Kon BambooSchoot

KRT moves forward with key amendments, HIV+ groups protest exclusion from Aids national conference, Heng Pov's family asks to unfreeze funds
ADB to submit plan for $38m food project And Investigation urged in alleged hostess rape

AFTER a week of discussions at the fourth biannual plenary session of judges, amendments to the Internal Rules of the Khmer Rouge tribunal have been greeted with muted praise by key officials at the UN-backed court, while prompting angered responses from the defence.

"The amendments will help the court to move faster to deliver justice to the victims," court spokesperson Reach Sambath told the Post Sunday.

The amendments, made at last week's meeting, include new provisions on civil-party participation and restrictions on the scope of appeal for the accused.

This sparked a sharp rebuke from the court's defence support section, which claimed defendants at the UN-backed tribunal now have a "more limited right of appeal than at any other trial court in Cambodia", according acting head of defence Richard Rogers.

But the court's investigating judges told the Post Sunday that the main considerations of the amendments were to expedite the judicial process while preserving victim participation.

"The most important amendment is our effort to make the role of civil parties participating in the tribunal [easier] and to facilitate a faster process for the tribunal as a whole," said co-investigating judge You Bun Leng.


HIV+ groups protest exclusion from Aids national conference
Govt claims lack of HIV+ individuals in planning stage is not an oversight and that they will be represented; activist groups cry foul

THIRTY organisations with a collective membership of more than 2,000 people working on HIV/Aids issues have said that they are being unfairly excluded from the Kingdom's third annual national Aids conference, scheduled Wednesday through Friday.

"We want HIV-positive people to be allowed to join the conference organising commission. HIV-positive people are not represented in this commission. We want to participate, not just listen," said Heng Sambath, coordinator for the Cambodian Alliance for Combating HIV/Aids (CACHA).

CACHA is representing the excluded groups, along with the Cambodian Community of Women living with HIV/Aids (CCW), Positive Women of Hope Organisation (PWHO) and the Women Network for Unity (WNU).



Heng Pov's family asks to unfreeze funds
Lawyer says daughters have gone broke since father's arrest

THE family of former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov has asked the courts to unfreeze nearly US$1 million seized after their father's arrest, saying that they have had to drop out of university and were living in misery since authorities clamped down on the assets.

"I've requested from the court to be able to withdraw money from my father's bank account but they ignored me. Our lives depended on our father, but after he was detained we've had nothing to support ourselves," said Pov Vanna, one of three daughters still living in Cambodia.

Heng Pov's wife and his three other children are currently living in Finland, where Heng Pov was granted asylum in 2007 before being abruptly returned to Cambodia by Malaysian authorities.
Heng Pov's lawyer, Kao Soupha, also said his client has asked that the court's unfreeze the $930,000 remaining in his bank accounts so that his family can support themselves.

Police have confiscated Heng Pov's home in Chruoy Changvar and $300,000 in cash from his house in Takhmao, 10 kilometres south of Phnom Penh, where 25-year-old Pov Vanna and her sisters live.

Heng Pov, who while in power was a much-feared police boss, is currently serving a total of 58 years in prison for a battery of charges, including murder, counterfeiting, extortion and kidnapping.

Additional trials
Heng Pov could face an additional 30 years in prison if convicted of two more counts of attempted murder later this year in connection with assassination plots against national military police commander Sao Sokha and Koh Santepheap publisher Thong Uy Pang.

The Sao Sokha case is expected to go to trial in November or December, while the Thong Uy Pang trial has yet to be scheduled, Kao Soupha told the Post Sunday.
Kao Soupha called both cases invalid. "For the attempted assassination of Sao Sokha, there is no specific evidence against [Heng Pov]," he said.

...after he was detained we’ve had nothing to support ourselves.


"In the case of Thong Uy Pang, the court has investigated this for years and did nothing while Heng Pov was in power."
Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defender's Project, said that while the children's earnings are off-limits, the government has the right to confiscate money and property if they are proven to have been acquired through corrupt means and can seize inherited assets in order to compensate victims.
Counter to the law
The absence of HIV/Aids positive people in the conference runs counter to the law issued by the National Aids Authority that states that HIV-positive people must participate in all sections of the response to the epidemic, the groups say.

The organisations have also said that their absence is in direct contradiction to Article 2 of Cambodia's Aids Law, which prohibits discrimination against people infected with HIV/Aids.

