First doctoral training centre to be set up in UAE

Wagdy Sawahel15 July 2012 Issue No:230

 

The University of Wollongong in Dubai has joined with the National Research Foundation (NRF) in the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, to set up the country’s first doctoral training centre.

The agreement between Wollongong in Dubai, an offshoot of Australia’s University of Wollongong, and the NRF, which is an initiative of the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, was outlined in a 1 July article published by Trade Arabia.

The new UAE Doctoral Training Centre will focus on building sustainable research partnerships with government, industry and other universities as well as providing high-quality postgraduate education and addressing the lack of doctoral training in the UAE.

The centre will strive to improve the retention of students in doctoral programmes and help to create uniform research standards, and will host conferences to facilitate interaction between postgraduate students and supervisors from various universities.

It will also set up doctoral student networks and provide an electronic platform to facilitate ongoing communication between students at different universities.

The UAE move will help to tackle challenges facing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, including limited supply of knowledge workers to support innovation plans, highlighted in a 3 July report, Global Innovation Index 2012: Stronger innovation linkages for global growth.

The report indicated that GCC states were among a host of resource-rich, high-income "innovation underperformers" when comparing innovation performance against gross domestic product per capita.

Its findings were echoed by a study prepared by the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) and reported in a 1 July Gulf Times article.

The GOIC study pointed out that despite many Gulf countries heading towards a knowledge-based economy with significant results achieved – especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – the contribution of GCC states to the global knowledge-based economy is 0.2% compared to 4% to 4.5% in developed countries.

Speaking to University World News, Ghassan Aouad, president of the University of Wollongong in Dubai, said doctoral programmes were relatively new in the region “but have quickly expanded in the past few years.

“This makes doctoral training crucial in creating a network of well-trained researchers and future research leaders whose expertise will help guide the UAE and other states in the Gulf and the Arab World.

“It is of critical importance to establish other similar centres in the region in order to support and promote knowledge-based economies,” Aouad argued.

“The formal research training which will be supported by the centre will enhance the human developments efforts undertaken by the UAE government, improve the research output of the nation and result in the production of research on issues related to the UAE and the Gulf region.

Mohammed Kuchari, an associate professor of microbiology at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, welcomed the new development, which he said could provide a “good model for excellence in pan-Arab doctoral training” and help to create the world-class research community and powerful science base essential for the knowledge economy.

According to a November 2011 Arab research strategy, there are about nine million students in 470 higher education institutions in the region, but only 10% are postgraduates.

To enhance the new centre’s role, Kuchari said, it should develop parameters for measuring quality assurance in doctoral training and encourage the setting up of university consortia and networks “to ensure that doctoral training is undertaken in a strong research environment”.

It could also promote “the vital role of doctoral training to business and industrial communities” and the value of doctoral training for careers beyond academia, Kuchari told University World News.

Richard Gold, an expert in innovation, patent law and policy, as well as being a law professor at Canada-based McGill University and the director of The Innovation Partnership, said regional training for doctoral students had been “one of the critical missing pieces in developing scientific capacity.

“Doctoral students who study abroad often remain where they learn as they develop links, both personal and professional, where they live. Thus, developing countries suffer from a brain drain as some of their best students move abroad,” Gold told University World News.

“Locating training at home will provide students with the option of remaining in their home countries while receiving a first-class education. Increasing links with top international universities to provide local training will build local capacity to participate in the innovation economy,” Gold added.

“While this is a long-term investment, it is critical if the UAE and neighbouring states wish to build the capacity to innovate, build local enterprises and develop entrepreneurial expertise.”

Gold said it was important to ensure that such centres offered first-class education, and so they should not compromise on the quality of instruction, equipment and laboratories.

“One of the best ways of ensuring this is to collaborate with an internationally recognised university,” Gold argued, including some training at the overseas university “to broaden students’ intellectual horizons” for periods that did not displace students for too long.

“What the UAE and its neighbours offers to these universities is well educated students who are eager to learn as well as the ability to fund research, which is of increasing importance to publicly-financed universities.

“Developing these relationships can therefore be win-win as research relies increasingly on international collaborations that require a significant number of highly qualified students, laboratories and research funding,” Gold concluded.

 

Four out of 10 graduates worldwide from China and India by 2020

David Jobbins12 July 2012 Issue No:230

 

Four out of every 10 university graduates will come from just two countries – China and India – by 2020, according to a new report from the OECD. China alone will account for 29% of graduates aged 25-34, with the United States and Europe stagnating at just over a quarter.

The report says that if current trends continue, the number of 25- to 34-year-olds from Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and South Africa with a higher education degree will be almost 40% higher than the number from all OECD countries in 2020.

The latest in the series of Education in Focus reports records that in 2000 there were 51 million 25- to 34-year-olds with higher education degrees in OECD countries, and 39 million in non-OECD G20 countries. The OECD sent the paper out last week.

One in every six 25- to 34-year-old with a higher education degree was from the United States, and a similar proportion was from China; 12% came from the Russian Federation and about 10% each were from Japan and India.

By 2010, the same countries still possessed the largest shares of young people with a degree – but in a different order. According to OECD estimates, China accounted for 18%, followed by the US with 14%, the Russian Federation and India (each with 11%) and Japan with 7%.

The OECD concedes that its projections may actually underestimate the future growth of the global talent pool, partly because a number of countries are pursuing initiatives to further drive up qualifications among their young people.

It cites the goal set in 2009 by the US to become the nation with the highest proportion of 25- to 34-year-old tertiary graduates – requiring the proportion of younger adults in the US with a degree to reach 60% by the end of the decade.

It also acknowledges the progress made by European Union member states to increase the percentage of 30- to 34-year-olds completing higher education by at least 40% – Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK have already reached this goal for the 25- to 34-year-old population.

These ambitions are dwarfed by China, “which has quintupled its number of tertiary graduates and doubled its number of tertiary institutions in the last 10 years”.

It aims for 20% of its citizens – or 195 million people – to have higher education degrees by 2020. If this goal is realised, the OECD says that China will have a population of tertiary graduates roughly equal in size to the entire projected population of 25- to 64-year-olds in the US in 2020.

And it predicts that the ceiling for jobs in science and technology has not been reached and that individuals from increasingly better-educated populations will continue to have good employment outcomes, as long as economies continue to become more knowledge based.

“On average across OECD countries, human resources in science and technology (HRST) occupations represented more than a quarter of total employment in 2010,” the report says.

“In Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland, HRST workers accounted for more than 40% of all employees, while in India, China and Indonesia they accounted for less than 10%.”

Importantly, it points out, between 1998 and 2008 employment in these occupations “increased at a faster rate than total employment in all OECD and G20 countries with available data”.
 

U.S. to ASEAN: 'Take a stand on territorial dispute which can threaten all of you'

Friday, July 13. 2012

by Michaela del Callar

MANILA — United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take a stand on the three-month impasse between China and the Philippines at the Bajo de Masinloc, warning that such territorial dispute could eventually threaten all 10 members of the regional bloc. 

“What might be a challenge today for some of ASEAN’s members, if left unaddressed by all of ASEAN, could lead tomorrow to issues that may become problems for (the rest of) other ASEAN members,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) quoted Clinton as saying during the ASEAN-U.S. ministerial meeting in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Wednesday.

It was the first major call on the ASEAN, which is currently led by Cambodia, to take a clearer and stronger stand on the long-simmering territorial rift in the West Philippines Sea, also known as South China Sea, which involves four ASEAN members -- Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

China and Taiwan are also involved in the dispute, which has long been feared as Asia’s next potential flashpoint for a major armed conflict.

Beijing virtually claims the whole of South China Sea, which is dotted by clusters of islands, cays, shoals and reefs, and teems with rich fishing areas. The vast sea is also believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits and is regarded as among the world’s most strategic and busiest waterways.

Clinton also urged the ASEAN to act fast and finalize a regional Code of Conduct, a proposed legally binding pact with China that aims at preventing the territorial conflict from degenerating into armed confrontation by enacting rules that would discourage aggression.

Cambodia, a key ally of China, has been hosting the week-long annual ASEAN ministerial meetings as chairman of the bloc, which also includes Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

ASEAN has been criticized for failing to take stronger and rapid steps to ease the territorial conflict in the South China Sea. The Philippines has urged the bloc to speak up after Filipino vessels figured in a dangerous standoff with Chinese ships at the Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, last April 10.

But the dispute at the shoal dragged on for months without ASEAN collectively issuing any statement. ASEAN, through Cambodia, has to issue a joint communiqué on different issues after this week’s ministerial meetings that are expected to touch on the South China Sea conflicts.

ASEAN members have been seen by analysts as having been divided in their political alliances between Asian powerhouse China and the United States, which has been trying to reassert its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cambodia, which has received huge economic assistance and investments from China, has promised to be an impartial chairman of the ASEAN meetings despite concerns it would toe Beijing’s line on most issues, including the South China Sea territorial row.

The Philippines and Vietnam, on the other hand, have separately increased their military engagements with Washington as they confronted China in fresh territorial incidents in the disputed waters.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who is leading the Philippine delegation in Phnom Penh, told fellow ASEAN ministers “that the current situation in the West Philippine Sea deserves urgent attention from ASEAN because it has direct impact on unimpeded commerce and freedom of navigation in the region,” the DFA said in a statement issued in Manila.

Del Rosario said the territorial conflicts should be resolved through a United Nations maritime treaty signed by the Philippines, China and 162 other governments for any solution to gain international recognition and respect.

“The adherence of all countries in the region to a set of fair and transparent rules, as embodied in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, will generate greater mutual trust and respect in the region,” Del Rosario said.

UNCLOS gives maritime states the right to develop, explore and exploit areas up to 200 nautical miles from its shores - coastal waters the U.N. treaty calls Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of a country like the Philippines.

