Cambodia Needs to Adopt Independent Judiciary, Democratic Pluralism -- UN Expert
New York, Oct 23 2011 10:10AM
Despite progress in the 20 years since the Paris peace agreements ended decades of fighting in Cambodia, much still needs to be done to fulfil the promise of the accords, including instituting an independent judiciary and a fully pluralist democracy, a United Nations expert warned on Sunday.
"Cambodia has undeniably progressed over the past 20 years, with peace and stability bringing enormous dividends in terms of wealth and development," Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia Surya P. Subedi in a message marking today's 20th anniversary of the accords that ended the war with the Khmer Rouge, whose 1975-1979 regime is estimated to have killed up to three million people in what is widely recognized as genocide.
"Institutions have been established and laws writt
en. However the challenge remains in the implementation of many of these laws and proper functioning of these institutions," he said, calling for the vision of the peace agreements to be turned into reality for all Cambodians.
"The independence of the judiciary needs to be anchored in fundamental laws on the judiciary, which have been awaiting adoption since 1993 and the pluralist democracy in the country needs to be deepened and strengthened, particularly as Cambodia enters two election years," he stressed.
Last week Judge Siegfried Blunk, international co-investigating judge on the UN-backed tribunal set up to try those accused of the worst crimes under the Khmer Rouge regime, resigned, citing repeated statements by senior Government officials opposing progress on two cases concerning senior Khmer Rouge members suspected of responsibility in the deaths of thousands of people.
Yesterday UN Legal Counsel Patricia O'Brien met with Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in Phnom
Penh, the South-east Asian country's capital, and urged the Government to refrain from interfering in any way with the tribunal, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
"Impunity needs to be addressed for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge period as well as for crimes committed since then, and the right to freedom of association, expressly mentioned in the agreements, needs to be carefully protected and nurtured if Cambodia is to remain on the right road," Mr. Subedi said in his message.
"As we mark the 20th anniversary of the agreements, all parties should reaffirm their commitment to the full implementation of the agreements so that their vision and legacy may become reality."
Read more!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Cambodia Needs to Adopt Independent Judiciary
Cambodian village has disturbing reputation for child sex slavery
SVAY PAK, Cambodia (CNN) -- Svay Pak has a disturbing reputation. The village outside Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh is known as a place where little girls are openly sold to foreign predators looking for sex.
One of the girls who was sold into the sex trade told CNN that before she could read she was working in a brothel.
"I was about 5 or 6 years old," she said. "The first man said to me, 'I want to have sex with you.' At the time I didn't know what to do. No one could help me."
Dozens of girls have had the same experience in her neighborhood.
She says she was approached by a man while playing outside. He asked her to come over and talk to him and before she knew it she was alone and being asked for sex. Some of the girls were actually sold into the sex trade by their own parents.
Many were housed with other girls her age in what looked like a cell. The room was pink had thick walls and no windows and was about 7 feet long by 7 feet wide. There were several rooms just like it stuffed into a building that had a gate over the front door and bars on the bathroom window. The brothel she lived in specialized in pre-pubescent girls.
The young girls were sought after by the foreign men who came to the area for one reason, they knew they could find young girls for sale.
"At the beginning they talked to me gently but when they raped me, they also beat me up," the former sex slave said, her head bowed and tears rolling from her eyes uncontrollably.
She is now 18 and no longer trapped in a terrible and painful life. Three years ago she found a safe haven after Don Brewster and his wife moved in to the neighborhood and began operating a rehabilitation center for child sex slaves.
"I really think it's an evil -- I mean there is no understanding it. The girls, I mean, they're in such pain and suffer so greatly and it is obvious to the man that's raping them," Brewster said.
Brewster says things have changed in Svay Pak in the past several years. It used to be girls hung out in the open beckoning from behind barred windows to the men who walked by. Pimps no longer descend on every foreign man who shows up in the neighborhood offering to sell them virgins. While it is changing there is still a nasty underbelly in the area but travelers have to go looking for it now. The sex trade has gone underground but it is still there.
"If you just look on the surface you would say that doesn't happen but just yesterday we rescued a 5-year-old girl here in Svay Pak," said Brewster, who works with Agape International Missions.
But the situation is changing there slowly now that there is a place that provides a secure environment for children to just be children.
Read more!
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar rice to trade in Thailand
By Sameer Mohindru
HO CHI MINH CITY (MarketWatch) -- The Thai government's procurement of rice from growers well above market prices is expected to result in at least 2.5 million metric tons of the grain from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to find its way into Thailand's granaries and trade, industry officials said.
On Oct. 7, Thailand started procuring domestic rice from growers at THB15,000/ton, around 40% above market rates. Barely any procurement has taken place due to severe floods but is likely to gather pace in the next few months as waters recede.
