Preah Vihear villagers cry foul Phak Seangly

Monday, 16 January 2012

Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post Villagers from Svay Chrum village in Preah Vihear province hold photographs of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany during a protest on Friday near Wat Botum in Phnom Penh. Villagers whose houses were dismantled in Preah Vihear’s Choam Ksan district last month told the Post yesterday that a claim they had voluntarily left their village was a lie. In a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet dated January 13, the Preah Vihear provincial government claims the villagers had agreed to leave Svay Chrum village in Kantuot commune. “No violence or threats were used on the people,” it says. The letter, issued by provincial governor Om Mara, also says the villagers’ relocation from Svay Chrum to Theam Macheat village followed a royal decree dated August 10, 2011. Amid protests in Phnom Penh on January 5 and again last Thursday, villagers submitted letters to the Prime Minister’s cabinet asking for the “right to live in Svay Chrum village forever”, rather than be sent to a nearby

Theam Macheat village, which they say lacks infrastructure. Cabinet members responded by sending a short letter to members of the Preah Vihear provincial government, asking them to examine the case. Villager Soa Yat said he and his fellow residents were unhappy with the provincial government’s response because it “contrasted with the truth”. “Things are not like what the letter says. No one wants to live in the forest,” he said. Villagers would continue to protest and would send another letter of complaint to the Prime Minister, he added. Villager Prak Sophak, a former soldier, said many villagers had refused to move to the new site and were staying with relatives in nearby Sre Em village. “We did not want to move out and live at the new location where the authority took our dismantled homes,” he said. Lor Chann, coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said the authority’s letter was an excuse and he called for villagers to be offered shelter at Svay Chrum until the issue was resolved. “If the villagers have agreed to move out, why would they then go to Phnom Penh to protest and ask Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene?” he said. Hun Sen’s cabinet and Preah Vihear provincial officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Borei Keila detainees say ‘training’ vow all talk

Khouth Sophakchakrya

Monday, 16 January 2012

Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post Police and security guards detain former Borei Keila residents, including children, during a protest at the Phnom Penh City Hall last week. The protesters were sent to the Prey Speu Correctional Centre. The 30 Borei Keilia women and children detained last week and sent to Prey Speu Correctional Centre for “vocational training” won’t receive this training because of a budget shortage, officials said yesterday. The women and children were locked in the correctional centre after a protest in Phnom Penh last Wednesday, the Ministry of Socials Affairs said, for their own protection and for vocational training. However, according to 39-year-old detainee Chum Nhann, all that the women and children have received from centre officials is food. Saon Sophal, director of the social affairs department at Phnom Penh municipality, confirmed yesterday that Prey Speu did not have a vocational training program for 2012 because of a budget shortage.

The revelation came as more NGOs yesterday called for the release of the 30 women and children. Twenty-four NGOs, including some of the 10 that released a statement last week describing Prey Speu as worse than Cambodia’s prisons, have signed a letter urging the government to release the women and children as well as the eight villagers being held at Prey Sar prison who were arrested at Borei Keila on January 3. “We ask all relevant institutions . . . please intervene to release the eights detainees, who have been in Prey Sar prison since after their forced eviction . . . and we also ask for the release of 24 women and six children,” the statement reads. The eight Borei Keila villagers in Prey Sar were arrested after violent clashes as authorities demolished more than 200 homes. Sier Phearum, general secretariat of Housing Rights Task Force, said yesterday that government officials had used tear gas and batons to arrest the eight men. “We found that government officials and the armed forces used violence against the people to stop the land dispute in Borei Keila,” he said. Kiet Chhe, deputy chief of administration at the Phnom Penh municipality, declined to comment because he said he was not authorised to speak about the case. In 2003, development firm Phan Imex agreed to construct 10 buildings on two hectares of land to house 1,776 Borei Keila families, in exchange for development rights to a remaining 2.6 hectares. The firm has constructed only eight buildings

Uncertain verdict Bridget Di Certo

Monday, 16 January 2012

ECCC Reserve co-investigating judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet. Late on Friday, a day after inadvertently leaked government information showed Prime Minister Hun Sen had become involved in his appointment to the Khmer Rouge tribunal, Investigating Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet received the first phone call. By yesterday morning, there had been several more, all telling him the same thing – the Supreme Council of Magistracy had met and refused to endorse him. The purported meeting, which Kasper-Ansermet was told took place on

Friday, remains shrouded in secrecy, and neither the United Nations nor the Council of Ministers’ Press and Quick Reaction Unit had received confirmation from the Supreme Council of Magistracy when contacted yesterday. Without the SCM’s official endorsement, Kasper-Ansermet is unable to officially investigate the court’s controversial cases 003 and 004. “If my rejection is confirmed, I may explain the situation to the UN, but I can’t do more,” Kasper-Ansermet said. “I am of the opinion that I replaced my predecessor validly under the law governing the tribunal, and that is contested by my national colleague. “Everyone understands now that I intend to conduct further investigations in cases 003 and 004. “I was expecting some difficulties [in assuming the co-investigating judge position], but not the real determination from my colleague to have such different opinions on the matter,” the Swiss national said yesterday, referring to a recent flurry of publicly combative statements by Cambodian Co-Investigating Judge You Bunleng. The UN’s nominee, who has served as reserve judge at the tribunal since December 2010, said he has taken important decisions in respect of cases 003 and 004 and that he has a team of international investigators ready to begin work. The failure of the SCM to swiftly appoint Kasper-Ansermet has effectively paralysed investigations into the cases, which are opposed by the Cambodian government. “The position adopted by my national colleague leads to the situation where the [Office of the Co-Investigating Judges] would not be anymore constituted according to the law and therefore not properly functioning,” Kasper-Ansermet said. “It has been like walking in shackles

