KI Media: “COMFREL Release the Result of Workshop on Voter's Voice in Choam, Memot, Kampong Cham” plus 24 more |
- COMFREL Release the Result of Workshop on Voter's Voice in Choam, Memot, Kampong Cham
- IKC's Statement on the Preah Vihear Conflict
- Prey Lang forest: Gov't officials spar with Human Rights officials
- Land victims express no hope in justice
- They are brown, they are beautiful, but poor: Cambodian children
- IFEX announces new members including CCHR
- Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Cockfighting
- Kem Sokha denies cooperating with CPP
- Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei
- Dey Krahorm Press conference
- Villagers under surveillance
- Unions lobby Subedi
- The plight of Prey Sar's children
- A rubber planting campaign launched in Cambodia [-Commie Viet invasion of Cambodia!!!]
- New funding for child protection in Cambodia on International Children's Day
- Congratulations to Khattiya Chharath, East Bay High School’s valedictorian!
- Vietnam baby ring mothers allege sex abuse: report
- Delay on Sesan River Hydrodam Unlikely: Officials
- State Department Sees More Engagement on Horizon
- Thai delegation has done best in elaborating with ICJ on temple dispute
- Phnom Penh's Feat: Getting Clean Tap Water Flowing
- Cambodia’s vulture comeback: Rebirth among birds of death
- Cambodia has advantage over Thailand on temple issues at ICJ: Deputy PM
- Political murder on second commune councilor from SRP
- Meeting with Community of Democracies
| COMFREL Release the Result of Workshop on Voter's Voice in Choam, Memot, Kampong Cham Posted: 02 Jun 2011 04:21 PM PDT Dear all, COMFREL is please to release its press release on the result of workshop on voter's voice in Choam, Memot, Kampong Cham province held on May 12, 2011. Please see the attached document for details. FYI : If you need releases or articles related to workshop on voter's voices, elections reforms, democracy/political reforms, decentralisation and governance, please feel free to visit our website : www.comfrel.org Best regards, COMFREL ----------------- Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia Head Office : # 138, Street 122, Sangkat Teuk La ak, Khan Tuol Kork, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. P.O.Box 1145, CCC Box 439 Phone : (855-23) 884 150 Fax : (855-23) 883 750 E-mail : comfrel@online.com.kh Website : www.comfrel.org http://www.box.net/shared/i4aav01321  | ||||
| IKC's Statement on the Preah Vihear Conflict Posted: 02 Jun 2011 04:13 PM PDT | ||||
| Prey Lang forest: Gov't officials spar with Human Rights officials Posted: 02 Jun 2011 04:02 PM PDT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRSP0yium-o&feature=player_embedded  | ||||
| Land victims express no hope in justice Posted: 02 Jun 2011 03:54 PM PDT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3cOB17a4O4&feature=player_embedded  | ||||
| They are brown, they are beautiful, but poor: Cambodian children Posted: 02 Jun 2011 03:50 PM PDT 02 June 2011 Radio Free Asia Translated from Khmer by KI 01 June 2011 is the celebration of the 62nd anniversary of the International Children's Day. In Cambodia, NGOs involved with the education and protection of children indicated that the respect of children's rights seem to be improving from last year. Nevertheless, civil society officials are still concerned about the fact that Cambodian children still face a number problem such as trade of children, legal issues faced by children, drug abuse, domestic violence, child labor, poverty, low level of education, food shortage and diseases.
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| IFEX announces new members including CCHR Posted: 02 Jun 2011 12:42 PM PDT
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights ("CCHR"), a non-aligned, independent, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect democracy and respect for human rights in Cambodia, is proud to announce that it has been accepted as a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange ("IFEX") a global network of around 90 non-governmental organizations which works to promote and defend the right to freedom of expression. Please find the full statement announcing CCHR's membership to IFEX attached as a pdf. It is also available on the IFEX website, to access please click here. For more information, please contact Ou Virak via telephone at +855 (0) 12 40 40 51 or e-mail at ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org. Warm regards, CCHR -- The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) is a non-political, independent, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect democracy and respect for human rights throughout Cambodia. For more information, please visit www.cchrcambodia.org.  | ||||
| Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Cockfighting Posted: 02 Jun 2011 12:41 PM PDT
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| Kem Sokha denies cooperating with CPP Posted: 02 Jun 2011 12:33 PM PDT  Meas Sokchea The Phnom Penh Post Human Rights Party president Kem Sokha has accused the ruling Cambodian People's Party of leaking a recorded conversation between himself and Prime Minister Hun Sen in retaliation for his refusal to collaborate with the CPP. In the recording, which dates back to 2007 and was posted on Sunday by DAP News, Kem Sokha can be heard asking the premier for assistance in securing use of the Olympic Stadium for a party conference. The Sam Rainsy Party, the Kingdom's largest opposition party, has seized on the recording as evidence of alleged collusion between the HRP and CPP and has said that flagging negotiations on an SRP-HRP merger will be halted as a result. Kem Sokha claimed yesterday that the leak had been orchestrated as a result of his repeated rebuffs of entreaties from the ruling party. "They have tried very hard. They have tried to persuade me and have also threatened me, but I have not agreed," he said, adding that if he had indeed colluded with the CPP, "please let lightning strike me". In the recording, Kem Sokha can be heard attempting to mollify Hun Sen in advance of future criticisms. "I would like to inform Samdech that if I am against what Samdech is doing, the principles by which I work are from my heart," Kem Sokha says, using the premier's honourific. "I would ask Samdech to understand that we can work together in the future." Hun Sen later responds that even if politicians from the ruling party and opposition attack one another, "we can still