MANILA, Philippines -- Former Senate President Franklin Drilon said he was chosen by the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) as an observer in the defamation trial of a Cambodian opposition member of the parliament.
Drilon said the IPU, a worldwide organization of parliamentarians, designated designated him as its representative and observer in next week's trial of Cambodian opposition MP Mu Soncha for a defamation suit filed by strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Drilon, in a statement sent to media outfits on Sunday afternoon, said he was informed of his designation by Anders Johnson, IPU secretary general, and Ingeborg Schwarz, secretary of the IPU Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians.
The IPU is monitoring the celebrated trial of Mu Soncha, a member of the Cambodian National Assembly and a known advocate of women and children’s rights.
Mu Soncha, a one-time Nobel Prize nominee and a former minister of women affairs, was in the forefront of the campaign against sex and human trafficking in Cambodia and was vocal against the Hun Sen government’s alleged failure to crack down on offenders.
She will stand trial on Friday in Phnom Penh on a defamation countersuit filed by Hun Sen in retaliation to an earlier suit she filed against the prime minister, according to Drilon’s press statement.
The case against Hun Sen was earlier dismissed by the courts.
Mu Soncha claimed the courts were biased and that no lawyer in Cambodia was courageous enough to represent her for fear of reprisal from government.
“I intend to put the (Cambodian) justice system on trial,” she was quoted as saying recently.
Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesman, dismissed Mu Soncha’s claims that the courts were biased.
But the accusations have gained traction among international human rights groups, as well as donor countries, which pledged almost $1 billion in foreign aid to Cambodian in 2008.
Reports said the Cambodian government launched at least nine criminal cases against politicians, journalists and activists recently.
Critics such as Human Rights Watch accuse the ruling Cambodia People’s Party of using the legal system to silence opposition voices.
Johnson and Ingeborg informed Drilon that he was chosen as IPU trial observer and representative in his capacity as former chairman of the IPU Human Rights for Parliementarians Committee and as a former justice secretary in the Philippines.
In July 2006, Drilon was elected chairman of the IPU committee, a prestigious international body that investigates violations of human rights of lawmakers.
He is the first Filipino legislator to be elected to the position since the IPU was established in 1889.
The IPU, the oldest multilateral political organization, brings together 146 affiliated parliaments and seven associated regional assemblies. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland. It serves as a Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
The IPU Committee of Human Rights of Parliamentarians was established in 1976 and was created to ensure that the human rights of the world's parliamentary community - composed of more than 40,000 members - are respected.
In 2005, Drilon was elected assembly president of the 112th General Assembly which was held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila and was attended by over 1,500 parliamentarians from over 45 countries.
Prior to his election as president of the IPU assembly, Drilon was also a member of the IPU Executive Committee.
Drilon is the current chairman of the Liberal Party.
Source: Inquirer.net
Monday, July 20, 2009
Drilon to observe Cambodia case for IPU
Nordic Aviation looks to Cambodia
DENMARK-based Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), an aircraft-leasing company, said Thursday it was looking to expand its business into Cambodia before the end of the year having recently opened its first office in the region in Singapore.The world's largest lessor of turboprop aircraft said that it planned to visit the Kingdom in September or October this year to look for clients."We're certainly interested in Cambodia," Mats Ericson, the head of the new NAC Singapore office and vice president of sales and acquisitions, said by telephone. "We'll be seeing how we can assist [Cambodia's aviation industry]."With Siem Reap Airways currently grounded, the Kingdom does not have any airlines flying but will launch new national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air on July 27 at Phnom Penh International Airport.Explaining the decision to open its Singapore office, NAC's first permanent presence outside of Europe, Ericson said that having first entered the Southeast Asian region 10 years ago, the company felt the increasing potential here required stronger representation."We think Southeast Asia is a growth market," he said, adding that NAC has already leased aircraft to companies in Indonesia and Vietnam.NAC, which is based in Billund, Denmark, mainly leases ATRs and Bombardiers, according to the company's Web site, and has over 100 aircraft, including a number of jets.
Source: The PP Post
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Australian Embassy caught in Cambodian shantytown dispute
In Cambodia, human rights advocates are outraged at the forced eviction of slum dwellers from a waterfront area steps away from where a new Australian Embassy is under construction.
The city wants to develop the prime land. Lawyers say that military police and workers armed with axes were brought in to evict the last handful of families.
For the last two decades more than 60 families have lived in a small shanty town on the doorstep of the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh.
But now the land, once considered worthless, is in demand, with valuations setting its worth at $US15 million.
This week progress caught up with the families and they were forcibly evicted.
