Compiled by Farib Sos
Greater Mekong region projects 'hit by woes'
THE economic crisis has adversely affected Greater Mekong development
projects since struggling Asean countries -- especially Thailand --
are the most active business partners of those involved, participants
at a seminar on the Development of the Greater Mekong Sub-region at
the United Nations building said yesterday.
They also commented that the after-effects of the crisis threaten to
impede much of the progress that has been made in improving economic
cooperation among the six Greater Mekong countries, consisting of
Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and the southern part of
China.
The Mekong River is considered the bloodline of the inhabitants in the
Indochinese countries since the vast waters of the Mekong basin can be
used for the benefit of the people such as being the source of
farming, energy, irrigation and communication. Due to political
instability in the 1970s and 1980s, the economic potential of the GMS
region has only recently been recognised.
Unfortunately, the Asian economic crisis, which erupted after the baht
devaluation in July 1997, has threatened the process of development.
Peter G Warr of the Australian National University said that the
recovery of the Thai economy is crucial in determining future
cooperation. ''Thailand is the dominant economy in the region,'' he
said
Thailand's per capita income is roughly 10 times that of the other
five countries which are heavily dependent on Thailand, both in terms
of trade and investment.
Warr said that the Thai economic slump was ''bad news'' for countries
in the Mekong area. The investment and demand for imports from
Thailand fell dramatically. Moreover, the financial sector hurt
business activities in Laos and Cambodia since Thai banks have been
the main source of financial liquidity for businesses in the two
countries for many years.
Dao Tuan Dung, manager, Asean Department, Vietnam Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, agreed with Warr's view. He said Asean accounted for 70 per cent of the total investment in Vietnam and 60 per cent of Vietnam's total trade. The Asian crisis already resulted in a sharp
decline in Vietnam's exports, the growth of which plunged to slightly
more than 2 per cent in 1998 against more than 20 per cent in the
previous year.
Vietnam is also facing problems from falling prices of export products
such as crude oil and rubber as well as less foreign direct
investment.
''The devaluation of the baht shocked many organisations in this
region. We find it hard to comprehend,'' said Indrajit Ghosh, managing
director, JF Trading Inc, which has vested interests in Thailand,
Vietnam and India. He noted that the ''basic potential [of the region]
has not diminished, but it's true that this crisis makes the other
regions more attractive in the short-term''.
Dr George Abonyi, senior adviser, Asian Development Bank, said that
the crisis may disrupt the process of regional cooperation since the
participating governments may find it harder to finance the projects
due to budgetary constraints.
Private sector called on to join Mekong development
.c Kyodo News Service
BANGKOK, April 7 (Kyodo) -- A senior Japanese official called Wednesday for private sector participation in infrastructure projects intended to
stimulate growth around the Mekong River basin.
''Without private sector participation, the infrastructure projects cannot
realize real sustainable development in the region,''
Japanese State Foreign Secretary Keizo Takemi said.
Takemi, the No. 2 man at the Foreign Ministry, was speaking at a symposium
on Mekong River development that is hoped to foster ''reciprocal and
efficient communication'' between the private and public sectors for Mekong
River basin development projects.
Takemi represents the Japanese government, a major contributor to the
infrastructure development projects in the Mekong River basin, at the
two-day symposium.
Japan has expressed its intention to grant 8 billion yen in loans for a
second bridge to span the Mekong River and link the Thai northeastern
province of Mukdahan and the Laotian Savannakhet province and is offering
a significant amount of grant aid for the improvement of a road project in Laos.
The project, called the ''East-West Corridor,'' will facilitate
transportation among Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, and will provide for
''creativity of business transactions for the private sector,'' Takemi said.
While the project is purely a public investment from Japan with no private
sector participation, Takemi told a press conference, ''We will carefully
consult with private sector partners to create a long-term perspective.''
The Greater Mekong Subregion is a cooperative forum aimed at developing
infrastructure in six countries that surround the Mekong River basin --
Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Due to the Asian economic crisis, the six countries shifted cooperation
efforts from capital intensive projects development to low-cost initiatives.