have friendly cooperation with each other". The premier later suggests that the HRP poach members from the SRP. "I think a good idea is to grab some people in the provinces, provincial council members of the Sam Rainsy Party – good people who have the ability to attract votes," Hun Sen says. Kem Sokha responds "yes" to this statement on the recording before changing the subject. He said yesterday, however, that this assent was merely one of politeness. "I did not say I agreed to do what he said," Kem Sokha said. "I said that I will oppose him." Hang Chhaya, executive director of the Khmer Institute for Democracy, said that despite Kem Sokha's protestations, the recording could prove politically damaging for the HRP. "People are suspicious of that because it seems like he's allowed to freely attack the government, whereas anything that Sam Rainsy would say on radio or elsewhere would get a reaction from the government," Hang Chhaya said. In a statement issued yesterday, the SRP cabinet said the recording "has the effect of a bomb on Cambodia's political landscape". "Hun Sen and Kem Sokha clearly showed their common goal: the destruction of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), the main opposition party that had unwaveringly been standing against the CPP," the SRP said. "Kem Sokha is not an honest man. He is not honest with the SRP and cannot be a loyal partner." The SRP and HRP have long mooted a potential merger, and last year, United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton reportedly encouraged the two parties to form a united opposition against the CPP. The CPP currently holds 90 seats in the National Assembly, compared with 25 for the SRP and three for the HRP. In the past few months, however, the merger talks have broken down amid recriminations from both sides. "Kem Sokha's duplicity does not allow the SRP to consider his HRP as a possible partner in any alliance," the SRP cabinet said yesterday. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SAM RITH AND JAMES O'TOOLE  | ||||
| Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei Posted: 02 Jun 2011 12:17 PM PDT   | ||||
| Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:48 AM PDT
Dear All Reporters and Editors, Dey Krahorm community was illegally evicted by the 7NG company on January 24, 2009. All the residents did not received adequate compensation for their land and property. They often celebrated the ceremony to remind for what happened in their homes every year, and they are all waiting for their justice, but they get nothing even thought they try to do every thing to get their land back. Tomorrow June 3 2011 at 9:00AM, Dey Krahorm representatives will hold a press conference opposite the former DK land (near wall of Russian Embassy) to respond with the Bayon football tournament organize by the 7NG company soon on their former land. So we would like to invite all of you to join with the press conference. Please contact: Mr. Chan Vichet, the former of Dey Krahorm. His phone number: 011 62 55 58 Please find more information in the below: Best regards, Long Kimheang CO-HRTF 068 470 480 --- On Thu, 6/2/11, vichet chan I am Chan Vichet, representative from former Dey Krahorm community. Dey Krahorm was illegally evicted from our homes on January 24, 2009. This weekend, 7NG company want to host the Bayon football tournament on our former land. Tomorrow June 3 2011 at 9:00AM, Dey Krahorm representatives will hold a press conference opposite the former DK land (near wall of Russian Embassy) to respond and explain our feelings about the Bayon football tournament being held on our stolen land. The three point of the press conference is as follows: 1) Dey Krahorm families do not support and are not happy about football tournament on their land. We feel that if the tournament occurs on our stolen land, the tournament and all supporters look down on Dey Krahorm families and ignores their ongoing suffering resulting from the forced eviction. 2) Dey Krahorm families and friend appeal to donors/investors and general public to stop any support or participation in any activities on former land of Dey Krahorm, as this land now covers the tears and blood of the people who previously owned the land. 3) Dey Krahorm families appeal to government to return the land to Dey Krahorm as we are the legal and rightful owners. 7NG made football field to hide their inability to develop on the land in any meaningful way that would justify removal of legal owners of land. We ask that all DK friends will join in us in Solidarity at this important press conference tomorrow. Thank you, Chan Vichet  | ||||
| Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:41 AM PDT
Thursday, 02 June 2011 May Titthara The Phnom Penh Post Preah Vihear province - Villager representatives from Kampong Thom province's Sandan district who have been vocal in their opposition to land concessions in Prey Lang forest say they have been under surveillance in recent months and fear they may face legal action. The villagers raised the issue at a public forum in Preah Vihear province on Tuesday that was organised by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. Sandan Chheang Vuthy said police in the district had stopped him and other representatives and taken down their names as the group travelled to a community forum in April and a protest in Phnom Penh last week. "I am afraid because the authorities said the names will be taken to file a complaint to the court, but I wonder what I am doing wrong," he said. Svay Phoeun, another community representative, said local forums in Sandan had drawn police who registered all village representatives in attendance. "Wherever the villagers go, police officers register the representatives," he said. Prey Lang, which stretches for roughly 3,600-square kilometres between the Mekong and Stung Treng rivers across parts of four provinces, has been the subject of heated protests in recent months, as villagers claim the government is crowding them out through the rampant awarding of concessions. The Prey Lang network, a local activist group, says more than 40,000 hectares in the forest have been granted for rubber plantations alone, while 27 exploration licences and related concessions have been handed to mining firms. Sandan commune police chief Oung San acknowledged that local authorities had registered villagers at public gatherings, but said this was not a prelude to legal action. "We don't register their names to threaten them or to file a complaint," he said. "We want to know which people might be in danger so it is easy to help them."  | ||||
| Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:37 AM PDT
Thursday, 02 June 2011 Meas Sokchea The Phnom Penh Post Surya Subedi, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights, agreed to take concerns raised over the government's draft union law during a one-hour meeting with union leaders Ath Thorn and Rong Chhun to a meeting of the UN in Geneva in June, the pair told reporters yesterday. Outside the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Phnom Penh, Ath Thorn, president of Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, said he had raised concerns with Subedi that the law would give excessive arbitrary state control over trade unions. "This law restricts the creation [of unions] and when they are already created it makes it easy to destroy them," he said. "And when they are destroyed, the leaders of [the unions] face imprisonment." Particular attention was drawn, Ath Thorn said, to article 85 of the law, which he said allows the imprisonment of those who obstructs the operation of a business. Om Mean, secretary of state of at the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training defended the draft law yesterday, saying continuing debate within the government was intended to ensure the law struck the right balance between the interests of unions, employees and employers. Rong Chhun and Ath Thorn said they also raised concerns at yesterday's meeting over workers from 13 factories who had been refused permission to return to work after participating in garment strike in September last year that involved tens of thousands of employees. Surya Subedi could not be reached for comment.  | ||||
| The plight of Prey Sar's children Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:34 AM PDT
Thursday, 02 June 2011 Mom Kunthear and Mary Kozlovski The Phnom Penh Post Sitting under a tree in the courtyard at Prey Sar prison's Correctional Centre 2, 20-year-old Chav Longdy is counting the days until she can take her 10-month-old daughter, Alita, outside the facility gates to play with other children. Serving a three-year sentence for robbery, with one year remaining, the young mother hopes to shield her daughter from her early upbringing. "I won't tell my daughter that she was born in prison … because I am afraid she will be upset and shy," Chav Longdy said yesterday. "I will keep it secret forever. "I pity my daughter because she cries every day and she is sick sometimes because the room is hot. More than 20 people stay in one room," she added, claiming that prisoners were only permitted to leave their cells for 30 minutes at a time. Alita is just one of an estimated 58 children housed in Cambodia's prisons, according to figures released by human rights group Licadho on International Children's Day yesterday. An estimated 25 pregnant women are also housed in prisons nationwide, with an estimated 10 children and seven pregnant women housed at Correctional Centre 2, or CC2 as it is commonly known, in Phnom Penh. Yesterday, a small group of women – some pregnant and some with children on their laps – sat alongside Chav Longdy in the CC2 courtyard, receiving baby food, clothing and hygiene products to mark International Children's Day. Nearby, more than 100 male prisoners played games and accepted food distributed by NGO volunteers, while many female prisoners who had gathered outside their cell blocks to observe the events were ushered from wire fences by guards. Some watched through the bars of their cells. Azenette Fajardo, 31, from the Philippines, has been imprisoned in CC2 for the past two years, following a conviction for using fake credit cards. Her son Miguel, who is one year and five months old, lives in prison with her. "I am trying to get him [Miguel] to live outside," she said, adding that prison conditions at CC2 were unsanitary. "They put the people with [tuberculosis] in the room next to us. Toilets have problems, the water cannot flow. Sometimes I use dirty water." She said that there was not enough food for Miguel and that prisoners with no access to money were ignored when they were sick. Treerat Chonthon, 32, who has been imprisoned at CC2 for two years on drug charges, also lives in the prison with her son David, who is nearly two years old. She has family in Thailand and hopes to send David to live with them in the future. "I have already been in contact with the [Thai] embassy," she said. "They have contacted my family." The women's experiences of living in CC2 echo reports, released in recent years, that detailed dire conditions for pregnant women, mothers and children in Cambodia's prisons – with scant access to food, clean water and adequate healthcare. A report released by Licadho last year, which surveyed six pregnant women and 32 mothers living with their children in 10 prisons in 2009, stated that the government budgeted 2,800 riel (US$0.56) per prisoner per day, with half of this amount allocated to any children. "No additional funding is currently provided to support pregnant women or children living in prison with additional food, water or medical assistance," the report said. Officials from the General Department of Prisons at the Ministry of Interior could not be reached for comment yesterday, but Licadho president Pung Chhiv Kek said that further funding for pregnant women and children being raised in prisons had not yet been provided. "Food, medical care, hygiene, overcrowding: there are a lot of problems," she said. "[The mother] has only one portion of food – not two portions, not three portions – so it's not enough to share with the children. The children are not well developed." Photo by: Heng Chivoan A prison guard looks on through a window yesterday while a group of Buddhist monks clean up outside a pagoda that stands next to Prey Say prison. Licadho recommended last year that vitamins, extra food rations and breastfeeding training be provided to pregnant and lactating women and that there be better access to healthcare for pregnant women, mothers and children. However, amenities in Cambodia's prisons are "commodified", Licadho prison consultant Jeff Vize said yesterday. "Whether you're talking about space, food, time for recreation and … medicine and healthcare, especially more serious healthcare … if you have the money you're much more likely to get it done," he said. Jeff Vize added that CC2 had a "pre-school", but