DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodia ratifies protocol to protect heritage from armed conflict” plus 4 more

PHNOM PENH, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Cambodia on Friday unanimously ratified the 2nd Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict.

Eighty-three lawmakers attending the session unanimously approved the 2nd Protocol of the Convention, which was introduced in 1999.

The 2nd Protocol emphasized the necessity to supplement provisions through measures to reinforce the implementation of the 1st Protocol of the Convention, which was adopted in 1954 at the Hague in the Netherlands, lawmaker of the ruling Cambodian People' s Party Hem Khorn said during the assembly's session.

So far, some 126 countries have become the state parties of the 1st Protocol of the Convention, and about 65 countries have ratified the 2nd Protocol of the Convention, he said.

"As a state party of the Convention, Cambodia has a full role to take necessary measures in international frameworks to ensure the protection of our cultural heritage such as temples and artifacts in the event of armed conflict," Hem Khorn said.

He said Cambodia was rich in cultural heritage and could be seen as the kingdom of culture. According to the figures of the ministry of culture and fine arts, the country has 769 ancient temples, 105 ancient bridges, 1,769 ancient pagodas, 15 museums and tens of thousands of ancient objects.

Deputy prime minister and cabinet minister Sok An said that cultural heritage was playing an important role in enhancing national identification and social development via attracting revenues from tourism and employment creation, however, some cultural heritage had been suffering from old age and damage caused by armed conflict.

"The Convention is very important for Cambodia to help protect cultural heritage in a time of armed conflict," he said, giving an example of sporadic armed clashes between Cambodia and Thailand over border dispute between 2008 and 2011 that had caused damage to Preah Vihear Temple, a world heritage site.

Cambodia became a UNESCO member in 1951, and several tangible and intangible cultural heritages had been enlisted as world heritages such as Angkor Archeological Park in 1992, Royal Ballet in 2003, Sbek Thom or Khmer Shadow Theater in 2005, and Preah Vihear temple in 2008.

PHNOM PENH, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Cambodia on Friday unanimously adopted the Law on the Denial of Crimes Committed during the Period of the Democratic Kampuchea, or Khmer Rouge regime, from 1975-1979.

"Under the law, individuals who refuse to acknowledge, diminish, deny, or challenge the existence of crimes or glorify crimes committed during the regime will be jailed from six months to two years and fined between 250 U.S. dollars and 1,000 U.S. dollars," said Pen Panha, chairman of the National Assembly's commission on legislation and justice.

Cheam Yeap, the ruling Cambodian People's Party's senior lawmaker, said the denial of the crimes during the Khmer Rouge regime was a serious insult to the souls of people who lost lives during the regime and hurt the families of the victims.

"The law will not affect the freedom of expression because not Cambodia alone that has this law, but 17 countries around the world," he said.

All 86 participating lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People' s Party and its coalition Funcinpec Party unanimously approved the law by raising hands.

Twenty-eight former opposition lawmakers -- 25 of the Sam Rainsy Party and three of the Human Right Party -- were not invited for the session because they quit their parties to join the newly formed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in order to run in the July's election.

Prime Minister Hun Sen called for the law on Monday last week after Kem Sokha, vice president of the main opposition CNRP, allegedly claimed that the Khmer Rouge regime's notorious Tuol Sleng prison was an artificial place.

"If this place (Tuol Sleng prison) was truly Khmer Rouge, they would have demolished it before they left, not kept it to show everyone," Kem Sokha said in a short audio recording recently circulated by the government.

"If the Khmer Rouge killed a lot of people, they would not be stupid to keep it to show to everyone, they would destroy it to eliminate evidence. I believe that it was just staged," he said at his party's public forum.

Phnom Penh's former Tuol Sleng prison was the main torture center during the regime, and around 14,000 people were killed at the center.

In February last year, the Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia sentenced ex- chief of Tuol Sleng prison Kaing Guek Eav to life in prison for overseeing the deaths.

Representatives of survivors from the Democratic Kampuchea announced Tuesday to hold a mass protest on Sunday to demand Kem Sokha to apologize for his insulting remarks.

"Some 20,000 survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime will gather at Cambodian capital's Freedom Park on June 9 to protest against Kem Sokha for his denial of Khmer Rouge crimes," Chhum Mey, president of the Victims Association of Democratic Kampuchea and one of the survivors from the Tuol Sleng prison, said at a press briefing. "About 2,000 of them will march from the Freedom Park to the headquarters of the CNRP."

He said Kem Sokha's remarks have insulted people who lost lives at the prison and elsewhere in the country during the Khmer Rouge regime, in which an estimated 2 million people had died of starvation, exhaustion, lack of medical care or execution.

CNRP's spokesman Yim Sovann said Tuesday that it was their rights to stage a protest, but Kem Sokha would not apologize upon their demand because he had never denied the atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge regime or at Tuol Sleng prison.

"Kem Sokha did not say those words; his remarks were fabricated in order to create turmoil targeting the opposition leader ahead of July's general election," he told Xinhua over telephone.

PHNOM PENH, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday urged local producers to increase production in order to boost the country's exports when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) turns into a community at the end of 2015.

"Products must be qualitative and prices must be competitive, or we cannot penetrate our products into foreign markets," the premier said during the inauguration of buildings at Chea Sim Kamchay Mea University in eastern Prey Veng province.

He said when ASEAN became a community in 2015, there would be free flows of labors, goods and services, so it was essential for Cambodian producers to increase products' quantity and quality in order to export more to the ten ASEAN member states.

"We should not just wait to receive goods from other countries, but we should have products to export back to those foreign markets in ASEAN," he said.

Currently, Cambodia's export products are mostly garments and shoes, which are mainly manufactured for the United States and European countries.

According to the report of the Ministry of Commerce, last year, the country's total export valued at 5.49 billion U.S. dollars. Of the amount, garment export was worth up to 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, or 84 percent, of the total export.

Besides, the country exported agricultural commodities such as rice, corn, cassava, rubber, pepper, coffee and cashew nuts.