Women student beat each other along the road

I have got this video clip from my friend that share in facebook. It is not good for them that they do like that. Please watch this video clip for more detail about it.
How everybody think about that?

From: youtube

Read More

Mozila FireFox workshop on 14-15 September 2011 at Sunway Hotel

Hello everybody, I got information's workshop about the Mozilla Firefox Open Source from my friend that he has sent me by email. Here is his information please read and join all together.

The Mozilla Firefox Open Source Conference will be two days: Wednesday
14-Thursday 15 September 2011. I look forward to your nominations both
for assistants and participants for the conference. I will need about
eight Assistants, who are expected to be group facilitators and who
will make more of a time commitment but will also receive extra access
and benefits.

Purpose of the workshop

The event is a specialized, exclusive session for local Open Sourcers
– bloggers, coders, and designers who share the Open Source ethic – to
attend before Bar Camp. Bar Camp has an increasingly
business-oriented approach, which is great, but this session is a
unique opportunity to learn about the relationship between Open Source
and civil society issues, such as: protecting the Open Web from
Internet censorship, the benefits of continuing to develop
“indigenous” (Khmer) Open Source tools, and using web-based Open
Source security tactics to improve data collection both for human
rights groups, and in the business community. Bar Camp, which is in
late October, will not have access to the Mozilla Firefox experts.
This event is a special, exclusive opportunity to spend two days with
these American experts.

What are they going to gain?

Better positioning for jobs. Participants will receive a
certification for participating in the workshop, highlighting their
new knowledge in Open Source Development, and awarded by Mozilla.
Their new knowledge of these tools, and the very latest developments
is key to their position in a competitive job market – they will have
an advantage over those attending Bar Camp.

International networking. Participants will be able to network with
key players from Mozilla Firefox from Silicon Valley, as well as from
the Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA) in Seattle – the two
most important places in the work for IT professionals. They will
also be able to network with each other, and with representatives from
the local NGO and business communities.

Knowledge. The Open Web, and the development of Open Source Tools,
are changing every day. This will be a “graduate school” for Open
Source experts. It is a rare opportunity to have a representative
from Mozilla Firefox come to Cambodia to lead a “hackathon” for two
days. And participants will learn new skills necessary to get jobs as
IT professionals in social network as well as online newspapers, and
of course at all the NGOs and the IT private sector. They will learn
details of the next generations of Firefox and Thunderbird, as well as
security tools for encryption from Tactical Tech, etc.

Develop civil society. Maybe most important, participants will
contribute to their own community: protecting the Open Web from
Internet censorship, developing experimental tools for human rights
portals like Sithi.org, and breathing more life into the Open Source
Community in Cambodia.

Next activities

Those who are selected to be Mozilla Assistants for the workshop will
have special access to the organizers, and will be able to participate
in post-workshop design sessions on the Open Source Tools brainstormed
at the workshop. Those will involve follow-up meetings to work on web
tools like the new Open Development Cambodia platform, and Sithi.org.

Other information

Mozilla Foundation: http://www.mozilla.org/

Other Mozilla Open Source apps and projects: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/

Other Mozilla contributor countries in Asia:
http://www.mozilla.org/contribute/local/asia.html

TASCHA: http://tascha.uw.edu/

This workshop has limited, So be the first to confirm your interest to
Mr. SAM Sophal, Information System Officer, EWMI via 012 789836 or
ssophal@ewmi-praj.org, he will arrange the invitation to you.

Read More

Cambodia changed my life, Angelina Jolie said

This is a video of Angelina Jolie that she took video about Natural landscape of Cambodia. She said Cambodia changed her life because Cambodia are full of interested landscape and friendly smile from Cambodian.

Lara Craft:Tomb Raider, is first story that she can't forget in her life in Cambodia.

More detail, please watch this video:

From: camnews

Read More

Cambodia-thai border clashes in Preah Vihear Temple

Read More

Ice house for a hot climate

Althoug preserving mental tranquillity in Cambodia often requires abandoning the comforts of probability, spotting an igloo on National Road 6 on the outskirts of Siem Reap is still something of a surprise.

The white hemisphere sits, in shining incongruity, on the right hand side of the road to Phnom Penh, just 20 kilometres from Siem Reap.

But on closer examination, the igloo proves to be a house, with a bright red door and three small, rectangular windows.