that prisons generally could only provide limited educational facilities for children. Officially prisons allow children to remain with their mothers until the age of six but some children stay in prisons for longer if there is nowhere for them to go, Pung Chhiv Kek said. "There is no school inside the prisons," she added. "[Prison officials] have to find a way to send the children outside because they have to go to school, but the problem is, sometimes the child has no one outside of the prison." CC2 prison chief Klot Dara said yesterday that children at the facility were allowed outside the prison, and they enjoyed the same rights to education as youngsters living outside its gates. "They can learn technical skill like mechanics and computer skills," he said. He was not available to comment further. In January, director general of the prison department, Kuy Bunson, declared that Cambodia's jails faced "severe overcrowding", with 14,043 prisoners as of December 15 last year, up 718 prisoners from 2009. Of these prisoners, 6,836 were incarcerated throughout the course of 2010.  | ||||
| A rubber planting campaign launched in Cambodia [-Commie Viet invasion of Cambodia!!!] Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:28 AM PDT 02/06/2011 (VOV) - Vietnam Rubber Industry Group (VRG) has launched a campaign to plant rubber trees in Sambour district, Kratie province in Cambodia. Present at the launch ceremony on June 1 were Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly and Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Ngo Anh Dung. Four companies affiliated to VRG will plant 5,100 ha of rubber in Kratie to help the group fulfill its yearly target for around 25,000 ha of rubber. VRG General Director Tran Ngoc Thuan said that the project will help Cambodia promote socio-economic development and strengthen traditional friendship between the two countries. The group has so far invested around US$200 million in Cambodia. The rubber planting project is gaining momentum with the aim of generating steady jobs for more than 7,000 local people, building more than 1,500 houses for workers and 50 wells, hospitals and schools as well as 200km of road and 20 bridges.  | ||||
| New funding for child protection in Cambodia on International Children's Day Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:24 AM PDT 31 May 2011 UK Embassy British Embassy Phnom Penh announces the new funding for protecting Cambodian children and building law enforcement capacity. On International Children's Day the British Embassy is pleased to announce that the Embassy's work with the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) in Cambodia in protecting children and building law enforcement capacity will continue to receive funding this year. This is part of an ongoing regional initiative in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. Our Embassies support CEOP's work with the law enforcement agencies and NGOs in those countries to safeguard children. This year we will carry on funding to train police and people who work with children on how to ensure they are safe in the real world and online environment. We will also be helping to introduce a UK criminal records check for employers in South East Asia, to help vetting of British nationals seeking work in schools and NGOs in this region. In February 2012 we will host a regional workshop in Phnom Penh with CEOP and the Cambodian National Police, for Police and NGOs from Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines to plan for their ongoing networking and collaboration from 2012 onwards.  | ||||
| Congratulations to Khattiya Chharath, East Bay High School’s valedictorian! Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:21 AM PDT
South County's valedictorians, salutatorians aim high 02/06/2011 By PENNY FLETCHER Observer News (Florida, USA) SOUTH COUNTY — It's hard enough under normal circumstances to become class valedictorian or salutatorian and carry a grade-point-average above a 6. But to be translating everything from English into another language in your head as you hear it makes it amazing and four of the six students I spoke with last week are doing just that. East Bay High School's valedictorian, Khattiya Chharath, now 17, came to the States from Cambodia at 12. Her first language is Khmer; still she carries a 6.4 GPA and plans to go to the University of Florida and major in health science. Her mother inspired her towards the medical field. "My mother was a pharmacist in Cambodia," Khattiya said. Khattiya has been taking classes at Hillsborough Community College on line at home while attending high school to give herself an edge. "I plan to be a doctor, either a cardiologist or psychiatrist," she told me. East Bay's salutatorian, Kasandra Balleza, translates everything from English to Spanish for her family although sometimes now she thinks in English. Holding a steady 5.89 GPA, she plans to be an immigration lawyer. She said she has seen many people who wanted to become citizens who could have used the help of a good immigration lawyer and wants to help others be able to come to America. Once her family arrived, they worked hard, she explained. "My two older sisters went to HCC but I'll be the first one in my family to attend a university," she said. Kasandra plans to go to USF. But Kasandra has another reason to be proud as well, said East Bay's principal, Sharon Morris. Kassandra has been selected to represent all of Hillsborough County at the College Board National Conference in San Francisco in July. Morris and another East Bay staff member are paying their own way to California to attend the event. "This is an amazing thing," Morris said. "Last year, Kasandra was 19th in her class, and now she's climbed to number two. And being chosen over all the students in the county to go to California is a very big honor." The story was close to the same at Lennard high school where its valedictorian, Olivia Masako Martin, has a first language of Spanish. The 18-year-old daughter of Connie and Michael Martin of Ruskin said she was influenced to want to become a pharmacist by a Walgreen's pharmacy representative who spoke at a Great American Teach In when she was in the ninth grade. She has chosen the University of Florida because of its pharmacy program, she said. She has also chosen her roommate; and her roommate, Lennard salutatorian Reyna Theresa Bansil, has chosen her. "We don't want to be paired up with students who party all the