Cambodia records 24 flu A(H1N1) cases

PHNOM PENH, Cambodian health ministry announced on Friday that it has confirmed 24 cases of A(H1N1) influenza in the kingdom.

"The two latest cases are a 22-year-old Khmer girl and a 38-year-old Australian man," said Sok Touch, director of communicable disease control department of Health Ministry.

"The Australian man is the father of a girl who was tested positive for the flu," he said.

"They are in stable condition and are recovering after treatment."

Nobody has died so far in Cambodia, according to Sok Touch. He said, "Cambodia will not hide the number of infected people or dead people. Everything is transparent."

"Cambodia has been trying to prevent the spread of the flu and strengthening the tracking system at airports and international border gates," he said, calling the local people to protect themselves from the flu.

"The most important thing," Sok Touch stressed, "is that the local residents should have to protect themselves." (PNA/Xinhua) FFC/ebp

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UTSA collaborates with Cambodian universities on research, teaching, study abroad

By Kris Rodriguez


(Aug. 7, 2009)--In an effort to extend global outreach, UTSA President Ricardo Romo signed agreements with two Cambodian universities, which will allow faculty and students from the three universities to collaborate in research, teaching and participation in study abroad programs.

"I think it's really important for our students to get to know the rest of the world," said Romo. "We would be left behind if we didn't try to be a bit more proactive in setting up programs that would allow the students to see other parts of the world. We need to take advantage of these kinds of connections with other universities and let our students reap the benefits of those kinds of networks."

One memorandum of understanding is with Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), Cambodia's first and largest university. After opening in 1960, it was shut down from 1975 to 1979, along with all other schools and universities, by the Khmer Rouge. The university reopened in 1980. The second agreement is with Pannasastra University, a prestigious private university opened in 2000 by Cambodian Americans who fled the country because of the genocide. They returned to their home country with advanced degrees and started the university.

The collaborative efforts began earlier this year when Wayne Wright, UTSA associate professor of bicultural-bilingual studies, traveled on a Fulbright Scholarship to teach at RUPP in the master of education program. Wright, who is fluent in Cambodian, chose the country in order to contribute to the rebuilding of the education system devastated by genocide and decades of civil war. Additionally, he was able to introduce his children to the Cambodian language, history and culture and reconnect with his wife's family who live near the capital.

"I'll be supervising five master's students on their theses at RUPP and finishing up a research project I started with one of the faculty members there," said Wright. "My hope is to find funding to support a big collaborative research project related to teacher training in Cambodia that can involve all three universities." Read more!

Greece: Teacher spends summer break schooling kids — in Cambodia

By Jessica Spies, staff writer
Greece Post


Greece, N.Y. — A local teacher will be able to add “reinforcing English skills of Buddhist monks” to her résumé after a trip to Cambodia this summer.

Greece resident Merrill Mey, a teacher at the Rochester City School District, is spending part of her summer vacation in Siem Reap, Cambodia, with the non-profit organization United Planet.
The organization provides volunteer experiences of up to a year in more than 50 countries.

“I’ve always wanted to do something different with my summers and I always wanted to travel,” said Mey, speaking before she left for Asia.

Earlier this month, Mey boarded a 25-hour flight to Siem Reap, a more developed area of Cambodia that houses one of the largest religious temples of the world. She is teaching English to Cambodian children during her two-week trip.

“A big part of United Planet is to bridge between two cultures,” Mey said. “Hopefully they can show me the great things about their area and I hope I can do the same.”

Once she returns, she plans on sharing the cultural lesson with her students.

Mey teaches first graders at John Walton Spencer School No. 16 on Post Avenue in the city.
She’ll teach the same group of students in second grade this coming school year.

Before the end of the school year in June, Mey taught her students a little bit about her summer trip.

“I showed them where Cambodia is on the map, what the land looks like and what the buildings look like over there,” she said.

Kimberly Lee, who has worked with Mey for eight years, said, “Although some of the students may not realize just how far away Cambodia is, they are all eager to give Miss Mey advice as to what games she should play with her new students.”

Lee said the trip is not only a professional experience for Mey, but a personal one as well.

“Through this opportunity, I believe Merrill will receive much more than she anticipates,” Lee said. “In addition, the students she teaches in Rochester will grow from this experience.”

Mey said is staying in a guest house, which is more like a hotel than the homes where most Cambodians live. She will, however, eat the same food the natives eat.

“I’m very adventurous with food, but very leery,” she said. “They tell you that canned food is your friend.”

As it’s a volunteer trip, Mey has to pay for her flight, supplies and her housing in Cambodia.

To be a part of Mey’s adventure, visit www.firstgiving.com/MerrillMey.
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U.S. Senate's Webb to visit Myanmar this month

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Jim Webb will visit Myanmar this month, the first member of Congress to travel to the southeast Asian country in more than a decade, his office said on Thursday.

Webb, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific affairs, leaves on Sunday for a five-nation, two-week trip "to explore opportunities to advance U.S. interests in Burma (Myanmar) and the region," a statement from his office said.

A Vietnam war veteran and former U.S. Navy Secretary who speaks Vietnamese, Webb will also meet government representatives and industry leaders in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, his office said.

U.S. lawmakers are pushing for the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, but Webb, a Virginia Democrat, is not expected to see her during his visit, an aide to the senator said.

U.S. relations with Myanmar's military junta have been strained for years. In May, President Barack Obama extended for one year a ban on U.S. investment first imposed in 1997 because of the authorities' repression of the opposition. Last week, Obama renewed sanctions targeting imports from Myanmar.

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New Tamil Tiger head arrested: Sri Lanka military

By C. Bryson Hull


COLOMBO (Reuters) -- The new head of the Tamil Tigers, the separatist group defeated by the Sri Lankan military after a 25-year war, has been arrested in Thailand, Sri Lanka's military said on Thursday.