China has frowned on bringing the territorial dispute to any international arena or forum such as the ASEAN, preferring to negotiate with each of the other rival claimants in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, along with the United States, has taken steps to raise the issue in multilateral fora.

The ASEAN-US meeting in Phnom Penh Wednesday was jointly presided by Del Rosario and Clinton.

During the meeting, Clinton said that Washington “looks to ASEAN and claimant States to provide leadership in this issue and recognize the important role of the (ASEAN) chair to find consensus and advance a common ASEAN position,” the DFA said.

“ASEAN needs to meet its own goals and standards and be able to speak with one voice on issues facing the region,” the DFA quoted Clinton as saying. (PNA)

Cambodia's proud history of building art

Friday, 13 July 2012

Dr. Tilman Baumgärtel

 

 The Office of the Prime Minister on Jok Dimitrov Boulevard. Photograph: Heng Cuechly and Dareth Rosaline

 

A collaboration between media students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the new magazine Sthapatyakam has highlighted some of Phnom Penh’s architectural treasures, from the Angkor period through to the contemporary styles that have occasioned the city’s development boom. Project supervisor Dr. Tilman Baumgärtel discusses the origins of the project alongside excerpts from the publication.

When I moved to Phnom Penh in 2009, one of the first things that piqued my interest was the Naga-adorned parapet along Norodom Boulevard between Street 106 and Street 108 south of Wat Phnom. Why were these Nagas there? It looked like a bridge, but a bridge over what?

It was only when I started to poke around at the wonderful and surprisingly well-endowed National Archive of Cambodia that I came across a picture that explained the mystery to me: during the colonial period, Norodom Boulevard used to cross the Verneville Canal here. This channel separated the French Quarter around Wat Phnom from the Chinese downtown of Phnom Penh, and has since been replaced by a small park strip. Ever since, whenever I ride my bike over this ex-bridge, I think: “I am driving over water.”

Phnom Penh is a city full of little mysteries and great buildings. Ride your bike through the city with an open eye, and you find a bizarre little tailor shop called “Casanova Tailor” on Street 19 that looks like it has been in operation since 1950. A former colonial-era delicatessen-turned-hotel-turned-flophouse has old French shop signs on the walls (the “International” on the corner of Street 13 and Street 130).

Behind this non-descript wall, east of France Street, is a military hospital where not much has changed since circa 1900.

These are just some of the fascinating buildings that we could not include in our magazine Sthapatyakam: The Architecture of Cambodia, a semester project that I did with my journalism students at the Department of Media and Communication at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Since we had only a limited number of pages, we could not include many of the architectural marvels that make Phnom Penh such a wondrous city – despite the dirt, the neglect and the grime.

We hope that we can inspire both Phnom Penhers and visitors to look at the city as a treasure chest of some of the finest European-inspired colonial architecture in Southeast Asia. At the same time, as an ensemble of the most advanced modern architecture in the post-war period in all of Asia: the private residences and official buildings that Vann Molyvann, the first “eco-architect” in history, and his contemporaries created in the Sangkum Reastr Niyum period. We hope that much of it will survive the current speculation boom and modernisation of the city (especially the Olympic Stadium), so Phnom Penh stays a city that is attractive and habitable for its citizens.

Wat Botum Vathey
Vorn Sokhan

Wat Botum Vathey was established in 1442 by King Ponhea Yat. “Wat Botum Vathey, whose original name was Wat Khpop Ta Yang, was built on a raised ground,” says Chem Thyrack, deputy chief monk of the pagoda. “At that time, Buddhist temples were built from wood.”

In 1865, it was rebuilt under King Norodom and renamed Wat Botum Vathey, which means “Pagoda of the Lotus”, because it was surrounded by ponds full of lotus flowers.

He adds that at that time, this kind of natural decoration was the only way to adorn the pagoda. The lotus ponds kept the pagoda beautiful. This technique was also used in Angkor Wat, where the temples originally were also surrounded by water. In 1937, King Sisowat Monivong and the Venerable Panhatybor Sok had the main temple rebuilt in brick and cement.

The Wat Botum complex is 260 metres long and 202 metres wide with six gateways. There are 44 houses, one Buddhist temple, one gathering hall, one residence for high-ranking monks, one library, the building of the Writer’s Association, two primary school buildings, one bell tower, and 37 monk houses.

Around the main temple, there are many stupas, and behind the temple there are sculptures of tigers and lions. On the south side of the temple is the most important stupa of the Wat, which contains a bone of the Buddha. On the walls inside the temple are paintings about the life of Buddha.

Chinese House
Sam Chanmaliny

The Chinese House belongs to the family of Tan Bunpa, a Chinese merchant of Hokkien descent. Tan Bunpa bought the land on Sisowath Quay on the banks of the Tonle Sap River and built the house in 1904. As this was during the French colonial period, the house was designed in a combination of Chinese and French style.

The Chinese House was built following the concept of Feng Shui, meaning “wind and water”. As the building is located at the riverbanks, the air from the Tonle Sap can blow into the building and cool it.

The whole building is built out of concrete that has been painted in light yellow and white, with a traditional Chinese roof with clay tiles. The door and window frames are painted in a dark green.

The Chinese House has two floors. Traditionally, builders pounded dirt and soil to create the floor of a house or laid a foundation with bricks, but this building is different because the floor is tiled with French tiles from the colonial period. The roofs, doors, and pillars are all in traditional Chinese style. The upper floor is made out of hard wood, and Chinese lanterns hang from the roof.

The building was owned by Tan Bunpa’s family until 1975. The house was abandoned during the Khmer Rouge period. In the 1980s, some families from the neighbourhood managed it. From the 1990s to 2007, the owner was Darryl Collins, an Australian art historian. The great-granddaughter of Tan Bunpa bought the house in November 2008 and owns it now.

The Chinese House is still in a good location, and it still serves as a business house. Originally, Tan Bunpa used the house to sell food and to supply foodstuffs to the ‘Prison du Protectorat’, the colonial prison, and other departments of the French administration. Nowadays the great-granddaughter of Tan Bunpa rents the house to business people, says current manager Antonio Lopez De Haro. Today, the Chinese House is a restaurant that attracts both local customers and tourists.

The Office of the Prime Minister
Chey Phearon

The Office of the Prime Minister, also known as the Peace Palace, was officially opened on October 19, 2010, by the King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihamoni, and Prime Minister Hun Sen. According to a press release from the Press and Quick Reaction Unit, the building’s design is a combination of Khmer building styles from the Angkor period and modern architecture that defines a new style.

The building has two wings which have been added to avoid the simple square shape which is, according to architect Chheang Sidath, “considered to be a flaw in architecture.”

Besides that, the two wings provide more space for the building’s function, in order to house meetings and conferences such as the recent ASEAN summit.

On the eaves on top of the building is the Cambodian coat of arms surrounded by the Bang Klaeng ornament; one decorative element in ancient Khmer architecture first used on Preah Ko Temple in the 9th century, that is part of the Rolous group in Siem Reap, and featured on Banteay Srei temple in the 10th century. The walls and the main gate around the building are embellished with the modernised version of the Bang Klaeng.

The building was constructed by the Ly Chhuong Construction Import & Export Company in consultation with Samdech Chaovea Veang Kong Som Ol, the Minister of Royal Affairs. According to Prime Minister Hun Sen, the Peace Palace is considered as a symbol of Cambodia’s great achievement, since all engineers, architects, constructors and designers who contributed to the building are Khmer.

The Peace Palace was constructed exclusively out of the national budget. The building cost US$50 million, a sum that does not include the interior equipment and furniture.

Sthapatyakam: The Architecture of Cambodia is on sale at Monument Books for $2.50

India’s anti-alcohol laws: Inspector Killjoy

 

A crackdown highlights the problems with a modern city’s archaic rules

Jun 23rd 2012 | MUMBAI | from the print edition 

IF A Bollywood scriptwriter had to dream up a killjoy cop, he would base him on Vasant Dhoble. Over the past month Mumbai’s police have been shutting down parties and confiscating bars’ music systems in a drive to regulate the city’s nightlife. Leading the drive has been Mr Dhoble, the head of the city police’s “social services” division.

A stocky figure in his 50s sporting a moustache, Mr Dhoble has gained cartoon-villain status among hip Mumbaikers. An anti-Dhoble Facebook group has attracted over 20,000 members. Urbane newspapers witheringly describe him as a teetotal vegetarian. Bloggers have shared video footage that shows him roughing up employees at a juice bar, armed with a hockey stick.

The crackdown intensified on May 20th, when officers broke up a party at a hotel. Guests were rounded up and blood-tested. Police cited the Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949, which states that even customers must have a permit to booze. Mr Dhoble is making a speciality of dusting off old edicts—alcohol was banned in the state of Maharashtra, which the city of Mumbai (then Bombay) dominates, until 1963. Many prohibition-era laws have not been updated, yet until recently were rarely enforced.

Mr Dhoble or his officers have also shown up at five of the city’s high-end bars this month, slapping fines on them for overcrowding or for allowing DJs to perform without the correct licences. At another bar, some women customers were detained on suspicion of being prostitutes, leading to a defamation lawsuit against Mr Dhoble that was dismissed on June 20th. Bar-owners say turnout has dropped as nervous customers have chosen to stay at home.

Mr Dhoble’s crackdown highlights a wider grievance among Mumbai’s business crowd, all of whom complain about archaic and fiddly rules (be they citywide, statewide or national laws). Bar-owners say they need up to 20 licences to run a single drinking hole, and up to three-dozen if music is also to be allowed. Property developers grumble that they have to provide the original plan of a building they wish to overhaul. One art dealer is fed up with the lengthy process by which sculptures for export must officially be confirmed as not being antiques—even contemporary pieces in fibreglass. 

