PHNOM PENH, Aug 31, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- A public information campaign aimed at warning people over the dangers of lightning will begin as the number of reported deaths from strikes rising, local media reported Tuesday citing government officials.
So far this year, the reported deaths from lightning have climbed to 135, while there were a total of 95 lightning deaths reported last year, the Phnon Penh Post quoted Keo Vy, a communications officer with the National Committee for Disaster Management, as saying.
In addition, 151 people this year have been severely hurt by lightning, which has also killed 36 domestic cattle throughout the country, "Now we are organizing banners to educate people throughout the country in order to educate them to protect themselves against lightning," Keo Vy said. "We cannot stop lightning," he said, adding that the banners will be distributed in districts throughout the country.
Seth Vannareth, deputy general inspector and director of Department of Meteorology said that lightning strikes occur mostly between May and October. But she said that the number of reported lightning strikes did not appear to be increasing.
Seth Vannareth attributed the apparent rise in deaths to better reporting from provincial and district officials and the rising use of electrical appliances.
"Nowadays, Cambodian people are using more appliances like telephones, televisions, radios and so on, without taking care of lightning," she said.
People lack the knowledge to protect themselves from lightning.. .. Do not use the phone or turn on the radio in the middle of a rice field during a rain storm," she said , adding "do not stand under trees during a rain storm, or hold onto metal objects."
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Source: TMCNet.com
Link: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/08/31/4348234.htm
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Cambodia records 31 cases of flu A/H1N1
www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-01 14:49:18
PHNOM PENH, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Health Minister Mum Bun Heng said on Tuesday that the Cambodia's flu A /H1N1 cases have increased to 31 after five people were confirmed positive of the flu in the country on Aug. 31.
"The five people are the latest cases in the country and they all are Khmer," Bun Heng told reporters at a ceremony of receiving a new thermal scanner from Singapore.
"They all are being treated by our doctors," Mum said, adding that "so far nobody died of the flu in the kingdom."
"We have strengthened our existing system to track the suspected people of the flu," he said. The new thermal scanner will be equipped at Phnom Penh International Airport and the old one at the airport will be transferred to install at the Poipet Checkpoint bordering on Thailand.
"We decided to install there because many tourists and travelers are crossing the land border everyday from Thailand into Cambodia. We have to follow them," he noted. "So far, we have had 14 Khmer infecting with the flu," he said, adding that the new thermal scanner is worth over 10,000 U.S. dollars and it is a charitable donation from Singaporean government.
Tan Yee Woan, Singaporean ambassador to Cambodia, said that "the globalization push people to travel a lot and they are facing with infecting the flu and we need to prevent it."
Sok Touch, director of communicable control department of Health Ministry, also expressed his concern, saying that "the second wave of infecting the flu is making us concern about the trend of spread. We have to take measures for the next season."
***************
Source: Article from China View
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/01/content_11978202.htm
PHNOM PENH, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Health Minister Mum Bun Heng said on Tuesday that the Cambodia's flu A /H1N1 cases have increased to 31 after five people were confirmed positive of the flu in the country on Aug. 31.
"The five people are the latest cases in the country and they all are Khmer," Bun Heng told reporters at a ceremony of receiving a new thermal scanner from Singapore.
"They all are being treated by our doctors," Mum said, adding that "so far nobody died of the flu in the kingdom."
"We have strengthened our existing system to track the suspected people of the flu," he said. The new thermal scanner will be equipped at Phnom Penh International Airport and the old one at the airport will be transferred to install at the Poipet Checkpoint bordering on Thailand.
"We decided to install there because many tourists and travelers are crossing the land border everyday from Thailand into Cambodia. We have to follow them," he noted. "So far, we have had 14 Khmer infecting with the flu," he said, adding that the new thermal scanner is worth over 10,000 U.S. dollars and it is a charitable donation from Singaporean government.
Tan Yee Woan, Singaporean ambassador to Cambodia, said that "the globalization push people to travel a lot and they are facing with infecting the flu and we need to prevent it."
