PHNOM PENH, August 29, 2009—World Bank Vice President for the East Asia and Pacific Region, Mr. James W. Adams, was in Phnom Penh on Thursday, August 27 and Friday, August 28, 2009 for meetings with senior government officials, development partners, and representatives from NGOs, research institutes and the private sector.

This was part of a regional visit that takes in Cambodia, Timor-Leste and China.  Mr. Adams visited Cambodia to discuss and review the status of the World Bank’s support program in Cambodia, particularly in the areas of land reform, decentralization and deconcentration, public financial management, and private sector development. Mr. Adams discussed with senior government officials the impact of the global economic crisis on the region in general and on Cambodia in particular, and measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis, especially on Cambodia’s most vulnerable people. A major focus of the visit was Cambodia’s urban land sector and the increasing numbers of disputes and evictions of poor people in urban settlements. This included discussion of the report from the enhanced review of the Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), which was undertaken in response to questions raised about a possible link between the project and these disputes. The discussions on land reform were constructive and it was agreed to continue these discussions over the coming week to agree next steps.

 

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PHNOM PENH, September 6, 2009 — Following a decision by the Council of Ministers on Friday 4 September to terminate World Bank financing of the Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), World Bank Country Director for South-East Asia, Annette Dixon, made the following statement.

“Land security and a fair, transparent approach to resolving land disputes and resettlement are among the greatest challenges facing Cambodia today. People without land or secure title to land are much more likely to be poor and stay poor.

It’s for these reasons that the World Bank has been working intensively with Government, development partners and other stakeholders since 2002 to put in place a modern and comprehensive land administration system. This project has issued more than 1.1 million land titles, mostly to poor people in rural areas. However, recent land price increases, which have averaged over 30 percent, have been leading to land disputes, compensation issues, eviction processes and resettlement issues.

As part of our continuing dialogue with Government on these growing challenges, the World Bank undertook a review to find out whether LMAP was still achieving its intended outcomes given the rapidly changing land sector environment.

The review found that LMAP’s successes in land titling in rural areas have not been matched in urban areas where land disputes are on the rise. This was due in part to delays or lack of implementation of some project activities. While originally designed as a multi-pronged approach to addressing a range of land issues, LMAP focused on areas where it could be most successful: titling rural land and building the capacity of the land administration to register and title land and implement policy.

We have shared the findings of the review with the Government but could not come to agreement on whether LMAP’s social and environmental safeguards should apply in some of the disputed urban areas. For the World Bank, the implementation of these safeguard policies is critical. However, we are encouraged by the Government’s statement of its commitment to continuing reforms in the land sector and working towards an improved policy and legal framework for resettlement that reflects their commitment to international treaties.

We remain committed to working with Government and other development partners through the Technical Working Group on Land to support Cambodia’s efforts to secure land tenure, reduce poverty, and improve economic opportunity for all of its people.”

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The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring to the attention of the Human Rights Council a major lacuna that constitutes one of the most fundamental obstacles to the enjoyment, protection and promotion of human rights in Cambodia. The lack of the required laws on the statute of judges and prosecutors as well as the lack of the legal underpinning to the organisation of the judiciary are resulting in the judiciary not functioning effectively. This crucial institution is fundamental to the actualisation of human rights and remains ineffective and lacking in independence and capacity to function. It is imperative for any discussion on human rights in Cambodia, for these issues to take centre-stage. Without an effective, legally established and independent judiciary, human rights violations have no effective deterrent and impunity is guaranteed.

By virtue of the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991, Cambodia is bound to all relevant international norms and standards of human rights. It is to set up an independent judiciary so that, as §2 of Annex 5 on the “Principles for a New Constitution for Cambodia” to the “Agreement in a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict,” aggrieved individuals will have the courts adjudicate and enforce their rights.

Cambodia has since honoured many of its international obligations as it has adhered to international human rights instruments and has enshrined many human rights in its 1993 Constitution. As spelled out clearly in the preamble to this Constitution, Cambodia is supposed to be a pluralistic liberal democracy governed by the rule of law and respecting human rights. Its Art.31 states that “The Kingdom of Cambodia shall recognize and respect human rights as stipulated in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the covenants and conventions related to human rights, women’s and children’s rights.” In its decision dated 10 July 2007, Cambodia’s Constitutional Council declared that all recognised human rights have become an integral part of Cambodian law.

