Policing, Free Expression Raised at Donor Meeting
September 27th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Disputed Land, Foreign Aid, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
Amid a recent spike in police violence against land protesters, Cambodia’s foreign donors yesterday together called on the government for “responsible policing” and expressed “concern” over the trend.
The relative candor from aid donors toward the end of the high-level but long-delayed meeting with top government officials in Phnom Penh yesterday, where the government officially approved a revised list or reform targets, or Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMIs), pushed by the donors. …
Ahead of yesterday’s meeting, several international human rights groups urged Cambodia’s donors to make their aid more conditional on the government’s progress toward the reform targets and its respect of human rights.
Though none of the donors present yesterday made official aid pledges, many are already locked in to multi-year plans. …
Zsombor Peter and Phorn Bopha, P. 1
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
ELCs on mind at donor meet
September 27th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Foreign Aid, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions, Technical Assistance
While protesters demonstrated outside, urging land and human-rights reform, members of the donor community met with the government yesterday at the Council for the Development of Cambodia in Phnom Penh to sign off on a series of development targets that bore only a faint resemblance to those recommended by civil society. …
Local and international NGOs have been urging foreign nations to withhold aid unless strict human-rights reforms are made by the government, but donors neither pledged nor suspended funds yesterday. …
While participants endorsed 20 “joint monitoring indicators” ranging from health to aid effectiveness to education, land and the attendant rights issues have been chief on many observers’ minds.
While the government seemed less than keen to touch on the issue of ELCs, Minister of Land Management Im Chhun Lim presented the most comprehensive explanation yet of the premier’s massive land titling initiative currently under way. …
World Bank urges government to accelerate reforms
September 26th, 2012, The Cambodia Herald, Economics, Technical Assistance
The World Bank urged the Cambodian government Wednesday to accelerate reforms while taking a participatory approach to its National Strategic Development Plan.
Speaking at a meeting of the Development Partner Coordination Committee, World Bank Country Director Annette Dixon congratulated the government on its current development plan from 2009 to 2013. …
The Cambodian Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=N2UxZWMzOTI4YmIwMjQ2YWFlOTI5MDNiM2Q5NWY3
Social Work to shape Kingdom
September 26th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, International Relations, Labor, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
Social work, long-established in developed countries but unheard-of in Cambodia, could be set to change the face of child protection in the country as interest in the field grows.
Last week, a hundred potential social workers from around the country came to Phnom Penh for an introduction to a degree in social work, as the career is becoming recognised by academics as “an important tool to cope with social problems” in the country. …
The course, created by RUPP and the Social Welfare Centre at Ewha Womans University, the world’s largest female educational institute, is a memorandum between the two countries to improve social work in Cambodia and the capacity of women to take a leading role. …
Pann Rethea, P. 17
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092558885/Lifestyle/social-work-to-change-cambodia.html
Training needed for tourist industry
September 26th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Foreign Aid, Industry, Labor, News Source, Technical Assistance, Tourism
Representatives of Cambodia’s booming tourism industry yesterday called on the Asian Development Bank to provide funding for workforce training in the sector.
During the meeting at the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, tour operator Ho Vandy, who also co-chairs the Tourism Working Group in the Government-Private Sector Forum, said representatives of various tourism-related associations had asked the ADB for help in technical and vocational education and training.
He said that by 2015, all ASEAN countries would be part of one community, which would cause increased competition, and human resources were the main factor in addressing this competition. …
Rann Reuy, P. 7
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092658915/Business/training-needed-for-tourist-industry.html
UN Envoy Paints Bleak Picture of Economic Land Concessions
September 26th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Economics, Forests, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Protected Areas, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
Economic land concessions (ELCs) benefit only a minority, the human rights consequences of the concessions are stark, and Cambodia’s sustainable economic development is threatened by the practice. U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi told the Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday. …
Mr. Subedi cited uneven access to information as being central to the proliferation of land conflicts, and he said that only a minority received any benefit from such concessions. …
The U.N. envoy also warned that institutional opacity and a lack of community consultation with regard to the granting of ELCs could hamper economic development. …
[Council of Ministers spokesman] Mr. Siphan said that as a sovereign state, the Cambodian government’s granting of land concessions was part of a “policy of sustainable development.”