Mounted on top of a square wooden platform, the dome that’s a home is actually made from moulded carbon-fibre sheets that slip over one another like fish scales and then screw down to form a perfect half sphere about six metres in diameter.

A group of four people very kindly showed me around the structure, highly bemused as to why the barang was there. Only one, Srey Loan, actually lives there. She and her husband are the caretakers of the unusual home, which she says was built by a Korean businessman who works for a company that is planning to build a hotel in the area.

The front door, if a hemisphere can have a front, and the windows are all double-glazed. There are three small windows, plus a 1.2-metre-high window at the side, providing a perfect morning view of the fields to the southeast.

“At kdao,” said one man (which means “not hot”), pointing inside.

The inside walls are lined with a moulded material that looks a little like Styrofoam, but it is chalky. The walls feel nice and cool to the touch, as does the textured cement floor.

Srey Loan tends the 100-odd young frangipani and betel trees that are planted between the house and Route Six and, with her husband Mr Seila, has been looking after the site for one year.
Source by: Phnom Penh Post

Read More

Official toal of death and injury at koh pech bridge danger

It is first huge danger that happened for Cambodian people after Pol Pot's regime.

The government of Cambodia has given official total of death and injury as following:

The total of death victim is 347 and 221 of death victim are woman.

The injured people are 395 and they are treatment without payment in any hospital in Cambodia.

It is huge tragedy of Cambodian people on Koh Pech Bridge danger on Monday, 22 November 2010 on Water Festival Ceremony.

Read More

tragedy at koh pech on 22 Novemeber 2010

Sourced by : youtube.com

Read More

Clinton arrives in Cambodia

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Siem Reap Sunday for a scheduled two-day visit to Cambodia, amid a flurry of rights concerns on display during last week’s visit by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
In a statement on Saturday, the US state department said the visit, the first by an American secretary of state since Colin Powell’s trip to the Kingdom in 2003, highlighted Washington’s commitment to “enhanced, sustained, and comprehensive engagement in Southeast Asia”.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong hailed Clinton’s arrival as a reflection that “the relationship between the government of Cambodia and the US has grown closer” in recent years....

But Hor Namhong said that Cambodian officials would again request the cancellation of the debt that was incurred under the Lon Nol regime in the early 1970s.

“I think the US does not know exactly the stance of Cambodia on this matter, and I will raise it with [Clinton],” he said.

The issue has become a thorn in the side of US-Cambodian relations, with Prime Minister Hun Sen denouncing the debt as “dirty” money that fuelled Cambodia’s civil war.

The US argues that cancelling the debt would set a “poor precedent”, and that Cambodia is capable of paying it back.

In Siem Reap, Clinton toured Angkor Wat and met Somaly Mam, the head of the anti-human trafficking organisation AFESIP.

Today, she is set to meet King Norodom Sihamoni and senior government officials – as well as opposition leaders – in order to “highlight the importance of a vibrant political arena where all voices are heard”, according to the US state department.

Clinton is also scheduled to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and hold a “town hall” forum with students at Chaktomuk Conference Hall.

But Clinton’s visit may be overshadowed by rights concerns that arose during Ban’s visit to the Kingdom.

During a meeting with the UN head, Hun Sen said the government would prevent the Khmer Rouge tribunal from prosecuting any additional cases beyond its second, and reportedly ordered the UN to close its human rights office in Phnom Penh.

Both incidents prompted outrage from local and international rights groups. In a joint statement last week, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called on Clinton to “publicly express support” for the UN rights office.

Phil Robertson, HRW’s deputy Asia director, said the events “raise the bar” for Clinton’s visit, and urged her to indicate Washington “is not willing to countenance this kind of blustering intimidation of UN personnel”.

On the final day of Ban’s visit, police beat local activist Suong Sophorn unconscious as he attempted to deliver a petition protesting against land evictions to the secretary general.

Local organisations, including rights groups, unions and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, have called attention to the human rights situation in Cambodia and urged the US to take a firm stand on the issue.

Embassy officials were unable to provide specifics on whether Clinton would raise these issues in talks with government officials.

Clinton is taking her sixth trip to Asia as secretary of state, illustrating a wider US strategy of increased engagement with the region.

She started the tour in Hawaii with a major address on US-Asian relations, attended the ASEAN Summit in Hanoi and later held a brief meeting with China’s state councilor for foreign policy, Dai Bingguo. After Cambodia, she will visit Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia.

