Cambodia's aviation sector doesn't need a second domestic carrier, according to a new report from the Australia-based Centre for Aviation (CAPA).

The report, published yesterday, is the latest instalment in a two-part analysis of the country's aviation industry, and focuses on Cambodia Airlines, the Royal Group and Philippine Airlines (PAL) joint venture that, after several delays, has yet to materialise.

While the first part of the analysis, released on Tuesday, commends the Kingdom's aviation sector for being one of the fastest growing in Asia, inbound and outbound traffic, rather than domestic travel, drove the increase. Yesterday's instalment cites Cambodia's low average income level and unchanged domestic passenger figures as evidence that a new airline is not necessary.

The country's sole full-service national carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), has expanded international capacity by more than 70 per cent in the past year. But domestic passenger numbers in the industry have not varied greatly since 2007, when there were four now-defunct Cambodian carriers to choose from.

"While there are opportunities for more new services, there is not necessarily a need for a new Cambodian carrier," the CAPA report says.

Cambodia Airlines was initially slated to launch mid-2013 with a $1 million investment from PAL, the first chunk of a $10 million overall commitment, according to a statement on the Philippine Stock Exchange in May of 2013.

After missing its initial June closing date and a second closing date on October 15, the deal remains up in the air. Business World last week quoted PAL's CEO, Ramon Ang, as saying that the firm was "reviewing when to start and whether the project is still viable".

Ang said Cambodia's current "situation" was the reason, alluding to an ongoing political stand-off over elections in July, garment industry protests and violent government-backed crackdowns on free assembly.

The new domestic carrier hoped to compete with Cambodia Angkor Air's traditional routes to Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, while also launching services to Battamabang and Ratanakkiri provinces.

The new report says PAL's deferral and likely abandonment of the Cambodia Airlines deal are reasonable options due to the risk involved in launching an airline when there is limited demand for domestic travel.

The chief representative and chief analyst at CAPA, Brendan Sobie, rejected suggestions that Cambodia's recent garment industry protests and continued political unrest could significantly affect the aviation industry's attractiveness.

"Political instability could create a blip, but as the tourism industry in neighbouring Thailand has proven again and again, the market will likely recover. So far, tourists have shown no signs of cancelling trips to Cambodia, despite the recent protests."

During the first three weeks of the year, the same period that garment worker demonstrations violently escalated and a ban on public assembly was put in place and aggressively enforced, tourist arrivals at Siem Reap and Phnom Penh airports actually increased 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2013, Cambodia Airports data shows.

David Pearson, group controller at Royal Group, said he was unsure of the context of the quotes from the Philippines Airlines CEO. From the viewpoint of Royal Group, however, the project was still on track and very close to being finalised, Pearson said.

"We are in regular discussion with PAL on the project," he said, but refused to put a monetary figure on the joint venture. "Given the information in the reports, it would be foolish of me to give a concrete date and discussions need to be had with PAL to find out what the direction is."

Pearson also reiterated the company's confidence in launching a new full-service domestic carrier, despite Cambodia Angkor Air's monopoly on the market.

"Cambodia Angkor Air's offering is good, but competition is healthy and certainly another locally based domestic and international carrier would be good for the Cambodian aviation market."

Reigning champions Svay Rieng begin the defence of their Metfone C-League title tomorrow at the Old Stadium with a somewhat tricky match-up against league debutants Albirex Niigata FC, who stacked up rather poorly behind Boeung Ket Rubber Field last week but are determined to make amends for their 4-1 defeat.

The man with last season's golden boot, Khoun Laboravy, is no longer with Svay Rieng. He is now in the Boeung Ket camp but Svay Rieng are already attuned to life without the 25-year-old goal machine and are presenting themselves in good shape and high spirits.

On paper at least, Svay Rieng have nothing much to fear from Albirex. But the first game of a league season is always a tough proposition for any side with the team composition, tempo and rhythm all coming into play.
Getting the right result and a positive spin from this opener is obviously high on coach Sam Vandeth's list of priorities before the kick off.

Svay Rieng missed the opening of the MCL last weekend as they were in neighbouring Vietnam to compete in the 2014 Ho Chi Minh City FC Cup at the Thong Nhat Sports Centre. However, Vandeth says his squad is now fully focused on their work at home.

"We need to concentrate now on our potential in local competitions such as the Metfone C-League and the Hun Sen Cup as well as our appearance in the 2014 AFC President's Cup," he told the Post yesterday.

The champions have been boosted by the acquisition of two foreign strikers – Frenchman and a Nigerian whose full names were not revealed by the club. "I am also seeking a foreign defender and I hope there will be good news soon," added the coach when questioned about more possible signings.

Naga Corp open the weekend's six-match schedule in buoyant mood after a stirring 3-0 win over Ministry of National Defence last week. They take on Takeo-based Kirivong Sok Sen Chey, who went down rather tamely to the National Police a week ago.

It is four seasons since Naga took the league honours and they are eager than ever before to get back to the good old glory days, having regained the services of head coach Prak Sovannara. The foreign component had a very strong hand in Naga's victory over Ministry of National Defence last time out and it is reasonable to expect another similar display from the imports, something that should sound alarm bells in the Kirivong camp.

At the Olympic Stadium, two university-backed sides face off in tomorrow's first match, with Western University and Asia Europe University battling it out in what promises to be closely contested match.

If TriAsia's hard fought 1-1 draw against BBU last week is any indication, the new entrants to this level may not go down without a fight against a team as strong and balanced as Kampong Cham's Boeung Ket. Last year's runners-up have a much stronger strike force than before and this should keep TriAsia's backline on the hop.

The pick of the weekend's matches is easily the clash between four-time champions Phnom Penh Crown and a robust MND, who on their day can take out the best in the business.

All the good virtues of a new look Crown was on show in that 4-0 drubbing of AEU and if the 2011 champs were to reproduce that form, MND could find themselves at the deep end. The Armymen's best hope is in their rugged style of play they are often feared for. Last year, the first half went terribly wrong for MND though they made a remarkable recovery in the second half of the season.

The team is bent on a better campaign this term and there is no better way to boost self-belief than engaging one of the heavyweights like Crown in a tough game.

Build Bright United have every reason to feel that last week's draw against TriAsia was more like two points dropped than one earned. If they play with the same zest, they could make matters difficult for the Police, who have a favourable wind behind their back following that compact win over Kirivong.

This week, the chief executive officer of Aero Cambodia Airlines, Brian Naswall, talks to the Post about running one of the first companies in the Kingdom to receive the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation's micro-light flying licence. He sees a bright future for the niche micro-carrier segment, and believes it will make reaching rural communities and boosting business supply chains easier.

What is Aero Cambodia Airlines and what are you offering?
We're a small airline with charter and taxi flights using aircraft less than 5,700 kilograms. Our micro-light aircraft have just one to three seats and they operate on land and water. We will also operate aircraft with up to 19 seats if there is demand in the future. We'll be flying to as many of the country's airports as we can. There was once 24 airports scattered around the country. Today, only a few are still in operation. Flights will be charged by the hour. That said, our lowest fares start at $50.