Selvarajah Pathmanathan was wanted on two Interpol warrants and took the reins of the remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after their defeat in May.

"He has been arrested in Bangkok. That is all we know at the moment," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

There was no immediate comment from Thai officials.

Pathmanathan, better known as KP during his decades running the LTTE's arms and smuggling networks, took over as the public leader of the separatist group after Sri Lanka's military announced victory on May 18 after a 25-year war.

He was the first LTTE official to acknowledge the death of Tiger founder and leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in the closing days of Sri Lanka's offensive on a narrow spit of northeastern coast where they had surrounded the rebels.

Security experts had long suspected Pathmanathan was hiding in southeast Asia.

A Western diplomat assigned to Sri Lanka met him somewhere in the region earlier this year, part of an effort to persuade the LTTE to surrender in the face of an imminent defeat and free civilians they were holding by force in the war zone.

Pathmanathan was believed to have earned millions of dollars procuring weapons for the Tigers and running smuggling operations from bases across the region including Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar. Security experts say he had multiple passports.

Some estimates said the LTTE earned between $200-300 million from extortion, weapons sales and drug smuggling. Analysts said part of a brief struggle for Prabhakaran's mantle after the war was to take control of its financial assets.

After the war, Pathmanathan said the LTTE would try non-violent means to achieve its goal of a separate state for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils. Among his first initiatives was to try to form a transnational government-in-exile.

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In Cambodia, Proximity to Wildlife Sparks Influenza Fears

Fred De Sam Lazaro reports how Cambodians' proximity to wildlife is sparking new concerns about the spread of avian flu.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: On the street outside Phnom Penh's most prominent Buddhist temple, the merit bird business is brisk. It's an age-old ritual in many parts of Southeast Asia based on the belief that freeing a caged bird brings merit to one's soul.

But in recent years, these wild birds have come to symbolize something very different to public health workers: potential carriers of H5N1, the avian flu virus.

PRISCILLA JOYNER, Wildlife Conservation Society: Sellers are very interested in whether or not these birds do have avian influenza. And so they're interested in knowing about the health of the wildlife and how this impacts their health, as well.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And their livelihood, too.

PRISCILLA JOYNER: And their livelihood, too, yes.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Priscilla Joyner is with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Its staff regularly tests samples of wild birds across East Asia for any signs of flu.

PRISCILLA JOYNER: A big concern here in this area is the very close proximity of people living with domestic animals and interacting with wildlife. And this can either be in the home or this can be in the market or in merit bird training. And this close proximity can be enough pressure to allow a pathogen to jump from one species to the next and then lead to a disease that otherwise may not have occurred.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Although so far merit birds have been free of avian flu, Joyner says Cambodia is in many ways an ideal Petri dish for its spread. People are always around wild birds and domestic animals and poultry in the markets and in backyards of this mostly rural country still recovering from decades of war.

H5N1 is common but harmless in ducks. It is lethal in chickens. And it's deadly when it does make the cross-species leap to humans. Two-thirds of the 400 people who've contracted bird flu have died.

Cambodia has seen just eight human cases since 2005. Almost all had very close contact with infected chickens. So far, the virus has not spread from human to human.

Still, Dr. Sirendes Vong of the Pasteur Institute says bird flu remains a concern, especially if it infects someone who already has another form of flu, including swine flu that spread widely in recent months.


Deadly Combination
DR. SIRENDES VONG, Pasteur Institute, Cambodia: Once humans are infected, if they're infected with seasonal flu, that's a possibility for H5N1 to mix with the seasonal flu and to come up with a new virus that would have the potential to be a pandemic one.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: To spread like seasonal flu.

DR. SIRENDES VONG: Exactly. How deadly? I don't know. But there's a potential to get a virus that is as deadly as H5N1 and as transmissible as...

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The bird flu?

DR. SIRENDES VONG: ... as seasonal flu or the current swine flu virus.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He says Cambodia doesn't have the resources to check on every case, but with agencies like Pasteur, it is monitoring selected sites across the country for any signs of flu in chickens and responding to major outbreaks.

DR. SIRENDES VONG: If there is something, there's a team from the Ministry of Agriculture, from the veterinary services, that would go to the field and investigate the phenomenon. And the difficulties, again, is to come at the early stage so that you would be able also to test at the early stage of the outbreak.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And they are hoping the message gets out on how to lower the risk of an outbreak, separating chickens from ducks, for example, keeping kids away from ponds where ducks swim, and improved hygiene around the backyard. It's a message that's gotten through to small farmers like Khieu Nyim.

KHIEU NYIM, farmer (through translator): I heard the news from the TV and radio. I heard that swine flu makes the pigs sick first and also infects human beings. First, I heard that it spread in Mexico, and then it also spread in America.

I take precautions for myself. I clean the pigs and make sure I wear a mask when I enter the cage.


Risk of Inter-Species Diseases
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: No one's sure whether most farmers are adopting such practices or whether most farmers can afford protective gear. And even though there's fear of the bird flu and swine flu viruses mixing, no one's sure when or if such a super-bug might emerge.

Dr. Michael O'Leary heads the World Health Organization office in Cambodia.

DR. MICHAEL O'LEARY, World Health Organization: I think it's largely a theoretical concern at this point, because we have, you know, many kinds of viruses around us all the time. And so while we have to say that it's possible that these two or other viruses may mix and result in a new virus, that's essentially always the case. We can have such a scenario any time.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He says the risk of diseases that jump from one species to another has risen in recent decades with dozens of examples, from Ebola to Lyme disease.

DR. MICHAEL O'LEARY: The destruction of forests or the urbanization of people, that's created new opportunities, I think, for new kinds of interaction between humans and animals. Another is the ease with which people move around the world now.

There have been so many emerging diseases in the last few decades. We've seen dozens of new diseases, HIV being only one, most of which did result from a spread of an organism from the animal world to the human world.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: O'Leary says it will be important to strike a balance, watching for early signs of outbreaks while avoiding socially disruptive measures, like shutting down the merit bird trade or shutting down markets.

