Mom Kunthear and Brooke Lewis
Phnom Penh Post
THE visits had been going on for months before Oun Thy, 21, decided to take action. Two or three times a week, her brother-in-law, Kaing Punnara, would drop in on Vong Sina, a 22-year-old waitress who worked at a karaoke bar in Takeo province’s Kirivong district. Though Vong Sina says the encounters were not romantic, Oun Thy would later tell police that they had enraged her family.
And so, on the night of December 17, Oun Thy – who was riding on the back of a motorbike driven by an unidentified masked man – pulled up in front of Vong Sina and three other women and poured a litre of acid over them.
Vong Sina sustained severe burns on the left side of her face, but it was her cousin, Vong Sreyly, who suffered the worst – she is still unable to leave the hospital ward where she is being treated for injuries to her face. The two other women suffered relatively mild burns, but both will be scarred for life.
On Thursday, Vong Sina sat in the Takeo provincial court as a judge announced that Oun Thy had been found guilty of “causing bodily harm” and sentenced her to four years in prison. Vong Sina was awarded 8 million riels (US$1,916) in compensation, and Soeun Srey Vann, who was also in the group of four, was awarded 4 million riels.
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Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Factory fight escalates
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
THE deputy chief of Prek Kampus commune in Kandal province intervened in a dispute between villagers and a nearby garment factory on Monday, vowing to act on two petitions village representatives filed last week that accused the company of pumping wastewater into local water sources.
Korn Sokan said Tuesday that he had forwarded the villagers’ complaints to the Kandal Stung district governor after realising a Chinese company had breached an agreement last month to stop pumping wastewater into the local creek.
“I don’t know what to do if the villagers want to protest, but I will try my best to help them to close the factory if [it] still allows the wastewater to flow into the rice fields,” he said.
Representatives of more than 500 families from Krang Svay and Prek Kampus villages in Prek Kampus commune had filed two petitions to commune officials last week threatening to protest on Tuesday if action wasn’t taken.
Phnom Penh Post
THE deputy chief of Prek Kampus commune in Kandal province intervened in a dispute between villagers and a nearby garment factory on Monday, vowing to act on two petitions village representatives filed last week that accused the company of pumping wastewater into local water sources.
Korn Sokan said Tuesday that he had forwarded the villagers’ complaints to the Kandal Stung district governor after realising a Chinese company had breached an agreement last month to stop pumping wastewater into the local creek.
“I don’t know what to do if the villagers want to protest, but I will try my best to help them to close the factory if [it] still allows the wastewater to flow into the rice fields,” he said.
Representatives of more than 500 families from Krang Svay and Prek Kampus villages in Prek Kampus commune had filed two petitions to commune officials last week threatening to protest on Tuesday if action wasn’t taken.
PM slams critics over revenues
Sebastian Strangio and Cheang Sokha
Phnom Penh Post
PRIME Minister Hun Sen lashed out at critics of the government’s handling of extractive-resource revenues on Wednesday, branding them “thieves” and saying that tensions between Cambodia and international watchdog Global Witness stem from a “sexual scandal” involving the group’s staff.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day mining conference in the capital Wednesday, Hun Sen said criticisms from international organisations and foreign countries were misplaced because the government has not yet pocketed any funds from extractive industries.
“I don’t understand when they order the fish to be fried or grilled while the fish is still in the water,” he told an audience of business executives, diplomats and civil society representatives. “They have accused us of corruption in spending while we have not yet made any money.”
Ministry of Finance budget records show that the government has received more than US$28 million in signature bonuses and social fund payments from foreign companies investing in extractive industries since the beginning of 2009.
Hun Sen also said that all payments made to secure mining or oil and gas exploration rights were processed within “the framework of the state budget”, and scolded international critics for treating the government “like a child”.
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Phnom Penh Post
PRIME Minister Hun Sen lashed out at critics of the government’s handling of extractive-resource revenues on Wednesday, branding them “thieves” and saying that tensions between Cambodia and international watchdog Global Witness stem from a “sexual scandal” involving the group’s staff.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day mining conference in the capital Wednesday, Hun Sen said criticisms from international organisations and foreign countries were misplaced because the government has not yet pocketed any funds from extractive industries.
“I don’t understand when they order the fish to be fried or grilled while the fish is still in the water,” he told an audience of business executives, diplomats and civil society representatives. “They have accused us of corruption in spending while we have not yet made any money.”
Ministry of Finance budget records show that the government has received more than US$28 million in signature bonuses and social fund payments from foreign companies investing in extractive industries since the beginning of 2009.
Hun Sen also said that all payments made to secure mining or oil and gas exploration rights were processed within “the framework of the state budget”, and scolded international critics for treating the government “like a child”.
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Hundreds of prisoners denied right to an appeal: NGO report
James O’toole and Chhay Channyda
Phnom Penh Post
HUNDREDS of prisoners nationwide are being denied their appeal right due to a lack of infrastructure and an inefficient bureaucracy, according to a report from local rights group Licadho.
The report, titled In Absentia: The Right to Appeal and Cambodia’s Inmate Transportation Crisis, was released publicly earlier this month after initially being distributed to government officials and rights workers in March. Citing government data, it says that more than 500 prisoners with pending appeals are detained in provincial prisons with little hope of securing transportation to the Kingdom’s only Appeal Court, located in Phnom Penh, for their hearings.
“Due to Cambodia’s near total lack of a long-distance inmate transportation network, these inmates are at grave risk of being denied one of the most basic elements of a fair trial: The right to have a conviction and sentence properly reviewed by a higher tribunal,” the report states.
Heng Hak, director of the prisons department at the Ministry of Interior, said he did not have statistics on the number of prisoners with appeals currently pending, but acknowledged a “lack of services” available for this group.
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Phnom Penh Post
HUNDREDS of prisoners nationwide are being denied their appeal right due to a lack of infrastructure and an inefficient bureaucracy, according to a report from local rights group Licadho.
The report, titled In Absentia: The Right to Appeal and Cambodia’s Inmate Transportation Crisis, was released publicly earlier this month after initially being distributed to government officials and rights workers in March. Citing government data, it says that more than 500 prisoners with pending appeals are detained in provincial prisons with little hope of securing transportation to the Kingdom’s only Appeal Court, located in Phnom Penh, for their hearings.
“Due to Cambodia’s near total lack of a long-distance inmate transportation network, these inmates are at grave risk of being denied one of the most basic elements of a fair trial: The right to have a conviction and sentence properly reviewed by a higher tribunal,” the report states.
Heng Hak, director of the prisons department at the Ministry of Interior, said he did not have statistics on the number of prisoners with appeals currently pending, but acknowledged a “lack of services” available for this group.
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Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sorya vendors demand lower rent
Kim Yuthana
Phnom Penh Post
ABOUT 170 shop owners at the Golden Sorya Mall in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district handed the mall’s owner a thumbprinted petition on Monday requesting a 50 percent reduction in their monthly rent, which they say is necessary because their businesses are running at a loss due to poor sales.
Clothes vendor Eang Soveoun said he was concerned that stores at the five-month-old mall could be forced to close because sales had been so bad.
“I have lost US$350 a month for three months already, especially because the rent is too high and I cannot sell goods at high enough prices to cover the rent of the stand,” he said on Monday.
Meas Channa, who sells clothes and shoes at the mall, said that although she and her fellow shop owners had been wiling to shoulder losses immediately after the mall opened, those losses have now become unsustainable.
“I would like to call for the owner of the market to decrease the price of the stands in accordance with the present, obvious situation, because our sales have not been good and there have not been many customers coming to buy goods here,” he said.
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Phnom Penh Post
ABOUT 170 shop owners at the Golden Sorya Mall in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district handed the mall’s owner a thumbprinted petition on Monday requesting a 50 percent reduction in their monthly rent, which they say is necessary because their businesses are running at a loss due to poor sales.
Clothes vendor Eang Soveoun said he was concerned that stores at the five-month-old mall could be forced to close because sales had been so bad.
“I have lost US$350 a month for three months already, especially because the rent is too high and I cannot sell goods at high enough prices to cover the rent of the stand,” he said on Monday.
Meas Channa, who sells clothes and shoes at the mall, said that although she and her fellow shop owners had been wiling to shoulder losses immediately after the mall opened, those losses have now become unsustainable.
“I would like to call for the owner of the market to decrease the price of the stands in accordance with the present, obvious situation, because our sales have not been good and there have not been many customers coming to buy goods here,” he said.
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Arrests feared in Svay Rieng
May Titthara
Phnom Penh Post
GROUP of roughly 200 villagers involved in a land dispute with a rubber company in Svay Rieng province travelled from Romeas Hek district to the provincial court on Monday to accompany five men who have been summoned to appear in a related case.
About 400 families in Romeas Hek have accused the Peam Chaing Rubber Company of threatening to seize their farmland, more than 800 hectares of which allegedly overlaps with a 3,960-hectare concession awarded to the company in 2007.
Earlier this month, some of the villagers had a dispute with company workers, and they have been accused of destroying police property and “briefly kidnapping” a company representative.
