UXO casualties drop | National | National
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UXO CASUALTIES DROP Last Updated on 04 June 2013 By Danson Cheong
A landmine is detonated remotely in Battambang province last June. Photo by AFP The number of casualties from landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) accidents in the first four months of this year has decreased dramatically – plunging by 48 per cent compared with last year, a report released yesterday by the Cambodia Mine/UXO Victim Information System (CMVIS) says. Out of the 44 casualties recorded from January to April this year, four people were killed, while the rest were maimed or injured. In the same period last year, there were 85 casualties, the report found. That said, the overall number of accidents or incidents recorded remained fairly steady at 35 – one more than last year. Director-general of the Cambodia Mine Action Centre Heng Ratana said the decrease was likely due to the fact that individual accidents this year involved smaller groups of people. “Last year, there were a few incidents where big groups of people, about 10 to 15 people were travelling together and ran over anti-tank mines,” Ratana said. “We are very lucky that this has not happened this year.” In a single incident last February, a pair of anti-tank mines killed eight and injured one in Banteay Meanchey when a tractor ferrying villagers strayed from mine-free roads and ran over the buried explosives en route to a cassava farm.
6/7/2013 2:08 PM
UXO casualties drop | National | National
http://phnompenhpost.com/2013060466041/National/uxo-casualties-drop...
Ratana added that while the improvement was remarkable, such incidents could repeat themselves and that continued community awareness was needed. “People need to pay more attention and be careful when using land in mine-contaminated areas,� he said. According to the CMVIS report, some 19,666 Cambodians have been killed by landmines and UXO since 1979. It is estimated that four to six million landmines and UXO were left over after decades of war and strife. Of that amount, about three million have been destroyed so far, but Ratana added that sustained financial support had to continue for demining efforts to be completed by 2020.
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6/7/2013 2:08 PM
Genocide Not Included in Law on Denial of KR Crimes | The Cambodia...
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6/7/2013 3:20 PM
Genocide Not Included in Law on Denial of KR Crimes | The Cambodia...
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‘Developed’ by 2050: PM | National | National
http://phnompenhpost.com/2013060766133/National/developed-by-205...
‘DEVELOPED’ BY 2050: PM Last Updated on 07 June 2013 By Phak Seangly
Following recent speeches praising Cambodia’s stability under his leadership, Prime Minister Hun Sen took to the podium yesterday to gaze into the Kingdom’s future prospects for development and growth. “Step-by-step from a country that has experienced both war and peace, we have achieved excellent development to this point,” he said in a speech in Prey Veng province, while inaugurating a university. This year would see Cambodia move from a low-income to a lower-middle-income nation, Hun Sen claimed, before outlining future development goals. “We are looking to 2030 for when we become an upper-middle-income nation, and towards 2050 for when Cambodia turns into a developed country,” he said. The World Bank classifies economies as low-income if they have a gross national income (GNI) per capita of $1,025 or less, lower-middle income for a GNI of $1,026-$4,035 and upper-middle income for $4,036-$12,475. According to World Bank data, Cambodia’s GNI per capita was $820 in 2011. Avoiding the “middle-income trap” – in which developing economies struggle to compete with the exports of low-cost manufacturing nations and high-tech developed nations – would be crucial for Cambodia, Hun Sen said. “The development of human resources is a priority . . . No country manages to develop without strong human resources,” he said, adding that the Kingdom would need to create a highly skilled “knowledge economy”. “Myself and other leaders may not survive until 2050. But we must prepare our vision.”
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6/7/2013 3:00 PM
Cambodian parliament unanimously passes law to criminalize denial of...
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Friday, 07 June 2013 09:26 DAP
PHNOM PENH, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Cambodia on Friday unanimously adopted the Law on the Denial of Crimes Committed during the Period of the Democratic Kampuchea, or Khmer Rouge regime, from 1975-1979. "Under the law, individuals who refuse to acknowledge, diminish, deny, or challenge the existence of crimes or glorify crimes committed during the regime will be jailed from six months to two years and fined between 250 U.S. dollars and 1,000 U.S. dollars," said Pen Panha, chairman of the National Assembly's commission on legislation and justice. Cheam Yeap, the ruling Cambodian People's Party's senior lawmaker, said the denial of the crimes during the Khmer Rouge regime was a serious insult to the souls of people who lost lives during the regime and hurt the families of the victims. "The law will not affect the freedom of expression because not Cambodia alone that has this law, but 17 countries around the world," he said. All 86 participating lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People' s Party and its coalition Funcinpec Party unanimously approved the law by raising hands. Twenty-eight former opposition lawmakers -- 25 of the Sam Rainsy Party and three of the Human Right Party -- were not invited for the session because they quit their parties to join the newly formed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in order to run in the July's election. Prime Minister Hun Sen called for the law on Monday last week after Kem Sokha, vice president of the main opposition CNRP, allegedly claimed that the Khmer Rouge regime's notorious Tuol Sleng prison was an artificial place. "If this place (Tuol Sleng prison) was truly Khmer Rouge, they would have demolished it before they left, not kept it to show everyone," Kem Sokha said in a short audio recording recently circulated by the government. "If the Khmer Rouge killed a lot of people, they would not be stupid to keep it to show to everyone, they would destroy it to eliminate evidence. I believe that it was just staged," he said at his party's public forum. Phnom Penh's former Tuol Sleng prison was the main torture center during the regime, and around 14,000 people were killed at the center. In February last year, the Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia sentenced ex- chief of Tuol Sleng prison Kaing Guek Eav to life in prison for overseeing the deaths. Representatives of survivors from the Democratic Kampuchea announced Tuesday to hold a mass protest on Sunday to demand Kem Sokha to apologize for his insulting remarks.
6/7/2013 1:54 PM
Cambodian parliament unanimously passes law to criminalize denial of...
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"Some 20,000 survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime will gather at Cambodian capital's Freedom Park on June 9 to protest against Kem Sokha for his denial of Khmer Rouge crimes," Chhum Mey, president of the Victims Association of Democratic Kampuchea and one of the survivors from the Tuol Sleng prison, said at a press briefing. "About 2,000 of them will march from the Freedom Park to the headquarters of the CNRP." He said Kem Sokha's remarks have insulted people who lost lives at the prison and elsewhere in the country during the Khmer Rouge regime, in which an estimated 2 million people had died of starvation, exhaustion, lack of medical care or execution. CNRP's spokesman Yim Sovann said Tuesday that it was their rights to stage a protest, but Kem Sokha would not apologize upon their demand because he had never denied the atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge regime or at Tuol Sleng prison. "Kem Sokha did not say those words; his remarks were fabricated in order to create turmoil targeting the opposition leader ahead of July's general election," he told Xinhua over telephone.
6/7/2013 1:54 PM