Daniel King is a human rights lawyer working on behalf of the families, known as Group 78.
"On Friday morning the police gathered, 150 police and 150 community breakers who have axes and tools to break up the community," he said.
The Cambodian authorities say the land is needed for a public road as well as for development by a private company.
Ownership rights are hard to prove in Cambodia, where many records were destroyed during the Pol Pot regime.
The United Nations has said it recognises their claim to the land.
Daniel King says the city of Phnom Penh did offer the families small payouts but it also waged a campaign of intimidation.
"Three families agreed to the $8,000 compensation policy, four families who had larger homes they found it an insult to be offered an $8,000 compensation package and held out and negotiated for a $20,000 compensation package," he said.
"However, the city hall decided that one of the families shouldn't receive the $20,000 because he had negotiated aggressively."
The nearby Australian Embassy has been drawn into the controversy.
It has rejected suggestions that the construction of its new Embassy building in Phnom Penh was in any way connected to the decision to evict Group 78.
Sarah Marland from Amnesty International says the Australian Government could have done more to help the families.
"Really their embassy is sitting right across the road from this site and it's just happened right under their noses," she said.
"So I think the Australian Government should be doing more for some of our poorest neighbours."
Source: ABC
VN-Cambodia ties keep growing: NA
HA NOI — Viet Nam-Cambodia ties are still growing, contributing to the achievements of both peoples, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong said yesterday to a visiting Cambodian delegation.
The delegation of the Cambodian National Assembly’s Commission for Foreign Affairs, International Co-operation, Information and Media was led by its head, Cheang Vun.
During their nine-day visit, starting from Thursday, the Cambodian officials will also attend the conference on the role of the National Assembly in enhancing friendly relations and co-operation for development in border areas of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia to be held in Kon Tum.
Trong said the traditional relations and comprehensive co-operation between the two countries was a valuable asset of the two nations and should be improved to bring more successes to the national construction and development of each country.
He said the two sides needed to enhance co-ordination to finish work on border demarcation and border marker planting in 2012 as agreed upon. Both also needed to better implement co-operation projects and work more closely together on multilateral forums.
Trong thanked the Cambodian people and Government for their support in searching for the remains of Vietnamese volunteers who died in Cambodia, as well as their care for Vietnamese people living there.
Cheavang Vun conveyed regards from Cambodian high-ranking leaders to Trong and other Vietnamese Party, State and Government leaders.
He said Cambodia’s successes, both past and present, came hand in hand with assistance from the Vietnamese people.
The guest also briefed Trong on the results of his talks with the Vietnamese NA Committee for External Affairs.
He said it was vital to educate the young generations of the two countries about their traditional ties.
Cheang Vun also stressed the importance of strengthening co-operation among external affairs committees in three national assemblies of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. The teamwork would help spur development in border areas, where a large number of ethnic minority people live.
Earlier, the delegation met with Vietnamese counterpart led by its head, Nguyen Van Son.
The two sides agreed to enhance co-operation between the two committees, intensify Government’s supervision on execution of signed programmes and projects and try to mitigate negative impacts of global financial crisis and economic downturn.
Source: VNS
Catch the solar eclipse
National Science Museum scientists will also explain at the site about the natural phenomenon, which will occur from 7am to 9.30am. A thousand tinted pairs of spectacles will be provided for free.
A total solar eclipse cannot be observed within entire Thailand, and the time it begins will vary depending from where it is observed. Call 02 577 9999 extension 2102 or 1835 for more information.
The National Astronomical Institute of Thailand (NAIT) said the duration of the eclipse will be exactly from 7am to 9.19am. Countries and areas where a full eclipse can be seen are India, China, Japan and the South Pacific.
After the total eclipse in Thailand in 1995, this solar ecplise will set a record as the longest so far in the 21st Century, with a duration time of six minutes and 39 seconds. It will last the longest in Chiang Mai - two hours and 12 minutes - as well as be the largest eclipse, with 69 per cent of the moon's shadow covering the Sun.
Bangkokians can see it from 7.06am to 9.08am and can view the moon's shadow at a coverage percentage of 42.2 at 8.03am.
The NAIT is cooperating with Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and eight universities and colleges in other parts of the country to arrange observation sites from which people can view the eclipse.
Source: The Nation
Increase in flu patients force delays in surgery
Medical services for patients with diseases who need to undergo surgery at the country's top hospitals are being interrupted by the increasing number of patients with flulike illness seeking medical treatment.
Dean of Mahidol University's Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, clinical professor Dr Teerawat Kulthanan said hospitals were postponing for up to two weeks general operations for patients who could delay treatment.