Sok Touch, director of communicable control department of Health Ministry, also expressed his concern, saying that "the second wave of infecting the flu is making us concern about the trend of spread. We have to take measures for the next season."
***************
Source: Article from China View
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/01/content_11978202.htm
World Bank in talks with Cambodia over evictions
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A senior World Bank official held talks with the Cambodian government over the forced eviction of people from their homes and said the development bank would continue to work with it on land reform to tackle the problem.
Land ownership is a controversial issue in Cambodia, where legal documents were destroyed and state institutions collapsed under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s and the civil war that followed.
The World Bank joined with other aid donors in July to ask the government to halt forced evictions and the problem was raised again by its vice-president for East Asia and the Pacific Region, James Adams, during a visit last week.
"A major focus of the visit was Cambodia's urban land sector and the increasing numbers of disputes and evictions of poor people in urban settlements," the bank said in a statement.
"The discussions on land reform were constructive and it was agreed to continue these discussions over the coming week to agree next steps," it said.
The bank has provided funding of $24.3 million for a land management and administration project from 2002 to 2009, and an estimated 1.1 million land titles were issued, said Bou Saroeun, a spokesman for the World Bank in Phnom Penh.
Other donors such as Germany, Finland and Canada have together provided more than $14 million to support the land title project, Saroeun added.
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Source: Article from REUTERS posted on Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:07am EDT(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould)
Land ownership is a controversial issue in Cambodia, where legal documents were destroyed and state institutions collapsed under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s and the civil war that followed.
The World Bank joined with other aid donors in July to ask the government to halt forced evictions and the problem was raised again by its vice-president for East Asia and the Pacific Region, James Adams, during a visit last week.
"A major focus of the visit was Cambodia's urban land sector and the increasing numbers of disputes and evictions of poor people in urban settlements," the bank said in a statement.
"The discussions on land reform were constructive and it was agreed to continue these discussions over the coming week to agree next steps," it said.
The bank has provided funding of $24.3 million for a land management and administration project from 2002 to 2009, and an estimated 1.1 million land titles were issued, said Bou Saroeun, a spokesman for the World Bank in Phnom Penh.
Other donors such as Germany, Finland and Canada have together provided more than $14 million to support the land title project, Saroeun added.
*****************
Source: Article from REUTERS posted on Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:07am EDT(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould)
More than 400 Khmer Krom families to demonstrate against canal construction plan
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
A source indicated that more than 400 Khmer Krom families living in Krobao district (renamed Tinh Bien by the occupying Vietnamese regime), Motr Chourk province (renamed An Giang by neo-colonialist Vietnam) plan to hold a peaceful demonstration to protest against the plan to built a canal that would lead to the destruction and loss of several hundreds of hectares of their farmlands without any compensation.
Khmer Krom people among these 400 families told RFA over the phone from Krobao district, Motr Chrouk province, occupied Kampuchea Krom that there will be a joint uprising to stop these mechanical engines used to dig the canal: “For tomorrow, we have prepared ourselves, even if they (Viets) want to kill us, we are not afraid! I will go to the canal ditch on my land, I will not let them continue the digging anymore. We ask them to stop [the digging] right now, if they don’t resolve this issue for us, we will not allow them to continue their work, we’d rather die on our farmlands. They are currently digging [the canal], they will dig tomorrow, tomorrow is their main digging operation day. We have gathered from all the villages, we will not allow them to [dig] tomorrow.”
A representative of the group of protesting Khmer Krom people indicated that his family will lose 2 hectares of land from the plan to dig the canal across the rice fields that belong to 400 families: “The International human rights organization said that they will help Khmer Krom people to own lands for farm productions, just like the Vietnamese people. The Vietnamese families now own large tract of lands each, but for our Khmer people, who are the actual owners of our ancestral lands, we lose everything, there’s nothing left.”
A source indicated that a Vietnamese reporter from Prey Nokor city (renamed Ho Chi Minh city by the Vietnamese occupiers) came to investigate the issue with Khmer Krom people living in this area. The reporter asked whether the loss of farmlands was due to the plan to build the canal or not.
