About 10 per cent of Cambodian children aged between five and 17 are "child labourers" – undertaking work deemed unsuitable or illegal for them – while almost 240,000 children are working in hazardous conditions, a report released yesterday says.

The Cambodia Child Labour 2012 report, compiled by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), the Ministry of Planning and the International Labour Organisation, says the Kingdom has about 429,000 child labourers, 383,000 of whom live in rural areas.

According to the report, half of the total number of child labourers had either dropped out of school or never attended in the first place.

About 236,000 of those children were undertaking hazardous work, the majority of them in rural areas, it adds.

"Five of every nine child labourers were engaged in hazardous labour."

Speaking at the launch of the report yesterday, Bijoy Raychaudhuri, project director for an ILO child labour elimination program, said the study was the first of its kind in Cambodia since 2001.

"One thing we find … Cambodia being a rural economy, most of the child labour is in the agricultural sector and working in informal business," he said.

The total number of children aged five to 17 considered to be "working children" is 750,000 out of a nationwide population of about four million children in the age group.

And while many of them undertook employment that was permissible under the law, Raychaudhuri said, "about 57 per cent of the working children are in child labour that should be eliminated".

"This is one clear message that this report brings out," he said.

The definition of "child labour" used by the report's authors is broad. If a child aged 5 to 11 engages in just one hour of "economic activity" in one week, she or he is considered a child labourer. Children aged 12 to 14 must work more than 12 hours per week or any amount of time in hazardous conditions to fit the category. And children aged 15 to 17 – who are legally allowed to undertake non-hazardous work – are considered child labourers if they work more than 48 hours in one week or work at all in hazardous conditions.

By definition, hazardous tasks can include working at a construction site or factory, logging, operating heavy machinery and brick-making.

Despite perceptions that young children were being widely exploited, Raychaudhuri said, most of the "child labourers" are aged 12 to 17.

"So five to 11, the child population is very limited."

The child labour report was released simultaneously yesterday with the Cambodia Labour Force 2012 report.

In that report, it was revealed that the working-age population – people aged 15 and over – had increased to 10.7 million in 2012, up 1.9 million people from 2008. Sixty-nine per cent of those of working age are part of the labour force. Of that figure, only 2.7 per cent are unemployed.

Data in both reports was collected by surveying almost 10,000 households in every province.

Those conducting the surveys, however, did not have access to children who live at workplaces or those who have been exploited for sex- or drug-trafficking purposes.

"Children living outside the household are not captured by this survey.… That's a different survey," Raychaudhuri said.

Asked whether responses garnered from households reflected the true nature of how those within them were affected by child labour, he added that the survey assumed that parents answering questions knew how many hours per week their children worked.

"It could be that if they know it is illegal, they would not give the right answer. It is possible."

In a statement, Maurizio Bussi, officer-in-charge of the ILO's Cambodia office, said regular follow-up surveys were essential to working towards ending child labour in the country.

Heang Kanol, deputy director-general of the National Institute of Statistics at the Ministry of Planning, did not say at the launch how frequently the surveys would be repeated.

In the child labour report's foreword, Minister of Planning Chhay Than said he expected the report would be useful to "planners and policy-makers".

"Eliminating child labour in Cambodia is one of the most urgent challenges of the government," he says.

Despite some high-profile issues with underage workers in factories, incidents of child labour in garment factories are in the minority, the report says.

"That's been the case for the past 10 years," Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia secretary-general Ken Loo said yesterday.

Underage workers using fake identification to gain work, however, remained an issue. "But we have been advocating … to help factories identify that."

As for agricultural workers and construction workers in rural areas, Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at Community Legal Education Centre, said it was difficult to know the full extent of the child labour problem.

"We don't have concrete reports [on rural areas]. It's a concern."

An organisation made up of current and former elected representatives from across Southeast Asia has called on the United Nations to investigate the deaths of two people shot by police during protests over the past three months.

In a statement released yesterday, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) slammed the Cambodian government's failure to "properly investigate" the deaths of Mao Sok Chan and Eng Sokhom.

