STEVE LILLEBUEN
With a middle-class background and an internet connection, the Australian man is keen to explore travel deals advertised across the web.
He is the co-worker, relative and mate who awaits cheap flights to Southeast Asia that the economic downturn has made all the more plentiful.
But he is drawn to such tropical places not for the beaches, cheap drinks and a brief escape from the rat race.
He is the customer in a growing global issue that sees over 1.8 million children as young as eight years old being sold for sex - sometimes up to ten times a day - until they're considered "worthless" before they reach their 30th birthday.
And new studies reveal this man has more mates than ever who think and act just like him.
Australians make up the largest portion of foreign sex offenders against children in Thailand, according to research at John Hopkins University in Baltimore that studied patterns of arrests and prosecutions between 1995 and 2006.
His money is fuelling a $US31.6 billion ($A36.5 billion) industry in trafficking in what a recent report by a global network of groups against child sex slavery concludes is a "massive human rights violation that is currently going largely unnoticed around the world".
Bernadette McMenamin, CEO of Child Wise Australia, says child sex trafficking remains a hidden problem that most Australians have become complacent about - even though a main root of the global crime is the Australian offender.
"People tell us, 'It happens overseas. Isn't that an issue we talked about years ago?' But what we've found is that ... the supply and demand factors fuelling child sex slavery have actually grown," she told AAP.
"The number of children entering the trade has grown. Efforts to combat this problem have not succeeded despite pouring money into overseas governments."
A new global campaign called "Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People," will be launched on Monday to help reverse the trend and bring the issue back into the homes of the average Australian.
Being run across 45 countries, the campaign aims to raise awareness, conduct a survey on people's attitudes and lobby national governments.
In February, Child Wise will step up the campaign by backing stalled amendments to child sex tourism laws in the federal parliament.
Rather than seeing authorities wait for child sex to occur before acting, the amendments seek out preparatory offences: stopping sex offenders from travelling overseas, buying flights and possessing child pornography.
"We've waited long enough," Ms McMenamin says of the proposed changes. "We're simply not keeping up with travelling sex offenders."
Only small changes are required to save Asian girls from being sold into a life of slavery, she says.
The Body Shop has already joined the Child Wise campaign by selling a hand cream that directs profits to Cambodian outreach programs.
Such programs can provide support for girls and keep them in school with books, pens and bicycles.
It may not seem like a lot but the average child sex slave is sold for only a few hundred dollars by a family or boyfriend in poverty desperate for cash, she says.
In Cambodia children are brought in from Vietnam or taken from village to village, then off to Thailand.
All these victims suffer lifelong mental and physical damage. Some contract HIV/AIDS while most find it hard to reintegrate into society after a decade of such slavery.
Ms McMenamin says most Australians view the price of petrol as a greater concern than the welfare of foreign children.
"We have increased awareness and there have been some arrests but overall we're not putting a dent in the problem," she says.
"We need people to try and think beyond what's going on in their lives."
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Monday, September 14, 2009
Child sex tourism study 'blames Aussies'
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Prosecutor wants 5 more Khmer Rouge investigated
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -A prosecutor at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal has formally recommended that five more suspects be investigated for crimes against humanity and other offenses, setting the legal body on a collision course with the country's powerful prime minister.
A statement from the tribunal Tuesday said the acting international co-prosecutor, William Smith of Australia, submitted his recommendation to the co-investigating judges, who would then decide whether to issue arrest warrants.
Citing the confidentiality of the process, the tribunal announcement did not identify the five new suspects. It said the cases involved at least 32 instances of murder, torture, unlawful detention, forced labor, and persecution that constituted violations of Cambodian and international law.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly spoken out against expanding the list of defendants beyond the one now on trial — Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, — and four others in custody.
On Monday, Hun Sen said such action could lead to civil war, a claim doubted by his critics.
"I would like to tell you that if you prosecute (more leaders) without thinking beforehand about national reconciliation and peace, and if war breaks out again and kills 20,000 or 30,000 people, who will be responsible?" Hun Sen said.
The tribunal's Cambodian co-prosecutor opposed further indictments, but the tribunal last week ruled that his international counterpart could seek them. The tribunal, created last year under an agreement reached in 2003 between Cambodia and the United Nations, employs joint teams of Cambodian and international court personnel.
Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the tribunal, said there was no timeframe for action by the co-investigating judges on Smith's submission, made Monday.
The tribunal is seeking justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died in Cambodia from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the communist regime's radical policies while in power between 1975-79.
The U.N. administrator for the tribunal issued a blunt reminder Tuesday to Hun Sen that the panel was independent.
"It is a clearly established international standard that courts do not seek approval of advice on their work from the executive branch," Knut Rosandhaug said in a statement.
Critics accuse Hun Sen of trying to limit the tribunal's scope to prevent his political allies from being indicted. Hun Sen once served as a Khmer Rouge officer and many of his main allies are also former members of the group.
The tribunal's long-awaited first trial — of Kaing Guek Eav, the Khmer Rouge's chief jailer for war crimes and crimes against humanity — opened in March. A joint trial of the four other defendants is expected within the next two years.