According to the Public Health Ministry, the new strain of typeA(H1N1) flu has already claimed 24 lives in Thailand and infected more than 4,469 cases.
Teerawat said because of the outbreak, the hospital had to reserve some intensive care units for patients with the influenza - which could delay some patients with other illnesses. However, he said, this should not affect general operations as doctors would diagnose and continue to provide close care for patients.
Siriraj Hospital's deputy director, Dr Sanan Wisuthisakchai said 3,000 patients with flulike symptoms had been admitted during the five day holiday period early this month.
But now the number of patients with the symptoms had decreased drastically to 300 cases per day. Only 60 of these cases tested positive to the TypeA (H1N1) of influenza,while the rest had seasonal flu.
The number of patients with flu symptoms admitted to Chulalongkorn Hospital, one of the country's top medical schools, also increased drastically, prompting the hospital to rearrange its medical services for patients.
Chulalongkorn Hospital's director, Dr Adisorn Phattaradul said at least 100 patients with flu symptoms had applied each day for admission as inpatients and outpatients.
In the first three months of the flu outbreak, only two cases per day attended the hospital; but now at least 20 patients were seeking medication each day. Of this number, two or three were found suffering from severe flu symptoms.
The hospital has isolated flu victims from other patients and services for outpatients would be available at Chakkraphong Building.
If the pandemic is prolonged throughout the year, Adisorn worries tmedical workers will be overtaxed providing treatment as many are now are tired and some have been infected with the new flu virus from outside sources.
Meanwhile, the increasing of number of patients with flulike symptoms has also affected medical services at Ramathibhodi Hospital.
Dr Surasak LeelaUdomlipi, the hospital's director, said on average it receives 300 to 400 flu patients with flulike symptoms per day. Half have the new flu virus but only 2 3 per cent were admitted for observation. Most make a full recovery and go home within two days.
Rights panel set to take off
The ministers will adopt the terms of reference and report to the 15th Asean Summit in October. The leader of the summit would issue "the political declaration on human rights" to officially establish the commission, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said.
'The political declaration would reflect some of the major elements of human rights questions," the ministers told a press conference.
The terms of reference could be reviewed five years after the commission starts operation to strengthen the mandate and function of the body in promoting and protecting human rights, he said.
"It is important to make this human-rights commission credible but at the same time take into account the real situation in Asean member countries," Kasit said. "So the terms of reference to set up the commission is the beginning of an evolving process."
Each of the 10 Asean member nations would appoint one representative to sit on the commission for a three-year term, he said.
The 10 representatives will be impartial and not need to come from the public sector, he added.
For Thailand, the government would set up a committee to pick candidates in a process that would be open for all to apply, he said.
The human-rights commission was criticised for overemphasising rights promotion rather than protection.
Human-rights advocacy groups submitted an open letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as the chair of Asean, urging him to put more elements into the commission.
The letter, signed by Yap Swee Seng, executive director of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, and Rafendi Djamin, convenor of the Sapa Task Force on Asean and Human Rights, wanted the commission to conduct country visits, look into complaints and perform periodic reviews on the human- rights situation.
Sihasak Phuangketkeow, chairman of the High-Level Panel, said his board has included some of the civic groups' inputs in the terms of reference.
The terms of reference might not directly mention the reporting of the situation, but it says the commission has the mandate and function to obtain information from member states on the promotion and protection of human rights, he said.
Public awareness of human rights among the people of Asean, as promoted by the commission, in some sense would help them protect their rights, he said.
Kasit said that besides human rights, the Asean ministerial meeting and the Asean Regional Forum would discuss and condemn terrorism following the bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, before departing India for Thailand, asked for global cooperation to fight terrorism.
Clinton will meet Abhisit tomorrow before heading to Phuket for the Asean meeting.
Security in Phuket will be very tight during the summit. There was no report of terrorist movements on the resort island, but the security measures were mostly aimed at preventing protests by groups sympathetic to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
More than 10,000 troops were present in the city. The military set up many checkpoints around summit venues and screened all vehicles travelling on the island.
Source: The Nation
Asean to discuss terrorist issue after Jakarta bombs
Phuket - The Asean ministerial meeting and the Asean Regional Forum would discuss and condemn terrorism act after bombs in two luxury hotels in Jakarta, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Sunday."We would issue a condemnation to the violence which killed innocent people. We try to make people in different faith, cultures and civilizations to live together in peace," Kasit told reporters upon arrival in Phuket where the foreign ministers and dialogue partner would meet this week.The Asean foreign ministers are considering drafted statement on the matter, he said.The Nation