One of the villagers, Yea Yeoung, was arrested shortly after the altercation. Police in Romeas Hek district’s Tres commune have tried to arrest 14 others, all of whom – along with one other villager – have also been summoned to appear before the court on Tuesday, according to documents provided on Monday by the rights group Adhoc.
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Phnom Penh Post
GROUP of roughly 200 villagers involved in a land dispute with a rubber company in Svay Rieng province travelled from Romeas Hek district to the provincial court on Monday to accompany five men who have been summoned to appear in a related case.
About 400 families in Romeas Hek have accused the Peam Chaing Rubber Company of threatening to seize their farmland, more than 800 hectares of which allegedly overlaps with a 3,960-hectare concession awarded to the company in 2007.
Earlier this month, some of the villagers had a dispute with company workers, and they have been accused of destroying police property and “briefly kidnapping” a company representative.
One of the villagers, Yea Yeoung, was arrested shortly after the altercation. Police in Romeas Hek district’s Tres commune have tried to arrest 14 others, all of whom – along with one other villager – have also been summoned to appear before the court on Tuesday, according to documents provided on Monday by the rights group Adhoc.
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Decrease in child mortality reported
Chhay Channyda and Brooke Lewis
Phnom Penh Post
CAMBODIA has made dramatic progress in reducing death rates for children younger than 5, and has already met the national Millennium Development Goal for child mortality, according to findings in a new global study.
The findings, however, are much lower than government estimates, and were met with scepticism by local health officials on Monday.
The study, published in the medical journal The Lancet on Monday, concluded that there were 12 deaths per 1,000 children aged between 1 and 5, and 24.5 deaths per l,000 infants younger than 1.
The 2008 national census pegged the mortality rates at 83 per 1,000 children aged between 1 and 5, and 65 per 1,000 infants, a health official said Monday.
The authors of the report concluded that there had been a dramatic global decrease in child mortality, with deaths dropping from 11.9 million in 1990 to an estimated 7.7 million in 2010, but added that the decline would need to be accelerated in order to reach the UN’s goal of cutting child mortality by two-thirds by 2015.
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Phnom Penh Post
CAMBODIA has made dramatic progress in reducing death rates for children younger than 5, and has already met the national Millennium Development Goal for child mortality, according to findings in a new global study.
The findings, however, are much lower than government estimates, and were met with scepticism by local health officials on Monday.
The study, published in the medical journal The Lancet on Monday, concluded that there were 12 deaths per 1,000 children aged between 1 and 5, and 24.5 deaths per l,000 infants younger than 1.
The 2008 national census pegged the mortality rates at 83 per 1,000 children aged between 1 and 5, and 65 per 1,000 infants, a health official said Monday.
The authors of the report concluded that there had been a dramatic global decrease in child mortality, with deaths dropping from 11.9 million in 1990 to an estimated 7.7 million in 2010, but added that the decline would need to be accelerated in order to reach the UN’s goal of cutting child mortality by two-thirds by 2015.
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Still in a temporary home, years after eviction
Mom Kunthear and May Titthara
Phnom Penh Post
THE lawyer for 13 families seeking relocation housing from the developer 7NG after being violently evicted from the Dey Krahorm community in January 2009 was summoned to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday, only to learn that a hearing in the case had been postponed because company representatives had failed to appear.
Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers who were evicted from the same central Phnom Penh community in 2007 – and who have been living in unsanitary conditions in Dangkor district ever since – said Monday that they plan next week to seek intervention from Prime Minister Hun Sen in their separate row with the company, which they say has left them homeless for nearly three years.
Te Channan, the lawyer, said he had intended to present evidence in support of his clients’ compensation requests, and that he was growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in the case.
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Phnom Penh Post
THE lawyer for 13 families seeking relocation housing from the developer 7NG after being violently evicted from the Dey Krahorm community in January 2009 was summoned to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday, only to learn that a hearing in the case had been postponed because company representatives had failed to appear.
Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers who were evicted from the same central Phnom Penh community in 2007 – and who have been living in unsanitary conditions in Dangkor district ever since – said Monday that they plan next week to seek intervention from Prime Minister Hun Sen in their separate row with the company, which they say has left them homeless for nearly three years.
Te Channan, the lawyer, said he had intended to present evidence in support of his clients’ compensation requests, and that he was growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in the case.
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Monday, May 24, 2010
Heng Pov’s attempted murder conviction is upheld
Chhay Channyda
Phnom Penh Post
THE Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the attempted murder conviction of former Phnom Penh municipal police chief Heng Pov in a case concerning an attack on a utility worker, though judges denied a request by the victim’s wife to increase a compensation award.
In 2008, Heng Pov was found guilty of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison for an attack that left Kim Daravuth, an employee of state-owned Electricite du Cambodge, paralysed.
The attack apparently stemmed from a dispute over whether Heng Pov had paid a power bill for his home in Kandal province’s Takhmao town.
When Kim Daravuth shut off power to the home after determining that the bill had not been paid, prosecutors said in 2008, Heng Pov ordered him killed.
Two other men were convicted of carrying out the attack and given identical prison sentences, and all three were ordered to pay Kim Daravuth a combined US$800,000 in compensation.
Heng Pov professed his innocence during a hearing on April 30.
“I did not order, facilitate or execute the plan to kill him,” he said. “I never knew Kim Daravuth.”
At the same hearing, Vong Nilina, Kim Daravuth’s wife, demanded that the compensation award be increased to US$1.5 million, telling judges that her husband had required “expensive” medical treatment abroad.
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Phnom Penh Post
THE Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the attempted murder conviction of former Phnom Penh municipal police chief Heng Pov in a case concerning an attack on a utility worker, though judges denied a request by the victim’s wife to increase a compensation award.
In 2008, Heng Pov was found guilty of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison for an attack that left Kim Daravuth, an employee of state-owned Electricite du Cambodge, paralysed.
The attack apparently stemmed from a dispute over whether Heng Pov had paid a power bill for his home in Kandal province’s Takhmao town.
When Kim Daravuth shut off power to the home after determining that the bill had not been paid, prosecutors said in 2008, Heng Pov ordered him killed.
Two other men were convicted of carrying out the attack and given identical prison sentences, and all three were ordered to pay Kim Daravuth a combined US$800,000 in compensation.
Heng Pov professed his innocence during a hearing on April 30.
“I did not order, facilitate or execute the plan to kill him,” he said. “I never knew Kim Daravuth.”
At the same hearing, Vong Nilina, Kim Daravuth’s wife, demanded that the compensation award be increased to US$1.5 million, telling judges that her husband had required “expensive” medical treatment abroad.
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Diarrhoea kills eight more victims
Tep Nimol
Phnom Penh Post
A TOTAL of eight cases of fatal watery diarrhoea were reported in four provinces Sunday, bringing the number of deaths from sporadic outbreaks of the illness to 39 across the country this year.
Health officials from Kampong Thom, Kratie, Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri provinces all reported new deaths from watery diarrhoea, including the deaths of three teenaged siblings in Kampong Thom.
Ou Khy Lay, superintendent of Kratie provincial hospital, said the outbreak had become so serious in his province that he was concerned health officials could not “endure” if it continued much longer.
“At least 10 people are hospitalised per day because of the epidemic of acute watery diarrhoea, and most of them are in alarmingly serious condition,” he said. “We have educated the villagers about sanitation, but infections still keep occurring”.
Sorn Vuthy, deputy director of the Stung Treng provincial Health Department, said the epidemic had been caused by aridity, a lack of sanitation and inability to access toilets.
Meanwhile, health officials in Ratanakkiri said they had recalled quick-response workers who were sent out across the province at the beginning of this month to try to contain the outbreaks – despite reporting another death from the illness. The province has reported a total of 16 diarrhoea deaths so far this year.
Phnom Penh Post
A TOTAL of eight cases of fatal watery diarrhoea were reported in four provinces Sunday, bringing the number of deaths from sporadic outbreaks of the illness to 39 across the country this year.
Health officials from Kampong Thom, Kratie, Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri provinces all reported new deaths from watery diarrhoea, including the deaths of three teenaged siblings in Kampong Thom.
Ou Khy Lay, superintendent of Kratie provincial hospital, said the outbreak had become so serious in his province that he was concerned health officials could not “endure” if it continued much longer.
“At least 10 people are hospitalised per day because of the epidemic of acute watery diarrhoea, and most of them are in alarmingly serious condition,” he said. “We have educated the villagers about sanitation, but infections still keep occurring”.
Sorn Vuthy, deputy director of the Stung Treng provincial Health Department, said the epidemic had been caused by aridity, a lack of sanitation and inability to access toilets.
Meanwhile, health officials in Ratanakkiri said they had recalled quick-response workers who were sent out across the province at the beginning of this month to try to contain the outbreaks – despite reporting another death from the illness. The province has reported a total of 16 diarrhoea deaths so far this year.
Men accused of smuggling 17 labourers
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
ANTI-HUMAN trafficking officials in Battambang province said Sunday that they broke up a labour-smuggling ring last week, arresting five men who had attempted to sneak 17 Cambodians across the border with Thailand on the evening of May 19.