Sok Chan, 29, was shot in the forehead on September 15 when security forces began firing into a crowd near a police barricade at Phnom Penh's Kbal Thnal overpass. Uninvolved in the protest, he had been attempting to return to his home after finishing his day's work as a newspaper binder.

On November 12, 49-year-old Sokhom was shot dead by police when garment workers from SL Garment Processing factory clashed with riot police near her food stand in the capital's Stung Meanchey district.

Vice president of APHR and former Thai Senator Kraisak Choonhaven pointed the finger squarely at the Cambodian government yesterday, accusing them of not meeting international human rights standards.

"The United Nations and the international community must take a stand on these blatant miscarriages of justice. It has been over two months since security forces shot dead Mao Sok Chan.… The state is clearly not following through with a genuine investigation," he said.

Kraisak criticised Cambodia's criminal justice system, saying it "fails to deliver" when allegations are made against state-owned bodies such as the police.

Indonesian lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari backed the former senator's calls amid fears inaction could set a dangerous precedent and lead to further politically motivated violence.

"I am deeply concerned that the common trend of state violence and impunity in ASEAN member states will only worsen if this serious problem is continually brushed under the carpet to ensure a blinkered focus on economics and trade." Robert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, urged the Cambodian government to investigate the deaths.

"We are following up with the concerned authorities and urging them to launch a prompt and thorough investigation into these clashes and to ensure full accountability for members of security forces found to have used disproportionate and excessive force."

Cambodia's OHCHR representative Wan-Hea Leefurther also condemned the violence, saying there was no excuse for excessive force from either side.

"All use of force should be investigated, particularly when they lead to fatalities or injuries," she said.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan yesterday responded to those calls, saying any move by a non-government body to interfere in the case would be seen as a direct insult to Cambodia's sovereignty.

"The government has employed a 'special committee' to investigate the deaths, but have not yet found anything.… Cambodia is a sovereign state and any NGO that interferes must have respect for that," Siphan told the Post. The spokesman added that police and security forces had been cooperating with the so-far-fruitless investigation.

Military police spokesman Kheng Tito said that while the matter was for the National Police to deal with, he welcomed the idea of a UN investigation into the shootings.

"I welcome a UN investigation in order to find the truth and to have a true report from the incident and for the sake of transparency," he said.

National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith could not be reached.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BUTH REAKSMEY KONGKEA

About 300 villagers in Preah Vihear's Rovieng district gathered in front of Romdoh commune hall yesterday to protest against a mining company drilling on their land and what they characterised as a broken promise by the company and commune officials to return to the negotiating table.

Demonstrators said that authorities and company representatives had failed to meet them yesterday as promised, but commune chief Som Virak maintained yesterday that he had told villagers on Wednesday that the meeting would have to be postponed.

Villagers, however, were unconvinced.

"They should have informed us in advance if they were not coming, and they let us wait for them all morning for nothing," said Sreung Simphorn, 60. "It is a trick and a lie [from the authorities] to their own people."

Simphorn added that his family had bought 25 hectares of land in Romdoh in 2004, but risked losing it to the company for what he thought was an unfair price of $1,000 per hectare.

TPB-TV Development was granted licenses to drill for marble, but was told in the grants that drilling must stop if it affected locals, villagers say.

Lor Chann, a provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said he had visited the mining site yesterday, and saw workers there – armed with an air-powered homemade rifle – drilling on the disputed land to depths of 25 to 30 metres.

However Virak, the commune chief, said yesterday that officials would inspect the works, and that most villagers' claims were not legitimate.

"There are only 63 affected families," he said. "Among those, there are only three to four old families. Besides them, all of them are new settlers who have just cleared state land to own and sell without listening to authorities."

TPB-TV representative Kim Nhor, meanwhile, denied affecting villagers' lands, and said villagers had not been constructively negotiating.

"They have not even said how much they want" for the land, he said. "If they did, it would be easy for us to suggest it to our superiors for … resolution."

Scores of people in Preah Sihanouk province's Kompong Seila district have asked the provincial court to delay proceedings in a case filed against them by three local businesspeople in September.