GWEN IFILL: For more on how viruses are transmitted from animals to humans and for Fred's reporter's notebook on Cambodia, visit our global health Web site at newshour.pbs.org.



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Thailand and Cambodia resume ministerial talks

BANGKOK — Foreign ministers from Cambodia and Thailand resumed joint policy talks for the first time in three years Wednesday after months of fractious relations over a border temple dispute.

Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong and his Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya met at a Bangkok hotel to discuss the spat and deeper economic ties.

Violent clashes near the ancient 11th century Preah Vihear have left seven soldiers dead since July 2008 when the temple was granted UN World Heritage status.

High level delegations have met at various times over the past year in an attempt to heal rifts, but Wednesday's meeting is the first time since 2006 that ministers have convened their joint policy commission.

The body had previously met once a year to oversee relations between the two countries.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the Khmer ruins for decades. Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, its most accessible entrance is in northeastern Thailand.

Tensions have also arisen over disputed waters where both countries have granted oil and gas exploration rights to private companies.

After Wednesday's meeting both foreign ministers said the talks signified progress in relations.

"We agree to speed up the border talks so that the existing problems will be solved," Hor Namhong told a press conference.

"We also agreed to cooperate over human trafficking, as Cambodia faces this problem," he said.

The pair said they would resume a Joint Technical Committee on the maritime dispute and vowed the disagreement would not be an obstacle.

"Our problems will not trouble our relations. Whatever our troubles are, we will solve them," Kasit said following the two-hour meeting.

Senior officials met a day earlier in Bangkok, where they kicked off the talks covering cooperation on the economy, trade, education and the border issue.

The ministers also agreed to advance plans for visa exemption scheme when they celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year.

They also signed an agreement that will allow some prisoners, after serving minimum periods of imprisonment, to be transferred in order to serve their remaining sentences in their own countries.

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Mosquitoes deliver malaria 'vaccine' through bites

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Medical Writer


In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites. The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not, and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later.

The study was only a small proof-of-principle test, and its approach is not practical on a large scale. However, it shows that scientists may finally be on the right track to developing an effective vaccine against one of mankind's top killers. A vaccine that uses modified live parasites just entered human testing.

"Malaria vaccines are moving from the laboratory into the real world," Dr. Carlos Campbell wrote in an editorial accompanying the study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. He works for PATH, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, a Seattle-based global health foundation.

The new study "reminds us that the whole malaria parasite is the most potent immunizing" agent, even though it is harder to develop a vaccine this way and other leading candidates take a different approach, he wrote.

Malaria kills nearly a million people each year, mostly children under 5 and especially in Africa. Infected mosquitoes inject immature malaria parasites into the skin when they bite; these travel to the liver where they mature and multiply. From there, they enter the bloodstream and attack red blood cells - the phase that makes people sick.

People can develop immunity to malaria if exposed to it many times. The drug chloroquine can kill parasites in the final bloodstream phase, when they are most dangerous.

Scientists tried to take advantage of these two factors, by using chloroquine to protect people while gradually exposing them to malaria parasites and letting immunity develop.

They assigned 10 volunteers to a "vaccine" group and five others to a comparison group. All were given chloroquine for three months, and exposed once a month to about a dozen mosquitoes - malaria-infected ones in the vaccine group and non-infected mosquitoes in the comparison group.

That was to allow the "vaccine" effect to develop. Next came a test to see if it was working.

All 15 stopped taking chloroquine. Two months later, all were bitten by malaria-infected mosquitoes. None of the 10 in the vaccine group developed parasites in their bloodstreams; all five in the comparison group did.

The study was done in a lab at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and was funded by two foundations and a French government grant.

"This is not a vaccine" as in a commercial product, but a way to show how whole parasites can be used like a vaccine to protect against disease, said one of the Dutch researchers, Dr. Robert Sauerwein.

"It's more of an in-depth study of the immune factors that might be able to generate a very protective type of response," said Dr. John Treanor, a vaccine specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., who had no role in the study.

The concept already is in commercial development. A company in Rockville, Md. - Sanaria Inc. - is testing a vaccine using whole parasites that have been irradiated to weaken them, hopefully keeping them in an immature stage in the liver to generate immunity but not cause illness.

Two other reports in the New England Journal show that resistance is growing to artemisinin, the main drug used against malaria in the many areas where chloroquine is no longer effective. Studies in Thailand and Cambodia found the malaria parasite is less susceptible to artemisinin, underscoring the urgent need to develop a vaccine. Read more!

Cambodia police, protesters clash after PM court win

Cambodian police (R) try to block Mu Sochua (C), lawmaker from the opposition Sam Rainsy party, and her supporters along a street in Phnom Penh. A Phnom Penh court ruled that Mu Sochua was guilty of defaming President Hun Sen for remarks she made during an April press conference(AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)

Cambodian supporters from the opposition Sam Rainsy party clash with police along a street in Phnom Penh. A Phnom Penh court ruled that Mu Sochua of the Sam Rainsy Party was guilty of defaming President Hun Sen for remarks she made during an April press conference.(AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodian police on Tuesday clashed with supporters of an outspoken lawmaker from the country's main opposition party after a court found her guilty of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen.

A Phnom Penh court ruled that Mu Sochua of the Sam Rainsy Party was guilty of defaming Hun Sen for remarks she made during an April press conference, in which she also announced she would sue the premier for allegedly insulting her.

After Tuesday's ruling, opposition leader Sam Rainsy and Mu Sochua, along with dozens of her supporters, marched from the court through the capital, chanting, "Justice! Justice!"

Police attempting to break up the march clashed with a few protesters, grabbing, punching and kicking several of the loudest demonstrators, an AFP correspondent at the scene witnessed.