“People enjoy concessions,” Mr. Siphan said. …
Lauren Crothers, P. 18
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Government Hopes for Chevron Offshore Oil Deal This Year
September 26th, 2012, The Wall Street Journal, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Foreign Investment, International Relations, Natural Gas, News Source, Oil, Production, Technical Assistance
The Cambodian government expects U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. CVX +0.77% to begin developing the country’s first offshore oil field early next year, and hopes the nation will become a regional hot spot for oil and gas investment, a government official said Wednesday.
Cambodia has vast untapped oil and gas resources both on land and offshore, but development has been slow as the country has emerged from the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge and decades of war.
Chevron discovered commercial resources at Block A off Cambodia’s coast, raising hopes that oil revenue would soon flow into the coffers of one of the world’s poorest countries. The company has drilled 18 wells at the block, but reaching terms for developing the field has been slow. …
Under a production-sharing agreement, the government will likely receive most of the revenue from the project, though the exact percentage varies with factors including the price of oil and production and development costs, he [Sok Khavan, acting director-general of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority] said. …
Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443507204578020023711640726.html
US Says Army Truck in Crash Not a Donation
September 26th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Environment & Natural Resources, Foreign Aid, Forests, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance, Timber/Wood
An American-made army truck that was allegedly used to smuggle illegal timber through SIem Reap province, and which crashed and killed a family of three on Friday, was not a U.S. government donation, the embassy confirmed yesterday.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy said an inspection by embassy staff of the impounded vehicle-a General Motors Company M35 military transport truck-yesterday found that it was not one of the trucks donated by Washington to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). …
…”U.S.-donated vehicles are given to specific brigades and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces closely cooperates with the U.S. Embassy to monitor how the vehicles are being used,” embassy spokesman Sean McIntosh said. …
Since the accident, police have identified the soldiers and the truck as belonging to RCAF Division 4 based in Oddar Meanchey province.
Saing Soenthrith, P. 17
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
NGOs Discuss Reforms Ahead of Donor Meeting
September 26th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Disputed Land, Economics, Foreign Aid, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
At a meeting in Phnom enh to prepare for today’s high-level donor Government-Development Partner Coordinating Committee (GDCC) forum, dozens of mostly local NGOs agreed on their own list of broad reform suggestions for the government. But land disputes took center stage.
Today’s GDCC meeting, which the government usually hosts every six months, has not been held since April 2011. …
Among their many other recommendations, the NGOs also called on the government to pass an access to information law, provide more-and more detailed-budget reports, break down its earnings from oil ad has deals, give all political parties equal media access, and allow local communities more time to consider the impact of development projects affecting them before they are implemented. …
Zsombor Peter, P. 17
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Land abuses ‘threaten stability’
September 26th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Protected Areas, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
Cambodia’s economic land concession (ELC) policies are hindering development far more than helping it and beginning to erode the country’s hard-won stability, Cambodia’s special rapporteur warned yesterday.