The World Bank ranked India 132nd out of 183 countries in last year’s “Ease of Doing Business” report.

Mr Dhoble, at least, appears honest. But outdated rules create opportunities for graft—one reason they remain in place. A bar-owner says that when setting up a venue last year, Mumbai officials expected a bribe equal to the cost of each licence they issued. One licence cost over $6,000. Officials ask the art dealer for under-the-table fees before sculptures for export can be signed off. A property lawyer says he just thinks of corruption as part of the process—itself an example of how a supposedly go-ahead city can stay stuck firmly in the past.

Young Cambodians cut their lifelines for a wage

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Phearun Sreng

 

Tien Vireak was standing alone in the dark, sleepily holding his umbrella. As a security guard, his job is to stay awake when everyone else is sleeping.

He is only 24, but would be happy to take off his uniform and find a better job.

For people like Vireak, however, this is the only option.

“I don’t have a high level education,” he said. “I am also the son of a farmer.”

With a salary ranging from US$90 to $100 per month, his job requires a high level of responsibility and courage.

“As a security guard, I have to work alone every night, standing in front of the company from 6pm until 6am,” Vireak said. “I cannot even think of falling asleep, I am too afraid someone will rob something, like a car or other things that the company owns. If that happened, I wouldn’t be able to pay the company back for what was lost.”

This is a lesson Vireak learnt in the past, when he lost a phone battery and $27 was deducted from his already poor salary.

To make his job even harder, gang violence can be dangerous at night and bad weather very unpleasant.

In order to send support to their families who live in the countryside, workers have to make many sacrifices, especially by saving up on rent and food. This usually leads to poor hygienic living conditions and unhealthy diets unable to provide the basic nutritional elements to keep the strength to work.

Kuy Im, a 31-year-old factory worker, makes an average of $70 a month. In order to survive, he has to cut his daily ration of food. Needless to say, eating boiled rice (around 1000 riel, or twenty-five cents a cup) every day might be good for his wallet, but dangerous for his health.

Workers are also being put in danger because of unsafe working practices. Last month, The Post reported that 107 factory employees who were sent to hospital after fainting due to protracted exposure to poisoning chemicals while manufacturing gloves.

“I have been working in a factory for 10 years,” Im said. “But I am still concerned about my Chinese bosses’ attitude. They just don’t care, for them workers are worth nothing. They do nothing else except blame us and look down on us, even when we are right.”

Unlike factory workers, construction workers might not be exposed to toxic or poisonous chemicals, but their work place is not much safer. Without the proper protection and equipment, a construction site can easily become lethal.

“Carrying heavy stuff is not a problem,” Bun Thoeurn, 31, who started working for a construction company at the age of 15, said. “It’s the lack of protection that worries me. Dying just like that, it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Thoeurn has been fortunate enough not to get injured so far. But witnessing people falling from buildings or being hit by electric shocks tells him how easily these things can happen without safety measures.

Many construction workers get injured in road accidents while moving from one building site to another. On top of that, if injured, their salary is often too low to cover the medical expenses.

Bun Ying, Communications Officer of the International Labour Organization in Cambodia, also expressed his concern about the risks these workers have to face daily.

“Although working conditions have been improved recently, there are still a lot of challenges for workers. Health problems and poor safety at work are examples that prove that the quality of their working conditions is still not high enough if compared with what they earn,” Ying Said.

Although the textile industry is booming, and more factories are being built every day, companies still don’t consider their worker’s health and safety as a fundamental issue, he added.

In order to achieve higher productivity however, benefits are important. Not only will that attract workers but it will motivate them to produce more and want to keep their job. With better working policies, companies would also gain a better reputation in the market, Ying explained.

But for the moment, current working conditions only make workers want to leave and try to find something else.

“When I’ll have enough savings I will start my own business,” Vireak said. “I want to guarantee an appropriate standard of living for myself, one that a worker like me doesn’t have the privilege to access.”

Interfering officials arrested

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Military police in Stung Treng province arrested five government officials yesterday after they forcibly stopped student volunteers from measuring property lines as part of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s national initiative to help settle land disputes.

The volunteers, mostly university students, were measuring land for villagers in conflict with companies that had received economic land concessions in Samaki commune.

A deputy commander with the military police who didn’t want to be named said that five officials from the Ministry of National Defence and the Council of Ministers were arrested. He said some of them had positions as legal advisers to the government.

“The case involves high ranking officials – it is too difficult to find information as authorities are willing to keep information from spreading,” said Hour Sam Ol, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc in Stung Treng.

Stung Treng provincial governor Loy Sophat said that the dispute started because a “group of people”, whom he didn’t identify, tried to force the volunteer students to measure land for their own development purposes. Apparently, they wanted to plant an orchard.

“Thus, what they did is contrary to the government policy,” he said.

Sophat declined to identify the group because he said he needed to make contact with military police officers first.

Mobile phones could replace credit cards

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Gregory Pellechi

 

Mobile money transfer service WING is preparing to launch a mobile wallet service later this year, and ACLEDA Unity is preparing to expand its own mobile services, enabling people to quickly pay for things just by touching their phone to a point-of-sale terminal.

Near-field communications (NFC) technology will be the next addition to WING’s mobile platform to be used for smaller payments, such as purchasing a cup of coffee, as the company tests the service later this year, according to WING chief operations officer Anthony Perkins.

“What we really want to tackle here is near-field communication like the Oyster Card in London or similar services offered in Japan and Australia,” he said.

NFC technology, which one in five smartphones will have by next year, according to Juniper Research, will enable mobile phones to act as cashless wallets. Users will simply swipe their phone over a terminal to complete a transaction.

Sok Sophea, senior vice-president of marketing for ACLEDA Bank, said ACLEDA would be introducing additional mobile services to its Unity mobile banking facility, which is utilised by 68,000 customers. She did not say when the new features would be available, however.

“The system is updated, and only the customers need to be introduced to the new features,” Sophea said.

For customers without smartphones, WING would provide a sticker embedded with an NFC chip that could be placed under an ordinary phone’s case to enable WING’s mobile wallet, Perkins said.

Seventy-four per cent of the population in urban and semi-urban areas of Cambodia had mobile phones, 23 per cent of which were smartphones, Laurent Notin, general manager of Indochina Research, said.

“I think there is more potential in Cambodia for mobile banking and NFC technology than for credit or debit cards as a payment tool, considering a mobile phone is now a commodity and the penetration of mobile phones is significantly higher than the penetration of credit or debit cards.

“Cambodian people are already familiar with mobile banking. NFC technology is an obvious next development for a company like WING.”

Notin said Cambodia’s high reliance on cash for transactions might slow propagation of the mobile wallet system.

“One of the challenges the industry will have to overcome is the high reliance Cambodians have on cash.

“There is a difference between sending money to support the family’s living or for a loan, and using a mobile phone or credit card to pay for a product or service.”

WING’s Perkins said plastic credit cards were not working in Cambodia at all.

“Plastic just hasn’t taken off. I think Cambodia will jump from cash to mobile payments,” he said.

Ten per cent of WING’s 400,000 customers would be classified as affluent or middle-class, in keeping with the socio-economic divide of the country, and some even kept a couple of thousand dollars on their WING account, Perkins said.

Anne Guerineau, general manager of Gloria Jean’s Coffees, the first international coffee-chain franchise to enter Cambodia, said her company did not accept credit or debit cards at the moment.

“We don’t do cards for the moment. But it’s true we’ve started to get requests from guests,” she said.

Guerineau said she would welcome the ability to pay through NFC technology.

“It could be good for all those younger people who get pocket money to spend from their affluent parents.

“This is our target. Gloria Jean’s brought a new concept of coffee retail into the country with the ‘self-service’ style, so this would go along with the modern way of life our guests enjoy.”

Cellcard chief operations officer Kay Lot could not be reached for comment and Sok Sophea from ACLEDA had nothing to say on WING’s plans.

WING was also looking to launch an online payment gateway for Cambodia early next year, Perkins said.

“It’s in our IT pipeline over the next six months. Regardless of whether the market is ready, we will work on it.”
 

‘Language’ holds up South China Sea pact

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Bridget Di Certo and Cheang Sokha

 

The world is watching ASEAN foreign ministers as they scramble to reach a consensus on a regional Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, officials at the summit in Phnom Penh acknowledged yesterday.

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that consensus among ASEAN members was a “work in progress”. “We are getting there,” he said.

The major hold-up is “agreement on language,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn said at a press conference yesterday evening.

“The foreign ministers are working on their joint communiqué, but are working on agreement on the language.”

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said ASEAN discussions on the CoC were already having a “calming affect” on the international community.

“The fact that they are all committed to work on the code of conduct seriously in good faith . . . we have already achieved a milestone,” Pitsuwan said. “Earlier on, there was a reluctance on some parties to engage or not to engage and to engage … informally or engage periodically.”

Earlier in the week, ASEAN officials announced that officials had already drafted key elements of the CoC and these elements would then be taken to informal discussion with China.

However, China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Fu Ying, told reporters that there had been a “suggestion” from ASEAN ministers to launch discussions with China on the Code.

“The Chinese minister would like to give a serious consideration of the proposals for exploring the possibilities of a discussion of CoC,” Ying said, stressing that engagement would hinge on all members of ASEAN obeying and implementing the current Declaration of Conduct.

The politics of gender in Cambodia

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Xiaoqing Pi

 

 Twenty-eight-year-old Tek Nim, a Sam Rainsy Party member and newly elected commune chief in Omlaing commune, in Kampong Speu province’s Thpong district, poses for a photograph. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

 

 Pich Srey Pho’s involvement in politics may have contributed to the demise of her marriage, but that hasn’t stopped her from encouraging other women to follow in her footsteps and become a commune council member.