The five men, who were arrested in Sampov Loun district’s Chhrey Sima commune, were apprehended while trying to transport the would-be illegal migrants across the border into Thailand on motorbikes, said Born Vannara, deputy director of the Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department in Battambang. He added that the suspects had been under surveillance for about a year.
“Those five men were sent to the provincial court and are now being temporarily held at the provincial prison,” he said. “I don’t know when the court will charge them, because we need to carry out an investigation.”
He said he had advised the 17 prospective labourers to return to their homes in Battambang, Pursat, Siem Reap and Kampong Speu provinces, and had warned them not to try to cross the border illegally in the future.
The case is the second this year in which arrests have been made in connection with labour-smuggling, Born Vannara said, and added that there had only been two such cases in 2009.
“We arrested two masterminds last year, and this year so far we have arrested seven people,” he said.
Krouch Chhanpov, provincial head of the rights group Adhoc’s women’s rights programme, commended the officials for carrying out the arrests.
“I want the authorities and police to continue cracking down on [labour-smuggling] rings and to arrest anyone who facilitates the trafficking of people,” she said.
She added that she suspects that such cases are on the rise, though she noted that Adhoc has not conducted research to support this claim.
Lim Mony, the national head of Adhoc’s women’s rights programme, called on the government to crack down on operations facilitating work for companies overseas illegally.
Phnom Penh Post
ANTI-HUMAN trafficking officials in Battambang province said Sunday that they broke up a labour-smuggling ring last week, arresting five men who had attempted to sneak 17 Cambodians across the border with Thailand on the evening of May 19.
The five men, who were arrested in Sampov Loun district’s Chhrey Sima commune, were apprehended while trying to transport the would-be illegal migrants across the border into Thailand on motorbikes, said Born Vannara, deputy director of the Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department in Battambang. He added that the suspects had been under surveillance for about a year.
“Those five men were sent to the provincial court and are now being temporarily held at the provincial prison,” he said. “I don’t know when the court will charge them, because we need to carry out an investigation.”
He said he had advised the 17 prospective labourers to return to their homes in Battambang, Pursat, Siem Reap and Kampong Speu provinces, and had warned them not to try to cross the border illegally in the future.
The case is the second this year in which arrests have been made in connection with labour-smuggling, Born Vannara said, and added that there had only been two such cases in 2009.
“We arrested two masterminds last year, and this year so far we have arrested seven people,” he said.
Krouch Chhanpov, provincial head of the rights group Adhoc’s women’s rights programme, commended the officials for carrying out the arrests.
“I want the authorities and police to continue cracking down on [labour-smuggling] rings and to arrest anyone who facilitates the trafficking of people,” she said.
She added that she suspects that such cases are on the rise, though she noted that Adhoc has not conducted research to support this claim.
Lim Mony, the national head of Adhoc’s women’s rights programme, called on the government to crack down on operations facilitating work for companies overseas illegally.
Men accused of smuggling 17 labourers
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
ANTI-HUMAN trafficking officials in Battambang province said Sunday that they broke up a labour-smuggling ring last week, arresting five men who had attempted to sneak 17 Cambodians across the border with Thailand on the evening of May 19.
The five men, who were arrested in Sampov Loun district’s Chhrey Sima commune, were apprehended while trying to transport the would-be illegal migrants across the border into Thailand on motorbikes, said Born Vannara, deputy director of the Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department in Battambang. He added that the suspects had been under surveillance for about a year.
“Those five men were sent to the provincial court and are now being temporarily held at the provincial prison,” he said. “I don’t know when the court will charge them, because we need to carry out an investigation.”
He said he had advised the 17 prospective labourers to return to their homes in Battambang, Pursat, Siem Reap and Kampong Speu provinces, and had warned them not to try to cross the border illegally in the future.
The case is the second this year in which arrests have been made in connection with labour-smuggling, Born Vannara said, and added that there had only been two such cases in 2009.
“We arrested two masterminds last year, and this year so far we have arrested seven people,” he said.
Krouch Chhanpov, provincial head of the rights group Adhoc’s women’s rights programme, commended the officials for carrying out the arrests.
“I want the authorities and police to continue cracking down on [labour-smuggling] rings and to arrest anyone who facilitates the trafficking of people,” she said.
She added that she suspects that such cases are on the rise, though she noted that Adhoc has not conducted research to support this claim.
Lim Mony, the national head of Adhoc’s women’s rights programme, called on the government to crack down on operations facilitating work for companies overseas illegally.
Phnom Penh Post
ANTI-HUMAN trafficking officials in Battambang province said Sunday that they broke up a labour-smuggling ring last week, arresting five men who had attempted to sneak 17 Cambodians across the border with Thailand on the evening of May 19.
The five men, who were arrested in Sampov Loun district’s Chhrey Sima commune, were apprehended while trying to transport the would-be illegal migrants across the border into Thailand on motorbikes, said Born Vannara, deputy director of the Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department in Battambang. He added that the suspects had been under surveillance for about a year.
“Those five men were sent to the provincial court and are now being temporarily held at the provincial prison,” he said. “I don’t know when the court will charge them, because we need to carry out an investigation.”
He said he had advised the 17 prospective labourers to return to their homes in Battambang, Pursat, Siem Reap and Kampong Speu provinces, and had warned them not to try to cross the border illegally in the future.
The case is the second this year in which arrests have been made in connection with labour-smuggling, Born Vannara said, and added that there had only been two such cases in 2009.
“We arrested two masterminds last year, and this year so far we have arrested seven people,” he said.
Krouch Chhanpov, provincial head of the rights group Adhoc’s women’s rights programme, commended the officials for carrying out the arrests.
“I want the authorities and police to continue cracking down on [labour-smuggling] rings and to arrest anyone who facilitates the trafficking of people,” she said.
She added that she suspects that such cases are on the rise, though she noted that Adhoc has not conducted research to support this claim.
Lim Mony, the national head of Adhoc’s women’s rights programme, called on the government to crack down on operations facilitating work for companies overseas illegally.
Rape stats rise in Siem Reap
Rann Reuy
Phnom Penh Post
REPORTED rapes in Siem Reap province have increased sharply this year compared with 2009, according to the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre (CWCC), raising questions about the severity of the Kingdom’s sexual assault problem and the reliability of data on the issue.
Ket Noeun, Siem Reap manager for the CWCC, said her organisation had recorded 70 rape cases in the first four months of 2010, compared with just 29 during the same period last year. She said she was “very concerned” about this increase, though she noted that the explanation for the jump is likely more complicated than a simple spike in assaults.
“This increase may be related to victims who dared to speak out about their problems, local police who declined to settle rape cases out of court, as well as an actual increase in crimes committed,” Ket Noeun said Thursday. Still common, she added, are cases in which victims accept cash compensation or proposals of marriage from their assailants rather than filing complaints in provincial court.
The CWCC’s statistics differ from government figures, Ket Noeun said, because many victims choose to deal with hers and other organisations rather than filing official complaints.
Sun Bunthong, chief of the anti-human trafficking unit of the Siem Reap provincial police, said he agreed that rapes were on the rise in the province, though he denied that the situation is as severe as CWCC statistics suggest. He did not have statistics for 2009, but said that provincial police had made arrests in 20 of the 24 rape cases reported to them so far this year.
“The numbers may have increased because we have stopped the practice of brokering informal settlements – we always send the perpetrators to court,” he said. “Law enforcement has improved, and that is one factor in this increase.”
But Siem Reap provincial court prosecutor Ty Soveinthal denied that the number of rapes had increased at all, saying that the CWCC’s figures had likely been inflated by false complaints.
“I do not agree with those numbers,” he said. “We often see rape cases in which girls call up their boyfriends on the phone and then accuse them of rape.”
“These are false allegations,” he added.
The National Police recorded 468 cases of rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment from November 2008 to November 2009, a 24 percent increase compared with the previous year, according to a report on sexual violence in Cambodia released in March by Amnesty International.
These numbers, Amnesty said, are “extremely low and unreliable”, underscoring the difficulty of gathering comprehensive information on the issue.
“This lack of comprehensive data on sexual violence against women and girls hampers an understanding about the extent of the problem,” the report says. “The acute lack of adequate services and assistance available for survivors of sexual violence may be linked to the incomplete information about how many girls and women are affected, what kinds of medical and psychosocial needs they have, and in what circumstances they live.”
Amnesty’s March report documented a number of cases in which rape victims were too ashamed or afraid to report the crimes against them.
This was once the case for Leakhana, a 35-year-old woman from Siem Reap’s Puok district whose real name has been withheld. She came to CWCC last week to seek assistance in filing a rape complaint against her husband on behalf of her three daughters, saying that she had initially been hesitant to report the crimes before receiving encouragement from her neighbours.
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Phnom Penh Post
REPORTED rapes in Siem Reap province have increased sharply this year compared with 2009, according to the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre (CWCC), raising questions about the severity of the Kingdom’s sexual assault problem and the reliability of data on the issue.
Ket Noeun, Siem Reap manager for the CWCC, said her organisation had recorded 70 rape cases in the first four months of 2010, compared with just 29 during the same period last year. She said she was “very concerned” about this increase, though she noted that the explanation for the jump is likely more complicated than a simple spike in assaults.