Traders and industry officials point out that due to Thailand's porous borders, rice from neighboring countries will also be moved into Thailand to take advantage of the higher prices. This will push up inventories in Thailand, world's largest exporter and push up global prices.
There is a large price differential between Thai and Cambodian rice, even though the quality is similar and many traders are now trying to bring in rice from across the border, said Christophe Cousin, managing director, Prasert and Sons, a Pathumthani-based international rice brokerage in Thailand.
It is usual for around 1.0 million tons of Cambodian rice to be transported across the Thai border every year for more remunerative export prices, and now with the government offering even better rates, the trans-border movement will at least double in volume, said Chookiat Ophaswongse, former president of Thai Rice Exporters Association.
Cambodia's ordinary white rice is being traded around THB7,000/ton, less than half of the Thai government's procurement price. Corresponding prices of rice in Laos are between THB6,000-THB7,000/ton. Rice in Myanmar is even cheaper between THB4,500-THB5,000/ton.
At least 500,000 tons of rice from Myanmar move across the border annually to neighboring countries including Thailand as part of informal trade and it is possible that Thai traders make more purchases this year due to high price differential, said Tin Htut Oo, a senior adviser in Myanmar Rice Industry Association.
Analysts and industry officials participating in a global rice conference here said that Thai government policy has loopholes because the grain will be procured and stored by the millers on its behalf. Earlier this month, government said that it has set a stringent criteria to ensure only the domestic crop of the latest harvest is procured.
However, private executives point out that due to unscrupulous millers and gullibility of lower-level bureaucracy not only rice from neighboring countries but also previous year's Thai harvest will be passed on to pocket the price differential.
Millers will blend large volumes of rice from neighboring countries and previous Thai crops and register them in the name of local farmers resulting in a huge government stockpile, a slowdown in exports and tightened global supply, said Chookiat.
Read more!
Friday, October 21, 2011
CAMBODIA FLOODS SET TO WORSEN
The worst floods in Cambodia for more than a decade, that have killed 247 people, mainly from drowning, and displaced more than 100,000 families, could worsen, Christian Aid warned this week.
‘With heavy rains set to continue it is feared the people of Cambodia will suffer even more,’ said Katja Leven, Christian Aid’s country manager for Cambodia
‘The situation will worsen further when neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam open their dams to ease their own floods.’
‘A major concern is food security. Now and in the longer-term there’s the risk of severe food shortages due to rice fields being submerged,grain stores swept away and the December harvest being lost,’ said Katja.
Already thousands of homes and usually safe places such as open patches of high ground, schools and pagodas have been flooded.
Flood waters in the provinces around the Tonle Sap Lake is continuing to rise, and whilst the Mekong river water levels have begun to drop they are expected to remain high for the next few weeks.
Nearly three-quarters of the country is thought to have been affected, and it’s the poorest who have been hit the hardest.
Most of the communities affected by the floods are in rural areas which are still difficult to access, where people are largely dependent on subsistence agriculture, mainly rice farming and fishing, for survival.
Provincial authorities estimate that up to 60 per cent of the rice crop may have been destroyed.
Another major concern is sanitation, many people do not have access to safe drinking water and many wells are contaminated with flood water.
Local organisations funded though Christian Aid, DCA and the ACT Alliance are distributing food and providing safe water to the worst affected communities.
Read more!
UN Warns Officials To Stop Remarks Opposing Tribunal Cases
O’Brien also “expressed concern” over the developments at the court and called on government leaders and others to “respect and support the integrity and independence of the [tribunal] judicial process,” the statement said
The UN’s top legal representative has warned Cambodian officials to cease public statements in opposition to two cases before the Khmer Rouge tribunal.
Patricia O’Brien, UN undersecretary-general for legal affairs, met with government officials Thursday night to discuss UN concerns in the wake of the resignation of international investigating judge Siegfried Blunk.
Blunk said Prime Minister Hun Sen, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith had all made statements demonstrating government opposition to cases 003 and 004, creating an atmosphere in which he would be perceived as biased, no matter his judgment on the cases.
In a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last year, Hun Sen said those cases at the court were “not allowed.”
Blunk’s resignation has fueled widespread speculation that the court is under political pressure not to fully investigate the cases, which would require the indictment of five more Khmer Rouge leaders, an act Cambodian officials have warned could destabilize the country.
O’Brien “strongly urged the royal government of Cambodia to refrain from statements opposing the progress of cases 003 and 004 and to refrain from interfering in any way whatsoever with the judicial process,” the UN said in a statement following Thursday’s meeting, which included Council Minister Sok An, who oversees the court for the government.
O’Brien also “expressed concern” over the developments at the court and called on government leaders and others to “respect and support the integrity and independence of the [tribunal] judicial process,” the statement said.
The court is in the midst of preparations for its largest, and second, trial to date, in which jailed former leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith are charged with atrocity crimes that include genocide. The court is expected to open a major hearing in that case in November.
