KRATIE PROVINCE, 17 October 2011 (IRIN) - Severe flooding across Cambodia poses serious risks to the country's food security, according to NGOs.
Flooding has spread across 17 of Cambodia's 24 provinces, killing 247 people, forcing the evacuation of more than 34,000 households, and destroying some 200,000 hectares of rice fields, which comprise nearly 10 percent of the country's harvest, according to the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) [ http://www.ncdm.gov.kh/ ], a government agency.
It said flood damage, including destruction of more than 1,000 schools and some 2,400km of roads, would exceed that caused by devastating floods in 2000, which cost US$161 million in damage.
Leh Smah, 62, said a third of residents in his community, Chhoer Teal Plun Village in Kratie Province in the northeast, had lost large parts or all of their rice harvest.
The 20kg rice sacks donated to affected families by the Red Cross will last a week, he said. "Soon they will be out of food again and will have to purchase food on credit unless they receive more aid."
More than 80,000 families have received aid, according to the NCDM.
Francis Perez, head of Oxfam in Cambodia, said flood relief varied by province, with robust assistance in most areas but there were still "huge pockets where emergency response has been very inadequate".
The southeastern province of Prey Vey in particular, he said, had received far less flood relief than other provinces and some communities were facing food shortages.
Recovery
The longer-term impact of the flooding remains uncertain but, says Rosaleen Martin, a spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme, there are widespread concerns over food security.
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced last week that the government would create a $100 million fund for relief and rehabilitation but no details have been given on how this money would be managed.
The Agriculture Ministry says it plans to distribute rice seeds to flood-affected communities to help offset losses from destroyed crops.
In a move to stabilize rice prices, which began to rise because of the flood, government authorities released 120MT of government-stocked milled rice on to the market on 16 October.
A spokesperson for the UN Disaster Management Team in Cambodia said the group was drafting a proposal for an emergency fund that would include assistance for emergency relief and the rehabilitation of destroyed fields.
Oxfam's Perez said that because of losses to their rice harvest, farmers would likely turn to borrowing, which is commonly done at usury rates "that drive people into a risky cycle".
Health risks
Health officials say the flooding had prolonged the dengue fever season: 54 children have died from the disease in the first nine months of this year, compared with 28 in 2010, according to the government's National Dengue Control Programme.
Dengue outbreaks are spurred by heavy rain, which forms pools that harbour the eggs of mosquitoes carrying the disease.
Other health risks associated with flooding include water-borne diseases spurred by damage to toilet and drinking water facilities, as well as respiratory infections and measles.
The UN and a number of NGOs were coordinating with government agencies to provide water purification tablets, ceramic water filters and jerry cans for safe water storage.
Nima Asgari, a public health specialist with the World Health Organization in Cambodia, said no signs had yet emerged of disease outbreaks in affected communities.
The main task for health officials is to restore emergency health services, including assisted birthing, to affected communities.
The UN Children's Fund is releasing funding for rural government health offices to form mobile teams to travel to families cut off from regular healthcare access because of the floods, said Richard Bridle, the group's country representative.
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Monday, October 17, 2011
Cambodia Worries about long-term flood fallout
Despite Ban, Cambodian Maids Still Being Sent to Malaysia
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen signed an order in recent days that bars recruitment firms from sending domestic workers to Malaysia after numerous reports of abuses.
But a prominent rights group says the ban was quickly violated when at least two firms sent more women abroad on Monday.
Rights groups have been pressuring Phnom Penh for months to combat the abuse of Cambodian maids working in Malaysia.
Last Friday Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to take action.
On Saturday he signed an order banning Cambodian recruitment firms from sending domestic workers to Malaysia.
Rights groups welcomed the ban. Maid placement agencies condemned it.
But on Monday, Naly Pilorge, the director of rights group LICADHO, says that two firms sent at least 25 young women to Malaysia on the early morning flight from Phnom Penh.
“I mean Friday and Saturday I was encouraged, but after my colleagues reported that at least 25 women were seen leaving to Malaysia this morning, it’s clear to me that the authorities, the companies are defying this ban," said Pilorge. "So no, I’m not encouraged.”
For months opposition legislators in Cambodia have highlighted serious abuses against domestic workers in Malaysia.
Pilorge believes the government has banned the flow of migrant workers now, in part, because officials worry that Washington may downgrade its human trafficking status, putting it at risk of losing U.S. foreign aid.
The 2011 State Department Trafficking in Persons report said that Cambodia has made no improvements to identify or protect trafficking victims.
Around 300,000 young people enter Cambodia’s job market each year, but there is no paying work available locally for most.
That is why tens of thousands cross - legally and illegally - into Thailand and Malaysia each year seeking employment.
At least 30,000 Cambodian women are employed as domestic workers in Malaysia.
Many more men and women work or are trafficked into other jobs such as factories and plantations or suffer in slave-like conditions on fishing vessels and brothels.
Pilorge estimated around 3,000 Cambodian women aged 18-24 leave for Malaysia each month.
“What happens in reality is that documents are falsified, lies are said to families, to girls, recruiting agencies are detaining girls, indebting them - all these criminal acts just to meet the quota of being able to send 3,000 girls and women to Malaysia,” said Pilorge.
Just last week Cambodian police raided a recruitment firm and freed 35 underage recruits. That firm has since been closed - the first time a Cambodian labor company has been stripped of its operating license.
Pilorge says the ban is a start, but only that.
“A ban is just a temporary bandage. What really needs to happen is that no Cambodian women are sent to Malaysia until proper safeguards and other mechanisms are put in place to protect domestic workers and other Cambodian workers,” added Pilorge.
Late Monday, Malaysia’s The Star newspaper quoted the Malaysian foreign minister as saying his country will offer Cambodia an apology should the allegations of torture and abuse be found true.
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Saturday, October 15, 2011
Aid Arrives for Flood-Swamped Thailand, Cambodia
United States Marines arrived in Bangkok Saturday with equipment, sandbags and other relief supplies. The U.S. ambassador to Thailand, Kristie Kenney, said the Marines will work with the Thai military to battle floodwaters that have hit 61 of Thailand's 76 provinces.
Officials say almost 300 people have died in Thailand, most of them north of Bangkok, in and near the ancient temple city of Ayutthaya.
Much of Ayutthaya remained under water Saturday, driving some residents, and their pets, to the rooftops of homes to stay dry. In less affected areas, where water was only waist deep, relief crews in boats distributed supplies to stranded residents.
A Dutch volunteer, Edwin Wiek, said many people in Ayutthaya have no electricity, food or water; others are sick and have no means of getting out.
Workers at the Bang Pa-in industrial center in Ayutthaya province tried to keep out rising water but had to abandon the effort Saturday. News reports say the complex hosted more than 90 manufacturers of auto parts, electronics, garments and plastics.
Thais who doggedly stayed by their homes on Koh Kred Island tried to make their way through floodwaters that were chest- or neck-high.
Aid from China arrived Saturday in Cambodia, where flooding and landslides have killed 247 people. A Cambodian government spokesman said the relief supplies will go to hospitals in the hardest-hit areas.
Torrential rains and flooding are also being blamed for deaths in Vietnam and the Philippines. Read more!
Cambodia: Overhaul Protections for Migrant Domestic Workers
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's proposed ban on sending domestic workers to Malaysia should be accompanied by a major overhaul in protections for these workers. On October 14, 2011, Hun Sen promised an opposition lawmaker, Mu Sochua, to halt migration in the wake of repeated complaints of abuse during recruitment in Cambodia and employment in Malaysia.
(New York) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's proposed ban on sending domestic workers to Malaysia should be accompanied by a major overhaul in protections for these workers, Human Rights Watch said today. On October 14, 2011, Hun Sen promised an opposition lawmaker, Mu Sochua, to halt migration in the wake of repeated complaints of abuse during recruitment in Cambodia and employment in Malaysia.
Underage recruitment, forced confinement in training centers, and deception about recruitment debts and working conditions plague the recruitment of tens of thousands of Cambodians migrating to Malaysia as domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said.
"Prime Minister Hun Sen is finally demonstrating concern about the plight of Cambodian migrant domestic workers, but a ban is only a temporary measure," said Jyotsna Poudyal, women's rights research fellow at Human Rights Watch. "The government should introduce major reforms, in consultation with civil society, to improve regulation and monitoring of labor recruitment in Cambodia so that women can migrate voluntarily and safely."
An official announcement confirming the ban has yet to be made, but labor recruitment agencies have reported that they received an order to halt recruitment from the Labor and Vocational Training Ministry.
