The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Second KRT panel ‘imperative’” plus 9 more

The Khmer Rouge tribunal's Supreme Court Chamber yesterday called the establishment of a second panel of judges to begin hearing Case 002/02 "imperative", and ordered the court's trial chamber to initiate proceedings in the case "as soon as possible".

The SCC had previously instructed the trial chamber to examine the possibility of a second panel of judges in the interest of speeding up the remainder of Case 002 – the court's flagship case against the "most responsible" senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge, but yesterday's filing was the strongest exhortation yet to set such a plan in action.

However, while the chamber's filing – a response to appeals against the decision to sever Case 002 into a number of sub-trials – dismissed obstacles to a second chamber, those close to the trial said that such obstacles may actually prove pricklier than the SCC acknowledges.

"Case 002/02 must commence as soon as possible after the end of closing submissions in Case 002/01," the filing reads, before calling on the court to "utilize every available day to ensure a final determination of the remaining charges".

"With the Trial Chamber's express projection of a time line of at least eight months to issue its judgment in Case 002/01 … the Supreme Court Chamber considers that the establishment of a second panel has now become imperative," the filing continues. "The Supreme Court Chamber emphasizes that there is no obstacle against the convening of a second panel within the Trial Chamber where it is necessitated by the interests of justice."

Maintaining that there are no legal, financial or administrative "impediments", the filing goes on to lambaste the lower trial chamber's "reliance on the ECCC's financial malaise" in its decision-making as sacrificing the sacred sphere of law for the mundane concerns of saving money.

However, those mundane concerns could have a very real impact, especially given the trial's relatively slow pace and the advanced age of the accused, Long Panhavuth, a program officer with the Cambodia Justice Initiative, said.

"You see, the first mini-trial took more than 200 [hearing] days – so far, it's more than a [calendar] year – and it takes more than six months after the first trial before they will issue the judgment," he said. "It is not certain that the donors will put up more money if they are not sure that all the accused are going to be alive when the verdict [in Case 002/02] is rendered."

What's more, he added, in the absence of a final verdict in Case 002/01, certain legal issues spilling over from that case could still be up for debate in Case 002/02.

One of the most pressing of those legal issues, civil party lead co-lawyer Elisabeth Simonneau-Fort said, is whether the two accused were part of a joint criminal enterprise – a central aspect of the case that will determine whether the accused can be held responsible for the crimes of the entire regime.

"I don't know how it's possible to begin Case 002/02 not having the decision in very important points like joint criminal enterprise and some legal questions," Simonneau-Fort said, noting that her views may not represent those of all her fellow civil party lawyers.

"For the victims, of course we would like to begin [Case 002/02], but we cannot forget the legal side of the trial," she added. "We have to respect the rules."

After the management of an embattled garment factory this week refused to follow a government order to reinstate 19 dismissed union leaders and activists, unionists and observers are at a divergence of opinion over how the state should respond.

"It's fairly unprecedented," Dave Welsh, country director for labour rights group Solidarity Center, said. "The government has sort of gone out on a limb."

Three days after a deadly November 12 garment worker riot in the capital, during which a bystander was killed by a police bullet, the Ministry of Labour sent an order to SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd dictating that it rehire the workers within 15 days.

Acquiescence could have ended a more than three-month strike.

Joseph Kee Leung Lee, director of SL International Holdings, declined to comment over the phone yesterday.

The case will now move to court, Sat Sakmoth, secretary of state at the Labour Ministry, said.

"It is [SL's] right if they want the court to solve the case," Sakmoth said of SL. "They accused us of putting pressure on employers and investors, so let them work with the court."

But in labour disputes, court proceedings have often proved a futile effort for unions, as judges disproportionately favour management, Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Center, said.

If the Labour Ministry is serious about ending the strike, Tola said, it should suspend SL's exporting licence, a move that would cripple the company – which supplies to Sweden-based H&M and US-based Gap Inc – possibly forcing it to submit to the ministry's order.

"I think the time is now, because it has already taken so long for the SL strike to be resolved," Tola said.

While the Labour Ministry could take this course, Sakmoth said, ministry officials believe it would cause greater harm than good.

Kong Athit, vice president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), which represents a large majority of SL employees – including the 19 in question – agrees that suspending SL's exporting licence would prove counterproductive. But in his experience, Cambodian courts are ill-equipped in handling labour disputes.

In previous labour cases, courts have taken years to come to a decision, and even when it ruled in the union's favour, did not enforce the verdict, Athit said.

"I think if they bring it to court it will be a big disaster; this case is very complicated, and the court in Cambodia is not specialised in labour."

The only viable solution Athit sees is continued negotiation and calling for international buyers to apply pressure to the factory. But considering how these tactics have worked so far, even this strategy is questionable.