Is there a market for micro-light airlines in Cambodia?
Cambodians are moving up to a better standard of living and earning more disposable income for luxury items, such as travel. The seemingly unstoppable tourism growth is benefitting the aviation market greatly, and with more air travel to more locations, rural economies will also see the benefits of increased connectivity. We'll be targeting Cambodian customers in areas such as Battambang, Koh Kong, Ratanakkiri, Stung Treng and Kampong Cham. Then, we'll turn our attention to business people and tourists.

Could more small aircraft carriers improve the aviation sector as a whole?
Yes. It proves Cambodia's aviation sector is moving forward not just in the commercial carrier world. More small aircraft businesses of course means competition, but eventually, you will see off-shoot businesses thriving from increased rural aviation.

What can the aviation sector do as a collective to foster growth in 2014?
The aviation industry can promote Cambodia as a place where businesses can distribute their goods in more ways than one. They have choice now, to either drive or fly their goods to the most remote parts of the country within hours, not days. All countries that have a large aviation market, on all levels and capacities, also have a thriving economy as their distribution methods become less restricted.

What are the difficulties for small aircraft carriers in opening up in Cambodia?
The main difficulty is finding local and foreign investors to regain trust in Cambodia's aviation market. And admittedly, some of the things we're doing are new to the country and there has been a learning curve for everyone involved.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Twenty five years ago the world stood together, and agreed, as absolutely essential that greater attention and increased investments be paid to the care and protection of every child in all countries of the world.

They captured this promise in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

On ratifying the Convention in 1992, Cambodia made a strong and dynamic commitment to fulfill the rights of every girl and boy in this country to survive and be healthy, receive a quality education, have a name and an identity and live life without being subjected to violence, abuse and exploitation.

The Convention established minimum standards for Cambodia to achieve. It required that progress be measured and assessed and that data be used to see how far we have come and where we still need to go.

UNICEF's new global report – State of the World's Children 2014 in Numbers: Every Child Counts – Revealing disparities, advancing children's rights – makes a compelling case for data as one of the most powerful tools to drive action, identify gaps, influence decision-makers and target investments and interventions to reach the most vulnerable children.

It highlights the crucial role played by data to inform and direct better investments and interventions for every child. It indicates that data can expose wonderful advances for children and families, but also some striking inequities.

In Cambodia, data from various sources in different areas of the country – showing the differences between girls and boys, between rich and poor – paint a compelling picture for government to regularly review and reflect upon.

As the country crafts and revises joint monitoring indicators and finalises goals in the national strategic development plan – the report is a timely reinforcement of the importance for the government to produce and draw upon truly disaggregated data.

Data have the power to show for example in Cambodia that fewer children die before their fifth birthdays compared to 25 years ago, reducing from 116 to 40 live births per 1,000 between 1990 and 2012.

Data make us recognise that more girls and boys are enrolled in primary education than ever before (98 per cent), putting Cambodia on track to reach its 100 per cent MDG target by 2015.

Data challenge us to look more closely at lower secondary education which has stagnated at 35 per cent since 2007, making it impossible to reach the 75 per cent target by 2015.

In fact, data demonstrate the remarkable progress made by Cambodia over the past two decades, earning it a place among the countries that have achieved the most progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

While this is good news, data also uncover that progress is uneven on some issues such as nutrition, or access to improved sanitation, between provinces and among populations from the most remote areas.

The gap is also significant between children from the wealthiest and poorest families, leaving too many behind.

Thus, the picture painted by the data help identify trends as well as gaps and slippage. According to the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) 2010, just over 62 per cent of children under five have their births registered in Cambodia, which is lower than the 2005 figure of 65 per cent.

CDHS 2010 also shows a huge gap in birth registration between rural (60 per cent) and urban (74 per cent), and between the rich (78 per cent) and the poor (48 per cent).

In some provinces, birth registration is two times lower compared to Phnom Penh.

Breaking the data down is increasingly important for policy makers as gaps are often hidden – which means the situation of children is hidden – if we only look at the national averages that may show overall improvement but mask the differences within Cambodia, rendering those children left behind as "invisible".

Getting data from sub-national levels allows disparities to be revealed so that the barriers children confront are better understood, and initiatives designed and monitored to overcome them.

When the government of Cambodia systematically analyses and uses data to inform social sector budget allocations, then efficiencies will be achieved in effectively tackling the most challenging issues facing children.

Data are making visible the children at greatest risk – those furthest from society's reach. It is up to decision-makers at all levels, from the national to the grass roots, to make sure that those children – and all children– are granted the opportunity to fully enjoy their rights.

As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child this year, UNICEF challenges us all to use data and evidence to inspire creative thinking and find innovative solutions to the most pressing issues confronting children.

This anniversary is an urgent reminder of the promises that have yet to be fulfilled – promises that can mean a world of difference for children.

Rana Flowers is the UNICEF Representative in Cambodia.

Gameweek 23 of the Cellcard Fantasy League was a midweek melee that boasted no real shortage of goals.

Man City continued to find the net with alarming regularity at Tottenham, as Edin Dzeko provided the performance of the round with a goal and two assists for 15 points.

The 27-year-old Bosnian striker has been both burning hot and freezing cold this season, with only 5.5 per cent of managers willing to back him this week. Dzeko's tally was matched by Swansea's Spanish defender Chico, who scored at one end and kept a clean sheet at the other against the free-falling Fulham.

Liverpool's fearsome frontmen Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge both amassed 11 points, although the latter would've done much better had he not missed a penalty for his hat-trick. Crystal Palace's midfield maestro Jason Puncheon notched the vital gamewinner against Hull to also rack up 11 points.

The weekly competition was another intriguing affair with Chea Vatana's Angkor Empire FC lording it over the rest on 97 points. However, Vatana had utilised his wildcard in making seven transfers, thus taking himself out of contention for the Cellcard prizes. Instead, the rewards fell to Rick Dubbeldam and his team Bayonitis. Rick made a legitimate four transfers, including bringing in Aston Villa hitman Christian Benteke for 18 points.

Rick also picked Suarez and Southampton's Adam Lallana (10 points) to help him win the US$20 phone voucher and T-shirt from Cellcard.

Gameweek 24 fills out the long weekend with ten fixtures including the Monday night headliner between table toppers Man City and title chasers Chelsea.

Feroze Alam, 41, is in Phnom Penh to start a fashion design studio, making clothes, selling them and taking on interns. Originally from Dehli, India, the designer can boast a long family relationship with the garment industry and the region: his grandfather was a diplomat based in Ho Chi Minh City who made frequent trips to Cambodia, and his family has had streets in the capital named after them.

