The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “NGOs: stop the violence” plus 9 more

In June last year, Bov Srey Sras lost her unborn baby after being kicked in the stomach by a police officer at a public protest.

The incident, captured on camera, came as she stood outside the Court of Appeal calling for the release of her sister, who had been imprisoned after a three-hour trial.

Following her miscarriage, Srey Sras tried to sue the unknown police officer responsible for kicking her along with his superiors – a move that prompted a response from deputy Phnom Penh police chief Phoung Malay that many considered repugnant.

"Is the victim old or young, and does she sue me to return her kid?" Malay said to a Post reporter at the time. "I want to tell her that if she wants to get back her kid, I am also young."

Authorities have taken no action over the violence or Malay's comments.

As a coalition of NGOs, unions and protesters yesterday called on government forces to stop using violence against women, Srey Sras remained without compensation – or even a simple apology.

Following the fatal shooting of a 49-year-old female bystander during a police crackdown on protesting SL Garment workers in the capital's Meanchey district on November 12, Srey Sras is not convinced that an apology will come.

"The authorities and police are continuing to make violence against women … and they're now shooting at people."

In the aftermath of Srey Sras's miscarriage, National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith said disciplinary measures would be taken against Malay, but only if it was proved he had made the comments.

Such action is unlikely to be made, as Phnom Penh police chief Chhuon Sovann recently told the Post that Malay had been made a spokesman for the municipal police, while retaining his title of deputy chief.

Malay could not be reached yesterday, while Sovann was unavailable to talk and Chantharith hung up on a reporter after saying he was too busy to comment.

In light of violent incidents against female demonstrators – and the authorities' unwillingness to appropriately respond to them – the coalition's statement yesterday called on government forces to stop using violence on women who take to the streets to defend their rights.

"As the international community celebrates the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Violence from November 25 to December 10, we … call on the government to end violence against women perpetrated by its agents," a statement reads.

The statement was issued by groups including Licadho, the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) and the Boeung Kak and Borei Keila communities.

The coalition also called on authorities to launch independent investigations into all violent incidents against female protesters.

Incidents referenced included the SL Garment strike shooting, the electric shock and slingshot attack on women protesting at Wat Phnom on September 22, and the shooting of three garment workers in Svay Rieng province last year.

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Then-Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith, who was responsible for the Svay Rieng incident, injured three workers when he opened fire on a crowd of strikers. He has since been sentenced to prison but remains at large.

"Very few cases of violence against women by authorities have been investigated, and even fewer have resulted in appropriate punishment," said Tephalline Ou, vice president of the Cambodian Food and Service Worker Federation (CFSWF), in the statement. "As long as this continues, violence against women will remain commonplace in Cambodia."

The coalition called on the Ministry of Women's Affairs as well as police to take the lead in bringing about change.

When contacted yesterday, Sy Define, secretary of state at the ministry, said she was too busy to comment as she was getting ready for a wedding. Minister of Women's Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi could not be reached.

Recent reports have highlighted the high incidence of violence against women in Cambodia.

According to a UN report released in September, one in five Cambodian men has committed rape, but more than 44 per cent of them have never faced the legal consequences.

Naly Pilorge, director of Licadho, said in the coalition's statement that the connection between violence in the public sphere and the private sphere could not be ignored.

"It is not surprising that Cambodia has such high levels of violence against women, when the authorities themselves use violence with impunity," she said.

Today, the coalition will march from Wat Phnom in the capital to the Ministry of Women's Affairs and the headquarters of the National Police.

Srey Sras, meanwhile, will continue pushing for action to be taken over her miscarriage.

"I'm still suffering and feel sorry that [Phnom Penh Municipal] Court has not processed my complaint," she said. "I'll keep waiting for police to say sorry."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MOM KUNTHEAR

While key foreign donors to Cambodia have said that government officials implicated in an internal Global Fund probe that exposed bribe-taking in the Ministry of Health must be investigated and brought to justice, a toughening of aid conditions does not appear to be a step any are willing to take.