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan told the opening of the symposium ''We
cannot remain idle and wait for the transfer of technology forever...the
Mekong countries can do their own home-grown technology.''
The region needs to balance the opening of its economy and the process of
the development to improve human capability to redress the existing crisis,
he said.
[Top of page]
Washington, April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Cambodia's economy didn't grow in 1998,
while inflation rose 13 percent, the International Monetary Fund estimated
in a review of the country's economy.
Cambodia needs to shift spending from defense and security toward health
and education, as well as freeze central bank credit to the government in
order to accelerate economic growth, the IMF's board of directors report
said. Spending on civilian projects and infrastructure was an estimated 3.5
percent of gross domestic product, the IMF said.
IMF directors ``expressed disappointment that in 1998, economic growth was
halted, the riel depreciated, inflation increased considerably and there
was little tangible progress in addressing key structural reforms.''
The IMF said the formation of a new government in November boosted public
confidence and gave the Cambodian economy a ``unique opportunity to
accelerate'' quickly enough to give the government a chance to address key
problems.
Cambodia needs to take decisive action against corruption and illegal
logging in its forests, the IMF said. It also needs to improve fiscal
management by introducing a value-added tax and prohibit ad hoc exemptions
on import duties and taxes, the organization said.
Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with annual per
capita income of $280, according to the World Bank. Cambodia's GDP expanded
at an average annual rate of six percent between 1991 and 1995 while
inflation, which averaged about 140 percent in 1990-1992, was reduced to
3.5 percent in 1995, the World Bank said.
IMF urges Cambodia to crack down on corruption
WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday
urged Cambodia to meet its promises to crack down on corruption and said
success on new reform efforts could form the basis for new IMF loans.
But the report, issued after the IMF's annual review of the Cambodian
economy, used uncharacteristically strong language to describe Cambodia's
1998 economic performance.
"Directors expressed disappointment that in 1998 economic growth halted,
the riel (currency) depreciated, inflation increased considerably and there
was little tangible progress in addressing key structural reforms," it said.
"Of particular concern was the continued poor fiscal performance,
characterized by ad hoc tax exemptions, overspending on the military budget
and sizeable central bank financing of the government."
Cambodia has long been one of the IMF's problem member states, and the fund
halted lending there two years ago because of concern about poor
governance, the word used by the IMF and the World Bank to talk about
official corruption.
Donors were particularly worried about illegal logging and a recent World
Bank report said Cambodia's forests would disappear in five years if
logging continued at the unsustainable rate of 1997.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, appointed in November 1998, has promised a
crackdown on the illegal activities, and has said he will cut military
spending and reform the tax system.
The IMF said on Tuesday that "meaningful reforms" could help form the basis
for new lending and for the mobilization of support from the international
donor community.
"Directors welcomed the authorities' recently announced commitment to break
away from the past record of poor governance and weak economic policies and
performance," the IMF said. "They expressed the hope that the meaningful
reform measures that have already been announced will be implemented
consistently, fully and in a sustained manner."
The IMF welcomed the recent introduction of a value added tax (sales tax)
and urged the government to ensure it was fully collected. Reforms were
needed in the civil service, the banking sector and in the collection and
publication of statistics, it said.
South China Morning Post, April 7, 1999
Officials out to cash in on investor exodus
By Joe Cochrane
Phnom Penh -- Strife-torn Cambodia is hoping to cash in on a growing
exodus from Vietnam of disillusioned foreign investors, according to
officials.
David Carrad, an American investment adviser in Phnom Penh, said more
businesses were pulling out of Vietnam because of the Government's
inconsistency and alleged unfair practices.
"I think it's not just a little blip, it's a trend because people are
disillusioned about Vietnam," he said. "It's inconsistent. It's saying
you can do something, and then six months later, having the Government
take away your permit."
Cambodia, despite its liberal investment policies, has had its own
problems attracting investors because of inherent political instability,
inadequate infrastructure and a small and untrained labour force.