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy and, according to Art.8 of its Constitution the king is the guarantor of the rights and freedoms of his people. To perform this duty he has the assistance of the judiciary which, for its part, is also the protector of the rights and freedoms of the Cambodian people (Art.128 if the Constitution).

The Constitution has specifically stipulated a number of laws that need to be enacted, namely, the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors and also the law on the organization of the judiciary (ART. 135 of the Constitution). However, since the creation of the Constitution, these two important laws have not seen the light of day. Amongst the main reasons for this are corruption and executive control of the judiciary. As a result, Cambodians are not in practice entitled to be tried by an independent, competent and impartial tribunal established by law under Art.14-1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Cambodia is a State party.

Over this relatively long period of time, tens of thousands of people have been tried by judges whose status have not been defined by the required law and by courts of law whose establishment has never been based on a law on the organization of the judiciary, although both of these laws that have been specifically stipulated in the Constitution of 1993.

The Cambodian government has delayed, the enactment of these two important laws for what will be 16 years this coming September 24th; a delay that should by itself amount to an unconstitutional omission on the government’s part, although the country’s Constitution is silent on this omission. The delay in the enactment of these two laws stands in stark contrast to the law on the statute of civil servants and the law of members of the armed forces, both of which were enacted more than ten years ago, in the mid-1990s.

The government has preferred to continue to apply the old law on the nomination of judges and the activities of courts, enacted in the communist days on the eve of the country’s pluralistic liberal democracy. This particular law no longer befits the new system of government that abandoned communism and embraced liberal democracy, in order, purportedly, to be governed by the rule of law. This new system adopts the principles of separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy as an independent body belonging to the judiciary, and as the supreme judicial body of the judiciary, whose jurisdiction is the nomination and discipline of judges and prosecutors. Furthermore, this particular pre-liberal democracy law is not among laws and regulations that should continue to apply under the transitional provisions of the country’s constitution (Art.158 of the Constitution).

The Constitution’s transitional provision only recognizes the validity of past laws and standard documents pertaining to state properties and the rights and freedoms pertaining to lawfully acquired properties in the past. Art 158 on this transitional provision says: “Laws and standard documents in Cambodia that safeguard State properties, rights, freedom and legal private properties and in conformity with the national interests, shall continue to be effective until altered or abrogated by new texts, except those provisions that are contrary to the spirit of this Constitution.”

The absence of the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors ensures that there are no guarantees concerning the independence of individual judges and prosecutors. The Supreme Council of the Magistracy belongs to the independent judiciary and is chaired by the king. It nominates and disciplines judges and prosecutors, both of which belong to this Council. This Council assists the king in ensuring the independence of the judiciary.

Due to the absence of this law, no age of retirement of judges and prosecutors has been fixed and there have been charges of favouritism levelled about older judges or prosecutors (including four of them recently), who have wished to remain in active service. Furthermore, there have been cases of infringement by the Ministry of Justice and even the government itself on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy. The Ministry of Justice controls the Secretariat of the Council, and has made nomination proposals and got the Council to approve them and submitted them to the king for signature, without the Council having much say at all in the process.

A couple of recent examples have illustrated the government’s infringement upon the jurisdiction and independence of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy. On June 21, 2009, the government ignored the Supreme Council of the Magistracy altogether when it retired and replaced four out of eight (two-ex officio and two (of three) appointed) members of the Council and submitted the whole proposals for the king for signature. More recently, on August 4, the Minister of Justice proposed the appointments of over 32 judges and prosecutors (including four over the de facto age of retirement of 60), and had the Council approve them and submitted these to the king for signature.

This practice is very much indicative of the executive’s control over the judiciary. It is unconstitutional, but there is no procedure for constitutional review of acts of government by the country’s Constitutional Council in the same way as the constitutional review of laws operates. This loophole should be removed, lest Cambodia continues to be ruled by decree instead of the rule of law, and the government continues to exercise control over the judiciary.