"This national conference will not discuss the true interests of HIV-positive people," said a joint statement.

Many Dy, program officer of Actionaid, which is a signatory to the statement, appealed to the government not to forget people living with HIV/Aids.

I don't say that this is discrimination [but] the government forgot ... about us.


"I don't say that this is discrimination, [but] the government ... forgot to think about us."
CACHA's Heng Sambath drew attention to the exclusion of HIV-positive individuals.

"In Cambodia, there are currently 170 organizations working on AIDS, with some 25,693 people working as volunteers and 3,576 people working on staff. Among these, only 346 HIV-positive people work as volunteers and only 190 HIV-positive people work as staff," he said.

Teng Kunthy, secretary general of the National Aids Authority, said that while the conference will not address policies or legislation dealing with Cambodia's response to HIV/Aids, organisations have an opportunity to share experiences.
"Even though there are no HIV positive people on the organising commission, representatives of organisations are also representatives of HIV-positive people," Teng Kunthy told the Post.
Victims advocates, however, say requirements that civil parties might have to file group complaints under a single lawyer limit their voice at the court.

"The rights of victims have been restricted," said Terith Chy, of the Victims Participation Unit at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam).




ADB to submit plan for $38m food project
NEXT month, the Asian Development Bank will submit to its board of directors a proposal for an emergency food aid project following the government's request for US$38 million to ensure food security between 2008 and 2011, a bank official said last week.

The project would benefit more than 500,000 people in five provinces around the Tonle Sap river and some poor areas of Phnom Penh, said Arjun Goswami, the bank's country representative, in an email.
He said worldwide price hikes for food and fuel have pushed traders to sell their rice to neighbouring countries, thus driving down domestic supply.

"Our highest concern, as well as that of the government's, therefore, is to do whatever we can to ensure that the vulnerable segment of the population continues to have affordable access to basic food commodities," Goswami said.
He said that in response to rising food costs the government has established an interministerial National Food Security Taskforce, headed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, that would provide overall policy guidance and coordination of the project.

He added that reports of drought may bode ill for the future.
"We are aware of recent media reports that some areas of the country are experiencing drought, which may impact rice crop yield. If this were to actually happen, then it will undoubtedly exacerbate an already difficult situation," Goswami said.



Investigation urged in alleged hostess rape
Beer garden worker and mother abducted at gunpoint
WOMEN'S rights groups are demanding an investigation into the alleged rape of a beer garden hostess, who witnesses said was abducted at gunpoint from her place of work last week and assaulted in a guesthouse.

The incident, advocates say, highlights the dangers faced by young women working in Phnom Penh's countless beer halls, where sexual harassment and assault are not uncommon.

"I urge authorities to make every effort to arrest these perpetrators and punish them under the law," said Nop Sarin Sreyroth, director of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center. "If they don't, other waitresses and beer girls will face increased threats of assault," she added.

The 18-year-old alleged victim was approached last Monday night by two men who asked her to sit with them and then asked for sex, according to a co-worker who gave her name as Sieng Hai.

"She has worked at Soun Samneang [beer garden] for more than a year and has never become involved with any of the men who drink here. Her mother usually picks her up at 12:30am," Sieng Hai told the Post Sunday.
The two men returned Thursday night, this time armed with handguns, Sieng Hai said

"At about 12:30, the shop closed and we were all preparing to go home. The hostess and her mother were getting into their car when the two men came out with guns and abducted them," she said.

AFTER THE RAPE, THEY TOOK HER MOBILE PHONE SO SHE COULD NOT CALL FOR HELP.


Other beer garden employees refused to speak to the Post. But Khem Rin, who said he shares a room with the victim and her family near the beer garden, said: "I saw two men come out of the beer garden and point guns to force them into their car. The staff and I could do nothing because they had guns".

Khem Rin said he has not seen either the victim or her mother since the incident, but Sieng Hai told the Post that the mother had contacted her to say that her daughter was raped.

"After the rape, they took her mobile phone so she could not call for help," Sieng Hai quoted the mother as saying. Chamkarmon district police said Sunday they were investigating, but refused to comment.
The CWCC's Nop Sarin Sreyroth said the attack followed a familiar pattern.

"I have worked with many beer girls in the past and most of them have been victims of rape by men who look down on them as prostitutes," she said. "Women must have the courage to complain to employers or local authorities when anyone tries to force them to have sex."