Malaysia excludes domestic workers from key provisions in its Employment Act, including limits on working hours and a requirement for a weekly day off. High-profile abuse cases and disagreements about minimum protections led Indonesia to suspend sending domestic workers there in June 2009, which spurred a significant increase in the recruitment of Cambodian workers.
Indonesia and Malaysia recently revised a memorandum of understanding that guarantees Indonesian domestic workers a weekly day of rest and the right to keep their passports, instead of allowing employers to hold them, restricting the ability of a worker to leave. No such protections have been extended to Cambodian workers.
"Malaysia should not respond to Cambodia's ban by turning to countries with even weaker protections for recruiting domestic workers, but should revise its labor code to strengthen its own protections," Poudyal said. "It should also improve access to complaint mechanisms and the justice system's response to allegations of abuse."
Cambodia and Malaysia should introduce protections in line with the International Labor Organization's (ILO) newly adopted Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, Human Rights Watch said. The convention's article on recruitment agencies sets out requirements for accessible complaint mechanisms and for substantial penalties for agencies that violate standards and prohibit salary deductions for recruitment fees.
The treaty also calls for domestic workers to be guaranteed the same rights as other workers with respect to working hours, rest periods and annual leave. Cambodia and Malaysia have yet to ratify the treaty, which was adopted in June.
"Cambodia can push more effectively to protect its citizens abroad if it gets serious about dealing with human rights abuses against prospective migrants at home," Poudyal said. "And it should coordinate with other labor-sending countries to promote regional cooperation for minimum standards, to avoid a race to the bottom."
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Friday, October 14, 2011
UN legal chief to discuss concerns about genocide court during Cambodia visit
14 October 2011 – The United Nations Legal Counsel will travel to Phnom Penh next week for meetings concerning the Cambodia genocide tribunal in the wake of the resignation of one of the judges.
The tribunal, known officially as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), was set up under an agreement signed in 2003 by the UN and the Government.
The independent court, which uses a mixture of Cambodian staff and judges and foreign personnel, is tasked with trying those deemed most responsible for mass killings and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 during which as many as two million people are thought to have died.
The visit by Patricia O’Brien, the Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, follows the resignation earlier this week of Judge Siegfried Blunk, the international co-investigating judge at the ECCC.
Judge Blunk cited repeated statements by senior Government officials opposing the progress of what are referred to as cases 003 and 004 – which concern senior members of the Khmer Rouge military suspected of being responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
These statements, he noted in his letter of resignation, could be used to call into question his ability to perform his duties independently, and this would call into doubt the integrity of the whole proceedings in these cases.
The UN has consistently stated that the ECCC must be permitted to proceed with its work without interference from any entity, including the Cambodian Government.
Ms. O’Brien will hold meetings with Government officials and others concerning the tribunal, UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York.
In addition to concerns regarding the issue of Government interference, there have also been concerns raised with respect to other aspects of the court’s work, which will also be addressed during the visit, he noted.
“It is important that the United Nations talks to senior officials in the ECCC and others to gain the best possible understanding of these concerns,” he stated. Read more!
Cambodiaand 4 othersCambodian Senior Minister H.E. Ly Thuch and Cambodian Red Cross thank Singapore for swift flood relief response
•Singapore Red Cross to send essential supplies and 2,000 water filtration units to Cambodia in the next few days
•More donation channels for South East Asia Flood Appeal: DBS, OCBC, UOB Internet Banking and AXS stations islandwide
Singapore, 14 October 2011 – His Excellency Ly Thuch, Senior Minister and Vice-President of the National Committee for Disaster Management in Cambodia, yesterday expressed thanks to Singapore for its generous contribution and prompt response, which would enable the Cambodian Red Cross to acquire more supplies for distribution to the provinces. He related the message through Mr Benjamin William, Singapore Red Cross’ Director of Special Duties, at a meeting on flood relief efforts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Mr William was in Cambodia yesterday to present S$100,000, Singapore Red Cross’ first tranche of assistance, to the Cambodian Red Cross, which is playing a key role in the relief efforts. Cambodian Red Cross Secretary General Mdm Pum Chantini received the donation in the presence of the Singapore Ambassador H.E. S Premjith. In expressing deep appreciation to the Singapore Government and SRC, Ms Pum Chantinie noted that the Singapore Red Cross had “consistently been at the forefront in extending speedy humanitarian assistance to Cambodia during past natural disasters.”
The immediate contribution will go towards purchasing more food and essential supplies, and getting them to the people affected by the floods as quickly as possible. In the next few days, the Singapore Red Cross, working with its partners, will be sending more essential supplies, like blankets, water containers, and bottled water to Cambodia.
According to Ms Chantinie, one of the major challenges facing the people in the flooded areas was water and sanitation. “We are working closely with Temasek, the Asia investment company, and Temasek Foundation to donate 4,000 water filtration units, of which 2,000 will be sent to the Cambodian Red Cross next week, for the flood survivors” said Mr William.
Cambodia is experiencing the worst flooding in over a decade due to typhoons and greater than average rainfall since August 2011. The Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers are overflowing and 18 of 24 provinces are affected by severe flooding. Much of the rice and other food crops have been wiped out in many areas. Ms Chantinie shared that the primary focus of the CRC thus far has been to get food and other essential supplies, like blankets and clothing, to the close to 300,000 families that have been affected by the flooding. One of the top priorities now is to get essential supplies to the flood victims in the areas where the CRC and other authorities had not yet been able to reach due to the high flood waters and impassable roads. Recently, the government had appointed the CRC to coordinate all collection and the distribution of food to the people affected by the flooding.
Singapore Red Cross’ Director of Operations, Mr Lim Theam Poh on 12 October presented a donation of S$100,000 to Thai Red Cross’ Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, Mr Sawanit Kongsiri in Bangkok, Thailand, in the presence of Singapore Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Mr William Tan. The contribution will help the Thai Red Cross purchase relief kits for the flood survivors, and support other crucial relief efforts. At the meeting, they discussed further ways to help alleviate suffering of people affected by the severe flooding.
The contributions totaling S$200,000 make Singapore Red Cross’ first tranche of emergency relief to Thailand and Cambodia.
CALL TO ALL DONORS
Please give generously to the South East Asia Flood Appeal
Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are facing the most severe flooding in many years, and the situation is worsening. The Singapore Red Cross is working closely with its sister Red Cross national societies, which are spearheading relief efforts in these countries. Your donations will help bring urgent relief aid to alleviate the suffering of the people affected by the floods.
Besides cash and cheque donations, donors can now give via their DBS, OCBC, UOB accounts or at AXS stations islandwide. They can visit www.redcross.org.sg for a step-by-step guide on how to donate through these channels, starting this weekend.
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Thursday, October 13, 2011
Non-profit is trying to end human trafficking
October 13, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Twelve years ago, Lia Valero spent time working in Cambodia as a volunteer for the Peace Corps. What she saw there had a permanent impact. Now, she has started Stop Traffick, a non-profit organization to help stop human trafficking in Chicago and abroad. It's how she shows her "spirit of giving."
It is these faces of the children that keep Valero motivated. These children live in a Cambodian orphanage called Goutte D'eau. It specializes in rescuing children who were victims of human trafficking. One little girl lost her eye after an infection went untreated. She was then reportedly sold into a begging ring.
"I witnessed firsthand victims of human trafficking, and I didn't have any idea at the time what was going on and then later I put it together," said Valero.
Valero set out on a mission to help. Six years ago, she started Malia Designs, a fair trade company that sells purses and accessories made by women in Cambodia who were victims or are at risk of human trafficking. She then donates part of the profits back to the women's' groups.
"By providing a job, it effectively can trickle down to the children as well, so the children are less likely to become victims," said Valero.
Valero still wanted to do more. So she started Stop Traffick, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds to help victims in Southeast Asia as well as in Chicago.
This year, Valero has partnered with the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. That organization focuses on ending the demand for prostitution by educating the public and lobbying for laws that stiffen punishment for solicitors.
"Without people willing to buy commercial sex, there would be no commercial sexual exploitation," said Lynne Johnson, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. "We're trying to reduce the exploitation of human beings by holding the people who are doing it accountable and that's the same principal and logic that's applied whether we're talking about an international trafficking ring or a local pimp who is recruiting girls on the West Side."
Stop Traffick is hosting its third annual fundraiser on Saturday, October 22, at Intuit Gallery. You can find ticket information at:
stoptraffickbenefit.eventbrite.com.
www.gouttedeau.org
www.caase.org
www.maliadesigns.com
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Cambodia cancels festival as flood death toll rises
Cambodia cancels festival as flood death toll rises
PHNOM PENH — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday cancelled the nation's biggest annual festival as he announced that the death toll from the worst flooding in over a decade had risen to 247.
