Cambodia human rights violations rampant: UN report

Friday March 9, 2007

[JURIST] The Cambodian government uses systematic human rights and civil liberty violations to maintain its hold on power, according to a report [UN press release] by UN special rights representative Yash Ghai [appointment notice] and obtained by AFP. The report listed illegal land grabs, torture while in police custody, corruption among senior government officials, and a steadfast government opposition to democracy among other violations.

Cambodian officials angrily denied Ghai's allegations, accusing him of being an outsider speaking about things he did not understand. Cambodian government human rights advisor Om Yentieng said it would not be appropriate to respond to the accusations [DPA report], which he insisted were not based on fact. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen [BBC profile] said that Ghai is no longer welcome in Cambodia because of his criticism.

In contrast, the Asian Human Rights Commission [advocacy website] condemned [press release] Sen's remarks and human rights advocate and founder of Cambodian rights group Licadho [advocacy website], Kek Galabru, said Ghai's conclusions were "generally correct." AFP has more.

The UN findings are broadly consistent with the latest US State Department human rights report on Cambodia released earlier this week as part of its 2006 worldwide human rights review [JURIST report], which concluded:

The government's human rights record remained poor. Government agents committed extrajudicial killings, and security forces acted with impunity. There was little political will to address the failure by government authorities to adhere to the rule of law.

Detainees were abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh. Human rights monitors reported arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial detention, underscoring a weak judiciary and denial of the right to a fair trial.

Land disputes and forced evictions, often accompanied by violence, were a growing problem. The government restricted freedom of speech and press through the use of defamation and disinformation suits, controlled or influenced the content of television and radio broadcasts, and sometimes interfered with freedom of assembly.

Corruption was endemic and extended throughout all segments of society, including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

Read more!

Cambodia ruled through rights abuse: UN

March 9, 2007

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Systematic rights violations are key to the Cambodian government's grip on power, a United Nations' envoy warned in a report accusing the administration of refusing to improve its rights record.

The report by special rights representative Yash Ghai, which was obtained by AFP on Friday, urged the international community to lean harder on the government over its failure to protect basic liberties.

"As deliberate and systemic violations of human rights have become central to the government's hold over power, the international community ... should do all it can to persuade and press the government to respect its human rights commitments," the report said.

Ghai, who is expected to return to Cambodia next week, regretted that "instead of responding to the concerns raised by the special representatives and United Nations bodies, a frequent response of the government has been evasion or accusation, scapegoating and intimidation," it added.

After an unusually blunt appraisal of rights violations last year, Ghai was publicly attacked in several speeches by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who demanded he be sacked.

His comments also prompted a round of criticism from other top government officials who blasted UN staff as "gods without virtue" and "tourists" in a country they knew nothing about.

The report, written after Ghai's second trip to Cambodia last March, was submitted to the UN's Human Rights Council during its session earlier this year.

While noting that Cambodia enjoys better political security, it catalogued a growing list of violations, from illegal land grabs to torture while in police custody.

"The absence of effective institutions of government, basic laws and an impartial judiciary ... all leave Cambodia's citizens insecure, vulnerable to systemic denial and violations of their rights," the report said.

Despite billions of dollars in foreign aid, most of impoverished Cambodia's institutions are still in ruin after decades of war that ended in 1998.

Read more!

Festival showcases Mekong region traditional artisans

The two-day festival will feature 14 artisans including eight from China, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, besides six from Vietnam.

Visitors will have the opportunity to discover the similarities and specific features of the weaving traditions in the Mekong region.

On show will be tools to net fish made by the Lao people from Thailand, Kho Mu from Laos, Khmer from Cambodia and Vietnam, and other ethnic groups from Vietnam's southern Dong Thap province, baskets woven by Vietnamese people in Can Tho, and other bamboo products made by the Thai people living in Yunnan, China.

Children can also try their hand at several activities designed exclusively for them at this outdoor festival.