In largely identical statements to the Post, the EU delegation and the Swedish, German and British embassies backed the Global Fund's strong stance against corruption but did not respond to whether their own oversight procedures for development assistance to Cambodia had been strengthened since the report's findings emerged.

"The amounts misused must be recovered, the individuals brought to justice, and the companies sanctioned if they are found to have breached the strict supplier code of conduct of the Global Fund," they said.

The Anti-Corruption Unit has said it is investigating the report's findings – which exposed a network of kickbacks and sponsorships from mosquito-net suppliers in exchange for contracts – but has yet to determine whether former officials at the National Malaria Center (CNM), the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STDs (NCHADS) and MEDiCAM are guilty of corruption.

US embassy spokesman John Simmons said the US government was keeping an eye on the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).

"The US government is monitoring the actions of the Anti-Corruption Unit, and we continue to encourage the ACU to conduct a full and transparent investigation," he said. "The US government is ever-mindful of the potential for misuse of development assistance funds, no matter to which country provided."

He emphasised that most US-supported programs in Cambodia were implemented by civil society and the private sector.

Germany, the Global Fund's third-biggest bilateral donor, warned that "donor confidence and motivation depend on cooperation free of corruption and fraud".

"The determination of the Royal Government of Cambodia in pursuing this matter will no doubt be an important signal for the donor community," German ambassador Joachim Baron von Marschall said.

French embassy first secretary Nicolas Baudouin said that France would continue to "monitor the situation closely".

All foreign donors that responded to the Post pledged continued support of the Global Fund, and praised its efforts to bolster financial oversight.

Since preliminary investigation findings emerged in July last year, the Fund replaced the CNM as a principal recipient for malaria grants, appointed an external fiduciary agent to control NCHADS expenditure and has required pooled procurement for all health products in Cambodia.

The Asian Development Bank, Cambodia's current lead donor partner, expects to provide more than $500 million in loans and grants to the government between 2013 and 2015.

"ADB applies very stringent safeguards to ensure all funds administered by ADB are used for their intended purposes," country director Eric Sidgwick said.

Activists in Prey Lang forest yesterday began their second round of patrols this year, with 500 members of the Prey Lang Community Network setting out on a five-day campaign to prevent forest crimes.

Armed with about 200 motorbikes, teams made up of community representatives from four provinces surrounding Prey Lang – Preah Vihear, Kampong Thom, Stung Treng and Kratie provinces – will descend on the forest in an attempt to halt illegal logging, which has reportedly increased since the election in July.

Seng Sok Heng, a coordinator for the activists, said the patrols had been organised in direct response to reports of increased logging since the election period.

"Deforestation not only destroys forests but adversely affects the people's occupation and livelihood around the areas because their living depends on byproducts," he said.

In Kratie province, the activists said plantation firm Sueng Biotec had encroached 30 kilometres into Prey Lang, logging some 100 cubic metres of timber.

"We are considering with the communities . . . what to do with the timber," Heng said.

Tycoon Try Pheap transported thousands of cubic metres of luxury wood daily in Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom provinces in a systematic program of deforestation with the complicity of the local authorities, he added.

However, in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces the forest had been cut chaotically while the authorities looked on.

"Deforestation occurred at an alarming rate because the authorities have not taken stringent measures to eliminate those activities, but rather they work together," Heng said.

The patrol also met with timber buyers and sellers yesterday and asked them to sign a pledge to stop deforestation, said Svay Pheoun, a community representative in Preah Vihear.

"We did not abuse them, because they do not destroy [the forest] on a large scale like those gigantic companies. We just took their pictures and reported it to the governor for legal action" he said.

Ut Sam Orn, Kampong Thom provincial governor, declined to comment, while Kratie Governor Sar Chamrong could not be reached.

The Ministry of Labour next month will set the 2014 minimum wage for workers in Cambodia's garment and footwear industries.

Ministry officials yesterday met with a working group of people representing workers, factory managers and the Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia to discuss formulas they could use to periodically raise the industry's minimum wage, which currently stands at $75 per month, said Som Aun, president of the Cambodian Council of National Unions.