Alam has worked all over the world: Dehli, New York and London's prestigious Savile Row. Previously, he made regular trips to Cambodia to source material for international designers. He spoke to 7Days about more than two decades in the fashion world, from mingling with Indian celebrities to making blazers for Julia Roberts..

It seems your family has a long history in Indochina, and in the clothing business?
My great grandfather was a cloth merchant, hence the surname Javalikadai meaning 'cloth selling', and the initial 'J' in our names. In Southern India back in the day, in the 1870s I guess, they would always buy cloth from either France, Italy or China, and go door-to-door to sell fabric to the women of the house at all the big houses. My grandfather wanted to start a textile mill employing Cambodians as he was very much in love with Cambodia and his wife, my grandmother, who was from Phnom Penh. But he died before he could realize that dream.

When did you decide to become involved in fashion?
Actually, I started off doing architecture. An uncle of mine came to India from the US, he was looking at my sketches. He's an architect. He said: 'I like what you're doing, but I see that you have this little flair going on, and I think you should look into fashion design."

And then you worked in the studio of one of India's most famous designers… ?
In India there's a designer called Rohit Bal, and in the rankings he's beyond [number] one, he's just solid gold, and I got a chance to work for him in Delhi before getting my visa to go to the United States for school. I just called him up one day and his mum was on the line. It's like going to see Armani – you know you have to make twenty appointments to see the guy, but the mother was like, 'Go to the office, my son will definitely come meet you.' He was very honest in his teaching. His studio was the only part of his place that was air-conditioned. The workshops were not, and Dehli's really hot, and so I was always stuck in the studio because it was air-conditioned. He was like, 'I don't wanna see you there, I want you to be in the workshop, learning from those guys what they're going, or going to the men's room.' Of course, there were a lot of celebrities there just hanging about. I really enjoyed the energy.

What secrets did you learn from your time on Savile Row?
What was so nice is [their motto]: 'if it's not perfect, it will not leave the studio.' The way they approach clothing is sacred, but you will never know, and they will never tell you, 'Oh, by the way it took us four days just to fix that sleeve to make it look on you that way.'

What were some of your most exciting moments in the business?
I fitted Julia Roberts. That was such a big experience, how to work with a straight face! She was nice. She was very, very nice.

It was late at night and she had a jacket done. When you work with certain clients you have to fit them every six months, because sometimes they're not always there. She'll make a call and say, 'Hey, I'm flying to France for this show, can you make me a jacket and deliver it to my hotel room in France?' She's not there so we have to make it as close as possible.It was a basic blazer, like a tuxedo-style, black with a little shine on the lapel.

How does it feel to be returning to Asia?
The timing is actually great because I have the experience, have the knowledge, the background, the backing, the support structure. I will also train local designers or students who want to be designers, because I understand from my conversations that it is very difficult to get into design schools here, it's very expensive, like it's only meant for rich kids.

How will you manage the politically sensitive nature of sourcing workers from factories in Cambodia?
I will work with factories, but with factories there's a political scene with how they are set up. I can't just go in there and get somebody and walk away – someone's going to get angry at me.

So there's a soft sell of how to take certain people and train them at the benefit of the factory owner. Technical design is a skill that a lot of Cambodians don't know. Technical designers are designers who come next to a designer and they see that the fitting of the garment is correct and the design spec is correct by sizing. So when you go into a store and you see 'small, medium, large', you know the size meant for you. That will be part of my curriculum.

When Theary* discovered she was pregnant with her third child, she knew she didn't want another baby. The 34-year-old, who lives in poor conditions in Kandal province, had stopped taking birth control pills, afraid that they were causing the child she was breastfeeding to become sick. This latest pregnancy was an accident. So she approached her nearest Marie Stopes International Cambodia centre, and in June received a safe abortion.

Theary's contact with Marie Stopes could have stopped there. However, thanks to a new technology being implemented by the reproductive health NGO, she was easily able to make contact with a counsellor and access information about what contraception was available to her, and how to use it.

A new mobile phone service used by the NGO leaves six automated voice messages on clients' phones once they've had an abortion, either advising them on family planning methods, prompting them to request a phone call with a counsellor or state that they have no problems. The system they use is called Verboice, and is created by the technology nonprofit InSTEDD.

Dr Sann Channa, head gynaecological surgeon at Phnom Penh Municipal Referral Centre, said that it's often hard for women to go directly to the clinic to access information about contraception and reproductive health.

"They might forget about their appointment because they're busy with work, or there might be personal reasons," she said. "This kind of technology helps women access this information remotely."

Chris Smith, who is in charge of Mobile Technology for Improved Family Planning (MoTIF), the name of the mobile technology program at Marie Stopes International Cambodia, said: "The message is designed to remind the client about contraceptives and also to act as a conduit for additional support, so a client listening to the message can press 1 [on their keypad] to request to speak to a counsellor, press 2 if they're fine, or press 3 to opt out. They can also sign in for a pill reminder and an injection reminder as well."

Post-abortion family planning is crucial, Smith said, in order to inform women of the options available to them, advise them on reproductive health issues and reduce the rate of repeat abortions. He said: "What we found was a lot of clients find it hard to make decisions about contraception at the time when they come to seek abortion services. They often need a bit more time to think about it, so it gives us an additional opportunity to maintain communication with a client."

Abortion has been legal in Cambodia since 1997 and can be performed any time up to 12 weeks of a woman's pregnancy. Because of the prevalence of unsafe abortions carried out behind closed doors, it's impossible to give a figure to the number of abortions carried out in the country. However, according to the Asian Safe Abortion Partnership, abortion-related deaths contribute up to 29 per cent of maternal deaths in Cambodia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one of the major dangers of unsafe abortions is the lack of aftercare and counselling and, rather more drastically, a lack of intervention should there be severe bleeding.

But even at Marie Stopes, which gives women access to safe abortion services, many women don't end up receiving follow-up checks and counselling. Smith said that due to a number of reasons including clients living far from the clinic, being busy with work and not wanting family to know about their abortion, the time when they sought abortion would often be the only time they'd make contact with the clinic.

Marie Stopes International Cambodia has been trialling MoTIF since October 2012 in clinics all over the country. So far, Smith said, the results look positive, with the use of post-abortion family planning having increased from 33 per cent to 56 per cent.

According to Smith, Marie Stopes was keen to latch onto the increasing use of mobile technology. The organisation found that 80 per cent of its clients had a mobile phone – and this was fairly consistent with national data. Smith added: "It really is the only way we can maintain contact with clients, especially those in a somewhat sensitive situation who have come to seek abortion services – we can't use post, we can't use email, we can't go to them face to face."

Cambodia's reproductive health sector isn't the only area that Verboice technology benefits. InSTEDD started implementing the tool in the Kingdom in 2012, using it to support several organisations including an election hotline, which gave people information about last year's general election, and a road safety awareness program.

But reproductive health does seem to be a common use. In January last year, the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC), an NGO, formed an agreement with InSTEDD to use Verboice for its Reproductive Health Hotline program, which got off the ground in November.