On Saturday 29 August, the Viet embassy in Phnom Penh could not be reached to obtain clarification about the Khmer Krom demonstration planned for 30 August, nobody at the embassy picked up the phone.
Thach Setha, President of the Khmer Krom Community in Cambodia, said that the Viet government should compensate for the damage and loss of these farmlands: “We share the grief of our Khmer Krom people who are facing serious violations from the Yuon authority. We will seek interventions from the international community. At the same time, with the current visit of H.E. Khieu Kanharith in Kampuchea Krom, we are asking him to take a detour to visit [the affected area] and find a resolution for our Khmer people living there.”
A source indicated that the occupying Vietnamese authority in Krobao district, Mortr Chrouk province, occupied Kampuchea Krom, is currently putting in application the plan to dig a 10-km-long by 50-meter-wide canal that will cross the farmlands belonging to 400 Khmer Krom families. This canal will lead to the loss of several hectares of farmlands belonging to Khmer Krom people and no compensation will be provided by this loss.
****************
Source: Radio Free Asia, 29 August 2009
Posted on KI-Media on 30 August 2009
Radio Free Asia
A source indicated that more than 400 Khmer Krom families living in Krobao district (renamed Tinh Bien by the occupying Vietnamese regime), Motr Chourk province (renamed An Giang by neo-colonialist Vietnam) plan to hold a peaceful demonstration to protest against the plan to built a canal that would lead to the destruction and loss of several hundreds of hectares of their farmlands without any compensation.
Khmer Krom people among these 400 families told RFA over the phone from Krobao district, Motr Chrouk province, occupied Kampuchea Krom that there will be a joint uprising to stop these mechanical engines used to dig the canal: “For tomorrow, we have prepared ourselves, even if they (Viets) want to kill us, we are not afraid! I will go to the canal ditch on my land, I will not let them continue the digging anymore. We ask them to stop [the digging] right now, if they don’t resolve this issue for us, we will not allow them to continue their work, we’d rather die on our farmlands. They are currently digging [the canal], they will dig tomorrow, tomorrow is their main digging operation day. We have gathered from all the villages, we will not allow them to [dig] tomorrow.”
A representative of the group of protesting Khmer Krom people indicated that his family will lose 2 hectares of land from the plan to dig the canal across the rice fields that belong to 400 families: “The International human rights organization said that they will help Khmer Krom people to own lands for farm productions, just like the Vietnamese people. The Vietnamese families now own large tract of lands each, but for our Khmer people, who are the actual owners of our ancestral lands, we lose everything, there’s nothing left.”
A source indicated that a Vietnamese reporter from Prey Nokor city (renamed Ho Chi Minh city by the Vietnamese occupiers) came to investigate the issue with Khmer Krom people living in this area. The reporter asked whether the loss of farmlands was due to the plan to build the canal or not.
On Saturday 29 August, the Viet embassy in Phnom Penh could not be reached to obtain clarification about the Khmer Krom demonstration planned for 30 August, nobody at the embassy picked up the phone.
Thach Setha, President of the Khmer Krom Community in Cambodia, said that the Viet government should compensate for the damage and loss of these farmlands: “We share the grief of our Khmer Krom people who are facing serious violations from the Yuon authority. We will seek interventions from the international community. At the same time, with the current visit of H.E. Khieu Kanharith in Kampuchea Krom, we are asking him to take a detour to visit [the affected area] and find a resolution for our Khmer people living there.”
A source indicated that the occupying Vietnamese authority in Krobao district, Mortr Chrouk province, occupied Kampuchea Krom, is currently putting in application the plan to dig a 10-km-long by 50-meter-wide canal that will cross the farmlands belonging to 400 Khmer Krom families. This canal will lead to the loss of several hectares of farmlands belonging to Khmer Krom people and no compensation will be provided by this loss.
****************
Source: Radio Free Asia, 29 August 2009
Posted on KI-Media on 30 August 2009
Cambodia halves border troops
Aug 30, 2009
PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA has halved the number of troops around an ancient border temple that has been the scene of bloody clashes with Thailand, the defence ministry said on Sunday.
There have been several skirmishes between the two countries on the disputed frontier around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.