Sourced by: Phnom Penh Post

Read More

City police seize motorbikes

TRAFFIC police in the capital have resumed seizing the motorbikes of helmetless drivers and those who lack side mirrors, despite the fact that the Land Traffic Law does not list vehicle confiscation as a possible punishment for such offences.

Heng Chantheary, head of the Phnom Penh Traffic Police, said he did not know when the recent crackdown began, but that confiscations had been occurring periodically since August 2009.

The Post has received multiple reports of motorbikes being confiscated en masse at various checkpoints in the past week....

“This has not happened for a long time,” Heng Chantheary said in reference to the confiscations.

“For drivers who break traffic laws, such as having no helmet and driving in the wrong direction, we take their motos to the land traffic office, where the owners must learn the traffic laws before they can get their vehicles back,” he said, although he could not provide figures detailing how many vehicles had been confiscated in recent weeks.

He said drivers who wish to get their motorbikes back must pay all relevant fines.

Under the Land Traffic Law, motorbike drivers caught without helmets must pay fines of 3,000 riels (US$0.71), and those caught without mirrors face fines of 4,000 riels.

Sann Socheata, a road safety programme manager for the Cambodian branch of Handicap International Belgium, said there was no mention in the Land Traffic Law of confiscations related to either transgression.

“Motorbike confiscation is not mentioned in the traffic law,” she said.

She noted, though, that Prime Minister Hun Sen has occasionally suggested that traffic police confiscate the motorbikes of offending drivers.

She went on to say that she did not oppose the measure, and that it would give drivers more incentive to obey the law.

But she said authorities should also spend time making sure drivers know exactly what the law stipulates.

“I think what we should spend time doing is convincing people to respect the traffic law,” she said. “Then there won’t be any confiscation
anymore.”

Kong Chhorn, a 36-year-old motorbike driver, said yesterday that he was less concerned about the confiscation of motorbikes than he was about the seemingly erratic application of fines.

“I was once asked for 5,000 riels for not wearing my helmet belt,” he said. “Some police even use offensive words when they are talking to me. They should use good words to educate people about the traffic law.”

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport in June finalised amendments to the Land Traffic Law that would increase fines and require passengers on motorbikes to wear helmets.

If the amendments, which have not yet been sent to the Council of Ministers, are eventually approved, helmetless motorbike drivers will be required to pay fines of 21,000 riels (about $5).

Sourced from : Phnom Penh Post News

Read More

No croc skin exports in 2010

CROCODILE skins will not be exported from Cambodia in 2010 despite a 13-year effort to encourage commercial farming, a representative from the General Department of Fisheries Administration (GDFA) has said.

Nao Thuok, general director of GDFA, announced on Sunday that Cambodia still cannot export crocodile skins into international markets because the country’s farms have not been able to fulfill industry standards.

“We are looking for companies which are capable of investing in large-scale [operations] in order to create opportunities to export crocodile skin into international markets,” he said.

Cambodia has been trying to encourage the trade of crocodile skin since 1997 by training farmers with skills and methods needed to raise crocodiles. But so far the effort has seen negligible results.

To improve the quality of skin for export, animals must be raised in individual pens in order to prevent damage .

According to small-scale farmers, who currently sell baby crocodiles to foreign markets for meat, millions of dollars are needed to set up such enterprises.
Kaing Sarin, owner of a 3,000-crocodile farm in Prek Kampeus commune, Kandal Steung district, Kandal province, said that raising crocodiles for skin takes a very long time.

“At present, we only breed crocodile hatchlings for sale because we need the money to buy food to supply our crocodiles,” he said Monday.

However, Nao Thuok said his department did not support the export of young crocodiles to Vietnam and China, as farmers earn just US$15 to $17 per animal.

A standard crocodile skin can be sold for $200 on the international market.

According to the GDFA, the crocodile skin business could earn Cambodia $30 million per year.

“We aim to encourage the export of crocodile skin because the trade can generate high income to help support our national economy,” said Nao Thuok.

The department added that it wants to create one or two large scale commercial crocodile farms.

According to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, last year Cambodia’s 600 crocodile farms bred a total of 185,000 crocodile hatchlings.

Sourced by: Phnom Penh Post

Read More

Acid attacks could earn life in prison

AUTHORITIES will explore legislating stiff new punishments for perpetrators of acid crimes as part of measures aimed at quelling an apparent jump in reported incidents of the violent attacks, officials said Monday.