The event, organized jointly by the Culture Heritage Department and the Vietnam Ethnology Museum, will get technical support from the Center of Folk Life and Cultural Heritage of the US’s Smithsonian Institute, and financial support from the US’s Rockefeller Fund through the Thailand Royal Center of Human Studies.

It is a prelude to participation by Vietnamese artists in the 41st annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C, the US, in June this year. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival program, themed Mekong river: Connecting Cultures, will give an insight into the complex connections among ethnic groups, languages, and traditions of peoples living along the mighty river.

Read more!

Vietnam, Cambodia to boost cooperation in health care

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam and Cambodia have agreed to boost cooperation and exchange of experience in developing health care services, especially those for children. An agreement to this effect was signed in Phnom Penh on March 6 during a Cambodia visit by a delegation of Vietnam's Committee for Population, Family and Children led by its Chairwoman Le Thi Thu from March 5-9.

Thu and Ith Somheng, Cambodian Minister of Social Affairs and War Veterans, agreed to intensify and diversify their collaborative activities through the exchange of delegations and the training of management cadres relating to population, family and children.

The Vietnamese delegation then met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who appreciated their visit and expressed his wish that the two sides would implement well their cooperation agreements.

The delegation will also visit several Cambodian localities to learn more about family planning and other related activities.

Read more!

Cambodia court sentences two Germans to prison for child sex abuse

The associated press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Two Germans who worked as English teachers in Cambodia were among five people sentenced Friday to prison terms for sexually abusing four Vietnamese girls, a crime that one of the girl's mothers was an accomplice to.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Karl Heinz Henning, 61, to 28 years in prison on charges of human trafficking and debauchery — a Cambodian legal term for sexual offenses against minors.

Police arrested Henning after they observed him bringing the girls, aged 10 to 14, to his Phnom Penh apartment. While police were searching the apartment, he tried to escape by jumping from his balcony to the ground, some four meters (13 feet) below, but crashed into a metal canopy and was arrested.

The court also handed a 12-year prison term to Thomas Sigwart Eugen, 42, on debauchery charges. Eugen was arrested after police saw him having sex with two of the girls on a videotape confiscated from Henning.

"The two Germans committed the crimes because they figured Cambodia is a poor country and that they could just use their dollars to buy sex to fulfill their urges," Judge Ke Sakhan said. "These are illegal acts Cambodia cannot tolerate."

Both men worked as private English teachers in Phnom Penh.

The Germans denied sexually abusing the girls during their trial March 1. Henning said the four girls had come to his house to learn English and computer skills from him.

A Vietnamese couple that acted as sex brokers for the Germans received 17-year prison terms each on charges of human trafficking. The couple worked with one of the girl's mothers, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail, also on human trafficking charges.

Phnom Penh's anti-human trafficking police arrested the two Germans in separate raids of their rented apartments in the capital, Phnom Penh, in August.

Eugen, speaking to reporters at the court Friday, said he was "quite shocked" by his prison sentence.

Child rights advocates say Cambodia's lax law enforcement has made it a destination for foreign pedophiles. However, police have recently stepped up action against offenders.

On Tuesday, the same court sentenced a Swiss man to 11 years in prison for sexually abusing a 12-year-old Cambodian girl.


Read more!

U.S. funding for Cambodia to drop by quarter in 2008

The United States funding for Cambodia is slated to drop 25 percent in fiscal year 2008 to 40.9 million U.S. dollars, from 54.9 million U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2006, local media said on Thursday.

"The projected cuts in funding in fiscal year 2008 are unrelated to conditions in Cambodia and are a function of a tight budgetary environment in Washington and realignment of global development priorities," U.S. Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle told the Cambodian Daily.

Funding for anti-human trafficking, promotion of labor rights and political party development after the 2008 national elections will no longer be focus areas for the U.S. assistance, he said.

It will turn to focus on developing democratic institutions, strengthening peace and security, establishing a health system that can respond to infectious disease outbreaks and encouraging market-driven economic growth, he said.

Meanwhile, Cheam Yeap, lawmaker from the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), said that the proposed cut will not be felt deeply, as the U.S. doesn't provide much direct assistance to the Cambodian government.

