Swiss man charged with abuse in Cambodia

http://www.expatica.com/

31/08/2009

A Cambodian court on Friday charged Rudolph Knuchel, 62, with sexually abusing two boys.

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian court has charged a Swiss man with sexually abusing two minors, a government official said Sunday.

Police said Rudolph Knuchel, 62, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of the sexual abuse of two boys, aged 14 and 16, after bringing them to his home in Siem Reap province.

"The judge has charged him for child sex abuse," said Sun Bunthorng, the director of the government department that deals with human trafficking and protecting minors.

He said police also found evidence of child porn videos on Knuchel's computer.

The judge could not be contacted for comment Sunday.

Samleang Seila, director of the anti-paedophile group Action Pour Les Enfants, which helped in the arrest, told AFP that his team and police had been tracking the man's action since 2008.

Cambodia has struggled to end its reputation as a haven for paedophiles, putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to face trial in their home countries since 2003.

AFP / Expatica

Cambodia reduces troops, citing improved security

By SOPHENG CHEANG,Associated Press Writer
Monday, August 31

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Cambodia has reduced by half the number of troops patrolling a disputed 11th century temple along the Thai border, citing improved security and the need for soldiers to help farmers plant rice, a defense ministry spokesman said Monday.

Long-standing tensions over temple ownership reached a fever pitch in July 2008 when UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, approved Cambodia's bid to have Preah Vihear named a World Heritage Site. Thailand protested the move, claiming that it undermined its claim to a small amount of adjacent land.

Since then, there have been several gunbattles between Thai and Cambodian troops in the area and a number of soldiers from both sides have been killed or wounded. Both sides have refused to back away from their positions until now, with each saying it has the rightful claim to the land.

Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat said the troop pullout began Wednesday and was completed Sunday. Along with soldiers, the army has withdrawn tanks and other heavy equipment from the site around the temple.

"We have pulled out 50 percent of our forces from the disputed border near Thailand because we thought that the situation there was getting better from day to day," Chhum Socheat said, refusing to provide specific troop numbers because of security concerns.

"We also want to tell the Thai side that Cambodia wants to solve the border problem by peaceful means and wants the border be a peaceful place," he added.

There was no immediate comment from the Thai Foreign Ministry.

The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over the surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.

Cambodia and Thailand share a 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border, part of which has never been clearly demarcated because each country relies on different maps.

New school for Vietnamese pupils in Cambodia opened

http://english.vovnews.vn

08/31/2009

A new primary school for overseas Vietnamese children officially opened in Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh on August 30 to mark the 64th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day (September 2) and the August Revolution.

The Khmer-Vietnam Tan Tien school, a three-storey building with more than 10 classrooms, is located on an area of 1,200 sq. m in Mienchay district, Phnom Penh. The State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front Committee and several overseas Vietnamese benefactors will financed the school construction.

Addressing the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Ngo Anh Dung praised the efforts that the Vietnamese community in the country has made in the recent past.

The school will provide training to over 400 pupils in the capital city of Phnom Penh.

On the occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, the Fatherland Front Committees of Ho Chi Minh city and neighbouring provinces of Long An, Dong Nai and An Giang together with many sponsors, Vietnamese and foreign alike, donated millions of VND and presented 1,000 sets of textbooks, 4,000 notebooks, computers and music teaching instrument to the new school.

VOVNews/VNA

Situation grim at Tuol Sambo

Photo by: Rick Valenzuela
HIV patient Touch Sokhak, 45, speaks to reporters about the inadequate facilities of his families home at the Tuol Sambo relocation site on Friday.

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These families [at tuol sambo] are in dire need of basic assistance.
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The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 31 August 2009
Chhay Channyda and Robbie Corey-Boulet

THE lack of food at a controversial resettlement site that is home to more than 60 HIV-positive individuals is "potentially life-threatening", a new report has warned.

The joint field report from four HIV/AIDS NGOs was released Friday, the same day that the heads of the National Aids Authority (NAA) and UNAIDS Cambodia visited Dangkor district's Tuol Sambo village for the first time.

City Hall forcibly relocated 20 HIV-affected families to Tuol Sambo following their June eviction from the Borei Keila community in central Phnom Penh. About 20 more Borei Keila families were sent there in July.

