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Posted By Heng Soy to KI Media at 2/24/2012 01:52:00 AM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/24/2012 01:52:00 AM

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Posted By Heng Soy to KI Media at 2/24/2012 01:49:00 AM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/24/2012 01:49:00 AM

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Posted By Heng Soy to KI Media at 2/24/2012 01:47:00 AM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/24/2012 01:47:00 AM

On February 28 to March 1, 2012 Cambodian Member of Parliament Mu Sochua will act as a Global Ambassador for the launch of the Vital Voices and Bank of America global mentoring program “The Global Ambassador’s Program” in Pétion-Ville, Haiti. The program seeks to resolve the women’s leadership gap by connecting the expertise of the world’s top women from business, media, government and civil society to outstanding emerging local women leaders. The 2012 program’s Global Ambassadors include: American actress and activist Maria Bello; Minister of Agriculture in the Republic of Liberia, Dr. Florence Chenoweth; a Marketing Executive at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch; and Constance Morella, the former United States Government Ambassador to the OECD.

Haitian women’s voices are barely present in the country’s social and economic decision making processes. Currently, women make up less than 3% of Haiti’s Parliament. As a result, throughout the course of the past few months, Haitian women’s organizations have hosted 308 focus groups for women across the country to identify and develop policy platforms regarding key issues affecting Haitian women. The Global Ambassador’s Program will provide a space for local leaders to meet, consult, and develop their policy platforms under the mentorship of the Global Ambassadors.

During the program, Haitian women leaders will draft a set of policy priorities based on the issues identified by Haitian women across the country. Each Global Ambassador, including MP Mu Sochua, will mentor two extraordinary Haitian women leaders as they lead this consultative process to produce a National Women’s Platform. On March 1, the National Women’s Platform will be presented to President Michel Martelly to ensure the acknowledged policy priorities are accounted for in the next legislative cycle.

For more information regarding The Global Ambassador’s Program and Global Ambassador MP Mu Sochua, visit: sochua.wordpress.com.

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Posted By Heng Soy to KI Media at 2/24/2012 01:43:00 AM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/24/2012 01:43:00 AM

Thursday, 23 February 2012
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Chan Cheng quietly returned to Cambodia yesterday after fleeing to France more than two months ago following his implication in aiding and abetting a prison escape.

Chan Cheng, who had his parliamentary immunity stripped in December last year over the allegations, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Fellow SRP lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang confirmed he had arrived in Cambodia yesterday morning, but did not want to talk with journalists.

“He did not escape; he went to complete his mission. So when that mission was finished, he has to return,” Eng Chhay Eang said, without revealing further details of the “mission” in France, where SRP president Sam Rainsy is also in exile to escape a prison sentence.

“Journalists have always said that Chan Cheng had escaped, but he did not escape,” Eng Chhay Eang added.

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Posted By Heng Soy to KI Media at 2/24/2012 01:37:00 AM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/24/2012 01:37:00 AM

Thursday, 23 February 2012
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

Gory pictures of traffic accident victims and those who have suffered from violent crimes were in bad taste and must no longer grace the pages of Cambodian newspapers, the Information Minister said in a letter yesterday.

Khieu Kanharith banned the use of such graphic images in a directive that praised newspapers that searched for good or unusual information but lamented those that irresponsibly exploited people’s misery.

“There are still some media [outlets] that do not pay attention and take responsibility with their publishing,” the letter said.

“They still print cruel pictures of traffic accidents, crime and domestic violence against women and children without covering the victims’ faces.”

Khieu Kanharith, a former newspaper editor-in-chief, said failing to conceal victims’ faces not only violated codes of ethics but also impinged on people’s rights.

“From now on, all the print media has to cover victims’ faces, [conceal] their identity and avoid using those kind of pictures when printing your papers,” he said.

Pen Samitthy, editor-in-chief of the Cambodian-language newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea, said he supported the directive.

“My newspaper has never printed very cruel pictures, and we always cover the victims or blood,” he said, adding that he did not know which publications the minister was referring to.

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Posted By Heng Soy to KI Media at 2/24/2012 01:33:00 AM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/24/2012 01:33:00 AM

Thursday, 23 February 2012
May Titthara and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

“He came out of a car, he had bodyguards, he pulled his gun out of his holster – so it is not someone who is just a security guard“

Speculation is bubbling in Bavet town over the identity of the man who shot three people protesting outside a shoe factory on Monday, with eyewitnesses, police and villagers suggesting blame lies with town officials.

The shooting, which took place outside the Kaoway Sports Ltd factory in Svay Rieng province, left one woman in critical condition and has caught the eye of the international media largely because the company supplies sportswear giant PUMA.

One name surfacing amid the swirl of rumours is that of town governor Chhouk Bandith, who admitted as much during an interview with the Post yesterday but categorically denied he had any involvement in the incident.

“It is not true, because during that time, I went to the crowd to find a resolution for the workers and then I heard the sound of the guns. I feared for my safety because the situation was disorder,” he said.

Chhouk Bandit said no officials had come to question him yet and promised that if they did, he was ready to answer their questions.

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said the perpetrator had been identified, but no arrest has since been announced.

Fear that a low-ranking official will be made a scapegoat for the incident led one police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, to tell the Post that he and his colleagues knew the shooter’s identity with 99 per cent certainty.

“We don’t want to stay in the jail instead of him, so the man who opened fire on the workers was not police, it was the high-level official who works in Bavet town,” he said.