In its own statement after Thursday’s meeting, the Council of Ministers made no mention of the warnings on cases 003 and 004 or of Blunk’s resignation and his concerns for perceived political interference at the court.
However, Ek Tha, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, denied any government officials had interfered with the tribunal’s work.
“We let the court work to fulfill its duty in conformity with legal procedures,” he told reporters.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the two sides had not “deeply” discussed the two controversial cases. Read more!
UN Legal Chief Wraps Up Visit to Cambodia’s Tribunal
 |
U.N. Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Patricia O'Brien smiles during a meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, October 20, 2011. |
Patricia O’Brien’s visit to Phnom Penh came after German investigating judge Siegfried Blunk quit earlier this month citing political interference.
Late Thursday O’Brien said she had strongly urged Phnom Penh to stop making statements opposing the progress of two of the four main cases, known as Case 003 and 004. She also called for authorities to refrain from interfering in any way with the judicial process and reminded the government that it is obliged to cooperate fully with the tribunal.
Over the past year Cambodian ministers have publicly spoken out against the court’s final two cases.
Ou Virak, the president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), and a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, which killed his father welcomed O’Brien’s statement - in part.
“I thought the statement was concise enough, but my problem with it is that it referred to political statements by the government, by government officials. I think it doesn’t go far enough," he said. "We need to make sure that the U.N. is pushing for complete independence of the court, and therefore not just statements being made public, but any sign of interference by the government should be unacceptable - and that to me is what was missing.”
Court observers and survivor groups have criticized the conduct of the tribunal in recent months, arguing that judges were politically pressured to undermine their investigations into Cases 003 and 004.
O’Brien’s statement did not mention whether the United Nations would investigate what had occurred at the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges - the arm of the court lead by Blunk and his Cambodian counterpart You Bunleng.
Ou Virak, the president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), is among those who have called for an independent investigation.
He said he and other Cambodian observers met with O’Brien on Friday and told the U.N. legal chief that the court must build public confidence.
“The court needs to provide this confidence by properly investigating, by putting into place the necessary mechanism to ensure there’s no such things in the future. But the problem is they have to address all these allegations including the allegation I think made lately by the resignation of Judge Blunk,” Oy said.
Virak said he was not encouraged by O'brien’s willingness to order a probe.
Instead, he says, the conversation from the U.N. side focused on reasons not to investigate.
U.N. spokesman Lars Olsen said Friday that O’Brien had gathered information so that the U.N. can decide “what action, if any, would be appropriate.”
Earlier this week the tribunal announced that Case 002, against the four surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge, would start in late November.
And on Thursday the court heard arguments over whether defendant Ieng Thirith, the former social affairs minister, is fit to strand trial.
Medical experts say Ieng Thirith has dementia, and her legal team says she is not fit for trial. That is opposed by the prosecution and lawyers for civil parties.
The tribunal is expected to rule on Ieng Thirith’s fitness for trial in the coming weeks.
Read more!
Cambodian PM's Visit to China Fruitful: Commerce Minister
The visit of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen to China's Nanning to join the 8th China-ASEAN expo and investment and business summit has brought Cambodia with humanitarian aids and closer ties on politics, trade and investment between Cambodia and China, concluded Cambodia's Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh on Friday.
During his stay in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Prime Minister Hun Sen had met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to discuss ways to further strengthen and expand the bilateral cooperation, Prasidh told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport upon the prime minister's return from China.
He said that Hun Sen informed Wen about the worst floods that have hit Cambodia since August and killed 247 people as well as damaged about 10 percent of agricultural crops this year.
In response, Wen expressed deep sympathy over the loss of life and crops and he pledged to provide an additional 1.5 million U.S. dollars to help Cambodian flood victims.
Last week, China donated the emergency flood relief aids worth 50 million yuan (7.8 million U.S. dollars) and the aids included medications, medical supplies, mosquito nets, blankets, towels and other relief materials. The supply had been airlifted by two planes to Cambodia over the weekend.
"This is thanks to the good relations between Cambodia's and China's leaders," said Prasidh.
In the meeting, both premiers also promised to strengthen cooperation in all regional and international forums.
Hun Sen thanked China for fully supporting Cambodia's candidacy for the non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in next year vote.
The two premiers also pledged to boost the bilateral trade volume to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, Prasidh said, adding that the trade between the two countries this year is expected to reach 2 billion U.S. dollars, up from 1.44 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.
"We foresee that milled rice and garment products will be the key products to boost Cambodia's exports to China," he said.
On the investment side, Wen promised to encourage more Chinese companies to Cambodia, said Prasidh, adding that China's investment in Cambodia in 2010 was 694 million U.S. dollars, the largest investor in Cambodia.
During in China's Nanning, Hun Sen also met with the management of the China Development Bank and the governor of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. On Friday morning, he joined the 8th China-ASEAN expo and investment and business summit.