The Khmer Rouge came to power after a bitter 1970-75 civil war, and after being ousted from power in 1979, carried out an insurgency from the jungles until 1999.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodian politics for more than two decades. He ousted his former co-prime minister in a 1997 coup and has since ruled virtually unchallenged.
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Friday, September 11, 2009
Mike Fowler | Journalist/prosecutor trained reporters around the world
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER
Mike Fowler, a veteran lawyer/journalist who left Miami jobs in both fields to train reporters in Asia and the Middle East, died Aug. 18 in New Hampshire. He was 67.
His wife, journalist Susan Postelwaite, said he suffered complications from routine laparoscopic surgery for gastro-intestinal reflux.
The couple and daughter Kim, 8, were summering at their home in North Sandwich, N.H., when Fowler took sick. They'd planned a return to Kim's native Cambodia, where both Fowler and Postelwaite wrote and taught.
During the 1970s and '80s, the Kansas City native worked in Miami for UPI and the Miami News and taught part time at Florida International University. After graduating from the University of Miami School of Law, he became a prosecutor in then-State Attorney Janet Reno's office.
The two-time Knight Fellow went on to train journalists, write and teach in Egypt, India, Bulgaria and Afghanistan, as well as Cambodia.
``He was really important because during the early to mid-1990s, Cambodia's journalism was very young and we strongly needed training to pass on the skills and knowledge to local journalists,'' Moeun Chhean Narridh, director of the Cambodian Institute for Media Studies, told the English language Cambodia Daily.
Miami political consultant Keith Donner took classes from Fowler in the mid-1980s at FIU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
``Mike was this mixture of Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene,'' Donner recalled. ``He was a tall, hulking guy -- about six-foot-five -- with a great wit and tremendous intellect,'' as well as a fondness for cigarettes and Scotch.
``He was the coolest guy in a very cool profession.''
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Taiwan court convicts Chen, imposes life sentence
Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian speaks to media at the Taipei District Court after being released on bail, early Saturday morning, Dec. 13, 2008, in Taipei, Taiwan. (AP)
Former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has been sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of corruption on Friday, marking a defining moment in the island's troubled political history.
Chen's wife was also convicted of corruption and she too will be serving a life term, according to Taipei court official Huang Chun-ming.
Huang said the couple was also fined NT $500 million (about $16.3 million CAD)
"Chen Shui-bian and Wu Shu-chen were sentenced to life in prison because Chen has done grave damage to the country, and Wu, because she was involved in corruption deals as the first lady," Huang told The Associated Press.
Hundreds of people held a protest outside the courtroom to show their support for Chen, holding flags and banners that proclaimed his innocence and asking the court to "free him."
Chen, 58, was found guilty of multiple counts of corruption by three judges in the Taipei District Court. He chose not to attend the proceedings, opting instead to stay in a suburban Taipei jail where he has been held since late December.
He was charged with:
embezzling $3.15 million from a presidential fund
receiving bribes worth $9 million in connection with a government land deal
laundering money through Swiss bank accounts forging documents.
Many Taiwanese believed that Chen was guilty of some level of corruption though his supporters remain convinced that Chen's views against China played a role in his prosecution and his jail term.
At first, Chen was freed on his own recognizance following his indictment late 2008. The three judges who made that decision were taken off the case and replaced by a new panel. The new judges ordered Chen back in police custody, deeming him a flight risk and saying that he could use his freedom to collude with coconspirators.
But the Taiwanese justice officials have steadfastly rejected accusations of unfairness, saying that no man -- regardless of his position -- is above the law.
Chen first came into power in 2000 after he vowed to eradicate decades of corruption by the Nationalist Party. He also promised he would deepen Taiwan's independence.
However, he was swiftly criticized for his alleged tendency to bend accepted procedures and relax the management of a special presidential fund meant to promote Taiwan's interests overseas.
Chen faced numerous challenges, including China's hostility and tense relations with the U.S. -- Taiwan's major foreign partner.
Washington had pressured the former president to stand down from his insistence on Taiwanese independence, afraid it would spark a war with Beijing.
President Ma Ying-jeou has since taken over for Chen, who has managed to improve relations with Beijing.
Lamoiyan Corp. to export Hapee products to China
MANILA - Filipino-owned Lamoiyan Corp., the manufacturer of the Hapee toothpaste brand, will be exporting its products to China, the company’s top official said.
Cecilio Kwok Pedro, the company’s president and chief executive, said they have decided to be more aggressive and enter the Chinese market.
Lamoiyan has been exporting its products to Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei, Pa-pua New Guinea and the Middle East.
“In every crisis, there is an opportunity,” Pedro said.
The company will compete with multinational companies in China using its cost-competitive advantage in the consumer market – the same formula it used to break into the foreign-dominated toothpaste segment in the Philippines.
Pedro said Lamoiyan is putting emphasis on participating in trade fairs as a strategy to expand its market. In 2008, the company participated in a trade fair in Dubai and bagged a distributorship deal.