'We have pulled out 50 per cent of the troops from Preah Vihear temple,' said Chhum Socheat, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defence.
'This shows that the situation at the border is really getting better, and that both countries have a mutual understanding of peace,' he added.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen last week said Thailand had just 30 soldiers on the border, meaning that Cambodia could stand some troops down and send them back to their provincial bases.
'We still have enough troops remaining to protect our territory,' said General Chea Dara, deputy commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.
He said if Thailand 'shows a softer manner' they could cut the numbers further. 'However, if anything happened, our troop mobility would be very swift,' he told AFP.
Thailand in June reignited the row over the temple when it asked world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the temple in Cambodia.
Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades. Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.
The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people. The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia. -- AFP
*******************
Article from The Straits Times
Link: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_423273.html
PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA has halved the number of troops around an ancient border temple that has been the scene of bloody clashes with Thailand, the defence ministry said on Sunday.
There have been several skirmishes between the two countries on the disputed frontier around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.
'We have pulled out 50 per cent of the troops from Preah Vihear temple,' said Chhum Socheat, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defence.
'This shows that the situation at the border is really getting better, and that both countries have a mutual understanding of peace,' he added.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen last week said Thailand had just 30 soldiers on the border, meaning that Cambodia could stand some troops down and send them back to their provincial bases.
'We still have enough troops remaining to protect our territory,' said General Chea Dara, deputy commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.
He said if Thailand 'shows a softer manner' they could cut the numbers further. 'However, if anything happened, our troop mobility would be very swift,' he told AFP.
Thailand in June reignited the row over the temple when it asked world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the temple in Cambodia.
Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades. Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.
The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people. The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia. -- AFP
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Article from The Straits Times
Link: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_423273.html
Khmer Krom Youth Quarterly Magazine- Youth Quarterly Edition: Vol 9
Click here to read the Magazine!
Or Click here to download and read more Khmer Krom Youth Quarterly Magazines:
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Source: Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation Youth Committee (KKFYC)
Link: http://kkfyc.org/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,35/
Will Cambodian-Japanese Ties Change If Japan Has A New Prime Minister?
29 August 2009
“Two different views have been expressed by official of the Royal Government of Cambodia and of the opposition party about the relations, both in diplomatic and in other terms, between Cambodia and Japan, if a new Japanese prime minister from the opposition party would take power after the general elections in Japan on 30 August 2009.
“An official of the Royal Government said that Cambodian and Japanese ties will not change and will become even better, whichever candidates from the ruling party or from the opposition becomes the new prime minister of Japan. An official of the opposition party of Cambodia, on the other side, thinks that the Cambodian-Japanese relations might change, if the president of the opposition party becomes the new prime minister, and he might restrict aid to Cambodia.
“On 30 August 2009, Japan will hold general elections, with two main candidates competing to become prime minister: first, the current prime minister, Mr. Aso Taro – 麻生太郎, Asō Tarō – and second, the president of the Japanese opposition Democratic Party, Mr. Hatoyama Yukio – 鳩山由紀夫. An opinion poll in Japan shows that an [opposition] majority seems to be able to take the position of the present prime minister, who will fall into the position of the president of the opposition party. Currently, Mr. Hatoyama is president of the opposition party, but the majority of Japanese people have lost faith in Prime Minister Aso Taro, who made the Japanese economy drop dramatically.
“The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. Koy Kuong, toldDeum Ampil by telephone on Friday, ‘I think that the Cambodian-Japanese ties will not change, regardless of which candidate will take power, and the relations of both countries’ will become better, both as far as aid is concerned, and also in relation to other sectors.’
“When asked why the relations might become better if a new prime minister would be elected in Japan, Mr. Koy Kuong said, ‘What is good will not change. Whichever candidate will make the relations to move ahead, because the whole world is cooperating towards globalization, and a party that takes power will surely always walk along this same track.’
“The spokesperson of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, Mr. Yim Sovann, expressed a contrasting opinion to the above view, saying, ‘Normally, if a country changes to a new prime minister, foreign politics will also change, because they are smart, and if the opposition party wins the elections, I believe that the aid requested to be provided to Cambodia will be severely restricted.’