time," Olivia said. "I want to be sure the person I room with is as serious about learning as I am." Reyna agreed. Both said they did not know you could choose your own roommate until they were told that this year. Reyna has been taking classes after school at HCC and says her biggest challenge has been learning English while doing her class assignments. Reyna came from the Philippines, where she spoke a language called Tagalog. "When I first got here everyone at my middle school expected I would not learn well, so I was put in lower-level classes," Reyna said. "Our education system there was very different. We didn't even have GPAs. I'll bet I'm the only student who read the whole student handbook because I didn't know and wanted to learn about these things." Reyna earned the title of Statewide Volunteer of the Year 2010 for the ALS Association (Lou Gehrig's disease) for which she raises funds and volunteers. "I've been doing corporate sponsorship and research," she said. Meanwhile, at Riverview, while the valedictorian and salutatorian didn't have to overcome language barriers, they have every reason to be just as proud. At 18, the valedictorian, Carolyn Harnish, maintains a 6.4 GPA, and its salutatorian, Kayleen Boatwright, 18, a 6.2. The daughter of Jim and Cathy Harnish of Boyette Springs, Carolyn plans to attend the University of Florida and study to be a nurse practitioner with a specialty in pediatrics. Having already spent time with her church group from Bell Shoals Baptist on two mission trips to Brazil, Carolyn wants to work in places like Africa and South America where people don't get proper medical care. When asked what (or who) her inspiration was, she said without hesitation it had been her parents. "My parents always taught me about equality and being the very best I could be. They showed me that the Lord has given me this life to bless someone else and they have never said that what I did wasn't good enough, no matter what." When Carolyn went to Brazil, she didn't know she could receive credit for church volunteer hours. "I ended up getting credit (toward scholarships) for it, but I didn't expect it at the time," she said. Carolyn is president of the school's National Honor Society and is almost ready to achieve the Girl Scout's highest award, the Gold Award. Meanwhile, Kayleen Boatwright, Riverview's salutatorian, has earned both academic and athletic scholarships and will be attending the University of Tampa to study international business. "I don't want to sit at a desk. I want to travel," she said. Kayleen had volunteered for many causes during her high school years, including Relay for Life and is a member of the National Honor Society with a 6.2 GPA. She is the daughter of Kelley and Robert Boatwright of Riverview.  | ||||
| Vietnam baby ring mothers allege sex abuse: report Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:13 AM PDT Thu, Jun 02, 2011 AFP HANOI, VIETNAM - Vietnamese women who bore babies for foreign couples in an illegal surrogacy ring in Thailand said they suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the gang, a newspaper reported Thursday. The 15 women were discovered in two houses in a suburb of Bangkok during a police raid in February. Thai authorities said seven were pregnant at the time, while two had newborn babies. Some of the women, who have now returned to their home country, had never had sexual relations before poverty drove them to leave and enter the surrogacy ring, the Vietnamese police-linked An Ninh Thu Do daily reported. On the way to Thailand they stayed at a house in Cambodia where a member of the ring said he would have to initiate one girl into sex because "if you are a virgin, you cannot get pregnant", the newspaper said. If she refused his advances she was told she could return home after paying 20 million dong (S$1172), it said, adding she submitted to him out of fear. Another woman, aged 22, endured "sexual abuse" from that same man for three nights, the newspaper said. It quoted a third women, Thuong, 21, as saying it was the second time she had joined the surrogacy ring. Her drug-addict father had already spent the money she earned previously. By returning to Thailand, Thuong hoped to find the baby she gave birth to three years earlier by caesarean section, the report said, adding she was told the women were only allowed to carry a foetus for eight months. "The baby was in fact the child of a Taiwanese couple. But when I gave birth to him, he looked very much like me, from his eyes, his nose and his smile. Since then, I dreamt of him several times," she was quoted as saying. "He is my child, not the child of the Taiwanese, right?" The women, all from the Mekong Delta, are now living at a safe house, the newspaper said. Nine admitted they volunteered to be surrogates for a payment of about 5,000 dollars for each baby while several others said they were tricked, according to Thai police, who arrested four Taiwanese, one Chinese and three Myanmar nationals in connection with the operation.  | ||||
| Delay on Sesan River Hydrodam Unlikely: Officials Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:11 AM PDT Say Mony, VOA Khmer Phnom Penh Thursday, 02 June 2011 "The electricity generated at the Lower Sesan 2 would supply the provinces of Ratankkiri and Mondolkiri before it is transmitted to Vietnam." (sic!) Government officials say any delay on the construction of a hydropower dam on the Sesan river in Stung Treng province is unlikely, even though residents along the river say they want more impact studies conducted. Prach Sun, secretary of state for the Ministry of Environment, told VOA Khmer the government has already conducted an impact study, but that it would still deal with river communities on the issue of compensation. Last month, representatives of communities living on the Sesan in Ratanakkiri province, 40 kilometers from the proposed dam site, appealed to the government to delay construction of the dam, saying they were concerned about their livelihoods and the amounts of resettlement packages. However, the project, a joint venture between Vietnamese company EVN International and Cambodia's Royal Group, has already been approved, with construction expected to begin later this year or early in 2012. That would force more than 1,500 families to resettle, according to reports by the 3S Rivers Protection Network. But even more could be affected in other ways. The Rivers Coalition in Cambodia reported in 2009 that at least 38,000 