Pich Srey Pho, who represents the Cambodian People’s Party in Pursat, said cultural stereotyping was hindering women’s involvement in politics.

“My husband asked me to stay at home,” she said.

Pich Srey Pho didn’t – she went out to campaign instead – and is now divorced.

Because of such gender barriers, parties need to make more effort to promote women’s involvement in politics, party representatives and NGOs said in a meeting yesterday.

The Cambodian Millennium Development Goals include a target for 25 per cent of commune seats to be filled by women by 2015. Less than 18 per cent went to women at this year’s commune election.

“Our society has not seen the benefits of women participating in politics,” said Ros Sopheap, executive director of the NGO Gender and Development for Cambodia.

Women have proved themselves in fields such as education and many have the potential to make a difference in politics, she said.

At just 28, Tek Nim, the newly elected Omlaing commune chief in Kampong Speu province’s Thpong district, is an example.

“I didn’t pay attention to politics,” she said. “But then we were faced with land grabbing.” She joined the Sam Rainsy Party and won her seat last month.

Twenty-one per cent of the CPP’s commune council members are women – the highest among all parties.

Pich Srey Pho attributes her party’s success to its women’s communications skills and transparency. Both Funcinpec and the Human Rights Party believe CPP leads simply because it has more resources.

What the parties can agree on is that the perception politics is “unwomanly” is something that needs changing.

A good start would be to pay women politicians more, Pich Srey Pho said, as many were getting less than most husbands can offer to keep their wives at home.

កៅ គឹមហួនៈ កិច្ចប្រជុំកំពូលវេទិកាតំបន់អាស៊ី ARF ផ្តោតជាសំខាន់លើបញ្ហា៦

 Thursday, 12 July 2012 19:58 ដោយៈ សយ សុភា-បាន ចក់

ភ្នំពេញ៖ លោក កៅ គឹមហួន រដ្ឋលេខាធិការក្រសួង ការបរទេសកម្ពុជា និងជាអ្នកនាំពាក្យ កិច្ចប្រជុំកំពូលវេទិកាតំបន់ អាស៊ី ហៅកាត់ថា ARF បានថ្លែងឱ្យដឹងក្រោយពីកិច្ចប្រជុំចង្អៀត និងកិច្ចប្រជុំពេញអង្គ ដោយបានសង្កត់ធ្ងន់លើបញ្ហាតំបន់ និងអន្តរជាតិ ជាពិសេសបញ្ហា សន្តិសុខពិភពលោក។

ថ្លែងប្រាប់នៅក្នុងសន្និសីទសារព័ត៌មានក្រោយកិច្ចប្រជុំ នៅថ្ងៃព្រហស្បតិ៍ទី១២ ខែកក្កដា ឆ្នាំ២០០១២ ឱ្យដឹងថា កិច្ចប្រជុំនោះ ផ្តោតជាសំខាន់លើបញ្ហាចំនួន៦៖

១. រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីការបរទេស នៃ ARF បានស្វាគមន៍ការកែទម្រង់នៅក្នុងប្រទេសមីយ៉ាន់ម៉ា និងបាន អំពាវនាវឱ្យបន្ត ការលើកលែងការដាក់ទណ្ឌកម្ម។

២. រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីការបរទេស នៃ ARF បូករូមទាំង EU (សហគមន៍អឺរ៉ុប) បានគាំទ្រតួនាទីស្នូលរបស់ អាស៊ាន នៅក្នុង តំបន់ និងចង់បន្តឱ្យអាស៊ាន។

៣. ពាក់ព័ន្ធនឹងបញ្ហាកូរ៉េខាងជើង រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីការបរទេសនៃ ARFបានស្នើឱ្យគ្រប់ភាគីពាក់ ព័ន្ធទាំងអស់ គោរព សេចក្តីសម្រេចរបស់ក្រុមប្រឹក្សាសន្តិសុខអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិ និងបង្កលក្ខណៈងាយស្រួលឱ្យមានសន្តិភាព និងការចរចារ៦ភាគីឡើងវិញផងដែរ។

៤. ពាក់ព័ន្ធនឹងបញ្ហាសមុទ្រចិនខាងត្បូង រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីការបរទេស នៃ ARF ក៏បានអំពាវនាវឱ្យភាគី ពាក់ព័ន្ធទាំងអស់ គោរពសន្ធិសញ្ញាស្តីពីមិត្តនៅអាស៊ីអាគ្នេយ៍ និងឯកសារគោលមួយចំនួនដូច ជាច្បាប់អន្តរជាតិ និងច្បាប់ សមុទ្ររបស់អង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិ និងសេរីភាពនៃនាវាចរណ៍។

៥. រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីការបរទេសនៃ ARF ក៏បានផ្លាស់ប្តូរទស្សនៈយោបល់ស្តី ពីបញ្ហាអន្តរជាតិនានាផងដែរ។

៦. រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីការបរទេសនៃ ARF ក៏ផ្តោតជាសំខាន់នៃគ្រោះមហន្តរាយធម្មជាតិផងដែរដើម្បីធ្វើយ៉ាង ធានាថា វេទិកាតំបន់អាស៊ី ចូលរូមចំណែកដោះស្រាយ ក៏ដូចជាឆ្លើយតបទៅគ្រោះមហន្តរាយតំបន់ នោះក៏ព្រោះតែតំបន់ អាស៊ីអាគ្នេយ៍នេះ ជាតំបន់ងាយរងគ្រោះជាងគេ៕

Prime Minister Hun Sen's Message in the World People Day

A quick study Bogus degrees from non-existent colleges cause headaches for employers in China

Jul 7th 2012 | BEIJING | from the print edition 

ALMOST 7m students are graduating from Chinese universities this summer, and there is plenty of pressure to turn newly minted qualifications into well-paid jobs. The competition is increased by the ease with which almost anyone in China can buy a fake degree.

On July 3rd a former Ministry of Education official went on trial in Beijing charged with swindling students who hoped to study in America. The man, and three others, are alleged to have posed as agents for a non-existent American college called “Nation University”.

As well as ripping off aspiring students, Chinese crooks also cater to businessmen who want to plump up their CVs. In April nine people stood trial in the capital charged with selling fake degree certificates from non-existent American colleges. They charged up to 190,000 yuan ($30,000) each, selling the diplomas mainly to corporate executives. The businessmen paid up, went to a few classes and received the diplomas, with no exam required.

For those who cannot afford a degree from a fake foreign university, more than 100 fake Chinese universities now offer diplomas for sale. Many of them have websites and use names similar to those of real colleges. Some even use doctored photographs to advertise their qualifications: one image online shows a group of students said to be from the non-existent Wuhan University of Industry and Commerce standing in Tiananmen Square—the original photograph shows the same group under a banner proclaiming who they really are: students from the Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology.

In one case that came to light in June a group of 68 students had been paying to attend class at what they thought was a programme affiliated with the Shandong Institute of Light Industry. After four years they found out that everything about the programme had been a scam (even though the institute was real), and that the man behind the scheme had vanished.

Xiong Bingqi of Shanghai’s (genuine) Jiaotong University says the problem is a lack of government regulation. Slowly, though, computerised anti-fraud systems are being introduced to stop those with dubious certificates from landing government jobs. A growing number of foreign and Chinese companies now check the authenticity of diplomas as well. The Beijing case in April came to light after one victim’s certificate for a PhD in business administration from Abraham Lincoln University failed to pass an authenticity test. She alerted police.

Such cases have not stopped the fraudsters, and would-be students are still trying to buy their way to a better career. A diploma can make all the difference in the modern Chinese job hunt. In some cases fee-paying students know they are matriculating with a fake university but see it as an easy way to obtain a diploma. You can buy everything else in China, so why not academic qualifications?
“Chinese people pay more attention to having a diploma than they do to having a real education,” says Mr Xiong. “A diploma is worth actual money, whereas an education is not.”

from the print edition | China

Maritime Dispute between Cambodia and Thailand and International Jurisprudence

HE Hang Chuon Naron
Permanent Vice-Chairman
Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC)

Date: 25 July 2012 (Wednesday)
Time: 4:00pm-5:30pm
Place: Executive Seminar Room, Block B, NUS Bukit Timah Campus

FREE ADMISSION

Introduction

In the 1950s, Cambodia has stepped up efforts to establish her maritime boundaries by adopting a system of straight baselines in 1957. After ratifying the 1958 Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea, Cambodia expanded its territorial sea and adopted a line perpendicular to the general direction of the coasts as her lateral limit with Thailand. Thailand did not protest Cambodia’s unilateral act.

However, in response to Cambodia’s adoption of the limits of her continental shelf by a decree dated 1 January 1972, Thailand adopted a declaration dated 18 May 1973 to establish the outer limits of her continental shelf, thus creating an Overlapping Claim Area (OCA) between Cambodia and Thailand. Cambodia’s lateral limit claims are based on the French-Siamese Treaty of 23 March 1907, which states that: “The border between French Indochina (Cambodia) and Siam (Thailand) commences in the sea from a point situated in front of the highest point of the Koh Kut island”. Thailand claims appeared to be based on the Land Projection Theory. An MOU was signed on 18 June 2001 to confirm this OCA.

Cambodia and Thailand are “obliged to settle their international disputes by peaceful means” and are bound by “the obligation to negotiate, in good faith”. In this regard, jurisprudence has played a leading role in establishing rules that define the rights of coastal States to share maritime space through delimitation.

In case that the dispute would be submitted to the ICJ, what rules will be used for delimitation? The latter should take into account all relevant circumstances. Cambodia is disadvantaged by its coastal geography. The most prominent geographical feature of the Cambodian coast is the marked concavity of her coastlines. Cambodia is squeezed between Thailand and Vietnam in the same way like Germany, squeezed between Denmark and the Netherlands in the North Sea Continental Shelf Case. Thus, the effect of the use of the equidistance method is to “cut off” Cambodia from the further areas of the continental shelf. It is the search for equitable results that guides this research project.