“Mr. Yim Sovann added that Japan’s new government will not let the Royal Government of Cambodia do whatever it wants to do freely, relating to both corruption and to violations against democracy. They will not just stay calm and will carefully make their decisions before granting aid to Cambodia.
“According to information from Japan, Mr. Hatoyama, a co-founder and president of the opposition party, who expects to become the new Japanese prime minister, said that the government will focus on the requirements for the integration of economy and of politics with the East Asian countries, especially with the Beijing government, and also, he warned that Japan will likely also criticize America, a country which has been supporting Japan.
“According to a survey in Japan, if this opposition party president wins the elections, the whole Japanese government will turn to cooperate with Asian countries, especially with ASEAN countries, continuing to provide aid to those countries.
“It should be noted that so far, most of the aid that Cambodia has received [from one country] is from the Japanese government that is leading in helping to speed up the economy and to eradicate poverty in Cambodia, following the core policies of the Cambodian government.”
******************
Source: Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #275, 29.8.2009
Posted on The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 627 on 30 August 2009. Filed under: Week 627
Link: http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/will-cambodian-japanese-ties-change-if-japan-has-a-new-prime-minister-saturday-29-8-2009/
“Two different views have been expressed by official of the Royal Government of Cambodia and of the opposition party about the relations, both in diplomatic and in other terms, between Cambodia and Japan, if a new Japanese prime minister from the opposition party would take power after the general elections in Japan on 30 August 2009.
“An official of the Royal Government said that Cambodian and Japanese ties will not change and will become even better, whichever candidates from the ruling party or from the opposition becomes the new prime minister of Japan. An official of the opposition party of Cambodia, on the other side, thinks that the Cambodian-Japanese relations might change, if the president of the opposition party becomes the new prime minister, and he might restrict aid to Cambodia.
“On 30 August 2009, Japan will hold general elections, with two main candidates competing to become prime minister: first, the current prime minister, Mr. Aso Taro – 麻生太郎, Asō Tarō – and second, the president of the Japanese opposition Democratic Party, Mr. Hatoyama Yukio – 鳩山由紀夫. An opinion poll in Japan shows that an [opposition] majority seems to be able to take the position of the present prime minister, who will fall into the position of the president of the opposition party. Currently, Mr. Hatoyama is president of the opposition party, but the majority of Japanese people have lost faith in Prime Minister Aso Taro, who made the Japanese economy drop dramatically.
“The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. Koy Kuong, toldDeum Ampil by telephone on Friday, ‘I think that the Cambodian-Japanese ties will not change, regardless of which candidate will take power, and the relations of both countries’ will become better, both as far as aid is concerned, and also in relation to other sectors.’
“When asked why the relations might become better if a new prime minister would be elected in Japan, Mr. Koy Kuong said, ‘What is good will not change. Whichever candidate will make the relations to move ahead, because the whole world is cooperating towards globalization, and a party that takes power will surely always walk along this same track.’
“The spokesperson of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, Mr. Yim Sovann, expressed a contrasting opinion to the above view, saying, ‘Normally, if a country changes to a new prime minister, foreign politics will also change, because they are smart, and if the opposition party wins the elections, I believe that the aid requested to be provided to Cambodia will be severely restricted.’
“Mr. Yim Sovann added that Japan’s new government will not let the Royal Government of Cambodia do whatever it wants to do freely, relating to both corruption and to violations against democracy. They will not just stay calm and will carefully make their decisions before granting aid to Cambodia.
“According to information from Japan, Mr. Hatoyama, a co-founder and president of the opposition party, who expects to become the new Japanese prime minister, said that the government will focus on the requirements for the integration of economy and of politics with the East Asian countries, especially with the Beijing government, and also, he warned that Japan will likely also criticize America, a country which has been supporting Japan.
“According to a survey in Japan, if this opposition party president wins the elections, the whole Japanese government will turn to cooperate with Asian countries, especially with ASEAN countries, continuing to provide aid to those countries.