Ministry officials will now take into consideration reports submitted by the working group during yesterday's meeting, said the Labour Ministry's Vong Sovann. On December 16, the ministry will meet again and set the 2014 minimum wage.

Three men were arrested in connection with the death of a chief abbott found dead in his room in Kampong Speu's Phnom Sruoch district, military and provincial police said yesterday.

San Seng, 61, was found dead in Preah Puthmeanserie Pagoda yesterday morning but is believed to have been murdered around 11pm on Tuesday, according to Som Dara, a provincial police chief.

"I believe the suspects killed him around 11pm while he was praying, because there was a book and a lit candle near the body and he had just returned from a funeral," Dara said. Police arrested a monk affiliated with the pagoda and a father and son who live neaby.

Battambang provincial police are investigating three men who were caught carrying a load of toy guns over the Thailand border yesterday.

Police detained two Vietnamese men, Nhat Chuong, 30, and Thang Phong, 46, and one Cambodian man, Soy Bunreoun, 37, for questioning when they were found transporting 29 Taiwanese gas-powered toy guns by taxi after crossing the border at Poipet.

According to Deputy Chief of Battambang provincial police Chet Vanny, Bunreoun, the driver of the Lexus taxi, was driving down National Road 5 to Phnom Penh when police intercepted them in Thmor Kol district, Battambang province.

Vanny said police are still questioning the three men and they are unsure what offences they would be charged with.

"They were not real weapons – like those that soldiers use. But they are modern toy weapons, which used gas to shoot the round bullets and we have never seen anything like these in Cambodia… We are still investigating."

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has launched a school hygiene and hand-washing campaign to help stymie Cambodia's high rates of child mortality and malnutrition.

Hand washing can nearly halve the incidence of diarrheal disease, according to the campaign, a badly needed measure since annually more than 2,300 Cambodian children under five die from diarrhea.

"One of the cheapest and most effective ways to prevent child deaths is through washing hands," said Sunah Kim, deputy country representative for UNICEF.

Last month, the Ministry of Education began disseminating recommendations for promoting hand washing and sanitation standards to school teachers and principals around the country. Educators are asked to ensure clean school facilities, sing songs in the classroom about hand washing and inform students of the importance of hand washing.

"Children in the rural provinces don't have access to improved sanitation, and when they get sick from this, it affects their ability to study and they drop out of school," said Minister of Education Hang Chuon Naron.

Almost half of Cambodia's public schools lack running water and nearly 70 per cent have no bathroom facilities.

"If a school has no water, no toilet, what can they do? They can set up a container of clean water … and soap. The teachers or the principal can use the national budget to subsidise this," said Yung Kunthearith, deputy director of school health.

But some schools say they lack funds for toilets and hand-washing stations.

"Some schools do not want to pay for [facilities] on their own.… Three years ago, our school did not have a toilet," said Och Nath, a teacher of Hun Sen Don Ton High School in Preah Vihea's Chhep district. "But for the last two years, we have just one toilet for all the students."

Government officials declined to give a timeline for the implementation of school sanitation facilities.

"Our goal is to have 100 per cent of schools with running water and toilets, but it is not possible to build them all at once," Chuon Naron said.

A 20-year-old Oddar Meanchey mother who died six days after giving birth to twins was the victim of medical malpractice, her family and a local rights group said yesterday, though hospital administrators insist they have been cleared by a provincial investigation.

Rou Sona, 20, gave birth to female twins on October 28, at Anlong Veng district hospital, but fell ill six days later on November 3, and died the same day, according to her husband, Prom Srak, 27.

After returning to Anlong Veng district hospital coughing blood and with a high fever, Sona was transferred to the provincial hospital within hours.

"My wife's condition became worse and worse [after arriving at the provincial hospital], so I tried to get the doctors to help by knocking on [their] door six times. They did not come to help but only told me they would inject her with medicine if any was left," Srak said.

He added that after his wife was given no medical attention, he told staff he wanted her transferred to Siem Reap provincial hospital. "They only ran to help after my wife died in my arms. How could they help [then]? When she was still alive they did nothing," Srak said.