The 88 people received summonses in September, but yesterday asked the court to postpone a hearing scheduled for today. Local business owners Chan Heng Kanha, So Sou Hwang and Lim Chou have alleged that 148 families have been illegally living on their land in the district for years.

But Chen Sophal, an O'Bakrotes commune representative who lives on the land, said they had been there since the early 1990s.

"I have lived in the area since it was a minefield and some people and animals were killed by mines. So why do they have land certificates? How did they [the businesspeople] get the titles in 1995 before integration?

"The land certificates are not real," he said. "There is complicity and corruption between businesspeople and the court to threaten and seize people's land. We request the Anti-Corruption Unit investigate."

The three complainants could not be reached yesterday.

Following the announcement of recent reforms to Cambodia's customs department and Commerce Ministry, a revision of the country's investment law is planned for next year, according to the secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).

Speaking to reporters at a workshop at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh yesterday, Sok Chenda said Cambodia's investment climate needed a revamp.

"We must clean up, improve and adjust to the new circumstances," Chenda said, referring to a new regional competitive environment.

Previously Myanmar was not considered an attractive place for foreign investors, Chenda said. But now, after government reforms, it is opening up and becoming easier to do business.

"We have a new competitor," he said.

Cambodia's investment law was initially implemented in 1994. It was revised in 2003, but has since remained unchanged.

This is one of a series of economic changes announced in the past month.

In October the government set a 60-day deadline for the customs department to clean up corruption, while earlier this week the minister of commerce announced reforms that would reduce red tape for exporters in Cambodia.

A panel discussion including private sector representatives also voiced their reform priorities at yesterday's workshop.

"For us . . . the chief challenge is human resources," Martin McCarthy, managing director of Total Cambodia, said, referring to a lack of skilled labour in the local market.

Being able to find "very, very good young engineers, civil, mechanical, even construction engineers, is quite a challenge."

Rami Sharaf, CEO of RMA Cambodia, agreed, saying "the number one problem is actually people."

"What is needed here is to build the right task force of the relevant ministries in addition to the contribution and the presentation of the private sector, so all together can have a proper road map," he said, referring to a plan for human resource development as the economy grows.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ANNE RENZENBRINK

As Cambodia's youth is set to carry on the country's economic development, there are worrying signs for the future workforce with high drop out rates from school, new data released yesterday show.

The Labour Force 2012 report compiled by the National Institute of Statistics, the Ministry of Planning and the UN's International Labour Organisation, shows that some 3.8 per cent of Cambodia's 2.1 million 15- to 24-year-olds are unemployed. This figure is well above the national rate of 2.7 per cent.

Just 46.6 per cent of Cambodia's employed youths finished secondary school, while 41.5 per cent have only completed primary school, the report revealed.

"If you combine the high drop out rates, there is a big challenge for the future of the skilled workforce," Makiko Matsumoto, employment specialist at the ILO said yesterday at a conference to release the survey results at the Cambodiana Hotel in Phnom Penh.

Data was collated from a survey of almost 10,000 Cambodian households.

A country emerging from a history of conflict and poverty can make the balance between education and work a challenging one, according to Mey Kalyan, a senior adviser on the Supreme National Economic Council.

"[But] this country is in the process of building up its human resources," he said, making reference to the government's rectangular strategy.

Kalyan said initiatives such as enhancing technical training options and understanding industry workforce demand were under way, but reducing poverty was also needed to keep kids at school.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers' Association, also links drop out rates to poverty.

"It costs them [parents] a lot to invest in their child's education, and they worry that after graduation, their children will [only] find a low salary jobs," he said.

Hong Cheun, director at the government's national employment agency, said yesterday that as Cambodia's economy grows, so to does the demand for greater skills, though the education system was struggling to keep up.

"Skill shortage is growing, not only for the lower- or medium-skilled but also the higher-skilled, because of the kind of rapid changes in the structure of the current labour market," he said.

Cheun added that the government plans to encourage greater vocational training that would help to diversify the workforce and meet industry demands over the next five to 10 years.