The proposal, issued earlier this month after a string of acid attacks, is among options being evaluated by a new government committee charged with decreasing acid attacks by controlling its use.

Ouk Kimlek, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior and deputy director of the committee, said authorities will discuss parts of a draft 20-point law during a meeting Thursday, including life sentences for those convicted in the most severe attacks.

“In drafting the law, the important point that I noted is punishment on people who use acid against someone to make them become handicapped, damage their beauty, or kill,” Ouk Kimlek said. “They will be sentenced to jail for their whole lives. If the victim is just lightly injured, then there will be a sentence of five or more years in jail.”...

Cambodia currently lacks a law that specifically deals with acid crimes. It is a situation, Ouk Kimlek said, that sees perpetrators get off with light punishments or none at all.

“Because we don’t have a law to punish those who use acid against other people, that’s why it is difficult to punish people, so we see most perpetrators or suspects have never been punished,” he said.

The committee will also explore regulating the sale of acid, which he said is so widely available that even children can buy it.

“We can see very young people also buying acid, so we need to create a law on using acid as soon as possible,” said Ouk Kimlek, who added that instituting a minimum age for buying acid may be beneficial.

But at this point, the terms of the law are merely suggestions that need to be debated, Ouk Kimlek said.

He added that the committee also plans to invite acid vendors in Phnom Penh to meet with officials – “in order to ask them where they import acid from and who do they usually sell it to”.

‘Weak law enforcement’
Acid attacks are seen as particularly violent crimes, often aimed not at killing, but scarring victims for life. Victims can suffer severe, disfiguring injuries from common acid capable of dissolving skin, tissue and even bone.

The pending discussions represent an about-face for the government, which as recently as last month rejected calls to regulate the sale of acid as too difficult to implement.

Acid is widely used in the Kingdom to maintain motor vehicles, clear clogged drains and clean jewellery.

After a string of reported attacks in January, however, the Interior Ministry shifted its position, announcing the formation of the committee.

Rights groups and advocates who work with acid attack victims have lauded the government’s new direction, but also warned that it will take more than new legislation to reduce acid violence.

“There is weak law enforcement, and the powerful can get away with almost anything,” said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.

Violent acid attacks often go unpunished, most notably in the recent case of Chea Ratha, a former Military Police official who has escaped imprisonment despite having been convicted last year for her role in attacking her former partner’s aunt.

“People will look at it and say, ‘I can get away with it,’” Ou Virak said. “I think cases like Chea Ratha’s could have been used to set a precedent, but unfortunately it wasn’t. She’s still on the run.”

Until new legislation is in place, perpetrators can and should be punished under standard criminal laws, said Am Sam Ath, technical superviser for the rights group Licadho.

“We have the law, but the practice of using the law is not strict, so it can be useless to have it,” Am Sam Ath said. “But I believe that if we all join together to strongly practice this law, then the use of acid to kill will be reduced.”

Despite the government’s intentions, new legislation could still be far away, Am Sam Ath warned.

“It could take from one to two years to improve the law, so I think the government should reinforce punishments on acid users now, while we are waiting for the changes,” he said.

The Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity recorded at least 194 separate acid attacks between 1985 and 2009, a figure that is believed to be short of the actual total. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post)

Read More

Chea Mony strike must follow the law: ministry

AN Interior Ministry spokesman said Sunday that officials would allow a weeklong protest, proposed by the brother of slain labour union leader Chea Vichea, to take place as long as it adheres to a recently passed demonstration law that critics have slammed as undemocratic.

On Friday, union leaders and opposition lawmakers threatened to hold a week-long strike if authorities failed to find the perpetrators who gunned down Chea Vichea at a newsstand in the capital six years ago.

Khieu Sopheak said Sunday that Free Trade Union President Chea Mony was free to call for a strike, but that he must respect the law.

“If he abides by the law, we will give him permission,” Khieu Sopheak said, adding that the government would take “legal action” against Chea Mony if the law is not obeyed.

Criticism of protest law
But critics have slammed the law that governs protests, warning that it could restrict freedom of expression.

The Law on Nonviolent Demonstrations, approved by the National Assembly last October, requires that organisers apply for official permits from the government 12 hours ahead of time if gatherings are to include more than 200 people. According to Chea Mony, 70,000 garment workers are members of the FTU.