This year, the company joins for the first time the China-ASEAN Expo 2009, the country’s trade platform for exporters hoping to explore the Chinese market.
Led by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotions agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, CAEXPO 2009 is a yearly celebration of more than a thousand years of trade and cultural exchanges between China and Southeast Asian nations.
CAEXPO began as an annual event in 2003. Over the past five years, it generated a total of 119,000 trade visitors, $6.52 billion in trade volume, and international investments cooperation projects worth $28.62 billion.
Together with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, the Philippines will promote its trade, tourism and investment opportunities to over 10,000 trade buyers from China and all over South East Asia attending CAEXPO.
Last year, the Philippines generated close to $1 million in sales.
The best-selling Philippine products were bottled sardines, bangus pate, virgin coconut oil, snack foods and fresh fruits. Other Filipino exhibitors joining Lamoiyan are Agrinurture Inc. (canned fruit juices, coco products); Art Workx Jewelry Inc. (jewelry designing); Beadaholic Inc. (fashion accessories); Beso Import Export Trading (ready-to-drink); Camelia (candies, chocolates); Cechosa Trading Enterprises (tin crafts); Egonco Enterprises (Philippine Banana snack); Jacildo’s Handicrafts (home décor); Knick Knacks Trading Corp. (arts, crafts and gifts); Manila Business College (Education); Mega Fishing Corp. (sardines); Nor-Ref Food Products (brewed coffee); Phymax International Corp. (Stationery and Desk Accessories); Team Asia Corp, (Refined Coconut oil); and Unique Novelties and Toys (toys).
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Cambodia's former King Norodom Sihanouk prefers to be cremated
By Rasmei Kampuchea
Phnom Penh: The former King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, told his people if he dies he prefers to having his body cremated.
During the meeting with Bun Rany Hun Sen, wife of Prime minister Hun Sen and president of Cambodian Red Cross, which took place on August 29, he said the stupa was built already for him in the royal palace.
The former King, who is 86 years old, explained that for Christine people, their body will be buried, but for him, his body shall be cremated through the Khmer tradition.
"My wife (former Queen Monineath) also agrees that her body should also be cremated when she dies," said Sihanouk.
He said his cancers have been treated by Chinese doctors, but he was recommended to have medical checkups and treatments every 7 months.
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Thursday, September 10, 2009
JSM Indochina plans to move to LSE's main mkt
Sept 10 (Reuters) - AIM-listed property firm JSM Indochina Ltd on Thursday said it planned to apply for trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market.
JSM, which invests in Vietnamese and Cambodian real estate, said it expected the move to the main board of the LSE would be concluded before year end.
So far, six AIM-listed firms have transferred to LSE's main market. In 2008, 11 companies had moved to the main market.
JSM's move to graduate to the main market comes at a time when a growing band of small companies are planning to delist from the junior market as many see the cost of staying listed outweighs any potential benefit.
JSM, whose investment portfolio comprises five projects in Cambodia and two in Vietnam, was listed on AIM in July 2007.
For the six months ended June 30, the company's net loss was $9 million, compared with net profit of $18 million in the year-ago period.
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Vietnamese producers urged to cement position in Cambodia
VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam-made products have become the second-most favoured products in the neighbouring market of Cambodia, just after Thai goods, a survey has found. However, Vietnam could be dislodged from the second position if it does not come up with suitable business strategies for the market.
The survey of Cambodian retailers and Vietnam-, Thailand- and China-made goods in the Cambodian market, conducted by BSA and Truong Doan Market Survey Company in August 2009 in Phnom Penh and Battambong, showed that Vietnam-made goods are popular in the country.
There are two main factors that are responsible for this: they are cheaper than Thai products and have acceptable quality.
The programme on introducing high-quality Vietnamese products in Cambodia, which has been in existence for eight years, has also made a considerable contribution to the popularising of Vietnamese goods in the market. A lot of Vietnamese brand names like Kinh Do or Vina Acecook have become familiar to Cambodian consumers.
However, the said survey has also pointed out problems with Vietnam-made goods. Goods are often inconsistent as far as quality.
Many Vietnam-made products are unfriendly to Cambodian consumers, since no Khmer words are on the packages or instruction books. This is particularly critical in sales of fertiliser or pharmaceutical products.
Some Cambodian retailers have complained that they cannot contact Vietnamese producers when necessary, since no addresses are provided on product packages. Meanwhile, Cambodian retailers say that they can get support from Thai producers when selling Thai products.
As for food products, Vietnamese producers still have not made deep studies of the tastes of consumers; they are simply selling the products they have. Instant noodles are an example. Vietnamese noodles are selling well on the market, but just because they are much cheaper than the same products from Thailand.
The current position may be lost
Cambodia, with 14.7 million people and income per capita at $600 per annum, as well as an open import policy (no limitation is set on the imports of the country), is a market with great potentials for Vietnam.
In 2008, two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia was $1.7 billion, of which Vietnam exported $1.45 billion.
However, Truong Cung Nghia, Market Survey Director of Truong Doan, has warned that Vietnam will be dislodged from the position if it does not come up with suitable business strategies.