The chief executive of SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) yesterday said the factory has agreed to reinstate 19 dismissed union leaders and activists, a sticking point which could end a strike that has lasted more than three months.

Hours after the Ministry of Labour announced the garment factory had agreed to rehire the workers, SL chief executive Wong Hon Ming confirmed by phone that the employees in question would be allowed to return to work.

The move came three days after SL rejected a government order – given the same week a strike involving workers in Meanchey district left one woman dead – to rehire the workers.

"The ball is now in the court of the union," said Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia.

Labour Ministry secretary of state Sat Sakmoth told a Post reporter earlier in the day that SL had retracted its agreement to allow the 19 workers back, but his account could not be confirmed.

Ek Sopheakdey, secretary general of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), which represents a large majority of SL's workforce, last night said he was aware of the Labour Ministry's announcement, but remained sceptical that SL would actually allow the 19 workers back.

"I don't yet believe it 100 per cent," Sopheakdey said last night. "But if they agree, they have to sign a contract and specify a date when [the 19] workers can return."

Reached by phone yesterday, SL's general manager, who declined to give his name, said the government order to reinstate the workers – an order approved by Prime Minister Hun Sen – played a role in SL's reversal. SL officials hope the compromise ends the strike.

"If it's ordered by the government, I guess we need to follow," he said. "I think everything is already finished."

SL workers initially walked off the job on August 12, demanding the dismissal of shareholder Meas Sotha, who hired military police to stand guard inside the factory. C.CAWDU members called the move an intimidation tactic, meant to flush the union out of SL.

Since the strike began, officials from the Labour Ministry, the Ministry of Social Affairs and City Hall have all mediated several fruitless talks between union and factory leaders.

The strike turned deadly on November 12, when 49-year-old food vendor Eng Sokhom died from a gunshot wound to the chest after police opened fire on hundreds of SL demonstrators. At least nine others suffered gunshot wounds.

Two teens – aged 14 and 17 – are the only two people who remain in custody in connection with the riots, said Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Centre, which is providing them with pro bono legal representation. Phnom Penh Municipal Court is now processing a bail request.

Although not speaking on C.CAWDU's behalf, Dave Welsh, country director of labour rights group Solidarity Center, said the union will likely have to look at where SL now stands on other demands it has made before ending the strike. However, he added, the move will likely go a long way toward ending the stalemate.

"It's huge, enormous," said Welsh, who noted the 19 workers in question include all C.CAWDU leadership within the factory. "The reinstatement of the unions was really non-negotiable."

Primary school students playing outside their school in Oddar Meanchey province discovered an exposed landmine in the school yard on Wednesday.

Students at Hun Sen Anlong Veng Primary School found the mine poking out of the ground "like a custard apple" while they were playing near a tree in front of their school and reported it to their teachers, according to the principal.

School officials called authorities to come remove the mine.

"We surrounded more than two metres around the mine compound and did not allow students to go through. We do not know whether there are some more mines in the school compound until CMAC [Cambodian Mine Action Centre] comes and checks it," said Sou Nov, a deputy police chief of Anlong Veng district.

What the students stumbled upon was the core of a mine made in the US, according to Nov.

"My staff went to demine it, but it was only a shell without ammunition, which could not explode," said Leng Saren, an executive director at Halo Trust.

The prices of imported goods are up and Cambodia's low-income households are feeling the pinch. President of the Cambodian Institute for Development Study, Kang Chandararot, told the Post's Chan Muy Hong that while there will be impacts in the short term, tax reforms are a positive sign for long term economic growth of the nation.

The government set a deadline for the customs department to stamp down on corruption. It has led to a price increase for goods on the market. What is your view about the move?
I think it is the right thing to do now, because Cambodia owes a lot of money to other countries. I congratulate the move and it is a good start for anti-corruption in the state's financial offices. We have, so far, depended on foreign aid and funding. And the deadline for returning the debt is near. We need to find sources of income to support development and to set a foundation for he economy. AEC 2015 is approaching; Cambodia will be required to do a lot more from the region with regards to the implementation of economic law and policy.

