, called on the Thai government to "do more to combat human trafficking effectively and protect the rights of migrant workers who are increasingly vulnerable to forced and exploitative labour.

"Thailand faces significant challenges as a source, transit and destination country," said the UN expert at the end of her 12-day mission to the country.

"The trend of trafficking for forced labour is growing in scale in the agricultural, construction and fishing industries," she said.

While commending the Thai government with the enactment of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, she warned that the implementation and enforcement of the law remained "weak and fragmented", often hampered by corruption, especially among low-cadre law enforcement officers at provincial and local levels.

"Thailand must do more to combat human trafficking effectively," Ezeilo concluded.

Thai authorities say there is little they can do about the trafficked Cambodians working on Thai fishing boats, particularly when the alleged crimes occurred outside Thai waters, if they do not report it.

According to UNIAP, most of the deportees who were exploited choose not to report their cases due to fear of their broker, employer, or the police; a lack of understanding of their rights; and/or inability to speak Thai.

*not his real name Read more!