The funds needed to put on the popular Water Festival, due to take place in the capital from November 9 to 11, would be better spent helping the tens of thousands of families affected, he said.
"If we don't spend the state budget for the (festival) preparations in Phnom Penh... we can save some money to improve the living standards of our people and repair the damage," Hun Sen said in a televised speech.
He also said the precariously high water level of the Tonle Sap river that flows through the city would present a "high risk" to revellers.
More than 270,000 families nationwide have seen their homes or livelihoods waterlogged in two months of flooding caused by heavy rain that has resulted in the Mekong River bursting its banks, according to official estimates.
Hun Sen said the government, the Cambodian Red Cross and several other relief organisations were racing to provide emergency aid to the victims, reaching more than 76,000 families so far.
The country's deadliest floods since 2000, which have inundated some 390,000 hectares (960,000 acres) of rice paddies, represent a huge challenge to impoverished Cambodia but the government has not appealed for international assistance.
In neighbouring Thailand, the worst monsoon floods in decades have left more than 280 people dead.
Cambodia's Water Festival, which marks the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, usually draws two million visitors to the capital to enjoy dragon boat races, fireworks and concerts.
Last year's event ended in tragedy when more than 350 people were killed in a stampede on a packed and narrow bridge.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Fortune Brings a Family Together, 36 Years Later
Never in her life did Chhea Vat imagine she would have such an occasion: meeting her husband again after 36 years.
The 73-year-old Cambodian-Canadian had always thought her husband, Peou Nam, was killed when soldiers of the regime took him away, so many years ago.
“I never imagined this meeting before, because I thought the Khmer Rouge never left their captives alive,” Chhea Vat said in a recent interview in Phnom Penh, where her family had found him at long last.
Peou Nam was a soldier in Lon Nol's government, a target for execution by the Khmer Rouge. He has seven children with Chhea Vat.
“It's like I were living with him in the old regime now,” Chhea Vat said. “I’m still thinking that way.”
Chhea Vat and her children escaped Cambodia in 1975 and ended up in Canada in the early 1980s. Only in recent months did she and her children decide to look for her lost husband—after a fortuneteller told them he was still alive.
Peou Phearun is one of the family’s five sons. He had been trying to find his father for several months in Cambodia. Eventually, the two met by chance at a market in Banteay Meanchey province along Cambodia-Thai border.
“Some nights when I wake up, I ask myself if this is true or just a dream,” Peou Phearun said. “Then I know it is true and that I have joined my father again. For the first four or five years in Canada, when I thought of my father, every night I burst into tears.”
Peou Nam was taken twice for execution in a pit by the Khmer Rouge. By chance, he survived. He carried on in Cambodia without his family.
After the regime collapsed, in 1979, he tried to find his missing wife and children, but it was hopeless. They were gone. He thought them dead.
His youngest son, Peou Sambo, was five years old when he last saw his father. All these years later, he said, “I wept when I embraced him. I’ve never known my father.”
Over all these years, Chhea Vat has kept two things: a photo of her husband and a statue of the Buddha, a gift from her beloved bestowed on her before he was taken away by the soldiers.
“He loves this Buddha statue very much, and I have kept it as a souvenir,” she said. “But now that I've found him, I have to return it to him.” Read more!
Thailand Needs Cambodia to Unlock ‘Huge’ Gulf Gas Reserves
Overlapping at sea? Overlapping at Preah Vihea? The History have always been showing that Siamese is the thief of stealing everything from Khmer. Now they want to steal black gold in under sea from Khmer. The History never showed even one inch of overlapping areas between Khmer-Siamese.
By Daniel Ten Kate and Supunnabul Suwannakij
(Adds estimate of reserves in disputed area in fourth paragraph, Cambodia comment in seventh paragraph.)
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s petrochemical industry may lose billions of dollars if the government fails to strike an agreement with neighboring Cambodia on overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand, Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said.
“Thailand is running out of gas in 15 years,” he said in an interview in Bangkok today. “Petrochemical companies rely on components of wet gas from the Gulf of Thailand. Billions of dollars every year will be gone if we can’t get more supply.”
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s two-month-old government has sought to mend ties with Cambodia after gun battles in disputed border areas killed more than 20 people since 2008. Waters claimed by both countries contain enough gas to secure Thailand’s supply for 50 years, Pichai said.
Development in the 26,000 square kilometers, more than twice the size of Qatar, has stalled for more than three decades. Pichai said the “huge” gas reserves in the disputed zone may at least be equal to the country’s current reserves, which BP Plc estimates at 11 trillion cubic feet, about a 10th of China’s gas reserves.
It will take at least 10 years to pump gas out of the ground after a political agreement is reached, a process that is now under way, said Pichai, 49.
“At this moment it looks very positive,” he said. “We want to get it done and Cambodia wants to get it done. We just need to make sure internal politics won’t be an obstacle.”
‘Amicably Resolve’
Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, who is also chairman of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, said Oct. 12 that negotiations would begin when both governments are ready.
“Cambodia is determined to amicably resolve the dispute,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks. “A resolution would enable the economic benefits that might arise from oil and gas production in the area to be fairly allocated between the two countries.”
In 2008, the last time ex-Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra’s allies were in power, protesters accused the government of ceding sovereignty to Cambodia. Former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, now opposition leader, threatened to revoke an agreement to demarcate the waters in 2009 after Cambodia named Thaksin as an adviser.
Thailand’s petrochemical industry, based on the gulf coast about 200 kilometers from Bangkok, has attracted investment from Dow Chemical Co., Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. and Siam Cement Pcl. Thailand accounted for almost half of Southeast Asia’s production of polyolefins, polymers used in making plastic parts in appliances and automobiles.
Renegotiate Concessions
Thailand will seek to renegotiate concessions in the overlapping area awarded in the 1970s to companies such as Chevron Corp. and Idemitsu Kosan Co. to ensure that state-run PTT Pcl has a stake, Pichai said. In 1997, Cambodia awarded concessions to BHP Billiton Ltd., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
“As a partner of both Thailand and Cambodia, we encourage the two countries to resolve their differences so the OCA can be developed for the benefit of both countries,” Gareth Johnstone, a Singapore-based spokesman for Chevron, said today in an e-mail response to questions, referring to the disputed area.
Natural gas fuels 72 percent of power generation in Thailand, up from 62 percent in 2000 and 40 percent in 1990, according to Energy Ministry statistics. Gas imports from Myanmar, which started in 2000, accounted for 20 percent of Thailand’s consumption last year, statistics show.
Electricity Prices
Gas piped from the Gulf of Thailand costs about $6 per million British thermal units, compared with $18 for liquefied natural gas, Pichai said. Thailand would be forced to import more LNG if it can’t develop the disputed area, he said.
“People who don’t like Cambodia much may start to like Cambodia more if they know that they’ll have to pay double for electricity,” Pichai said.
Pichai plans a trip to Myanmar later this month in an attempt to secure more gas in the face of “aggressive” competition from China. That gas is used primarily for power plants, he said.
“The gas in the overlapping claims area may be more vital because it has the petrochemical component that may create more value added,” Pichai said. “Just bring it up and the value will be there.”
--Editors: Tony Jordan, Patrick Harrington
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net; Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok at ssuwannakij@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net -0- Oct/12/2011 05:59 GMT
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Put Vietnam and Cambodia on your clients' wish list
Creative Holidays has released the first of its programs for 2012, starting with the captivating destinations of Vietnam and Cambodia. The brochure sets the tone for Creative’s 2012 offering, with unique experiences, flexible options and product to suit all budgets and styles.
Due to strong demand for the destination, the Creative Holidays 2012 Vietnam and Cambodia brochure includes 20 new properties and two new river cruising experiences, including Uniworld Boutique River Cruises’ 14-night Timeless Wonders of Vietnam, Cambodia and The Mekong.
Paul McGrath, Managing Director, Creative Holidays said, “Vietnam and Cambodia are destinations in which Creative has witnessed considerable growth in recent years. As such, we are catering for growing client demand with a huge selection of accommodation, transport, sightseeing day tours and cruising options on offer.
“In particular, the new brochure includes an increase in properties in Hoi An and Danang, as both destination continue to develop into tourism hotspots. We’ve sourced high quality properties such as the Boutique Resort Hoi An, an intimate, heritage-rich property and the five-star Vinpearl Luxury Resort in Danang, situated on Non Nuoc Beach in front of the majestic Marble Mountain Range.