"The U.S. cutting funds will not affect the government's programs and the government's budget," he said.

He also said that Cambodia has a wealth of other donors that it can turn to for assistance.

"China also gives us a lot of money for infrastructure," he added.

The proposed reduction comes amid a warm-up of the U.S.- Cambodian relations.

The U.S. has decided to resume direct aid for the Cambodian government after a decade of hiatus and a U.S. Navy vessel just paid an official visit to the kingdom's port city Sihanoukville.

In addition, under the terms of the 2007 U.S. budget resolution passed on Feb. 15, Cambodia will likely receive about 56 million U. S. dollars of aid this fiscal year, without any restrictions on direct government assistance.

Source: Xinhua

Read more!

UNICEF donates 140,000 USD for demining in Cambodia

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has donated more than 140,000 U.S. dollars for demining and landmine education in the western provinces of Cambodia for this year, an official said on Thursday.

The fund will be used for demining, education about danger of landmine and UXO (unexplosive ordnance), organizing spots for broadcasting on TV, building network to educate villagers in communities of landmine areas, Khem Sophoan, head of the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC), told Xinhua on phone.

The money is for 26 districts in the western provinces of Cambodia, including Battambang, Preah Vihear, Oddar Mean Chey, Banteay Mean Chey and Pailin, where mines pose great danger for the communities, he said.

UNICEF has donated over one million U.S. dollars for CMAC since 1995, he said.

In the past two months of this year, mines killed over 10 people, including seven deminers of CMAC, he added.

According to official statistics, there were more than 400 human casualties over mine and UXO explosions in 2006 in Cambodia, or 50 percent decrease over the average number of the previous six years.

Due to 30 years of armed conflicts, Cambodia has become one of the world's most heavily mined countries with an estimated 4-6 million of such "hidden killers" buried underground in areas as extensive as 2,900 square kilometers.

It may take the kingdom another 150 years to clear out all the mines and UXO, statistics say.

Source: Xinhua

Read more!

Rare Mekong dolphin making a comeback

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (Reuters) -- Cambodia's rare Mekong dolphin is making a tentative comeback from the edge of extinction after net fishing was banned in its main habitat, Cambodian and World Wildlife Fund officials said on Wednesday.

There are now about 160 dolphins, up from only 90 before net fishing was banned last year in the upper Mekong River in the eastern provinces of Kratie and Steung Treng borders, they said.

The absence of gillnets strung in the river, allowing dolphins from other reaches of the river to move in, was the main reason for the sudden jump in numbers, the officials said.

"We should have about 20 new babies born every year if the current trend continues," Touch Seang Tana, chairman of Commission for Mekong Dolphins Conservation, told Reuters.

"Within five years, we'll be worried we will not have enough fish for dolphins to eat because humans also need fish," he said.

Fishing was banned in the area last year and local people encouraged to grow crops or work in the growing tourism industry instead of fishing.

"The awareness, conservation and provision of alternative livelihoods to fishermen, have helped reduced adult mortalities," the WWF said in a statement.

Conservationists believe an estimated 1,000 dolphins, also known as Irrawady dolphins, live in India, Myanmar and Thailand.

Read more!

Talks to save Khmer Rouge trials

Cambodian and international judges have begun talks to prevent the possible collapse of the Khmer Rouge trials.

The trials - which aim to put the surviving leaders of the brutal Maoist regime in the dock - have ground to a halt over procedural differences.

Foreign judges want full international legal standards, while the Cambodians say local law must take precedence.

About two million people died during the years that the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia in the 1970s.

Aging defendants

Trail hearings are theoretically due to start later this year.

But according to the BBC correspondent in Phnom Penh, Guy De Launey, there is a real possibility that the trials will collapse before they have even started.

The international judges have made it clear that they see this week's meeting as the final chance to make sure the trials meet international standards.

"All the judges are mindful that the upcoming... meeting is of vital importance," tribunal officials said in a recent statement.

If an agreement cannot be achieved, the foreign contingent will ask the UN to pull out.