Most journalists and rights activists were banned from attending the brief hearing in which Judge Sem Sakola ordered Mu Sochua to pay 2,000 dollars in compensation to Hun Sen, who filed the suit soon after her April remarks.

The judge also ordered the lawmaker to pay a fine of 2,125 dollars to the state, but Mu Sochua told reporters that she did not accept the court's decision.

"The ruling is based on political motivation, not by laws," Mu Sochua said outside court.

"That was not justice. I made it very clear, I will continue to fight until justice is provided to me."
The Cambodian National Assembly stripped Mu Sochua of parliamentary immunity in June to clear the way for the controversial court proceedings against her.

Her lawsuit against Hun Sen was meanwhile dismissed in court.

International rights groups have expressed alarm over a recent spate of defamation and disinformation lawsuits lodged by senior Cambodian officials against government critics.

New York-based Human Rights Watch alleged Hun Sen's government aimed to silence political opposition and critics with a recent "campaign of harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action."

Sam Rainsy was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in February after accusing Hun Sen's party of corruption during elections last year and then failing to pay a 2,500-dollar fine.

His immunity was later restored when his party eventually paid the fine.

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Probable Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Disability in Cambodia

Associations With Perceived Justice, Desire for Revenge, and Attitudes Toward the Khmer Rouge Trials

Context Millions of Cambodians suffered profound trauma during the Khmer Rouge era (1975 to 1979). A joint United Nations–Cambodian tribunal (the "Khmer Rouge trials") was empanelled in 2006 to prosecute top Khmer Rouge leaders and began substantive hearings in March 2009.

Objectives To establish the prevalence of probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adult Cambodians and to assess correlates of PTSD symptoms and disability with perceived justice, desire for revenge, and knowledge of and attitudes toward the trials.

Design, Setting, and Participants A national probability sample of 1017 Cambodians was assembled using a multistage, stratified cluster design, including 813 adults older than 35 years who had been at least 3 years old during the Khmer Rouge era and 204 adults aged 18 to 35 years who had not been exposed to the Khmer Rouge era. Face-to-face interviews were conducted between December 2006 and August 2007.

Main Outcome Measures Prevalence of probable PTSD using the PTSD Checklist, Civilian version (cutoff score of 44), and mental and physical disability using the Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short Form Health Survey.

Results The prevalence of current probable PTSD was 11.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.6%-13.9%) overall and 7.9% (95% CI, 3.8%-12.0%) among the younger group and 14.2% (95% CI, 11.0%-17.3%) in the older group. Probable PTSD was significantly associated with mental disability (40.2% vs 7.9%; adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 7.80; 95% CI, 3.90-15.60) and physical disability (39.6% vs 20.1%; AOR, 2.60; 95% CI, 1.26-5.39). Although Cambodians were hopeful that the trials would promote justice, 87.2% (n = 681) of those older than 35 years believed that the trials would create painful memories for them. In multivariate analysis, respondents with high levels of perceived justice for violations during the Khmer Rouge era were less likely to have probable PTSD than those with low levels (7.4% vs 12.7%; AOR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.34-0.86). Respondents with high levels of desire for revenge were more likely to have probable PTSD than those with low levels (12.0% vs 7.2%), but the difference was not statistically significant in the multivariate analysis (AOR, 1.76; 95% CI, 0.99-3.11).

Conclusions Probable PTSD is common and associated with disability in Cambodia. Although Cambodians had positive attitudes toward the trials, most were concerned that the trials would bring back painful memories. Now that the trials have begun, longitudinal research is needed to determine the impact of the trials on Cambodians' mental health.


Author Affiliations: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Dr Sonis); Washington University in St Louis, Missouri (Dr Gibson); Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Dr de Jong); Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, Palo Alto, California (Dr Field); Center for Advanced Study, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Dr Hean); HealthNet TPO, Amsterdam (Dr Komproe); Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa (Dr Gibson); and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts (Dr de Jong). Read more!

Water Is Medicine: Why Act Now on the Water and Sanitation Crisis

WASHINGTON, the bipartisan Congressional Water Caucus and Water Advocates hosted a Capitol Hill Briefing on the vital linkages between safe drinking water, sanitation and global public health challenges. The briefing, titled "Water is Medicine," revealed that evidence shows inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are the developing world's largest cause of disease. WASH is also critical to sustainable progress across a broad spectrum of development needs-from hunger to environmental degradation.

More than 25 diseases are caused by inadequate water and sanitation, creating nearly 10% of the global public health burden, killing more than 2 million people a year (including more children than AIDS, TB and malaria combined) and leading to 50% of the world's malnutrition. Each year there are more that 4 billion cases of diarrhea (a consequence of many of these 25+ diseases), killing 1.5 million people, 90% of whom are children under five.

Although Americans 100 years ago suffered from these same WASH-related diseases, today the US public is largely unaware of the extent and severity of the WASH crisis as few see the situation first hand. We easily flush away potential pathogens with a twist of a toilet handle and have clean safe drinking water at the turn of a tap. However, this is a global problem that Americans can do something about now-the solutions may begin with just a borehole well or getting more children to wash their hands with soap. We have the technology and knowledge to solve this if there is an increase in political will and financing.

"The deaths and illnesses caused by unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation are arguably the world's most grave public health challenge; they are also the most solvable and preventable," Representative John Linder said in response to the briefing. "I am pleased that the Congressional Water Caucus co-hosted the Capitol Hill briefing entitled "Water is Medicine" and I am personally proud to be a co-sponsor of the Water for the World Act of 2009."

Jae So, Manager of the Water and Sanitation Program, addressed the economic costs of inadequate sanitation giving the example of Cambodia where 7% of GDP is lost. Also speaking powerfully to the standing-room-only audience were Christine Moe, Director, Center for Global Safe Water, Emory University and Rich Thorsten, Director of International Programs of the newly formed Water.org, co-founded by Matt Damon.