Women’s group on the frontline of change

Deborah Seccombe

Monday, 16 January 2012

Deborah Seccombe/Phnom Penh Post Lindsay Miller, Anne Messenger, Judy Milestone and Janet Moore. Many men would agree that “All issues are women’s issues”, and a group 26 pioneering American women have come to Cambodia to draw a more positive light to the statement. “Women are on the frontline of change,” says Janet McKinley, one of the group, who collectively call themselves Among Women. “Where there are women you find will leaders. One thing we agree on is all issues are women’s issues. Whether it is human trafficking or climate change.” The women all graduated from one of seven liberal arts colleges in America known as the Seven Sisters. “The idea of Among Women was to create a process where we could connect with empowered women all around the world,” another member Judy Milestone says.

The group formed in 2003 and has since visited Jordon, South Africa and India. This is their first trip to Cambodia. “We meet with women who have influence, and talk with them about issues of common concern across the board from economic changes and personal changes, to the changing notion of what a woman is and to share these experiences in an informal but informed way,” Milestone says. After five days of meeting with women in Phnom Penh they headed for Siem Reap on January 12 for four nights. Janet Moore, a renowned travel agent based in California who specialises in the Middle East and Asian travels, helped organise the trip. “It’s a dialogue, a two-way expression. By engaging and having these discussions with women we meet they are gaining and learning from us as much as we are from them,” she says. Milestone says, “History has shown that changing the status of women in a country is one of the first building blocks to changing a country. Men are very good at talking about policies with each other at some distance from reality. Women just cut right through it. That’s one of the reasons that this woman thing is so successful because you can get to the heart of things.” Sarah Messenger joined Among Women with her mother, Anne. “What’s actually struck me the most is on every tour we’ve been on, I have seen more commonalities between women across the globe than differences,” she says. Sarah’s mother says the trip was also to raise awareness of Cambodian life to her network group back home. “They think Cambodia is this teensy tiny, poor, almost a throw away country,” Anne says. “I am very active in social media. Part of my task, to my utter joy, is sharing this trip and taking along my 800 and something Facebook friends and 2,000 and something Twitter followers. Those people are learning that Cambodia is way beyond four terrible years in the 1970s. I am going to tell

a different story about Cambodia.” The women will wrap up their journey with two nights in Sihanoukville, where they will decide if there are any projects they would like to be involved in

DC-Cam wanted on stand MARY KOZLOVSKI

TUESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2012

Defence teams at the Khmer Rouge tribunal requested yesterday that the director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia appear in court to testify about documents obtained through the organisation that were put before the Trial Chamber in the court’s second case.

Will Baxter/ Phnom Penh Post

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, gestures while giving a tour of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum to a US delegation in November 2010. During a hearing addressing the admissibility of documents supporting the indictment, co-defence counsel for former Brother Number Two Nuon Chea, Jasper Pauw, said in court that it was “imperative” the court hear the testimony of DC-Cam director Youk Chhang. “If Youk Chhang is not heard by your Trial Chamber, then our position is that all evidence stemming from DC-Cam cannot be considered to be authentic and reliable, and must therefore be called inadmissible,” he said. The DC-Cam has been collecting documents and information relating to the Democratic Kampuchea period since its establishment as in independent NGO in 1997, 500,000 of which have been provided to parties to the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Pauw said that while another representative had been called to testify on issues relating to the authenticity of documents provided by DC-Cam, Youk Chhang was the “most informed” person respecting the organisation’s activities, adding that the defence was not criticising Youk Chhang’s approach. “Youk Chhang is not a neutral observer in the search for the truth, he is a partisan researcher that has been working with a goal of having, among others, Nuon Chea prosecuted,” Pauw said in court.

In response to questions concerning allegations of bias, Youk Chhang said in an email yesterday that “it is pitiful” and, in response to a question about the appearance of a DC-Cam representative in court, said that “we have to listen to the judge”. He added that DC-Cam had provided 500,000 documents to the ECCC, and that the documentation was available to defence teams at the tribunal. Deputy international co-prosecutor William Smith said that it was not especially necessary for the representative of DC-Cam appearing in court to be Youk Chhang. “We disagree with the defence position in that, although part of DC-Cam’s role is to search for the truth of … the Democratic Kampuchea period, we’re of the view that the organisation doesn’t demonstrate any significant bias in the work they do,” he said. “The fact that DC-Cam are looking at crimes…that occurred during the Democratic Kampuchea period doesn’t … make them an unreliable or a biased organisation,” he added. Defence teams for co-accused former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary and former nominal head of state Khieu Samphan echoed the request for Youk Chhang to appear in court