“In Hanoi we have also included a new small three-star hotel, The Maison D’Hanoi Hanova. This lovely boutique property is well located just a short walk from the famous Hoan Kiem Lake and Hanoi’s major attractions.
“Catering to the growing demand in Vietnamese cruising, we’ve addedUniworld’s 14-night Timeless Wonders cruise which not only explores the Mekong and Cambodia by river cruise, but also includes three-nights at either end of the trip in both Saigon and Hanoi.
“Another fantastic new option, which is perfect for couples after romance, is the Life Heritage Halong Bay overnight cruises. Built for just two people, this is a fantastic product for clients who are keen to explore this stunning World Heritage area in the privacy of their own personal Junk boat.
“We are also giving clients more options in Cambodia, with the addition of new properties including The Intercontinental Hotel Phnom Penh, The City River View Siem and
Hotel de la Paix in Siem Reap.
“Plus, we offer great-value independent touring options in Cambodia which combine accommodation, transport, dining, sightseeing fees and guides. A good option for clients after a culturally enriching holiday is the four-night In Depth Angkor and Cambodian Culture tour that highlights the history and culture, visiting many temples and traditional sites throughout the region.
“In 2012, we truly believe we are providing something for everyone in Vietnam and Cambodia. Our increased inventory allows us to provide plenty of flexibility, extensive choice and value for money product across the board, catering for all types of clients.
“Vietnam and Cambodia are fantastic destinations for agents to sell to clients. Not only is it a region which provides great value shopping, pristine resort-style beaches and delicious cuisine, it also delivers an extremely fascinating blend of culture, history and unspoilt natural settings”.
Some of the fantastic value new options in the 2012 brochure include;
· Creative Holidays' private one-night Life Heritage Halong Bay cruise. Priced from $318 per person, twin share. This unique experience allows clients to discover Halong Bay from their own private vessel, once they set sail, it’s just them and the crew. The vessel has a spacious cabin, covered dining terrace and sun deck. Included in this package is overnight accommodation all to yourself in a deluxe cabin, all meals on board, sightseeing and entrance fees and return private transfers from Hanoi hotels.
Creative Holidays' four-nightIn Depth Angkor and Cambodian Culture Independent Tour.Priced from $513 per person, twin share (land only). Clients will experience the best of Cambodia’s fascinating culture highlights including; visiting the South Gate of Angkor Thom; marvelling at Angkor Wat; watching the sunrise over the Angkor temples; visiting the famous Ta Prohm Temple; experiencing the amazing temples of Banteay Srei and Banteay Sam Rei; driving to Boeung Melea and enjoying the sprawling jungle; taking a traditional tuk tuk ride to a local village; visiting a local Buddhist temple travelling to the Great Lake of Cambodia and learning about the local floating villages. This package includes hotel accommodation, some meals, some transportation and sightseeing, all entrance fees and local English speaking guides.
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German judge resigns from Cambodia Khmer Rouge tribunal alleging government interference
By Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A German judge responsible for indictments of Khmer Rouge war crimes suspects at Cambodia’s U.N.-backed tribunal has resigned, alleging government interference in the investigation of new cases.
Judge Siegfried Blunk had come under fire from rights groups for failing to fully investigate new suspects for the court, which is seeking justice for an estimated 1.7 million people who died of starvation, exhaustion, lack of medical care or torture during the communist Khmer Rouge’s 1970s rule.
Last week, Human Rights Watch called for Blunk to resign for failing to conduct genuine and impartial investigations into suspects beyond one convicted last year and four others set for trial.
Blunk’s resignation over the weekend was announced Monday. He defended his record, blaming government pressure for the lack of new cases. He cited Cambodia’s information minister as saying in May that if investigating judges wanted to probe new cases, “they should pack their bags and leave.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen has also openly opposed expanding the trials with additional indictments of former Khmer Rouge figures, some of whom have become his political allies.
Blunk said such statements “will be perceived as attempted interference by government officials.” He said he could not be influenced by such opposition, but his “ability to withstand such pressure by government officials and to perform his duties independently could always be called in doubt.”
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith denied that the government was interfering with the court.
U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had received Blunk’s resignation “and thanked him for his service.”
He said the United Nations is working urgently to ensure that the reserve co-investigating judge, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, is available as soon as possible to replace Blunk.
Del Buey reiterated Ban’s strong support for the tribunal and stressed that the court “must be permitted to proceed with its work without interference from any entity including the royal government of Cambodia, donor states or civil society.”
The human rights group Amnesty International urged the U.N. to seek guarantees from Cambodia that it would not interfere with the tribunal and warn it that any attempts to do so would lead the U.N. to review its involvement.
Human Rights Watch also called last week for a second judge responsible for indictments on the court — You Bunleng of Cambodia — to step down. The group said justice could not be obtained as long as the two judges held their jobs.
Controversy over the two co-investigating judges’ actions began in April, when they announced that they had concluded their investigation into what is known as Case 003. Human Rights Watch accused the judges of failing to do a thorough job in an effort to torpedo chances of further indictments. The judges’ move also triggered criticism from several of the tribunal’s U.N.-appointed legal staff, who complained in a private letter to Ban that the move represented a failure of justice.
The tribunal, which has faced lengthy delays throughout its history, reached its first verdict last year, sentencing former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav to 35 years in prison for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other offenses.
Still facing trial are Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state; Nuon Chea, who was leader Pol Pot’s No. 2 and the group’s chief ideologist; former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs. All are in their 70s or 80s.
The charges against them include crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture.
Read more!
Record Mekong Flooding Threatens Bangkok, Phnom Penh
United Nations officials say the capitals of Thailand and Cambodia are at risk as the worst flooding in modern times sweeps through the Mekong Basin.
Kirsten Mildren, spokeswoman for the U.N.'s humanitarian affairs agency, told VOA Tuesday that officials in Bangkok are taking urgent measures as the floodwaters bear down on the city.
"We know that there is a lot of water coming down," she said. "The government at the moment is building canals around the city. There are sand bags going up everywhere. They are doing what they can to actually stop the water coming through, but each day it seems to come closer and closer."
Mildren said the waters are also continuing to rise in Cambodia, where Phnom Penh is threatened. Across the country 183 people have died since August and almost 100,000 hectares of paddy are damaged or destroyed.
Regionwide, she said at least 500 people are dead and millions are affected in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
"You’ve got, you know, 2.5 million people that are affected, and they are probably affected because flood water has gone through their villages, its gone through their rice paddies, schools are closed, so most people are actually displaced, they are in evacuation centers, they are staying with family and friends out of the water."
In the northern Thailand city of Ayutthaya, resident Pathumwan Choichuichai told an Associated Press television crew he is very scared.
"It's never been like this. There's nothing left, no house, no belongings, including clothes, bed and refrigerator and appliances. Everything is gone," he said. He has lost his home, his clothes and everything he owns in the flooding.
Mildren says the flooding is the result of an unusual combination of weather events, beginning with a series of typhoons that swept northwestward from the Philippines.
"We’ve had four back-to-back typhoons that went through Philippines, and then that brought along heavy rain which, on top of that, the usual monsoon rain, basically has flooded the Mekong Basin. And that’s brought a whole lot of water all the way down to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. And this is why you see what is being called, you know, some of the worst flooding on record in modern times."
Her agency puts the death toll at 269 in Thailand, 183 in Cambodia, 30 in Laos and 18 in Vietnam, including 16 children.
Read more!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Under-fire German judge quits Cambodia tribunal
The German judge at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal says he is resigning over government statements opposing any further prosecutions.
Siegfried Blunk said the statements could "be perceived as attempted interference by government officials".
He said he was resigning so that his independence and the court's integrity could not be doubted.
Mr Blunk has been under fire over his handling of two new cases. Human Rights Watch called for his resignation.
Up to two million Cambodians are thought to have died - from starvation, overwork or execution - during the four years of Khmer Rouge rule.
The genocide tribunal was established to bring the regime's leaders to justice. But so far only one case - against former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch - has been successfully concluded.
Four top leaders including Pol Pot's deputy, Nuon Chea, are due to go on trial in the coming months.
'No hope'
It is the handling of the third and fourth cases - involving five people alleged to have been senior Khmer Rouge commanders - that has caused the current row.
Mr Blunk and his Cambodian counterpart You Bunleng sparked concern among rights groups in April after they closed their investigation into the third case.
The group said that the tribunal had been "subject to frequent politically motivated interference" from the ruling party, many of whom were former Khmer Rouge leaders.
Prime Minister Hun Sen - at one point a mid-ranking Khmer Rouge commander - as well as his information minister and foreign minister have all separately made it clear in recent months that they do not want further prosecutions after the second trial has concluded.