Rep. Linder, a co-founder of the Water Caucus, also commented, "The list of domestic and international policy issues that we will face in the 111th Congress is long and each issue will be competing for a spot at the top of the agenda. It is critical that we act to ensure that water resources issues are brought to the forefront of the political agenda. The United States has a great opportunity to take a global leadership position on this critical issue. Indeed, water scarcity and pollution affects everything from stability and security of communities and nations, human health, education, economic prosperity, humanitarian relief and stewardship of the physical environment."
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Indonesia should abide by ASEAN Charter :observer

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Begi Hersutanto opined that Indonesia should abide by the Asean Charter because it has good effect on the country`s legal and political development.

"As one of the ASEAN member countries and signatory of the Asean Charter, Indonesia has to abide by the Charter," the official said.

Hersutanto said further that since the Asean Charter was signed by the Asean heads of government/state on December 2007, it had improved the ties among the member countries in legal affairs.

"Thus, Indonesia should abide by the Asean Charter both legally and politically," he said in observance of the Asean anniversary which falls on August 8.

According to him, the Asean Charter also brought about a significant improvement in international law as well as regional affairs.

Regarding the Asean Charter, several homeworks of the grouping should be completed, among others the border area problem either in the sea or on land, Hersutanto said.

The border area problem should be immediately settled, the official disclosed.
Asean groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam was established on August 8, 1967. (*)
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Cambodians begin to learn of bloody past

ANG SNUOL, Cambodia (AFP) - It plunged their country into a communist "Year Zero" in the late 1970s and killed about a third of the population, but most young Cambodians shrug when asked about the Khmer Rouge.

"I don't know who are the Khmer Rouge. I never learned about the regime and my parents never told me about it either," says 15-year-old Si Phana.

Her schoolmate Ang Pheaktra, 17, knows only a little more about that bleak time which traumatised a generation.

"My parents only told me that the Khmer Rouge were very cruel," Ang Pheaktra says.

Even though there's a war crimes tribunal for senior leaders of the 1975-79 movement, most here are unaware the regime killed up to two million people, emptying cities and enslaving the population on collective farms.

The country is pocked with bone-strewn memorials and mass graves but Hang Chhum, principal at Hun Sen Ang Snuol High School, says many young people do not even believe Khmer Rouge atrocities occured.

"Cambodians rarely tell the bitter history to their children," Hang Chhum says. "Many young Cambodians nowadays do not believe the regime happened because its tragedy was too extreme."

More than 70 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people were born after the Khmer Rouge were ousted in 1979 and, as the topic has been sensitive among elites who were involved with the regime, little about it has been taught in schools.

But this year, three decades after the fall of the reign of terror, the Cambodian government has agreed to include a text on the Khmer Rouge -- "A History of Democratic Kampuchea" -- in its 2009 high school curriculum.

Some half a million copies are being distributed to more than 1,300 schools across the country for grades nine through 12.

"We want students to know that this event did happen in Cambodia and it is not fabricated," Hang Chhum says.

"So when they learn and understand what happened under the regime, they will in the future tell their children so that this regime will never reoccur," he adds.

The 100-page text on the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge was reviewed by Cambodian and foreign scholars. It also includes lessons from Nazi and Rwandan genocides.

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which produced the text, says students studying the Khmer Rouge past will "help heal the wounds of their parents and help build a reconciled society in Cambodia".

Cambodia's bloody history was briefly included in 2002 high school social studies classes, but the book was cut from the curriculum after it caused tension between Premier Hun Sen and his then rival, Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

The text failed to mention that Ranariddh defeated Hun Sen in the country's 1993 election, the first democratic polls after the premier participated in a Vietnam-backed invasion force which ousted the Khmer Rouge.

Hun Sen forced a coalition after that UN-backed poll, and the two men served as co-prime ministers until he ousted the prince in 1997. The rejected textbook glossed over those details, while highlighting Hun Sen?s 1998 national election victory.

Students appeared pleased to get the new textbook and promised to study hard during a recent ceremony unveiling the book at Hun Sen Ang Snuol High School, some eight kilometers (five miles) from the first UN-backed Khmer Rouge court.

The tribunal is currently dealing with the trial of Duch, the former head of the regime's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, which is now a genocide museum.

At the start of proceedings in March, 66-year-old Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, begged forgiveness from victims after accepting responsibility for overseeing the torture and execution of around 15,000 people.

But as the trial continues, it remains to be seen if many Cambodians will learn more about their brutal history.

Knowledge here about the Khmer Rouge has been so dismal that a University of California, Berkeley study showed last year, before Duch's trial began, that nearly 40 percent of Cambodians had no knowledge of the war crimes court.

Court officials assert that number has changed drastically as 12,000 people so far have visited Duch's trial, and compelling testimony has been broadcast on national television.

"With your own eyes, you can see people in this country are very thirsty for information about this tribunal," says court spokesman Reach Sambath.

"It's important to get people engaged in the process. We think it will help Cambodians finally settle with peace in their hearts."
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Kuwait Energy aims to go public in 2010-CEO

NEW YORK - Privately held Kuwait Energy Co is on track to go public and quintuple its oil production from its fields around the world by the end of next year, Chief Executive Sara Akbar told Reuters in an interview.

Akbar, known in some energy circles for her role fighting well fires after the first Gulf War, said that she expects KEC to lift output to 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from about 10,000 bpd at the end of 2008.

The company, formed in August 2005, expects to list within the same time frame.

"We're looking at London and Kuwait exchanges. A dual listing is an option," said Akbar, who bills herself as one of just a handful of Arab female CEOs in the Middle East. Akbar said KEC, which posted net profits of $30 million in 2008 from $18 million 2007, would likely shun U.S. exchanges because of onerous U.S. reporting requirements.

"Why would you want to subject any company to excessive regulation," she said.