China still does not consider Cambodia a potential market, so it has no plan to develop the market. But the situation may be different in the future.
Meanwhile, goods from Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia have begun landing in the market. The Chinese community in Cambodia has close relations with the Chinese communities in the said countries.
Additionally, Thailand continues conquering the market with methodical measures and with support from the Government. Meanwhile, Vietnamese enterprises do not get any support from their Government.
VietNamNet/TBKTVN
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Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Cambodia PM accuses other countries of stirring unrest
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia’s prime minister accused foreign judges and prosecutors at the U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal of seeking to arrest new suspects as part of a plot by foreign governments to incite unrest.
Hun Sen’s accusation was the latest in a series he has launched against the tribunal and its ruling last week to allow foreign prosecutors to pursue more suspects.
On Monday, Hun Sen said such action could lead to civil war. He has repeatedly spoken out against expanding the list of defendants beyond the one currently on trial — Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, — and four others in custody.
He elaborated Wednesday, saying foreign governments want war in Cambodia, a former French colony that was later wracked by decades of civil war.
“I know that some foreign judges and prosecutors have received orders from their governments to create problems here,” Hun Sen said while inaugurating a Buddhist pagoda south of the capital. “There is no doubt that they have received advice from their government to do so.”
Hun Sen did not name specific countries. The tribunal includes 12 foreign judges and two foreign prosecutors from countries including Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Zambia.
“What Cambodia needs is peace,” Hun Sen added. “If Cambodia has peace, they (foreign governments) are not quite happy with us — but if Cambodia has war, they are happy because then we’ll be easy to occupy.”
A tribunal spokesman, Lars Olsen, said Hun Sen’s comments were being verified before a comment could be issued.
Critics accuse Hun Sen of trying to limit the tribunal’s scope to prevent his political allies from being indicted. Hun Sen once served as a Khmer Rouge officer and many of his main allies are also former members of the group.
On Tuesday, the tribunal’s acting international co-prosecutor, William Smith of Australia, formally recommended that five more suspects be investigated for possible crimes against humanity and other offences.
The tribunal’s Cambodian co-prosecutor opposed further indictments, but the tribunal ruled last week that his international counterpart could seek them. The tribunal, created last year under an agreement reached in 2003 between Cambodia and the United Nations, employs joint teams of Cambodian and international court personnel.
The tribunal is seeking justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died in Cambodia from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the ultra-communist group’s radical policies while in power in 1975-79.
The Khmer Rouge took control after a bitter 1970-75 civil war, and after being ousted from power in 1979, fought an insurgency from the jungles until 1999.
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UN says Khmer Rouge tribunal must be independent
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen gestures at a ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Sep. 7, 2009. Hun Sen renewed his criticism of the country's U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal Monday, warning that arresting more suspects could spark civil war. (AP Photo/Khem Sovannara) (Khem Sovannara - AP)
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- The U.N. administrator for the Khmer Rouge tribunal issued a blunt reminder to Prime Minister Hun Sen that the panel is independent, after the Cambodian leader suggested that arresting more suspects for trial could spark a civil war.
The U.N.-backed tribunal ruled last week that prosecutors could pursue further arrests beyond the five Khmer Rouge leaders already indicted, in a decision opposed by the panel's Cambodian co-prosecutor but supported by his international counterparts.
Hun Sen said Monday that he had devoted several years to persuading Khmer Rouge leaders and their soldiers to stop fighting, so he could not allow anyone to drag the country back into a new civil war by putting additional suspects them on trial.
Knut Rosandhaug, Coordinator of the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge trials, subsequently issued a statement that he expects the tribunal to continue to work independently.
"It is a clearly established international standard that courts do not seek approval of advice on their work from the executive branch," he said.
The tribunal is seeking justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died in Cambodia from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the communist regime's radical policies while in power between 1975-79.
Critics accuse Hun Sen of seeking to limit the tribunal's scope because other potential defendants are his current political allies. Hun Sen served as a Khmer Rouge officer, before changing sides, and many of his major political allies are also former members of the group.
Brad Adams, Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said he believes Hun Sen was seeking to protect members of his own Cambodian People's Party, who could be targets for prosecution. But he said it was unlikely more arrests would be made.
Adams pointed out that the Khmer Rouge have been defunct for a decade, and that its former leaders are now more interested in business than war.
The tribunal's long-awaited first trial - of the Khmer Rouge's chief jailer for war crimes and crimes against humanity - opened in March. A joint trial of the four other senior officials - the only others currently in detention - is expected within the next two years.
The Khmer Rouge came to power after a bitter 1970-75 Civil War, and after being ousted from power in 1979, carried out an insurgency from the jungles until 1999.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodian politics for more than two decades. He ousted his former co-prime minister in a 1997 coup and has since ruled virtually unchallenged.
Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post goes daily in Khmer
PHNOM PENH — The Phnom Penh Post, one of Cambodia's leading newspapers, launched its first-ever Khmer language edition Wednesday, stepping up competition in the country's burgeoning media market.