“It should be noted that so far, most of the aid that Cambodia has received [from one country] is from the Japanese government that is leading in helping to speed up the economy and to eradicate poverty in Cambodia, following the core policies of the Cambodian government.”
******************
Source: Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #275, 29.8.2009
Posted on The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 627 on 30 August 2009. Filed under: Week 627
Link: http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/will-cambodian-japanese-ties-change-if-japan-has-a-new-prime-minister-saturday-29-8-2009/
RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: Newest Evacuation ‘Biggest in Decades'
Written by Robert Carmichael
PHNOM PENH, Aug 28 (IPS) - Dozens of families this week started dismantling their homes and moving away from lakeside land in the centre of the capital after giving up on their lengthy struggle to remain. By the end of the eviction process at this site, around 30,000 people will have been moved off now-valuable land.
Human rights workers said it will be the biggest movement of Cambodians from their homes in decades.
Residents do not want to leave, but said they are being driven out by threats from the municipality. Some have not given up yet.
Sixty-seven-year-old Pol Vanna has lived at Village Four at the city centre site, called Boeung Kak, since the early 1980s. The former railwayman is adamantly opposed to moving to the relocation site û a field with no facilities some 30 kilometres away.
”We don't want to leave Boeung Kak,” he told IPS during a small demonstration outside City Hall earlier this month. ”The company should give us some land for us to live on instead of forcing us to move away. I don't understand why they can't give us the land.”
The company in question is Shukaku, which reportedly belongs to Senator Lau Meng Khin from the ruling Cambodian People's Party. His firm received a 99-year lease from the government last year in a typically opaque land deal. Since then, it has been pumping huge amounts of sand into the lake in order to fill it and create more land on which to build.
Evictions are nothing new in Cambodia. At least 100,000 people have been evicted from sites in this capital alone since 2001. The problem is widespread in rural areas, too. The rocketing price of land means there are huge profits to be made, says Naly Pilorge, the director of local human rights group LICADHO, or the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. She said greed and impunity are driving the problem.
The number of people affected nationwide is not clear. Amnesty International said last year that 150,000 were at risk of eviction. LICADHO, which operates in 13 of the country's 24 provinces, says the numbers of land grabs, evictions and threatened evictions reported to its staff have climbed from around 2,600 cases in 2003 to more than 16,000 in 2008.
Pilorge said that equates to more than a quarter of a million Cambodians in just six years. The true number is certainly higher, she added. ”I bet you anything if we had twice as many (staff), we would have twice as many cases.”
Uprooting people and relocating them to distant sites where there is no work and few facilities is hardly conducive to poverty alleviation even if that is a stated key concern of government. Pilorge said many evictees at relocation sites outside the capital have been pushed below the poverty line.
One such group of residents was violently evicted in January from a city centre site called Dey Krahorm, which means ‘Red Earth'. There were two broad categories of people at Dey Krahorm: Those who could show they had a legal right to their land because they had lived there for an extended period, and those who were renting.
The evictees from Dey Krahorm were taken to a site called Damnak Trayeung, located outside Phnom Penh. Those who had an entitlement to land at Dey Krahorm received a simple one-room brick home, the size and design of a single garage. Families who were renting received nothing, and are still living under rough tarpaulin lean-tos on a muddy scrap of land next to a road.
There is very little work at Damnak Trayeung. And because the site is more than 20 kilometres from the centre and it would cost a day's wages to travel to and from work, many people no longer have jobs. According to Licadho, two-thirds of the evictees who used to earn an income now earn nothing.
Luy Sinath is a 41-year-old seamstress who used to earn eight US dollars a day at Dey Krahorm. Now she earns just 25 cents. That means her three children cannot afford to go to school, and her family is no longer self-sufficient. She relies on food handouts from charities to survive.
”We have no food to eat sometimes so people share what we have with each other,” she said. ”When I was in Dey Krahorm, I was hopeful that my children would get a good education, but now that we are here, I have lost hope.”
It is those experiences that worry Pol Vanna and his son, Touris, a 26-year-old construction worker. The latter has visited the proposed relocation site for the evictees from Boeung Kak, which he said lacks any facilities.