The company's strategy is focused on development of smaller fields, especially in the Middle East, where it can use its regional expertise and where many fields needing enhanced recovery methods are overlooked by large state-run firms.

"A lot of fields are really aging and they don't have time for the attention needed," Akbar said.

On Thursday, state-run Kuwait Oil Co invited interest from contractors for services to enhance oil recovery, part of the country's plans to boost output potential.

KEC has projects in Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Pakistan and Cambodia.

In 2007, KEC signed a memorandum of understanding to develop several projects in Iraq, including developing the small Siba gas field.

Last week, Iraq's oil ministry removed the Siba gas field from the list of fields to be offered in a second bidding round. The first round produced just one deal out of eight fields on offer, the large Rumaila field to BP (BP.L) and China National Petroleum Corp.

Akbar said it was difficult for the Iraqi government and oil companies to agree on terms for oil field development in the war-torn nation, still roiled by instability.

"Iraqis need to be more flexible. Eventually they will get there," she added.

Last August, KEC signed a partnership agreement with the Somali government and Indonesia's PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk to set up a state oil firm in Somalia.

But a bid round to open up acreage to international companies set for 2010 has been delayed by ongoing turmoil in the East African country, Akbar said.

Elsewhere, KEC intends to divest by the end of 2009 its one exploration license it holds with Medco in Cambodia.

As for oil prices, Akbar said she was encouraged by the recent data showing Chinese second-quarter growth accelerating to 7.9 percent.

"As long as the Far East and China are still growing at those rates, the fundamentals should show the price of oil in the range of $60 to $70 is sustainable."

Akbar previously worked for Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co and Kuwait Oil Company and gained much attention for her role in fighting oil well fires after the first Gulf War.

"I remember we had a birthday party for Red Adair, his 76th, while he was in Kuwait fighting the fires in 1991. He was a legend. But when you have 700 wells on fire, you have to be heroic. You have to do something."

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Cambodia rejects landmine beauty contest

The Cambodian government has urged the cancellation of a beauty pageant in which landmine victims will compete to win a prosthetic leg, organisers say.

In the Miss Landmine Cambodia contest, 20 competitors from around the country are due to appear in a photo exhibition opening on Friday in Phnom Penh, followed by an internet voting campaign to select the best candidate.

But in a letter to organisers, the Ministry of Social Affairs has called on them to cancel the contest - although the Cambodian Mine Action Authority said in 2007 it fully supported the event.

"The ministry asks the people who organise this contest to stop this action ... for protecting ... the honour and dignity of people with disabilities," the letter said in English.

But Norwegian pageant director Morten Traavik said the contest, which offers as the top prize a custom-made prosthetic leg, would increase awareness about the victims of landmines.

"I have asked to meet the Cambodian officials to clear up our misunderstanding, and I hope once they know about our project details, they will welcome this," he said.

He explained that the pageant aimed "to raise awareness of what landmines have done to the people", adding that it would be a "big shame" if people could not see the exhibition.

The first Miss Landmine contest was held in Angola last year, drawing protests from rights activists who viewed it as exploitative and racist.

Cambodia remains one of the world's most heavily mined countries, along with Afghanistan and Angola.

Hundreds of people are killed or maimed every year by the millions of landmines and other unexploded ordnance still littering the countryside after decades of conflict.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cancelled a Miss Cambodia beauty pageant in 2006, saying he would not allow such a contest until poverty in Cambodia was reduced by more than half.

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Sex tourism and Canada's weak response

If you had asked anyone to describe Donald Bakker they would likely have said he was just an ordinary Canadian -- a loving father and husband who lived a middle-class lifestyle, working regular hours at Vancouver banquet halls and donating part of his modest salary to an international children's charity.

No one would have called him a child predator, but in 2005 Bakker became the first Canadian to be convicted under the country's sex tourism law after an investigation found that he paid seven young girls in Cambodia to have sex with him.

Canada has had laws in place since 1996 that allow Canadian authorities to prosecute citizens who have committed sex crimes against children overseas. However, in the last decade, Canada has only convicted three people under its sex tourism law, a new study out of British Columbia has found.

The study's author, Benjamin Parrin, a law professor and Canadian expert on sex tourism, says that Canadian men are actively contributing to the problem of child exploitation in troubled countries such as Cambodia and Thailand.

And although Canadian authorities have all the legal tools they need to go after the offenders, they are lacking an enforcement strategy to effectively tackle the problem, he said. The result is that offenders can travel to these troubled countries knowing that they likely won't be investigated.

Several countries around the world have investigators stationed overseas, actively pursuing their nationals who travel to sex tourism hotspots looking for young prey.

Australia is perhaps the best example of a country proactively pursuing offenders. Southeast Asia is the number one vacation destination for Aussies, and as a result the country has stationed Australian officers in several countries in the region and officials have forged a working relationship with the foreign police.

Canadian officials are not ignoring the issue, Parrin says, but their resources are being spent on tracking drug trafficking networks, terrorism links and sales of weapons.

"What's clearly missing is the political will," he tells CTV.ca in a recent interview. "More resources should be allocated to administer these laws."

Parrin calls the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's approach to the issue "accidental prosecution" -- because authorities often stumble upon the evidence rather than actively pursue the perpetrators, like the Australians do.

In Bakker's case, it was Vancouver's police force that stumbled upon video footage of the man having sex with Cambodian children. Local authorities were probing Bakker's past after he was charged with assaulting Vancouver prostitutes. The videotape was accidentally discovered when police executed a search warrant on his property.

Challenges to police

The RCMP did not return messages left by CTV.ca but a Toronto sex crimes police officer who has travelled to Cambodia for work says that Canadian authorities have a number of issues that challenge their ability to go after sex offenders overseas.

A big part of the problem is that the police forces in most impoverished countries where children are part of the sex trade lack the resources to build an effective network with international authorities, says Det. Const. Janelle Blackadar.

In some cases the police forces are on such a tight budget they don't even have enough gasoline in their cars to respond to a call.