Mr Blunk's resignation statement came through the court.
It said that while he was not influenced by political statements, "his ability to withstand such pressure by government officials to perform his duties independently, could always be called in doubt, and this would also call in doubt the integrity of the whole proceedings" of the two new cases.
Judge Blunk has been a controversial figure since he took over from French judge Marcel Lemonde to investigate cases three and four, the BBC's Guy De Launey in Phnom Penh says.
Many of his own international staff have been so dismayed by the way the crimes were being investigated that they quit in protest. One called Mr Blunk's office "dysfunctional", our correspondent says. Read more!
Rwanda: Local Envoy Presents Credentials in Cambodia
Rwanda's envoy to China, ambassador François Xavier Ngarambe, has presented his Letters of Credence to the King of Kingdom of Cambodia His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni.
In his speech, Ambassador Ngarambe conveyed president Kagame's greetings and his commitment to strengthen the relations between the two countries.
"Rwanda is ready and willing to build steady and good relations with the Kingdom of Cambodia," he said.
In his welcome remarks, the King expressed his satisfaction on the diplomatic relations between the two countries since they were established in 2005.
The King also highlighted the similarities and the complementarities between the two countries and expressed the wish that the relations be strengthened for the benefit of the two people.
The king also expressed appreciation on the current tremendous development initiatives that have made Rwanda an icon for development on the continent.
The Ambassador later met Vice-Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Senior Officials of the Ministry where they discussed areas of potential cooperation.
Read more!
Floods claim 207 lives, affect 1.2 million people in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- The Mekong River and flash floods had killed at least 207 people and affected about 1.2 million people in 19 inundated cities and provinces in Cambodia, Nhim Vanda, the first vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said on Monday in a press briefing.
"Among the dead, 52 percent is children," he said.
More than 300,000 hectares of rice paddies have been affected and other 100,000 hectares of rice paddies were completely damaged.
Some 600 houses were swept away by floods and other 196,600 houses, 1,132 schools and 400 Buddhist pagodas are inundated, he said, adding that some 180 kilometers of national roads and around 1,800 kilometers of gravel roads have been affected.
"It's estimated that the damaged cost from floods this year seems comparable to the damage in the floods in the year 2000 of 161 million U.S. dollars," he said.
Meanwhile, Nhim Vanda said that the government of Cambodia has released 1,900 tons of milled rice to distribute to the victims.
So far, the government of Cambodia, Cambodian Red Cross, charitable countries and organizations has distributed emergency relief to more than 70,000 families with about 280,000 people out of the 100,000 families who have been evacuated to higher ground.
He said that China, Japan, World Food Program, and a number of local and international organizations have also provided emergency relief to the flood victims.
Also, the Asian Development Bank has pledged to provide a grant of 3 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia to rehabilitate gravel roads after the floods.
Nhim Vanda said that as of Monday, floods have been slowing receding, but only in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, the Mekong River's water level still slightly rise to 10.86 meters.
Read more!
Friday, October 07, 2011
Chilliwack shares knowledge with Cambodian leaders
By Jennifer Feinberg - Chilliwack Progress
A Cambodian delegation arrived in Chilliwack Oct 4., and spent four days touring local success stories on the economic development front.
CEPCO president John Jansen, the lead Chilliwack rep, travelled to Cambodia twice so far, and officially hosted the visiting delegates this week with City of Chilliwack.
"What we wanted to demonstrate on the tour is what is possible in their own communities," Jansen said.
The Cambodian delegation got to explore a state-of-the art dairy farm, a busy greenhouse, an innovative poultry farm, a large manufacturer and some world-class show gardens.
"Farming is one of their big challenges," Jansen said. Environmental sustainability and gender equality are a couple of other goals, along with updating their agricultural tools.
The Cambodian economy is 60 per cent driven by agriculture, but the farming practices haven't changed in decades. The poverty level is so extreme it's measured by what people earn and how many calories that can buy.
Jansen learned that $2 a day can buy the equivalent of 1500 calories, but 27 per cent of the people can't even afford that.
"Cambodia used to be one of the largest exporters of rice, but now they are net importers. So there are lots of issues."
Some of the delegates were from the Municipality of Kampom Cham, while others hailed from the Municipality of Takhmao.
Ev Bunthol, deputy director general in Cambodia's Ministry of the Interior, told The Progress he was surprised by several things he saw in Chilliwack.
"I was surprised by how well the city is managed, by the living standard of the people, and the good heart of the people," he said.
He expressed appreciation for the support and knowledge extended by the City of Chilliwack to the Cambodian people, through the FCM program.
But what was most impressive was learning about Chilliwack's agricultural practices, the Cambodian rep said.
"The seasonal use of land resources and livestock raising methods leads to better production," he noted. "The way agriculture is run here is based more on technology."
The tour was part of a capacity-building mission launched by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities with SIDA funding. Chilliwack was specifically chosen by FCM to be part of Municipal Partners for Local Economic Development (MPED) program.
The delegates also got a tour of UFV's Trades and Tech Centre, RCMP scenario training at PRTC, Tourism Chilliwack, Heritage Park and City Hall.
"They're trying to match up cities to help some developing countries with economic development," said Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz. "John is really into agriculture and innovation. It's both his passion and his expertise, and he taking it to the next level with this program."
Gaetz said when Jansen toured the country the first time to choose program participants, he saw fallow land, and thought the issue was water. So he started talking about irrigation.
Then he found out the real obstacle to crop cultivation was the land mines buried underground.
"From our perspective, we wouldn't even think of that," Gaetz said.
Modernization of Cambodia is slow to be realized on different fronts, but family values and an entrepreneurial spirit are still strong in the places he visited, Jansen said.
"And that was good to see," he said.
Jansen said he was honoured that Chilliwack was chosen for this project among applicants from across Canada.
"We've been given a tremendous opportunity to help out a nation that has gone through so many struggles, so if we can assist in even a small way, it's worth it."
jfeinberg@theprogress.com Read more!
China-ASEAN friendship car rally arrives in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) - Thirty-four cars in China-ASEAN International Touring Assembly and China-ASEAN Journalist Rally arrived here on Friday afternoon to mark the 20th anniversary of China-ASEAN relations.
Some 34 racing cars from China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Laos and Vietnam have participated in the race.
"The event is to strengthen good cooperation between China and ASEAN member states and to mark the 20th anniversary of China- ASEAN relations," Vath Chamroeun, secretary general of National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, said on Friday.
Cambodia has no car to join the rally this year, just an observer.
"We don't have the car to join the event, but we are pleased to host the event as it will build closer cooperation between Cambodia and China and other ASEAN member states," he said. "It's also a chance for Cambodia to promote its tourism destinations."
He said that next year, Cambodia would send cars to join the event.
The rally entered Cambodia on Friday afternoon and will leave the country on Saturday morning for Laos.
The friendship car race has begun from China's Nanning on Sept. 20 through Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam for a total distance of 10,000 kilometers and will expect to return to Nanning on Oct. 12.
Read more!
Cultural survivors: Angkor Dance Company preserves the traditions of Cambodia
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| Angkor Dance Courtesy, The Angkor Dance Company |
With unflinching brutality, the Khmer Rouge government sought to erase Cambodia’s centuries-old culture by slaughtering anyone with an education. Wearing glasses was enough to get you killed, much less knowing the elaborate, ceremonial dances associated with the Royal Court. Historians estimate that in only four years 90 percent of the country’s artists and intellectuals were murdered with bullets and pickaxes.
Today, however, the ancient dances through which Cambodia’s gods and goddesses bestow blessings upon the earth have returned. They flourish not only at the Royal University in Phnom Penh, but also among immigrant communities like the one in Lowell, Mass., where the Angkor Dance Company is based.
“To me, the story is so much bigger than just presenting another ethnic dance,” says Marisa Pierson, senior program coordinator at the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience, the outreach group at Rutgers-Newark that is showcasing the troupe as part of a daylong symposium. “It’s all about the survival of culture against unimaginable odds. And these people have done it.”
Tim Thou, the father of Angkor’s current board president, Linda Sou, began learning folk dances during the years he spent in refugee camps in Thailand and the Philippines. His grandmother, Katna Poeu, had been a classical dancer in Cambodia’s Royal Ballet, and also survived to immigrate to the United States. With her help, volunteers began learning the classical repertoire, piecing together a movement code that includes as many as 5,000 steps and gestures. Then they passed this information to their children.
Beginning in the 1990s, Angkor was able to import master teachers from Cambodia along with musical recordings and the elaborate costumes and jewelry required to perform excerpts from the “Reamker,” Cambodia’s version of the “Ramayana.” A dance master from the Royal University, Phousita Huy, now serves as the troupe’s artistic director. Still, the reconstruction work is not complete.