However, the recent formation of a coalition Government and the collapse
of the Khmer Rouge guerilla movement have given Phnom Penh reason for
cautious optimism.
Sok Chenda, secretary-general of the government-run Council for the
Development of Cambodia, said potential investors on fact-finding
missions said the investment scene seemed "much more simple, much
easier".
Recent potential investors included companies from Korea, China and
Malaysia.
Investment in Cambodia plummeted after the 1997 coup, but is
re-approaching its previous levels, with garment factories continuing to
dominate.
Mr Carrad said Vietnam would lose a variety of investments such as
telecommunications projects and beer and cigarette factories, which
could move to Cambodia.
"Vietnam has to decide whether they want to be a free-market economy or
chase socialism," he said.
Donor nations recently pledged US$470 million in aid to Cambodia, nearly
all of which is earmarked for infrastructure projects.
Mr Sok Chenda conceded that foreign aid would eventually subside, but
said the latest aid package should give investors even more reason to
consider Cambodia for specific investments such as agriculture and
textiles.
"It's not ideal, it's not yet paradise," he said, "but compared to
before, it's much better."
Reuters, April 7, 1999
[Top of page]
PHNOM PENH, April 7 (Reuters) - Cambodia and Thailand plan to reopen a
rail link between their two countries to boost trade as Cambodia seeks
to develop its economy after decades of war.
The line, which had been abandoned since the early 1970s due to war,
would link the northwest Cambodian town of Sisophon and the Thai border
town of Aranyaprathet, a Cambodian railway official said on Wednesday.
Reconstruction of the 48-km (30-mile) stretch of track would relieve
pressure on Cambodia's network of poor roads, said Pech Kimsreng,
director of the Royal Cambodian Railway.
''Our Thai partners want to improve the railway link from the Thai
border to Cambodia for the development of trade between the two
countries,'' Pech Kimsreng told Reuters.
''We welcome the move. We import a lot of goods from Thailand. We want
to use the railway instead of our damaged roads. We think transport by
rail road is better than by road,'' he said.
A six-km (four mile) stretch of track from Aranyaprathet to the
Cambodian border town of Poipet will also need renovations under the
plan, Pech Kimsreng said.
Pech Kimsreng said Thai and Cambodian teams were due to meet later this
month to work out details of the plan. He declined to estimate how much
the work would cost or when the reconstruction would begin and how long
it would take.
Cambodia's rickety rail system is comprised of two single-track main
lines of metre gauge which carry passenger and freight traffic from the
capital Phnom Penh to Sisophon in the northwest and the port of
Sihanoukville in the south.
Some stretches of rail were first laid in the 1920s. The system has seen
little investment over recent years and suffers from decades of war and
neglect.
The last Khmer Rouge guerrillas still fighting the government
surrendered late last year bringing peace to the entire country for the
first time since the late 1960s.
The Nation
Bangkok
Tuesday, April 6, 1999
EDITORIAL
CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen thought he had the last laugh when he
opted to put Ta Mok, the last of the notorious Khmer Rouge leaders, on
trial last month. The trial, he insisted, must be held in Cambodia and
under its laws.
Now, there are two additional complications for Hun Sen. Firstly, it
is likely that future assistance to Cambodia could be linked to the
conduct of the Khmer Rouge trial. Mitch McConnell, chairman of the US
Senate's Foreign Operation Appropriations Sub-committee, said he
supports the link of Congressional aid to the action of Hun Sen's
government, or the lack of it, regarding the Khmer Rouge.
If the ongoing trial does not meet the standards the international
community has demanded, there are chances that future aid, and this
will not be limited to just Washington's, will be provided based on
the conduct of the trial. Recently, the Tokyo conference on aid to
Cambodia has pledged well over US$400 million to help the war-torn
country. This amount is not sufficient for the much-needed improvement
in economic and social conditions.
It is expected that additional funding will be hard to come by if the
trial becomes a political sideshow. If this is so, Japan, which is
normally very generous in giving aid, would be reluctant to pledge
more.