Read more!
U.S., Royal Cambodian Navies Head to Sea for CARAT 2011 Exercise
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia | U.S. and royal Cambodian navies began their 2nd annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Cambodia exercise Oct. 20, with a pierside opening ceremony at the port of Sihanoukville.
"Last year marked an important step forward in the relationships between the U.S. and Cambodian Navies," said Rear Adm. Tom Carney, commander, U.S. Navy's Task Force 73. "This year, for the first time, a ship from the U.S. Navy, one of our newest destroyers, will be getting underway with royal Cambodian navy ships for a series of at-sea events."
During the week-long exercise, Sailors and from both countries are participating in training exchanges ashore on topics as diverse as maritime domain awareness, vessel boarding procedures, dive and salvage operations and various maritime symposia. U.S. Navy Seabees are joining royal Cambodian armed forces engineers in renovating a public health clinic and drilling water wells at a local school, while U.S. Navy and Cambodian divers conduct pier inspections and remove hazards to navigation. Additionally, several friendship-building events are planned, including band concerts at public parks and schools in Phnom Penh, and community service projects, receptions and sporting events between forces of both nations.
At sea, both U.S. and several royal Cambodian navy ships will conduct communication drills, division tactics, surface gunfire drills and more. Participating U.S. aircraft include the P-3C Orion, and the SH-60 Seahawk.
Approximately 400 U.S. Sailors are participating in CARAT Brunei 2011. Two U.S. ships, guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) and the dive and salvage ship USNS Safeguard (T-ARS 50), are participating.
CARAT is a series of annual, bilateral maritime exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
Read more!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Cambodia PM leads businessmen to join 8th China-ASEAN expo in Nanning
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday led a group of senior officials and businessmen to attend the 8th China-ASEAN expo and investment and business summit in China's Nanning, which runs from Oct. 21 to Oct. 26.
Srey Thamrong, a minister attached to Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport before departing for Nanning that senior officials accompanying the premier including the Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh, Secretary General of the Council for the Development of Cambodia Sok Chenda Sophea, Finance Secretaries of State Aun Porn Moniroth and Ok Rabun and businesspeople totaling 250 people.
At the airport, the premier was seen off by other Cambodian high ranking officials and Charge d'Affairs of Chinese Embassy to Cambodia He Leping.
Hun Sen would hold talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Thursday afternoon and then meet with the management of the China Development Bank and the governor of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said Thamrong.
He said that the 8th China-ASEAN expo has been attended by exhibitors from China and ASEAN countries totaling 4,600 booths. Also, there are exhibitors from Japan, South Korea, France, Canada, Finland and Nepal.
Some 75 Cambodian companies have their products displayed in 90 booths in the expo, he said.
"The event is very important to promote Cambodian products to the globe and to attract more Chinese investors and investors from ASEAN countries to Cambodia," he said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Hun Sen will return to Cambodia on Friday afternoon.
This is Hun Sen's sixth time to attend the China-ASEAN expo held in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Read more!
Cambodia hears reparation list for Khmer Rouge victims
New York, Oct 20 : Lawyers representing 4,000 victims of Khmer Rouge atrocities on Wednesday presented a wish list for reparations to the United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia that is trying four former political leaders of the regime accused of crimes against humanity.
The tribunal, known officially as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), was set up under an agreement signed in 2003 by the UN and the Government, and is tasked with trying those deemed most responsible for crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 during which as many as two million people are thought to have died.
Former leaders of the Democratic Kampuchea, the Khmer Rouge-controlled communist organization – Defence Minister Ieng Sary, head of State Khieu Samphan, Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith and Nuon Chea, also known as Former Brother Number 2 – are currently on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.
This is the first time victims participate as civil parties in an international criminal trial and are entitled to request “moral and collective” reparations in the event of conviction.
“Reparations have to be satisfactory for civil parties. Reparations have to alleviate their pain and grief,” said international lead co-lawyer Elisabeth Simonneau-Fort. “It is our duty to be ambitious… If we are not ambitious, we cannot represent our civil parties.”
Among the reparations listed were the establishment of a national remembrance day, providing health services for elderly victims, and supplying vocational training to victims of forced marriage and their children. There was also a request to provide legal counsel to help ethnic Vietnamese who had been forcibly deported by the Khmer Rouge to obtain Cambodian nationality.
According to the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge trials (UNAKRT), lawyers focused on the importance of preserving the memory of the Khmer Rouge period so younger generations can understand the significance of that time period in the country’s history.
Senior assistant prosecutor Vincent De Wilde D’Estmael supported the reparations requests, saying that civil parties “are the voice of all of the victims who remained voiceless during the regime of the Democratic Kampuchea” and encouraged the parties in court to do everything possible to ensure their requests are accepted.