Health gains: Malaria’s toll less deadly in past year MOM KUNTHEAR

TUESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2012

Malaria-related deaths declined by 35 per cent in 2011 from the total fatalities in 2010, the National Center for Malaria said yesterday. Char Meng Chuor, director of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, said that there were 62,690 cases of malaria in 2011, an increase of 7 per cent from 2010’s 58,700 cases. “We got success in fighting malaria [deaths] last year because we spread our volunteer agency in the villages, which face high rates of malaria infection,” Char Meng Chuor said. “We have two volunteers who are in the villages to stand by. They have knowledge about how to protect and treat malaria, and they have medicines and tools to check blood to find the malaria virus.” He added that most people who had to be treated in hospital were from Ratanakkiri, Kratie, Preah Vihear and Pursat provinces. Char Meng Chuor said that if the death toll continues to decrease at such a dramatic rate, the Kingdom would reach its development goal of zero malaria-related deaths. The National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control will distribute more than 1, 8 million mosquito nets in the first week of February to 15 provinces

Judge OK not a ‘must’ BRIDGET DI CERTO AND CHEANG SOKHA

TUESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2012

The Supreme Council of Magistracy is under no obligation to approve the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s reserve co-investigating judge and will not be forced to make a decision, Council of Ministers’ spokesmen from the Press and Quick Reaction Unit said at a snap press briefing yesterday.

ECCC

Reserve co-investigaating judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet. Any media or rights groups reporting that the SCM “must” approve the UN-nominated judge and urgently hold a meeting to give this approval are simply incorrect, Keo Remy, vice-president of PQRU, said. “I would like to inform that now we have nothing to do besides wait for the decision made by the Supreme Council of Magistracy. We wait to see the result come out from them,” Keo Remy added. Over the weekend, the UN’s nominee for international co-investigating judge, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, told the Post he had been informed by multiple sources that the SCM had quietly convened last Friday and decided to reject his nomination. Judge Kasper-Ansermet was approved by the SCM as a reserve judge in December 2010 and under

the law governing the tribunal, must replace his predecessor, German judge Siegfried Blunk. Blunk resigned in October amid government statements that opposed the tribunal’s controversial cases 003 and 004. Kasper-Ansermet is due to take over investigations into cases 003 and 004, which are opposed by high-ranking government officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, who told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in 2010 that the cases would not be “allowed”. “In relation to the appointment of the judge, the government has not interfered at all,” Keo Remy said. “The agreement is that the UN side nominates, then the SCM makes approval,” Keo Remy said, adding the government was no obstacle in the appointment, and that there was procedure to be undertaken first by the SCM, which is headed by King Norodom Sihamoni. “But we have a duty to monitor activities, because Prime Minister Hun Sen has guaranteed stability under his leadership, and if there was a war to return and make chaos, the Prime Minister would be the person blamed,” he said at the press conference, where he singled out two local newspapers and rights groups the Open Society Justice Initiative and Cambodian Centre for Human Rights as incorrectly reporting that the SCM must appoint Kasper-Ansermet. Both the Open Society Justice Initiative and Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, neither of whom were invited to nor informed of the press briefing yesterday, have called for the immediate endorsement of Kasper-Ansermet in accordance with the 2003 agreement between the UN and Cambodia that established the tribunal. OSJI’s Clair Duffy said her monitoring group had simply repeated the wording of Article 5.5 and 5.6 of that agreement. “The agreement says that if a judge has to be replaced, they must be replaced by the reserve judge,” Duffy said yesterday. “The UN and the government appear to be at another impasse in relation to these judicial investigations [cases 003 and 004],” she added. “The UN needs to address the heart of this crisis, and not just treat it as another problem in this impasse.” CCHR president Ou Virak likewise stood by his group’s position that under the agreement between the UN and the Royal Government, the SCM must confirm Kasper-Ansermet as international co-investigating judge. The SCM’s appointment of Kasper-Ansermet’s predecessor, Blunk, was immediate in December 2010. However, Kasper-Ansermet has been waiting more than three months for his appointment, with no official word of when the SCM will perform its duties. The UN did not respond to requests for comment

SRP foresees ‘social turmoil’ BRIDGET DI CERTO

WEDNESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2012

Cambodia risks a violent uprising that could destabilise the region if citizens feel elections results in the next two years do not reflect their true will, opposition Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarians said in a statement yesterday. The Kingdom remains a “serial violator of human rights” and as such has little prospect of conducting free and fair elections this year and next, MPs said. “If there are no proper elections then the chances of violent rebellion as a result of government land theft and forced evictions will increase, threatening destabilization in the region,” the statement, released yesterday, said. Senior SRP lawmaker Yim Sovann told the Post violence in Cambodian society was evidently increasing. “In Cambodian society, we have never seen a political suicide, but now we see this because land rights are violated,” Yim Sovann said. “We see people fighting the authorities with hammers and axes in Kampong Speu and the poorest of people traveling hundreds of kilometers from Preah Vihear to Phnom Penh to protest their evictions – we are heading to social turmoil, a social crisis.” Exiled SRP leader Sam Rainsy visited Tunisia last year to learn from activists of the Jasmine Revolution which overthrew the 24 year rule of Ben Ali, SRP press reported. Sam Rainsy has said that Cambodia is awaiting a similar so-called Lotus Revolution. Director of NICFEC, Hang Puthea, said that violence was inevitable at election time, but the degree and occurrences of violence were decreasing. “Political party’s campaigns are based on blaming and fighting each other,” Hang Puthea said. “People should be free from political pressure and if there were 100 per cent free and fair elections, I should not expect that there would be any violence.” Ruling Cambodian People’s Party spokesmen Khieu Kanharith and Cheam Yeap were not available for comment yesterday. Senate elections will take place on January 29, with commune elections to follow mid year and national elections in 2013

Firm refuses housing pleas KHOUTH SOPHAKCHAKRYA

WEDNESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2012

The owner of development firm Phan Imex Company said yesterday that 64 families from the capital’s Borei Keila community who were demanding compensation for houses demolished on January 3 did not have the documents to prove they had owned a house on the site.

Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

A boy watches as homes are demolished in the Borei Keila community earlier this month. Phan Imex president Suy Sophan told the Post yesterday that her company would not compensate these families for any losses, but would offer them “humanitarian” payments of US$200 to $500. “Most of the protesters are those who have bought a house after 2003 or rented houses at Borei Keila,” she said. “Many are children of the residents who have received flats from our projects – the company cannot give these people another flat.” Ten families, most of whom had rented houses or cottages belonging to residents in Borei Keila after survey registration in 2003, accepted the offer, Suy Sophan said, with the “humanitarian” money intended to help families run businesses or return to their homelands. However, Pich Lim Khuon, a representative of Borei Keila residents who refused to accept land and houses at relocation sites in Dangkor district and Kandal province, said that villagers had lost their ownership documents when their houses were destroyed. “It is really unfair for us,” he said, adding that families who accepted the money had done so because they were children and relatives of families who had already received flats. In 2003, Phan Imex agreed to construct 10 buildings on two hectares of land to house 1,776 families, in exchange for development rights to a remaining 2.6 hectares. The firm has constructed only eight buildings. Thirty women and children detained last week during a protest led by Borei Keila residents remained

in Prey Speu social affairs centre yesterday, while eight villagers arrested during clashes on January 3 were still being held in Prey Sar prison. Meanwhile, a representative of villagers living at Boeung Kak lake yesterday met with World Bank representatives to discuss their living conditions. Villager Tep Vanny told the Post that the World Bank had promised to help lakeside residents who were still facing eviction. The World Bank could not be reached for comment.

Migrant woes: Family of maids file complaint TEP NIMOL

WEDNESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2012

The family of three maids working in Malaysia that claim two of their relatives were subjected to beatings and death threats while another had disappeared filed a complaint to rights group Adhoc in Ratanakiri on Monday. Pok Sat, 52, from the O’Chum district, said his daughter and two nieces were sent to Malaysia in March of 2010 via the T&P Co Ltd. The company has since been shut down by the Ministry of Labour and an arrest warrant issued for the company director, Sam Pisey. On January 12, Pok Sat said he received a phone call from his niece Hourn Tit Srey, who claimed that his daughter Sat Srey Noeun was physically abused by her employer, forced to take off her clothing and threatened to be killed with a knife. “My daughter was beaten five times already and threatened to be killed the last time. [She] phoned me on Tuesday and said that she was really depressed because of her mean boss and asked me to take her back,” he said. He added that another niece, Phong Sok Hach, had disappeared from her employer’s house, who claimed that she was no longer living or working there. “I worry about the security of my nieces and my daughter. I want them to return home safely,” he said. Deputy director of the women’s section at Adhoc, Lim Mony, said the group was seeking cooperation from the ministries of labour and interior, as well as the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia, in an attempt to return the three women to the Kingdom. “It is hard to save victims who went to work in Malaysia via the T&P company, because their foreign-labour exporting license was confiscated,” she said

Quartet summonsed over national highway protest

CHHAY CHANNYDA

WEDNESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2012

Villager's representatives involved in a protest over the seizing of land in a commune in Kampong Speu province in November have been summonsed to court to respond to claims that they tried to prevent officials from implementing a Supreme Court verdict.

Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post

Villagers from Phnom Sruoch district’s Treng Trayoeng commune in Kampong Speu province thumbprint a document yesterday at the office of local rights group Adhoc in Phnom Penh. According to four different summonses signed by Kampong Speu provincial court prosecutor Keo Sothea on January 5, and obtained by the Post yesterday, Try Thorn, Yin Chhang, Nguon Nakry and Sok Kong from Phnom Sruoch district’s Treng Trayoeng commune have been summonsed to appear in the court. The summonses state that the four are “suspects” who will be questioned over allegations that they tried to prevent land being handed over to NGO Farmer Association. Village representatives and rights workers have claimed that a Supreme Court verdict granting 160 hectares of land in the commune’s village 6 to the NGO was being wrongly implemented in village 3, affecting 66 families who lived and farmed in the area. The villagers whose names appear in the summonses told the Post yesterday that they did not know why they had been called to court. However, they said they were among about 100 villagers who gathered to block national highway 4 on November 24 last year to protest against the seizing. “The implementation of the verdict was not proper because the verdict was in village 6, but it was implemented in village 3,” said Yin Chhang, who will appear in court on Friday.

Sok Kong, 45, who is due to face questioning next Tuesday, said the Supreme Court had made it clear that the land in question was in village 6, but officials had proceeded to erect a post in village 3 in preparation to claim land there. She said that she had occupied land in village 3 since 1988 and the commune chief had issued her with a land title in 1993. “But the court says that the land belongs to the farmer association so the court went ahead and claimed it. They called us because we protested against them,” she said. Seven villagers from the commune travelled to the office of human rights group Adhoc in Phnom Penh yesterday to ask for a lawyer to defend their representatives. Chan Soveth, head of monitoring at Adhoc, said his organisation was considering assigning a lawyer to the case. Chan Savet, an investigator for Adhoc, said he had requested that the court review the implementation of the verdict

Cash crunch at KR tribunal Bridget Di Certo

Thursday, 19 January 2012

The Khmer Rouge tribunal is in a financial crisis, with Cambodian staff being told they will not receive their salaries for January and Cambodian judges remaining unpaid since October 2011, court officials said yesterday.

Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post Visitors exit the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh last year. Three weeks into the new financial year, no donor countries have yet committed any new funds to the tribunal, which is trying the senior and most responsible perpetrators of the mass atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime, tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said. “The lack of funding has become a crisis of funding,” Neth Pheaktra said, adding that all Cambodian staff at the tribunal received a letter this week that payment of their January salaries would be delayed. “All national staff from drivers to judges to administration will face ongoing delayed payments this year.” The tribunal establishes an annual budget that is usually submitted to donors in November or December to raise operations money for the following year, spokesman Neth Pheaktra said, but this year, the budget submission is late. “The budget plan for 2012 has already been established, but not yet submitted to donor countries,” Neth Pheaktra said. “No pledging has been made by donor countries as yet. “The Cambodian side at the court has run out of cash,” he said. “It is not good for staff morale in general – people need the money to support their families.” The Cambodian side of the tribunal finalised its budget in November, Neth Pheaktra said, but must wait for UN approval of the international budget before it can be submitted to donor countries.

He said tribunal administrative staff are scheduled to fly to New York at the end of this month or early February to request further financial assistance from UN headquarters, and submit the tribunal budget plan for 2012-2013. Since the tribunal began operations in 2006, it has spent a total of US$149.9 million, with $34 million being allocated to the Cambodian side and $115 million to the international side. Of the $149.9 million, Japan has been the most generous donor, contributing a total of $70.57 million to the courts operations between 2006 and 2011. The Royal Government of Cambodia is the second largest donor, pledging a total of $13.4 million over the past five years, as well as additional costs associated with the tribunal’s detention facility

Escape from Prey Speu Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Shane Worrell

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Security personnel watched 22 distraught women and children climb the walls of Prey Speu social affairs centre and flee in tuk-tuks at about 11am yesterday after SRP lawmakers Mu Sochua and Sovann Visakha visited the site to tell them that the government had no right to lock them up.

A FORMER BOREI KEILA RESIDENT DETAINED AT THE PREY SPEU CORRECTIONAL CENTRE IS HELPED OVER THE OUTER WALL

DURING AN ESCAPE BY 22 PEOPLE YESTERDAY. PHA LINA

A WOMAN BEHIND THE FRONT GATE OF THE PREY SPEU CORRECTIONAL CENTRE CRIES YESTERDAY BEFORE ESCAPING OVER

THE OUTER WALL. PHA LINA

FORMER BOREI KEILA RESIDENTS LEAVE THE PREY SPEU CORRECTIONAL CENTRE IN A TUK TUK AFTER CLIMBING OVER THE

OUTER WALL YESTERDAY. PHA LINA

A WOMAN DETAINED AT THE PREY SPEU CORRECTIONAL CENTRE PASSES A CHILD OVER THE OUTER WALL DURING AN

ESCAPE YESTERDAY IN PHNOM PENH. A TOTAL OF 22 FORMER BOREI KEILA RESIDENTS ESCAPED THE CENTRE YESTERDAY. PHA LINA

Earlier, the women and children, who were among 30 detained during a Borei Keila protest in Phnom Penh last Wednesday and held without charge, had accepted food and water from relatives and made impassioned pleas for their release through journalists who also gathered outside. It wasn’t long before the items were being handed back and the detainees were climbing the grey brick walls. Older women and small children were boosted up and passed to those who had gone before them and the detainees ran to tuk-tuks.

Prior to the escape, Mu Sochua and Sovann Visakha were granted access to the site. Mu Sochua addressed the emotional women who knelt in front of her – many crying and some rocking their weary children – as relatives watched through the bars of the centre’s main entrance. She was calling for the detainees to be released because Vann Nhann, the director of Prey Speu, had told her that the women and children’s names did not appear in any official detainee lists, she said. “[Vann Nhann] has absolutely no idea who these people are; they have no papers,” she said. “They have no right to hold them here. I [challenged] them to unlock these gates and let them out,” she said, adding that she had not told the detainees to climb the walls. Vann Nhann declined to comment. Mu Sochua said the SRP plans to lodge a complaint to the Ministry of Justice about the municipality of Phnom Penh authority, which she said was responsible for detaining the women and children at Prey Speu, adding that she wasn’t scared of the consequences. Prey Speu security officials did not try to stop the detainees from escaping, but refused to unlock the entrance gate and let them walk out, Mu Sochua said. Escapee Tem Sak Mony, 51, said Suy Sophan, the owner of the Phan Imex Company, was trying to force them to accept compensation of between US$100 and $500 and a small house in Toul Sambo or a small plot of land in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district. “She threatened us that we would be detained in this centre forever if we didn’t accept her offer,” she said, referring to Suy Sophan’s visit to the centre a day earlier. In 2003, development firm Phan Imex agreed to construct 10 buildings on two hectares of land to house 1,776 Borei Keila families, in exchange for development rights to a remaining 2.6 hectares. The firm has constructed only eight buildings. Tuk-tuks drove the women and children to the office of the Housing Rights Task Force in Khan Meancheay yesterday, where relieved family and friends cheered them. Nhin Sun, 42, whose wife Chum Nhann escaped yesterday, told the Post that he was happy to be reunited with her. “However, we are still concerned that [Phan Imex] will not pay compensation to us and the authority will arrest them again when we protest to demand a resolution.” Sia Phearum, secretariat director of the Human Rights Task Force, said his office was offering legal advice to the families. “The centre owners told members of parliament that those people were not on the list,” he said. “They tried to ask the centre to open the door, but they did not because I think [employees] are maybe afraid of what will happen next.”