“This increase may be related to victims who dared to speak out about their problems, local police who declined to settle rape cases out of court, as well as an actual increase in crimes committed,” Ket Noeun said Thursday. Still common, she added, are cases in which victims accept cash compensation or proposals of marriage from their assailants rather than filing complaints in provincial court.
The CWCC’s statistics differ from government figures, Ket Noeun said, because many victims choose to deal with hers and other organisations rather than filing official complaints.
Sun Bunthong, chief of the anti-human trafficking unit of the Siem Reap provincial police, said he agreed that rapes were on the rise in the province, though he denied that the situation is as severe as CWCC statistics suggest. He did not have statistics for 2009, but said that provincial police had made arrests in 20 of the 24 rape cases reported to them so far this year.
“The numbers may have increased because we have stopped the practice of brokering informal settlements – we always send the perpetrators to court,” he said. “Law enforcement has improved, and that is one factor in this increase.”
But Siem Reap provincial court prosecutor Ty Soveinthal denied that the number of rapes had increased at all, saying that the CWCC’s figures had likely been inflated by false complaints.
“I do not agree with those numbers,” he said. “We often see rape cases in which girls call up their boyfriends on the phone and then accuse them of rape.”
“These are false allegations,” he added.
The National Police recorded 468 cases of rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment from November 2008 to November 2009, a 24 percent increase compared with the previous year, according to a report on sexual violence in Cambodia released in March by Amnesty International.
These numbers, Amnesty said, are “extremely low and unreliable”, underscoring the difficulty of gathering comprehensive information on the issue.
“This lack of comprehensive data on sexual violence against women and girls hampers an understanding about the extent of the problem,” the report says. “The acute lack of adequate services and assistance available for survivors of sexual violence may be linked to the incomplete information about how many girls and women are affected, what kinds of medical and psychosocial needs they have, and in what circumstances they live.”
Amnesty’s March report documented a number of cases in which rape victims were too ashamed or afraid to report the crimes against them.
This was once the case for Leakhana, a 35-year-old woman from Siem Reap’s Puok district whose real name has been withheld. She came to CWCC last week to seek assistance in filing a rape complaint against her husband on behalf of her three daughters, saying that she had initially been hesitant to report the crimes before receiving encouragement from her neighbours.
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Artist tells of survival in S-21
Brooke Lewis and Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
BOU Meng may be one of only a handful of inmates who escaped from Tuol Sleng prison with his life, but that doesn’t mean his time there was any less intense than that of the estimated 16,000 who perished.
In a biography released Sunday, the artist describes how he was imprisoned and tortured, and how the assignment that saved him – painting portraits of Pol Pot and other Communist leaders – also came with the pressure of knowing that his work was being scrutinised by fiercely dedicated revolutionaries.
He recalls in the book that prison guards warned him: “If the portrait is not lifelike, you will be dead.”
Written by researcher and Cambodia Television Network news director Huy Vannak, the biography – titled Bou Meng: A survivor from Khmer Rouge Toul Sleng Prison S-21; Justice for the Future, not just for the Victims – traces the artist’s life from an impoverished childhood in Kampong Cham province to an emotional encounter with Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, nearly 30 years after the Khmer Rouge fell from power.
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Phnom Penh Post
BOU Meng may be one of only a handful of inmates who escaped from Tuol Sleng prison with his life, but that doesn’t mean his time there was any less intense than that of the estimated 16,000 who perished.
In a biography released Sunday, the artist describes how he was imprisoned and tortured, and how the assignment that saved him – painting portraits of Pol Pot and other Communist leaders – also came with the pressure of knowing that his work was being scrutinised by fiercely dedicated revolutionaries.
He recalls in the book that prison guards warned him: “If the portrait is not lifelike, you will be dead.”
Written by researcher and Cambodia Television Network news director Huy Vannak, the biography – titled Bou Meng: A survivor from Khmer Rouge Toul Sleng Prison S-21; Justice for the Future, not just for the Victims – traces the artist’s life from an impoverished childhood in Kampong Cham province to an emotional encounter with Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, nearly 30 years after the Khmer Rouge fell from power.
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Sunday, May 23, 2010
Dispelling acid attack myths
Mom Kunthear and Brooke Lewis
Phnom Penh Post
ROUGHLY one-quarter of acid burn victims are injured accidentally, and, contrary to popular belief, fewer than 10 percent of acid attacks are fuelled by love triangles, according to a new report from a local NGO that outlines recommendations for an inter-ministerial committee tasked with drafting legislation to curtail acid crimes.
The report, titled Breaking the Silence: Addressing Acid Attacks in Cambodia, draws from the cases of 236 acid victims recorded by the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) between 1985 and 2009.
CASC programme manager Chhun Sophea said Thursday that the report, which will be submitted to the committee on Monday, offers the most detailed survey of acid crimes produced by the charity to date, and that it is intended to assist the committee as it prepares a final draft law, which is expected this year.
“This is just an effort to reach out and work with the committee,” she said, and added that the CASC believes the government should adopt a multifaceted approach to combating acid attacks that touches on punishments for perpetrators, the regulation of acid sales, public awareness and victim assistance.
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Phnom Penh Post
ROUGHLY one-quarter of acid burn victims are injured accidentally, and, contrary to popular belief, fewer than 10 percent of acid attacks are fuelled by love triangles, according to a new report from a local NGO that outlines recommendations for an inter-ministerial committee tasked with drafting legislation to curtail acid crimes.
The report, titled Breaking the Silence: Addressing Acid Attacks in Cambodia, draws from the cases of 236 acid victims recorded by the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) between 1985 and 2009.
CASC programme manager Chhun Sophea said Thursday that the report, which will be submitted to the committee on Monday, offers the most detailed survey of acid crimes produced by the charity to date, and that it is intended to assist the committee as it prepares a final draft law, which is expected this year.
“This is just an effort to reach out and work with the committee,” she said, and added that the CASC believes the government should adopt a multifaceted approach to combating acid attacks that touches on punishments for perpetrators, the regulation of acid sales, public awareness and victim assistance.
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Thursday, May 20, 2010
Kingdom to deliver 1.5m swine flu shots
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
THE Ministry of Health plans to distribute 1.5 million doses of A(H1N1) influenza vaccine to 20 provinces at the end of this month, a health official said Tuesday.
San Chan Seoun, director of the programme overseeing the distribution of the vaccines, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) delivered the Kingdom’s second round of vaccines last week. An initial round arrived in March.
“At the end of this month, health officials will give the vaccines to healthcare providers, [to be administered to] pregnant women, infants between 6 months and 2 years and people with serious lung disease,” he said, and noted that those groups were considered to face the highest risk of contracting the virus, also known as swine flu.
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Phnom Penh Post
THE Ministry of Health plans to distribute 1.5 million doses of A(H1N1) influenza vaccine to 20 provinces at the end of this month, a health official said Tuesday.
San Chan Seoun, director of the programme overseeing the distribution of the vaccines, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) delivered the Kingdom’s second round of vaccines last week. An initial round arrived in March.
“At the end of this month, health officials will give the vaccines to healthcare providers, [to be administered to] pregnant women, infants between 6 months and 2 years and people with serious lung disease,” he said, and noted that those groups were considered to face the highest risk of contracting the virus, also known as swine flu.
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Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Police raid massage parlour in city
Chrann Chamroeun
Phnom Penh Post
AUTHORITIES in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district raided a massage parlour in Tomnop Toeuk commune Saturday, on suspicion that it was doubling as a brothel, police said.
District police Chief Uch Sokhon said Monday that four women who worked at the parlour had been taken to the district police station for questioning after the raid.
He said that one woman, the manager of the establishment, had been sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on charges of procuring prostitution, and that the remaining three were “sent to the Department of Social Affairs for education”.
My Bunrin, Tomnop Toeuk commune’s police chief, said the parlour was raided following tip-offs from locals.
“They made a contract with us that they would not provide sexual services to customers at their business place, but they were stubborn and ignored the contract and privately had sex in their rooms,” he said, adding that one of the girls was caught in the act during the raid.
At a City Hall meeting on May 4, Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema accused Chamkarmon district Governor Lo Yuy of accepting bribes from illegal establishments, and said he would be replaced because he had not doing enough to stamp out prostitution in his district.
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Phnom Penh Post
AUTHORITIES in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district raided a massage parlour in Tomnop Toeuk commune Saturday, on suspicion that it was doubling as a brothel, police said.
District police Chief Uch Sokhon said Monday that four women who worked at the parlour had been taken to the district police station for questioning after the raid.
He said that one woman, the manager of the establishment, had been sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on charges of procuring prostitution, and that the remaining three were “sent to the Department of Social Affairs for education”.
My Bunrin, Tomnop Toeuk commune’s police chief, said the parlour was raided following tip-offs from locals.
“They made a contract with us that they would not provide sexual services to customers at their business place, but they were stubborn and ignored the contract and privately had sex in their rooms,” he said, adding that one of the girls was caught in the act during the raid.