Opposition parties warned when the law was passed that it would allow authorities to use security concerns as a “pretext” for snuffing out legitimate protests.

Khieu Sopheak also said Sunday that he did not believe many workers would participate in such a strike because of the potential loss to their incomes.

“I believe workers understand the consequences of demonstrations and strikes,” he said. “If they strike, it is like they are kicking out their own rice pots.”

Chea Vichea’s killing, on January 22, 2004, prompted authorities to arrest two men who Chea Mony believed were innocent. The Supreme Court ordered the pair’s release in December 2008, citing contradictory evidence. The two men, Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, remain free, pending a new investigation.

“We want to give a message to the government,” Chea Mony said Friday. “It is time to bring the real perpetrators to face the courts.… If you do not find the real killers, we will choose a date to strike.” (Read more detail at Phnom Penh Post Site)

Read More

Police collect information from K Krom

THE 24 Khmer Krom refugees deported from Thailand last month were visited Tuesday by district police in Phnom Penh, who gathered information that the group believes may be used to produce identification cards.

The deportees – who have been staying at an unspecified location – had originally planned to visit the chief of Boeung Tumpun commune in a bid to confirm that they were eligible to stay there, but the police officers visited them instead. They have been without identification since being deported from Thailand on December 5 after fleeing Vietnam to escape what they described as persecution and religious repression...


Khmer Krom spokesman Thach Song, 49, said the police requested information including names, birthplaces and ages, as well as details on where the deportees were living and where they came from.

“I think the police came to gather information for identification cards,” he said. “I asked whether the district police will issue the documents, and the police said it was up to the district chief.”

The deputy Boeung Tumpun commune chief confirmed that the police had visited the group in person. “This is a preliminary step,” he said of the visit, during which each member of the group thumbprinted the documents recording the information.

Naly Pilorge, president of the rights group Licadho, said it was somewhat curious that police would be used to collect information for identification cards.

“It’s unusual, and to me the alarm bell rings,” she said. “The normal way does not involve police.”

The deportees – exhausted and poor – have been awaiting official identification of their citizenship since arriving in Cambodia. Without it, they cannot rent a house, go to hospitals or enroll in schools. Five of them have fallen ill, and all are reportedly low on food. On Tuesday they sent a letter to the Red Cross requesting both food and medicine. (Source from Phnom Penh Post Site)

Read More

Progress slow at eviction site

THE developer 7NG Group said Monday that the main phase of its project on the site of the former Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district would not begin until at least 2011, sparking renewed accusations that last year’s controversial eviction of the community was executed for speculative rather than development purposes.

“All projects will start in 2011 and 2012, though I cannot fix a clear date,” Srey Chanthou, managing director of 7NG Group, said Monday.

The company has plans to build luxury apartments as well as office and retail space, according to a billboard recently posted outside the construction site. At the moment, the 3.6 hectares of land are undeveloped except for a new 7NG sales office.

7NG is currently evaluating the cost of the projects, Srey Chanthou said, adding that it hopes to attract capital from companies in Vietnam, South Korea and Belgium.

Lao Tip Seiha, director of the Department of Construction at the Ministry of Land Management, said Monday that his ministry had not yet received applications for approval from 7NG to construct the proposed projects at the Dey Krahorm site, adding that the company will also need to seek approval from local officials.

Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun said Monday that City Hall also had yet to receive any information, and Tonle Bassac commune chief Khat Narith said he had only received the application for 7NG’s sales office.

7NG gained access to the Dey Krahorm site in January of last year after about 400 families were violently evicted from their homes, which were then demolished by 7NG contract workers. In the aftermath of the eviction, the UN referred to the event as a “grave breach” of human rights.

“It is regrettable that the ongoing negotiations with the residents were abandoned, casting aside a valuable opportunity to reach a just and lawful solution to this long-standing dispute,” Raquel Rolnik, the UN’s special rapporteur for adequate housing, said in a statement at the time.

Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann said Monday that the public is seeing little benefit from the land concession as 7NG sits on it.

“Next time, the government has to look carefully before they give any project to the investor,” he said.

Cambodian Centre for Human Rights President Ou Virak said it was obvious at the time of the eviction that 7NG had no specific development projects in the offing, and was instead planning to hold the land for speculation. He said the company was likely waiting to take advantage of more favorable property values.

“Right now, for example, if they built flats, I’m not sure they could make money,” Ou Virak said, adding that even if 7NG did have a specific plan in mind last year, the underlying injustice of the eviction would be unchanged.