The prolonged absence of the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors poses a problem concerning the legitimacy of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy as well as of the Constitutional Council itself. Due to necessity during its formative years beginning in 1994, and the then-inability to enact the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors in time, an interim arrangement was made to appoint three judges as members of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, pending the enactment of that law through which they would be elected by their peers. Since 1994, the law in question has not been passed despite the government’s repeated promises to do so. The election of these three judges has been upheld and they have continued to be appointed. As time passes by the legitimacy of the composition of the Council is becoming increasingly questionable.

The dubious legitimacy of the composition of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy in turn puts into question the legitimacy of the composition of the country’s Constitutional Council, whose jurisdiction is to ensure the constitutionality and interpretation of all laws and to serve as the court of final appeal for election conflicts. Three of the nine members of the Constitutional Council are appointed by the Supreme Council of the Magistracy whose composition lacks legitimacy. When the legitimacy of latter’s composition is also dubious, it is very doubtful whether the Constitutional Council’s authority has its full weight.

With the absence of the law on the statute of judges and prosecutors, and also of the law on the organization of the judiciary, both of which have been specifically stipulated in the country’s constitution, the whole of Cambodia’s justice system do not have any legal foundation and framework.

Recommendations

There is still a long way to go before anyone in Cambodia can be guaranteed being tried by an independent, competent and impartial court established by law. However, it should not take very long to enact a law on the statute of judges and prosecutors and another law on the organization of the judiciary, in order to ensure that a trial court is at least established under the law and that judicial officers in charge of investigations and trials have proper legal status as judges or prosecutors. The Cambodian judiciary can no longer function as a judiciary without a proper legal foundation and framework.

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) therefore recommends that the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia and the members of the Human Rights Council pay special attention to the need for an effective, independent judiciary with a proper, constitutionally legal foundation and framework. Without this, all discussions about and work on human rights in Cambodia is unrealistic and unlikely to lead to successes.

The ALRC recommends that the government of Cambodia enact the two laws on the statute of judges and prosecutors and on the organization of the judiciary, if it has any pretence of being serious about the protection and promotion of human rights and democracy in the country. This would greatly improve the conditions of nominations of judges and prosecutors, their independence, the prohibition on their political affiliation, the prohibition on their removal without their consent, their competence and impartiality, salaries, promotion, discipline and removal from judicial services under grave circumstances, and the age of retirement.

With these two laws, the judiciary would become one of the three branches of government with an equal footing with the legislature and the executive and could ensure a system of checks and balances befitting a pluralistic liberal democracy, which Cambodia is under its Constitution. The two branches of government should respect the principle of separation of powers and also the independence of the judiciary as enshrined in Articles 51 and 128 of the Constitution.

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Unlike many other countries, Cambodia is bound to international human rights obligations, including one towards its citizens who wish to participate in the promotion of human rights. Thus, under the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 that ended the conflict in that country, “Cambodia undertakes”, among other things, “to support the right of all (its) citizens to undertake activities that would promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Since the conclusion of those agreements many such citizens have formed various NGOs with the purpose of doing precisely that work. Nowadays, there are several thousand NGOs that have registered but only a fraction of them are actually operational.

In reality, the Cambodian government has not honoured this particular international obligation as the registration of NGOs is a lengthy and complicated business, and requires the approval of officials at many levels of administration from the commune, district and provincial levels to many units higher up in the Ministry of Interior.

As to human rights defenders themselves, who are invariably affiliated to such NGOs, they not only have little support and protection from the government but also have at times received threats and intimidation from its agents. More often than not these agents have restricted their activities. The general attitude of the government is simply not particularly favourable to their work when NGOs and human rights defenders are invariably critical of the human rights situation in the country, an assessment which the government does not like at all.

Human rights defenders and their NGOs working closely with the grassroots people, have come to know the real situation and have been able to make interventions to help victims of human rights abuses. They have also been able to bring their cases to the attention of the relevant public authorities. It has now become a routine in the country that whenever people have some troubles related to human rights violations, the first thing they do is to call for help from the NGOs and inform sympathetic media so that they can highlight their cases. NGOs and human rights defenders have become part of the country’s social landscape.