It was too early to tell exactly how the women and children had been treated in Prey Speu, he said. His centre was giving the families advice on their rights and was working with other organisations to take legal action relating to all Borei Keila issues. “We have a legal team . . . it will prepare a complaint to [Phnom Penh Municipal Court] saying that the company violated their agreement. When the people are ready, [the legal team] will help. “I don’t know if the authority will want to make any trouble for our office . . . we will wait and see.” Pung Chhiv Kek, president of rights group Licadho, said she was monitoring the situation. “It is difficult to say what will happen to them, since these women have already been put in Prey Speu against their will and illegally detained without any charge or warrant for arrest,” she said. Suy Sophan could not be reached for comment yesterday. Phnom Penh municipality’s director of the social affairs department, Saon Sophal, and its deputy chief of administration, Kiet Chhe, declined to comment. They referred the Post to the municipality’s press release of January 13, which says that the detainees came from 22 families. Of those, 14 had illegally bought a house on the state’s land during the restricted period, six had illegally bought a house to rent out, one had been compensated with a house but had sold it and one was an “opportunist squatter”. Phnom Penh governor Kep Chutema also declined to comment yesterday. Sia Phearum said last night that neither police nor the government had tried to contact his office or the women and children. They were still at his office and will return to Borei Keila today, he said. Of the original 30 detainees, five children had already been released because of illness and two women accepted Suy Sophan’s compensation offer on Monday, while another woman had been called to a meeting with her and the village chief, villagers told the Post

Judge’s OK an ‘obligation’, UN says Bridget Di Certo with additional reporting by Mary Kozlovski

Thursday, 19 January 2012

The United Nations yesterday said Cambodia is “under an obligation” to appoint the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s reserve co-investigating judge, a day after the government denied any such obligation exists. Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, told the Post that pursuant to the 2003 Agreement between Cambodia and the UN establishing the tribunal, there is an “obligation” on Cambodia to appoint the UN’s nominee, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, as international co-investigating judge. “We continue to call upon Cambodia to fulfill its obligation under the Agreement,” Nesirky said. On Monday, the Council of Ministers’ Press and Quick Reaction Unit called a snap press conference to chastise media and rights groups for reporting that Cambodia “must” appoint Kasper-Ansermet. The government has taken the position that the Supreme Council of Magistracy, a national body that appoints and disciplines national judges, is entitled to make a “decision” about the appointment of Kasper-Ansermet. Until he is appointed, investigations into cases 003 and 004, which are opposed by many high-ranking government officials, are effectively paralysed. Amid concerns over judicial independence and the fate of cases 003 and 004 at the court, the UN has appointed American lawyer David Scheffer as Special Expert at the court, tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen confirmed yesterday. Scheffer served as the US’s first Ambassador at Large for War Crimes under the Clinton administration and is a long-term ECCC observer. Previously, the Special Expert has been involved in such areas as the drafting of anti-corruption measures and fundraising.

Hard road to resolution May Titthara

Friday, 20 January 2012

MORE THAN 400 VILLAGERS FROM KRATIE PROVINCE’S SNUOL DISTRICT BLOCK NATIONAL ROAD 76A YESTERDAY AFTER FOUR

LOCAL VILLAGERS WERE SHOT ON WEDNESDAY BY SECURITY GUARDS HIRED BY TTY CO LTD. HENG CHIVOAN

MONG TOUCH, 22, LIES BLEEDING ON THE GROUND AFTER BEING SHOT BY GUARDS HIRED BY TTY CO LTD ON WEDNESDAY IN

KRATIE PROVINCE. PHOTO SUPPLIED

A SECURITY GUARD HIRED BY TTY CO LTD POINTS AN ASSAULT RIFLE AT VILLAGERS DURING A PROTEST IN KRATIE PROVINCE

ON WEDNESDAY. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Bullets intended to cow villagers into abandoning a long-running Kratie province land dispute seemed only to strengthen their resolve yesterday. In the wake of four of their own being shot by security guards working for agricultural development firm TTY, more than 400 villagers in Kratie province massed to block national road 76A for 24 hours, dispersing only after receiving word that Prime Minister Hun Sen had promised the return of their disputed land. On Wednesday morning, four villagers from Snuol district were shot with AK-47s after hundreds attempted to keep hired security guards from clearing their cassava fields. One man, 22-year-old Mong Touch, who was in critical condition after being shot in both legs, was sent to Vietnam for treatment. The protesters reopened the road to traffic at about 10:30am yesterday after provincial authorities passed along word that the premier had agreed to return land granted to the TTY company in 2008 as part of an economic land concession, affecting nearly 500 families in the Pi Thnou commune. The reopening of national road 76A allowed about 300 travellers, whose commutes were blocked due to the protest, to resume passage between Kratie and Mondulkiri. Protester and uncle of the critically injured Mong Touch said he had yet to receive news from Vietnam concerning his nephew’s condition. He added that the promise from the premier concerning the return of their land was the sole factor in the villagers’ decision to end their protest. “We decided to open the road because of the prime minister’s promise [to return our land],” he said.