"I'm optimistic, but not very optimistic," Athit said.

Forty-eight Cambodians will graduate today from what is being heralded as the Kingdom's first speech-therapy training program.

The graduates have been trained to fill a void in speech- and language-therapy services for an estimated 536,000 people in Cambodia affected by communication and swallowing disorders, according to a research paper released in September.

"This is a huge leap forward for a country in serious need of more people trained to provide mental and physical rehabilitation," said Dr Bhoomikumar Jegannathan, director of the Catholic relief agency Caritas Cambodia's Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, which pioneered the program along with the Singapore International foundation.

"Speech therapy is nonexistent in most of Indochina, and Cambodia really has no resources [in this field]," he said.

Graduates will be certified by the Speech, Language and Hearing Association of Singapore (SHAS) and CCAMH, Jegannathan said yesterday.

Primarily trained to work with children, today's graduates are required to have a minimum of two years' experience working with developmentally disabled children, along with a willingness to work with sponsoring agencies including New Humanity, Rabbit School, Smile of Children and CCAMH, Jegannathan added.

"In the public sector, there are no clinics or hospital programs focused on speech and language therapy in the country and maybe one or two in the private sector," he said.

Speech and language therapy can be used to help those with learning, communication and swallowing disorders, as well as epilepsy or cognitive impairments, according to the September research from NGO Capacity Building of People with a Disability in the Community Organization.

The report pushes for funding for speech therapy programs in Cambodia's national universities.

Ly Sophea, who is employed by Pour un Sourire d'Enfant (PSE) and will receive her certification today, noted the training had already positively supplemented her eight years' experience working with children.

"I think it's difficult, but I like this work. I have to think about … what I should do to [help them learn to swallow], and how to explain how they can do it differently," Sophea said yesterday, adding that while the work required a large amount of patience, she took pride in helping children thrive.

Laurie Clarke, a pediatric speech and language therapist working for Indigo, a private child-development clinic in Phnom Penh, highlighted the need for more trained specialists in the Kingdom.

"There is a huge demand for this kind of work throughout the country and very little understanding as to why a child might be struggling to understand and formulate sentences or properly swallow food," Clarke said yesterday, noting that children struggling with speech or language disabilities in Cambodia are often confronted with fewer job opportunities and a lower quality of life.

A World Bank report highlighting the rate of Cambodian children exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke has bolstered calls to increase tobacco taxes threefold.

The World Bank report, which was released on November 20 and titled Risking Your Health, claims nearly 50 per cent of all Cambodians under the age of 15 are "exposed" to second-hand smoke.

Cambodia was listed ninth among countries surveyed with the highest rate of second-hand smoke exposure for the young – on par with China – with 48 per cent reporting to have been exposed to tobacco smoke in their family home.

Indonesia recorded the highest percentage of any Southeast Asian country at 65 per cent.

The report concludes that developing nations such as Cambodia should adopt "strong enforcement mechanisms" such as additional taxes and stronger legislation to curb the growing rate of "risky behaviours" such as smoking, alcohol consumption, unsafe sex and illicit drug taking – all of which were identified as areas of concern in Southeast Asian countries.

Worldwide, more than 600,000 people die from illnesses caused by exposure to second-hand smoke, with children accounting for nearly 30 per cent of deaths.

"The morbidity toll, however, fell the hardest on children, who accounted for 61 per cent of all disability-adjusted life years lost, with close to six million children in 2004 suffering from lower respiratory infections induced by second-hand smoke," the report states.

The report's author, Damian de Walque, expressed fears that Cambodia's high percentage of smokers would lead to a "large" disease and mortality burden in the future and that anti-tobacco marketing campaigns would not alleviate the country's smoking and second-hand smoking issues.

"Based on the experience from other countries, it is unlikely that public information about the dangers of smoking alone will be sufficient to lead to a decline," he told the Post.

De Walque listed public smoking bans, minimum smoking age legislation and an increase to the Cambodia's current 20 to 25 per cent tax on tobacco product sales as potential ways to curb the second-hand smoke exposure rate.

"Taxes on tobacco are usually considered a 'win-win' because they increase government revenue while decreasing smoking prevalence and therefore improving public health.… This might prove to be unpopular at first, but in many countries, tobacco taxes have been quite successful. "

But the figures represent just a fraction of a bigger issue, according to Mom Kong, executive director of NGO Cambodian Movement for Health.

Kong estimates that as much as 80 per cent of all Cambodian children and 25 per cent of women suffer smoke inhalation both at home and in public places.

Kong and the Cambodian Movement for Health are calling on the government to revise the current tax rates of 20 per cent on locally made cigarettes and 25 per cent on imported cigarettes.

"[We] would like to see it increased to two-thirds of the total price, between 65 to 80 cents per packet.… The government should implement new legislation as well as continue to stop tobacco product advertising . . .
Legislation and more education" are the answers, he said.