Residents at Tuol Sambo have complained that their 3.5-metre-by-4.5-metre green metal sheds - which are smaller than those required for emergency refugee camps - become oppressively hot during the day. On Friday, a broken water pump had rendered a local well unusable, meaning that residents looking for drinking water needed to buy water jugs at 1,200 riels (US$0.29) each.

The lack of resources described in the joint field report was borne out by interviews. Touch Sokhak, 45, who is HIV-positive, said his family did not have enough food or drinking water, adding that the heat made it difficult to store his medicine.

"We face a lot of difficulties living here, but the main problem is that it is too hot," he said. "It makes my health get worse because I do not sleep enough."

Tak Dina, 30, described the discrimination she faced at the site, another concern raised in the report.

The former restaurant worker said her efforts to sell cold drinks in the village had been unsuccessful because no one would buy from her.

"Here we cannot sell," she said. "If I sell drinks, no one will come to buy because they are disgusted with HIV-positive people. Other villagers have an easy time recognising us because we are different from them, and because we live in these green houses."

Jason Barber, a monitoring consultant for the rights group Licadho, said conditions at the site had become "grimmer and grimmer" in recent weeks.

"I think the people are expecting to see some results from this visit, and I think they will judge the government and UN agencies on their actions rather than their words here," Barber said. "It's one thing to express concern. It's another thing to meaningfully provide some assistance."

Coordinating aid
Residents and NGO workers described a diffuse humanitarian assistance effort.

There are currently at least 11 NGOs providing various forms of assistance, from food to medical treatment to education, said Oum Vicheth, a home-care officer at the Centre of Hope, which has operated a weekly mobile clinic at the site.

Photo by: Sovan Philong
A man sleeps as his son plays within their home at the Tuol Sambo relocation site on Friday.

UNAIDS Country Director Tony Lisle said Sunday that the purpose of the visit was "to get an immediate overview of the current situation in respect of the community's needs", adding that he would meet this week with stakeholders and the NAA to discuss ways "to better coordinate the response".

While Lisle said the aid effort had been "reasonably well-coordinated" and that NGOs had been "exceptionally flexible", he noted that there was room for improvement.

"I think, again, we need to emphasise national leadership," Lisle said. "The NAA will lead on coordination."

NAA Secretary-General Teng Kunthy said Friday that his organisation had devised a plan to improve conditions at the site, though the specific efforts he mentioned hinged on NGOs.

"We have acknowledged that the shelters are hot and narrow, but Caritas will help improve their living," he said, referring to the Catholic charity Caritas Cambodia.

He also said Caritas would construct a pipe system that would bring water to the individual dwellings. Kim Rattana, executive director of Caritas, said the pipe system would be completed in mid-September.

Both Lisle and Christophe Peschoux, the Cambodia representative of the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed concern that NGOs were being forced to pick up the pieces of a poorly executed eviction, arguing that the municipality had not taken steps to properly set up the site before moving families there. City Hall could not be reached for comment over the weekend.

Peschoux said he believed NGOs risked inadvertently condoning future evictions by providing humanitarian assistance, though he said they did not have the luxury of retreating "behind nice principles" and refusing to help the evictees.

"In this case, humanitarian agencies are facing a dilemma," he said. "We are opposed to forced evictions by principle because they are inhumane and increase poverty and social distress.... At the same time, the eviction has taken place and these families are in dire need of basic assistance."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O'TOOLE

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TUOL SAMBO Timeline

JUNE 18, 2009 The government begins evicting residents of Borei Keila, with 20 HIV-affected families being moved from their homes in front of the new Ministry of Tourism building to Tuol Sambo.

JULY 23, 2009 Another 20 families from Borei Keila are relocated by the government to Tuol Sambo as residents complain that the relocation site lacks adequate housing and services.

JULY 27, 2009 More than 100 international HIV/AIDS and social justice organisations call on the government to "urgently address dangerous conditions in a de facto AIDS colony".

AUGUST 28, 2009 The heads of UNAIDS and the National AIDS Authority visit the Tuol Sambo relocation site to assess conditions and make recommendations for better coordination of services to residents.