“We still don’t know all of the moves,” says Sou, who is 28 and has been dancing since the age of 3. “Our master has told us we’ve probably learned about 3,000 of them.”
That’s enough, however, to enact the legend of Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso, dueling divinities believed to cause thunder and lightning; or to portray an excerpt from “Reamker” featuring the valiant Hanuman and his army of monkeys. Angkor’s repertoire also includes folk dances depicting life in the Cambodian countryside.
Monday’s events begin with an afternoon lecture and demonstration, where audience members can practice some of the steps themselves. Over the weekend, the Newark Museum is offering free admission and guided tours of its Asian Art Galleries in conjunction with the dance concert.
Pierson says that since the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience began presenting dance in 2004, the program has expanded considerably. “Every year we try to add something to make it more exciting,” she says.
Angkor Dance Company
Where and when: Lecture and demonstration in the third floor Dance Theater of the Paul Robeson Campus Center, 350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark, Monday at 2:30 p.m.; performance in the Bradley Hall Theater, 110 Warren St., Newark, Monday at 7 p.m.
How much: Free. Visit ethnicity.rutgers.edu.
Robert Johnson: rjohnson@starledger.com Read more!
Fewer Young Journalists Mean Thinning Ranks
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Cambodian journalists gathered at a media conference in Cambodia, file photo. |
These veteran journalists have taken with them the institutional knowledge about the country and its politics that take years to build. These losses are worrying in an environment that is already under pressure, said Pen Samithy, president of the Cambodian Club of Journalists, as a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday.
Last week, two journalists, Or Phirith, 60, a senior reporter for Radio Free Asia, and Lay Sokhom, 49, of the Kampuchea Thmey newspaper, both passed away.
Or Phirith died of natural causes, Lay Sokhom after suffering a traffic accident two months ago.
The two deaths came shortly after the death of Reach Sambath, a veteran reporter, teacher and spokesman for the Khmer Rouge tribunal, in May.
“These are big losses for us,” Pen Samithy said.
The loss of such reporters comes with declining interest in the younger generations to pursue journalism, he said.
While there are some institutions that provide training and workshops to working journalists, Pen Samithy said, there are a low number of graduates coming out of school, especially compared to the numbers who seek public relations jobs in companies, NGOs, embassies or television.
At least eight journalists in Cambodia have been killed with confirmed motives since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Of those, nearly a third were covering corruption. The last one, Khem Sambor, was murdered just weeks ahead of the last national elections in 2008.
Even so, journalists today face the threat of long jail terms under a much-criticized criminal defamation law, making the prospects for a new graduate considering journalism less attractive.
However, Pen Samithy said professional can protect journalists from harm.
“Once our reporting is accurate, we’re not worried,” he said.
. Read more!
Thursday, October 06, 2011
NZ fundraiser for Cambodian mine survivors
The New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM) is fundraising for Cambodian landmine survivors ahead of the Mine Ban Treaty's annual meeting to be held in Phnom Penh in seven weeks time.
"Over the past twenty years, Cambodia has made great progress in eradicating landmines, but survivors of this weapon face life-long needs," said Mary Wareham, CALM Coordinator. "We hope that New Zealanders respond generously to this fundraising initiative."
CALM is holding an online Trade Me auction of a dozen carry bags made from local materials by women landmine survivors in Kandal Province, Cambodia. Proceeds from the auction will be provided to Jesuit Service Cambodia for the construction of accessible housing for landmine survivors and mobility devices such as wheelchairs.
Cambodia is one of the most mine-affected countries in the world. According to Landmine Monitor, there are approximately 44,000 survivors of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in Cambodia. In 2009, there were a total of 244 landmine and ERW casualties in the country.
"New Zealand's commitment to eradicating landmines didn't end back in 1997 when we signed the Mine Ban Treaty," said Wareham. "New Zealand must continue its support to mine victim assistance projects in Cambodia and other affected countries."
The Mine Ban Treaty's Eleventh Meeting of States Parties is due to be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 28 November-2 December 2011. Representatives from more than 100 countries, including New Zealand, are expected to attend. A total of 157 countries have joined the Treaty, most recently Tuvalu on 13 September 2011. The Mine Ban Treaty comprehensively prohibits antipersonnel mines and requires their clearance.
The New Zealand Campaign to Ban Landmines is a long-standing member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. CALM is a sister campaign to the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition (ANZCMC).
Both CALM and the ANZCMC are governed jointly by a working group comprised of the following groups: Amnesty International Aotearoa NZ, Caritas Aotearoa NZ, Christian World Service, Engineers for Social Responsibility NZ, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War NZ, National Council of Women NZ, National Consultative Committee on Disarmament, Oxfam NZ, Peace Movement Aotearoa, Soroptimist International NZ, United Nations Association NZ, United Nations Youth Association NZ, UNICEF NZ, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Aotearoa.
Read more!
‘Climate Change’ Blamed as Flooding Continues
As flooding continued in Cambodia on Thursday, a group of high-ranking officials said they blamed regional climate change and urged Cambodia to find a response.
Authorities say at least 176 people have now died in flooding that began in August and has continued across the country. Nearly 21,000 people have evacuated their homes.
The flooding and other climate change issues were discussed at the Second National Forum on Climate Change in Phnom Penh on Thursday.
“This flood is clearly the result of climate change,” Environment Minister Mok Mareth told reporters at the conference Wednesday evening.
About 290,000 hectares of rice fields have been damaged by the floods, with water levels on the Mekong and Tonle Bassac rivers expected to rise slightly in coming days.
Brian Lund, East Asia director for Oxfam America, said the floods were a sign that the impacts of climate change “are already here.”
Damages to the nation’s crops could be up to $60 million, he said.
In general, he said, climate change as a concept is confusing in Cambodia. “So we’ve got a lot to do in terms of awareness raising.”
Mok Mareth said Cambodia needed more funding from industrialized countries, as it was a “victim country” that didn’t cause climate change but was suffering as a result.
Read more!
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Bellport girls look to aid Cambodian kids
By Kay Blough
A trip to Cambodia last winter was a lesson about the haves and have-nots for two Bellport sisters and sparked a desire in them to do something to help the gentle, friendly people they met.
Watching children ride in floating metal rice tubs on Tonle Sap Lake, the largest lake in Southeast Asia, flipping into the water or sitting in boats with snakes around their necks so tourists would donate money, drove home to Rae, 12, and Emmy Specht, 9, how much harder life is in some parts of the world.
"The kids would run around with no shoes, and they lived in shacks, and the little kids would run around and beg," Rae said. "It was sad that they were living like this, but they were happy and smiling.
"We kept wanting to hand out dollar bills, but we were running out," she added, "so we thought about what else we could do."
When they returned home they shared with friends pictures of what they had seen. They did some research and decided to raise money to buy water filters to benefit 200 Cambodian families, because, as their site explains, 75 percent of deaths in Cambodia are caused as a result of drinking unfiltered water. And so Four Girls For Families was born. This year, the girls registered their charity and now have a website, fourgirlsforfamilies.org, with videos made during their trip, an e-sales section and a PayPal donation button.
Rae and Emmy recruited best friends Madeleine Joinnides, 12, of Brookhaven, and Clara Walker, 11, of Bellport, to help, and other friends have pitched in to make, sell and buy their products, which are usually created at the Specht's residence and include T-shirts, cards and jewelry that sell for $8 to $15. They recently worked with a Girl Scout troop and a church youth group that helped them make bracelets and T-shirts they will sell to raise money for the filters.
Community helps out
Their initial goal was to raise $2,000. So far, they have raised about $7,000 and plan another fundraiser weekend soon at a storefront in Bellport donated by the Grucci family, famed for their fireworks productions.
The girls sold their wares at the annual Bellport Day summer festival and Artists on the Lane, the annual July Fourth Art Show produced by the South Bay Art Association, both Bellport events. Cedar Graphics in Ronkonkoma donated printing services for the cards the girls designed.
"This is a very cohesive town," said Joanne Specht, mother of Emmy and Rae. "Everyone knows everyone here."
A donation of about $8 pays for a clay water filter glazed with silver that sits inside a large plastic drum fitted with a spigot. The slightly porous clay blocks anything bigger than a water molecule from going through, trapping contaminants, while the silver glaze helps kill E. coli bacteria, said Brian Specht, the girls' father.
