Girls filling application forms at Don Bosco technical school in Sihanoukville on August 15.

Sihanoukville. The week began in the Cambodian sea port with a rainy Monday that did not stop the arrival of several families from nearby regions to the only technical school for unprivileged youth in the southern provinces of the Kingdom. During that first day of interviews, about 500 teenagers and young adults presented their documents to apply for any of the nine technical section offers by the Don Bosco organization in the port. It meant an increase of 100 percent from last year.

“In August 2010 we made 1,000 interviews to choose only 300 new students for the technical sections. This year, in only two of the first days of the interviews, we already reached 1,000,” said Fr. John Visser, 78, Rector of the Don Bosco Technical School, who will receive the Medal of the Order of Orange from the hands of Queen Beatriz of the Netherlands on August 31 for his technical schools in Thailand and Cambodia.

The technical school was built in 1997, when Sihanoukville was a modest town around the only deep sea port in Cambodia. Set up with the purpose of providing technical skills to disadvantaged young people, the NGO wanted to open opportunities for teenagers and young people coming from impoverished areas of Sihanoukville, Koh Kong, Kompot and Takeo. Half of the students come from Takeo and Kompot, two rural provinces bordering Vietnam where young people find few options of further education. The other half of the 700 students come from Sihanoukville, Kompung Speu and Kandal, while a minor group is a gathering of young people from provinces as far as Kompung Thom, Kompung Cham, Battambang, Prey Veng and Pailin.

“I want to study electricity, because we need electricity in my province. Electricity means development… no electricity, no development,” replied Chalak Lon, 21, one of the first four members of the Khmer Krung indigenous of Ratanakiri, who traveled all the Tuesday to try in Don Bosco Sihanoukville.

The city of contrasts

Sihanoukville is a place of big contrasts. This year it was listed among one of the most beautiful bays of the planet by the Bay’s of the World Club. Its Autonomous Port is considered the 5th most efficient ports of Asia by the Benchmarking the Efficiency of Asian Container Ports report, while it is an object of huge development projects of tourism, commerce and foreign investment. Recently, its Snake Island was connected to mainland by the Techo Morakot Bridge that will convert the area in a major development and resort. As for tourism, its Ream National Park, natural beaches, coral islands and hills offer several attractions for national and international visitors.

But at the same time, the port city is gaining a fame of sexual tourism spot where children are at risk. In a recent report by The Phnom Penh Post about children working on the Sihanoukville beaches, Mrs. Maggie Eno, the creator of the M’lop Tabang organization for the protection of street children and children under risk, said that it is estimated that the number of children selling on the beach has tripled over the last two years, from 2,000 to about 3,000. This situation put them at risk of prostitution, because they are not attending school and they are not learning other thing out of selling and begging. Although the local government says that there is a ban on children working on the beaches, it is not really enforced, while visitors continue buying and giving money to child beggars, a practice that only worsen their lives.

Education at the port

The city is also the place of some universities, all private, with fees of 720,000 riels per semester (180 US dollars), a cost that a middle Cambodian family cannot afford with minimum wages of 256,200 riels (64 US dollars.) It is to say that one of the most important Cambodian cities, with an international projection, has not a single public university or polytechnic for its youth. The private universities, by their part, offer faculties such as business administration, Information Technology and English as main subjects, putting in evidence a hurry for business topics, while almost ignoring social areas. None about environment in a country with several national parks. None about archaeology, in a country with valuable ancient treasurers. None about such things like oceanography or biology, in a city that dreams to live from the sea. None about anthropology, psychology, art, history… Most of these are based in Phnom Penh.

It is understood why more than 1,000 youth from the southern provinces of Cambodia come to Don Bosco this week. As it is a Non-for-profit organization, depending on international donors, there is not place for all, as it is expected.

‘We choose about 350 new students every year. It is 700 students in sections like mechanic, electricity, automotive, welding, secretarial, web development, audiovisual, hotel management, culinary… We cannot take more than that, so we have to choose. For this reason we do the interviews that have the goal to select those who are really poor or orphans,’ explained Mr. Ouch Sambo, manager of the social communication section.

According with the 2010-2011 statistics of the technical school, the 80 percent of students come from rural areas, especially Kompot, Takeo and Preip Nub. 60 percent comes from big families and 50 are orphan or abandoned. The 2010 report of the school shows that almost 100 percent of students who finished that year, were engaged in the private and official sector, while 70 percent is working in what they studied at the technical school.

‘The idea is that in two years, the students learn a practical skill in order to have better opportunities in getting a job. Then they are encouraged to continue in superior education after they are engaged. Unfortunately, the best public universities are in Phnom Penh, but some past pupils do a big sacrifice in paying private universities,’ said Heng Lay, a Don Bosco IT teacher, who is also past pupils of the same institution and finished his bachelor degree in languages in a private university in Sihanoukville.

Other provinces of Cambodia have even less opportunities than Sihanoukville for a superior education affordable for young people from poor and middle income families. This week, the first members of the Krung indigenous ethnic of the northern Ratanakiri province, came to apply to Don Bosco, precisely in Sihanoukville, at the other side of the country:

‘There is not a university or something similar in Ratanakiri. If you want to study after 12th grade, you have to go to Phnom Penh,’ said Saren Hin, 22, during his interview applying for web development.

Technical education is, without doubt, a contribution for the development of a country like Cambodia for one part, but also a way to integrate the growing number of young people, especially from rural areas and poor city suburbs. It prevents the joining of vulnerable young people in social evils like prostitution and crime, while it is a way to fight poverty. But it needs the participation of the private and public sector also. Relying in foreign donors is important, but it has also its weakness, something that can be demonstrated in a time of global financial crisis. During a recession, industrialized nations cut for example jobs. If they do such with their own nationals, what can be expected for international aid.

It is good that companies and organizations engage students from technical schools like the ones of Don Bosco, but they should put more to guarantee that the schools can survive and even increase their capacity, while creating new technical schools and educational organizations in a country that dreams with development.

This Thursday is the last day of interviews. About 1,500 teenagers and young people are expected to do their exam. 1,250 of them, most of them just finished 12th grade, will not be accepted. They will, by sure, go to look opportunities in Phnom Penh.

‘If I don’t pass the exam in Don Bosco, I will go to Phnom Penh to look anything to do. I don’t know what, but I cannot go to Kompot again, because there’s not job,’ concluded Socheat, 19.

Previously, Khmer Rouge victims complained that it was not possible to file as civil parties if they did not know the names of the sites.

Cases 003 and 004 were introduced in September 2009 by the International Co-Prosecutor requesting to initiate the investigation of five additional suspected persons on atrocities during the Khmer Rouge regime. Case 003 was closed last April by the Co-Investigating Judges concluding that the suspected persons were not under the Tribunal jurisdiction.

The Co-Investigating Judges say in their statement that they did not notify the public of the crime sites, because there are serious doubts that the suspects are ‘most responsible’ for crime atrocities, according to the jurisdiction requirement of Article 002 in the competence chapter of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia:

‘Extraordinary Chambers shall be established in the existing court structure, namely the trial court and the supreme court to bring to trial senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the crimes and serious violations of Cambodian laws related to crimes, international humanitarian law and custom, and international conventions recognized by Cambodia, that were committed during the period from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979. Senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the above acts are hereinafter designated as “Suspects”.’

Mr You Bungleng and Mr Siegfried Blung said also that “it would be inappropriate to encourage civil party applications further to the 200 already received in this case, as this could raise expectations which might not be met later on.”

Serious doubts whether the suspects are ‘most responsible‘

The Co-Investigating Judges stated also that there are serious doubts whether the suspects are ‘most responsible.’ It seems like a prediction of what would be the outcome of their own researches. Any judicial investigation assumes that a suspect can be either responsible or innocent. This is the task of the judge to reach the most objective conclusion.

Confronting the request of Mr. Andrew Cayley and the statement of the Co-Investigating Judges, you can feel a different perspective of investigation. For Mr. Cayley, the request to publish the site crimes has the purpose to ensure that victims have a reasonable opportunity to file civil party applications. However, the Co-Investigating Judges said in the statement that ‘it would be inappropriate to encourage civil party applications further to the 200 already received in this case.‘ They said also that it could raise expectations which might not be met later on.

Asking Mr. Cayley by email if he thinks that this declaration of the Co-Investigating Judges is already an advance that not more civil parties will be accepted, he said to asiancorrespondet.com:

I think that is linked to the indication by the judges that these individuals may not be the most responsible and thus not within the court’s jurisdiction of trying those persons who were either senior or most responsible.

Mr. Andrew Cayley directs us to the comments of Ann Heindel, the legal adviser of the Cambodian Documentary Center in the Phnom Penh Post on 9 August. For Mrs. Ann Heindel, that statement of ‘serious doubts’ about the suspects responsibility on Case 004, raised alarm among observers. ‘Any decision by the judges that the suspects were outside the court’s jurisdiction would be viewed as “political”,‘ said Mrs. Heindel to the newspaper and she suggested that ‘such a ruling could lead to blatant inconsistencies with the court’s own jurisprudence.’

If suspects would be declared outside the jurisdiction of the Court in Case 004, it could force the appeal of Kaing Guek Eav (Case 001), the director of Tuol Sleng torture and execution center, who argued that his case does not fall withing the court’s jurisdiction as one of the ‘most responsible.’ Mrs. Ann Heidel concludes that ‘It would be unfathomable for the [Supreme Court] Chamber to find that Duch falls within the jurisdiction of the court as one who is most responsible for the crimes of the KR era and the co-investigative judges to use the same criteria to find that the suspects in Case 004 do not.‘

The Kampuchea Democratic political division

During the Khmer Rouge regime, the Cambodian provinces were replaced by seven zones: Central (Kompong Thom and the west part of Kompong Cham); East (the east of Kompung Cham, Prey Veng and Svay Rieng); North (the west part of Stung Treng, Preah Vihear, Siem Reap and Oddar Meanchey); Northeast (the east part of Sting Treng, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri); Southwest (Kandal, Takeo and Kompot), West (Kompung Chhnang, Kompong Speu, Koh Kong and Sihanoukville); and Northwest (Pursat, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey.)

The following is the list of crime sites under investigation. The victims wishing to apply as civil parties were invited to contact the ECCC Victims Support Section. The Co-Judges said also that in the case other crime sites will be included in the investigation, they will be notified to the public. They also prevented the Co-Prosecutors as not having legal standing to inform the public of other crime sites.

Security centers: 19. Execution sites: 6. Purges: 2. Dam forced labor sites: 3. Prison: 2. Genocides: 1.

Victims Support Section, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, National Road 4, Chaom Chau, Dangkao, PO Box 71, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Town office: House No. 6A, Street 21, Sangkat Tonle Basac I, Khan Chamcarmon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Phone: 023 214 291; or 097 742 4218 (helpline). The office is open Monday to Friday except on public holidays.

The abandoned Sihanoukville rail station waits for the train

Sihanoukville. Today’s generation know their railway and in some regions like in Battambang, the Bamboo Railway has become a very popular way of transport. [1 journeyman] But as for the train, it already seems something of the past. The main Cambodian roads are almost finished and cars can access these to the most distant provinces. You can travel from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City by bus – 746.28 kilometers in less than 20 hours, crossing the well-maintained Cambodian roads. But the return of the Cambodian train seems near, at least as it is planned by the intra-Asian railway – a project that intents to connect Singapore with China going through the territories of Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.The project is part of the ambitious Trans-Asian Railway Network [2] that would connect the huge continent with Europe.

Certainly, it would be of great benefit for countries, especially in rural areas where roads are less than muddy paths. Currently, Cambodia is rescuing its old railway, built during colonial times, but destroyed by long years of armed conflict and territorial divisions. The Asian Development Bank loaned Cambodia USD $73 million to reestablish the train, including a connection between the capital and the sea port of Sihanoukville. As a colony – that ended in 1953 – it was possible travel by train from Phnom Penh to Singapore.

But the intra-Asian railway in Cambodia needs to build a 257 kilometers missing segment between Cambodia and Vietnam, work that would cost USD $686 million, according to the Chinese Third Railway Survey and Design Institute study that was announced last Wednesday; Beijing has offered to contribute USD $500 million towards this effort. The missing segment, mostly in the Khmer territory, includes the Cambodian provinces of Kampong Speu and Kratie and the Vietnamese province of Binh Phuoc.

Segment of the Trans Asian Network showing the Cambodian-Vietnamese missing fragment that needs to be built

Harold Carrillo Sánchez, a poor taxi driver of Cali, Colombia, faces death penalty in Beijing for drug trafficking. His wife and three teens have one year already trying to get in touch with him.

Bogotá. The Colombian consul in Beijing, Jaifa Mezher, said to Caracol Radio that drug traffickers between the Latin American and the Asian country use the route Bogotá – Sao Paolo – Dubai – Guangzhou. ‘I do not have information about a net of drug dealers using Colombians, but that route does not require visa [for Colombians],’ said the official after she visited Guillermo Álvarez, one of the Colombians sentenced to death penalty for drug trafficking in China.

Mezher said also that Álvarez is sorry for his crime and that he accepted to transport drugs to China due to poverty. He was sentenced by a court of Beijing to death penalty, but it is conditioned on good behavior and previous crime records in Colombia. He is in a prison in Beijing. He sent a message to the Colombians not to fall in the manipulation of the drug dealers, mentioned the consulate official. ‘I am not a bad man, but I did it because I was desperate,’ concluded Álvarez through Mezher, who added that he has faith in God and the best disposition to change that sentence.

Harod Carillo, a taxi driver from Cali that was arrested by the Chinese authorities for carrying 3 kilos of drugs, is jailed in the southern Province of Guandong and another official from the Colombian consulate will meet him next week, said Mezher to the Colombian radio. The family of Carrillo, among them three teens from an impoverished suburb of the industrial city of Cali, is trying to get in contact with him for more than a year, but it has been impossible.

Death penalty for drug dealers

The Minister of Justice of Colombia, Germán Vargas, declared that although he is not agree with death penalty, Colombians must respect the laws of the countries they stay and submit to their rules.

On December 2009 a British man from London, Akmal Shaikh, 53, and father of three, was executed for drug smuggling, although he denied any wrong doing and his family declared that he was mentally ill. At the time, the Chinese Embassy in England reported that Shaikh’s rights ‘were properly respected and guaranteed, while the ‘British concerns were duly noted and taken into consideration.’ The execution was condemned by then British Primer Minister Gordon Brown, who says that he was concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken. [1, bbc] The Chinese Embassy stated that the amount of heroin that Akmal Shaikh brought into China was 4,030g, ‘enough to cause 26,800 deaths, threatening numerous families.’ According to the Chinese law, 50g of heroin is the threshold for death penalty.

On April 2010 four Japanese citizens were executed for drug smuggling. Mitsunobu Akano, 64, Teruo Takeda, 67, Hironoru Ukai, 48 and Katsuo Mori, 67. The three last were working together to smuggle drugs into the Chinese territory, but they were arrested in different airports in Liaoning. [2, japantimes]. Japanese officials at the time considered that death penalty was too harsh for that crime. Japan has also death penalty, but not for drug smuggling.

Colombian officials have been less overwhelming than Japan and England with China in the case. It reduces its role to ask clemency for the two Colombians, but they keep a more respectful role of respect for the Chinese judiciary.

On the other hand, Colombians start to react on the issue, especially through forums on the Internet:

A commentator in the Caracol Radio website, who signed as El Justiciero (The Righteous), says that Colombia should support the Chinese government in order to fulfill the sentence as soon as possible, because the drug dealers threat the youth. Another anonymous concludes that death penalty for drug dealers is a good instrument to fight drugs, because criminals will think twice before wrong doing.

CAPA declared that the two international Cambodian airports handled 1.808 million passengers during the first half of the year, with 912,000 passengers arriving to Phnom Penh and 896,000 to Siem Reap.

The two international Cambodian airports, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap,  have recovered from the 2008 and 2009 financial crisis, reported the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) yesterday, and are beating 2007 passenger numbers. As Cambodia gains an image as international tourist destination, its two main airports get busier, while the possibility of opening a Sihanoukville airport seem more possible as tourist industry develops in the sea port.

Although the Cambodian encouragement of foreign investment in the Kingdom means more business travel, the tourist industry is the main supplier of international visitors that are attracted mainly for the ancient remains of the Khmer Empire. As for May 2011, the Ministry of Tourism reported already a 13.9 percent growth in foreign visitors compared with the first three months of 2010.

CAPA declared that the two international Cambodian airports handled 1.808 million passengers during the first half of the year, with 912,000 passengers arriving to Phnom Penh and 896,000 to Siem Reap. According to Phillippe Laurent, Cambodia Airports secretary general, cited by CAPA from the Airport Leaders Forum in Singapore last week, the traffic at Siem Reap has been growing at a 22 percent clip so far this year.

Cambodia suffered a big decline of visitors during the 2008-2009 global financial crises, but it was felt especially in Siem Reap, the modern city at the site of the ancient Khmer capital of Angkor. In March 2011 Air France resumed services to Cambodia after more than 35 years of suspension, connecting Phnom Penh with the main European airports like Paris and Madrid. CAPA explains the increase of passengers to the Cambodian capital in the new service of Air France.

Other air companies to Cambodia include the national Angkor Air that began operations in July 2009 and companies from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, among others.

Sihanoukville, the Cambodian sea port in a touristic bay, stills waiting the promise to be opened as international – or at least national – airport. Now is an empty space in the Riem District, while passengers from Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City have to travel to the bay by bus.

‘The shutdown of Siem Reap Airways had an impact on traffic at Siem Reap but more significantly set back hopes for a resumption of scheduled services at Sihanoukville. Siem Reap Airways had been planning to launch services in late 2008 to Sihanoukville, a beach destination on the Cambodian coast, from Siem Reap and Bangkok. But Siem Reap Airways suddenly ceased operations and nearly three years later Cambodia Airports is still trying to attract an airline to Sihanoukville,’ explains CAPA in its website.

Shiva, represented as a handsome young man, meaning his victory over death and decay, dances upon Apasmara, the demon of ignorance.

Sihanoukville. The battle between Thailand and Cambodia for Shiva’s Temple at the top of the Dangrek Range is not new at all. If the Hindu god is regarded as the destroyer and the transformer among the Trimurti, thus his main Temple in the Indochina Peninsula resembles what his early worshipers knew of the Supreme Being of the Mountain, known also as Sikharesvara, the other name of the Temple. But Preah Vihear is as important as Angkor Wat, probably not as the capital of the Khmer Empire, but for its position.

When the Angkorian monarchs began the construction of what we know today as the Preah Vihear Temple, they did it just in the middle of their country: the Khmer Empire. They dedicated it to Shiva, the Auspicious One, as Sikharesvara, the Supreme Being of the Mountain. But it remembers also Bhadresvara, the cult to Shiva under the form of the Linga inaugurated by the Mỹ Sơn´s King Bhadravarman I (380-413.)

The construction of the temple began under the rule of the Khmer King Yasovarman I (r. 889-910), who intended to consolidate his power by the establishment of religious cults in different parts of the Empire. Sikharesvara was built essentially as a monastery, a place of repose and meditation for the wiser men of his kingdom. The Dangrek mountains that divide today Thailand from Cambodia, were venerated as Mount Meru, the sacred mountain of the Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. The stones to build it at the top of the hill, 625 meters above the sea level, were brought probably from Phnom Kulen, about 140 kilometers far to the south, near Angkor Wat.

But it was King Suryavarman I (r. 1010-1050)  the main monarch to finish the Temple and give to it its splendor as a part of the consolidation of his Empire. It is the king of the unity over several principalities and the conqueror of the Kingdom of Louvo, today the Thai province of Lopburi. As most of the Angkorian kings, Suryavarman I based his authority on religion, urbanization and commerce. His successor, Utyadityavarman II (r. 1050-1068) was a noticeable worshiper of Sikharesvara and after him division came once more to the Empire. It had to wait the advent of Suryavarman II (1113–1150), during whose reign Angkor Wat was built and the kingdom gained once more unity.

As most of the Angkorian temples, Preah Vihear slept in the jungle for centuries. When it was its time to wake up to the modern world, there was not more that Khmer Empire it knew, but it was amazingly in the middle of two Buddhist brother kingdoms claiming ownership over it. As a sign of the five faces of Shiva, the Temple is oriented south-north, unlike Angkor Wat, as observing the plains of the two modern countries, like a sign of the five faces of Shiva.

As a legacy of the ancestors, Sikharesvara should become a symbol of unity and fraternity among two kingdoms that have more in common than differences. Its name should return to that ancient one of Sikharesvara as the Auspicious One for both nations, a sacred spot of peace and wisdom. The creation of the demilitarized zone by the International Court of Justice is just a good principle that the Temple must be absolutely respected. Shiva, represented as a handsome young man, meaning his victory over death and decay, dances upon Apasmara, the demon of ignorance. The Temple, therefore, was created for the meditation and wisdom of the peoples. We hope that both countries will respect the international law and the memory of their ancestors for the best of both nations, which are definitely brother countries.

Harold Carrillo Sánchez, a poor taxi driver of Cali, Colombia, faces death penalty in Beijing for drug trafficking. His wife and three teens have spent more than one year trying to get in touch with him.

Sihanoukville. A Colombian taxi driver, Harold Carrillo Sánchez, 45, from the industrial city of Cali, has two years to appeal a death penalty ruled by a court of Beijing for drug trafficking last April, reported the Colombian Chancellery. Colombian Guillermo Álvarez also faces the death penalty. The Colombian Chancellery reported also that the Chinese authorities have detained so far 12 Colombians for drug trafficking, two of them are sentenced to death, four to life imprisonment, two to 15 years in jail and four are waiting for a sentence.

The case attracted the attention of the Colombian press as his family is unable to get in communication with Carrillo, the father of three teens. His son, Michael D. Carillo, said to Caracol Radio on July 13 [1, es] that the Chinese authorities sent the documents of the process to the Embassy in Bogotá, but the Chinese officials did not allow the family to take the documents out of that office.

Carrillo disappeared more than one year ago, according to his family who live in the impoverished barrio Alfonso Bonilla Aragón of Cali. His family said that they did not know that he got involve in drug trafficking and that he was going to China. He cannot speak any other language except Spanish, they said.

“The group of taxi drivers is too vulnerable [in Colombia.] The conditions in which we work, the debts and the financial crisis in general make many colleagues consider criminal options as the only exit,” said Johny Rangel, the president of the Union of Taxi Drivers of Cali to El País newspaper. [2] The group asked pardon for Carrillo declaring that he did not have a criminal record before and that his decision to transport drugs was a bad mistake.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia declared yesterday that it is requesting to the Chinese government to reconsider the death penalty decision on Carrillo. The communication says that the Colombian government will not accept the death penalty for its citizens. [3] The Colombian consul in Beijing requested also to visit in the next days the two Colombians sentenced to death, one in the southern Province of Guandong and the other in the city of Beijing.

Colombia and China have an agreement about assistance in judicial and criminal issues, but it does not include extradition, death penalty or repatriation of prisoners, explained the Chancellery.

Colombia, a developing nation with one of the biggest social inequality gaps, is also a leading producer and exporter of drugs, especially of cocaine. Colombian drugs are distributed mainly in the US and Spaniard markets, the two main Colombian cocaine consumers. To do so, international criminal networks with headquarters either in drug producer or consumer countries employ persons of low economical resources.

Sketch map of provisional demilitarized zone identified by the ICJ on Thailand and Cambodian conflict for areas near to Preah Vehear Temple.

Phnom Penh. The Cambodian government is satisfied with the ruling of the International Court of Justice that created yesterday a demilitarized zone around the Preah Vihear Temple [1, pdf][2] and asks Thailand not to obstruct Cambodia’s free access to the Temple or prevent it from providing fresh supplies to its non-military personnel, declared an official statement signed by Hor Namhong, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia. [3, pdf in Khmer]

“The Kingdom of Cambodia hopes that the Kingdom of Thailand will follow, accept and respect the ruling of the International Court of Justice,” the statement said.

The Court confirmed also the role of ASEAN in the bilateral negotiations: “Cambodia and Thailand should continue their co-operation within ASEAN and, in particular, allow the observers appointed by that organization to have access to the provisional demilitarized zone.”

ASEAN, the Association of the South East Asian Nations of which Cambodia and Thailand are members, delegated Indonesia, current president of the group, as observer in the territorial conflict between the two kingdoms, but Thailand has preferred a bilateral dialogue without any third part involvement. With the ICJ ruling, Cambodia declared once more its support of Indonesia as the ASEAN appointed observer, which has also the endorsement of the United Nations.

The Thai reaction has been also rather positive, since Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said today that his country will start talks with Cambodia to coordinate the withdraw of troops from the demilitarized zone ordered by the Court.

Cambodia asked the Court to give an interpretation of the 1962 judgment concerning the 11^th century temple sovereignty and its surrounding areas. The request was sent to the Court after the intensification of military clashes between both countries in the area last April. Thailand, by its part, asked the Court to remove such request from the General List, a request that was ‘unanimously rejected’ by the ICJ.

The decision got 11 votes for and five against to order the bilateral withdraw of military personnel from what the Court defines as ‘demilitarized zone.’ The Court added also that in order to avoid new military clashes in the area of the Temple, any armed forces must be temporarily excluded from a ‘provisional demilitarized zone around the area of the Temple.’

Thailand should not obstruct Cambodian free access to the Temple

The Court also stated that Thailand should not obstruct Cambodia’s free access to the Temple or ‘prevent it from providing fresh supplies to its non-military personnel,’ while both countries should continue their cooperation within ASEAN.

It encourages also the allowance of observers appointed by ASEAN, a point that has been opposed by Thailand during the last months. ‘Both Parties should refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve,’ advise the international judges.

Ieng Thirith during a pre-trial hearing before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on 30 Apr 2010. She was the former Khmer Rouge minister of social action, currently charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva conventions and crimes under the 1956 Cambodian Penal Code. Photo courtesy ECCC POOL/Tang Chhin Sothy.

Sihanoukville. In the history of persons indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, it is not usual to see a woman. It is like leaders of violence and cruelty were men most of the time. However, if behind every great man there’s a great woman, behind every male criminal leader it seems that there is also a woman. In the case of former ministry of social action during the Democratic Kampuchea period (1975-1979), it seems Ieng Thirith was not only behind her husband Ieng Sary and his brother-in-law Pol Pot, but she is also accused as directly responsible of infamous crimes like extermination, imprisonment and persecution.

The credibility of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia – a UN-Cambodian tribunal to prosecute the surviving senior leaders of the Democratic Kampuchea and those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide – is under question. ECCC is about to start Case 002 this coming June 27, amid serious criticisms from human rights organizations and groups of the Khmer Rouge’s victims after the co-judges closed Case 003 in April , a case that could have brought two more defendants to court. Observers conclude that the ECCC most likely bowed to government pressure and the UN’s inaction, although the tribunal and the UN defend their independence.

But with this turbulent sea of critics, the ECCC is about to set a historical date this month when people like Ieng Thirith, her husband Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Noun Chea, will answer before a court for their actions as political leaders of the bloody regime. It is sure that human rights groups, groups of victims and the press will follow the prosecutions carefully and that ECCC will meet more pressure from the public opinion. Why are these four persons are considered the ‘only four surviving senior Khmer Rouge leaders,’ responsible for the atrocities of the ’70s. Did they do all those crimes? And why is the role of the victims so limited at the tribunal, almost as just observers.

Long years have passed since Democratic Kampuchea fell. The ECCC  has been a long time coming, but all these years of waiting have produced a long list of scholars, investigations, evidence and documents that are available everywhere. This is a problem for the ECCC: It knows very well who did what, but will the sentences match the evidence?

Buo Men, Khmer Rouge S-21 torture and execution center's survivor, shows Kaing Guek Eav, director of the infamous center. On his left, a photo of Pol Pot. Photo Rodas.

Phnom Penh. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, ECCC, face this month great pressure and legal discussion. Although the Co-Investigating Judges stated yesterday in a reply to an article by the International Justice Tribune, ‘Cambodia’s troubled tribunal’, [1] that they are ‘resolved to defend their independence against outside interference, wherever it may come from,’ [2] it seems that the ECCC’s credibility is at its lowest level.

You Bunleng and Siegfried Blunk of the office of the Co-Investigating Judges said that they never threatened the international co-prosecutor [Andrew Cayley] and that it is a ‘malicious rumor intended to disrupt the harmony within the Court.’ They said also that saying that the ‘tribunal is heading for an irreparable crash’ is baseless and that the reported statements that ‘the tribunal is in danger of collapse’ and ‘the court’s future hangs in the balance’ [3] are ‘nonsensical and do not correspond with reality.’

Last May 22, David Scheffer, who was the US Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes and participated in the creation of the ECCC, published in his Cambodia Tribunal Monitor blog an essay on the matter with the title ‘The Negotiating History of the ECCC’s Personal Jurisdiction.’ [4] Scheffer gives a detailed description of the negotiation to establish the UN-Cambodian tribunal to prosecute the leaders of the Khmer Rouge. On January 2, 2001, the Cambodian National Assembly approved the ECCC Law stating that the mission of it was to prosecute ‘senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the crimes and serious violations of Cambodian laws.’

The current status quo of the ECCC seems, therefore, locked in the prosecution of the senior leaders (Case 002): Khieu Samphan, former Head of State, Ieng Sary, former Prime Minister in Charge of Foreign Affairs, Nuon Chea, former Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and Mrs. Ieng Thirith, former Minister of Social Affairs, which initial hearing will commence on June 12, 2011.

The problem has been, therefore, the 003 and 004 cases that seem to include other suspects, although it is difficult for the public opinion to determine if the persons that are mentioned in that preliminary investigations fall within the competence of ECCC because the information is confidential. Thus the statement of International Co-Prosecutor Andrew Cayley has produced too much concern and pressure over the Court, because his consideration that the investigations were not appropriated.

In an email to Asian Correspondent, Mr. Cayley replied:

‘The discussion has centred, of late, on whether cases 003 and 004 should go ahead.  Whether the country needs them.  There is a much wider issue - that of due process.  In other words whether these cases proceed or are dismissed the journey to get to that procedural point must be legal and proper.  Officials, including me, must act under the law and do their duty  My responsibilities here are as clear as those of the Director of Public Prosecutions in England.  It is not part of my function to respond to external influences. It is simply to ensure the rules are followed and the law applied.  I will, as you describe, continue to exert “concern and pressure” to ensure that justice is not only done but is manifestly and undoubtedly seen to be done.’

The question is if there are four senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime ready to face prosecution, where are those of the second group that fall within the competence of the Court that are called the ‘most responsible during the period of Democratic Kampuchea’? It is also clear that the four senior leaders and those who died already like Pol Pot, Ta Mok and Son Sen, were not direct mass murderers. Even we can forecast that their defense will rely on that and that they will insist in their innocence until the end. Therefore, who killed so many people? Expanding the number of defendants – with a very clear boundary, will not, by sure, conduct to a civil war, but omitting them will not bring peace to the victims and justice to the history.

Last Thursday, the ASRIC group, a US-based organization of survivors of the Khmer Rouge, declared that the war crimes tribunal will fail to deliver justice, [5] because the judges closed the 003 case that could bring new suspects into investigation, something that International Prosecutor Andrew Cayley said was deficient. Other critics even foresee the ‘crush of the tribunal’ like the International Justice Tribune [6] or like Peter Maguire, the author of ‘Facing Death in Cambodia’, who says in The New York Times that ‘the biggest problem facing the ECCC is living up to its own hype. Claims that such trials lead to healing, closure, truth and reconciliation are speculative at best. How does one measure ‘healing, closure and reconciliation?’. [7]

Yesterday, the United Nations rejected also the statements of the president of the Cambodian Center of Human Rights, Ou Virak, who questioned the intentions to close down the 003 and 004 cases and suggested external interferences to the UN-Cambodian tribunal. Virak singled German Co-Judge Siegfred Blunk and said in a letter to Clint Williamson, who acts as liaison between UN headquarters and the government, that ‘[Blunk's] actions raise the question of whether the United Nations has conceded to the demands of the [Cambodian government] and is now acting to prevent any further cases from going to trial and to ensure the closure of the [tribunal] with the conclusion of Case 002‘. [8] [9]

The eyes of many are now on ECCC and it must look for the way to defend its credibility, especially before the victims. ‘There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting,’ says Siddhartha in a Buddhist kingdom like Cambodia.

The Cambodian raining season (May-October) also means a threat to vulnerable farmers by thunderstorms

Sihanoukville. More than 70 people have died in Cambodia in 2011 due to lightning, according to the National Committee of Disasters. All of the victims are farmers in central provinces like Pursat, Kompung Cham and Battambang. The number of deaths by lighting more than doubled since the same period last year, January to May. The deadly lightning comes with the rainy season that started earlier this year in April.

Campaigns to prevent it consists in telling farmers through the media to stay indoors when it rains.

“Every year we know that someone dies due to lightning. For example, last year I knew of a man who was struck when he was on the phone,” says Brak Sakhan, 23, a student in the southern province of Kompot. “We think that it happens especially when the farmers are out on the fields and they do not have time to take shelter, but we have known of persons who have been struck when they were at home.”

There have been also cases of animals, like cows, pigs and oxen, which have been killed by the natural phenomenon. Several rural families believe that lighting is sent by angels.

“Some farmers believe that a person who is killed by lighting is because that person did something that makes him worthy of it,” explains Sakhan. “If a man has two women, it means that one must be removed by the angels.”

Children and young people, instead, have another idea through television, radio and at school.

“There is a book that students see at school on how to protect yourself from lightning, says Heng Seyha, 22. The book is studied when teenagers are at 10^th grade. “In that book is explained how to prevent it, for example, if it is raining, you must be indoors, you should not enter the house when you are wet, you should turn off electron devices and you should not stand near a tree. You must wear shoes, stay far from phone antennae and not speak by phone,” he adds.

“There’s the problem that the elders believe in the action of spirits. If a person dies by a lightning strike, it is because that person saw a spirit,” says Cheng Chamroeun, 25, who was a Buddhist monk for seven years.

“I think the problem continues in our country, because there is not enough information and people do not follow the measures of prevention we should know.”

“In big houses and big villages, buildings have lightning strikes, but most houses in small villages or farmer places no,” says Sakhan of his own village, Sre Kann, in Kompot province.