Australian publisher Ross Dunkley said the paper, which will have a daily print run of 15,000 copies, would focus its reporting on Cambodia's changing economy and business climate as it leaves behind decades of conflict.
"Ultimately a newspaper is a reflection of the society we live in so you can expect the paper to be much more in tune with the new realities of this country," Dunkley said.
The majority of publications in the country's large and lively Cambodian-language press are accused of being aligned with political parties, however Dunkley promised independent reporting.
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith welcomed the paper, the first full-colour Khmer tabloid in the kingdom's media market, as a "good thing" that would help "widen our free press".
The English version of the Post launched its first daily edition in August last year, after Australian businessmen with stakes in Yangon's The Myanmar Times weekly took a controlling interest in the paper.
The Post, founded by American journalist Michael Hayes 18 years ago, had published every two weeks but Post Media Ltd, the company now behind the paper, has invested heavily in expanded editions.
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U.S. Citizen Arraigned on Charges of International Sex Tourism
WASHINGTON, Richard David Mitchell was arraigned yesterday on sex tourism charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, after being deported from Cambodia, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney
for the District of Hawaii Edward H. Kubo, Jr.
Mitchell, 61, a U.S. citizen and resident of Hawaii, was charged in a criminal
complaint filed on Aug. 26, 2009, in U.S. District Court for the District of
Hawaii with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. According
to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, witnesses reported seeing
Mitchell engaging in sex acts with a female child on the curbside of a street
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in August 2008. Mitchell was initially arrested in
August 2008 by the Cambodian National Police on local charges related to the
same incident.
Mitchell returned to Hawaii on Sept. 5, 2009, following his removal from
Cambodia. Upon his arrival at Honolulu International Airport, he was taken
into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. At
yesterday's hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren ordered Mitchell held
without bond pending a detention hearing.
Mitchell is the fourth American arrested by ICE in the past two weeks for
sexually exploiting minors in Cambodia. On Aug. 31, 2009, three Americans
were taken into custody by ICE at Los Angeles International Airport following
their removal from Cambodia on sex tourism charges. The four cases are the
result of unprecedented cooperation among U.S. authorities, the Cambodian
government and non-governmental organizations to target American sex tourists
in Cambodia.
Mitchell faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if
convicted of the charges.
Charges in a criminal complaint are merely accusations, and a defendant is
presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Olson of the U.S.
Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii and Trial Attorney Anitha Ibrahim
of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. The case
was investigated by ICE.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, +1-202-514-2007, TDD
+1-202-514-1888
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A ticket to somewhere
Deborah Groves with local Cambodian villagers, outside the temple district of Angkor Wat where Ms Groves has established an aid organisation. Picture supplied.
Just 25 minutes away was the town of Siem Reap, the stopping-off point to the world famous Angkor Wat temple, a formerly modest town now flourishing with Western-style pubs, designer shops and luxury hotels driven by the influx of tourist money.
But lying in a primitive hut in the outlying village was 52-year-old man Mr Som - skeleton-thin, his ribcage clearly visible and emaciated legs resembling long strands of licorice.
Despite being gravely ill with tuberculosis for more than 18 months, he had not received any medical care mainly due to his family’s poverty Ms Groves was horrified.
"Morally I thought, ‘I have an obligation, this man is going to die, I need to stand up and offer some help’," she said.
Enlisting the help of family and friends, Ms Groves raised the money needed for Mr Som to be carried out on a stretcher to medical care.
But it was too late; Mr Som died 10 days later.
For Ms Groves, a wedding photographer from Queensland, Mr Som’s death was an enormous “wake-up call” that not everything could be fixed easily.
Shaken by the village’s desperate poverty, she vowed to stay on and help.
The result has been Helping Hands Cambodia, an aid organisation formed Ms Groves to support Mr Som’s village and three others near Angkor Wat.
The idea behind Helping Hands is to give the local villagers a 'hand up,' rather than straight charity. For instance, recently when it gave away 1000 bicycles, each recipient agreed to work at least three days to fix local roads.
The organisation, which now has 10 Cambodian staff and up to two volunteers at a time, has also helped build bridges, a school, provided agricultural training and hundreds of free breakfasts.
The latest project will see drop toilets installed in the four villages. Fifty neighbours a day queued up to use the first one when it was installed in March, and another 15 have since been built.
To help fund Helping Hands, Groves sells photographs, magnets and bookmarks at hotels, airports and the night market in Siem Reap.
It is a long way from snapping excited brides on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
In 2004 Ms Groves fell love with the country following an Intrepid Travel tour, and feeling unfulfilled and burnt out, decided to quit her business and move to Cambodia.
But making the leap to live in one of the world’s least developed countries wasn’t easy, with many friends advising caution about leaving her business and safe life behind. "(But) I thought ‘surely I’m more than just a business’," Ms Groves said.
In the ensuing years, Ms Groves says she has developed a thick skin after four years of dealing with sometimes terrible situations.
One of her worst experiences was a man who received terrible eye injuries after a landmine exploded in his face near the Thai border.
"He was sent back to the village he was originally from without seeing a single eye doctor... I thought it was so unfair that no one cares," she said.