people in 90 villages, including a large number of ethnic minorities, could lose fish resources, as the dam would block migration between the Mekong river and the Sekong, Sesan and Srey Pok tributaries. "At our downstream community, the company did not come down to do any studies on the dam's impacts," Phat Sunith, chief of Kampun commune in Sesan district, told VOA Khmer. "They did come ask our people what we do for a living, so we received no information." Tek Vannara, program manager for the Culture and Environment Preservation Association, a member of the Rivers Coalition, said resettlement plans are "crucial" for communities that will be affected by the dam. "If they know the information clearly, they can make clear decisions as to whether they should build their houses, get their children married or farm on their land," he said. Representatives of both companies have been tight-lipped so far on the proposed dam's construction. However, Danh Serey, deputy director of the environmental impact assessment department of the Ministry of Environment, said the companies had followed all the requirements set by the ministry when they conducted their impact studies. He said Cambodia needs energy to boost its economy. The electricity generated at the Lower Sesan 2 would supply the provinces of Ratankkiri and Mondolkiri before it is transmitted to Vietnam, he said.  | ||||
| State Department Sees More Engagement on Horizon Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:07 AM PDT Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer Washington, DC Thursday, 02 June 2011 "We look to take these to the next step in the course of the next year or so." The US wants to see a peaceful solution to the current border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, a senior US State Department official said Tuesday. Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told a forum at the Center for International and Strategic Study in Washington, that the US also encourages more dialogue between the two sides, and Indonesia, which has acted as an interlocutor in the dispute since February. Campbell's remarks were part of a renewed engagement effort by the US in Southeast Asia, including initiatives with Asean. However, he acknowledged that the US has had less engagement with Cambodia and Laos than other countries, but he said he hoped to see an increase in coming years. "We have put in place a schedule of strategic engagement which frankly has been remarkably productive," he said. "We look to take these to the next step in the course of the next year or so." The US has worked "closely" with Indonesia, he said, to help solve a the border dispute, which has led to two sides to deadly clashes in February and April. As the current head of Asean, Indonesia has tried to mediate the dispute and to send a monitoring mission to the border. Meanwhile, officials are now awaiting a clarification from the International Court of Justice on a 1962 decision over Preah Vihear temple that could help delineate disputed border areas.  | ||||
| Thai delegation has done best in elaborating with ICJ on temple dispute Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:04 AM PDT Thursday, 02 June 2011 By NNT Pattaya Mail BANGKOK, 1 June 2011 – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ensured that the Thai legal team did the best to elaborate with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Preah Vihear Temple dispute after Cambodia sought an interpretation of the ICJ's 1962 ruling on the temple case. According to Secretary to the Foreign Minister Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, the Thai delegation, led by Thai Ambassador to the Netherlands Virachai Plasai, told the ICJ that Cambodia has hidden agenda in this temple row, especially in regard to Thai-Cambodian border skirmishes. As for the Cambodian request asking the ICJ to issue a temporary injunction ordering Thailand to withdraw troops from the disputed zone while the verdict interpretation is in process, the Thai side insisted that the ICJ has no authority to do so, and the request should be dropped. The result of the request will be concluded in the next three to four weeks. For the time being, both Thailand and Cambodia must present written information about detailed losses from border clashes such as fatalities and evacuation plans, to the ICJ within 18.00 hrs of 7 June 2011. The ICJ then will forward the submitted information to both conflicting countries for acknowledgement, after which it will allow both sides to make objections in writing and return clarifications within 18.00 hrs of 14 June 2011. The ICJ then will issue the date to read the court's verdict which will be informed via the Thai embassy. After elaborating the details, Mr Chavanond stressed that the Thai delegation has performed the best in explaining the temple row with the ICJ. He believed that Cambodia will not be able to take any further action once the ICJ has pronounced the verdict.  | ||||
| Phnom Penh's Feat: Getting Clean Tap Water Flowing Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:00 AM PDT
By Rob Gifford NPR (USA) The sound of running water — clean running water — is not one you have always been able to hear in the ramshackle lean-tos that pass for homes on the edge of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Providing clean water is one of the biggest challenges for governments in the developing world. Clean water charities say that thousands of people die every day of preventable diseases as a result of not having clean drinking water, and 90 percent of those who die are under the age of 5. But in recent years, Phnom Penh has been leading the way: The city has managed to provide clean running water to almost the entire urban population. Cleaner, Cheaper Water The lean-to homes on the city's edge are small and dark. Inside one, a few boards separate the single bedroom from the main living space. The corrugated iron roof leaks light onto the dirty floor. But here, 60-year-old Khive Thol is drinking water from the tap. She says she used to have to boil water from containers. She bought the water from a truck that came around every week, she says. She doesn't know where the water came from — probably from the river, she adds. Khive Thol used to pay $1 a day for dirty, dangerous water. Now she pays about $4 a month for a faucet in her own home — and so do all her neighbors. The successes here are largely due to the work of one man and one organization: 