In this program, men and women are encouraged to call a hotline in order to access advice and information relating to a number of sexual health issues, including not only contraception but also sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer. Users will call the number and be directed, with interactive voice response, through a number of options before picking what it is they wish to talk about. Like Marie Stopes, the service also provides an option for speaking with a counsellor. Since the hotline started, it's had more than 1000 callers.

Phearak Peng, program support officer at RHAC, said that before the hotline was created, access to information about sexual health issues was scarce. He said: "They can't find information anywhere and if they don't know what to do they'll face the consequences. I think providing this service is very helpful to the people who want to know, who need help. It empowers women and men to make their own choices."

*Name has been changed to protect identity.

Nancy Beavan is on the verge of a discovery. A set of ancient burial jars, a subject on which the archaeologist is something of an expert, has been sighted deep in the jungle. If she and her team can only find them, they will have another piece of a puzzle they have grappled with for more than 10 years.

On Saturday morning, Beavan set out on a days-long trek in the eastern Cardamom mountain range, where she hopes to find the 11th in a series of sites where ceramic jars were used for burials between the 14th and 17th centuries. It's a project she has worked on since 2003.

If she reaches the site, known as Cedi, Beavan and her colleagues intend to spend at least two days inspecting, photographing and geopositioning the site, before returning for more extensive fieldwork in the autumn, and hoping that it won't have been damaged either by natural causes or by ongoing development in the Cardamom mountains.

"The local people will probably know if they've been destroyed, but I'm hoping that's not the news that we have before we can go in October or November," Beavan said in an interview last week.

"But if I run out of time, or the sites are destroyed, at least we have the most basic recording of what was there.

"I still think that what we've been able to do has already changed the perception of what is the history of the people during this 14th to 17th century period."

One of the most intriguing aspects of the burials is that the period in which they occurred coincides with the decline of the Angkorian civilisation in the north of the country and the shift of power to Mekong trading ports.

While most of the jars found in the Cardamoms have been storage jars, believed to have been made in Thai kilns, several were made in an Angkorian style, hinting at intriguing connections between the people who lived in the highland areas and those in the lowlands.

There's no guarantee that the new site, which fits into a linear pattern of sites along a ridge line in the Cardamoms, will be accessible, or found intact. The area is mountainous and jars are often found precariously balanced on elevated ledges, according to Beavan. One of the other jar burials was found in an already damaged condition.

"When we find broken jars we don't necessarily blame people," said Beavan.

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"It can be rock flaking, pigs trying to find shelter or wanting to eat the bone, rats gnaw the bone, termites eat the bone and there's a lot of natural degradation."

Villagers living near to some of the remains have a strong connection with the jars and have carried out pilgrimages. It took months of delicate negotiations with local people in the area, near to the Areng Valley, to arrange this weekend's visit to Cedi.

Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, an environmental activist who has worked with the community for more than 10 years, said: "They know of other sites but they don't want to take people.

"Once the secret is out, they're afraid of people taking [the jars] away."

In 2002, a group associated with the making of a National Geographic documentary took jars and placed them in a museum. Local people have been wary of foreign visitors ever since. But a big threat to the jars has been the ongoing development projects in the Cardamoms, according to Beavan.

In 2011, the decision to cancel a planned titanium mine in the region which was "snack-dab over most of the jar burials", was a saving grace for the project, she said.

"I thought, wait, my sites are on rock, and they're going to be prospecting the rock – that's not a good thing!"

As a result, the archaeologist is anxious about leaving the jars alone for more than a few months. Other academic obligations will take Beavan to Europe in the summer but she wants to return to Cedi as soon as she returns.

"Why? Because as conservations have reported, there is a danger to the forest with clear-cutting and such. But along with the clear-cutting and bulldozing of access roads and such there comes a danger to the sites."

One solution is heritage protection zones, which have already been put in place at archaeological sites including Preah Vihear. These usually consist of little more than stakes and signs marking out the area.

"You could put markers around the spot but in a place like the Cardamoms, if anything, that is drawing attention to them," Beavan said.

"Sometimes, announcing it is not a good idea: 'this is really valuable, and you're in the middle of the jungle, and nobody's watching you.' It's like a free buffet."

In the case of the jars, markers have been put well away from the location. Their fate, however, is tied to that of the Cardamoms, a place Beavan believes still has much to reveal.

"It's enormous and it's complex and it still has so many secrets. I hope we discover some of them before it's all gone."

Cambodian-French director Rithy Panh's The Missing Picture, which follows the story of his childhood under the Khmer Rouge regime, has been nominated for best foreign language film, taking the country to the Oscars for the first time. In the weeks leading up to the ceremony in March, we review the rivals. This week, it's Denmark's turn, with Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt.

When it comes to the screen, Scandinavia is enjoying its belle epoque. Television dramas such as The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge have crept onto box-set shelves all over Europe, and Danish film director Lars von Trier's feature films Antichrist and Melancholia have earned him recent international success. In 2011, the Danish-Swedish co-production In a Better World won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The spotlight is now on Thomas Vinterberg. Long admired by film critics, his 2012 feature film The Hunt has enjoyed slow recognition internationally, and has this year been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Academy Awards.

I decided to watch the film for a second time earlier this week, on a day when the production won seven Robert Awards from the Danish Film Academy. It's completely deserving of its praise, a visual beauty about a gritty subject matter that is dealt with maturely and sensitively.

The Hunt tells the story of Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen), a divorced kindergarten teacher in a small town who is, based on a child's imagination and ensuing hysteria, accused of pedophilia, and turned upon by colleagues, friends and neighbours. To make matters more complicated, that child is Klara, daughter of his best friend Theo. While referring to the witch hunt that Lucas is subjected to, the film's title also alludes to the deer-hunting hobby he shares with his friends: a rather obvious metaphor, but one that allows exploration of a manner of topics, such as the disruption of Lucas's involvement in a community tradition, and the question of who is the hunter and who is hunted.

The difficulty with child abuse allegations is that people are reluctant to question them. The problem has been very much at the forefront of public consciousness, in the UK at least, since the revelations about Jimmy Savile two years ago. But equally, a recent case in which a disabled man, falsely accused of pedophilia was beaten, set on fire and killed by his neighbours on the streets of Bristol, has drawn attention to the perils of untrue allegations.

This dilemma comes across well in the film, with Susse Wold portraying the accusing kindergarten teacher with a tortured look on her face, unsure how much of Klara's story to believe. My sympathies with her wavered. Admittedly, she deals with the situation appallingly, but there is some degree of understanding with somebody whose sole job it is to ensure the welfare and protection of young children.