Helping Hands paid for his treatment, although the man’s eyes couldn’t be saved. They were later removed to stop his pain. To Western ears this may sound horrific, but Ms Groves said the man was "unbelievably grateful".
As well as the lows, there have also been incredible highs, such as a man in his 60s, blind since he was 15, regaining his sight in one eye following surgery sponsored by Ms Groves' organisation.
Another woman with cataracts regained her vision after 20 years. Ms Groves says the woman told her the thing she was most excited about was now being able to find the best food at communal dinners.
"I get a big kick out of stories like that, when you’ve had a radical impact," Ms Groves said.
However, the economic crisis has made life harder for everyone this year. Figures from the Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism say although Vietnamese tourists increased by 40 per cent in the six months to June because of new visa exemptions, Australian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai and South Korean visitors fell sharply.
Cambodia’s two main industries, garment manufacturing and construction, have been crippled as US clothes orders fell and tourists stayed at home.
According to the United Nations Development Program, the garment sector lost 60,000 jobs by April and the construction sector 25,000.
UN resident co-ordinator Douglas Broderick warned: "it’s not just people’s livelihoods at risk – it’s people’s lives".
The effect on Ms Groves’ photography business has also been dramatic.
"Last year was a boom year, then the Australian dollar crashed. It made a big impact because a lot of our customers are Australian,” she said.
In June this year, her photo sales had fallen 50 per cent from the same period in 2008.
Donations to Helping Hands have also dropped, although fundraising efforts such as a US$23,000 (about $27,500) donation raised by a young Irishwoman who rowed 250 kilometres down the Shannon River- Ireland's longest river - have helped.
Ms Groves radical life-change has meant many personal sacrifices, including sleepless nights, long work hours, lack of a social life and being unable to regularly see her family and friends.
She is working towards spending more time in Australia, but continues to manage Helping Hands and run her photo business full-time from wherever she is at any given moment.
Back home, Ms Groves says her standards of living will probably be different to last time she lived there. She believes that might be a good thing.
“Most of my staff have never had a hot shower, most of the people in the village don’t even have a shower, they use a bucket. Hot water now I consider a luxury,” she says.
“Even the poorest in Australia are still better off than the people here.”
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Prosecutor wants 5 more Khmer Rouge investigated
Phnom Penh: A prosecutor at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal has formally recommended that five more suspects be investigated for crimes against humanity and other offenses, setting the legal body on a collision course with the country's powerful Prime Minister.
A statement from the tribunal Tuesday said the acting international co-prosecutor, William Smith of Australia, submitted his recommendation to the co-investigating judges, who would then decide whether to issue arrest warrants.
Citing the confidentiality of the process, the tribunal announcement did not identify the five new suspects. It said the cases involved at least 32 instances of murder, torture, unlawful detention, forced labour, and persecution that constituted violations of Cambodian and international law.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly spoken out against expanding the list of defendants beyond the one now on trial — Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch — and four others in custody.
On Monday, Hun Sen said such action could lead to civil war, a claim doubted by his critics.
"I would like to tell you that if you prosecute (more leaders) without thinking beforehand about national reconciliation and peace, and if war breaks out again and kills 20,000 or 30,000 people, who will be responsible?" Hun Sen said.
The tribunal's Cambodian co-prosecutor opposed further indictments, but the tribunal last week ruled that his international counterpart could seek them. The tribunal, created last year under an agreement reached in 2003 between Cambodia and the United Nations, employs joint teams of Cambodian and international court personnel.
Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the tribunal, said there was no timeframe for action by the co-investigating judges on Smith's submission, made Monday.
The tribunal is seeking justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died in Cambodia from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the communist regime's radical policies while in power from 1975-79.
The UN administrator for the tribunal issued a blunt reminder Tuesday to Hun Sen that the panel was independent.
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Khmer Rouge tribunal must be independent: UN "It is a clearly established international standard that courts do not seek approval of advice on their work from the executive branch," Knut Rosandhaug said in a statement.
Critics accuse Hun Sen of trying to limit the tribunal's scope to prevent his political allies from being indicted. Hun Sen once served as a Khmer Rouge officer and many of his main allies are also former members of the group.
The tribunal's long-awaited first trial — of Kaing Guek Eav, the Khmer Rouge's chief jailer for war crimes and crimes against humanity — opened in March. A joint trial of the four other defendants is expected within the next two years.
The Khmer Rouge came to power after a bitter 1970-75 civil war, and after being ousted from power in 1979, carried out an insurgency from the jungles until 1999.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodian politics for more than two decades. He ousted his former co-prime minister in a 1997 coup and has since ruled virtually unchallenged.
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Hundreds of homes swamped, bridge washed away in northwest
ANKARA, Turkey - Flash floods triggered by torrential rains killed six people and left swaths of lands in northwestern Turkey awash Tuesday. At least three people were reported missing.
Nazmi Coban, the mayor of the town of Saray, said rescue workers there recovered the bodies of four people, including a 6-year-old girl, and were searching for another member of the family who was swept away by floods.