“It has nothing to do with whether they have a plan or not; it has to do with whether the people that live there have the right” to occupy the land, he said. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post Site)

Read More

ROAD SAFETY: 200,000 cited for violating traffic laws

More than 200,000 motorbike drivers were caught disobeying traffic laws in the last four months of 2009, according to traffic authorities. Him Yan, director of the Department of Public Order for the National Police, said that of the violations handed out, 110,149 were for motorcycle drivers not wearing safety helmets and 71,776 vehicles for driving without a rearview mirror.

Some 14,412 people were pulled over for not having both a helmet and a rearview mirror. Besides motorbikes, there were 11,637 car drivers caught for violating traffic laws. Of those, 4,130 drivers did not wear safety belts, 60 ignored traffic signs and 41 did not have a valid licence plate.

Sourced by Phnom Penh Post Website

Read More

No-logging zone to protect ancient Siem Reap temples

FIVE centuries-old temples damaged by the forest-clearing activities of a Siem Reap province rubber company may be spared further harm now that the company has agreed to a protective zone on the land concession, officials said Sunday.

Sik Bunsin, Svay Leu district governor, said the owners of the Kreb rubber company, Apsara Authority staff and local officials had just concluded the demarcation of an off-limits area around the temples that will prevent further damage as the company clears the forests on its land to make way for rubber trees.

“The company cooperated with the authorities before clearing any further because they are afraid of damaging our ancient artefacts,” Sik Bunsin said, adding that out of the five temples, only Prasat Sangke Singh, located on about a hectare of land, is still in good condition...

The remaining temples were discovered in 2007 when the company attempted to flatten several hills on its land, exposing troves of artefacts below and inadvertently destroying one site entirely. “Now we are planning the construction of a road to the temples in order to establish a tourism site,” Sik Bunsin said.

Uch Horn, Svay Leu commune chief, saw court officials and Apsara Authority staff members on their way to survey the sites. “I am happy to see them visit the temples,” he said. “I want higher officials to create a protected area here in order to protect all of its from the destructive effects of land clearance because there are many temples scattered throughout the area.”

Bun Tharith, director general of the Apsara Authority, said that Apsara officials had replaced provisional wooden demarcation poles with cement poles that would better deter land-clearing machinery. The poles were placed 50 to 60 metres out from the moat around each of the temples.

“We want to build a road to these temples and open up the site, but there is the difficulty of the forest as well as the demands of Apsara’s other projects,” he said. “But the first priority is to guarantee that the sites are not violated.”

After villagers familiar with the temple sites complained to Apsara about the rubber company’s activities, Nuon San, general prosecutor for Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey provinces, trekked 6 to 7 kilometres through the forest on December 21 to examine the conditions of Prasat Sangke Singh and Prasat Ahen. “I urge the government officials and NGOs who work to preserve the temples to please go to see them. I was so saddened to see that these temples were abandoned,” he said. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post Site)

Read More

Khmer Krom plead for citizenship

A GROUP of 24 Khmer Krom asylum seekers recently deported from Thailand arrived in Phnom Penh on Wednesday in a desperate bid to have their Cambodian citizenship confirmed by the government.

The group, part of an ethnic minority from the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam, were deported from Thailand on December 5 after fleeing Vietnam. They had been sheltered by the Independent Democratic Association of Non-Formal Economy in Banteay Meachey’s Poipet town.

Members of the group – which is currently staying at Wat Angtaminh near Phnom Penh International Airport – say they fear severe repercussions from the Vietnamese government if they are deported.

Members of the group say that when they fled Vietnam, they lost their homes and many possessions. Huynh Ut, 33, said his father is now disabled as a result of abuse by Vietnamese authorities. “They broke his skull and beat his body, and shocked him” with a stun device, he said. “After three months, the starvation made him disabled.”...

Another member of the group, 56-year-old Choav Heng, said: “Yesterday, we went in to meet the UNHCR to fill in forms and register with the government so they can start to help us,” referring to the UN refugee agency. “We have sent many letters to the Ministry of Interior so they could see this case and try to help us, but we have not received a response. We have also written to the National Assembly, many NGOs and human rights organisations because we are in great difficulty. We don’t have any food. We don’t have any money. We don’t have anything for our daily lives.”

Though hungry, poor and with no place to live, the biggest worry for his group, said Choav Heng, is the constant fear of being sent back to Vietnam.

“The Vietnamese government still wants to catch us,” he said.

“We need protection. Because we are Khmer Krom, we would like the government to give us some security and confidence.”

He added: “We need the government and UNHCR to accept us as Cambodian people. We would like the government to help find us a place to stay near schools and markets. We also need land for agriculture.”

He said the group needed “help from the government with identification cards or any documents we need” to become Cambodian citizens. “For me, I would just like a place. A good place, any place that they can give us. We find it hard to be understood, [but] I hope in Cambodia we will be more accepted and better off.”

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak has said that if they are in Cambodia and ar Khmers, they have an automatic right to citizenship, but also, earlier this month, that the arrivals had not yet been clearly identified as ethnic Khmers.

He did not detail exactly what the identification process involved.

“The asylum seekers must realise that the right for asylum is no longer under the authorisation of the UNHCR,” he said.

The UNHCR could not be reached for comment on Thursday, but Kitty McKinsey, UNHCR spokeswoman in Bangkok, said on December 15 that the deportees had been at various stages of their asylum applications at the time of their deportation from Thailand.

She said the UNHCR regarded their deportation as a “serious matter” and had taken up the issue with the government in Bangkok.

“Our position is that no asylum seekers should be deported from Thailand unless their appeals have been processed and it has been properly established that they do not require international protection,” she said at the time.

She went on to add that there are “orderly procedures” for returning unsuccessful applicants to their countries of origin.

Striking similarities
The plight of the recent arrivals to Phnom Penh follows the deportation of 54 Khmer Krom, also by Thai police, in June.

Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organisation, said the 54 were subsequently smuggled back into Thailand to make another bid for asylum. He said “more than 10” of the current deportees were also deported in June. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post)

Read More

Eight to appear in Svay Rieng court over SRP removal of border marker

EIGHT people have been summoned to appear in Svay Rieng provincial court today and Wednesday for questioning in connection with an October incident in which opposition leader Sam Rainsy joined local residents in uprooting posts marking the border between Cambodia and Vietnam.

Pov Pheap, second deputy chief of Samrong commune in Svay Rieng’s Chantrea district, said Monday that he and two officials from nearby Bavet commune – Sok Sam Ien and Suk Korn – would appear at the court, though he maintained the innocence of all who have been summoned.

“We will not escape; we must appear in court in order to avoid arrest,” Pov Pheap said. “We are not afraid of being summoned because we have not done anything wrong.”

All three commune officials are members of the Sam Rainsy Party, Pov Pheap added.

In addition to the commune officials, five villagers from Chantrea district will also appear for questioning. The commune officials and the villagers joined Sam Rainsy in his October protest over what they said were continued encroachments on their land by the Vietnamese.

Sam Rainsy has been summoned to appear in Svay Rieng provincial court on Monday, though he remains abroad in Europe and it is unclear whether he plans to attend.

A citation issued last week by Judge Long Kesphyrom stated that the opposition leader was charged with racial incitement and the destruction of property, and that a warrant would be issued for his arrest if he did not appear as ordered.

Meas Srey, one of the villagers summoned to the court, said there were many more than five people in her community who had lost land to the Vietnamese, but that most of her neighbours did not dare to complain publicly.

“I am not afraid. I have not done anything wrong. I saw the poles planted on my land, and I uprooted them,” she said.

Another villager summoned to appear, Prom Chea, said he was nervous about his day in court, though he also maintained that he and the others who participated in the protest had done nothing wrong.

“I’m worried about losing land, so I complained. I relied on the government to resolve the situation, but they did not resolve it,” he said, adding that he and his family had lost between 4 and 5 hectares of land to Vietnamese encroachment.

Judge Long Kesphyrom could not be reached for comment Monday. (Sourced from Phnom Penh Site)

Read More

Khmer Krom fear reprisal from Vietnam

KHMER Krom asylum seekers who were deported by Thai authorities earlier this month say they will face arrest and likely reprisal if they are forcibly returned to Vietnam.

The 24 Khmer Krom, as members of Vietnam’s Khmer minority are known, were deported to Cambodia on December 5 and are being sheltered by NGOs in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town.

“I have submitted an application for residency, but there is still no answer from the local authorities,” said 49-year-old asylum seeker Thach Soong.