About the Speaker

His Excellency Hang Chuon Naron is currently the Permanent Vice-Chairman of the Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC), a government think tank, and the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He holds Masters and Ph.D. degrees in International Economics from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (1982-1991), and an Advanced Diploma in Insurance from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), United Kingdom, and the Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII). He is an associate of the CII and the MII. He studied during 2010-2012 for a Master degree in international and comparative law at the Royal University of Law and Economics, a joint Master’s Degree of Law program with the University of Lyon 2 and the University of Nice-Antipolis, France (Master’s Thesis: Maritime Dispute between Cambodia and Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand and the International Jurisprudence).

He worked in various diplomatic missions and research institutions as a political and economic analyst. Since 1999, he held various positions at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, such as Research Coordinator of the Economic Advisory Team and First Deputy Director of Budget and Financial Affairs Department. Then he was appointed Deputy Secretary General in charge of Policies, including economic, fiscal and financial policies, ASEAN, financial industry, economic analysis as well as responsible for coordination with the IMF and the World Bank. He held the position of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance from 2004 to 2010. He represented Cambodia at the ASEAN and ASEAN+3 Deputies’ Finance and Central Bank Meetings.

He represents Cambodia at the Meetings of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors during Cambodian chairmanship of ASEAN. He also coordinates the policy dialogues between the Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. In his capacity as the Permanent Deputy Chairman of the Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC), the policy think tank for the Prime Minister, he has contributed to policy papers of the Royal Government of Cambodia, and has accompanied the Prime Minister in many international conferences, such as the UN General Assembly, the Non-Alignment Movement, the ASEAN Summit, the East Asian Summit and other international fora. He is author of a number of government policy papers and books on Cambodian economy and public finance. His book “Cambodian Economy: Charting the Course of a Brighter Future” was recently published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).

អ.ស.ប សុំអភ័យទោសចំពោះកំហុសខ្លួនក្នុងការចងទង់ជាតិកម្ពុជាពុំត្រឹមត្រូវ

ការ​សិក្សា​កាន់​តែ​ខ្ពស់​កាន់​តែ​ពិបាក​រកកា​រងារ​ធ្វើ!

ដោយ គី សុខលីម

និស្សិត​ខ្មែរ​រៀន​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​អនុបណ្ឌិត​និង​បណ្ឌិត​កាន់តែ​ច្រើន​ឡើង។ ការ​រៀន​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​កាន់​តែ​ខ្ពស់​គឺ​ជា​រឿង​ល្អ​ប៉ុន្តែ​ផ្ទុយ​ទៅ​វិញ ប្រការ​នេះ​ក៏​ជា​ការ​ប្រឈម​​របស់​សង្គម​និង​របស់​បុគ្គ​ល​អ្នក​រៀន​ខ្លួន​ ឯង​ដែរ។ តើ​មូលហេតុ​អ្វី​បាន​ជា​អ្នកសិក្សា​ចង់​បន្ត​រៀន​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​​ជាន់​​ ខ្ពស់​​នេះ?

ក្រោយ​ពី​ការ​ដួល​រំលំ​នៃ​របប​ប៉ុលពត​អាវខ្មៅ​នៅ​ឆ្នាំ​១៩៧៩ ​ចំនួន​អ្នក​ចេះ​ដឹង​ខ្មែរ​នៅ​សល់​តិចតួច​បំផុត​ដើម្បី​កសាង​ប្រទេស​ជាតិ​ ឡើង​វិញ។ កាលនោះ រដ្ឋាភិបាល​សម័យ​រដ្ឋ​កម្ពុជា​តែងតែ​ប្រកាន់​យក​ទ្រឹស្តី​អ្នកចេះ​ច្រើន​ បង្រៀន​អ្នកចេះ​តិច។

ទ្រឹស្តី​មួយ​នេះ​បាន​ចូលរួម​លើក​ទឹក​ចិត្ត​ប្រជាជន​ខ្មែរ​អោយ​ខិតខំ​ សម្ភី​សិក្សា​កាន់តែ​ខ្លាំង​ឡើង។ ៣០​ឆ្នាំ​ក្រោយ​មក និសិ្សត​ច្រើន​ម៉ឺន​នាក់​បាន​ចេញ​ពី​សាកល​វិទ្យាល័យ​ជា​រៀងរាល់​ឆ្នាំ។
បច្ចុប្បន្ន​នេះ ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​មិនខ្វះ​ទៀត​ឡើយ​ចំនួន​និសិ្សត​ទទួល​បាន​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ បរិញ្ញាប័ត្រ​​ប៉ុន្តែ​ប្រទេស​ក្រីក្រ​មួយ​នេះ​កំពុង​ប្រឈម​នឹង​កង្វះ​ ការងារ​សមរម្យ​សម្រាប់​និសិ្សត​ទាំងនោះ​ទៅវិញ​។ បញ្ហា​ប៉ុស្តិ៍​ការងារ​ជារឿង​ឈឺ​ក្បាល​មួយ​។ ប៉ុន្តែ​បញ្ហា​មួយ​ទៀត​ដែល​អ្នក​ជំនាញ​មួយ​ចំនួន​កំពុង​តែ​បារម្ភ​ដែរ​នោះ​ គឺ​រឿង​និស្សិត​មួយ​ចំនួន​ធំ​បាន​នាំគ្នា​រៀន​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​កាន់តែ​ខ្ពស់​ ឡើងៗ។
បើ​ផ្អែក​លើ​ការ​កត់​សម្គាល់ជាក់ស្តែង និស្សិត​កាន់តែ​ច្រើន​ឡើង​នាំគ្នា​​រៀន​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​អនុបណ្ឌិត​ឬ​សញ្ញា​ ថ្នាក់​បណ្ឌិត។ មិនមែន​តែ​និស្សិត​ទេ​ដែល​រៀន​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​​ពីរ​ប្រភេទ​នេះ​ប៉ុន្តែ​អ្នក​ កំពុង​ធ្វើ​ការ​មួយ​ចំនួន​ក៏​ខិតខំ​ប្រឹង​រៀន​បន្ត​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ខ្ពស់​ផុត ​លេខ​នេះ​ដែរ។
តើ​មូលហេតុ​អ្វី​បាន​ជា​មាន​និន្នាការ​រៀន​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​នេះ? តើ​កា​រសិក្សា​កាន់​តែ​ខ្ពស់​កាន់​តែ​ល្អ​​ឬ​រៀន​កាន់​តែ​ខ្ពស់​កាន់​តែ​ លំបាក?
សម្រាប់​សំណួរ​ទី​មួយ​នេះ គេ​មិន​មាន​ការ​លំបាក​ក្នុង​ការ​ឆ្លើយ​ទេ​ពីព្រោះ​ជា​ក្រឹត្យ​ក្រម​ សត្យានុម័ត នៅ​ពេល​ដែល​មនុស្ស​មាន​ឳកាស​កាន់​តែ​ច្រើន​ មាន​ជីវភាព​កាន់តែ​ធូរធារ ពួកគេ​​​ចង់​តោង​ចាប់​យក​ការ​សិក្សា​កាន់តែ​ខ្ពស់។ ការ​សិក្សា​កាន់តែ​ខ្ពស់​ធ្វើ​អោយ​មនុស្ស​មាន​ការ​ពិចារណា​កាន់​តែ​ជ្រៅ។ ការ​ពិចារណា​កាន់​ជ្រៅ​អាច​ជំរុញ​អោយ​មនុស្ស​មាន​លទ្ធភាព​ទទួល​បាន​ជ័យ​ជំនះ ​ក្នុង​ជីវិត​កាន់តែ​​ច្រើន។ នេះ​គឺ​ជាហេតុផល​ទី​មួយ។

សម្រាប់​ហេតុផល​ទី​២​វិញ​ត្រូវ​បាន​គេ​មើល​ឃើញ​ថា វា​ទាក់ទង​ទៅ​នឹង​កិត្តិយស​ច្រើន​ជាង មានន័យថា អ្នកខ្លះ​ចង់​រៀន​បន្ត​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​អនុបណ្ឌិត​ឬ​បណ្ឌិត​គឺ​ដោយសារ​តែ​ ពួកគេ​​ចង់​អោយ​មនុស្ស​នៅ​ជុំវិញ​ខ្លួន​ឬ​សង្គម​អោយ​តម្លៃ​ទៅ​លើ​ពួកគេ។ អ្នកខ្លះ​ទៀត សុខចិត្ត​បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា​យក​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​​គឺ​ដោយសារ​តែ​ពួកគេ​​ មាន​តួនាទី​តំណែង​ខ្ពង់ខ្ពស់​នៅ​ក្នុង​ជួរ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល។ នៅ​ពេល​ដែល​ពួកគេ​មាន​តំណែង​ខ្ពស់​ហើយ ដូច្នេះ ពួកគេ​ត្រូវ​តែ​ខិតខំ​ប្រឹងប្រែង​រៀន​បន្ត​ទៀត​​ដើម្បី​អោយ​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ ស័ក្តិសម​នឹង​តំណែង​របស់​ពួកគេ​។ មាន​តំណែង​ខ្ពស់​ មាន​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ខ្ពស់​ ពួកគេ​អាច​ចៀសផុត​ពី​ការ​រិះគន់​របស់​មនុស្ស​នៅ​ក្រោម​បង្រ្គាប់។ រីឯ​ចំណុច​ទី​៣​វិញ អ្នកសិក្សា​ដែល​ប្រាថ្នា​ចង់​បាន​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ជាន់ខ្ពស់​ពីព្រោះ​ពួកគេ​រំពឹង ​ថា រៀន​កាន់​តែ​ខ្ពស់​ទទួល​បាន​ប្រាក់ខែ​កាន់​តែ​ច្រើន។