Corruption is also a big problem for law enforcers as it is quite common for suspects to bribe authorities to drop the charges. Because money is so scarce, bribes are often accepted.

"People are very poor, so of course money is going to influence them," Blackadar says.

"It's not the same police society we have here," she continues. "It's not good business to investigate the (wealthy) businessmen who contribute to the country's economy."

Blackadar says money is also the reason why families push their children into the sex trade.

"Children there realize at a very early age how life is going to be for them," she says. "Families will sell their daughter's virginity. Families profit from this."

"It's been part of their society for so long, it's part of their culture almost," she adds.

NGO's to the rescue

The difference in attitudes towards children and sex is probably the biggest challenges international authorities face. Acceptance and widespread corruption make it difficult for investigators to collect evidence.

Most of the time, Blackadar says, evidence is collected by people who work at non-governmental organizations who have made it their mission to stop child trafficking and exploitation.

They collect evidence and pass it on to the appropriate authorities in hopes they'll be able to prosecute the offender.

Rosalind Prober is one such activist whose work has helped put Canada on the right track.

She is behind the "Prober amendment" to Canada's child sex tourism legislation, which was introduced in 1996. The amendment allowed authorities to prosecute Canadians who have committed crimes against children in other jurisdictions.

Today, the Winnipeg resident is arguably Canada's most influential lobbyist in the issue of sex tourism and has co-founded an organization called Beyond Borders, which helps tackle child exploitation

Prober was in Toronto on July 30 to launch a campaign with the Body Shop and the Somaly Mam Foundation, which fights human trafficking.

In an interview, Prober tells CTV.ca that Canada has simply not made the issue of sex tourism a priority.

Aside from stationing more RCMP officers in troubled countries, changes also need to be made to Canada's national sex offender registry, she says.

Prober and several other organizations including World Vision Canada have called for the government to issue travel warnings for people who have been convicted of sex offences in Canada and who travel abroad after serving their sentence.

"They can take their passport and say goodbye to Canada and get right back to business," she says.

Part of the solution, Prober suggests, is to make the registry public.

"These people are put right back into society anonymously," she says. "The registry is inadequate."

She admits that issuing travel advisories would be a "bureaucratic nightmare" as lawyers would have a field day arguing for the individual's right to freedom of mobility.

"It's just a matter of whose rights are going to trump whose rights," Prober says with a sigh.

For Somaly Mam, a Cambodian woman who was brutally raped as a child and sold into a brothel, the issue has never been about rights. It has been about survival.

Tired of talking

Mam was also in Toronto this week, visiting from Cambodia to share her experience and to persuade the Canadian public to take action.

She tells CTV.ca that speaking engagements are how she helps raise funds for the shelters and foundation she helps run, but that in truth, she is tired of all the talking.

"I don't understand what we are doing by talking," Mam says. "Talking is great but we need more reacting. While we keep talking, pedophiles are going into our country and killing our children.

"I'm so fed up, I've spent so much time writing letters." she says.

Her frustration is palpable and when she explains her current life in Cambodia, it becomes easy to understand why she is so angry.

Her shelters, scattered throughout southeast Asia, have saved about 6,000 girls. Each houses about 200 girls, some as young as five, all of whom call her "mommy."

She never turns anyone away despite the fact that sometimes there is not enough money to feed everyone. Her goal is to keep them safe and away from predators, 30 per cent of whom are tourists, she says.

The efforts have resulted in her being named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2009. Nonetheless, she realizes her limitations and says while she helps girls get out of the sex trade, she alone can't stop the problem.

"Only political power has the power to stop it," she says. "Not me."

Part of the problem Mam sees with international authorities is their lack of co-ordination across borders. By comparison, criminal organizations tend to be extremely organized.

She says the general public must put pressure on their governments to act, if a solution is to be found.

"I do this because this is my life, but you have a great life and yet you are all here," she tells a crowd of about 50 people gathered at a human trafficking rally in Toronto on July 31.

Mam says despite the frustrations and tribulations she continues to face in Cambodia, she is in no hurry to move from her home.

Her suffering as a child has driven her to help other children survive the same atrocities she faced at the hands of pedophiles.

"Those little girls teach me everyday to stand up and love," she says at the rally, choking up with emotion. "Being a victim is your whole life. You never forget it."

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6th Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission meets in Bangkok

BANGKOK, Thailand will host the 6th Meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia (Joint Commmission) on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Centara Grand Hotel in Bangkok.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya is heading the Thai delegation and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong leads the Cambodian delegation.

The parties will review past cooperation and plan future collaboration, according to a Thai foreign ministry statement.

The meeting is a time for Thailand and Cambodia to strengthen relations, and further discuss issues raised during Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s official visit to Cambodia on June 12.

The program and activities of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Cambodia in 2010 are expected to be discussed.

The Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) will be held Tuesday, and the Joint Commission will meet Wednesday.

The countries foreign ministers will sign an agreement on transferring sentenced prisoners and cooperating to enforce prison sentences.
The Joint Commission is responsible for supervising the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The meeting will address bilateral cooperation in politics, security, economics, society, science and technology.

The parties will also consider cooperation in multilateral frameworks such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), Emerald Triangle and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).

The 5th JC Meeting was hosted by Cambodia February 7-10, 2006 in Phnom Penh. (TNA)

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Opinion: Identifying Cambodian injustice

What prosecutor Top Chan Sereyvudth's true nature says about Cambodia's justice system.

By Joel Brinkley - GlobalPost


PURSAT, Cambodia — Top Chan Sereyvudth is a little man, maybe five foot four, with a bit of fuzz on his chin that some might mistake for a beard. When faced with questions about his problematic behavior, he takes several steps backward with a nervous look. His is the face of injustice in Cambodia.