The twins remain alive and well, he continued, adding that his wife was healthy before giving birth.

That contention was backed by Srey Naren, a provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, who attributed the death to "negligence and lack of care from medical staff".

But Klouk Hout, director of the Oddar Meanchey provincial hospital, said that an investigation launched on November 3 by a committee of provincial maternity experts found that hospital staff had done everything in their power to save her.

"She had serious lung inflammation and was having difficulty breathing and coughing blood. We could have transferred her to Siem Reap hospital but it would have been difficult to save her due to a lack of emergency equipment in the ambulance," he said.

Two suspects were arrested yesterday in connection to a grisly murder-robbery within the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap on Tuesday.

The victim's body was found on the roadside in Nokor Thom commune on Tuesday afternoon after her throat was slit with a meat cleaver, local police said.

Duong Sokha, director of the provincial crime office, said two men had been detained for interrogation.

"The suspects knew the victim and killed her for her [new 2013 Honda Dream] motorbike," he said.

Suspects Ret Sophearom and a man only identified as Seu, both 22, had met the victim, 20-year-old Chun Vorn, while she worked at a restaurant in Siem Reap town, Sokha continued.

Prak Chanthoeun, the provincial deputy military police chief, said that Vorn was in a relationship with Sophearom, who had previously used her motorbike to work as a motodop.

Australian right-hander Gavin Van Peperzeel knocked out third-seeded Shuichi Sekiguchi of Japan 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Cambodian $10,000 ITF Futures event for the Ford Cup at the National Training Center yesterday.

A product of the National Academy in Brisbane, the 21-year-old Peperzeel stayed solid on his ground strokes to often put Sekiguchi out of step.

The top two seeds Tsung Hua Yang of Taiwan and Hiroki Kondo of Japan, however, had a relatively easy time in the second round.

Yang, who came through a tense three setter against qualifier from South Korea Soon Jae Cho on Tuesday, had a firm grip from get go against Indonesia's Christopher Rungkat.

The top seed took the first set 6-2 but was made to work a little harder in the second before polishing it off at 6-4.

In an all Japanese affair, Hiroki Konda controlled the pace all the way to post a 6-2, 6-3 win in under an hour against Arata Onozawa.

Following on his long drawn out first round encounter against Katsushi Fukuda, Spain's Oscar Hernandez Perez took Britain's Harry Meehan in his stride to make the quarter-finals.

The 35-year-old Spaniard, who broke out of nearly three years of competitive wilderness a couple of months ago, staged a gritty rally after losing the first set.

He seemingly grew in confidence as the match progressed and dominated his British rival once he found his range and rhythm.

Thailand youngster Wishaya Trongcharoeunchaikul, who had scored an upset first round win over fourth seeded Robin Kern of Germany, lost a fiercely fought battle against South Korea's Dylan Seong-kwan, who played the pressure points better than his tall rival to register a 7-5, 7-6.victory.

One of Thailand's leading names, Danai Udomchoke, was never off the bit as he forced South Korea's Min Kyu Song to do plenty of leg work. The winner of the first-ever Cambodian Futures in 2011, the seventh seeded Udomchoke will run into Yang for a place in the semi-finals.

Andrew Whittington of Australia, whose doubles partner Peperzeel was the day's star attraction, wrapped up his second round against Byung Kook Kang of Korea in quick time for the loss of just two games after reeling off the first six games to take the opening set to love.

Eighth seeded Ivo Klec of Slovakia became the first player to retire from the contest. After edging out his rival Mico Santiago of the United States in a tense first set tie-break, the Slovak was totally outgunned in the second which Santiago won without conceding a game. Building on that Momentum, Santiago shot into a 3-0 third set lead when Klec cried a halt.

The following are today's quarter-final pairings.

Tsung Hua Yang (Taiwan) vs Danai Udomchoke, Andrew Whittington vs Dylan Seong Kwan Kim, Mico Santiago vs Gavin Van Peperzeel, Oscar Hernandez Perez vs Hiroki Hondo.