At a City Hall meeting on May 4, Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema accused Chamkarmon district Governor Lo Yuy of accepting bribes from illegal establishments, and said he would be replaced because he had not doing enough to stamp out prostitution in his district.
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Acid victim to request asylum
Mom Kunthear and Irwin Loy
Phnom Penh Post
THE victim of an acid attack at the hands of a high-ranking military police official plans to seek asylum in Malaysia, but whether or not she fits within the legal definition of a refugee remains unclear, a legal expert has said.
Ya Soknim and 18 relatives plan to apply for refugee status through the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia.
Ya Soknim’s husband, Oung Vibol, said family members fear for their lives because the six people convicted in the May 2008 attack – including former Military Police Brigadier General Chea Ratha – remain free.
“We live in fear and are careful about our security every minute because we don’t know what will happen to us,” Oung Vibol said.
Family members say they have received death threats from people associated with Chea Ratha, who remains on Interpol’s wanted list.
Chea Ratha and five accomplices were convicted in absentia in November for the acid attack, which left Ya Soknim with severe scarring on her face and torso. Prosecutors accused Chea Ratha of ordering the attack after Ya Soknim’s niece, beauty queen In Soklyda, broke off a sexual relationship.
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Phnom Penh Post
THE victim of an acid attack at the hands of a high-ranking military police official plans to seek asylum in Malaysia, but whether or not she fits within the legal definition of a refugee remains unclear, a legal expert has said.
Ya Soknim and 18 relatives plan to apply for refugee status through the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia.
Ya Soknim’s husband, Oung Vibol, said family members fear for their lives because the six people convicted in the May 2008 attack – including former Military Police Brigadier General Chea Ratha – remain free.
“We live in fear and are careful about our security every minute because we don’t know what will happen to us,” Oung Vibol said.
Family members say they have received death threats from people associated with Chea Ratha, who remains on Interpol’s wanted list.
Chea Ratha and five accomplices were convicted in absentia in November for the acid attack, which left Ya Soknim with severe scarring on her face and torso. Prosecutors accused Chea Ratha of ordering the attack after Ya Soknim’s niece, beauty queen In Soklyda, broke off a sexual relationship.
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Monday, May 17, 2010
Recent diarrhoea outbreak not caused by cholera: tests
Tep Nimol
Phnom Penh Post
LABORATORY tests have shown that an outbreak of diarrhoea that affected 252 people and killed two in Kampong Cham last week was not caused by cholera, a provincial health official said Sunday.
Yin Vibol, deputy director of the Chamkar Leu district referral hospital in Kampong Cham, said tests conducted by the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh had shown that cholera was not responsible for last week’s outbreak.
“The institute has informed us that it was just a simple diarrhoea disease and not cholera,” he said. “We have already managed to control the situation of the epidemic, but still more and more people have been infected.”
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Phnom Penh Post
LABORATORY tests have shown that an outbreak of diarrhoea that affected 252 people and killed two in Kampong Cham last week was not caused by cholera, a provincial health official said Sunday.
Yin Vibol, deputy director of the Chamkar Leu district referral hospital in Kampong Cham, said tests conducted by the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh had shown that cholera was not responsible for last week’s outbreak.
“The institute has informed us that it was just a simple diarrhoea disease and not cholera,” he said. “We have already managed to control the situation of the epidemic, but still more and more people have been infected.”
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Raids uncover 48 cases of illegal fishing: govt
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
FISHERIES officials in Kampong Chhnang province said Thursday that raids over one week had uncovered 48 cases of illegal fishing.
Sam Sathva, deputy director of legislation at Kampong Chhnang’s Fisheries Administration, said the raids, carried out from April 28 to May 6, targeted fishermen suspected of using illegal equipment and fishing in protected areas.
In 12 cases, authorities seized and destroyed illegal fishing equipment.
“We did not arrest any suspects during the crackdown because they escaped when we arrived,” Sam Sathva said.
Overall, officials said they believe illegal fishing has declined nationwide.
Fisheries Administration Director Nao Thouk said cases of illegal fishing have declined 30 percent so far this year compared to last year – a result he attributed to increased public awareness.
The fishermen “understand more about the benefits of fishing and the impacts of overfishing,” Nao Thouk said.
“There were 16 fishermen who were arrested and sentenced to jail this year. That is a good result of us trying very hard to crack down on illegal fishing,” he added.
Phnom Penh Post
FISHERIES officials in Kampong Chhnang province said Thursday that raids over one week had uncovered 48 cases of illegal fishing.
Sam Sathva, deputy director of legislation at Kampong Chhnang’s Fisheries Administration, said the raids, carried out from April 28 to May 6, targeted fishermen suspected of using illegal equipment and fishing in protected areas.
In 12 cases, authorities seized and destroyed illegal fishing equipment.
“We did not arrest any suspects during the crackdown because they escaped when we arrived,” Sam Sathva said.
Overall, officials said they believe illegal fishing has declined nationwide.
Fisheries Administration Director Nao Thouk said cases of illegal fishing have declined 30 percent so far this year compared to last year – a result he attributed to increased public awareness.
The fishermen “understand more about the benefits of fishing and the impacts of overfishing,” Nao Thouk said.
“There were 16 fishermen who were arrested and sentenced to jail this year. That is a good result of us trying very hard to crack down on illegal fishing,” he added.
Outbreak of diarrhoea spreading in Kampong Cham
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
AN outbreak of diarrhoea has spread to two more villages in Kampong Cham, officials said Thursday, after two deaths in the province were attributed to the illness earlier this week.
Officials have now recorded 202 diarrhoea cases in Kampong Cham’s Stung Trang district in three days. During the first two days of the outbreak on Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said more than 100 people were being treated in health centres, and that two had died.
“The disease has spread to six villages on Thursday, and we are now taking measures to not allow it to spread to other villages,” said Yin Vibol, deputy director of the Chamkar Leu district referral hospital.
Officials in other areas were also reporting diarrhoea cases Thursday. Since the beginning of the year, officials in four provinces – Ratanakkiri, Kratie, Stung Treng and Kampong Cham – have reported that almost 30 people have died from diarrhoea-related illnesses.
Tha Bunthak, deputy director of the Ratanakkiri provincial health department, said his province has recorded 523 individual cases, including 15 deaths, so far this year.
That includes the death of a 70-year-old woman on Tuesday, part of an outbreak that saw at least 70 people hospitalised, he said.
In Kratie, officials have recorded 300 individual diarrhoea cases resulting in 10 deaths since March, said Keang Hong, deputy director of Kratie’s
provincial referral hospital.
Phnom Penh Post
AN outbreak of diarrhoea has spread to two more villages in Kampong Cham, officials said Thursday, after two deaths in the province were attributed to the illness earlier this week.
Officials have now recorded 202 diarrhoea cases in Kampong Cham’s Stung Trang district in three days. During the first two days of the outbreak on Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said more than 100 people were being treated in health centres, and that two had died.
“The disease has spread to six villages on Thursday, and we are now taking measures to not allow it to spread to other villages,” said Yin Vibol, deputy director of the Chamkar Leu district referral hospital.
Officials in other areas were also reporting diarrhoea cases Thursday. Since the beginning of the year, officials in four provinces – Ratanakkiri, Kratie, Stung Treng and Kampong Cham – have reported that almost 30 people have died from diarrhoea-related illnesses.
Tha Bunthak, deputy director of the Ratanakkiri provincial health department, said his province has recorded 523 individual cases, including 15 deaths, so far this year.
That includes the death of a 70-year-old woman on Tuesday, part of an outbreak that saw at least 70 people hospitalised, he said.
In Kratie, officials have recorded 300 individual diarrhoea cases resulting in 10 deaths since March, said Keang Hong, deputy director of Kratie’s
provincial referral hospital.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Paedophilia case draws APLE criticism
Maggie Chen and Chrann Chamroeun
Phnom Penh Post
THE head of the child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants on Wednesday criticised court officials investigating a suspected American paedophile, saying he was concerned that the suspect and his four alleged victims had been attending the same questioning sessions.
Alan Arthur Perry, 57, has been held in pretrial detention since April 30 on charges of possessing child pornography and purchasing child prostitution from four boys.
The court’s investigation has involved closed meetings presided over by judge Kim Eng and attended by the four boys, their legal representatives from APLE, Perry and his legal team, said Ben Hutchins, who identified himself as a spokesman for the legal team.
APLE country director Samleang Seila said Wednesday that he had never before encountered an investigation in which both the suspect and the victims had been questioned face-to-face in the same room, and expressed concern that the process could “impact the boys’ emotions, cause stress and make the boys too scared to prove the man’s guilt”.
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Phnom Penh Post
THE head of the child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants on Wednesday criticised court officials investigating a suspected American paedophile, saying he was concerned that the suspect and his four alleged victims had been attending the same questioning sessions.
Alan Arthur Perry, 57, has been held in pretrial detention since April 30 on charges of possessing child pornography and purchasing child prostitution from four boys.
The court’s investigation has involved closed meetings presided over by judge Kim Eng and attended by the four boys, their legal representatives from APLE, Perry and his legal team, said Ben Hutchins, who identified himself as a spokesman for the legal team.