But local officials have been equally adamant that Cambodian law has to have prime importance in the special courts, and according to our correspondent, they feel they have been unfairly portrayed as being the sole cause of the delays.

There are more than 100 items under discussion at this week's talks, but many have already been resolved after lengthy informal negotiations.

Those involved admit that time is of the essence, if they are to bring elderly Khmer Rouge members to court.

"There is one point on which the international judges are unanimous - these trials should take place quickly or not at all," French judge Marcel Lemonde of France told AFP news agency.

The death of military commander Ta Mok late last year heightened fears that more key defendants and witnesses could die before facing justice.

Pol Pot, the founder and leader of the Khmer Rouge, has already died, in a camp along the border with Thailand in 1998.

Read more!

ADB approves 42 mln USD of loan to restore railway for Cambodia

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved 42 million U.S. dollars of loan for Cambodia to restore its railway, local media said on Wednesday.

This is part of the efforts to complete the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) railway network which also connects China, said daily newspaper the Rasmey Kampuchea.

The agreement of providing the loan was signed by Minister of Finance and Economy Keat Chhon and C. Lawrence Greenwood, vice- president of ADB here on Monday.

The loan will be spent on restoring 254 km of railway road from Phnom Penh to seaport city Sihanoukville and also on 383 km of railway from Phnom Penh to Poipet town of Banteay Mean
Chey province next to the border with Thailand, the paper quoted Keat Chhon as saying.

The whole budget for restoring railway is worth about 73 million U.S. dollars, with 42 million from ADB, 13 million from the OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) Fund, 2.8 million as grant aid from Malaysia and the rest 15.2 million from the Cambodian government, he added.

Source: Xinhua .

Read more!

ADB has offer USD 10 million for fishery development in Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided some 10 million U.S. dollars of loan in the past years to empower the fishery communities in the Tonle Sap Lake area, officials said Monday.

"We got about 2 million U.S. dollars (in revenues) from fresh water fish products each year from the lake," partially as result of the help from ADB, said Nao Thouk, director of fisheries department of Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Thanks to years of consistent development with the help of ADB, an average family in the Tonle Sap Lake area can now catch some 600 kg to 800 kg of fish each year and over 1 million people directly benefit from the lake, he said on the sidelines of a national forum on the development of the Tonle Sap Lake.

The forum was organized by ADB and the Cambodian government and attended by about 300 people, including diplomatic corps and top government officials.

Also at the forum, C. Lawrence Greenwood, deputy president of ADB, said that Cambodians' fortunes depend on the lake's reliable ebb and flow and it provides the daily sustenance and livelihood for over 1 million people, many of them among the poorest in the kingdom.

According to official statistics, the lake area boasts about 200 kinds of fish, 42 kinds of reptiles, 225 species of birds, 44 types of mammals and 200 kinds of plants.

Source: Xinhua

Read more!

Cambodian leader warns that development poses threat to great lake

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia's prime minister warned Monday that increasing population and over-exploitation of fisheries and wildlife pose a dire threat to his country's Tonle Sap, or "Great Lake," the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

"The lake is facing a serious threat of over-exploitation and its ecosystem has become quite fragile," Prime Minister Hun Sen said at a national forum on the Tonle Sap held in Phnom Penh.

"Honestly, if this problem is not addressed decisively and soon enough, Cambodia could face a serious environmental disaster," he warned.

He said the clearing of nearby forest land for large-scale agriculture is resulting in the seepage of fertilizer and pesticides into the lake, creating serious environmental problems.

Tonle Sap is 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh and touches six provinces.

Hun Sen said the lake's basin is home to about 4 million of Cambodia's 14 million people, and that about 40 percent of the country's population derive some benefit from its resources.

The lake harbors a rich biosphere of more than 200 species of fish, 42 types of reptiles, 225 species of birds and 46 kinds of mammals.

C. Lawrence Greenwood, vice president of the Asian Development Bank, said weak governance, severe poverty and social inequity, and conflicts over management of fisheries and natural resources pose serious threats to the lake's ecosystem and the livelihoods of people who depend on it.