Both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Commerce could not be contacted for comment.

The bodies of three Cambodians killed while allegedly illegally logging rosewood in Thailand have been repatriated, border security officials said yesterday.

The three Cambodians were shot dead by Thai security forces on November 19 after they crossed the border from Oddar Meanchey province.

Touch Ra, border patrol chief at the Choam Sangam border crossing in Oddar Meanchey, said yesterday that the bodies had arrived on Monday and had since been given over to their families.

"They sent the bodies to us on Monday at 3pm and we forwarded them to the families. They came and took the bodies for the funeral in their home town in Kampong Speu province," he said.

The three men, aged between 20 and 30, had crossed into Sisaket province in Thailand with equipment to fell luxury timber, which can fetch high sums for the loggers.

Along with 18 rosewood logs, Thai forestry officials found eight saws, four axes and five head torches.

If exported for sale, Thai officials estimated that the rosewood could have fetched up to 10 million baht ($315,000).

Exacerbated by rising prices and a growing scarcity of timber in the country, there have been scores of illegal logging deaths at the borders of Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear provinces in recent years.

Two men died in Oddar Meanchey's Anlong Veng district on Monday night after one detonated a grenade, killing himself and his uncle and seriously injuring his pregnant wife, police said yesterday.

Hai Roeum, 37, had arrived drunk at his home in Lomtong commune and began abusing his wife, Chan Theng, and their children, eyewitnesses and police said.

Theng ran for help to the nearby home of Roeum's uncle, Pouk Pha, 45, which led to a standoff between the two men before Roeum, a former soldier, set off a grenade, said Sou Pisey, 50, a neighbour living in Kok Sampor village.

According to Pisey, Roeum had begun arguing with his wife about 8:30pm when she ignored his request to wake up his daughter.

"He was beating and kicking his wife, and she ran to her uncle's house nearby. He was furious. He also threw his nine-month-old baby into a pile of bundled rice sheafs," she said.

"His uncle went over to his house and told him not to treat his wife and children badly … but when his uncle went back home, Roeum followed with a grenade in his hand.… He pulled the pin, taking his and his uncle's lives."

Both Theng – who is four months' pregnant – and her aunt were sent to hospital, Pisey added.

Ke Samnang, deputy police chief of Anlong Veng district said Theng sustained serious injuries to her face and other parts of her body.

"This was a case of domestic violence and Roeum set off the grenade" he had kept since leaving the military in 2000, he said.

With the vast majority of rural Cambodians still lacking access to a toilet, and suffering the incumbent health risks, Ministry of Rural Development officials on Monday renewed long-standing intentions to improve the country's sanitation infrastructure.

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Just days after World Toilet Day, the officials surveyed villages in Kampong Speu province to assess barriers to toilet installation.

"[Villagers] claimed that they prefer open defecation behind their house, in the wild or in the rice fields.… It is difficult to change their minds," Chhorn Chhoeurn, a deputy at the department of rural health care, said.

Cambodia has the lowest toilet coverage in East Asia, according to UNICEF, with the official census showing that only 23 per cent of rural households have access to a latrine.

The cheapest latrines cost about $25 each, a large chunk of many rural households' income. Yet latrines provide long-term savings: According to the World Bank, a rural Cambodian family loses nearly $70 annually because of diseases related to poor sanitation and hygiene.

"Essentially, [defecating] outside means eating it; it gets into the water and the food," Cordell Jacks, co-director of International Development Enterprises' (IDE) sanitation marketing program, said. "Diarrheal diseases … kill more children than malaria, measles and AIDS combined."

IDE and other NGOs have partnered with Vision Fund to provide rural families with microfinance loans to offset the cost of installing toilets. The program has seen sanitation access rapidly increase.

"It's starting to be more of a societal norm to have a latrine," Jacks said.

To further Cambodia's 2015 goal to halve the percentage of the population lacking access to sanitation, the Ministry of Rural Development plans to start educational programs in schools and pagodas next year.

"We do not demand they build modern latrines or spend much money, but only buy the cheapest dry latrine," said Chhoeurn.

Villagers in Kandal province alleged yesterday that officials had "tricked" them into thumb-printing a petition supporting tycoon Try Pheap's claim that he is not involved in illegal logging and endorsing his defamation suit against two villagers.

In a scathing report released last Wednesday, the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force accused Pheap of widespread logging and land grabbing.

Two days later, two villagers from Kandal province's Kandal Stung district who were quoted in the report were summonsed to court over defamation complaints Pheap had filed.

Since then, villagers said yesterday, commune and village chiefs in the same district have been pressuring them to ink petitions in support of the tycoon.

Sok Ny, 43, said he was one of many in Tbeng commune to thumb-print a petition at his village chief's home this week.