Secondly, a lawsuit was filed in France recently for the extradition
of four former Khmer Rouge leaders for their genocidal crimes
including torture and murder. The lawsuit was filed by two French
citizens of Cambodian origin demanding Ta Mok, Khieu Samphan, Nuon
Chea and Ieng Sary be extradited for trial in Paris. There is a very
good chance that prosecutors in Paris will decide to proceed with the
case.
The Cambodian government has threatened to link the Khmer Rouge trial
with those countries which had once supported the guerrillas including
the United States, Thailand and others, if the trial is to be
internationalised. But such a strategy will open another Pandora's
Box: Many of the current cabinet ministers including Hun Sen, Chea
Sim, Hor Namhong and Sar Kherng, among others, are former Khmer Rouge
leaders.
To give the trial a better image, Ta Mok has been offered a lawyer to
defend him in court. The lawyer, Chiv Songhak, whose family suffered
greatly under the hands of the Khmer Rouge, had promised to vigorously
defend Ta Mok. However, his appointment was rejected by Ta Mok because
the lawyer was ''too young and inexperienced''. It remain to be seen
how the court drama will unfold.
Recently, Hun Sen wrote a letter to all the Asean leaders trying to
clarify his comments and position on the trial. He pledged that he
would welcome foreign advisers to improve the standard of the
Cambodian court in its handling of the Khmer Rouge trials. He added
that if the court decided that other Khmer Rouge leaders, in addition
to Ta Mok, should stand trial, he would support that. The United
Nations says there are 20-30 former Khmer Rouge leaders at the very
least who should be prosecuted.
Cambodia will be officially admitted into Asean in mid-May in an
official ceremony in Hanoi. Its Asean colleagues are watching closely
the attitude of Phnom Penh because the trial could also damage
relations between Cambodia and the other Asean members. Asean was
among the key supporters of the Khmer Rouge during the 1979-1992 war
against the Vietnamese troops occupying Cambodia. And Hun Sen has made
snide remarks over Thailand's role in the Khmer Rouge drama.
The outcome of the Khmer Rouge trial will have far-reaching
consequences for Cambodia's future. Hun Sen could help alleviate his
country's position if the trial is perceived as effective and of
international standards. Otherwise, it will be nothing but wasted
effort and time.
[Top of page]
by JOE COCHRANE in Phnom Penh.
The South China Morning Post. 31.03.99
The genocidal Khmer Rouge movement may have collapsed, but Cambodia's armed forces face another deadly enemy - AIDS.
Between 12 and 17 per cent of armed forces personnel are believed to be
infected with HIV, which causes AIDS, making them the second-highest risk
group after sex workers. High-ranking officers and foot soldiers alike are
contracting the virus, which health officials say is spreading because of
inadequate preventative measures and education.
Cambodia's HIV and Aids problem has joined Thailand and Burma's as among the worst in Asia. Most soldiers contracted the disease through unprotected sex with prostitutes, health officials said.
"The numbers in the military will increase step by step," said Dr Om
Khantey, head of the intensive care unit at the Preah Ket Mealea military
hospital in Phnom Penh. "The HIV-Aids problem is like the enemy of the
people. There's no Khmer Rouge, but now we have the HIV."
In 1995, the military hospital had only two HIV or Aids patients, but last
year it treated 191, she said. The armed forces have 140,000 military
personnel and there are 55,000 national police.
Dr Om said the number of armed forces victims would continue to increase.
"First, it's the low education among the military," she said. "Second, they
don't believe they can get it because they think they are strong. Sometimes
they get drunk, go to the brothels and forget to use condoms."
Armed forces personnel are also among the leading transmitters of HIV. The
hospital is currently treating a soldier from the army's First Division, as
well as his wife, Neang Sak, 36, who learned only this week that she was
HIV-positive.
"I was told about the disease and I know what it is," said Ms Neang Sak,
who added that she was hopeful doctors could treat her and her husband.