"The great lake provides daily sustenance and livelihoods for over 1 million people, many of whom are among the poorest in Cambodia," Greenwood said at the seminar.

Tonle Sap covers approximately 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres) during the dry season and expands to about 1.25 million hectares (3 million acres) during the rainy season..

Read more!

Children's drawings depich deforestation in Cambodia

PRESS RELEASE - Washington, D.C., March 5, 2007 -- About 100 Cambodian schoolchildren have called on Khmer government authorities to put an end to illegal, widespread deforestation near their school district, 70 kilometers from the capital, Phnom Penh. The children ages 10 to 16, attend primary school in the Kompong Speu Oral District, which borders on a wildlife sanctuary.

The Voice of America’s Khmer Service reports the children have sent authorities scores of drawings and cartoons depicting the destruction: men wielding axes, chain saws, and machetes, felling trees, stripping the land clean, and killing elephants and other wildlife.

VOA’s Khmer Service has posted a sampling of the drawings on its web site: http://www.voanews.com/khmer/2007-02-28-voa2.cfm

Authorities in Cambodia say the drawings exaggerate the extent of damage being done to the environment. Officials report only a few cases of illegal logging by poachers.

Villagers tell the Voice of America that the children’s illustrated accounts are accurate, adding that the poachers carry machine guns and are members of the armed forces. Many adults and children have submitted petitions to government and non-government agencies asking them to end the destruction.

For more information on the Voice of America Khmer service, which broadcasts live to Cambodia 90 minutes every day, visit: www.voanews.com/khmer.

The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.

For more information, call the Office of Public Affairs at 202-203-4959 or E-Mail publicaffairs@voa.gov.

Read more!

Brunei win 2 top places in meeting of teachers

Brunei's representatives to the Microsoft Regional Innovative Teacher's Conference in Siem Reap, Cambodia won first and third places.

The event is a worldwide initiative to empower schools to increase student learning through teacher development and leadership. It was organised in partnership with UNESCO Asia Pacific and Microsoft under the flagship Partners in Learning (PiL) programme.

The representatives were led by Cikgu Hj Yussof bin Hj Metassim, Senior Education Officer from the ICT Department, Ministry of Education, Cikgu Mohd Zamri bin Hj Ismail of Sayyidina Hasan Secondary School and Cikgu Ismail bin Hj Julaihi of PAP Hjh Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah Secondary School.

Cikgu Ismail's group won first place with the project Sim Angkor. Cikgu Zamri's group won third place with the project More Water.

They went on a one-day field trip to the world heritage site of Angkor Wat. They collaborated on a project where teachers from different countries developed specific teaching / learning materials based on their field trip.

More than 150 teachers and 100 senior government and education officials from 22 countries attended the conference.

The innovative teacher's programme helps educators further their professional development, learn from and inspire one another in promoting the creation of exemplary practices, awards software grants, and gives educators access to online learning communities.

It brings together a community of teachers as learners, facilitate the creation of collective knowledge, create a platform for the advancement of best practices and adoption of innovation, provide training and access to technology resources, and deliver integration confidence to teachers using technology in the learning process.

Read more!

Canada and Cambodia, co-hsot an international mine conference

PHNOM PENH, Mar 5, 2007. The Cambodia Mine Action Authority and the Embassy of Canada announced that they are to co- host an international mine action conference in Phnom Penh from March 12 to 14, a press release said here on Monday.

The dire consequences that landmines have on a country's economic and social development will be a significant topic of discussion during the conference, which entitled "Mine Action: Implications for Peace and Development", the press release said.

Delegates from across Southeast Asia, as well as participants from Europe and the Middle East will join a range of men and women from Cambodia's mine action community at the conference to discuss experiences of mine-affected states, the needs of survivors and international cooperation on mine action, it added.

"Cambodia's experience proves that focused efforts and resources can make a real deference," Sok An, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and First President of the Cambodia Mine Action Authority, said, adding that the number of victims of mine accidents in Cambodia dropped in 2006.