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Beneath The Hunt's chilling portrayal of persecution lies a more subtle commentary on the gulf between adults and children. At several points during the film we see Klara, who must be no more than seven years old, walking around the town alone. After she has implicated Lucas in her abuse, her parents cut their best friend out of their lives, but leave their child free to roam the streets and show up at his door. One has to wonder whether her attachment to Lucas and jealous accusation is related to some kind of need for a present father figure in her life, one who will walk with her and look ahead while she avoids the cracks in the pavement.

Lucas's relationship with his teenage son, Marcus, is also touching. We first see him elated that Marcus is leaving his mother to live with him, and Marcus loyally defends his father at every step. But Lucas's concerns for their safety drive his son away again. While the reason may be out of his control, he, too, cannot connect with his offspring.

In Vinterberg's world, adults and children live separately, rarely interacting, rarely able to understand one another, and the idea of a child's innocent mistake and wild imagination causing repercussions in the "grown-up world" has echoes of Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel Atonement.

The Hunt's style is noteworthy. Vinterberg's Dogme-95 filmmaking movement, established with his contemporary von Trier, rejects overproduction, and this is evident in the film. Location is limited to one town, more specifically between three houses, a supermarket, church and the kindergarten, evoking the claustrophobia that engulfs Lucas as he becomes increasingly alone. The only relief is on the hunt, where we are treated with wonderful shots of rich Danish foliage.

Mads Mikkelsen, who won a Robert Award for his excellent acting, depicts the gradual decline of a man rebuilding his life after divorce, a man who is surrounded by friends, who has a loving relationship with his son and a job he loves. Mikkelsen's Lucas begins the film a tower of a man; the culmination, a tense scene in a church on Christmas Eve, sees him utterly defeated. Performances are solid throughout, but Annika Wedderkopp, who plays the role of Klara, stands out as a brilliant child actor.

Verdict: It's hard to pick faults with The Hunt, making it a strong contender for the best foreign language film. It offers ethical questions, insightful character development and beautiful cinematography, and has the ability to keep you on the edge of your seat. Its haunting overtones will also stay in your mind for days.

Just north of the Olympic Stadium in the capital's Prampi Makara district is a community that has been literally falling apart for the past two years. On January 3, 2012, more than 300 families were displaced at Borei Keila after the government cleared the site to make way for a construction project which has yet to materialise. The inhabitants now live either in makeshift huts stitched together from scrap and tarps, or in a single dilapidated tenement that survived the destruction of the original neighbourhood.

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While some agreed to move to relocation sites in Kandal province and the outskirts of Phnom Penh, 117 families opted to stand their ground on the land they insist is theirs.

Phan Imex, the company that was granted approval to develop the site, had promised to build 10 apartment buildings on the site to house the evictees. But the company went bankrupt in 2010 after only completing eight buildings, leaving the remaining residents out of a home. While the residents claim to have land titles, and Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong vowed to resolve the disputes when he took office last May, the system has yet to provide solutions for the dozens of families who have chosen to stay at Borei Keila.

The residents frequently make their plight heard at protests in Phnom Penh. Last Monday, the evictees tried to join Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando's rally but were blocked from leaving the site by security forces.

Sou Em, a 58-year-old garment worker from Kampong Thom who protests regularly, lives in a shack made of tin, wood and plastic. Although her children moved back to their homeland, Em said she vows to stay put until her land title is recognised. "I will not go back to Kampong Thom, because everything I have is here. The house I should have is here."

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Tim Sakmony, a land rights activist in her mid-60s who first moved to Borei Keila in 1995, spent almost four months in Prey Sar prison in late 2012 following her participation in protests. She was convicted of making false statements to secure an apartment at Borei Keila for her disabled son on the same day that fellow activist and cellmate Yorm Bopha was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of intentional violence, although Sakmony's sentence was suspended.

After more than a year out of prison, she lives in a one-room flat with four other people in Borei Keila, where she raises chickens through a hole in the wall to make ends meet. It is a step up from the tent she had lived in before the room became available, which was even better than the staircase she had lived underneath before then.

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"Before the government took the land, people lived easily," Sakmony said. "Of course we were poor, but it was fine." Like most Borei Keila residents, she said she has a land title that the government does not recognise.

"We feel very hurt, we feel very bad here."

Without a definite place to call home, she said that her family suffers.

"The house is the most important thing for the family," she said.

When news came that her old house was to be destroyed, she said that there was nothing to do but protest.

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"The first choice we made after the government destroyed our house was to protest."

The future, she said, is bleak.

"When we think of the future, there is no good living conditions."

Ourn Kong Pineat, Sakmony's 47-year-old son and an army veteran, lives with the family but is unable to work due to a shrapnel wound in the head from the 1980s war that left him disabled. His twin children, a boy and a girl born in 2000, lost their mother shortly after their birth, leaving Sakmony as the family's primary breadwinner.

Sakmony's apartment block is the only permanent structure still in use from the original Borei Keila neighbourhood. She said, however, that the government tries to coax the residents into leaving by making it as unlivable as possible. Utilities have been turned off, and the railings on the balcony have been removed by the government, she said.

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Yos Pov, a 53-year-old scavenger from Svay Rieng, has lived at Borei Keila since 2000.

She said she is relatively happy to live in a wooden shack with a tin roof because she had lived under the adjacent apartment building until five months before.

She had been a fried noodle vendor, but was forced to sell her cart to pay off debts. She now collects metal waste in a push-cart. She lives with three children and her husband, who is also a scavenger.

"My business is not good, and it is very hard to earn money for food," she said.

The site, she said, is no place to live, with the stench of human waste constantly in the air. Diarrhoea, especially among children, is rampant.

Like most shopping centres, Toul Kork Avenue, which opened in late December of last year, is a little short on quirk but long on brands. There's a Pedro shoe shop and an Adidas. There's Suki Soup and Chatime. The first of its kind in Cambodia, the place is very chic. At night, manicured trees are spotlit with beaming fluorescent lights and walkways wind through upscale boutiques.

Metro Azura, the sister restaurant to Metro and Metro Rahu on Riverside, is the classiest dining option. It's a grand building, located at front of the avenue along Street 516 across from Suki Soup and next to the Snow Yogurt. The ceilings are high and it's lit with blue glowing panels. Drinks range from around $3 to $7. It's not dissimilar to the original Metro, with which it shares a menu.

On an evening last week, as families shopped and teenage girls clustered over frozen yoghurt outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, two friends and I wet our whistles with two dirty martinis and a "gin" ginger (each $5.20), a gin and ginger-alone combo with a refreshing mojito-like twist garnished with mint, lime and shaved ginger.

After all this style, some of the mains were a little disappointing. The tuna steak salad consisted simply of four large triangles of tuna that pointed towards the leaves. The chunks were well-cooked, with a sesame crust, but the dish was too forgettable for the $7.20 price tag.

The next entree, grilled duck with a large nest of arugala, spritzed with a light vinaigrette, was an improvement. I had never seen such a generous portion of neatly sliced fowl. Bacon was mixed with grilled apple in the accompanying sauce but I might have preferred grilled onion, or chunkier vegetables.