No Sos, a member of the protest, said if the government had not obliged their request for the return of their land, they would have continued to block the road indefinitely. “We could have blocked the road for six months and it wouldn’t have been a problem. We already have cassava we could sell for rice in order to continue the protest, so it is lucky for the authorities that they agreed with the villagers’ request,” he said. Village representative from the Pi Thnou commune Ven Sreang said the villagers need a government sub-decree, as well as letters from the Ministry of Interior and TTY ensuring the return of their land. “The provincial governor said that he will obtain the letters for us,” he said. Kratie deputy governor Sar Cham Rong said he would make sure that TTY refrained from taking any further steps on the land in question until negotiations are concluded, the security guards responsible for the shootings are arrested and the injured villagers receive compensation. “What I said is not my word, it is from Prime Minister Hun Sen and deputy governor Sar Kheng. Without [the prime minister’s] order I dare not make this decision,” the deputy governor said. Provincial police chief Chhoung Seang said his office was conducting an investigation of Wednesday’s dispute and searching for the security guards responsible for shooting the villagers. He added that the police will not pursue cases against any of the protesters responsible for blocking national road 76A. Senior investigator for rights group Licadho Am Sam Ath said he welcomed the idea of the authorities finding a peaceful resolution for the villagers. “If the authorities respect their promises, they can put an end to the dispute, but the villagers will protest again if they break their promise,” the investigator said. Administrative director for the TTY company Thong Long declined to comment yesterday and said he was only familiar with the shooting and protest after reading media reports

Decreto real (saudí) sobre ropa interior (femenina) Por: Ángeles Espinosa| 17 de enero de 2012

ACTUALIZADO A LAS 8.00 AM DEL MIÉRCOLES 18

¿Qué tiene que ver un gobernante con la ropa interior que una decida comprarse? En cualquier lugar del mundo, nada, pero en ese pozo de sorpresas (y petróleo) que es Arabia Saudí, bastante. Resulta que acaba de expirar el plazo de seis meses que el rey Abdalá dio el pasado junio para que los propietarios de tiendas de lencería femenina sustituyan a sus dependientes por dependientas. A primera vista, la medida parecería otro nuevo gesto machista a los que esta parte del mundo nos tiene acostumbrados. Todo lo contrario. El real decreto es una lanza a favor de las mujeres, de que puedan trabajar fuera de casa.

Me explico. No se trata sólo de que a una le pueda dar pudor preguntarle por la copa C a un guapo dependiente libanés (a mí me lo daría), o de que las manos del no tan joven jordano sobre la blonda negra de un tanga rocen el morbo de una película X. Sin duda, muchas saudíes (y las numerosas extranjeras que habitan el reino) van a sentirse más cómodas hablando de tallas, estilos y formas con una mujer al otro lado del mostrador, como dejó claro la campaña “Basta de pasar vergüenza”. Pero la clave no está en sus apuros, sino en las consecuencias del cambio para las mujeres, ya que se pretende que sean saudíes las que sustituyan a los extranjeros que trabajan en el sector. Con los clérigos hemos topado.

De lo que se quejan los ultraconservadores ulemas saudíes no es de la anomalía de que las clientas tuvieran que pasar por el trago de explicar sus necesidades de bragas, sujetadores o fajas

a unos perfectos desconocidos, en un país donde hombres y mujeres crecen segregados por ley y esos asuntos personales llegan con menor frecuencia que en Occidente a una conversación coloquial. Lo que no pueden soportar, y así lo han hecho saber, es que la medida haya dado la posibilidad de trabajar fuera de casa a unas 40.000 mujeres en 7.300 tiendas distribuidas por todo el país. Según un portavoz del Ministerio de Trabajo citado por el diario 'Al Ektesadiya', 28.000 saudíes habían presenado solicitudes para cubrir esos puestos a finales del pasado diciembre.

El debate no es nuevo. Empezó, como yo contaba en mi libro El reino del desierto, a raíz de que Abdalá siendo aún príncipe heredero diera pequeños pasos a favor del empleo femenino y promoviera una excepción a la ley que prohibía que hubiera dependientas. La propuesta inicial del Ministerio de Trabajo, que no reflejó ese deseo hasta meses más tarde, desató una oleada de protestas del alto clero, que llegó a emitir una fetua prohibiendo que las mujeres ejercieran esa actividad. El gran muftí, el jeque Abdelaziz al Sheij, incluso ha advertido a las corseterías de que emplearlas era “delito y lo prohíbe la Sharía” (ley islámica).

Lo que preocupa a estos hombres de fe es que si se permite a que las mujeres trabajen en esas tiendas, que en su mayoría están dentro de grandes centros comerciales, surja la posibilidad de que interactúen con hombres ajenos a su entorno familiar y eso, para ellos, es el más grave de los pecados. Al parecer, estos supuestos sabios no se han dado una vuelta por esos mismos templos del consumo para ver que esa interacción es inevitable cuando las mujeres acuden a comprar desde un juguete para sus niños hasta un perfume, pasando por la ropa interior en el centro del debate. O que cada día interactúan con unos perfectos desconocidos contratados para conducir sus coches porque tienen prohibido hacerlo.