The Specht girls and younger brother Sam, 5, travel each winter with their dad when he attends a toy fair in Hong Kong. Afterward, they take a family vacation and last year went to Cambodia. Time hasn't diminished their desire to help, so Brian Specht has been researching companies in Cambodia that will sell filters to the girls' charity and supply a truck and driver so they can deliver the filters this winter.
The project is a double benefit since the filters are made in Cambodia and the project creates jobs for villagers, Joanne Specht said.
Service project
To keep up with science homework while she was on vacation last year, Rae did research on some of the geological aspects of Cambodia and the silk farms. The water filter project segued into the community service aspect of her National Junior Honor Society application at the private Laurel Hill School in East Setauket, where she was in 6th grade last year.
William Schmidt, her sixth-grade science teacher at Laurel Hill, said he urges students to think "not just in terms of how much money we can raise, but that we are helping no matter what we do."
That has stuck with Rae and the other girls she has partnered with, he said.
"They were amazed by how much they initially raised, but the amazement increased when they realized how many people they can help with the purchase of the water filters," Schmidt added.
Interest spread at school, and they sold T-shirts there, too.
The girls are keen artists and have a sense of humor that's reflected in their designs. One "Wizard of Oz" inspired T-shirt with the writing "Girls Night Out" features Dorothy and Glinda the Good Witch shopping for red sparkly shoes. They'll also take custom orders if customers see a design they like but not in their size.
They plan to help deliver some of the water filters when the family returns to Cambodia in January, hopefully along with Clara and Madeleine. Joanne Specht hopes the girls get a chance to teach a class at the orphanage they visited last year near Siem Reap, the former capital of Cambodia that is near the temples of Angkor.
In the meantime, fundraising efforts continue. Rae is thinking big, and long-term.
"If we raise a lot of money," she said, "I'd like to help build a house for the orphans."
Where to buy on LI
Four Girls For Families will sell their jewelry, cards and T-shirts this weekend at a storefront in Bellport.
Where: 14 Bellport Lane
When: Saturday, Oct. 15 from noon to 6 p.m.
How to help: fourgirlsforfamilies.org
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Read more!
Sophia Harvey appreciates obscure, ordinary in film
By Emma Daniels
When asked about her favorite movie, Assistant Professor of Film Sophia Harvey didn't have a definitive answer. She named a couple of Southeast Asian documentaries—in particular, Tan Pinpin. a Singaporean film, and Mysterious Object, a Thai film.
"I also really like The Big Lebowski," she added. "My favorites aren't high art. I don't do high art; I work in popular genres, like horror, for example."
Accordingly, Harvey, who teaches a wide variety of film classes at Vassar—ranging from World Cinema after 1945 and Indian National Cinema to senior seminars like Cyborgs in Popular Culture—focuses primarily in her research on popular Southeast Asian films, and within that region she often discusses its range of horror films.
Harvey's interests stem from her cross-cultural childhood background. Although she was born in Singapore, she went to an American high school in Germany. Harvey's experience growing up was extremely influential in leading her into her the field of film.
She chose film as her course of study after helping produce her high school's weekly news and game show that initially piqued her interest in media and media production. She furthered her interest in the field with an internship in Singapore.
"The spark was planted in high school, but when I interned at national archives in Singapore when I was around 18 or 19, I realized there was a real dearth of critical lit or any kind of history of the moving image culture in Singapore from colonial times to independence in 1965, and it put me on a path towards a Ph.D," she said. "I wanted to contribute in a critical way to the cinema of my country."
Her interest in horror was obvious from an earlier age. She became interested after she watched an Indonesian film in the genre, Sundelbolong.
"It was a very foundational moment that made an indelible impression," she said. "I've made it a subject of study."
Currently, Harvey is working on a book analyzing contemporary cinema in Singapore released from 2000 to 2007. She is looking in particular at how some of the films that have emerged in this period deal with phenomenology, or how these films explore the senses, as well as life and living in the city state of Singapore.
"The films that I'm particularly drawn to explore cinema as a tactile practice—that is, exploring cinema as a sense of touch. Others that interest me have a creative sound design, privileging hearing as opposed to just a sense of sight," Harvey noted.
Harvey's other main research project is larger in scope. It is focused on how cinema can be a space and site for healing. She is studying in particular the cross sections between film and various other art forms, like the use of dance and music by Cambodians to explore the genocide of their own people.
"These art forms act as a space for Cambodians to visually and narratively explore impact of genocide on themselves and their families," Harvey said.
One focus of the project is the Cambodian diaspora in the United States, and the resulting art that has emerged from Cambodian immigrants. She is studying Cambodian-American documentaries, Cambodian-American rap and also the resurgence of Khmer (Cambodian) dance, in particular in a dance academy in California that's looking to re-explore and reintroduce Khmer dances, many of which didn't survive the genocide.
Both projects relate to the classes she teaches and her genres of interest. One section in her course Screening Southeast Asia, for example, explores cinematic representations of trauma and memory.
"We spend three weeks engaging with the period of Khmer Rouge and genocide through not only the study of the Cambodian-American diaspora but also the study of cultural production from within the country of Cambodia," Harvey said.
"One of the more potent forms or genres that has emerged in terms of dealing or engaging with this trauma has been horror so I've screened some Cambodian horror films that deal with that narrative," she furthered.
Screening Southeast Asia is not the only class where Harvey employs her specialties; she also screens Southeast Asian films in her other classes, and in those same classes is notably knowledgeable about all types of film on a global level. Her classes are both popular and accessible.
Spencer Tilger '14, a current student of Harvey's World Cinema After 1945 class, has only positive things to say about the professor. "She's really smart and engaging, and good at placing films in a historical, cultural and societal context," Tilger said.
Read more!
Chinese language schools mushrooming in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodia's senior education official said Wednesday that Chinese language schools have been mushrooming throughout Cambodia and the language becomes the second most popular foreign one in the country after English.
"I observe that more and more Cambodian children flock to study Chinese language nowadays," Chey Chab, secretary of state for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, said Wednesday during the inauguration of the Beijing International Academy (BIA) in Phnom Penh.
"I see that Chinese language has been broadly used internationally now and it looks more important, especially among business communities," he said.
Chab said that in Cambodia, the language has gradually been gaining popularity as China is the country's largest investor and a leading trade partner with Cambodia.
According to the Chinese Association in Cambodia, there are 56 Chinese schools with more than 30,000 students throughout Cambodia. The figure does not include local private schools that offer part- time Chinese language courses.
Diana Liu, the BIA's director, said the BIA was the first academy in Cambodia that offered Chinese and English programs with complete combined programs including arts, cultures, sciences, music, dance and martial arts.
"We are committed to building an excellent quality of Chinese and English education in the country," she said. "Our presence here will also help the government of Cambodia to develop human resources."
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Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Fifth Round of Peace Corps Volunteers Sworn In
“Since Peace Corps volunteers live with Cambodian host families, the volunteers obtained a deep understanding of Cambodian culture, its language and its people.”
Fifty-nine US citizens were sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, adding to 106 members currently at work across the country.
The swearing-in ceremony at the US Embassy came after nine months of training in Takeo province, where the volunteers studied Khmer language and Cambodian culture.
“Since Peace Corps volunteers live with Cambodian host families, the volunteers obtained a deep understanding of Cambodian culture, its language and its people,” Jeff Daigle, the US Embassy charge d’affaires, said at the ceremony. “When volunteers return to the United States, they have much to share about Cambodia with Americans, and in this way, both of our countries gain from the Peace Corps program.”
The Peace Corps is a government-sponsored program established by former president John F. Kennedy in 1961 that has sent around 200,000 volunteers to 139 countries around the world. Since 2007, the program has placed 227 people in 14 provinces around Cambodia.
Tuesday’s swearing in marked the fifth round of volunteers for the agency. Volunteers will serve a total of two years in the country, working on environmental education, domestic violence prevention, small business development and leadership for girls, the US Embassy said in a statement.
“They will take the wisdom they gain with them,” said Penny Fields, the Peace Corps country director for Cambodia. “They will carry Cambodia forever in their hearts.”
Volunteer Sean Crotty said he had developed a love of Cambodian food already. “I ate nine plates of rice per day,” he said.
Health Minister Mam Bunheng, who presided over the ceremony, said Peace Corps volunteers were contributing to Cambodia’s development. He then warned them to be careful of malaria and diarrhea.
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Fast Relief Urged for Families in Flooding
The relief organization Oxfam American on Tuesday called for increased efforts to help tens of thousands of families cope with severe flooding across the country.
The US-based group said displaced people need food deliveries, clean water, sanitation supplies and shelters, as the death toll from floods in August rose to 164 people and nearly 21,000 people have been displaced.