Rescuers also found the bodies of an elderly couple whose house collapsed in the floods, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Saray is in Tekirdag province, close to the border with Greece.
Heavy rains that began late Monday washed away one bridge and inundated hundreds of homes in the Saray region. Dozens of farm animals were swept away by gushing waters.
Heavy rains caused floods in the Silivri and Catalca suburbs of Istanbul, as well, immersing homes and roads, officials said. Two people were reported missing. One was a girl, whose mother and sister managed to get out of a car safely before the girl was dragged away by the floods, Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said.
In Silivri, police and military helicopters were sent to rescue people confined to their homes, according to television footage. Dozens of cars were swept away. A fire truck could be seen lying on its side.
Two international highways linking Istanbul to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria were closed temporarily, Anatolia reported.
On Monday, a Cambodia-flagged freighter broke into two and sank in heavy storms off the coast of Istanbul. All 12 crew members were rescued.
More rain was forecast for the area Wednesday.
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Monday, September 07, 2009
Cambodian PM: KRouge trials may ignite war
Cambodian premier Hun Sen on Monday renewed strong warnings his country could be plunged back into civil war if the UN-backed Khmer Rouge court tried more suspects from the late 1970s movement.
Hun Sen, himself a former low level commander in the communist regime, made his speech less than a week after the court said it could open investigations against more members of the government which killed up to two million people.
"If you tried (more suspects) without taking national unification and peace into consideration and if war re-occurred, killing between 200 000 and 300 000 people more, who would be responsible for it?" the premier told a ceremony.
"I have achieved this work (peace), I will not allow anybody to destroy it.... The value of peace here is very big," Hun Sen said, lamenting that Cambodia had already been drenched "by blood and tears".
"So anybody, please don't cause more trouble," he added.
The prime minister in a speech in March made similar assertions that further prosecutions at the Khmer Rouge court could destabilise Cambodia, saying that he would prefer the court failed than indict more suspects.
But critics have said there is no risk of renewed fighting since the country's civil war ended in 1998, and have accused the administration of trying to protect former regime members now in government.
A lead administrator at the Khmer Rouge court said Monday that he expected tribunal investigators would not be influenced by Hun Sen's statements.
"It is a clearly established international standard that courts do not seek approval or advice on their work from the executive branch," UN coordinator of the court Knut Rosandhaug told AFP.
"I expect that the (court) will comply with this internationally recognised standard and make its decisions independently," he added.
The tribunal was created in 2006 to try leading members of the 1975-1979 regime and five former leaders are currently being held on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court's long-awaited first trial of Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias Duch, is under way and he has accepted responsibility for overseeing the execution of more than 15,000 people at the regime's main prison.
After Duch's trial, the court plans to prosecute former Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture. - AFP
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Cambodian PM asks U.S. to cancel Cambodian debts
PHNOM PENH, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday asked the United States to remit Cambodia's debts which the country has owed since 1970s by Lon Nol's regime.
"The U.S. should cancel the debts for Cambodia because the U.S. dropped large amount of bombs on Cambodia and many people suffered from it," he said at a ceremony of releasing final result of 2008 Population census at Chuktumok Theater Hall in Phnom Penh.
Hun Sen put forwards the requirement directly to Carol A. Rodley, U.S. ambassador to Cambodia who also attended the ceremony.
"The U.S. should pay compensation for Cambodians but the U.S. side has always asked us to pay debt back," he said.
Cheam Yeap, a lawmaker and chairman of the committee of finance, banking, economy and audition of Cambodian National Assembly, said that "we have been urging U.S. side to cancel debts for several times but they said they need decision from top level."
He added that Cambodia has owed the United State in a total of over 300 million U.S. dollars by Lon Nol regime.
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New Season, Further Sales for A World of Wonders
By Kristin Brzoznowski
OTTAWA: A third season is slated for Genuine Pictures' children's series A World of Wonders, which has notched up a slew of new international sales.
The show has now been sold to National Geographic in Turkey, Kuwait TV, TVB in Hong Kong and on Al Jazeera in Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen. A third season launches today on TVO Kids.
The live-action series takes young viewers on a trip across the globe. The new season will feature locations such as the Galapagos Islands, Cambodia, Jordan, Japan and Vietnam. “We took the series to a whole new level this year with the use of smaller format HD cameras,” said executive producer Donna Leon. “That gave us more flexibility, and season three is packed with lots of wonderful content.”
“A World of Wonders continues to perform well for the factual channels overseas and while educational it doesn’t fall short on entertainment," said Diane Tripp, the VP of international sales for The Fremantle Corporation. "The episodes are self-contained and accommodate a multi-media platform strategy quite well—a task most broadcasters aim to achieve."
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Sunday, September 06, 2009
‘Ring of Fire’ shows off Asian Pottery Works
Sixteen Filipino potters and 10 other Southeast Asian ceramic artists will exhibit their wares in an international show entitled Ring of Fire at the Ayala Museum from September 21 to October 4, 2009.
The convergence of ASEAN potters in Makati is the first of its kind in the Philippines.