Un Baur, a soldier at the hospital, lost his right leg last year to a
landmine, and learned recently that he had contracted HIV. "I've never
heard about the virus before," he said. "I've spent most of the last three
years fighting in the jungle. I've only gone into the towns a few times."
Asiaweek
April 9, 1999
Khmer Rouge leaders should be tried - but how? Hun Sen has reason to
be wary of the U.N. During the 1980s, after Vietnamese troops pushed
Pol Pot back into the jungle, Cambodia's seat at the world body
remained occupied by the Khmer Rouge, the main military muscle in a
coalition fighting to topple Hun Sen's then Hanoi-backed government.
Not one person linked with the 1975-79 Cambodian genocide was ever
interdicted by the international community. So when U.N. experts now
recommend that surviving guerrilla chiefs be tried by a foreign
tribunal in a neighboring country, Hun Sen's antagonism is
understandable. More so since the plan is unworkable. China - which
backed the Khmer Rouge for years - has made it clear it will block any
such tribunal.
Hun Sen says the trial must be held in a Cambodian court. He wants
foreign help but insists no outside judges or prosecutors can be
allowed, rejecting a U.N. compromise offer to set up a tribunal of
"international character" within the country. In turn, the body warned
that the world community would "wash its hands" of Cambodia unless a
court of the highest standards can be formed. There is justified
concern that Hun Sen might simply produce a farce involving a few
scapegoats such as Ta Mok. The Khmer Rouge killed all but a half-dozen
of Cambodia's lawyers in the 1970s, and the judiciary has never
recovered. Trials of Hun Sen rivals like former first prime minister
Norodom Ranariddh have proven politically motivated and utterly disreputable. Justice remains an alien concept in Cambodia - where a
culture of impunity and violence still reigns.
Yet that is precisely why the Khmer Rouge must be tried in Phnom Penh.
There can be little progress in Cambodia if Cambodians are not allowed
a big hand in putting their own house in order. It is patronizing to
suggest that the nation cannot find even a handful of citizens with
the caliber, intellect, neutrality and sense of justice to undertake
this mission. At the same time, Hun Sen must put aside his paranoia
and honestly address foreign concerns. A special tribunal should be
set up under Cambodian sovereignty, but apart from the flawed court
system. If neutral foreign powers can be convinced the process will be
serious and honorable, they will contribute distinguished jurors,
counsel and funds to help the Cambodians conduct a credible trial.
The Khmer Rouge leaders must not be lynched in a substandard court,
nor should they be tried in an antiseptic setting far from the site of
their actions. It is vital that their crimes are properly scrutinized
and understood if lessons are genuinely to be learned. That is as true
for Cambodians who participated and suffered in the killing fields, as
it is for the international community that for so long turned a blind
eye.
[Top of page]
BY CHRIS FONTAINE
.c The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Thousands of hand-scrawled confessions
extracted under horrific torture rot in the tropical heat. The chilling mug
shots of prisoners about to be executed fade away.
The Khmer Rouge torture center of Tuol Sleng -- like Nazi Germany's
concentration camps, a testimony to the horrors mankind inflicts on itself
-- slowly crumbles through poverty and neglect.
But curators of what is now a museum are determined to preserve the memory of horrors perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge so that the darkest chapter of Cambodian history can never repeat itself.
Their task has recently taken on a new urgency: The documents at Tuol Sleng could be used as hard evidence by prosecutors building cases of genocide and other crimes against Khmer Rouge leaders.
To reverse the decay of the museum and its archive, curator Chey Sopheara
and genocide researcher Youk Chhang -- both survivors of Cambodia's
``killing fields'' -- have teamed up to launch a fund-raising campaign for
a major renovation.
``We want to preserve this place as a historical site, but we don't have
the ability to carry out major renovation by ourselves,'' Chey Sopheara
says.
Renovation is a matter of outside support: The cash-strapped Cambodian
government can pay only the salaries of the museum's small staff, and
besides visitor fees, there is no other income.
