August, 2011

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Posted by: | Posted on: August 18, 2011

Tapping into Cambodia’s talent

Wednesday, May 18, 201

Garment factory workers return home after work on a trailer pulled by a tractor in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district. (Photo by: Will Baxter)
Graduates from the Royal University of Phnom Penh listen to a speech during a graduation ceremony earlier this year. (Photo by: Sovan Philon

Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Liam Barnes, The Phnom Penh Post

The economy is not able to generate enough jobs in the formal sector to handle the large number of entrants….
Cambodia’s economy may be recovering from the global financial crisis, but experts point to continuing challenges finding higher-paid employment for the country’s young population.
Some 65 to 70 percent of the domestic labour force is employed in subsistence agriculture, but with about 48 percent of the Kingdom’s population currently under 20 years old, according to the United States Commercial Service’s 2011 Doing Business in Cambodia Guide, demand for higher-paying employment is expected to only increase.
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Posted by: | Posted on: August 18, 2011

រៀន​គួរ រៀន​កៀប រៀន​ឲ្យ​មាន​ក្នៀប រៀន​កៀប​គេឯង

រៀន​គួរ រៀន​កៀប រៀន​ឲ្យ​មាន​ក្នៀប រៀន​កៀប​គេឯង

Posted by: | Posted on: August 17, 2011

Silencing Cambodia’s Honest Brokers

In Paris, the framework for Cambodia’s democracy was a much debated element of the peace accords. That debate led to Cambodia’s Constitution and its guarantee of freedom of association and speech. The proposed law on civil society would deprive these independent Cambodian groups of those rights and undermine much of their work representing the country’s most vulnerable citizens — advocating for their rights and dispensing aid, largely paid for with foreign donations. Most recently, these civil society groups exposed the government’s eviction of the poor from valuable land in Phnom Penh. As a result, the World Bank is suspending all new loans to Cambodia until those made homeless receive proper housing.
I.H.T. Op-Ed Contributor
By
Published: August 17, 2011

WASHINGTON — This year is the 20th anniversary of the Paris peace accords that ended the Cambodian war and any further threat from the murderous Khmer Rouge. It required all the major powers — the United States, leading European countries, the former Soviet Union and China — as well as most Asian nations to come up with an accord, a rare achievement. In a speech last week, Gareth Evans said that during his eight years as the Australian foreign minister “nothing has given me more pleasure and pride than the Paris peace agreement concluded in 1991.”

I reported from Paris on the negotiations, which took several years of convoluted diplomacy since few countries or political parties had clean hands in the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge. When the deal was finally signed in October of 1991 there were self-congratulations all around, champagne and a huge sigh of relief that Cambodia could move on to peace and democracy.

It didn’t turn out that way. Cambodia today is essentially ruled by a single political party with little room for an opposition, has a weak and corrupt judiciary, and the country’s most effective union leaders have been murdered.

That wasn’t the scenario envisioned in Paris. Now, just as 20th anniversary commemorations are approaching, one of the few groups still enjoying the freedoms created under the peace accords are about to be silenced. The government of Cambodia is poised to enact a law that will effectively hamstring the country’s lively civil society and NGOs, among the last independent voices in Cambodia.

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Posted by: | Posted on: August 16, 2011

Scope of land evictions revealed

By Phnom Penh Post

Venerable Loun Sovath, the senior monk in Siem Reap’ province’s Chi Kraeng district, said that evictions violated human rights and international laws. “I call on the government, relevant ministries and stakeholders to enhance respect for human rights and the law,” he said. Loun Sovath has become an outspoken voice on land rights issues over the past two years, combining human rights and a respect for the rule of law with peaceful advocacy grounded in Buddhist precepts.  His advocacy on behalf of communities involved in land disputes began after two members of his family were shot during a land dispute in 2009.

Tuesday, 16 August 2011 15:01, John Anthony
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Photo by: Hong Menea

The Venerable Luon Sovath speaks during a meeting at the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights yesterday in Phnom Penh.

Land stats 2007-11

  • Worst provinces
    1. Phnom Penh –  22 conflicts
    2. Banteay Meanchey – 17
    3. Rattanakkiri – 17
  • Families: An estimated 47,342 families have been affected or could be in the future.
  • Resolution: About 90% of land conflict cases are unresolved.

Victims of land disputes nationwide are being encouraged to unite, as figures released yesterday highlighted the magnitude of what is often referred to as an “epidemic of land grabbing”.

Ownership of at least 5 percent of all land in Cambodia was a matter of dispute between 2007 and 2011, according to a study by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.

CCHR presented the findings of its study on land conflicts in Cambodia at a press conference in Phnom Penh yesterday. As many as 47,000 families had been or could be affected by land conflict cases, some of which are ongoing, covered in the study.
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