The participants of the ASEAN show will also interact in a two-day workshop where they will exchange information, and discuss individual techniques and the creative process underlying their works. The workshop will be held at the Luna and Amorsolo rooms of the Ayala Museum from September 22 to 23.
A display of 64works by the master potters in the region will attest to the intensity, passion, and peculiar identity of ASEAN ceramic artists. They have been influenced by ceramic artists from other parts of Asia, but now, they are drawing fire from each other.
Renowned ASEAN potters participating in the event include Ahadiat Joedawinata of Indonesia; Peter Low, James Seet, Lileng Wong, and Yeow Seng Cheah of Malaysia; Teck Heng Tan and Thomas Cheong of Singapore; Bathma Kaew-Ngok of Thailand; and Bao Toan Nguyen of Vietnam.
Filipino potters in the exhibit include Jon and wife Tessie Pettyjohn of Pansol; Hadrian and wife Camille Mendoza of Makiling; Jaime de Guzman of Candelaria, Quezon; Colorado-based Nelfa Querubin of Iloilo; Manila-based sculptress Julie Lluch of Iligan; Pete Cortes of Bulacan; Pablo Capati of Batangas; Joe Geraldo of Bacolod; Mark Valenzuela of Dumaguete; Winnie Go and Joey de Castro of Makati; Siegrid Bangyay and Lope Bosaing of Sagada.
“The primary goal of this project is to foster a community among Southeast Asian peoples that celebrates both the diversity and unity of the region through the art and craft of pottery,” says Mr. Mendoza, recipient of a Toyota Foundation networking grant in November 2007.
“A network of individuals and the organization of potters, scholars, and cultural workers in Southeast Asia will revive traditional knowledge and skills in pottery as well as teach new techniques and best practices done by contemporary ASEAN ceramic artists,” he adds.
Mendoza has touched base with contemporary potters in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. He is searching for more modern practitioners of the ancient art of pottery in Brunei and Myanmar. He has also connected with various communities of potters in the Philippines.
A website for the project: http://www.seapots.com has been created, aimed at increasing active exchanges among the region’s potters.
Also on display in the website are the works of various potters in the region including Serge Rega of Cambodia; Kurniawaty Guatama of Indonesia; Sisuk a refugee from Laos, now Thailand-based; Cindy Koh of Malaysia; folk potters from various pottery centers in Myanmar; Krisaya Luenganantakul, Takood Nui, and Vipoo Srivilasa, Atiporn Thongborisut, and Somthavin Urasyanadana of Thailand; and Van Che Nguyen of Vietnam.
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Aviation administration wants new, faster flights
HCM CITY — The Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam is in negotiations with Laos, Cambodia and China to launch new air routes in a move to help airlines cut operating costs and boost profit, according to senior officials from the administration.
Lai Xuan Thanh, deputy head of the administration, said it was not easy to set up air routes which brought both economic interest and the general benefits for the concerned countries.
But the hard work is worth it to the countries and the airlines. National carrier Vietnam Airlines, for one, estimated it would save about US$400 per minute when flying times are reduced.
The air routes that would help shorten the distance among three Indochinese countries are Nam Dinh to Vilao and Pakse in Laos; Noi Bai in Ha Noi, Na San and Moc Chau in Son La Province to ASSA (in Laos); Tan Son Nhat in HCM City to Enrep (in Singapore); and the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Province of Can Tho to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The new routes will shorten by at least three minutes flying times from Ha Noi and Da Nang to Siem Riep and Phnom Penh in Cambodia; from Ha Noi to France, Germany or the US; from Malaysia and Singapore to Tan Son Nhat and Can Tho airports; from Cambodia, Thailand and Laos to Can Tho.
New links
To bring economic interest to airlines, CAAV proposed to set up new international air links to reduce flying times.
They are Cam Ranh to Mesox (in Thailand), which would shorten by four to five minutes flights from Tan Son Nhat to Northeast Asia; Phu Cat or Chu Lai to Bunta (in Indonesia) which would shave eight to 10 minutes off flights from HCM City to Hong Kong or Northeast Asia; and Noi Bai or Cat Bi to Sikou (in China), which would cut by 11 to 15 minutes flights from Noi Bai or Cat Bi airports to Hong Kong, Macau and Northeast Asia.
In order to provide alternatives to north-south routes in case of a storm in central Viet Nam, the administration is also trying to open new direct international flights, like Vientiane (in Laos)–Siem Riep (in Cambodia)–Tan Son Nhat, and Pakse/Vibun (in Laos)–Popet (in Cambodia).
These proposals will be discussed at the Asia Pacific Aviation Summit in mid-September, according to Bui Van Vo, head of the CAAV’s Air Traffic Management Bureau.
Economic interest
New routes would reduce flying times and cut operating costs for the airlines. In addition, the concerned countries would have the chance to apply world-standard methods of air traffic management, Thanh said.
"The new routes would attract more flights in transit via Viet Nam," Thanh said.
In June, CAAV opened four new domestic air routes, which lessened flying times on north-south routes by three to five minutes. Vietnam Airlines estimates the move would result in annual savings of hundreds of billions of dong. — VNS
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