For their respective part, the government has set up its own human rights committee, and the National Assembly (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House) have likewise their respective human rights committees. Alleged victims of human rights violations have resort to these public institutions, invariably with the help from human rights defenders. But the effectiveness of these committees is debatable when, at times, they are not so keen to receive complaints from victims and fail to keep them informed of the progress of their investigations.

Recently, the government has shown more hostility to NGOs and human rights defenders. When reconfirmed in office after the July 2008 elections, Prime Minister Hun Sen prioritised the law on NGOs as one of the first three laws his government set out to enact, the other laws being the penal code and anti-corruption law. On both pieces of legislation the government has made frequent promises to enact. The reason behind the enactment of the NGO law was said to prevent the funding of NGOs by terrorist organisations. In September, 2008 Hun Sen asserted: “We have a concern that sometimes under so and so NGO, financial assistance has been provided for terrorist activities, take for instance the Al Um Quran under which Ham Bali hid himself in Cambodia.” But what has been forgotten was that the anti-Terrorism Law of 2007 (Chapter 11 on funding and aid for terrorism) has already adequately addressed this issue.

In March 2009, in response to a critical assessment of the human rights situation in Cambodia by the US State Department, Hun Sen accused NGOs of giving “misleading information” to the report and lashed out at them saying that, “human rights NGOs are working only for salaries; if they didn’t criticize the government, they would be out of work; they would also have to close their doors if there were no assistance from abroad.” He further asserted that in order to get money, “they have therefore to endeavour to fabricate stories to prove that the government has a poor human rights record.” The US and its various foundations are a major source of funding for Cambodian NGOs.

This year the NGO bashing has reached the mass media sympathizing with the government when TV channels have aired comedies to paint bad pictures, not only of donors but also the NGOs themselves. Representatives of donors were shown as being more concerned with womanizing than with evaluating the work of NGOs while NGOs were shown as being busy producing reports critical of the government to submit to their donors. Recently, the government’s hostility has gone as far seeing local and international NGOs and even international agencies, when critical of the human rights situation in Cambodia, as working for the opposition.

Human rights defenders have therefore not been secure in their work. In 2008, ADHOC, a leading human rights NGO reported 63 cases of threats of various forms, including arrests, against hundreds of defenders. These defenders comprised in majority, community representatives advocating the protection of their lands, human rights activists and trade unionists.

According to ADHOC, such threats were “an unprecedented phenomenon” and they had happened in almost every province and municipality. ADHOC asserted that public authorities took no action against the perpetrators and the judiciary seems to have connived with these threats. It said that, “In particular, threats against human rights defenders on the part of some judges and prosecutors became close to (being) systematic, and the Supreme Council of Magistracy (in charge of nominating and disciplining judges and prosecutors) and the Ministry of Justice failed to take disciplinary measures against judges and prosecutors committing such abuses.”

Very recently, apparently under pressure from powerful persons interested in the exploitation of the resources that are supposed to belong to the indigenous people in the area, according to the country’s land law, a judge recommended to ADHOC to remove from a member of its staff from Rattanakiri province. Pen Bonnar, is a human rights defender well known for his defence of the rights of the indigenous people against the encroachment of their local land and forests by the rich and powerful. That judge intimated that if Pen Bonnar was no longer under his jurisdiction he was not have to conduct the investigation into the charges of defamation, disinformation and incitement against him. ADHOC obliged and assigned Pen Bonnar to work in Phnom Penh.

By making obstacles to the work of human rights defenders and their respective NGOs, the Cambodian government has not only defied its own undertaking under the Paris Peace Agreements but also the country’s Constitution. Article 31 of this Constitution says, inter alia, that “The Kingdom of Cambodia shall recognize and respect human rights as stipulated in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human rights, the covenants and conventions related to human rights, women’s and children’s rights.” The same Constitution, under its Article 35, guarantees its citizens’ “the right to participate actively in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the nation.”

The government’s NGO bashing and obstructions have affected the citizens’ constitutional right “to establish associations” (Art. 42). It has also violated their right mentioned above to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural rights of the country.

By working against NGOs and human rights defenders, the Cambodian government has also violated the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which the UN General Assembly adopted with its Resolution 53/144 dated 9 December 1998. This Declaration should have been more widely known and complied with, especially among government officials dealing with human rights defenders, as the field Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Phnom Penh widely disseminated it in the local language (Khmer) since 2006.