"Cambodia has a responsibility to share with other mine- affected countries its lessons learned in eradicating landmines," Sok An was quoted as saying.

This event is one of many world-wide events to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty, the international agreement that bans antipersonnel landmines, the press release said.

Since 1997, Canada has contributed over 225 million U.S. dollars to mine action worldwide, including a recent pledge for Cambodia of over 6 million U.S. dollars, according to Donica Pottie, Canada's Ambassador to Cambodia.

Read more!

Thailand: Thai border with Vietnam in less than 100 years

Ankorcivilization: Cambodia is a former empire in the Southeast Asia. Ankors are standing tall smiling at the Universe looking to million miles above top of trees. The mighty Kingdom and the tough wariors had left their Champion for the new generation Khmers. The wariors' bloods are still remain inside each Khmer children. Will the new generation of Khmers fight for the retired smiling faces of Ankors?

Recently, on March 1, 2007, a Thai expert had given a speech on Thailand TV channel 5 about the future of Cambodia. He predicted that in less than 100 years Thailand border will be tied with Vietnam border. The Thai expert named Dak Tal Nikdephumnavarat had predicted political movement and the future expansion of Thailand in the Southeast Asia. Thailand is dreaming of being super power in Southeast Asia, and will its dream be good or bad luck for Thais in the future?

A Cambodian student named Chhuon Chhung who is studying in Thailand wrote a letter to Radio Free Asia about the Dak Tal expertise predicting the fate of Cambodia. The Radio Free Asia had broadcasted in debate sparkling worried for some Cambodian nationalists. There is not no surprise that Thailand had attempted to control Cambodia. Thailand had been remove border demarcation deep into Cambodia land.

Thailand is the biggest threat to Cambodia in the future. And what is going to happen? There had been 60 years for Thailand building up its military muscle with Tanks, machine guns, war planes, fighter jets, missiles and it is ready for the battle at any time.

Cambodia was just getting up from murderous pit killing field. And it is slimming bone, hungry and very vulnerable. The Killing Field of Pol Pot had killed 2.5 million Cambodians. The majority of them had died from starvation and killing buried in mass grave. The killings were speeding up in June of 1979 to achieve the slaughter plan before Vietnamese soldiers toppled its regime. All dead bodies were floating in rice padding fields.

And now Cambodians are facing uncertainty of days to come. They are hungry and vulnerable, but they are got sharp teeth like Hyena willing to bite and fight anything. Cambodians had fought so many wars and surviving in all kind of situations.

Thailand and Cambodia are going to solve some long-disputed border demarcation and sea water area. It had been an issues never been solved, and now US giant Oil company had struck Oil wealth in the gulf of Cambodia where Thailand and Cambodia had claimed for both side. The future doesn't look good for the Southeast Asia. Will Oil wealth engulf in flame of war? Can the US protect its Oil or black gold found in the Cambodian Sea Water if the region be shaken?

Thailand have been a bad neighbour who like steal several things from Cambodia and killing Cambodians. During long war which Cambodia was in about 40 years, Thailand had stolen so may things from Cambodia, Things are like culture, land, natural resources and Ankor statues. Many statues were taken from Ankor Wat Temple and other several temples in Cambodia.

And now Thailand is planning to hunt down the whole country to the end of border with Vietnam. It will be a bad dream or big mistake if Thailand dear to invade Cambodia.

Read more!

Cambodia premier warns politicos against land grabbing

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen criticized his party members for land grabbing during an internal meeting of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), according to a statement received Sunday.

The statement and sources close to the ruling party said Hun Sen had warned the senior CPP members to desist from land grabbing and other abuses of power.

He also removed the former governor of north-eastern Ratanakiri province, Kham Khoeun, from the party's central committee. Khoeun was recently sentenced in absentia to 17 years in prison by a Cambodian court for his conviction of involvement in a 2004 illegal logging scandal in a protected area of the province.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, a former Khmer Rouge cadre member who defected to Vietnam and returned as a member of the nucleus that overthrew that regime in 1979, was promoted to become a party Permanent Committee member at the same meeting, the statement said, as was Constitutional Council president Bin Chhin.