APLE country director Samleang Seila said Wednesday that he had never before encountered an investigation in which both the suspect and the victims had been questioned face-to-face in the same room, and expressed concern that the process could “impact the boys’ emotions, cause stress and make the boys too scared to prove the man’s guilt”.
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RCAF failed to report clashes at border: PM
Cheang Sokha
Phnom Penh Post
Phnom Penh Post
RIME Minister Hun Sen has lashed out at military commanders stationed along the Thai border, accusing them of withholding information pertaining to a recent border clash that they said was caused by drunk Thai soldiers.
Speaking at the inauguration of Preah Vihear provincial hall Wednesday, the premier said Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) Commander in Chief General Pol Saroeun, his deputy General Chea Dara and other commanders had given him conflicting reports after two exchanges of gunfire between Cambodian and Thai soldiers on April 17. He did not specify how the reports had conflicted, or what information might have been withheld.
“You have to be careful, reporting to the leader. The reports have to be cleared. I would like to tell all military commanders that they have to report in detail – even small things have to be reported to me,” Hun Sen said.
He said the poor quality of information available about the incident could have compromised military strategy at a time when Thai nationalists were reportedly planning to tamper with border markers. The premier also asked for clarifications about explanations given to him by commanders, who reported that the clashes were caused by drunk Thai troops.
Villagers aim to scare off diarrhoea
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
VILLAGERS in Kampot province’s Banteay Meas district are starting to place scarecrows in front of their homes in the hope of warding off sickness, following the death of one woman from severe diarrhoea, officials said.
Torn Phorn, the chief of Daeum Chamriek village, said villagers became afraid after a woman fell sick and died in April. They have taken to erecting scarecrows and burning fires at night, hoping the presence of both will chase ghosts and disease from their villages.
But authorities and health officials say it is poor hygiene practices, not ghosts, that are actually making the villagers sick.
“They drink the water from the well and rainwater without cooking. That’s why it made them sick,” Torn Phorn said.
Eng Eav, the chief of Sdach Kong Khang Lech commune, said officials have tried to convince villagers to abandon their superstitions.
“They are sick because of bad water. It does not have anything to do with ghosts coming into their villages,” he said.
Khek Daravuth, the director of a district referral hospital, said he believes that between 20 and 30 percent of famlies in Banteay Meas district have placed scarecrows in front of their homes, but that health officials had emphasised the importance of following good hygiene practices.
“Health officials went to their villages and told them to use boiled water and provided them with medicine,” he said.
Phnom Penh Post
VILLAGERS in Kampot province’s Banteay Meas district are starting to place scarecrows in front of their homes in the hope of warding off sickness, following the death of one woman from severe diarrhoea, officials said.
Torn Phorn, the chief of Daeum Chamriek village, said villagers became afraid after a woman fell sick and died in April. They have taken to erecting scarecrows and burning fires at night, hoping the presence of both will chase ghosts and disease from their villages.
But authorities and health officials say it is poor hygiene practices, not ghosts, that are actually making the villagers sick.
“They drink the water from the well and rainwater without cooking. That’s why it made them sick,” Torn Phorn said.
Eng Eav, the chief of Sdach Kong Khang Lech commune, said officials have tried to convince villagers to abandon their superstitions.
“They are sick because of bad water. It does not have anything to do with ghosts coming into their villages,” he said.
Khek Daravuth, the director of a district referral hospital, said he believes that between 20 and 30 percent of famlies in Banteay Meas district have placed scarecrows in front of their homes, but that health officials had emphasised the importance of following good hygiene practices.
“Health officials went to their villages and told them to use boiled water and provided them with medicine,” he said.
Diarrhoea hits KCham
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
AN outbreak of diarrhoea has spread quickly through villages in a Kampong Cham district, killing two people and leaving more than 100 others sick, officials said.
Yin Vibol, deputy director of the Chamkar Leu district referral hospital, said that more than 100 people in the area were hospitalised Tuesday and Wednesday, overloading the facility and forcing officials to keep some of the ill sleeping outdoors under trees.
“It has taken only two days for the disease to spread in four villages,” Yin Vibol said. “This is the first time the villagers have faced such a serious outbreak.”
The Kampong Cham fatalities included a 13-year-old boy and a 70-year-old man, both of whom died Tuesday, he said.
“They got diarrhoea because they drank water from the well without boiling it and they ate bad food,” he said.
In Kratie province, Heng Sotha, the governor of Sambo district, said a 43-year-old woman died May 7, and that a further 30 people from two villages became ill.
Health Minister Mam Bunheng, who toured the stricken areas in Kampong Cham Wednesday, said health officials were ready to help.
“I want the people to come to health officials or referral hospitals when they have diarrhoea,” he said. “Don’t just stay at home and pray to God for help.”
Phnom Penh Post
AN outbreak of diarrhoea has spread quickly through villages in a Kampong Cham district, killing two people and leaving more than 100 others sick, officials said.
Yin Vibol, deputy director of the Chamkar Leu district referral hospital, said that more than 100 people in the area were hospitalised Tuesday and Wednesday, overloading the facility and forcing officials to keep some of the ill sleeping outdoors under trees.
“It has taken only two days for the disease to spread in four villages,” Yin Vibol said. “This is the first time the villagers have faced such a serious outbreak.”
The Kampong Cham fatalities included a 13-year-old boy and a 70-year-old man, both of whom died Tuesday, he said.
“They got diarrhoea because they drank water from the well without boiling it and they ate bad food,” he said.
In Kratie province, Heng Sotha, the governor of Sambo district, said a 43-year-old woman died May 7, and that a further 30 people from two villages became ill.
Health Minister Mam Bunheng, who toured the stricken areas in Kampong Cham Wednesday, said health officials were ready to help.
“I want the people to come to health officials or referral hospitals when they have diarrhoea,” he said. “Don’t just stay at home and pray to God for help.”
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Impure water sickens 21 in Kratie district
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
HEALTH officials treating 21 people for severe diarrhoea and vomiting in Kratie province’s Chet Borey district – where five people died of cholera in March – said Thursday that they thought unclean water was responsible for the new outbreak of illness.
District Governor Toun Ngork said the illness began spreading through the district on Wednesday, and that an investigation by local officials had proved that bad water was the cause.
“They went to their rice fields after the rain and they drank the water in the lake and puddle nearby without boiling it, and they didn’t think about their health,” he said, referring to the sick villagers. “Health officials and myself often educate them to be careful with hygiene and to drink boiled water, but they don’t listen to us. That’s why they still get diarrhoea.”
Chhneang Vutha, deputy director of the provincial hospital, concurred with this assessment.
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Phnom Penh Post
HEALTH officials treating 21 people for severe diarrhoea and vomiting in Kratie province’s Chet Borey district – where five people died of cholera in March – said Thursday that they thought unclean water was responsible for the new outbreak of illness.
District Governor Toun Ngork said the illness began spreading through the district on Wednesday, and that an investigation by local officials had proved that bad water was the cause.
“They went to their rice fields after the rain and they drank the water in the lake and puddle nearby without boiling it, and they didn’t think about their health,” he said, referring to the sick villagers. “Health officials and myself often educate them to be careful with hygiene and to drink boiled water, but they don’t listen to us. That’s why they still get diarrhoea.”
Chhneang Vutha, deputy director of the provincial hospital, concurred with this assessment.
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Villagers say Mong Reththy project threatens their land
Tep Nimol and Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
VILLAGERS in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district said Monday that surveyors over the weekend had begun measuring off land in two of three villages that stand to be affected by a concession granted to a rubber company owned by business tycoon Mong Reththy.
Local villager Gos Saly said surveyors had first appeared in Keo Seima district earlier this year on behalf of the Rithy Kiri Seima Rubber Plantation company, and that this past weekend they had ramped up measurement work for a proposed plantation that he said would occupy about 40 percent of the 8,000 hectares of land in the district’s O’Am, O’Rorna and O’Sneng villages.
“It is our land because we bought it in 1997. We have letters to prove this to local authorities, but we don’t have land titles,” he said.
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Phnom Penh Post
VILLAGERS in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district said Monday that surveyors over the weekend had begun measuring off land in two of three villages that stand to be affected by a concession granted to a rubber company owned by business tycoon Mong Reththy.
Local villager Gos Saly said surveyors had first appeared in Keo Seima district earlier this year on behalf of the Rithy Kiri Seima Rubber Plantation company, and that this past weekend they had ramped up measurement work for a proposed plantation that he said would occupy about 40 percent of the 8,000 hectares of land in the district’s O’Am, O’Rorna and O’Sneng villages.
“It is our land because we bought it in 1997. We have letters to prove this to local authorities, but we don’t have land titles,” he said.
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Officials close five illegal pharmacies
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
FIVE illegal pharmacies were shut down in Phnom Penh late last month after failing to meet an April 25 deadline to register with the Health Ministry, and a further four are likely to be closed, a health official said after a meeting at City Hall on Monday.
Sok Sokun, director of the Phnom Penh Health Department, said the owners of the nine unlicenced pharmacies were discovered to have been selling fake drugs.
The five pharmacies “were shut down after we filed a complaint late last year asking the municipal court to shut down those illegal pharmacies because they refused to stop selling fake drugs,” he said, and added that he expected that the other four pharmacies would be shut down but did not know when this might happen.
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Phnom Penh Post
FIVE illegal pharmacies were shut down in Phnom Penh late last month after failing to meet an April 25 deadline to register with the Health Ministry, and a further four are likely to be closed, a health official said after a meeting at City Hall on Monday.
Sok Sokun, director of the Phnom Penh Health Department, said the owners of the nine unlicenced pharmacies were discovered to have been selling fake drugs.
The five pharmacies “were shut down after we filed a complaint late last year asking the municipal court to shut down those illegal pharmacies because they refused to stop selling fake drugs,” he said, and added that he expected that the other four pharmacies would be shut down but did not know when this might happen.
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Saturday, May 8, 2010
Villagers freed in SR land dispute
Rann Reuy
Phnom Penh Post
SIEM Reap provincial court on Thursday released 14 Banteay Srei district villagers who earlier this week were ordered to serve pretrial detention after being charged with the destruction of trees on state land, an investigating judge said Thursday.
The villagers had been among a group of 32 who were arrested Monday after officials accused them of clearing land that is also claimed by Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers.
Investigating Judge Hok Pov said that no trial date had been set in the case. “I order [authorities] to release them on bail because I think they will not create any hurdles for our investigation,” he said.
The arrests had been swiftly condemned by rights groups, which said the case had offered evidence of two worrying trends: an increase in arrests related to land disputes, and the use of military personnel to resolve them. Military police had carried out the arrests.
The ongoing row in Banteay Srei concerns 150 hectares of land in Phnom Kulen National Park, and pits more than 50 families against the soldiers.
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Phnom Penh Post
SIEM Reap provincial court on Thursday released 14 Banteay Srei district villagers who earlier this week were ordered to serve pretrial detention after being charged with the destruction of trees on state land, an investigating judge said Thursday.
The villagers had been among a group of 32 who were arrested Monday after officials accused them of clearing land that is also claimed by Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers.
Investigating Judge Hok Pov said that no trial date had been set in the case. “I order [authorities] to release them on bail because I think they will not create any hurdles for our investigation,” he said.
The arrests had been swiftly condemned by rights groups, which said the case had offered evidence of two worrying trends: an increase in arrests related to land disputes, and the use of military personnel to resolve them. Military police had carried out the arrests.
The ongoing row in Banteay Srei concerns 150 hectares of land in Phnom Kulen National Park, and pits more than 50 families against the soldiers.
Read More
Impure water sickens 21 in Kratie district
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
HEALTH officials treating 21 people for severe diarrhoea and vomiting in Kratie province’s Chet Borey district – where five people died of cholera in March – said Thursday that they thought unclean water was responsible for the new outbreak of illness.
District Governor Toun Ngork said the illness began spreading through the district on Wednesday, and that an investigation by local officials had proved that bad water was the cause.
“They went to their rice fields after the rain and they drank the water in the lake and puddle nearby without boiling it, and they didn’t think about their health,” he said, referring to the sick villagers. “Health officials and myself often educate them to be careful with hygiene and to drink boiled water, but they don’t listen to us. That’s why they still get diarrhoea.”
Chhneang Vutha, deputy director of the provincial hospital, concurred with this assessment.
“They have diarrhoea and vomiting because they don’t pay enough attention to hygiene; they drank uncooked water and bad food,” he said. “They are not cholera cases.”
Read More
Phnom Penh Post
HEALTH officials treating 21 people for severe diarrhoea and vomiting in Kratie province’s Chet Borey district – where five people died of cholera in March – said Thursday that they thought unclean water was responsible for the new outbreak of illness.
District Governor Toun Ngork said the illness began spreading through the district on Wednesday, and that an investigation by local officials had proved that bad water was the cause.
“They went to their rice fields after the rain and they drank the water in the lake and puddle nearby without boiling it, and they didn’t think about their health,” he said, referring to the sick villagers. “Health officials and myself often educate them to be careful with hygiene and to drink boiled water, but they don’t listen to us. That’s why they still get diarrhoea.”
Chhneang Vutha, deputy director of the provincial hospital, concurred with this assessment.
“They have diarrhoea and vomiting because they don’t pay enough attention to hygiene; they drank uncooked water and bad food,” he said. “They are not cholera cases.”
Read More
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Slow justice for acid victims
Mom Kunthear and Irwin Loy
Phnom Penh Post
TWO litres of a corrosive acid altered Mean Sokreoun’s life forever. Fifteen years ago, she was a vivacious 22-year-old living with the man she loved.
However, on a muggy evening in May 1995, all of that changed as she lay in front of the television. She felt a sudden burning sensation over her body. A woman had walked in and poured a container full of acid over her. Mean Sokreoun leapt to her feet and felt, to her horror, the corrosive liquid eating through her skin. Parts of her face – including her nose and one ear – melted away and fell to the floor. She struggled helplessly to catch them. But the damage was already done.
‘I feel like a dead person’
Today, Mean Sokreoun lives in poverty, squatting on a small plot of land near Takhmao town. She had to sell her home and her land to pay for years of treatment on the scars that left much of her body disfigured.
Sitting in front of her home Wednesday, she pulled back her shirt to show what the acid did to her body. Scars lined her right leg and arms. The acid had scorched much of her torso, eating through skin and a breast.
Her hands fumbling, she lifted off the krama covering her face. The acid had seared through her right ear, nose and lips. It had melted the skin on her face and left her blind.
“It has been very difficult for me to live through all these years,” Mean Sokreoun said. “Even though I am alive, I feel like a dead person.”
It took 10 years of medical care, she said, to treat her horrific injuries. It took even longer for the woman who attacked her to be brought to justice.
Mean Sokreoun’s assailant – her husband’s jealous ex-wife – went unpunished for years after the attack. Police did not arrest her until March of last year. Later that month, she was convicted in a quick trial. She received a five-year prison term – a punishment Mean Sokreoun said was woefully insufficient.
“I think it is a very short time to sentence the perpetrator in jail for what she did to me,” said Mean Sokreoun, who added that she never received a court-ordered payment of US$7,000.
“I lost my eyes, nose, an ear and other parts of my body because she attacked me. And now the court has given such a light sentence. The court’s decision does not fit with my injuries and the suffering I have,” she said.
Her 71-year-old father, his hair flecked with wiry grey, looked on as she recounted her story.
“I want the government and court officials to give justice to my daughter,” Roth Mean said. “I’m so disappointed with the courts in our country. I won’t believe in the courts until I see justice for my daughter.”
Mean Sokreoun’s case highlights the complexities facing authorities drafting a new law to combat acid violence.
Advocates for acid attack survivors praise the government for its efforts. But they also warn that the justice system must be able to enforce the law if it is to be successful.
Read More
Phnom Penh Post
TWO litres of a corrosive acid altered Mean Sokreoun’s life forever. Fifteen years ago, she was a vivacious 22-year-old living with the man she loved.
However, on a muggy evening in May 1995, all of that changed as she lay in front of the television. She felt a sudden burning sensation over her body. A woman had walked in and poured a container full of acid over her. Mean Sokreoun leapt to her feet and felt, to her horror, the corrosive liquid eating through her skin. Parts of her face – including her nose and one ear – melted away and fell to the floor. She struggled helplessly to catch them. But the damage was already done.
‘I feel like a dead person’
Today, Mean Sokreoun lives in poverty, squatting on a small plot of land near Takhmao town. She had to sell her home and her land to pay for years of treatment on the scars that left much of her body disfigured.
Sitting in front of her home Wednesday, she pulled back her shirt to show what the acid did to her body. Scars lined her right leg and arms. The acid had scorched much of her torso, eating through skin and a breast.
Her hands fumbling, she lifted off the krama covering her face. The acid had seared through her right ear, nose and lips. It had melted the skin on her face and left her blind.
“It has been very difficult for me to live through all these years,” Mean Sokreoun said. “Even though I am alive, I feel like a dead person.”
It took 10 years of medical care, she said, to treat her horrific injuries. It took even longer for the woman who attacked her to be brought to justice.
Mean Sokreoun’s assailant – her husband’s jealous ex-wife – went unpunished for years after the attack. Police did not arrest her until March of last year. Later that month, she was convicted in a quick trial. She received a five-year prison term – a punishment Mean Sokreoun said was woefully insufficient.
“I think it is a very short time to sentence the perpetrator in jail for what she did to me,” said Mean Sokreoun, who added that she never received a court-ordered payment of US$7,000.
“I lost my eyes, nose, an ear and other parts of my body because she attacked me. And now the court has given such a light sentence. The court’s decision does not fit with my injuries and the suffering I have,” she said.
Her 71-year-old father, his hair flecked with wiry grey, looked on as she recounted her story.
“I want the government and court officials to give justice to my daughter,” Roth Mean said. “I’m so disappointed with the courts in our country. I won’t believe in the courts until I see justice for my daughter.”
Mean Sokreoun’s case highlights the complexities facing authorities drafting a new law to combat acid violence.
Advocates for acid attack survivors praise the government for its efforts. But they also warn that the justice system must be able to enforce the law if it is to be successful.
Read More
Together we can help Mr.VANN NATH, the famous Cambodian painter!
The Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center is very pleased
to invite you to the solidarity night and the exhibition opening:
'Together we can help Mr.VANN NATH,
the famous Cambodian painter!”
Friday, May 07 at 6 pm
Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center
#64, St 200, Okhnia Men, Phnom Penh
With the presence of Vann Nath’s children
Limited printings series of Vann Nath’s painting will be available to purchase. All proceeds from the sale will go to Vann Nath’s family to alleviate his medical expenses.
* * *
Le Centre de ressources audiovisuelles Bophana
vous invite à la soirée de solidarité et le vernissage de l’exposition de peintures :
« Mobilisons-nous pour aider le célèbre peintre cambodgien, M.VANN NATH !»
Vendredi 07 mai, 18h
Centre de ressources audiovisuelles Bophana
#64, rue 200, Okhnia Men, Phnom Penh
En présence des enfants de Vann Nath
Des reproductions photographiques de qualité seront mises en vente et tous les fonds récoltés seront reversés à la famille de Vann Nath et qui serviront à financer les frais médicaux.
* * *
Read More
to invite you to the solidarity night and the exhibition opening:
'Together we can help Mr.VANN NATH,
the famous Cambodian painter!”
Friday, May 07 at 6 pm
Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center
#64, St 200, Okhnia Men, Phnom Penh
With the presence of Vann Nath’s children
Limited printings series of Vann Nath’s painting will be available to purchase. All proceeds from the sale will go to Vann Nath’s family to alleviate his medical expenses.
* * *
Le Centre de ressources audiovisuelles Bophana
vous invite à la soirée de solidarité et le vernissage de l’exposition de peintures :
« Mobilisons-nous pour aider le célèbre peintre cambodgien, M.VANN NATH !»
Vendredi 07 mai, 18h
Centre de ressources audiovisuelles Bophana
#64, rue 200, Okhnia Men, Phnom Penh
En présence des enfants de Vann Nath
Des reproductions photographiques de qualité seront mises en vente et tous les fonds récoltés seront reversés à la famille de Vann Nath et qui serviront à financer les frais médicaux.
* * *
Read More
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
32 arrested in Siem Reap land row
Rann Reuy and Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
THIRTY-two villagers – including three children – accused of clearing state land in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district on Monday were arrested and detained overnight at the provincial military police station, and 14 “ringleaders” have since been charged and placed in pretrial detention in connection with an ongoing land row, officials said Tuesday.
The operation, carried out in connection with an ongoing row pitting more than 50 families against Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers, was swiftly condemned by rights groups, which said it offered evidence of two worrying trends: an increase in arrests stemming from such disputes, and the use of military personnel to resolve them.
Hok Pov, an investigating judge at Siem Reap provincial court, said military police and soldiers from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces arrested the 32 villagers Monday night after they refused to stop clearing a 150-hectare area of land in Phnom Kulen National Park.
He said 14 people who had been singled out as “ringleaders” were charged Tuesday with “destruction of trees in state plantation land” and placed in pretrial detention.
The remaining villagers had been released, Hok Pov said.
The villagers say that Prime Minister Hun Sen granted them the disputed land, located in Siem Reap’s Tbeng commune, in 2006.
Read More
Phnom Penh Post
THIRTY-two villagers – including three children – accused of clearing state land in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district on Monday were arrested and detained overnight at the provincial military police station, and 14 “ringleaders” have since been charged and placed in pretrial detention in connection with an ongoing land row, officials said Tuesday.
The operation, carried out in connection with an ongoing row pitting more than 50 families against Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers, was swiftly condemned by rights groups, which said it offered evidence of two worrying trends: an increase in arrests stemming from such disputes, and the use of military personnel to resolve them.
Hok Pov, an investigating judge at Siem Reap provincial court, said military police and soldiers from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces arrested the 32 villagers Monday night after they refused to stop clearing a 150-hectare area of land in Phnom Kulen National Park.
He said 14 people who had been singled out as “ringleaders” were charged Tuesday with “destruction of trees in state plantation land” and placed in pretrial detention.
The remaining villagers had been released, Hok Pov said.
The villagers say that Prime Minister Hun Sen granted them the disputed land, located in Siem Reap’s Tbeng commune, in 2006.
Read More
Monday, May 3, 2010
Rumpus over bride auction
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
AN ARTICLE published in one of the country’s most widely read newspapers had some readers up in arms Thursday, incensed over a story describing how a woman intended to auction off her daughter for marriage at a starting bid of US$1 million.
The only problem: It wasn’t a news story at all, but part of a promotion for a new television movie.
The article, which was splashed on the front page of the daily Koh Santepheap, appeared to report that a local woman was driven demented over the complicated task of choosing one of many eligible suitors for her daughter’s hand in marriage. The daughter was a catch, the article declared – a beautiful woman, who was educated overseas and born of a highly honourable family, possessing all the qualities of a perfect, modern wife.
Read More
Phnom Penh Post
AN ARTICLE published in one of the country’s most widely read newspapers had some readers up in arms Thursday, incensed over a story describing how a woman intended to auction off her daughter for marriage at a starting bid of US$1 million.
The only problem: It wasn’t a news story at all, but part of a promotion for a new television movie.
The article, which was splashed on the front page of the daily Koh Santepheap, appeared to report that a local woman was driven demented over the complicated task of choosing one of many eligible suitors for her daughter’s hand in marriage. The daughter was a catch, the article declared – a beautiful woman, who was educated overseas and born of a highly honourable family, possessing all the qualities of a perfect, modern wife.
Read More
Torture at Prey Sar: Heng Pov
Chhay Channyda
Phnom Penh Post
DISGRACED former Phnom Penh municipal police chief Heng Pov has accused Prey Sar prison workers of overseeing the torture and beatings of inmates.
Speaking Friday while awaiting an Appeal Court hearing during which he sought to overturn a conviction on attempted murder charges, Heng Pov said he has seen prison guards at the prison “torture” inmates.
“They even ask outsiders to beat the prisoners,” Heng Pov told a Post reporter. “I would like the Ministry of Interior as well as Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng to know about this and look into the problem.”
Heng Pov said he also has evidence demonstrating that prison guards were responsible for the 2008 death of 24-year-old Heng Touch, whose family has long believed he was beaten to death while in custody.
“Heng Touch was beaten to death,” Heng Pov said. “But [authorities] pretended to save him by sending him to hospital and accusing him of committing suicide. I have enough evidence and witnesses.”
At the time, local rights groups and UN officials urged authorities to investigate the death, but prison officials called the claims “an exaggeration” and insisted Heng Touch died while trying to commit suicide.
Read More
Phnom Penh Post
DISGRACED former Phnom Penh municipal police chief Heng Pov has accused Prey Sar prison workers of overseeing the torture and beatings of inmates.
Speaking Friday while awaiting an Appeal Court hearing during which he sought to overturn a conviction on attempted murder charges, Heng Pov said he has seen prison guards at the prison “torture” inmates.
“They even ask outsiders to beat the prisoners,” Heng Pov told a Post reporter. “I would like the Ministry of Interior as well as Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng to know about this and look into the problem.”
Heng Pov said he also has evidence demonstrating that prison guards were responsible for the 2008 death of 24-year-old Heng Touch, whose family has long believed he was beaten to death while in custody.
“Heng Touch was beaten to death,” Heng Pov said. “But [authorities] pretended to save him by sending him to hospital and accusing him of committing suicide. I have enough evidence and witnesses.”
At the time, local rights groups and UN officials urged authorities to investigate the death, but prison officials called the claims “an exaggeration” and insisted Heng Touch died while trying to commit suicide.
Read More
Heavy Storm: Kampong Cham homes destroyed
Mom Kunthear
Phnom Penh Post
Five people were injured and at least 80 houses were destroyed by a storm in Kampong Cham province’s Chamkar Leu district late last week, officials reported on Sunday. An Kim Sry, deputy police chief of Chamkar Leu district, said that the storm occurred on Friday evening and lasted for approximately two hours. He said that three villages had been damaged . “There were 18 houses that were completely destroyed, and the other 62 had their roofs torn off,” he said, and added that the storm had arrived suddenly, leaving officials with little time to warn local residents. Noun Samin, the provincial police chief in Kampong Cham, said Sunday that the storm had destroyed more than 100 houses throughout the province.
Phnom Penh Post
Five people were injured and at least 80 houses were destroyed by a storm in Kampong Cham province’s Chamkar Leu district late last week, officials reported on Sunday. An Kim Sry, deputy police chief of Chamkar Leu district, said that the storm occurred on Friday evening and lasted for approximately two hours. He said that three villages had been damaged . “There were 18 houses that were completely destroyed, and the other 62 had their roofs torn off,” he said, and added that the storm had arrived suddenly, leaving officials with little time to warn local residents. Noun Samin, the provincial police chief in Kampong Cham, said Sunday that the storm had destroyed more than 100 houses throughout the province.
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