ងាក​មក​ឆ្លើយ​ទៅ​នឹង​សំណួរ​ដែល​សួរ​ថា តើ​រៀន​កាន់​តែ​ខ្ពស់​កាន់​តែ​ល្អ​ឬ​រៀន​កាន់​តែ​ខ្ពស់​កាន់តែ​លំបាក​ទៅ​វិញ ​នោះ? អ្នក​ជំនាញ​សង្គម​នៅ​ក្នុង​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​មួយ​ចំនួន​អត្ថាធិប្បាយ​ថា ជារួម ​រៀនតែ​កាន់​ខ្ពស់​គឺ​ជា​ប្រការ​ល្អ​សម្រាប់​ជីវិត​របស់​បុគ្គល​ខ្លួន​ឯង​ និង​សម្រាប់​សង្គម​ជាតិ​ទាំង​មូល។ ប៉ុន្តែ ពេល​ខ្លះ និស្សិត​ខ្លួន​ឯង​ប្រឈម​នឹង​ការ​លំបាក​ក្នុង​ការ​រក​ការងារ​ធ្វើ​ទៅ​វិញ​ទេ នៅ​ពេល​ដែល​ខ្លួន​រៀន​កាន់តែ​ខ្ពស់​ពេក​នោះ​ពីព្រោះ​ទីផ្សារ​មិនហ៊ា​នអោយ​ តម្លៃ​ប្រាក់ខែ​ខ្ពស់​ទេ។ ម្យ៉ាងវិញ​ទៀត ប៉ុស្តិ៍​ការងារ​សម្រាប់​អ្នកមាន​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ខ្ពស់​ក៏​មាន​មិន​ច្រើន​ដែរ។

អ្នកវិភាគ​សង្គម​ដដែល​បាន​បន្ត​ទៀត​ថា ក្រៅពី​បញ្ហា​ទីផ្សារ​ការងារ គុណភាព​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​នៅ​កម្ពុជា​នៅ​ចោទ​ជា​បញ្ហា​នៅ​ឡើយ មាន​ន័យ​ថា បរិមាណ​សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​មាន​ច្រើន​មែន​ប៉ុន្តែ​គុណភាព​មនុស្ស​ដែល​ទទួល​បាន​ សញ្ញាប័ត្រ​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​នៅ​មាន​កម្រិត​ទាប​បើ​ប្រៀបធៀប​ទៅ​ការ​អប់រំ​ជា​មួយ​ ប្រទេស​នៅ​ក្នុង​តំបន់។ គុណភាព​ទាប​នេះ​នឹង​ធ្វើ​អោយ​កម្លាំង​ពល​កម្ម​ខ្មែរ​មិន​អាច​ប្រកួត​ប្រជែង​ ជា​មួយ​កម្លាំង​ពលកម្ម​នៃ​បណ្តា​ប្រទេស​នៅ​តំបន់​អាស៊ាន​៕

PM insists worries about dam overblown

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

David Boyle

 

In February, Son Chhay wrote to the premier urging him to investigate illegal logging outside the legal clearing area slated for the Stung Tatai dam reservoir in Koh Kong province and the environmental destruction that would be wrought by the Stung Cheay Areng dam.

The 109-megawatt dam project in the Cheay Areng Valley is to be built by the Chinese state-owned firm Guodian Corporation at a cost of US$327 million.

In a reply dated June 11, the premier signalled the dam, which would flood thousands of hectares of protected forest in the Central and Southern Cardamoms, will go ahead despite the protestations from Son Chhay and conservationists.

Hun Sen wrote that “all kinds of experts” had visited the scene during a five-year social and environmental impact assessment completed in 2008 and determined ecological damage could be mitigated.

“But the government has noticed since the government began developing hydropower at Kamchay, Kirirom, Atai, Tatai, Lower Russey Chrum, Lower Sesan II and including Stung Cheay Areng, the opposition party never supports those projects,” Hun Sen wrote.

The premier wrote that 263 families that stood to lose their land would be compensated fairly in line with current market values.

Conservation groups have put the number of people set to be displaced at about 1,500 families and raised alarms that the project, which had been deemed unfeasible by a previous developer, will devastate one of Cambodia’s richest ecological sites for little gain.

Questions have also been raised as to why a subsequent SEIA approved in 2011, after the project changed hands, has not been made publicly available.

Son Chhay said yesterday the response indicated the prime minister had not made any independent investigation into concerns about the dam but simply taken the company’s word at face value.

Migrants to Korea jump

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

More Cambodian migrant workers headed to South Korea in the first half of this year than in all of 2011, data from the Ministry of Labour shows.

A suspension on Vietnamese migration, coupled with an improving Korean economy, primarily accounted for the jump, officials say.

More than 6,300 Cambodians migrated to the East Asian nation between January and June, against 4,957 for all of 2011.

“This year, we notice the agriculture sector has absorbed [Cambodians] very well,” Heng Sour, chief of overseas manpower at the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, said. “If there wasn’t an increase in the [agriculture] sector, the number of our workers would have been the same as during the last period. The ban on Vietnamese also helped the increase.”

Cambodians were eager to work abroad for potentially higher salaries, Ya Navuth, executive director at Coordination of Action Research on Aids and Mobility (CARAM), said yesterday.

Working conditions in South Korea had gained recognition for being better than some of the destinations Cambodian migrants flocked to, such as Malaysia, he said.

“If there are enough jobs, people will go abroad to work – no question about it. Although there are more domestic jobs, many people don’t know about them. Low salaries here are also pushing them abroad to work," he said. “I never get complaints from Cambodians who go to work in Korea, compared with those who work in Thailand and Malaysia.”

Reports of abuse, death and the use of under-age Cambodians in Malaysia have rocked that country’s reputation as a place for migrants to safely earn higher wages.

Cambodia first sent workers to South Korea in 2002 and signed a memorandum of understanding on migrant exchange in 2007.

Cambodian migrants go to Korea under government-to-government deals. Unlike Malaysia, South Korea does not allow private companies to recruit labour.

There could soon be a slow-down in the number of Cambodia’s heading north, Heng Sour said.

The ban on Vietnamese workers was recently lifted and would cut into the Kingdom’s labour exports, he said.

បញ្ហា​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង​ជា​បញ្ហា​របស់​ភាគី​១១

10 July 2012

Bridget Di Certo និង Shane Worrell

 

 ភ្នំពេញៈ រដ្ឋ​សមាជិក​អាស៊ាន​នឹង​កើន​ពី១០ ទៅ១១ នៅ​លើ​គ្រប់​បញ្ហា​ទាក់​ទង​នឹង​ជម្លោះ​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង ​ដែល​កំពុង​បន្ត​អូស​បន្លាយ​។ នេះ​បើ​យោង​តាម​ក្រុម​មន្ត្រី​ក្រសួង​ការ​បរទេស​ដែល​បាន​ថ្លែង​កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ ចន្ទ​ម្សិល​មិញ។

លោក កៅ គឹមហួន រដ្ឋ​លេខាធិការ​ក្រសួង​ការ​បរទេស​កម្ពុជា​បាន​ថ្លែង​ថា រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​ក្រសួង​ការ​បរទេស​មក​ពី​រដ្ឋ​សមាជិក​ទាំង​១០ ក្នុង​អាស៊ាន​ កាល​ពី​រសៀល​ថ្ងៃ​ម្សិលមិញ​បាន​អនុម័ត​ទទួល​យក​ចំណុច​សំខាន់ៗ​ នៃ​សេចក្តី​ព្រាង​នៃ​ក្រម​សម្រាប់​បញ្ហា​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង។
យ៉ាង​ ណា​ក្តី ក្រៅ​តែ​ពី​ជំរុញ​សេចក្តី​ព្រាង​នេះ​ឲ្យ​ទទួល​បាន​ការ​អនុម័ត​យក​ដោយ​ ប្រជាជាតិ​អាស៊ី​អាគ្នេយ៍ សេចក្តី​ព្រាង​នេះ​ប្រើ​សម្រាប់​តែ​ជា​មូល​ដ្ឋាន​ក្នុង​កិច្ច​ពិភាក្សា​ ក្នុង​ចំណោម​មន្ត្រី​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​ដែល​នឹង​ពិនិត្យ​មើល​សម្រេច​លើ​ពាក្យ​ពេចន៍ ​នៃ​ក្រម​នេះ​ប៉ុណ្ណោះ ជា​ក្រុម​ដែល​នឹង​មាន​ការ​ចូល​រួម​ពី​មន្ត្រី​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​ប្រទេស​ចិន​នៅ គ្រប់​ដំណាក់​កាល។

លោក កៅ គឹមហួន ​បាន​បញ្ជាក់​ថា៖​«ក្រៅ​ជំនួប​ប្រជុំ​លើក​ដំបូង​[កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​អាទិត្យ]ពួក​ គេ​(មន្ត្រី​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់)​បាន​ឯកភាព​គ្នា​ថា ដើម្បី​ធ្វើ​ការ​លើ​ក្រម​នៃ​ការ​ប្រព្រឹត្ត​នោះ...អាស៊ាន​នឹង​ជួប​ជាមួយ​ ប្រទេស​ចិន​ដើម្បី​ពិភាក្សា​លើ​ក្រម​នៃ​ការ​ប្រព្រឹត្ត​ចាប់​ពី​ពេល​នេះ​ត​ ទៅ»។
លោក​បញ្ជាក់​ច្បាស់​ថា៖​ «ឯកសារ​នេះ​គឺ​សម្រាប់​១១​ភាគី មិន​មែន​តែ​អាស៊ាន​ទេ។ វា​សម្រាប់​អាស៊ាន និង​ចិន»។

ជម្លោះ ​ទឹក​ដី​ជា​ផ្លូវ​នាវា​ចរ​ដ៏​សំខាន់​មួយ​ដែល​គេ​ជឿ​ថា​ មាន​ផ្ទុក​ធនធាន​ធម្មជាតិ​ប្រេងនិង​ឧស្ម័ន​ដ៏​ក្រាស់​ក្រែល​នេះ​កំពុង​ ក្លាយ​ជា​ធុង​រំសេវ​នៅ​ក្រោម​ការ​ដឹក​នាំ​របស់​កម្ពុជា ​ជា​ប្រធាន​អាស៊ាន​ដែល​ជា​សម្ព័ន្ធ​មិត្ត​យ៉ាង​ជិត​ស្និទ្ធ​នៃ​ប្រទេស​ចិន។

ភាព ​រសាប់​រសល់​អំពី​ក្រម​នៃ​ការ​ប្រព្រឹត្ត​ដែល​នឹង​ត្រូវ​ពិនិត្យ​ សម្រេច​ក្នុង​ឆ្នាំ​នេះ ខណៈ​​ខួប​១០​ឆ្នាំ នៃ​ការ​ប្រកាស​ពី​ក្រម​នេះ​បាន​ផុត​កំណត់​ពោរ​ពេញ​ទៅ​ដោយ​ការ​លាក់​បាំង​ ជុំវិញ​សេចក្តី​ព្រាង​នៃ​ក្រម​ថ្មី​នេះ។ លោក​បន្ត​ថា៖​«ជា​រៀង​រាល់​ឆ្នាំ ពួក​គេ​(រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​ការ​បរទេស​អាស៊ាន)​បាន​ចេញ​សេចក្តី​ប្រកាស​រួម​មួយ ហើយ​វា​មាន​បញ្ហា​ជា​ច្រើន​ដែល​ត្រូវ​ដោះ​ស្រាយ និង​ពិភាក្សា​លើ​បញ្ហា​ទាំង​នោះ រួម​មាន​បញ្ហា​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង​ផង​ដែរ»។

លោក​បាន​ធានា​ចំពោះ​មុខ ​អ្នក​កាសែត​ក្នុង​សន្និសីទ​សារ​ព័ត៌មាន​នៅ​វិមាន​ សន្តិភាព​កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ម្សិល​មិញ ប៉ុន្តែ​ពុំ​បាន​បញ្ជាក់​ពី​អ្វី​ដែល​ជា​ចំណុច​សំខាន់​ត្រូវ​​អនុម័ត​យក ដោយ​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​ការ​បរទេស​អាស៊ាន​ថា៖​ «ពិត​ណាស់ យើង​ត្រូវ​រក​ភាសា​និយាយ​ឲ្យ​បាន​ត្រឹម​ត្រូវ​សម្រាប់​បញ្ហា​ផ្សេង​នៅ​ក្នុង សេចក្តី​ប្រកាស​រួម​គ្នា​នោះ ដូច្នេះ​យើង​នឹង​ពិនិត្យ​សម្រេច​បាន​អ្វី​មួយ​នៅ​ថ្ងៃ​អង្គារ ឬ​ពុធ​នេះ»។

ការ ​ខិត​ជិត​របស់​អាស៊ាន​ចំពោះ​ក្រម​នៃ​ការ​ប្រព្រឹត្ត​ក្រោម​ប្រធាន​អាស៊ាន របស់​កម្ពុជា​ មើល​ទៅ​ដូច​ជា​វិវត្ត​ហួស​ពី​ការ​ពិភាក្សា​គ្នា​នៅ​កោះ​បាលី​ កាល​ពី​ឆ្នាំ​ទៅ​កាល​ពី​ឥណ្ឌូនេស៊ី​ធ្វើ​ជា​ប្រធាន​អាស៊ាន បើ​និយាយ​អំពី​ការ​ចូល​រួម​របស់​ចិន​នៅ​ក្នុង​ដំណើរ​ការ​ព្រាង​ឯកសារ​នោះ។
ប៉ុន្តែ​សារៈ​សំខាន់​នៃ​ការ​អនុម័ត​យក​ដោយ​ជោគជ័យ​នៃ​ក្រម​ថ្មី​នេះ​ពុំ​មែន​ជា​បរាជ័យ​របស់​ភាគី​កម្ពុជា​ទេ។

លោក ​ កៅ គឹមហួន​ បាន​បញ្ជាក់​ថា៖​«នេះ​ជា​ខួប ១០ឆ្នាំ​[នៃ​សេចក្តី​ប្រកាស​នៃ​ក្រម] ​ហេតុ​នេះ​ហើយ ទើប​វា​សំខាន់​ខ្លាំង​ណាស់​ដែល​ភាគី​ទាំង ២ គឺ​អាស៊ាន និង​ចិន ត្រូវ​អនុវត្ត​កាតព្វ​កិច្ច​របស់​ពួក​គេ​ទៅ​លើ​ក្រម​នេះ»៕ CR

EU scheme boosts Cambodian land grabs

 

• AAP
• July 10, 2012 1:05PM

An EU scheme to boost trade with developing nations is fuelling land grabs in Cambodia, activists say, with thousands evicted from their property to make way for a booming sugar industry. 

 

CAMPAIGNERS are taking their fight to European supermarkets, encouraging a boycott of Cambodian sugar, which they claim is often grown on land snatched illegally from rural farmers.

Yi Chhav said she had no choice but to return to her family plantation to work for the sugarcane grower that took her land, toiling for about $US1.50 ($A1.46) a day in the sea of swaying emerald green plants that swallowed her rice paddies.

"If we say there's no way we'll go to work in the sugarcane plantation then what will we have to eat? There's no work," the 68-year-old widow told AFP at her modest home in southwestern Koh Kong province.

"How can we survive?" she said, adding that the irregular work makes her feel like a "slave" and her low income has forced her to pull her teenage daughter out of school.

Europe's "Everything But Arms" initiative is meant to help the world's least developed nations by lifting import quotas and duties.

But activists say it has sparked a voracious appetite for land in Cambodia's sugar industry, leaving more than 3,000 dispossessed families without fair compensation, while enriching well-connected investors.

Rights groups say the government has ignored residents' legitimate land claims by granting tens of thousands of hectares to local and foreign-owned sugar firms across the nation.

Land titles are a murky issue in Cambodia - the communist Khmer Rouge regime abolished property ownership during its murderous rule in the late 1970s - and disputes pitting developers and agricultural firms against villagers have sparked increasingly violent protests in the country.

Industry and government officials argue that there is compensation on offer for those affected, and that the sugar business is good for Cambodia because it creates jobs.

But activists say the compensation is inadequate. After years of seemingly futile protests, they are now urging the EU - and European consumers - to step in to combat what they term "blood" sugar.

"It is scandalous that the European Union permits this tainted sugar to be sold within its territory, but until the EU implements a ban on the import of goods produced on stolen land it is up to European consumers to say no to these products," said David Pred, a representative from the Cambodian Clean Sugar Campaign.

The coalition of rights groups and representatives from affected communities this week launched a campaign urging shoppers to put pressure on Tate and Lyle Sugars to stop buying from Cambodian suppliers.

Their website - www.boycottbloodsugar.net - includes a video showing distressed villagers watching as rural buildings go up in flames.

The British-based firm, once part of the Tate and Lyle group but now owned by the US company American Sugar Refining (ASR), failed to respond to repeated requests from AFP for comment.

The EU's ambassador to Cambodia, Jean-Francois Cautain, told AFP the European Union was looking into the concerns.

"The government has already given us some documents and we are in the process of studying them and then we'll have an important discussion," he said, welcoming Phnom Penh's recent announcement that it would review all land concessions following a spike in conflicts this year.

Government spokesman E.K Tha said authorities were "on the right track" in addressing land disputes, but referred specific questions about grievances in the sugar industry to the companies running the operations.

Koh Kong, one of three sugar-growing provinces, has the country's oldest and most active plantation, exporting around 20,000 tonnes of sugar to the EU in 2011 - double the figure from 2010 - according to local rights groups such as Equitable Cambodia and Licadho.

Ruling party senator and Cambodian business heavyweight Ly Yong Phat, who has sold his stake in the Koh Kong operation but still has ties to other sugar plantations, told AFP there was little companies could do besides offering compensation because concessions were legally granted by the government.

"If it were my land, I would share with them, then the problem is over. But it's the state's land. So what can I do?" he told AFP.

Frustrated by the battle, some affected families in Koh Kong recently accepted a hiked cash settlement, from around 10,000 riel ($A243), said community leader Teng Kao.

But most are still holding out for a deal that makes up for the loss of their livelihoods.

"We can't live without our land. Every day we ask for our land back so that we can grow rice and crops like before," he said.

 

Co-operation with Cambodia over transport to strengthen

HA NOI — The close co-operation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport and the Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport has made a positive contribution to friendship, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said. 

Receiving Cambodian Minister of Public Works and Transport Tram Iv Tek yesterday, Phuc proposed that the two ministries enhance co-operation in all fields, especially in developing transport infrastructure and connectivity to facilitate trade and travel. 

He said the Vietnamese Government would create favourable conditions for the two ministries to increase their relationship. — VNS

Cambodia: Clinton Should Prioritize Improving Human Rights

Mon, 9 Jul 2012 23:00 GMT

Source: Content partner // Human Rights Watch 

Clinton will visit Cambodia from July 11-13 for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) heads of government meeting and should make it clear to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that closer relations with the US will not be possible without significant improvements in the deteriorating human rights situation in Cambodia.

(New York) - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should make it clear in public and private to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that closer relations with the US will not be possible without significant improvements in the deteriorating human rights situation in Cambodia. Clinton will visit Cambodia from July 11-13 for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) heads of government meeting.