But defence attorney Michael Karnavas said the list was beyond the scope of the tribunal. “It would appear highly commendable and aspirational, but it is something the Government should be doing,” he said. “I’m not convinced that the court is capable to grant those reparations requests.”
--IBNS
Read more!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Thai PM Appeals for Unity as Floods Threaten Capital
Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is calling for all political factions to unite as soldiers and workers struggle to shore up dikes protecting Bangkok against raging floodwaters.
Hundreds of soldiers and volunteers heaped sandbags into breaches in dikes protecting industrial and housing estates north of the capital Wednesday. A government warning identified several districts that could be inundated because of "complications" in the operation of the dikes.
An army lieutenant, Chainarong Duanram, warned that a sewage treatment pond in one estate was threatened. "Behind us is the sewage pool for the (Bang Kadi) industry estate. The waste water treatment pond will overflow if water comes in from the canal, then it will enter the area of the factories,'' Duanram.
He said if the pond is flooded, the sewage will flow into the factories.
Yingluck toured affected areas by helicopter Wednesday, and afterward told reporters she cannot handle the crisis by herself. She urged opposition parties to set aside politics and cooperate with her government to restore people's morale.
Former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was defeated by Yingluck this year, did not respond directly to her appeal, but he warned that the capital is still at risk from the nation's worst flooding in 50 years.
"We are still very concerned because there is still a mass of water that's coming down from the north, and, you know, as you know it still rains, and also high tide will come back in about couple of weeks time," Vejjajiva stated.
Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra had declared the crisis largely over on Monday. But he said Wednesday he is still very worried. "This is more difficult to manage. I cannot be optimistic. I have to make all possible preparations and hope for the best," he said.
Despite its problems, the government Wednesday announced a donation of almost $100,000 in flood relief for neighboring Cambodia, which has been equally hard-hit. The floods, have also deluged Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines, killing more than 700 people across Southeast Asia.
Yingluck's government has been working to repair relations with Cambodia following a series of border clashes that killed 28 people this year.
Read more!
China's top political advisor visits former Cambodian King
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin visited former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing on Wednesday and greeted him on his 90th birthday, which falls on Oct. 31.
Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, conveyed birthday greetings from President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders.
Calling Sihanouk a long-time and good friend of the Chinese, Jia praised Sihanouk's outstanding contribution to promoting China-Cambodia friendship, as well as his firm support for China.
"It is a steadfast policy of the Chinese government to consolidate and develop the China-Cambodia traditional friendship," Jia said.
He said he believes that under the care of the Cambodian royal family, with joint efforts of the two countries and peoples, China-Cambodia friendly ties will be full of new vitality.
Sihanouk said he regarded Jia's visit and the greetings of President Hu and other Chinese leaders as the highest honor China has awarded him.
The Cambodian people will never forget the unselfish support from the Chinese people during Cambodia's difficult times, he said. Read more!
Cambodia’s Golden Age of Cinema, Told on Film
Chou Davy is a young French-Cambodian filmmaker, whose grandfather, Van Chann, made movies in Cambodia in the 1960s and 1970s.
Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, Chou Davy has now had his first feature-length documentary shown at an international festival in Busan, Korea.
Chou Davy’s parents fled to France in 1973, and the young man returned to Cambodia for the first time in 2009.
He stayed for almost a year, training Cambodian students to produce movies, one of which, “Twin Diamond,” screened at the Lux Cinema in Phnom Penh. He also organized a film exhibition called “The Golden Reawakening,” in the capital, before returning to France for a short time.
The following year, he returned with a film crew. For a month, the team shot a documentary, “The Golden Slumbers,” which was screened at the Busan International Film Festival last week.
“It’s a very big honor for me because it’s said to be the biggest film festival in all Asia,” he told VOA Khmer in a recent interview. “I am so pleased, because it is my very first feature film and have this chance, that this film is selected to this very important festival. Also I’m very proud that Cambodia is represented there because it’s introduced there in Busan as a Cambodian film.”
The film chronicles the “Golden Age” of Cambodian cinema, which began in the 1960s but was extinguished when the Khmer Rouge took power, in 1975. The story of that period is told through the recollections of three film directors—Ly Bun Yim, Yvon Hem and Liv Sreng—and one of the period’s famed actresses, Dy Saveth.
“The film is not only the testimonial interviews of the survivors,” Chou Davy said, “but is also dealing with the present of Cambodian cinema. What has become of the cinemas that have been shut down and now transformed into different places, such as karaoke [clubs] and restaurants?”
As he researched the film, Chou Davy learned how the directors and actress survived the Khmer Rouge and how they moved on after many hardships. The film represents the first time their stories have been told.
“Those stories of their lives and all the regret and everything, some of them didn’t express those feeling for a very long time,” Chou Davy said. “So that was also something very moving for me and very strong.”