We also ordered a pate and brie sandwich – an unusual dinner choice, but a safe one, given the quality of the pate at the old Metro. The pate was a creamy blend of liver and some sort of pork, with a pleasing after-kick of spice and bite, sandwiched, along with decent brie, between two slices of ciabatta-like bread. Tomato and arugula freshened up the dense helping, which was priced at $6.50.

While we were left too full for dessert, the experience hadn't been especially satisfying. Perhaps if we had spent the late afternoon shopping up a storm, the place would have been a more welcome relief. If you're not curious to see the new avenue, save the tuk-tuk fare and stick with Metro Riverside for your Asian-fusion needs.

Corner Streets 315 and 516, Toul Kork.

Khoem Dara, the suspect in a fatal grenade attack on a pre-wedding party in Kampong Thom province's Sambo district, is expected to be sent to court today, police said yesterday, adding that the death toll from the blast had risen by one to 10.

"We have compiled the report and sent it to the prosecutor to review the case. We [preliminarily] accused him of murder," deputy provincial police commissioner Ker Khannara said, adding that Dara could face life in prison if found guilty.

Dara was arrested on Sunday afternoon, the day after a grenade was thrown into the middle of a group of about 100 dancing partygoers.

One more of the victims succumbed to their injuries yesterday, Khannara said.

"It's a tragedy," he said, noting that because the victims' families are poor, some donors and the provincial governor had donated money to them.

"Because so many people died, police are searching for anyone else involved," he added.

A labour law expert from the International Labour Organization yesterday rejected claims made by Cambodian factories and employers associations that workers in the Kingdom have no fundamental right to strike.

In a paid advertisement in the Post yesterday, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and the Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations (CAMFEBA) used the ILO's Convention 87 on freedom of association to claim unions have misled the public about recent strikes.

"The right to strike is not provided for in … C87 and was not intended to be," GMAC's notice says. "Is the right to strike therefore a fundamental right? NO. The right to strike is NOT a fundamental right."

But Tim de Meyer, a senior international labour law specialist for the ILO in Bangkok, said the organisation has "always" considered the right to strike fundamental.

"The claims that the right to strike is not a fundamental right and that C. 87 does not establish a right to strike are not consistent with the position taken by the International Labour Organization and its tripartite constituency as a whole (i.e. governments, employers and workers) over a period of at least the last 60+ years," he wrote in an email.

While the convention didn't explicitly spell out the right to strike, he added, the "Governing Body (i.e. the International Labour Office's tripartite executive council) has always regarded the right to strike as a fundamental right of workers and of their organizations".

The advertisement followed a mass strike in the garment industry that began in December and ended this month after security forces shot dead four protesters near a garment factory in the capital.

"Any party", the advertisement continues, can sue a union leader guilty of illegal behaviour (GMAC claims all strikes in the garment sector fail to follow legal procedures) and emphasises that the registration of a union can be revoked.

Dave Welsh, country manager for labour rights group Solidarity Center, said he was concerned that the two associations were using a "simplistic … misreading" of the ILO convention to justify litigation against unions that were behind the recent strike – which cost the garment industry millions of dollars.

"We hope this is not a precursor to mass litigation against unions," he said, adding that targeting individual union leaders would also be concerning.

"It doesn't mean union officers have carte blanche to do anything … but you can't launch personal lawsuits against individuals whenever [something goes wrong]."

Welsh agreed that Convention 87 did not explicitly talk about the right to strike, but said case law and the work of expert ILO committees over the past 20 years had "extended the right to strike".

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, said the advertisement was misleading because it failed to mention that Cambodia's labour law guarantees the right to strike.

"The association or union has the full right to strike," he said. "I think GMAC is trying to deceive the public."

Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, agreed, saying that the right to strike was also protected under Cambodia's constitution.

"Maybe GMAC is confused about this point," he said. "When someone strikes, they do so within the law."

Article 37 of Cambodia's constitution states that the "right to strike and to non-violent demonstration shall be implemented in the framework of a law".

Article 319 of the 1997 Labour Law makes it clear that the right to strike is "guaranteed".

Ken Loo, GMAC's secretary-general, said his association was not trying to oversimplify the ILO convention, but merely stating that the right to strike "is not inherent".

"We want everybody to know [this]," he said. "This point has been argued for the past two years at the international [ILO] conference. There is no misleading or misguiding [from GMAC]."

The advertisement does not mention that the right to strike is protected under Cambodian law, stating only that it "is a matter that should be regulated at the national (country) level".

Loo denied that this was misleading, saying that GMAC was only trying to stem the tide of "misinformation" from unions and NGOs about freedom of association rights.

"We just want to clarify the impression that workers have the right to strike absolutely – they have the right, but it is the prerogative of each country to set the conditions."

Loo said the notice – which links violence to unions and "unlawful" strikes – was also aimed at showing that, in some circumstances and with "strict conditions", revoking a union's registration was allowed.

But Solidarity Center's Welsh said there needed to be clear reasons for unions to be deregistered and the right of appeal be granted.

"This kind of approach is a step backwards."

Another mouth-watering clash has been booked by Asia's leading mixed martial arts organisation, ONE Fighting Championship, with the fearsome firepower of Cambodia's Khim "Black Dragon" Dima set to take on the fanged fury of fellow flyweight Saiful "The Vampire" Merican of Malaysia in ONE FC: War of Nations at Kuala Lumpur's Stadium Negara on March 14.

Khim Dima lost his second bout at ONE FC last month in Manila, succumbing to a first-round barrage of blows from Filipino Ruel Catalan, who emphatically avenged the fight between his brother Rene and the Cambodian last October, which was recorded as a no contest. Rene had to be carried from the cage on a stretcher following a series of strikes to the back of the head deemed as excessive by officials.

Now the Black Dragon has a chance to wreak his own vengeance on Malaysian Muay Thai star Merican, who beat Dima's A Fighter team-mate Tok Sophon by unanimous decision in November.

However, the 22-year-old Banteay Meanchey native will be weary of his opponent, who is back in front of his home crowd and chasing a third straight MMA victory.

"The only hope I have to win the battle is by using Cambodian kickboxing [Kun Khmer]. That's the only strength that I think I have to defeat my rival," Dima told the Post.

As a veteran of more than 250 Kun Khmer fights, Dima's victories include a points decision against Merican on March 19, 2011, at TV3 Arena in Phnom Penh.

"Having had experience of fighting with [Mercian] before in Kun Khmer, it seems much harder to fight in the cage as I've been fighting as a Cambodian boxer much more than fighting in the cage with free combat," said Dima.

"In my last bout, I could compete with my rival both in strength and tactics and I was even taller than him. But I admit that [Catalan's] punches were heavily punishing.

"To win the battle in March, the solution is still the same – to use my kickboxing skills. I'll try to avoid fighting on the ground as much as I can. With that, I can beat [Merican] as I did before in our Khun Khmer match."