Tal como ha explicado el siempre agudo comentarista socio político Tariq al Maeena, el problema de base es que los saudíes y las saudíes están “separados por barreras antinaturales”. Y eso conduce al absurdo de que hombres y mujeres de una misma familia se vean confinados a la parte de atrás de cafeterías y restaurantes, pero en los aviones viajen a escasos centímetros de extraños del sexo opuesto.

Volviendo al decreto sobre las corseterías, el caso es que poco a poco algunas tiendas empezaron a contratar a dependientas, sobre todo en las ciudades más liberales, como Yeddah, en la costa del mar Rojo. Pero las objeciones de los clérigos frenaron a otros negocios. Así que el rey tomó cartas en el asunto y promulgó el decreto estableciendo un plazo para cumplir la norma. No sólo eso. El Ministerio de Trabajo ha anunciado que ha destinado 400 inspectores a comprobar que se respeta. Y de aquí a julio, las tiendas de cosmética están llamadas a hacer el mismo cambio.

Sin duda, sería preferible que cada uno pudiera elegir su ocupación sin que las leyes limitaran sus alternativas. Pero a la vista de ciertas tradiciones, la interferencia real parece un paso en el buen camino.

Foto: AMER HILABI / AFP

La ayuda española a cooperación en salud cayó a la mitad en dos años

Los grandes organismos sanitarios internacionales perdieron el 83% de las aportaciones

Reparto de ayuda humanitaria en Yuba (Sudán). / ISAAC BILLY (EFE) Si ha habido un sector donde el último Gobierno de Zapatero apretó las clavijas fue el de la cooperación internacional. Y, específicamente, la ayuda a programas de salud global (los que no están relacionados directamente con catástrofes humanitarias), según un informe que ha presentado el grupo ISGlobal en la sede de Caixaforum de Madrid. En concreto la ayuda al desarrollo en el sector cayó a la mitad (de 500 millones a unos 250 millones) entre 2009 y 2011. Y si se miran las grandes instituciones de salud global (Fondo Mundial contra el Sida, la Tuberculosis y la Malaria, FMSTM; Organización Mundial de la Salud, OMS; Alianza Mundial por las Vacunas y la Inmunización, GAVI; o la Iniciativa para el Desarrollo de Fármacos para

Enfermedades Ovidadas, DNDi, entre otras) el descenso fue aún mayor: de 259,3 a 45 millones en dos años. Ello supone, según el estudio que ha dirigido Gonzalo Fanjul, experto en temas de desarrollo y autor del blog 3.500 millones en EL PAÍS, una pérdida de presencia y de influencia de España, aparte del efecto sobre la vida de las personas. El trabajo La ayuda española al desarrollo y los retos de la salud global. Una receta para el cambio intenta ofrecer una propuesta para que España aproveche el papel que ocupó como uno de los mayores donantes de estas instituciones. “Incluso en un ámbito de recortes, hay que usar la ayuda de la mejor manera posible”, ha dicho Rafael Vilasanjuán, expresidente de Médicos sin Fronteras y director del laboratorio de ideas de ISGlobal. El estudio tiene dos partes claras. La primera analiza la situación de la ayuda española al desarrollo, que Fanjul describe como “muy lejos de la eficacia”, de una “dispersión enfermiza”, con una “planificación caótica” y con “recursos humanos escasos”. Por eso él cree que en la actual situación de recortes puede venir bien para replantearla. “Incluso en un ámbito de recortes, hay que usar la ayuda de la mejor manera posible” Lo importante, según expuso Joan Tallada, asesor de la organización, es priorizar. Entre los ejemplos de que esto no se hizo así, el informe destaca que si se agrupan los países receptores por áreas de interés (en una escala que va de la A a la C en función de su prioridad para España), el 40,9% de los fondos fue a los primeros, mientras que el 38,9% fue a los que ni siquiera están en alguno de los tres grupos. También se destaca que la ayuda española ha sido, hasta la fecha, más importante por su cantidad que por su calidad. En este sentido cabe destacar el comentario que tras la presentación del trabajo hizo Sergio Galán, jefe del Área de Salud de la. Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) quien admitió que había habido una "hipertrofia" de las aportaciones a los grandes institutos sanitarios porque era una manera fácil de aumentar la ayuda al desarrollo (que llegó a ser del 0,49% del PIB) sin tener que entrar en desarrollar complejos programas.

Fanjul describe la ayuda española como “muy lejos de la eficacia” Las conclusiones del trabajo son tres. La primera, “cortar la hemorragia” de fondos, que Fanjul indicó que sospecha que va a ser “desproporcionada”. La segunda, concentrar esfuerzos en las áreas prioritarias (América Latina, el norte de África y el África occidental, donde en los últimos años se ha hecho un gran esfuerzo como una manera de frenar la inmigración ilegal hacia España). Tampoco deben abandonarse los grandes institutos, como se ha hecho con el Fondo del Sida (de 144,2 millones en 2009 a 0 en 2011) o la Coalición de Medicinas para la Malaria (de tres a cero). Por último, hará falta una “pedagogía pública” que haga entender que aún en tiempos de crisis las ayudas internacionales son necesarias, porque en salud “o nos hundimos o flotamos todos