More than 400 films were produced during Cambodian cinema’s halcyon days. Only 35 survived. In his search, Chou Davy found that many of the films had survived in the memories of their former producers and stars, and in the memories of those who had watched them. On the street, he would look for Cambodians of a certain age, in their fifties or sixties, and he would ask them if they had watched films before the Khmer Rouge.
“All of them would start to tell me the stories that they really loved, telling me the story from A to Z,” Chou Davy said. “And it was like the film was just shown the day before, even if they hadn’t seen it for 40 years. That was something very strong and very magic, that the cinema brought so much joy to the people that they could never forget.”
Read more!
Thai government donates 6 million THB to help flood victims in Cambodia and Vietnam
BANGKOK, 19 October 2011 – The Thai government has contributed three million THB to Cambodia and Vietnam each, to support flood relief efforts in the neighbouring countries.
Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul recently handed the cash donations together with letters of condolence from Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to Cambodian ambassador You Aye and Vietnamese ambassador Ngo Duc Thang.
In the letters, the Prime Minister stated that the disaster was a challenge that had never happened before and had caused immense damages. On behalf of the Thai government and people, Ms Yingluck vowed to stand side by side with the two countries in the face of the catastrophe and expressed hope that Asean and other friendly nations would render their hands in solving the situation.
The deluge in Cambodia has killed 247 people and affected 1.2 million others while 2.4 million rai of farmland has been damaged. In Vietnam, 43 people were killed and over 70,000 houses damaged while over 300 square kilometers of rice fields have been under floods. The deluge is regarded as the severest in several decades in Southeast Asia.
Read more!
Monday, October 17, 2011
DOMESTIC HELP ISSUE WILL BE DISCUSSED WITH CAMBODIA, SAYS DR SUBRAMANIAM
SHAH ALAM, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said Malaysia will hold talks with Cambodia to resolve the ban the Cambodian government has imposed on the sending of domestic help to Malaysia.
He said the government was willing to hear views from the Cambodian government on ways to improve the welfare of Cambodian maids working in Malaysia.
"At my ministry level, we will look at all the processes to see how we can improve the existing system to improve supervision as to the welfare of foreign workers, specifically domestic help," he said in commenting on the ban imposed by the Cambodian government on Friday following reports of a few cases of abused involving Cambodian maids working in Malaysia.
Dr Subramaniam said the abuse cases were a "one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel" situation because only about one per cent of registered maid employers in the country were found to have acted cruelly against their maids.
Earlier, he had handed over offer letters to 39 school leavers from around the Klang Valley to pursue studies under the ministry''s MYSKILLS programme.
-- MORE
SUBRAMANIAM-CAMBODIA 2 (LAST) SHAH ALAM
The progamme, launched in June, to date has provided study opportunities to 2,590 school leavers from throughout the peninsula.
According to Dr Subramaniam, graduates of the programme could earn good incomes working as welders, cooks and mechanics.
-- BERNAMA
MK NAK HA
Read more!
Cambodia Worries about long-term flood fallout
KRATIE PROVINCE, 17 October 2011 (IRIN) - Severe flooding across Cambodia poses serious risks to the country's food security, according to NGOs.
Flooding has spread across 17 of Cambodia's 24 provinces, killing 247 people, forcing the evacuation of more than 34,000 households, and destroying some 200,000 hectares of rice fields, which comprise nearly 10 percent of the country's harvest, according to the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) [ http://www.ncdm.gov.kh/ ], a government agency.
It said flood damage, including destruction of more than 1,000 schools and some 2,400km of roads, would exceed that caused by devastating floods in 2000, which cost US$161 million in damage.
Leh Smah, 62, said a third of residents in his community, Chhoer Teal Plun Village in Kratie Province in the northeast, had lost large parts or all of their rice harvest.
The 20kg rice sacks donated to affected families by the Red Cross will last a week, he said. "Soon they will be out of food again and will have to purchase food on credit unless they receive more aid."
More than 80,000 families have received aid, according to the NCDM.
Francis Perez, head of Oxfam in Cambodia, said flood relief varied by province, with robust assistance in most areas but there were still "huge pockets where emergency response has been very inadequate".
The southeastern province of Prey Vey in particular, he said, had received far less flood relief than other provinces and some communities were facing food shortages.
Recovery
The longer-term impact of the flooding remains uncertain but, says Rosaleen Martin, a spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme, there are widespread concerns over food security.
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced last week that the government would create a $100 million fund for relief and rehabilitation but no details have been given on how this money would be managed.
The Agriculture Ministry says it plans to distribute rice seeds to flood-affected communities to help offset losses from destroyed crops.
In a move to stabilize rice prices, which began to rise because of the flood, government authorities released 120MT of government-stocked milled rice on to the market on 16 October.
A spokesperson for the UN Disaster Management Team in Cambodia said the group was drafting a proposal for an emergency fund that would include assistance for emergency relief and the rehabilitation of destroyed fields.