The work and activities of NGOs and human rights defenders is in conformity with this Declaration to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, the Cambodian government should do its part and fulfil more of its responsibilities. In particular, it should provide protection to all human rights defenders as stipulated under Art 12 (2) of the Declaration:

“2. The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly urges the Cambodian government to honour all its international human rights obligations, and in particular, to support the right of all its citizens, human rights defenders and NGOs to undertake activities that promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia. The government and its agents must provide adequate protection to all human rights defenders.

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By CHHENG Sambo

 Phnom Penh–Every year, the irregularity always exist before and during the Baccalaureate, BacII examinatioin for student in grade 12 in Cambodia. And these error make the quality of the students as a productive citizen are under the low line.

 Generally, Baccalaureate, BacII examinatioin takes place in the early month of August every year. Students are seen to be very busy with their study part time and copying notes as they believe it will be helpful for them to cheat during the examination.

 A month before the exam, most student are working hard and go everywhere in order to ask friends or their relative to seek for any documents for their exam. Most of them do not care for other thing; they only concentrate on the exam.

 As a fact, whenever someone tells them there are some documents which will be appeared in the exam they always spend money to buy those documents. They seem to be afraid of failing their exam because most of them think that sitting on this exam is their final life for education as well as it can be a bridge to peruse to the university.

 Meanwhile everywhere are seen at photo copy shops are so busy as well as any other bookstores along with students ask for books, correction books, notes, test document which can be help the to prepare notes to cheat or sharing with other.

 The whole sense before the exam can be seen so dramatic especially to the poor but for the rich it is becomes a common thing because they have money so they can buy those documents easily. However, for the poor are impossible to do like the rich. They have to do on their best before the and during exam.

 When these activities become chaos before the exam, so students sometimes they do not learn hard or try to research, read the book but they feel 100% depend on the cheating note and money to give for the superintending during the exam.     

 However, there are some students they are working very hard for their exam especially with the poor students and sometimes the rich as well. And as a result, those people usually get good achievement and good work for their future.

 In contrary, during the exam everything seems to be well-organized and actually the Cambodia government does a good job but there are errors inside at the examination place. The inspections force students to pay money in order they allow the students to cheat or see each other, however, sometimes students themselves raise money from students in class to give to the inspections.

 All of these now become a tradition before and during the examination in Cambodia, however, Cambodia government also take step each year in order to kick out these problems but errors are still happen in the test room.

 Most people said that these activities happen because of the poverty and the living standard especially with a poor government for the national exam. And students have no willing or feel dependent for their exam because in a class at public school most teachers do not teach them very well. They focus only part time class in order to earn money. So for the rich they can get knowledge in contrary to the poor they do not have money to pay for part time class.

 Most NGOs are concerning about Cambodian students’ education in future very much and they also urge the government to settle this problem otherwise Cambodian student will never be a good productive citizen for the country.

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By CHHENG Sambo

 Phnom Penh–Land dispute is still a hot issue in Cambodia which cause lots of Cambodian people to lose their land.  All these problems cause from the authorize people or investment companies take over land by force to the poor as well as this problem has been lasted for a long time.

 There are lots of local, international investors, and companies are dealing businesses in Cambodia. Those people received the land concession from Cambodian government to develop some places through out the country.

 As a matter of fact, when those companies or investor are developing, they cause problems to people who live in the area especially with the land. And this issue is not just happening now but it has occurred for a long time up to the present with no relieve.

 The group from 29 different communities filed a join complaint to the office of the prime minister, the council of Ministers, the National Authority of land dispute resolution, and the Ministry of land management.

 However, more than 300 representatives from 19 provinces urge government agencies and offices to resolve dispute in more then 700,000 hectares of land, complaining their daily existence was threatened by their displacement recently in August, 2009.

 The complaint included 119,218 signatures, from dispute in 164 villages in provinces ranging across the entire country. The complaint was along with pictures of land dispute locations and report of shooting injuries and death, beatings, detention, imprisonment of dissenters and the clearing of houses and crops.