61-year-old Ek Sonn Chan and the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority he heads. "In 1994, we had to sit down with international funds agencies for five days to seek $10 million assistance from them because performance [was] so bad," Chan says. "Now we can stay here and people come to knock [on] your door and ask you, 'Do you need money?' It's completely different." Chan says that in 1993 — after four years of rule by the Khmer Rouge and 10 years of occupation by the Vietnamese — only 25 percent of the city had running water, and most of those who had it didn't pay for it. The old pipes leaked, or the water was siphoned off and stolen. Now, 92 percent of households in Phnom Penh have clean running water — a phenomenal feat in such a poor country. Chan says almost everyone pays on time. If Phnom Penh can do it, he says, it's possible anywhere. "I believe 100 percent that solving water problems [for] everyone in this world is 100 percent possible," Chan says. "It's not the problem of scarcity of water resources; it's not the lack of financing, but because of [the] lack of good governance." Bullit Marquez/AP Ek Sonn Chan of Cambodia accepts the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, in Manila, Philippines. Chan was cited for his "exemplary rehabilitation of a ruined public utility, bringing safe drinking water to a million people in Cambodia's capital city." Impressive Success Chan has been able to bring good governance to the water authority that is not present in much of the rest of Cambodia. In the 1990s, he accompanied teams of workers as they went around the city trying to persuade ordinary Cambodians that installing a water meter and paying for water meant they would save money and be healthier. At one point, a Cambodian general who objected to the scheme held a gun to Chan's head, refusing to pay. But with the help of politicians who supported his scheme, Chan won over all levels of the city. World water experts have nothing but good to say about him and the PPWSA. Per-Arne Malmqvist, a water expert at the Stockholm International Water Institute in Sweden, says they have succeeded in doing something that even cities in the Western world have not succeeded in. "What they have done is impressive in itself, and the circumstances [are] even more impressive," Malmqvist says. "It's not only about technicalities — constructing pipelines and water works — it's also the management of the system, fighting corruption and having people to pay for the water which, of course, is very important." More Work To Be Done But Phnom Penh is just 1.7 million people in a country of more than 14 million. In rural Cambodia, like one small village near the town of Battambang, they have radios, they often have cellphones, but they frequently still don't have running water. Sok Hoen, 48, makes $2 a day selling firewood. He lives in what can only be described as a hovel. Mosquitoes buzz, dogs doze on the dirt floor, and outside are three large jars filled with filthy brown water. "That's the water we drink," he says. "We have to. We put tablets in it to try to purify it, but still we get sick," he says. Multiply his plight by millions for all the rural households across Cambodia, and across the world. Chan says he has written on a piece of paper above his bed that he will not rest until all of Cambodia has clean running water. He has made an impressive start, but there is still a long, long way left to go.  | ||||
| Cambodia’s vulture comeback: Rebirth among birds of death Posted: 02 Jun 2011 01:33 AM PDT
DANGPLAT, Cambodia (AP) — A wake of vultures perches on the bare branches of a towering tree, dark shapes silhouetted against a pale sky, sharp beaks and talons ready to tear apart a dead cow laid out in a Cambodian jungle clearing. This manmade "vulture restaurant" is part of efforts across Asia to save the critically endangered bird from extinction. Now there are tentative signs they may be paying off. The population of vultures in Cambodia has doubled to 300 from as few as 150 in 2004. In India, they are still dying off, but their rate of decline has fallen. These super scavengers may be regarded as messengers of death and doom, but in Asia, it is they who have suffered one of the natural world's greatest population crashes of recent times. From tens of millions, numbers of the three main species have plummeted to well below 60,000, says British expert Richard Cuthbert. They have gone extinct in several countries, including Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, and are still declining outside of Cambodia. While the greatest losses have been in Asia, most vultures outside the region are also deemed critically endangered or threatened. Scientists say they will probably never fully revive; they were once so numerous in Cambodia that airplanes had to dodge flocks of them. But some reasons for hope have emerged. In South Asia, the decline of the oriental white-backed vulture has been slowed by a ban on the use of a painkiller in livestock. Diclofenac, widely prescribed by veterinarians in India, Pakistan and Nepal, proved fatal to vultures, which died of acute kidney failure after eating the carcasses of animals treated with it. In India, they were as part of the landscape as the cows nonchalantly wandering the streets, helping to prevent the spread of disease by vacuuming up carrion. Their decline has been so catastrophic that the Parsis, a religious group that offered their dead to vultures on raised platforms — the "towers of silence" — now must use giant solar reflectors to speed up the decomposition of corpses. "I'd say we are on the border of a red-orange alert as far as extinction. There is some improvement but we have a long way to go," says Cuthbert, the principal conservation scientist of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. A study published in May showed the proportion of cattle carcasses in India contaminated with diclofenac dropped by more than 40 percent in the two years after the ban was introduced in 2006, Cuthbert said. The annual rate of decline for the white-backed vulture is estimated to be about 18 percent, down from 40 percent before the ban. But the human form of the drug — an anti-inflammatory medicine — is still often used by veterinarians, with some pharmaceutical companies even offering convenient, "cow-sized" doses. India, Nepal and Pakistan have set up breeding centers, hoping to release chicks when the environment is deemed safer. They