“As I have noted in relation to other sectors in Cambodia, the existence of the legal framework on paper is one thing, the implementation of the law is another,” rights envoy Surya Subedi told the UN Human Rights Council last night. …
In the report, released to the public yesterday, Subedi underscores how a solid set of laws intended to govern concessions is flouted and ignored to provide companies and the government with gains that are temporary at best. …
Backed by dozens of pages of maps and concessionaire details, the report draws special attention to two rampant misuses of the ELC laws: concessions granted in protected areas and those over the permissible 10,000 hectares. …
Abby Sieff, P. 2
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092658912/National-news/un-report-slams-cambodias-land-abuses.html
Ahead of aid meet, NGOs urge reform
September 26th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Banking & Finance, Financial Services, Foreign Aid, International Relations, News Source, Technical Assistance
More than 100 NGOs and human rights groups yesterday urged foreign donors to flag issues regarding land policies, democratic processes and human rights during today’s Government-Development Partner Coordinating Committee (GDCC) meeting. …
Intended as a preparatory meeting for Cambodia’s main government and donor summit, the GDCC is generally used by the government to provide an indication of where its five-year plan is headed. That, in turn, is meant to inform donor policy in the lead-up to the Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF), in which donors typically reveal where aid funding will be channeled and identify reforms they expect the government to tackle. …
Although the Ministry of Finance and the Council for the Development of Cambodia earlier denied knowledge of the meeting, an official within the former department who declined to be named confirmed the GDCC meeting would begin today behind closed doors. …
Claire Knox, P. 1
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092658913/National-news/ngos-urge-reform-ahead-of-aid-meet.html
Southeast Asian scientists look to reinvent the flush toilet
September 25th, 2012, AlertNet, Economics, Energy, Foreign Aid, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
Scientists in Bangkok are about to start work on a new flush toilet especially designed for the urban poor in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Their aim is to create a toilet that will process wastewater in family homes and convert it into gas or electricity, saving families money and protecting them from deadly diseases caused by poor sanitation.
The Bangkok-based Asian Institute for Technology (AIT) is receiving a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the project, part of an estimated $380 million effort by the foundation to tackle sanitation problems in Asia and Africa..
Thin Lei Win
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/southeast-asian-scientists-look-to-reinvent-the-flush-toilet
Biomass is more than energy
September 25th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Foreign Aid, Green Energy, News Source, Production, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
Rural Cambodian communities are seeing economic benefits as a result of a biomass and farming resilience project run by GERES, a French NGO.
As part of the AREA project, 200 households in Kampong Chhnang province are growing 22 varieties of trees to negate the effects of deforestation, including the shortage of fuel wood. …
Cambodia is abundant in biofuel sources, such as sugarcane and coconut shells; however, they need to be planted on a large scale, using land that can be used for food, according to Van Rijn. …
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation is currently offering technical assistance to the ASEAN secretariat to ensure that bioenergy production does not infringe on food production in the region, according to it’s website, which states: “Bioenergy also offers opportunities to increase incomes and employment in rural areas, provided that appropriate policies and investments are put in place to enable smallholders to take advantage of growing biofuel markets.”
Erika Mudie, P. 10
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092558886/Business/biomass-a-benefit-to-rural-cambodia.html
Companies aim to be socially minded
September 25th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Labor, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance, Trade
Four companies in Cambodia — EZECOM, Manulife Cambodia, Angkor Gold and Unilever — have demonstrated their commitment to corporate social responsibility this month by giving support to schools, a hospital and sustainable living.
CSR Asia, the leading provider of information, training, research and consultancy services on sustainable business practices in Asia, defines corporate social responsibility as “a company’s commitment to operating in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner while balancing the interests of diverse stakeholders”. …
Anne Renzenbrink, P. 9
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092558888/Business/cambodian-companies-aim-for-corporate-social-responsibility.html
Gov’s to Lay More than 400 Km of Fiber-Optic Cable
September 25th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Foreign Aid, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance, Telecommunications
With a loan from Japan, the government will begin laying more than 400 km of fiber-optic cable early next year to connect Phnom Penh with five provinces, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) said yesterday.
Telecommunication Minister So Khun said the cable-which will connect Phnom Penh with Kompong Cham, Takeo, Kampot, Kep and Preah Sihanouk provinces-will cost about $36 million, with Japan loaning $30 million and the MPTC contributing the remaining $6 million. …
Mr. Khun said the fiber-optic cables would bring high-speed Internet and clear mobile phone reception to more people, as well as bring in government revenue. …
Phok Dorn, P. 21
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Rights record under fire
September 25th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
A pair of reports to be presented at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today and tomorrow paint a bleak image of a country whose rights record has worsened considerably over the past year.