``This is about crimes against humanity so international organizations must
pay attention to this,'' Chey Sopheara says. ``The history is a mirror that
reflects what happened. By providing a clear reflection, we can prevent
tragedy from happening again.''
United Nations officials pushing for an international Khmer Rouge tribunal
to try the Khmer Rouge leaders have recognized the need for an accurate
accounting of the genocide and the role a proper museum would play in
ensuring that future Cambodian generations know exactly what transpired in
their country.
``There is a need to protect the memory. There should be a genuine museum
in Cambodia about this,'' U.N. human rights envoy Thomas Hammarberg said
during a recent visit.
A proper archive room must first be built, the historians say, to replace
the dark room without air-conditioning where the confessions and photo
negatives are currently stored.
The confessions, written by the slain inmates, reveal the paranoia that led
to the deaths of as many as 2 million Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge
reign in the 1970s.
Autobiographies praise the purity of the Cambodian communist revolution and
tell of foreign plots against the Khmer Rouge that are a mixture of truth
and fantasy extracted from the inmates under barbaric torture.
Each ends with a list of fellow subversives -- names that appear on prison
rolls as the next wave of prisoners exterminated in an expanding cycle of
mass murder.
A popular tourist attraction, the former high school's walls are crumbling,
and gaping holes in its ceilings let slivers of dusty sunlight cut through
classrooms that were converted into jail cells after the Khmer Rouge seized
power in April 1975.
``The records are more than 20 years old already. They will keep
deteriorating if we continue to store them in a manner that does not comply
with scientific standards,'' Chey Sopheara says.
Squatters who have encroached onto Tuol Sleng's grounds must be evicted;
their wooden shacks cover the foundations of the prison kitchen and a mass
grave containing remains of hundreds of the estimated 20,000 inmates whose
lives ended at the prison.
Museum brochures written by Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation
Center of Cambodia, have been approved by the Cambodian Culture Ministry.
And if support comes in from the outside, Youk Chhang hopes to move the
center, the largest archive of Khmer Rouge documents, from a rented Phnom
Penh villa to the museum grounds.
``If this dream comes true, I think all the papers dealing with the Khmer
Rouge should be kept in one place,'' says Youk Chhang.
Chey Sopheara adds wistfully: ``But now that goal is only a dream because
we don't have enough money.''
[Top of page]
Government spokesman Pen Thol said
the increase would boost the
public-sector wages bill by 42
billion riel a year ($10.5 million)
and was made possible by an increase
in government revenues.
Public-sector employees include
about 148,000 military personnel,
65,000 police and about 183,000
civil servants.
A mid-level civil servant earns less
than $20 a month. Many public-sector
workers remain on the payroll of
government departments but work
full-time in the private sector.
($1-3,800 riel)
[Top of page]
PHNOM PENH, April 1 (Reuters) - Cambodia on Thursday joined five other
regional countries in a project aimed at stamping out cross-border
trafficking in women and children.
The three-year U.N.-funded project, which starts this year, brings Cambodia
together with Thailand, Laos, China, Vietnam and Myanmar.
It aims to boost dialogue on the issue, support anti-trafficking community
projects, and to step up enforcement measures.
``Trafficking of women and children has became an increasingly complex
reality,'' project coordinator Paul Mathews of the United Nations
Development Programme said at a signing ceremony marking Cambodia's entry
to the scheme.
He said trafficking encompassed the abuse and exploitation of women and
children in brothels, factories, private houses on construction sites and
as beggars.
Cambodia's Minister of Women's Affairs Mu Sochua said Cambodia had become a
transit point for the trafficking of women and children and the number who
had been caught up in such rackets in the country now totalled more than
300,000.
``There are some cases in which local authorities get involved -- police
and soldiers get involved,'' she said. ``We want to ensure our women and
children do not become victims of trafficking.''
The project will have a total budget of $2.3 million from the United
Nations Foundation established to administer media mogul Ted Turner's $1
billion gift to the United Nations.
[Top of page]
.c Kyodo News Service
PHNOM PENH, April 1 (Kyodo) -- The United Nations Foundation offered 2.3
million dollars Thursday to combat trafficking in women and children in the
Mekong subregion in Southeast Asia.