 Ny Chakriya, chief investigator for the right group Licadho, said the group would follow whether the government can find solutions. He added that, “providing economic land concession to private companies in the wrong direction affect people’s family economic development and jeopardizes the government’s poverty reduction plan.”

 However, the result has not come out for the villagers from all 19 provinces at that time. There is not jus this case but also lots of cases in this year 2009 about the land dispute from a powerful people to overlap the poor people.

 ADHOC, the human right of organization receive file complaints of taking over land about 300 cases in which 8 people were killed and 150 other captured about the land dispute.

 

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By CHHENG Sambo

 Phnom Penh,ECCC–Kaing Guek Eav, a Khmer Rouge torture chief better known as Comrade Duch told the khmer rouge tribunal he denies to recognize Lay Chan, the 6^th witness who claims as a victim at S-21, while he and his lawyer have not found any specific evident to be proofed on Jul.07, 2009.

 This is the second time that Duch and his lawyer refused not to recognized Lay Chan as a witness at S-21.

 Duch’s denying, a head of the Toul Sleng torture center, claimed that he have never heard the name of Mith, friend,  Lay Chan even his background was not available at S-21.

 He confirmed to the court and added that according to the interrogation from the judge and the criminal plaintiff lawyers Lay Chan said he was also one of the victim at S-21 who was released after the three months detaining and torturing. As a result, Duch rejected Lay Chan’s statement by adding that no-one could survive from S-21 after the interrogation. So Duch briefed that Mith Lay Chan was not a victim at S-21.

 However, Ka Savuth, Duch’s lawyer, called Lay Chan’s statement to khmer rough tribunal as a misunderstanding as well as he may had been apprehended somewhere else beside S-21.

The lawyer, Ka Savuth, brought up the cases that Lay Chan confirmed he did heard the guardian talked to each other the place where he was detained in Toul Sleng prison while he was in the dark room. As the word “Toul Sleng prison”, Ka Savuth had the reaction to Lay Chan by saying that during the Pol Pot time most of the people knew Toul Sleng prison as S-21 and those people only called S-21 then when Lay Chan said like that it was not true.

 Ka Savuth also rejected one another statement said by Lay Chan that he was detained in a small place with a low height which maked him difficult to stand up. In contrary, Ka Savuth said formerly S-21 detaining was a school building which Pol Pot used as a prison. And he also recognized that the room was small but the height to the room was so hight so to what Lay Chan said was wrong.

 In the response to the lawyer, Ka Savuth, Lay Chan just said he could not remember everything well because at that time he was shackled, and blinded fold. However, Lay Chan still confirmed he was really a victim at S-21.

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By CHHENG Sambo

 Phnom Penh—Freedom of expression in Cambodia is still considered to be the main problem although there are statements, encouragement, and the effort in order to improve a tough situation. However, this issue appears in violence, sue to each other, and be in the prison in case of libel.

 Now a day, both NGOs, diplomatic officials, and media institution are working hard to enhance a wide freedom of expression to public and journalists. Most of them are very concerned when they voice in the society.

 According to the report about journalist in 2008 then there were 14 cases of capturing, 2 cases complaining to the court, 3 cases to suspend the circulation, 3 cases suffered from fighting, and shoot to dead for 1 case.

 In the last following month, there were some cases that journalist and other were filed a complain to the court about defamation and incitation. There were two from the opposition party, one was from the supporting civilization foundation of organization, and one another was from a local newspaper which is known as Khmer Machas Srok.

 Khieu Kanharith, Minister of information, stated in the 18^th anniversary of world press freedom day that all journalists have right to criticize the government in case of corruption, forest, and land issue. He added that owing to Cambodia press law journalists are not sentenced to jail in case of showing expression and news writing

Cambodian journalists always complain they do not have enough freedom in news reporting. Those journalists are working under the pressure such as the effect from high ranking people, their work place pressure, and a living standard so they lack of freedom of expression in their profession.

 However, the public usually dare not to express even their opinion because they are not given the power or freedom to say anything. If they want to show their expression, so their voice must be limited. The public often afraid of saying badly about government or even high ranking official though they are aware something, which those people did, was wrong.

Lasting for along time, this case, freedom of expression, now becomes a common thing which people keep it as nothing happen. If anyone want to deal with this problem, it will be very difficult to do alone. However, the public, NGOs, and other will not prolong this issue to spread into the society anymore.

 However, Cambodia government has just sent a draft law which is about how to do the peace demonstration to the assembly in the last Mar.2009. As a result, Hun Sen, Prime minister of Cambodia, had already sign on that draft law and he also emphasized that this new law was used in order to guarantee to all freedom of expression from the public and other. 

Freedom House of organization put Cambodia into the country where there is no freedom and among 195 countries Cambodia got number of 61. 

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By CHHNG Sambo

 Phnom Penh–At least 46,300 of drug users are increasing and this is a hot issue that Cambodia government is concerning that this country will lost benefit for the whole country as well as this is a topic of anti-drug day, To Makara said on Friday.

 To Makara, General of army and as a secretary general of anti-drug authority, said that this population of the drug users was unclear because this was just a data which was researched by NGOs. He continued Cambodia was not a drug producing country but this country was a victim one which the drug trafficker exported drug to deal in Cambodia.

 The general also said at the late of 2004 and the early of 2005 there were 4,000,000 tablets of drug exported and sized from the dealers. And there was an attempt to build a place to produce drug at Kampong Speu but it was cracked down.

 However, the general stated about the main objective on how to stop this dealing and the first protective objective was to decrease the supply of the drug and this mean that the entire drug plantation must destroy especially the need from all of authorities to cooperate to stop. Second thing is to educate people to be aware of effect of using drug. Third thing is to strengthen the ability of the authorities and the last objective is to have a good hand in hand with the international.  

 Pao Mony, from Battambong, expressed his concerning that though there was a good anti-drug to Cambodia so why did the problem still exist in Cambodia?

 In response to this question, the general of army To Makara said that “the drug traffickers still can export drug to Cambodia because they fraudulent in the picture that Cambodia export those thing in the advantages for medical use, industries, and agriculture then they take that chance to treat the wrong thing so the authorities are difficult to deal with that.”

 In addition, the general of army To Makara said that in order to fight against with the drug trafficking in Cambodia we have to have a corporation with people in local and international especially to educate people about the disadvantages of using drug and circulate through the media to the public to know this issue.

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By CHHENG Sambo

Cambodia, ECCC–Kaing Guek Eav, the jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief better known as Duch, confessed to tribunal judge Jun.22 he did ordere to torture the prisoners during the interrogation and executing when he was on power at S21.

 Co-prosecutor, yet chakriya, confirmed Duch whether or not when referred to some notes which they were his ordering such as “have not confessed, Torture, and Smash”.

 In response to co-prosecutor’s question, Duch, head of the Tuol Sleng torture centure, said that it was true that those notes were written by him as well as his ordering. He added that he regulated to his colleagues to interrogate the prisoners followed the superiors ordering and the torturing depend on the interrogators.

 In case of the interrogators forced prisoner to eat excrement Duch told the hearing on same day that it was a wrong doing out of the internal S-21 regulation.

 However, the co-prosecutor Yeth Chakriya asked Duch whether he punished to his colleagues or not. Then Duch said he did not do that because it was the case which his colleagues did without letting him be aware about that problem.

 In the past following of the hearing, Duch always ignore the court he has never tortured anyone by himself. As he stated he always followed the order from his superior, but today, Jun.22,2009 during the hearing, he admitted to hit Chheth Ev, prisoner, instead of Nat. Duch added Chheth Ev used to be the national security police inspector who interrogated and tortured khmer rouge a lot that why Nat had rancor with him so Duch did not want Nat to touch with the prisoner as Nat was a high ranking official.

 Duch , along with another note[smash all] which was presented by the court, also admitted he killed 17 children at Tuol Sleng torture centure.

 Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, face charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, in the first trial to be undertaken by the UN-backed court and the case of 001 of Duch’s will be prolonged to finished during the late of October, 2009.

 Nil Non, the trail chamber’s chief judge, confirmed that the trail of Kaing Guek Eav should be careful for the translators, interpreters in order not to misunderstand about the answers from Kaing Guek Eav in the following hearing especially to avoid the error

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