Dima, who is a second-year law student at Build Bright University, noted he had been training for the past three months at the Old Stadium, with daily sessions on Monday to Friday from 4-6pm. From 2-4pm, he trains in Kun Khmer.

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A Fighter trainer Chan Hun told the Post: "After Manila, Dima has fought and won all of his [local kickboxing] fights. We have been working on a lot of different things just to improve his all round ability – nothing in particular. We will go into this fight confident, especially knowing that Dima has already beaten Saiful."

The 27-year-old Merican, who hails from Terengganu in northeastern Malaysia and now heads up the eponymous Merican Muay Thai Gym in Kuala Lumpur, says he is also focused on utilising his stand up proficiency in March, but is working on improving his groundwork.

"You can expect fast, non-stop action from me. I hope to add another win to my MMA record," he told the Post by email.

"It will be an interesting match. I know MMA in Cambodia is fairly new but gaining more popularity over the past year. Fighting Tok Sophon in my last fight proves that Cambodians have the skill to go far in this sport."

Having been given the nickname "The Vampire" from a fight fan due to his "fast and deadly kicks" and ability to draw blood from opponents, Merican reached the pinnacle of his career thus far when he achieved a number one ranking from the World Muay Thai Association at 57 kilograms in 2009.

He will take another welcome boost from his Malaysian home crowd, who spurred him on to victory over Sophon two months ago.

"The chants of fans and family always give me added strength," he said.

ONE FC announced the flyweight bout last Friday, along with an all-Malaysian lightweight contest between posterboy Peter Davis (7-3) and Wes Java (2-1).

Nine bouts have been confirmed for the ONE FC: War of Nations card, which will be headlined by the Brock Larson v Nobutatsu Suzuki match-up for the inaugural ONE FC welterweight world champion belt.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHENG SERYRITH

Dear Editor,

Nothing is a better indication of changed circumstances in Cambodia than the recent resolution by the European parliament about Cambodia.

There are three main reasons why it has come to this.

The most important one is that Cambodia now has a strong and credible opposition. The countries that have been financing Cambodia are of course interested in stability. This will protect their investment and make it more likely that future aid will be less and less necessary.

I always had the impression that they were reluctant to rock the boat as long as there was a strong government and a weak opposition. This has now changed.

The second reason is the very public and obvious irregularities in counting the votes at the recent election (boxes that were not properly sealed, etc). The donor countries are mainly democracies and to be seen to be financing a crooked voting system is unacceptable for them.

They feel morally obliged to do something. (Unless their diplomats come up with all kind of excuses, which is, of course, what they are being paid for.)

Last and also least is the incident of the shooting of innocent civilians by government goons. This was a major tactical mistake by the government.

The Thai government was much smarter in letting the protests run their course and trying to let them run out of steam, and I had the impression that the government here initially was thinking along similar lines.

But then the pressure got too much for them and the hardliners got their way. But what worked in the past only resulted in giving the opposition ammunition in their efforts to involve foreign governments.

If I was a cynical person I would say something like "mission accomplished". But of course that would be entirely unfair. There are of course other reasons for the resolution. Corruption, prohibition of demonstrations, land grabbing, etc, etc, but they existed for a long time without triggering a strong reaction. Now of course they too are in the spotlight.

In all my years in Cambodia I have never seen such a change. One moment there was a docile and cowed population that didn't dare say anything and the next moment I thought I was in Australia, where criticising the government is a major pastime.

Good on you, Cambodia.

Heinz Wiese
Sihanoukville

Dear Editor,

In reference to your article "CNRP, report authors 'plotted', Sok An says", January 29, 2014, I wanted to clarify my quotation regarding "sharing some similar viewpoints" with the opposition and provide some context on the Electoral Reform Alliance (ERA).

My full remarks were more general and applicable anywhere – civil society organisations can share an opinion or position on an issue with a political party. This does not, however, mean they support the party or are "plotting with it".

An NGO and a political party can easily come up with the same policy independently of each other, and this should not impinge upon the NGO's independence credentials. NDI in Cambodia has at times vocalised positions that have coincided with those of the opposition, and, it should be noted, with the ruling CPP.

ERA is a coalition of NGOs and civil society organisations that share both the opposition and the government's stated desire for electoral reform. However, ERA operates independently of both, putting forward the coalition's own research, activities and reform recommendations, recommendations which may or may not be shared in full by the country's parties and government.

ERA provided a draft of its report on the July elections to all political parties, ahead of a public launch, to solicit their feedback, and offered to meet with them to discuss. Unfortunately, only the CNRP took ERA up on this offer and the CNRP was also the only party that participated in the ERA launch in December, although all were invited.

In sum, ERA has consistently reached out to all parties equally and will continue to do so.

With regard to the findings in the ERA report, as the article mentions, they are entirely based on either statistically-significant research (audits, sample-based monitoring) or government data (from the National Election Committee, National Institute for Statistics and other government bodies).

This fact was also pointed out by the NEC following the ERA launch, with an NEC spokesperson describing the report as simply the presentation of their data and, therefore, "nothing new".

If the government indeed rejects the ERA findings – for example, the charts and graphs on polling station creation, turnout, ICE distribution and registration and population rates in comparison to electoral results – then they are also questioning their own data and NEC figures.

To the other point in the article, it is entirely possible that there is a link between citizen action and/or protests and access to information, including research or reports. Since July, there are groups dissatisfied with the election process and people frustrated at having been unable to exercise their franchise, and they may certainly rely on any relevant information on the elections that back up their concerns.

This does not mean, however, that ERA is behind the protests. ERA makes information available to all and cannot be responsible for how various interest groups may choose to use it.

NDI is supportive of any efforts to promote electoral reform and welcomes the government's commitment to such reform, as articulated numerous times by government leaders and even, most recently, in Geneva.

We are looking forward to actively participating in, and providing information to, the electoral reform meetings and efforts organised by the government. We hope this will be an open and inclusive process, where all viewpoints can be shared in the spirit of democracy and progress.

Laura Thornton
Senior Director,
NDI

Rights groups yesterday called on ANZ bank to help address alleged labour and environmental violations at Phnom Penh Sugar Company instead of walking away from the problem.

A joint statement released yesterday by Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International said it would be wrong for the banking giant to withdraw its financing for the firm and absolve itself of responsibility.

"Exiting the relationship would be an all-too-easy route for ANZ to take to try to make this story go away, but the fact is this story is not going away for the hundreds of families who have been impoverished by the project ANZ made possible," David Pred, managing associate of Inclusive Development International, said in the statement.

The call from NGOs comes a week after environmental auditing documents leaked to the Post pegged the multinational bank's local venture, ANZ Royal, as a financier of ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat's controversial sugar plantation.

Phnom Penh Sugar Company has been caught up in forced land evictions and child labour scandals. The files revealed that the sugar producer had ignored 60 per cent of the recommendations made by an auditing firm on a range of issues, from worker health and safety to relocation monitoring.