”It is very far from the schools for our children and from where we work. Most of us are construction workers,” he said. ”It is a long way to the nearest hospital. We can't afford to pay for transportation for our children.”
LICADHO's Naly Pilorge said conditions at some relocation sites outside Phnom Penh are dire, with practically no health care, no schools, no running water, no sanitation, and no jobs. At the Andong relocation site, for example, the human rights group's doctors go door-to-door because some residents are too ill or old to come to the medics.
”We are seeing malnutrition, beriberi, discolouration of the hair, extended bellies,” she said. ”They have sores (on their legs) at Andong û these huge infected wounds û because they are constantly walking in stagnant water that is mixed with sewerage.”
Back at Boeung Kak, the air is heavy with the sound of hammering as people dismantle homes they have lived in for up to 30 years. They are the first of an estimated 30,000 who will eventually be evicted from the surrounds of the lake.
It is still too early to say how their lives will be affected by the country's latest dubious land deal. But the experiences of Luy Sinath and others suggest the lives of the people from Boeung Kak will likely get a lot harder in the coming months.
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Source: Australia.To News
Link: http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13959:rights-cambodia-newest-evacuation-biggest-in-decades&catid=116:breaking-news&Itemid=202
PHNOM PENH, Aug 28 (IPS) - Dozens of families this week started dismantling their homes and moving away from lakeside land in the centre of the capital after giving up on their lengthy struggle to remain. By the end of the eviction process at this site, around 30,000 people will have been moved off now-valuable land.
Human rights workers said it will be the biggest movement of Cambodians from their homes in decades.
Residents do not want to leave, but said they are being driven out by threats from the municipality. Some have not given up yet.
Sixty-seven-year-old Pol Vanna has lived at Village Four at the city centre site, called Boeung Kak, since the early 1980s. The former railwayman is adamantly opposed to moving to the relocation site û a field with no facilities some 30 kilometres away.
”We don't want to leave Boeung Kak,” he told IPS during a small demonstration outside City Hall earlier this month. ”The company should give us some land for us to live on instead of forcing us to move away. I don't understand why they can't give us the land.”
The company in question is Shukaku, which reportedly belongs to Senator Lau Meng Khin from the ruling Cambodian People's Party. His firm received a 99-year lease from the government last year in a typically opaque land deal. Since then, it has been pumping huge amounts of sand into the lake in order to fill it and create more land on which to build.
Evictions are nothing new in Cambodia. At least 100,000 people have been evicted from sites in this capital alone since 2001. The problem is widespread in rural areas, too. The rocketing price of land means there are huge profits to be made, says Naly Pilorge, the director of local human rights group LICADHO, or the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. She said greed and impunity are driving the problem.
The number of people affected nationwide is not clear. Amnesty International said last year that 150,000 were at risk of eviction. LICADHO, which operates in 13 of the country's 24 provinces, says the numbers of land grabs, evictions and threatened evictions reported to its staff have climbed from around 2,600 cases in 2003 to more than 16,000 in 2008.
Pilorge said that equates to more than a quarter of a million Cambodians in just six years. The true number is certainly higher, she added. ”I bet you anything if we had twice as many (staff), we would have twice as many cases.”
Uprooting people and relocating them to distant sites where there is no work and few facilities is hardly conducive to poverty alleviation even if that is a stated key concern of government. Pilorge said many evictees at relocation sites outside the capital have been pushed below the poverty line.
One such group of residents was violently evicted in January from a city centre site called Dey Krahorm, which means ‘Red Earth'. There were two broad categories of people at Dey Krahorm: Those who could show they had a legal right to their land because they had lived there for an extended period, and those who were renting.
The evictees from Dey Krahorm were taken to a site called Damnak Trayeung, located outside Phnom Penh. Those who had an entitlement to land at Dey Krahorm received a simple one-room brick home, the size and design of a single garage. Families who were renting received nothing, and are still living under rough tarpaulin lean-tos on a muddy scrap of land next to a road.