Do you think the move will encourage local producers in gaining greater market share?
Logically, once tax policy is implemented, the price of imported goods will rise. What will happen when imports price rise? Firstly there will be changes in the investment sector. Secondly, the will be more opportunity for local business to grow. In one or two years time the country will see some change in the economy's structure. The policy will increase local production. There will be more local products to replace imported products. Right now, I believe we will not see anything come in the big picture just yet, but in one year's time the picture will become clearer to you.

The policy has caused prices in the markets to increase. Who do you think are the most vulnerable?
Everyone is affected by the rising price of products in the local market now. Tax will increase the price. The thing is we have to accept the impact now. Once the market adjusts to the tax policy, things will be better for everyone when there are local products to substitute the imported ones. Then the price becomes more stable for consumers, suppliers and the whole market. First reaction from the policy will see consumers as the victims of high prices. More importantly, the policy should encourage investment in local products rather than investment in imported products.

I think the high price of products will come down by next year. Meanwhile, there should be more local investment opportunity created, so that local products will come to substitute the higher priced products now.

Will there be further action taken by the government on this issue?
The government should start thinking about cutting ineffective spending. More policy should be created to attract both local and foreign investors to invest in the local production chain. By now, there should be a reform in investment law. The government should pay more attention toward energy resources that drives local production and investment. One year is a short time. It will reduce the inflation impact on consumers. Long term inflation for products in the market will cause problems for economic growth.

The ministry of commerce announced reforms for import and export processes to ease the flow. How effective do you expect it to be?
It is part of what attracts more investors to Cambodia. If the process of getting the products in and outside the country requires too much time and money, they will not want to come here. It is a step that encourages more investment. What the government is doing now is a very good response to the private sector. They are giving more space to the private sector to expand their business.

What is your projection for the Cambodian economy?
Economic growth in 2014 is disturbed by political crisis. There will be growth, but will not exceed what we have in 2013.
The thing is Cambodia's economy next year will grow in terms of quality comparatively to previous years. The growth will no longer depend on trading, tourism or by selling service anymore. It will be growing according to the increase of local production.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Despite making some gains, Cambodian women continue to fall well short of their male counterparts when it comes to education and position in the labour market, a study released yesterday by the International Labor Organization reports.

Men account for just five per cent more of Cambodia's approximately 7.4 million-person workforce, but earn about $25 per month more than women, the study says.

That disparity is likely linked to inequality in education received, said Ros Sopheap, executive director of NGO Gender and Development for Cambodia.

"There are some changes if you compare to 10 years before, but the changes have not come as far as we want," Sopheap said yesterday. "In Cambodia, they believe men have an important role in the family to study higher education.… Girls are encouraged to stop studying, to contribute to the household income."

The ILO's Labour Force Report, which surveyed Cambodia's labour market and child labour last year, says that more than 1.14 million women reported never having attended school. That figure is more than double that of men surveyed.

Reasons the women provided to surveyors for never attending school fall closely in line with Sopheap's hypothesis: 12.7 per cent said their parents would not allow it, the study reported. Other reasons included the inability to pay for schooling and living too far from a school.

Although more women than men have completed primary school (by a margin of more than 525,000), they account for only 43 per cent of the Kingdom's secondary school graduates and 32 per cent of those who completed university.

A decreasing ratio of women to men attending school from primary education to higher levels places them in a more vulnerable position when they enter the workforce, Sopheap said.

"When you get higher education, you're not subject to exploitation," Sopheap said. Cambodia's garment industry provides an example of women's precarious position in the labour market, she added.

More than 80 per cent of Cambodia's unionised garment workers are women, according to ILO's report. But factories are known country-wide to offer poor working conditions where fainting is endemic and the $75 per month minimum salary falls well below the Asia Floor Wage Alliance of $281 per month.

But despite the numbers, women who never attend or drop out of school are largely aware that education begets more opportunities, and want to further their education, Sopheap said.

A rising literacy rate among working-age (15 years or older) Cambodians, may reflect this desire. The Kingdom saw a two per cent increase of literate workers according to the report, but the largest increase in this category came from rural women.

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.

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.