Originally from Vietnam’s Soc Trang province, Thach Soong said Vietnamese authorities first suspected him after he took part in protests for freedom of...

religion and land rights during the 1980s. He fled Vietnam in 2003 following threats of arrest, but said he faced a hostile reception from Cambodian authorities, who detained him for 64 days.

After his asylum application was rejected by UNHCR in Bangkok in 2006, Thach Soong said he lived in Thailand illegally before his arrest and deportation this month. “I am afraid now that I will end up in jail if the authorities deport me back to Vietnam,” he said.

Choa Sokha, 34, said he fled from Vietnam’s An Giang province to Cambodia in 2007 after he was arrested and tortured by police for leading protests for freedom of religion and expression.

“I was guilty in Vietnam, and I am afraid of deportation to Vietnam,” he added.

The recent Khmer Krom arrivals follow the similar deportation of 54 Khmer Krom by Thai police in June.

Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organisation, said the 54 were subsequently smuggled back into Thailand to make another bid for asylum. He said “more than 10” of the current deportees were also deported in June.

Kitty McKinsey, UNHCR spokeswoman in Bangkok, said the deportees were all at various stages of their asylum applications at the time of their deportation. She said the UNHCR regarded their deportation as a “serious matter” and had taken up the issue with the government in Bangkok.

“Our position is that no asylum seekers should be deported from Thailand unless their appeals have been processed and it has been properly established that they do not require international protection,” she said, adding that there are “orderly procedures” for returning unsuccessful applicants to their countries of origin.

Try Narin, the governor of Poipet town, said he had not received any information about the Khmer Krom group. “We have nowhere to resettle them, and they will return to where they came from,” he said. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post Site)

Wednesday, 16 December 2009 15:04 Vong Sokheng and Sebastian Strangio

Read More

Teen starlet victim of acid attack in capital

TWO assailants on a motorcycle doused a 16-year-old talent-show winner with half a litre of acid on Tuesday morning – the second such incident in Phnom Penh in less than a week – leading to a fresh call to regulate the its sale in Cambodia.

Hang Srey Leak, 16, was at a hairdresser’s salon on Street 84 in Daun Penh district when two people pulled up on a motorcycle and poured acid over her body, district police said.

She is being treated at Calmette Hospital for burns on her face, back and leg, police said, although her condition is not thought to be serious.

Ziad Samman, of the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity, said 10 acid attacks had been reported to the organisation so far this year... He called on the government to prevent further attacks by introducing strict guidelines for the sale of acid.

“One possible way to prevent attacks is to stop them before they start,” he said. “One of the reasons that help contribute to acid attacks is because it’s so readily accessible. One of the things worth looking into is a regulation of acid, so it would make people selling acid more accountable.”

But Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said the authorities found it “too difficult” to control the use of acid in the Kingdom. “It is impossible to ask sellers to tell their customers to get a prescription to buy acid,” he said. “What we must do is arrest the perpetrators.”

Pin Kong, deputy police chief of Srah Chak commune, said investigating officers believed they had identified the suspects in Tuesday’s attack, although no arrests had yet been made.

“The perpetrators are relatives of the victim,” he said. “They helped the victim become a star, and they are seeking revenge because she does not do as she’s told.”

Hang Srey Leak was crowned one of the winners of TV9’s weekly talent show High Star in November 2008.

Chev Virak, a TV9 producer and director of the High Star production company, said the teenager – whom he described as a “good performer” – had received several threats in the past.

Tougher punishment
The attack on Hang Srey Leak comes just days after masked motorcyclists threw acid at two teenage sisters who were on their way to meet their mother at a market in Phnom Penh.

Kim Sodine, 18, and her 17-year-old sister Kim Sonita – both hairdressers – suffered severe burns in the assault last Thursday and are being treated in Vietnam.

Police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the attack and are struggling to establish a motive.

Last week’s incident prompted human rights groups to demand tougher punishment for the perpetrators of acid attacks. Speaking at the time, Ou Virak, executive director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said: “Lack of outrage from government officials and no condemnation from the public is a concern and unacceptable. We’re desensitised to this violence, and it needs to change. The government needs to put more effort into prosecution when lives are damaged.” Acid attacks, while decreasing in recent years, are still a common form of revenge in Cambodia, often committed by jilted lovers. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post Site)

Wednesday, 16 December 2009 15:04 Chhay Channyda, Tep Nimol and Zela Chin

Read More