These fears were echoed by opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Mu Sochua, who visited the scene after the shooting and said yesterday one thing was certain – it was the not the work of a lowly security guard.

“He came out of a car, he had bodyguards, he pulled his gun out of his holster – so it is not someone who is just a security guard,” she said, adding that the ministry should make a photo of the suspect public.

Witnesses reported that a man dressed in a khaki police uniform stepped out of a Toyota Camry on Monday morning flanked by a police officer and a bodyguard and fired into the crowd of about 6,000 people before jumping back in the car, which sped off.

Mathieu Pellerin, a monitoring consultant with rights group Licadho, said he was worried the high-profile nature of the case would lead authorities to convict scapegoats as they did after the notorious slaying of garment-sector unionist Chea Vichea.

“My big worry in this story is that we are in the exact conditions as what happened with the killing of Chea Vichea in 2004, which is an outrageous act of violence linked to one of the only viable sectors Cambodia has,” he said.

Ek Tha, a spokesman for the Quick and Press Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, said the government opposed violence and would find justice.

In a press statement yesterday, PUMA said it would pay the medical expenses of 21-year-old Buot Chinda, who was shot through the chest and is receiving medical care at Phnom Penh’s Calmette hospital.

Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Centre, said Buot Chinda was in a stable condition in hospital but still had some internal bleeding and could be released in two weeks provided her health did not deteriorate.

PUMA deputy head of corporate communications Kerstin Neuber confirmed Kaoway would cover the medical expenses of the other two victims, 18-year-old Keo Neth and 23-year-old Nuth Sakhorn.

She said Kaoway had confirmed their security guards did not carry guns and had nothing to do with the shooting.

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Posted By Heng Soy to KI Media at 2/24/2012 01:30:00 AM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/24/2012 01:30:00 AM

Thursday, 23 February 2012
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

Lawyers for Brother No 2 Nuon Chea have lodged an application with the Khmer Rouge tribunal Trial Chamber, asking it to take immediate action against Prime Minister Hun Sen to prevent him causing “further damage” to Case 002.

The “Application for Summary Action against Hun Sen” was filed yesterday in response to Vietnamese media reports that the premier had referred to Nuon Chea as “deceitful” and a “perpetrator of genocide”.

“In order to prevent further damage [to Case 002] . . . a public condemnation of Hun Sen’s remarks and a public warning that further comments will be met by even more stringent action” is needed, the application says.

“Unless such action is taken by this Chamber, the Prime Minister will have, once again, exposed the ECCC as the cowed institution that it is.”

Defence counsel Michiel Pestman told the Post it was presumed that any comments made by the premier amounted to political pressure for Cambodian judges because of his power hold on the Kingdom.

“The international judges of the Trial Chamber have so far completely failed to take any principled decisions – there have been no dissents in the Trial Chamber, and they are avoiding their responsibility to this case,” Pestman said.

“We want to say that things are changing; we are not going to be bullied into submission,” he added.

Nuon Chea’s defence team has filed multiple motions at the tribunal and in local Cambodian courts seeking a remedy to alleged political interference in Case 002 by high-ranking government officials.

As yet, these motions have been unsuccessful.

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Posted By Heng Soy to KI Media at 2/24/2012 01:19:00 AM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/24/2012 01:19:00 AM

សមាជិក​សភា​សហរដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក​ដែល​​​​បញ្ចប់​ទស្សនកិច្ច​រយៈពេល ១​សប្ដាហ៍​នៅ​កម្ពុជា បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា អ្នកស្រី​បាន​ដឹង​ឮ​នូវ​ការ​ទាមទារ​ជា​ច្រើន​ពី​សកម្មជន​បក្ស​ប្រឆាំង ចង់​ឲ្យ​មេដឹកនាំ ​លោក សម រង្ស៊ី វិល​ចូល​ក្នុង​ឆាក​នយោបាយ​វិញ​សំរាប់​ការ​បោះ​ឆ្នោត​នា​ពេល​ខាង​មុខ។

http://www.rfa.org/khmer/indepth/U.S_congress_ends_visit_in_cam-02232012063120.html

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Posted By អ្នកស្រែ to KI Media at 2/23/2012 11:13:00 PM

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Posted By kiletters2 to KI-Media2 at 2/23/2012 11:16:00 PM

NY Students Raised $1,300
for Evicted Khmer Students

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PRESS RELEASE
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New York/Washington D.C./Phnom Penh, 24 February 2012: On February 3, the students of Social Studies teachers Drew Beiter and Joe Karb classes of Springville Middle School in New York practiced one Day of Silence and raised US$1,300 for Khmer students whose lives have been disrupted by the violent illegal eviction of their former neighborhood of Borei Keila and for Khmer teachers training on the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights’ Speak Truth To Power (translated into Khmer as Courage Without Borders) curriculum conducted by RFK Center’s Cambodian partner, CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education.

Six hundred dollars will go toward school supplies for Borei Keila children. The other $700 will be used for Courage T-shirts for the teacher representatives training with CIVICUS Cambodia, to be distributed at the national conference scheduled for June 2012.

On Tuesday morning, February 28 at 9 a.m., CIVICUS Cambodia will visit the evicted students with these gifts from the young human rights defenders on the other side of the world who through their one day of silence spoke volumes to the world.

We invite the media to join us on Tuesday in order that the ripples of hope created by these young New Yorkers will multiple, “crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance [Robert F. Kennedy in Cape Town].”

Watch this awesome video produced the students on their Day of Silence.