Oxfam's Perez said that because of losses to their rice harvest, farmers would likely turn to borrowing, which is commonly done at usury rates "that drive people into a risky cycle".
Health risks
Health officials say the flooding had prolonged the dengue fever season: 54 children have died from the disease in the first nine months of this year, compared with 28 in 2010, according to the government's National Dengue Control Programme.
Dengue outbreaks are spurred by heavy rain, which forms pools that harbour the eggs of mosquitoes carrying the disease.
Other health risks associated with flooding include water-borne diseases spurred by damage to toilet and drinking water facilities, as well as respiratory infections and measles.
The UN and a number of NGOs were coordinating with government agencies to provide water purification tablets, ceramic water filters and jerry cans for safe water storage.
Nima Asgari, a public health specialist with the World Health Organization in Cambodia, said no signs had yet emerged of disease outbreaks in affected communities.
The main task for health officials is to restore emergency health services, including assisted birthing, to affected communities.
The UN Children's Fund is releasing funding for rural government health offices to form mobile teams to travel to families cut off from regular healthcare access because of the floods, said Richard Bridle, the group's country representative.
Read more!
Despite Ban, Cambodian Maids Still Being Sent to Malaysia
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen signed an order in recent days that bars recruitment firms from sending domestic workers to Malaysia after numerous reports of abuses.
But a prominent rights group says the ban was quickly violated when at least two firms sent more women abroad on Monday.
Rights groups have been pressuring Phnom Penh for months to combat the abuse of Cambodian maids working in Malaysia.
Last Friday Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to take action.
On Saturday he signed an order banning Cambodian recruitment firms from sending domestic workers to Malaysia.
Rights groups welcomed the ban. Maid placement agencies condemned it.
But on Monday, Naly Pilorge, the director of rights group LICADHO, says that two firms sent at least 25 young women to Malaysia on the early morning flight from Phnom Penh.
“I mean Friday and Saturday I was encouraged, but after my colleagues reported that at least 25 women were seen leaving to Malaysia this morning, it’s clear to me that the authorities, the companies are defying this ban," said Pilorge. "So no, I’m not encouraged.”
For months opposition legislators in Cambodia have highlighted serious abuses against domestic workers in Malaysia.
Pilorge believes the government has banned the flow of migrant workers now, in part, because officials worry that Washington may downgrade its human trafficking status, putting it at risk of losing U.S. foreign aid.
The 2011 State Department Trafficking in Persons report said that Cambodia has made no improvements to identify or protect trafficking victims.
Around 300,000 young people enter Cambodia’s job market each year, but there is no paying work available locally for most.
That is why tens of thousands cross - legally and illegally - into Thailand and Malaysia each year seeking employment.
At least 30,000 Cambodian women are employed as domestic workers in Malaysia.
Many more men and women work or are trafficked into other jobs such as factories and plantations or suffer in slave-like conditions on fishing vessels and brothels.
Pilorge estimated around 3,000 Cambodian women aged 18-24 leave for Malaysia each month.
“What happens in reality is that documents are falsified, lies are said to families, to girls, recruiting agencies are detaining girls, indebting them - all these criminal acts just to meet the quota of being able to send 3,000 girls and women to Malaysia,” said Pilorge.
Just last week Cambodian police raided a recruitment firm and freed 35 underage recruits. That firm has since been closed - the first time a Cambodian labor company has been stripped of its operating license.
Pilorge says the ban is a start, but only that.
“A ban is just a temporary bandage. What really needs to happen is that no Cambodian women are sent to Malaysia until proper safeguards and other mechanisms are put in place to protect domestic workers and other Cambodian workers,” added Pilorge.
Late Monday, Malaysia’s The Star newspaper quoted the Malaysian foreign minister as saying his country will offer Cambodia an apology should the allegations of torture and abuse be found true.
Read more!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Aid Arrives for Flood-Swamped Thailand, Cambodia
United States Marines arrived in Bangkok Saturday with equipment, sandbags and other relief supplies. The U.S. ambassador to Thailand, Kristie Kenney, said the Marines will work with the Thai military to battle floodwaters that have hit 61 of Thailand's 76 provinces.
Officials say almost 300 people have died in Thailand, most of them north of Bangkok, in and near the ancient temple city of Ayutthaya.
Much of Ayutthaya remained under water Saturday, driving some residents, and their pets, to the rooftops of homes to stay dry. In less affected areas, where water was only waist deep, relief crews in boats distributed supplies to stranded residents.
A Dutch volunteer, Edwin Wiek, said many people in Ayutthaya have no electricity, food or water; others are sick and have no means of getting out.
Workers at the Bang Pa-in industrial center in Ayutthaya province tried to keep out rising water but had to abandon the effort Saturday. News reports say the complex hosted more than 90 manufacturers of auto parts, electronics, garments and plastics.