He thought he had been inking a document in support of a lending initiative set up by an NGO, he said.

"After I thumb-printed it, they said I had supported Try Pheap, who was being accused of illegal logging and being Vietnamese," Ny said. "If I had known it, I would not have done this – but it's too late now."

Mev By, 77, said his village chief had asked him to thumb-print a document mentioning Pheap, but refused to let him see exactly what it said.

"I did not thumb-print anything, because they did not allow me to look," he said. "What I say depends on what I know."

Un Sothea, chief of Tbeng commune, said all five villages in the commune had been asked to ink the petition in support of Pheap, but he was unsure how many people had done so. "We have asked people to thumb-print and confirm that [the accused villagers] have defamed tycoon Try Pheap. I do not dare say more than this," he said.

Sen San, one of the villagers being sued, said that on Monday and yesterday officials had persuaded visitors to ink the petition, promising payments of 10,000 riel (about $2.50) per person.

"Some people who know nothing about [Pheap's activities] gave their thumbprints, but some didn't," he said. "Some of those who did told me that if they knew it would hurt me they wouldn't have done it."

San and fellow villager Ouk Sambo – who both live near one of Pheap's homes – are scheduled to appear in the provincial court on Friday for questioning.

Chan Soveth, a senior investigator for rights group Adhoc, said it was disappointing the pair was being sued, as people should have the right to speak their minds. "[CHRTF] is just showing that the company is exploiting their property, but the [villagers] are now being sued. Try Pheap should also think about human rights."

CHRTF's report claims that 1,445 families have been evicted from their homes during Pheap's acquisition of about 68,088 hectares since 2010. It is also alleged that Pheap's companies log in economic land concessions – its own and those granted to other companies – in every province in the country.

Under Cambodian law, an individual can own only 10,000 hectares of economic land concessions.

Pheap could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In a bid to make Cambodia more business-friendly, the government will cut back on red tape and reduce industry membership costs, Sun Chanthol, the new minister of commerce, said yesterday.

Speaking to representatives from the private sector at a conference at the InterContinental Hotel in Phnom Penh, Chanthol outlined some new short-term initiatives that he said would increase the country's competitiveness in key export sectors such as the garment industry.

"We will not be a manager of the private sector; we will cooperate to work closely with the private sector, with our dialogue partners to make Cambodia a competing place to invest and to do business," he said.

Chanthol said the government would remove the requirement on all exporters to provide a Certificate of Origin (CO) when exporting to countries that did not require the accreditation. The government has traditionally required a CO on all exports leaving Cambodia, regardless of whether the receiving importer needs it.

The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), which offers duty-free access for some products exported to the US, will also be made less cumbersome. While in the past exporters were required to renew their registration annually, Chanthol said yesterday that registration would become a one-off event.

The membership fee for the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) will be reduced 20 per cent from $600 to $480 per year. The Commerce Ministry was also setting up a hotline for exporters to voice their concerns over non-compliant customs practices, Chanthol announced.

GMAC chairman Van Sou Ieng welcomed the initiatives, which he said would go beyond Cambodia's garment sector.

"[This is] definitely a great improvement, and I am sure that by having further support it is a great opportunity to bring more investors to Cambodia," he told the Post.

Others were more cautious of the new measures.

Ho Vandy, co-chair of the government-private sector working group on tourism, was positive about the announcement but said that in practice, the reforms still needed to be tested.

"If it is true, the result will be seen in six months to a year," he said. "If this commitment is just talk, we will see it fail after a year."

Cambodia National Rescue Party whip Son Chhay said the real barrier to doing business was corruption from within the Ministry of Commerce.

"It is not efficiency if it is just an announcement from the minister," Chhay said.

"There needs to be a clear mechanism, like providing higher salaries to officers to discourage them from saying they won't [process business documents] without demanding an 'unofficial payment' from businesses."

After issuing a formal warning a year ago, the European Commission yesterday proposed that European Union member countries ban fish imports from Cambodia, saying the country has failed to take action on illegal fishing.

A spokesperson at the press department of the European Commission said yesterday that foreign fishing vessels were illegally posing as Cambodian after easily obtaining the country's national flag. Though still bound by international law, imposters were fishing unpoliced by Cambodian authorities.

"Cambodia would facilitate illegal fishing by lending its flag to vessels from other countries," the spokesperson said.

Nao Thuok, director-general of the Fisheries Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, said he was unaware of a proposed ban from the European Commission but said that due to stringent standards Cambodia did not export to the EU.

Despite zero EU exports, the European Commission spokesmen said vessels bearing the Cambodian flag in any international waters would be banned from selling fish to the EU if the proposal were adopted.

A decision on the proposal by the 28 members of the EU is expected in January. The ban would begin in February.