An annual report from the Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia, due to be presented on Wednesday, highlights crackdowns on freedom of expression, an increasing desperation over land issues and a culture of impunity that has hardly abated. …
The OHCHR report, released yesterday, details a number of rights violations pegged to alarming trends including the increased use of violence by both demonstrators and security forces and “rapid arbitrary convictions of human rights defenders”. …
Abby Sieff, P. 1
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092558901/National-news/cambodias-rights-record-under-fire.html
Land Disputes Focus Ire on Chinese Investors
September 25th, 2012, The Washington Post, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, Domestic Investment, Economic Land Concessions, Foreign Investment, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Real Estate, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
… Among thousands of residents in the Boeung Kak Lake district of the capital whose land has been targeted for redevelopment by a Chinese-financed real estate company, Tep Vanny carried a letter explaining the “sadness and suffering” caused by the project — which has turned Phnom Penh’s biggest lake into a barren, arid expanse of sand — and begging the Chinese leader to “intervene for a fair resolution of our land dispute problems.” …
China professes a policy of never interfering in the internal affairs of foreign lands. But in Cambodia, growing public fury over land grabs to make way for development projects involving Chinese investors has pushed Beijing to the center of one of this Southeast Asian nation’s most sensitive social and political issues. …
Chinese companies, meanwhile, have invested nearly $9 billion in Cambodia since 1994, according to official Chinese reports — compared with just $77.8 million in American investment registered over the same period. …
Under the terms of a 99-year lease granted in Feb 2007 by Phnom Penh Municipality, a Cambodian company called Shukaku gained the right to turn the lake and a swath of surrounding land into a new residential and business district. Shukaku agreed to pay $79 million for 328 acres of prime real estate, far less than the market value of such a large piece of land in the center of the capital. …
The future of the project, meanwhile, is mired in uncertainty. A high concrete wall has been erected around the sand-filled lake, but there is no sign of construction work. The sand is too soft to build on and could take up to a decade to settle sufficiently. Residents complain that draining of the lake has caused flooding during the rainy season and led to sewage leaking. …
Future of E-Business linked to skills
September 24th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Industry, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance, Telecommunications, Trade
The future of e-business in Cambodia depends on gaining better skills, a group of students heard yesterday at the University of Puthisastra.
In a panel discussion on the future of e-business as part of BarCamp Phnom Penh, T.O. Software president Heng Chamroeun offered advice to the young group about what it would take for them to make it in an increasingly digitised business world. …
The panel also pointed at an underdeveloped infrastructure as another barrier to the adoption of e-business practices. From making catalogues and engaging content more widely available, to billing processes and basic communication a better infrastructure can improve the way Cambodians run their businesses. …
Erika Mudie, P. 9
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092458855/Business/it-knowledge-a-recipe-for-web-success.html
Dolphin drawcard
September 24th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Industry, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Technical Assistance, Tourism
In an effort to boost tourist numbers, the Ministry of Tourism will host an eco-tourism seminar in the northeastern provinces to showcase its main attraction, the Irrawaddy dolphins of the Mekong River.
Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism, said last week that officials attempted to hold the eco-tourism seminar in October, but because of scheduling issues, officials have moved the event to November this year. …
Touch Seang Tana, chairman of the Commission for Dolphin Conservation and Development of Mekong River Dolphin Ecotourism Zone, said yesterday that the population figures for the Irrawaddy dolphins varied from study to study, with some quoting about 100 and others as many as 200. …
Rann Reuy, P. 7
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092458861/Business/dolphin-drawcard.html
Democracy on the decline: think tank
September 24th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, International Relations, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
Cambodia ranks among the lowest in the region on its ability to reform; corruption, political stasis and a rapidly widening income gap are hindering its progress, according to a recent survey of the country’s democratic institutions. …
Transformation Index, which every two years ranks countries considered to be transitional democracies, has dropped Cambodia from 88 out of 125 countries in 2008 to 105 of 128 countries this year. …
Though stability appears chief among government successes, the report warns a growing income gap could threaten the calm. “[S]ocial stability may come to be threatened if a redistribution of wealth cannot be managed. Major social reforms should be long-term goals.” …
Abby Sieff, P. 3
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092458865/National-news/democracy-on-the-decline-think-tank.html