Thais who doggedly stayed by their homes on Koh Kred Island tried to make their way through floodwaters that were chest- or neck-high.
Aid from China arrived Saturday in Cambodia, where flooding and landslides have killed 247 people. A Cambodian government spokesman said the relief supplies will go to hospitals in the hardest-hit areas.
Torrential rains and flooding are also being blamed for deaths in Vietnam and the Philippines. Read more!
Cambodia: Overhaul Protections for Migrant Domestic Workers
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's proposed ban on sending domestic workers to Malaysia should be accompanied by a major overhaul in protections for these workers. On October 14, 2011, Hun Sen promised an opposition lawmaker, Mu Sochua, to halt migration in the wake of repeated complaints of abuse during recruitment in Cambodia and employment in Malaysia.
(New York) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's proposed ban on sending domestic workers to Malaysia should be accompanied by a major overhaul in protections for these workers, Human Rights Watch said today. On October 14, 2011, Hun Sen promised an opposition lawmaker, Mu Sochua, to halt migration in the wake of repeated complaints of abuse during recruitment in Cambodia and employment in Malaysia.
Underage recruitment, forced confinement in training centers, and deception about recruitment debts and working conditions plague the recruitment of tens of thousands of Cambodians migrating to Malaysia as domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said.
"Prime Minister Hun Sen is finally demonstrating concern about the plight of Cambodian migrant domestic workers, but a ban is only a temporary measure," said Jyotsna Poudyal, women's rights research fellow at Human Rights Watch. "The government should introduce major reforms, in consultation with civil society, to improve regulation and monitoring of labor recruitment in Cambodia so that women can migrate voluntarily and safely."
An official announcement confirming the ban has yet to be made, but labor recruitment agencies have reported that they received an order to halt recruitment from the Labor and Vocational Training Ministry.
Malaysia excludes domestic workers from key provisions in its Employment Act, including limits on working hours and a requirement for a weekly day off. High-profile abuse cases and disagreements about minimum protections led Indonesia to suspend sending domestic workers there in June 2009, which spurred a significant increase in the recruitment of Cambodian workers.
Indonesia and Malaysia recently revised a memorandum of understanding that guarantees Indonesian domestic workers a weekly day of rest and the right to keep their passports, instead of allowing employers to hold them, restricting the ability of a worker to leave. No such protections have been extended to Cambodian workers.
"Malaysia should not respond to Cambodia's ban by turning to countries with even weaker protections for recruiting domestic workers, but should revise its labor code to strengthen its own protections," Poudyal said. "It should also improve access to complaint mechanisms and the justice system's response to allegations of abuse."
Cambodia and Malaysia should introduce protections in line with the International Labor Organization's (ILO) newly adopted Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, Human Rights Watch said. The convention's article on recruitment agencies sets out requirements for accessible complaint mechanisms and for substantial penalties for agencies that violate standards and prohibit salary deductions for recruitment fees.
The treaty also calls for domestic workers to be guaranteed the same rights as other workers with respect to working hours, rest periods and annual leave. Cambodia and Malaysia have yet to ratify the treaty, which was adopted in June.
"Cambodia can push more effectively to protect its citizens abroad if it gets serious about dealing with human rights abuses against prospective migrants at home," Poudyal said. "And it should coordinate with other labor-sending countries to promote regional cooperation for minimum standards, to avoid a race to the bottom."
Read more!
Friday, October 14, 2011
UN legal chief to discuss concerns about genocide court during Cambodia visit
14 October 2011 – The United Nations Legal Counsel will travel to Phnom Penh next week for meetings concerning the Cambodia genocide tribunal in the wake of the resignation of one of the judges.
The tribunal, known officially as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), was set up under an agreement signed in 2003 by the UN and the Government.
The independent court, which uses a mixture of Cambodian staff and judges and foreign personnel, is tasked with trying those deemed most responsible for mass killings and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 during which as many as two million people are thought to have died.
The visit by Patricia O’Brien, the Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, follows the resignation earlier this week of Judge Siegfried Blunk, the international co-investigating judge at the ECCC.
Judge Blunk cited repeated statements by senior Government officials opposing the progress of what are referred to as cases 003 and 004 – which concern senior members of the Khmer Rouge military suspected of being responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
These statements, he noted in his letter of resignation, could be used to call into question his ability to perform his duties independently, and this would call into doubt the integrity of the whole proceedings in these cases.
The UN has consistently stated that the ECCC must be permitted to proceed with its work without interference from any entity, including the Cambodian Government.
Ms. O’Brien will hold meetings with Government officials and others concerning the tribunal, UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York.
In addition to concerns regarding the issue of Government interference, there have also been concerns raised with respect to other aspects of the court’s work, which will also be addressed during the visit, he noted.
“It is important that the United Nations talks to senior officials in the ECCC and others to gain the best possible understanding of these concerns,” he stated. Read more!