ANZ Royal said in response to the revelations last week that it would exit any relationship if a company did not meet the bank's own environmental and social standards. But the bank indicated that in the case of Phnom Penh Sugar Company, it would continue to engage.

"Our position hasn't changed, we are still engaging with the case, including trying to facilitate a meeting between the customer and the NGOs/community, which awaits a response from Equitable Cambodia," Grant Knuckey, ANZ Royal's CEO, said in an email.

The Indian ambassador to Cambodia is calling on the government to reduce exorbitant shipping costs and take better advantage of a tariff scheme that India offers, two obstacles that the diplomat says are discouraging bilateral trade.

Ambassador Dinesh Patnaik said on Tuesday that Indian businesses exporting goods to and from Cambodia are paying port fees estimated to be as much as $800 per 20-foot container, compared with $400 in Vietnam.

Consequently, Patnaik described how instead of shipping directly to and from Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Indian businesses are sending goods to Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh port and moving them overland.

"Indian businesses are opting to ship bulk to Ho Chi Minh port as their main entry point, then transporting by road to Cambodia," he said. "Cambodia's government needs to keep port prices down."

His second complaint refers to a 2009 duty-free trade agreement under which the Indian government grants Cambodia an 85 per cent reduction on Indian customs fees.

Patnaik said that while major Indian exports of pharmaceutical drugs and raw textiles to Cambodia are growing at a healthy rate, more can be done to publicise the tariff preference deal and boost Cambodian exports to India, namely rubber, palm oil and pepper.

"India provided this duty-free agreement to bolster trade lines, but at the end of the day, all that matters is if Cambodians actually utilise them," he said.

Despite the dire picture, bilateral trade between the two countries is climbing.

According to the Indian Department of Commerce, volumes (imports and exports) between India and Cambodia increased nearly 17 per cent, from $106 million in the 2011-2012 fiscal year to $124 million in the 2012-2013 period. India's fiscal year runs from April 1 through March 31.

Cambodia exported more than $11 million in goods to India during the 2012-2013 financial year compared to just $5 million in 2009-2010, when the tariff preferences were first introduced.

Between 2009 and 2013, total bilateral trade between the two countries increased 145 per cent, according to Indian government records. Trade volumes for the current period are expected to be consistent with the year before.

"There is potential for much, much more export business given the concessions," Patnaik said.

Chan Sophal, spokesman for the Cambodian Economic Association, backed the ambassador's suggestion that more Cambodian businesses capitalise on trade with India, especially in black pepper.

However he added that access to information remains the biggest barrier for increasing volumes.

"In general, trade with any economy is good, but I would say there is a lack of awareness from Cambodian businesses on the benefits and opportunities in doing business with India," he said.

"Pepper is a signature commodity for the Kingdom, so this is an obvious trade route, which can and should be exploited."

Ken Ratha, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said the ministry has held numerous talks with exporters and embassies, including India's, regarding shipping and port fees, and said that a revision of the cost structure is currently under way.

"We are aware of exporters transporting goods to other countries for shipment, and we are still in the process of finding the best solution to bring Cambodia's shipping fees down, as well as establishing better transportation means to and from the ports," he said.

Representatives from Sihanoukville Autonomous Port could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The Supreme Court yesterday heard the appeal case of three women sentenced to seven years in prison for procuring two minors to become prostitutes, a charge that victims and their attorneys deny.

According to presiding judge Soeung Panha Vuth, defendants Eng Phan, 45, Chem Pov, 47, and Hong Thy, 47, were arrested in 2010 at the Lucky Star Hotel after having been asked by a Chinese national to find young girls and take them to a clinic for blood and virginity tests in preparation for selling them into prostitution.

Defence lawyer Khieu Sophal maintained that there was no evidence in the case apart from forced confessions.

"The victim did not testify before the court that my client committed the crime as accused," he said.

The doctor's letter, he added, was simply a health check-up.

Phan, Sophal's client, maintained that she had simply hired one of the purported victims, a 16-year-old girl from a poor family, to make fish dumplings for 10,000 riel ($2.50) a day.

Defendant Pov said that she didn't know the victim, and had simply been waiting for an appointment when she was arrested.

Dismissing the claims of innocence, Sek Saroeun, a lawyer for the victims, asked the court to punish the defendants further by making them pay compensation.

The verdict is to be be handed down on February 14.

The director of the Kampong Chhnang Provincial Agriculture Department has been suspended and removed from his position in the wake of allegations of corruption and abuse from subordinates, though officials yesterday declined to say whether further steps would be taken against him.

Muy Khan, the director of planning and accounting for the department, said yesterday that director Ngan Nany had been suspended since January 20 after the department received word of the official announcement from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The announcement also promoted Nany's deputy, Ngin Hun, to director.

"Ngan Nany's suspension is a part of the government official reformation in this ministry, and we wholeheartedly support and follow the orders," Khan added.

Kreong Samath, provincial director of production and veterinarians, said yesterday that Nany's suspension was likely "an administrative punishment" following a ministry investigation into a complaint filed against Nany.

In November, 47 officials at the district and provincial levels filed a complaint accusing Nany of accepting payoffs for promotions, collecting money from officials responsible for an anti-bird flu campaign, withdrawing department funds for his own use and cursing and insulting his subordinates.

Ministry inspector Iv Soksan, who investigated the case, said inspectors questioned 50 of the department's 80 provincial officials before filing their findings to the ministry.

Asked about the suspension yesterday, Nany said that he had no reason to disagree with the ministry's decision.

"I am a government official, so I have to obey and follow the ministry's decision," he said, declining to comment further.

Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando will not be granted a digital TV licence because up to 80 channels have been allocated to a Chinese state television network.

Khieu Kanharith, the minister of information, said in an interview on TVK on Tuesday night that the allocation of between 70 and 80 channels to Yunnan province's state television network meant the ministry was "lacking frequencies".

"We will provide it for Yunnan province of China because it is a centre for relations between ASEAN and China. Yunnan is signing with TVK to create a TV [network] that has some 80 channels," he said.

He did not elaborate on what the channels would broadcast, or what local firm the station had agreed to partner with.

Kanharith added that the government did not feel it should grant Sonando a licence because it saw him as affiliated with the Cambodia National Rescue Party, and the law does not state that parties have the right to run TV stations.

"He says not allowing him a TV channel is a freedom restriction.… Currently, Beehive Radio Station is carping on at the government and we are still patient. And [so are] others such as Sarika, VOA and RFA," Kanharith said.

Regarding Sonando's requests for wider radio coverage, Kanharith said that Beehive already has some of the best equipment of any private radio station, including an antenna 40 metres taller than its competitors'.

Sonando, he added, should first pay back the $75,000 he owes the government before trying to establish a TV station.

Sonando said yesterday that he intended to pay the money he owed to the Ministry of Information, but he could not afford to do so.