A signing ceremony for the project was held in Phnom Penh the same day by
Paul Matthews, resident representative in Phnom Penh of the U.N.
Development Program, and Mu Sochua, Cambodian minister of women and
veterans affairs.
The six countries in the Mekong River region -- Cambodia, China, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam -- that are signatories to a U.N. convention
on the elimination of discrimination against women and a convention on the
rights of children will all join the program.
Matthews said the project aims to develop new methods to fight abuses of
women and children and to reinforce existing programs among all countries
in the area.
It will also work to support community programs to prevent trafficking in
women and children and to reintegrate into the community those rescued from
the sex trade and other business that take advantage of women and the young.
The U.N. also wants to foster greater cooperation among the six countries
in enforcing laws and policies against those who abuse women and children.
''We all are aware of the rapid and varying economic and political
developments as well as social transformations that have taken place during
the last decade in countries of the Mekong...in this context, trafficking
of women and children has become an increasingly complex reality,'' he said.
Mu Sochua told reporters about 300,000 women and children in the region
have been forced into virtual slavery, at least 10,000 Cambodians among them.
She added the trafficking results in abusive and exploitative conditions in
a variety of situations, including forced work at factories, brothels,
private houses and constructions sites and forcing women and children to
beg on the streets.
South China Morning Post, April 1, 1999
[Top of page]
Phnom Penh (AFP) -- Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday closed Cambodia's
first conference on Aids with a promise of tighter government control
over the enormous sex industry.
"Every year in Cambodia $22 million goes to the oldest career in the
world," he said. "But if we cannot close prostitution, we will find a
way to control it."
Possible measures could include "finding a proper place" for brothels.
More than 60 per cent of Cambodian males visit brothels regularly,
surveys show. The habit, combined with poor education, has left the
country one of the worst hit by Aids in Asia, with more than 180,000
people feared infected by HIV.
Compiler: Farib Sos, Asia Pacific Institute of New Zealand, PO Box 2152,
Wellington New Zealand
BY JEERAWAT NA THALANG
Cambodia's Economy Shows No Growth in 1998; Inflation Rose 13%
Cambodia, Thailand aim to reopen rail link
[Top of page]
Ta Mok's trial must meet global standards
Troops face unseen enemy as HIV sweeps through ranks
Editorial
ROUGH JUSTICE
Cambodians must try Khmer Rouge chiefs - but with foreign help
WHEN POL POT DIED a year ago in the Cambodian jungle, many lamented
that the Khmer Rouge supremo never faced a full judicial reckoning for
all the deaths that took place under his rule. Then in December, Nuon
Chea and Khieu Samphan, the rebel movement's most senior living
leaders, capitulated to Phnom Penh authorities. That they were not
arrested, but allowed to go quietly after mumbling vague apologies,
sparked widespread anger. The recent capture of Ta Mok, Pol Pot's
bloodiest general, has prompted fresh outrage. Reason: Prime Minister
Hun Sen wants to try him at home, rather than hand him over to an
international tribunal sponsored by the United Nations.
'Killing Fields' Museum Needs Funds
Cambodia to boost civil servant wages by 30 pct
03:01 a.m. Apr 02, 1999 Eastern
PHNOM PENH, April 2 (Reuters)
The Cambodian government said on Friday
salaries of its 395,000
public-sector employees would be
increased 30 percent from May.
Cambodia joins regional anti-trafficking drive
U.N. gives funds to fight trafficking in women, children
Sex trade controls
The Cambodia Report is compiled by Asia Pacific Research Institute .
Unless otherwise noted, information is extracted from media reports.
Materials included in the Report do not necessarily reflect policies or
opinions of the Board of Trustees or its members.
Mobile phone: 021 660 947; e-mail: farib.sos@apri.ac.nz
Tel: +64 4 934 5133; fax: +64 4 934 5134
Cambodia Report URL: http://www.apri.ac.nz/camnews