LES 6
COMMANDEMENTS		 PHN@M - P@NH - P@TINS THE 6
COMMANDMENTS


Not their Prices but their Prizes (2004-Nov-09)


PHNOM PENH : At the Intercontinental Hotel took place the 2004 Cambodia Miss Bridgestone Pageant. Over 1,000 candidates have sent their photos. The final contest crowned Duong Maliss, 17, who won the 3,000,000 riels prize (750 US$). The runner-ups were Ratana Kethya, 18 and Peou Vanchan Dana, 18. [Koh Santepheap]

SRP embarks on internal reforms (2004-Nov-08)
         K.I. : The opposition Sam Rainsy Party is making preparations for a vast reform of its internal structures and organization. According to the party leadership the reform is intended to promote "internal democracy" by "empowering party members in decision making processes". Party leaders, at all levels, will henceforth be democratically elected by ordinary party members instead of being appointed or co-opted by existing leaders. Elections will start at the village level – all over the country – to select the very grassroots leaders, who will in turn elect higher-level local and regional leaders at the commune, district and provincial levels. The democratically elected provincial and regional leaders or delegates will, at the end of the process, elect the party's national leaders.
         Party candidates for any national elections will be designated through "primary elections" modeled on those organized in the United States by the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The reform, to be implemented with the support of the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, is presented as a "revolution" in Cambodian politics and Cambodian traditional mentality based on authoritarianism, paternalism and patronage, and is expected to give birth to a "New SRP" in 2005. See first comment in Khmer at http:// www.cambodiapolitics.org/ news/ moneaksekar_youth/ november_04/ 7-8_y.pdf .

Funcinpec unable to resolve internal problems (2004-Nov-06)

Khmerintelligence.org : On 8 September 2004, under the headline "Funcinpec heading for crisis", KI pointed to the "mounting tensions [within Prince Norodom Ranariddh's party] associated with the ongoing potentially explosive infighting related to allocation of government positions [a limited number of positions have been sold or promised to a much larger number of contestants]."

Two months later, the above problems remain unsolved and tensions have actually mounted. The Sirivudh clan (led by Secretary General Norodom Sirivudh, left) is confronting the Nhiek Bun Chhay clan (led by the former military Resistance leader, now a pro-Hun Sen deputy prime minister, right) when it comes to the grabbing of lucrative positions for their respective clients. As for defectors from the Sam Rainsy Party who have been expecting rewards in the form of government positions (KI, 31 August 2004: "SRP infiltrates fake defectors into Funcinpec"), some have been unmasked as spies and trouble-makers, and will soon be welcome back to the opposition party.

Cambodia's child sex shame (2004-Nov-04)
         (By Julian Pettifer, BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents) : After generations of war, corruption and poverty, the sexual exploitation of children in Cambodia has become an epidemic, and only now are a few hesitant steps being taken to protect the young and punish their abusers. The children of Cambodia are desperately vulnerable, and their plight has been aggravated by the rapid growth of international tourism. Not all foreign visitors are attracted by Cambodia's beaches and by wonders of Angkor Wat. According to some surveys, up to 20% are sex tourists - and among them are those seeking children. But according to Naly Pilorge of Licadho, a Cambodian human rights organisation, it is important not to overstate the influx of Western paedophiles as a cause of child exploitation. Speaking to the BBC's Crossing Continents programme, she said: "Up to 70% of our caseload for children is rape. "Mostly the perpetrators are family members or men in the local community. Of the reported cases, we have a small number of foreign paedophiles." Among Cambodian and other South East Asian men, there is a strong demand for young virgin girls. This is driven by the fear of Aids and the belief that they can rejuvenate themselves by sleeping with a virgin.

There is another face to
Cambodia beyond the
beaches and temples

         Tragic tales - Some Chinese-run hotels are regularly supplied with young girls, many of them abducted or purchased from their families and trafficked across the border from Vietnam. Once the child's virginity has been sold for about $500, she is traded on to a brothel. At a safe house in Phnom Penh run by the French-based charity Agir Pour Les Femmes en Situations Precaire, I spoke to two girls rescued from brothels. Lan had just turned 19 and could not recall at what age she was first sold to a man. "It was so long ago," she told me. But she did remember that her first client was Chinese, that he paid $400 for three days with her and that she was constantly under guard. The other girl, Dieu, was a waif-like 15-year-old but looked much younger. Her story is all too familiar in Cambodia. She was recruited in neighbouring Vietnam and trafficked across the border, believing she was going to work in a café. Instead she found herself in a brothel where her virginity was sold to a Cambodian man for $250.

Maggie Eno and CAMBODIA'S CHILDREN
How one NGO is working hard to
protect vulnerable youngsters
         Collecting evidence - Most child protection work in Cambodia has been done by NGOs and international agencies but there are a few government initiatives as well. On the law enforcement front, the National Police now has its Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Unit, one of many institutions supported by the massive foreign aid programme. At the unit's smart new headquarters, I dropped in on a training course. About 40 officers, both men and women, were learning how to collect evidence using digital cameras and then store the images on laptop computers. All the equipment had been donated by the British Embassy. Overseeing the project is Christian Guth, a former Chief Inspector with the French National Police. Guth is convinced that the Anti-Trafficking Unit is beginning to make a difference. He told me that arrests for sexual offences have risen from virtually zero in 1997 to almost 400 last year. "More than 200 of these were rapists," he said. "The most important issue is the rape of children. We have cases of children aged four, five, six-years-old, and even the case of a one-year-old baby."
         Infamous district - The head of the Anti Trafficking Unit is Police General Un Sokunthea. I wanted to question her about an infamous red-light district called Svay Pak that is mentioned on every sex tourism website and in every pornographic magazine. Svay Pak is a village near Phnom Penh, said to be the best hunting ground of all for those seeking to buy sex with children. The general was delighted to talk about it. She told me that her officers are in the middle of a 100 day campaign to clean up Svay Pak, and she challenged me to go and see for myself. She was adamant that if I went, I should not be offered sex with a child. I decided to take up the general's challenge and set off with Sonny, my Cambodian translator. Sonny had been to Svay Pak several times before and as we drove, he painted a lurid picture of streets thronged with teenage pimps, and lined with brothels full of young girls and children.
         Deeper malaise - Sonny did not believe we would find that anything had changed. But Sonny was wrong. When we reached the village, he was amazed that all the shop-fronts which used to be brothels were now shuttered and plastered with "for sale" signs. There was no sign of human merchandise and the only thing I was offered was a cold beer. Although I was impressed by the transformation of Svay Pak, those working in child protection were not. Business has just gone elsewhere, they said. And anyway, Svay Pak is just a symptom of a much deeper malaise. Only when sex offenders are not just arrested but tried, convicted and punished will they cease to act with impunity. Campaigners want to see more people convicted.

LES SIX
COMMANDEMENTS		 REFORMING
OUR BUDDHISM		 GRAMMAIRE
KHMÈRE		 NOVEL
(Author)		 PHN@M-P@NH-P@TINS
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    FRAN-GLO-GIBWÉ
 		     CAMBODIATRIBE
 		     GOD vs BUDDHA
 		     COURRI@L 2004
 		    
PEN Nearovi, Montréal, Québec, Canada
(nearovi@sympatico.ca)