Flooding has affected some 215,000 families across 17 provinces, inundating 900 schools, 420 pagodas, 75 health centers and nearly 300,000 hectares of rice crop, said Keo Vy, cabinet chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management.
Oxfam America said in a statement that government and relief agency responses are under way, but more assistance is necessary.
Last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the government was allocating $55 million and 1.7 million tons of rice to relief efforts.
Francis Perez, who lead’s Oxfam’s humanitarian efforts in Cambodia, said these relief supplies and others need released “immediately.”
Oxfam teams are working side-by-side with the government and other agencies in Kampong Thom, the hardest-hit province, distributing hygiene kits of water filters, hand soap and other goods to abut 300 families in Kampong Svay district. Oxfam said it expects to reach 1,000 families by the end of the week.
And while floodwaters have abated recently, there is concern that more rain could come with a tropical storm currently headed towards central Vietnam or southern China.
Meanwhile, National Election Committee officials said Tuesday that flooding in 300 different communes had prevented new voters to register for the 2012 commune council elections. NEC Secretary-General Tep Nitha said the committee would now have to determine whether to extend the registration deadline in those areas beyond Oct. 15.
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Monday, October 03, 2011
3rd World Ecotourism Conference held in Cambodia
PREAH SIHANOUK, Cambodia on Monday hosted the 3rd World Ecotourism Conference, aimed at developing Asia Pacific region as a leading ecotourism destination.
The three-day conference, under the theme "Charting the Future of Ecotourism in Asia: Asia will dominate global tourism in future, " attracts some 300 governmental officials, tourism ministers, deputy ministers, ecotourism specialists, businessmen, representatives from national and international ecotourism associations and communities from 23 countries, mostly in Asia Pacific region.
"The conference will be a good opportunity to establish and boost relationship and cooperation on the development of ecotourism in the region in a sustainable and responsible manner," said Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon at the opening ceremony.
"Also, it's time to exchange the best experience and practice related to the ecotourism development in order to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of natural and environmental conservation."
"In the future, we want to make the Asia Pacific become a leading attraction for the development and investment in ecotourism," he added.
The minister said that at the end of the conference, there would be "Sihanoukville Declaration on Multilateral Cooperation for Ecotourism Development."
The declaration would be submitted to the United Nations World Tourism Organization for the final approval.
"The declaration would be a roadmap for the ecotourism development in a sustainable and responsible manner in the whole Asia, particularly in Cambodia," he said.
During the conference, there was also ecotourism exhibition with the participation of ecotourism communities and private investors in ecotourism with 23 booths.
Preah Sihanouk is a coastal province in southwestern Cambodia. It's the country's third most popular tourism destination after Siem Reap's Angkor Wat temples and Phnom Penh.
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Cambodia suffers worse from climate change: deputy
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 3 -- Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly said Monday the country has been suffering more serious from global climate change in recent years, referring to the floods that has hit the country since August and killed at least 150 people so far.
"We are in poor country, we don't have enough sophisticated equipment and techniques to respond to that irregular phenomenon, so we are easily vulnerable to the impacts of climate change," he said during opening the 2nd National Forum on Climate Change, which was attended by some 500 government officials, development partners, academia, private sector and civil society.
Climate change has been seriously impacted economic and social development and environmental protection, he said.
Yim Chhay Ly said the Mekong River and flash floods hitting Cambodia since August have cost Cambodia millions of U.S. dollars and needed years to rehabilitate.
"It cost human lives, destroy agricultural crops, infrastructure, homes, schools and so on," he said. "It has been slowing down Cambodia's efforts in developing the nation."
Cambodia has been suffering the worst from the Mekong River and flash floods in the last decade. Since early August to date, the floods had killed at least 150 people, submerged 130,220 homes with affected 173,063 families, and affected over 270,000 hectares of rice paddies, according to the reports of the National Committee for Disaster Management.
The floods also affected more than 100 kilometers of national roads and up to 1,800 kilometers of gravel roads, it said.
Meanwhile, Yim Chhay Ly called on foreign donors and development partners to accelerate their supports to Cambodia during the flood period and post-flood rehabilitation period.
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Sunday, October 02, 2011
Austin Nonprofit Bridges Digital and Education Divide in Cambodia
Non-profit organization, WOWi, seeks to help end the cycle of poverty in Cambodia and build and connect communities around the world with a digital media project.
Austin, TX, October 02, 2011 --(PR.com)-- In Cambodia today, three decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, its legacy remains: over 30 percent of Cambodia’s population is under age 14 and uneducated. Nearly all of these post genocidal-era children work or beg in the streets rather than attend school. Without proper education this cycle of poverty cannot be broken and the suffering merely gets passed from generation to generation.
That’s something that Austin’s Windows of Wonder Institute, or WOWi, wants to end. With its first international project in Siem Reap, Cambodia, WOWi aims to bring American audiences together with students of the Tchey school, to provide technical training to these students and help raise money for the education of Cambodian children.
The Tchey school has a new computer lab and students eager to learn. A WOWi team, skilled in digital media creation and management, will go to Siem Reap for two weeks in February 2012 to begin training these students. The team will take along equipment, much of which will remain behind with the students.
During this visit, Cambodian students will be exposed to different types of digital media creation. One type involves making high definition digital recordings, some in 3-D, of selected architectural monuments in the Angkor Wat temple area. This is both a form of cultural preservation and a means to celebrate that culture in large-scale, interactive displays elsewhere in the world.
Another type of digital media creation involves the spontaneous use of social media to capture a complementary form of cultural record, one focused upon daily life as seen and experienced through the eyes of Cambodian youth. During WOWi’s two-week stay, this spontaneously produced content will be made available daily to a worldwide audience over the Internet. It will also be made available in special format at selected view sites in Austin, TX. These sites will include retirement communities and other locations with underserved audiences.
“The key to the project is the Tchey school’s new computer lab, and students eager to learn computer-related skills and digital media,” says Kim Smith, co-founder of WOWi.
WOWi is funding the project through Crowdrise using a donor technology so new and unique that it’s been trademarked. Investors of $25 or more into the project will receive MYtilesTM: virtual tiles that the donors can fill in with content of their choosing — photos, a graphic, or company logo that can also link to any internet site they wish. MYtilesTM can also be created by a graphic designer, or a Tchey school student.
The two-week team training will mark the start of an ongoing program that will eventually produce a self- sustaining, sophisticated digital media training school. Through the sharing of these two cultures - the horrific and beautiful aspects alike—the WOWi project is poised to accomplish something amazing: a total reversal of what the Khmer Rouge stood for. “It represents a true step towards returning Cambodia to its ancient glory, now through open global exposure and education rather than through isolation and brutal suppression,” says Duane Conder, WOWi’s Director of Communications.
About WOWi
The Windows of Wonder Institute (WOWi), a 501(c)(3) organization which comes under the umbrella of the Austin Community Foundation, uniquely combines ART + WEB + LEARNING to build and connect communities locally, regionally, and globally. WOWi project teams and the WOWi community create new types of interactive digital media environments that are designed to evoke wonder, insight, and a sense of connection for improving the lives of targeted WOWi audiences. To serve its project teams, its content contributors, and its subscriber audiences, WOWi supplies training and support, an Internet accessible library of thematic media, and the means to generate custom interactive displays.
Media Contact:
Duane Conder, Director of Communications, WOWi
(877) 992-6636
DuaneConder@wowiaustin.org
Additional Resources:
• downloadable version of this document: http://www.sendspace.com/folder/1eld3p
• Media Kit & b’cast quality promotional video: http://www.sendspace.com/folder/q5rchw
• shortcut to selection of native still images used in video: http://www.sendspace.com/folder/q5rchw
• www.wowi-austin.org
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Boat capsizes, killing 4 in Northwest Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- A man and three children were killed in a boat sinking on Saturday evening in Battambang province's Ek Phnom district, some 291 kilometers Northwestern Cambodia, police said Sunday.
Yeam Bunlerb, police chief of Ek Phnom district, said that the boat carried more than 10 people to make sightseeing tour in a flood over-flown large lake in the district and when the boat was on the way home, it met torrential rain and wind, causing the boat to capsize.
He said that at the time, other boat operators had tried to help the victims, but four of them were missing.
The dead victims included a father Roeum Virak, 38, and his two daughters Roeum Raksa, 6, and Roeum Charya, 4, as well as his nephew Thy Bunthim, 8.
Cambodia has been hard-hit by the Mekong River and flash floods since Aug. 13.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Saturday at least 148 people were reported dead in the Mekong River and flash floods hitting Cambodia from August 13 to Sept. 30. Of the dead, 52 were children.
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