There is very little work at Damnak Trayeung. And because the site is more than 20 kilometres from the centre and it would cost a day's wages to travel to and from work, many people no longer have jobs. According to Licadho, two-thirds of the evictees who used to earn an income now earn nothing.
Luy Sinath is a 41-year-old seamstress who used to earn eight US dollars a day at Dey Krahorm. Now she earns just 25 cents. That means her three children cannot afford to go to school, and her family is no longer self-sufficient. She relies on food handouts from charities to survive.
”We have no food to eat sometimes so people share what we have with each other,” she said. ”When I was in Dey Krahorm, I was hopeful that my children would get a good education, but now that we are here, I have lost hope.”
It is those experiences that worry Pol Vanna and his son, Touris, a 26-year-old construction worker. The latter has visited the proposed relocation site for the evictees from Boeung Kak, which he said lacks any facilities.
”It is very far from the schools for our children and from where we work. Most of us are construction workers,” he said. ”It is a long way to the nearest hospital. We can't afford to pay for transportation for our children.”
LICADHO's Naly Pilorge said conditions at some relocation sites outside Phnom Penh are dire, with practically no health care, no schools, no running water, no sanitation, and no jobs. At the Andong relocation site, for example, the human rights group's doctors go door-to-door because some residents are too ill or old to come to the medics.
”We are seeing malnutrition, beriberi, discolouration of the hair, extended bellies,” she said. ”They have sores (on their legs) at Andong û these huge infected wounds û because they are constantly walking in stagnant water that is mixed with sewerage.”
Back at Boeung Kak, the air is heavy with the sound of hammering as people dismantle homes they have lived in for up to 30 years. They are the first of an estimated 30,000 who will eventually be evicted from the surrounds of the lake.
It is still too early to say how their lives will be affected by the country's latest dubious land deal. But the experiences of Luy Sinath and others suggest the lives of the people from Boeung Kak will likely get a lot harder in the coming months.
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Source: Australia.To News
Link: http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13959:rights-cambodia-newest-evacuation-biggest-in-decades&catid=116:breaking-news&Itemid=202
FAO to donate 12 mln euro to help Cambodia against drought
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-27 22:50:22
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will donate 12 million euro (about 17.16 million U.S. dollars) to Cambodia after the country was hit by drought, the FAO official said on Thursday.
"The budget will be signed with Cambodian partner on Sept. 2, but actually we have already helped in fighting against drought in the country," Seung Soy, program assistant for FAO told Xinhua by phone.
"The budget will focus more on helping the training, rice seeds, fertilizers, planting other agricultural crops for local farmers," he said, adding that the finance is from the European Union (EU).
"We also have concern on the food security after it is being hit with drought this year," he added.
Currently, eight provinces in Cambodia have been hit by drought and 40,000 hectares of rice seedlings have been affected by it.
"But Now, Cambodian government has taken actions to save rice seedlings from dry. We used water pumps to help farmers and we prepared seeds for local framers," Chan Tong Ev, secretary of state for Ministry of Agriculture told Xinhua. However, he said he could not comment about the budget, but waiting.
Editor: Yan
*******************
Source:
Article from China View: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/27/content_11955457.htm
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will donate 12 million euro (about 17.16 million U.S. dollars) to Cambodia after the country was hit by drought, the FAO official said on Thursday.
"The budget will be signed with Cambodian partner on Sept. 2, but actually we have already helped in fighting against drought in the country," Seung Soy, program assistant for FAO told Xinhua by phone.
"The budget will focus more on helping the training, rice seeds, fertilizers, planting other agricultural crops for local farmers," he said, adding that the finance is from the European Union (EU).
"We also have concern on the food security after it is being hit with drought this year," he added.
Currently, eight provinces in Cambodia have been hit by drought and 40,000 hectares of rice seedlings have been affected by it.
"But Now, Cambodian government has taken actions to save rice seedlings from dry. We used water pumps to help farmers and we prepared seeds for local framers," Chan Tong Ev, secretary of state for Ministry of Agriculture told Xinhua. However, he said he could not comment about the budget, but waiting.
Editor: Yan
*******************
Source:
Article from China View: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/27/content_11955457.htm
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