Top is the chief prosecutor in Pursat Province, a government lawyer charged with bringing malefactors to justice. Well, through a bureaucratic sleight of hand, he managed to have a case transferred from Banteay Meanchey Province, on the other side of the nation, into his own courtroom. This case involved a dispute with four villagers over ownership of some land. These villagers were locked in argument with none other than Top Chan Sereyvudth, who stood to gain five acres for himself.

In his own courtroom, the prosecutor managed to dispatch the villagers to jail after the court offered a preliminary judgement in his favor. In Cambodia, where courts are plagued with graft and inequity, that would have been the end of it — if not for Chhay Sareth, governor of Pursat Province.

He had been out of town during the prosecutor’s escapade, but he heard about it when scores of the victims’ friends from Banteay Meanchey began raucous demonstrations in the center of town.

“I was just informed that there were angry people in the street,” the governor told me. “I was 100 kilometers away. The case was getting bigger and bigger. I thought, if we don’t stop it, Hun Sen will hear about it!” Hun Sen is Cambodia’s prime minister.

After hurrying home, he called in the protesters, heard their story and “ordered the police to assure their security.” A few days later, the case moved to trial. By now the governor’s concern was well known, and the trial judge, In Bopha, let the four men go. When I asked him why, he chose his words carefully.

“It was determined that the crime was committed in Banteay Meanchey province and was out of our jurisdiction. So I ordered it forwarded back to Banteay Meanchey under article 290 of our code.”

As all of this proceeded, Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana grew angry. After all, he had approved the prosecutor’s request to transfer the case. Now, what was a governor doing messing around in his courts?

“The minister of justice asked me why I got involved in this,” the governor recalled. “I told him: ‘This problem came here from Banteay Meanchey, and when someone vomits on your leg, you have to react. So I got involved.’ I respect these people, even though they came from Banteay Meanchey. I did not know this case until they came here. The prosecutor brought this case here.”

All of that happened in February and March. I spoke to the governor in early July and asked him: After all of that, why is Top Chan Sereyvudth still chief prosecutor in Pursat Province?

“I wonder why the prosecutor, who was really involved in this case, why there is no punishment, no measure taken against him,” he said. “I still wonder why. If you want to know more, I suggest you talk to the minister of justice.” So I did. But not before Top Chan Sereyvudth showed his true nature one more time.

At the end of June, Lieut. Col. Ou Bunthan, a trafficker in endangered species, sent his employee, Leang Saroeun, to pick up a wild pangolin someone had captured. Leang did as told, but on the way back the animal escaped. The colonel was furious. He summoned Leang to his house, poured four liters of gasoline over him and then lit him.

Leang's wife, Laet Heang watched in horror as her husband, ablaze, “ran and jumped into a cistern” full of water, she told me. A few days later he died. Word of this got around, of course. A reporter asked Top Chan Sereyvudth about the incident, since it occurred in Pursat.

Top said he was awaiting a police report before considering the case. But then, without skipping a beat, he pronounced: “It is slanderous to say that Ou Bunthan burned Leang Saroeun."

A few days later I asked Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana first about transferring the land case to Pursat. The minister answered with an imperial tone: “I have the right to transfer the case, and I did it.” But didn’t Top have a personal interest in the case? “People say he was involved, but nobody has shown me the proof.”

Okay, then, was it proper for Top to pronounce guilt in the Ou Buntham case — before he had even seen the police report?

For a moment, the minister simply glared with a pinched lip, narrow-eyed stare. Then he stood up and stormed out of the room, muttering, “you waste my time.”

Today, Top Chan Sereyvudth is still Pursat Province’s chief prosecutor. Today, as every day, justice in his court cannot be had. Read more!

26 Out on Bail After Land Dispute Violence

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer


Banteay Meanchey provincial court released 26 people on bail Friday, but upheld charges against them for violence in a Poipet land dispute.

Police initially arrested 22 men and nine women on July 24 as they pushed them from their land, following a decision by the Supreme Court in a land dispute between two groups of villagers.

All 31 have been charged with destruction of property, incitement and attempted murder, after they battled with local security forces, throwing gasoline bombs, acid and stones, in an attempt to stay on their land.

Two men were released on Sunday under the control of court authorities, and three men remain in the provincial jail.

“Banteay Meanchey court decided to allow the 26 accused to remain out of detention in a verdict on July 29,” according to a decision by investigating judges Ang Mealtey and Soeng Kuch.

The 26 will be required to appear in court when summoned, the judges said.

Oun Ranhya, a 24-year-old defendant released Friday, said the decision was just, “because we lost our land and houses, and the court detained us.”

“We have lived on this land for nearly 20 years,” he said.

He appealed to the court to drop all charges against the villagers.

Sum Chankea, a local coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, said the villagers were being charged with both civil and penal laws. He said they should only be charged with penal offenses, and should not have been released on bail, because the villagers don’t understand the verdict of the court or the law.

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Cambodian private equity firm Leopard Capital buys majority stake in beer brewery for $2m

Leopard Capital, a Cambodian private equity firm, has completed the fourth deal from its $27m debut vehicle Leopard Cambodia Fund by investing $2m in Kingdom Breweries.

LCF will acquire a 55.5 per cent share of the brewery for its investment.
The company, a Cambodian beer brewer, believes that with half the country’s population under the legal drinking age limit, consumption should shoot up over the next five to ten years.

Kingdom Breweries aims to secure a foothold by producing high-quality craft beer in a microbrewery in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

The fund’s previous transactions include a $1m investment in Greenside Holdings, which is part of a consortium of investors that is refurbishing, designing, constructing and commissioning a rural power transmission and distribution system.

LCF has also put $1.8m into Cambodia Plantations, a Singapore-based company which serves as an offshore finance vehicle for agricultural investments in central Cambodia.

The Leopard Cambodia Fund was launched in March 2008 and is targeting sectors in the financial services, agriculture, food and beverage production, building materials, tourism, and property development in the south-east Asian country.

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