In recent months the Cambodian government has launched repeated attacks on critics, including the summary arrest and conviction of women protesting eviction from prime Phnom Penh real estate, the siege of a rural village opposing the allegedly corrupt sale of their land to cronies of the prime minister, and an armed attack by military personnel working as enforcers for a rubber company who wounded four villagers protesting what they said was encroachment on their land. In April 2012, Chut Wutty, Cambodia's best-known environmental activist, was gunned down while researching illegal timber sales. The government first claimed he died in a shootout, then that he had been killed by a soldier who had subsequently managed to commit suicide by shooting himself twice in the chest.

"The Cambodian government is desperate for improved relations with the United States," said Brad Adams, Asia director. "Clinton should tell Hun Sen that continuing grave human rights violations will come at the cost of US support. She should insist that the Cambodian government set out specific, time-bound measures to reverse the country's increasingly disturbing rights record."

Hun Sen's approach to critics was exemplified in early 2011 when he responded with typically threatening language to the suggestion by a Cambodian critic that he should be worried about the overthrow of a dictator in Tunisia. "I not only weaken the opposition, I'm going to make them dead ... and if anyone is strong enough to try to hold a demonstration, I will beat all those dogs and put them in a cage."

The recent release of protesters from prison after a summary trial shows that pressure from the US and other donors works.

Cambodia's Appeal Court in June released 13 women who had protested the seizure of their land from the Boeng Kak lake area of Phnom Penh and then sold to Cambodian and Chinese companies. The women had been convicted on May 24 of obstructing public officials and illegally occupying land. The court upheld their convictions but reduced their sentences to time already served in prison. Their releases occurred against a backdrop of increasing national and international pressure, including concerns expressed to the visiting Cambodian foreign minister during a June trip to Washington, D.C. Two other Boeng Kak lake activists remain charged for the same reason, making them vulnerable to arrest at any time. Also under threat is the Venerable Luon Sovat, Cambodia's best known Buddhist monk activist, who was charged by the Phnom Penh Municipal court with "incitement to commit a felony" in a transparent attempt to silence a critic with a large and growing following.

Clinton should prioritize an end to illegal land seizures, which are often driving poor villagers off their land without adequate compensation. A number of Cambodian and foreign businesses have been implicated in the often violent abuses arising from government-instigated or condoned land-grabbing and other unbridled economic ventures in agriculture, manufacturing, and extractive industries. Elements of the Cambodian police and armed forces, including the military police, have also been involved.

The transfer of land through economic concessions and other state-sanctioned arrangements have reached an all-time high after government grants last year reportedly brought the total to at least 2.3 million hectares and as many as four million hectares. In response to outcries over rights abuses and other legal concerns, Prime Minister Hun Sen in May ordered a temporary halt to the granting of new economic land concessions and a review of existing ones, and in June he announced a program to reallocate at least 10 percent of the concessions to people living on them. However, at least six new grants have since been finalized and one other restored after review, with the government declaring such decisions are legal exceptions to the moratorium.

"Clinton should tell Hun Sen that corrupt land grabs from the poor through government concessions must end or the country may face widespread social unrest," Adams said. "She should also make it clear that any hopes of a significant increase in American foreign investment depend on the end of pervasive corruption and establishing the rule of law."

The Cambodian judiciary remains politically controlled by Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), effectively protecting the business interests and political positions of government officials. A recent example was in Kratie province, where on May 16, 2012, an estimated 1,000 members of the security forces stormed a village resisting a land concession controlled by the Casotim Company and shot dead Heng Chantha, a 14-year-old girl. The government justified the actions as necessary to suppress so-called secessionists. Instead of ordering an investigation into the killing, the provincial court issued warrants for the arrest of five protest leaders. The government is also using the incident to threaten the arrest of Mam Sanando, owner of a popular radio station and a veteran media critic of the government who has thus far remained out of the country to avoid detention.

It is crucial that Clinton press the Cambodian government to make the country safe for peaceful political opposition figures, Human Rights Watch said. Parliamentary opposition leader Sam Rainsy has been in exile, facing 12 years imprisonment on trumped up charges. Clinton should press the Cambodian government to quash all politically motivated court judgments against opposition politicians, transform national and local election commissions into truly independent bodies, and respect the right to freedom of expression via print, electronic, and social media.

"Where opposition leaders are hounded and prosecuted in politically motivated trials, the US often leads the international community in demanding that charges be dropped or convictions overturned," Adams said. "The US and others have remained conspicuously quiet since Rainsy's conviction, sending the message that they no longer consider pluralistic politics central to their relationship. Clinton should use this visit to demand that Rainsy be allowed to return to Cambodia so that he and his party can freely participate in elections in 2013, or the US will not consider the elections legitimate."

Children's deaths in Cambodia linked to Hand, Mouth and Foot disease

Monday, 09 July 2012

Bridget Di Certo and Chhay Channyda

 

Doctors have made a breakthrough in their efforts to identify the unknown and deadly illness that has claimed the lives of dozens of Cambodian children over the past four months.

Enterovirus 71, commonly associated with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, has been singled out by virologists at Institut Pasteur as the explanation of the outbreak, according to emails from the head of the non-profit institute’s virology unit to the Ministry of Health and Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital doctors sent on Friday and obtained by the Post yesterday.

HFM is endemic in Vietnam and virologists homed in on the EV71 strain after adapting investigative testing to detect recent mutations of the virus that have appeared in Cambodia’s neighbour.

World Health Organization epidemiologist Dr Nima Asgari said the findings had “demystified” the situation, but added that they are “still looking at the clinical picture”.

Institut Pasteur had tested 24 samples and found 15 exhibited EV71.

“[These results will be further investigated] in the next few days, and then we can say whether a significant majority of these patients had EV71,” Asgari said.

WHO country director Dr Pieter Van Maaren said the strain had not been easy to diagnose and that the investigation was ongoing.

“There is no immediate need for a travel advisory, and WHO has not planned anything as of today,” Van Maaren said, qualifying his remarks with the still-evolving understanding of the illness that the WHO and Ministry of Health say has killed 56 children.

However, Kantha Bopha, which first alerted the ministry of the outbreak, said in a statement yesterday that 64 children had died from the illness in their hospitals alone.

“[Children] develop in the last hours of their life a total destruction of the alveolus in the lungs,” founding doctor Beat Richner said of the atypical EV71 symptom in a statement yesterday.

“Still, we have yet to see what is really causing the deadly pulmonary complication and see if a toxic factor is playing a role too,” added Richner, who remains concerned the deaths may be triggered by maltreatment and drug intoxication in private clinics.

Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said that even though EV71 was not a new disease, it had taken officials a while to “investigate thoroughly before we reveal publicly”.

“All people in Cambodian should be aware of good hygiene,” he added.

Ministry of Health officials said yesterday they were continuing to call on families to exercise good hygiene practices and to report all suspicious illness involving fever to hospitals.

“If children get fever and have a skin rash, please send them to hospital,” Ly Sovann, deputy director of the communicable disease department, said.

EV71 can cause severe complications of HFM disease including neurological, cardiovascular and respiratory problems and fatal cases of encephalitis.

No specific anti-viral therapy is available for EV71, however, the risk of infection is lowered significantly with high standards of personal and environmental hygiene, according to information on the virus published on the WHO website.

In 2011, there was an outbreak of HFM disease in Vietnam that had 98 fatalities.

However, that outbreak was associated with 42,673 non-fatal cases, a much lower mortality rate than appears in Cambodia’s outbreak.

WHO’s Asgari said initial reports of outbreaks would be of the sickest people and were bound to appear to have a higher mortality rate.

“Once you find the disease, you can do the investigation in the community and find there is a whole spectrum of the disease,” he said. “There will be milder cases, a bigger denominator with a lower percentage of mortality.”

Asgari said he personally had never heard of EV71 appearing in Cambodia before.

In Cambodia, according the Ministry of Health and the WHO, out of 74 cases, 56 were fatal.

According to Kantha Bopha, the figure is 66 cases, with 64 fatalities.

ASEAN eyes November for anti-nuke treaty as P5 hesitates

Monday, 09 July 2012

Shane Worrell and Bridget Di Certo

 

ASEAN remains hopeful it can still entice the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to sign a regional nuclear-weapon-free agreement after a scheduled signing was postponed on Sunday, a Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman has said.

Four of the “P5” countries – the UK, Russia, France and the US, with the other being China – have expressed reservations about signing a protocol within the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) treaty, which was to take place during this week’s ASEAN meetings in the capital.

"Four members of P5 have expressed reservations,” Kao Kim Huorn, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at the Peace Palace today. “Their reservations were quite different. In the case of France, for example, it has to do with self-defence . . . in the case of the [UK], the reservation was to do with . . . development."

Russia had expressed “broader” concerns relating to armed forces, allies, transit and to what extent the protocol was a pact, he said.

Under the treaty, the 10 ASEAN states must not develop, possess or manufacture nuclear weapons. If the UK, Russia, the US, France and China sign the protocol, they would agree not to contribute to any regional member violating the treaty.

Kao Kim Huorn said the four countries’ reservations meant the region now had to look to the next ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in November for the outcome it wanted.

“There were possibly three documents to be signed,” he said. “The [SEANWFZ] commission decided to not cancel but postpone until the members and ASEAN were able to work closely with [the five] to resolve the issues.”

“They believe these should all be signed together, back to back. We hope the work can still be completed by November. We are surprised by the last-minute reservations  . . . ASEAN has been working hard for the last 12 years to make this happen," he added.

In his speech to open the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting this morning, Prime Minister Hun Sen said one of the priorities of ASEAN is to maintain regional peace and security.

The SEANWFZ Treaty is one of the “instruments and mechanisms to ensure this could be achieved”, he said.