Chhin led a recent delegation to neighbouring Vietnam aimed at building Cambodian government expertise in clarifying legal documents such as land titles, solving election disputes and fighting government corruption.

The 30-member Permanent Committee is pivotal in formulating party policy.

CPP sources said Hun Sen has grown increasingly impatient with party members who abuse their positions to take land from poor rural villagers and that at least one senior military official has already been forced to give land back to the government.

Donors, rights workers and political analysts have warned that if the problem is not solved, it could disenfranchise CPP supporters in the party's heartland rural areas and eventually lead to political instability. Donors have threatened to withold funds to the aid-dependent nation if endemic corruption is not curbed through legislation.

The Central Committee meeting, held Saturday, came less than a month before vital national commune elections scheduled for April 1.

Read more!

Cambodia's ruling party support ECCC to try DK leaders

The Cambodian People's Party ( CPP) supports the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia ( ECCC ) to try former Democratic Kampuchea (DK) leaders, said a CPP statement received on Sunday.

The stance was clarified at the general assembly of the 33rd central steering committee of CPP held here on Saturday.

The major ruling party agreed with the principles of the agreement between the Cambodian government and the United Nations on the trial of former DK leaders, it added.

In early January, Chea Sim, CPP President and also Senate President, said that CPP supported the ongoing process of the ECCC, which was conducted on the correct timing basis.

Earlier this week, ECCC spokesman Reach Sambath told reporters that ECCC would start their task soon.

The UN plans to meet in Thailand to discuss internal regulations for ECCC, Cambodian officials plan to discuss them in Phnom Penh, and the two sides will later meet for final decision, which will then facilitate the start of trial.

The UN and the Cambodian government co-established ECCC to try the former DK leaders at the expenses of 53.6 million U.S. dollars.

According to independent research, about 1.7 million people died of starvation, overwork and mass grave killing in the DK era in the 1970s.

Source: Xinhua


Read more!

Cambodia remembers Heroines in history

Local women's organizations in Phnom Penh on Saturday hosted a commemoration of the heroines through Cambodia's history, right before the International Women's Day comes.

Minister of Women's Affairs Ing Kuntha Phavy attended the convention held at the foot of the capital city's symbolic building, the Wat Phnom, together with over 100 deputies from the organizations who prayed and spreaded flowers on the scene.

"The celebration is the efforts to commemorate the lives, the achievements and the contributions to the society and the history of various Cambodian heroines," said a press release issued by the Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP), major sponsor the activity.

In recognition of the legacies and merits of these influential matriarchal figures, we hope to preserve the Khmer heritage for generations to come, it added.

Cambodian women used to play an active role in the national development. In the ongoing Commune Councils Election, women candidates account for 19.8 percent of the major ruling Cambodian People's Party's total list.

Source: Xinhua

Read more!

Brunei's expertise can help Cambodia

By Amin Hosni & Za'im Zain

Bandar Seri Begawan - "Cambodia is a young country in the oil sector and Brunei Darussalam has been around much longer, so we need to work together and to learn from each other:
Cambodian Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Haji Nan Sy said this to two Brunei National Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd personnel who yesterday made courtesy visit to the Bengkurong residence of the ambassador.

The two officers from Brunei National Petroleum Company were Chief Executive Officer Haji Mohd Jaafar Haji Awang Bakar and Business Asset Division Asset General Manager Haji Iskandar Haji Yahya.

Several matters were discussed including possible future investments in Cambodia.

"This is only the first stage to the possibility to having better relations between the two nations.
Brunei’s expertise in the oil and gas can help Cambodia," the ambassadors rid.

"Among the attractions of investment in Cambodia is in the tourist sector", he added.

“The purpose of the visit is to explore the possibility to expand business opportunities in the oil and gas area in Cambodia. We haven't got any definite areas of business yet and still needs further studies,” said Haji Mohd Ja’afar Haji Awang Bakar.

Later, the ambassador presented souvenirs to the two officers. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Read more!