also have vulture restaurants, which offer drug-free carcasses. Nepal launched a 10-year Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction program this year and declared a number of diclofenac-free zones. The drug is rarely used for livestock in Southeast Asia. "We're trying hard to take steps to make sure it doesn't enter the food chain," says Jonathan Charles Eames, regional head for Britain-based BirdLife International. The greatest threat here has been a loss of food: falling stocks of wild mammals, because of hunting, and of free-roaming cattle as farmers turn to more intensive husbandry and fear theft of their beasts. "Before 1970, when I was young there were so many vultures in this area. I could see them wherever I went," recalled 82-year-old Pha Noung in the northern Cambodian village of Dangplat, pointing his finger in every direction. "Then almost none. Now, some are coming back." Down a forest track near his village, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society has set up one of six spots in Cambodia where vultures are given food and thus can also be more easily counted. The World Wide Fund for Nature, BirdLife International and the Cambodian government are partners in the nationwide effort. Song Chansocheat, a Wildlife Conservation Society project manager, says villagers now have a stake in preserving the vulture. They are hired at $2.50 a day to protect nests. They also earn income from foreign bird watching groups, setting up their tent sites and selling them food for the vulture restaurants — including old or injured cows at up to $200 a head. But an increasing number of vultures are dying of poisons used by hunters to kill fish and jungle animals, while loggers continue to destroy nesting habitat. Impoverished villagers also sometimes eat decomposing, possibly diseased, cows found in the forests, leaving less for vultures, Song Chansocheat says. So the restaurants are seen as vital, the bleached, meatless rib cages and skulls, evidence of feasts past. Recently, as the forests woke up to the chatter and songs of other birds, vultures settled on tree branches above the cow, killed a day earlier. Others, high above, rode the thermals in graceful circles. From a high watchtower, ranger En Sophal peered through his binoculars, smiled and took notes: "50 white-backed, 11-red-headed, 6 slender-billed: 67 vultures sighted."  | ||||
| Cambodia has advantage over Thailand on temple issues at ICJ: Deputy PM Posted: 02 Jun 2011 01:30 AM PDT June 02, 2011 Xinhua Cambodia has the advantage over Thailand in the legal battle between the two countries in the Hague, the Netherlands, said Cambodian deputy prime minister Hor Namhong, who is also the minister of foreign affairs on Thursday. "With the internationally legal mechanism, Cambodia is in a better advantageous position than Thailand as we have internationally recognized documents and maps to support on the issues of Preah Vihear temple," he said at Phnom Penh International Airport upon his return from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Netherlands, where he joined the two-day public hearing on the issues of Preah Vihear temple on May 30-31. "However, the decision is up to the Court," he said. The public hearing was held after Cambodia, on April 28, submitted a request to the Court for the interpretation of the Court's judgment of 1962 on the case concerning the temple of Preah Vihear. Also, it submitted a request to the ICJ to take conservatory measures for the temple. The Court's decision will be made within 40 to 45 days. "Whatever the decision the Court makes will not damage Cambodia because Cambodia is the requester," he said. The ICJ awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia in 1962 and the temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. But Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers of scrub next to the temple. The border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand has occurred just a week after the enlistment. Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulted in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides. The two sides agreed to accept Indonesian observers to monitor a ceasefire on their respective border side on Feb 22 at the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Jakarta, but the deployment was always delayed because Thailand demanded that Cambodian soldiers and locals be withdrawn from the disputed area of 4.6 sq km near the temple first.  | ||||
| Political murder on second commune councilor from SRP Posted: 02 Jun 2011 01:12 AM PDT June 2, 2011 Last night, Mr. Ouk Chhantak, 64, second commune councilor in Chhoeu Teal commune, Kien Svay district, Kandal province from the Sam Rainsy Party was murdered at Doun Sar village, Korki Thom commune, Kien Svay district, Kandal province. The murder was related to political case because Mr. Ouk Chhantak was the most popular SRP second commune councilor in his commune and would become a commune chief in upcoming commune election 2012. The Sam Rainsy Party would like to appeal to the authorities at all levels to take action to arrest the murderers to the court. Please see announcement in attached file. For more information, contact: 012 788 999 / 012 890 984 SRP Cabinet   | ||||
| Meeting with Community of Democracies Posted: 02 Jun 2011 01:03 AM PDT  Today June 2, SRP met with delegation from Community of Democracies let by its Executive Director professor Bronislaw Misztal (third from the right with sun classes), and accompanied by Polish Ambassador Dr Jerzy Bayer (Second from the left) and first secretary Adam Dyszlewski (second from the right). The Community of Democracies was founded in 2000 during a Ministerial Conference in Warsaw with the initiative of Polish Foreign affairs Minister prof Bronislaw Geremek and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The Community of Democracies is an important global platform for exchange of experiences and consultations toward building and strengthening of democratic order inside the countries as well as in the international system. The aim of the meeting with SRP was to look into methods and ways to support in the country such as Cambodia which strive for freedom and democracy. At the meeting with SRP MPs ( Son Chhay, Mu Sochua and Ly Srey Vyna) the delegation provided SRP with much moral support and suggestions and promised to provide assistance if asked by SRP. Son Chhay  |
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