World Bank in talks with Cambodia over evictions

Monday, August 31, 2009

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.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould)

Sand exports surge on Cambodia ban

Workers remove sand from the Mekong River. The surge in dredging in the Mekong Delta has caused landslides along the rivers and altered river flows. — VNA/VNS Photo Ngo Lich

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn
31-08-2009

HCM CITY — Export of sand mined from rivers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta to Singapore has reached unprecedented levels in recent months, causing landslides along the rivers and altering their flows.

In the first half it almost topped 7 million tonnes against 1.1 million tonnes in the whole of last year, according to an official from the local Department of Customs, who estimated the figure to cross 10 million tonnes this year.

The sharp increase was caused by a ban on sand export imposed by the Cambodian Government three months ago to ensure domestic supply and protect the environment.

Nguyen The Hung of the Can Tho Sand Exploitation Enterprise said the price of sand, which used to be VND15,000 to VND17,000 per cubic metre before the Cambodian ban, had gone up to VND40,000 now.

With high profits involved, authorities are finding it difficult to curb sand mining in the Tien and Hau Rivers, which has reached alarming levels.

Vu Duc Hung, a waterway police official in Can Tho, said the Hau had been overwhelmed by barges.

With sand around the rivers taken away, landslides have become a serious threat. Some of the smaller rivers also face the threat of having their flows altered.

Nguyen Minh Thong, deputy head of the Can Tho Department of Customs, said the Government’s Instruction No 29 issued last October temporarily curbed the sand export.

But contracts signed before November 30, 2008, continue to be implemented.

The instruction does not have a deadline for completing the contracts, he said, besides which many exporters illicitly change the dates on their contracts.

Thong called on the Government to regulate the sand exploitation and trading.

Nguyen Thanh Son, vice chairman of the Can Tho People’s Committee, agreed with him, saying there was a need to review the sand trade since it damages the environment. — VNS

Troops exit temple complex

Photo by: Tracey Shelton
Soldiers walk down the mountain near Preah Vihear temple last month. One brigade left the area this week following Hun Sen’s promise to reduce troop numbers around the disputed temple.

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 31 August 2009
Thet Sambath

Cambodia's Defence Ministry says government has halved deployed troops at Preah Vihear but warns that forces remain prepared for any future hostilities.

Troops stationed at the Preah Vihear temple complex near the Thai border completed their redeployment over the weekend, a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces commander told the Post on Sunday.

Srey Doek, commander of RCAF Division 3, said Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday met soldiers from Brigade 11 during their redeployment to their base in Kampot province.

"[Hun Sen] welcomed them as they travelled near Siem Reap and offered them each 50,000 riels [US$12], and the prime minister's wife offered them gifts of fruit," Srey Doek said.

Srey Doek said the money and fruit were given to nearly 1,000 RCAF soldiers as expressions of gratitude for their service at the front line, adding that troops from other brigades from Siem Reap as well as members of Hun Sen's personal bodyguard who were also redeployed over the weekend did not meet the prime minister.

Meanwhile, an official at the Defence Ministry said Sunday that forces at the border have now been halved.

"We have pulled out 50 percent of the troops from Preah Vihear temple," said ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat.

"This shows that the situation at the border is really getting better, and that both countries have a mutual understanding of peace," he added.

Hun Sen declared last week that the 13-month standoff with Thailand over the disputed Preah Vihear temple complex, which claimed more than seven lives and left hundreds homeless, had effectively ended following a bilateral withdrawal of troops announced during a meeting on August 24 between the head of RCAF, General Pol Saroeun, and his Thai counterpart, General Songkitti Jaggabatra of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.

Troops still on guard
Despite a thaw in relations, Cambodian military officials last week were quick to point out that troops would still be necessary to guard the integrity of the border and the sovereignty of the nation.

Defence Minister Tea Banh said some troops would remain at the border.

"We do not need too many soldiers there now. We are currently adjusting the numbers to achieve the right balance for the situation," Tea Banh said last week.

Chea Dara, RCAF deputy commander in chief, echoed this sentiment Sunday, saying the border's security remained a vital concern and downplaying the impact of the withdrawal on Cambodia's ability to secure its border with Thailand.

"It is not a problem for our soldiers to defend the nation, even as their numbers have been reduced by the withdrawal," he said Sunday. "We have kept enough of our troops in place."

He said if Thailand "shows a softer manner" Cambodia could cut troop numbers further. "However, if anything happened, our troop mobility would be very swift."

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 Preah Vihear temple for decades.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP