Cambodia Bans "Miss Landmine" Pageant

Government Says Beauty Contest Insults the Disabled; Organizers Say It Raises Awareness About Mine Dangers

(AP) The Cambodian government said Monday it will not allow a "Miss Landmine" beauty pageant to take place later this week, calling it an insult to the disabled. "The land mine beauty contest would make a mockery of Cambodia's land mine victims," said government spokesman Khieu Khanarith. "The government does not support this contest." The Ministry of Social Affairs sent a letter to the pageant's organizers Friday informing them of the ban and saying the contest would damage "the dignity and honor of our disabled." The contest was scheduled to be held this Friday. The Ministry of Social Affairs was supposed to be one of the pageant's partners, along with the Ministry of Women's Affairs and other groups, according to the pageant's Web site. The Miss Landmine site says the pageant's goal is to empower its participants and other disabled people and raise awareness about the dangers of land mines. The Web site shows photos of the 20 Cambodian contestants, all in crowns and dresses, with missing limbs. They range in age from 18 to 48. Organizer Morten Traavik said he was "disappointed" with the government's decision but would still hold the contest over the Internet and announce the winner on Dec. 31. "I am extremely disappointed with the government's decision," Traavik said. "I have tried to find a solution but we cannot reach an agreement." Traavik launched the first Miss Landmine pageant in Angola in 2007. An estimated 4 million to 6 million land mines and other unexploded ordinance remain in Cambodia, a legacy from decades of civil war. Hundreds are killed or wounded every year.

Ex-Khmer Rouge medic testifies in Cambodia trial

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A former medic at the most notorious Khmer Rouge prison in Cambodia told a genocide tribunal he treated people with missing fingernails and toenails, saying Monday that hundreds of prisoners died from torture wounds.
Sek Dorn, 48, testified at the trial of Kaing Guek Eav — better known as Duch — who headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh. Up to 16,000 people were tortured under Duch's command and later were taken away to be killed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule. Only a handful survived.
"There were many prisoners who were wounded and died. There were probably hundreds," Sek Dorn said.
He told the court he was assigned to distribute medicine and clean wounds of the detainees for a year, along with three other medics who were also in their teens.
"The majority of them had wounds and sores on their bodies, especially on their backs and their heads. Some of their fingernails and toenails were missing," he said. "They were wounded by torture."
Sek Dorn said he did not personally witness the torture, but saw the effects during medical treatment.
"I did not dare ask them in detail," the former medic said. "I was afraid that I would be seen by the guards and I would be killed."
Sek Dorn said he gave the wounded traditional medicine, which was produced by Khmer Rouge medical staff.
Some 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, execution, disease and starvation during the Khmer Rouge's rule, during which the Maoist ideologues emptied cities and forced virtually the entire population to work on farm collectives.
Duch (pronounced DOIK), 66, is the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial in the U.N.-assisted tribunal and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. He is charged with crimes against humanity and is the first of five defendants scheduled for long-delayed trials.
Senior leaders Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Sary's wife, Ieng Thirith, are detained and are likely to face trial in the next year or two.

Source: AP

Firms go hi-tech into Cambodian market

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese companies are taking advantage of business opportunities in Cambodia with the transfer of advanced technology, particularly in the agricultural sector.
Nguyen Tran Trung Nam from An Giang Plant Protection JSC's representative office in HCM City said that the company started transferring agricultural technologies to Cambodia in 2002.
"The technical transfer with a focus on opening training courses for Cambodian agricultural experts and farmers will help our company to better introduce our products, establish our networks in order to enhance our presence in the country," Nam said.
"This move also helps us to explore more business opportunities here," he said, adding that the company plans to open a ten-day training course for Cambodian technicians in the southern An Giang province next month.
Chairman of the Institute of Agricultural Science for Southern Viet Nam Bui Chi Buu agreed that untapped business opportunities existed in the Cambodian market and that technical transfer was an effective method for firms to better take advantage of these chances.
Cambodia is the third largest export market to Viet Nam after Thailand and China.
The country plans to raise trade turnover with Cambodia to US$2.45 billion by 2010.
In 2008, Viet Nam earned $1.43 billion from exports to Cambodia, a year-on-year increase of 50 per cent.
Major exports from Viet Nam to Cambodia include fuel, steel, instant noodles, plastic products, fertiliser, materials for the textile and garment sector, cosmetics and detergents.
Many Vietnamese enterprises have set up representative offices and shops in the country.
However, the Vietnamese Trade Mission to Cambodia said that few Vietnamese businesses have long-term plans for developing this market.

Source: VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Only 31 of 181 clinics agree to accept tablets

So far only 31 of the 181 clinics registered for experimental use of oseltamivir have agreed to accept the tablets, for fear that ordinary patients will turn away after learning that they will be treated along with those carrying the novel flu.

Only after the Wednesday deadline will it be known how many private clinics in total will decide to join the government scheme in which all confirmed cases are automatically prescribed with oseltamivir, Dr Somyos Deerassamee, directorgeneral of the Health Service Support Department, said yesterday.Six hospitals run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, more than 100 community clinics and several hundred BMArun public health centres would be ready to provide free oseltamivir tablets and other treatment to people without case confirmation needed, he said.Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in his weekly address that the flu situation in Bangkok was under control but the virus may still be spreading upcountry. He dismissed criticism that Thailand was the hardest hit by the 2009 influenza, saying the government was following a World Health Organisation guideline to not regularly report on the fatality rate of the disease.The Public Health Ministry is now requiring all private clinics to ensure that all patients unconditionally wear protective masks while awaiting treatment, and to examine people with suspected flu in a separate area, besides the mandatory use of handwashing gel and protective masks.Dr Itthiphorn Khanajaroen, deputy secretarygeneral of the Medical Council, expressed worry over possible confusion among the public on what conditions would get them free oseltamivir. "It's important to make people aware that not everyone who visits a clinic will be automatically given the tablets," he said.Incorrect dosage for children was also highly possible, because it had to be measured precisely by using a drugdiluting device. "Oseltamivir tablets cannot be cut and given to children in smaller doses like other medicine pills," he said. "There is a great risk of giving a stronger dose to young children who visit clinics without the diluting devices," he added.Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi said a ministry analysis of fatal cases revealed that those patients without the risk factors of chronic disease, pregnancy or young age, had seen a doctor too late, beyond the twoday incubation period. "People with risk factors including the elderly, those with chronic diabetes, asthma, kidney and heart disease, made up 60 per cent of all fatalities," he said.More than 987,000 public health volunteers now pay house calls three times a week in provinces outside Bangkok to educate people about preventive measures against the 2009 influenza and to hand out information. Starting last Friday, more than two million house visits have been made under this project, Manit said.

Source: The Nation

Govt to verify signatures for Thaksin-pardon petition

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Sunday that the government will verify the signatures attached to the red-shirt movement's petition to seek a royal pardon for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Abhisit said when the red-shirt movement submits the petition to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary, the office will seek an opinion of the government.
The government will verify the signatures to see whether they lists are not forged and the signatories really want to petition His Majesty for Thaksin's pardon, Abhisit said.
He said if there are irregularities, the ones who submit the lists must be held responsible.
The prime minister did not say how the government would verify the some 4 million names as the red-shirt movement had earlier announced it gathered over 4 million signatures.

Source: The Nation

Thaksin confident he can return to Thailand in 6 months: Kwanchai

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is confident that he can return to Thailand in six months, Kwanchai Praiphana, chairman of the Udon Thani Loving Club, said Saturday.
Kwanchai said he met Thaksin in Dubai and he expressed the confidence that the political situation would change and the Democrat-led government would collapse so he would be able to return in six months.
Kwanchai said Thaksin also promised that he would return to serve the people by returning to politics.

Source: The Nation

Cambodia rejects landmine beauty contest

The Cambodian government has urged the cancellation of a beauty pageant in which landmine victims will compete to win a prosthetic leg, organisers say.
In the Miss Landmine Cambodia contest, 20 competitors from around the country are due to appear in a photo exhibition opening on Friday in Phnom Penh, followed by an internet voting campaign to select the best candidate.
But in a letter to organisers, the Ministry of Social Affairs has called on them to cancel the contest - although the Cambodian Mine Action Authority said in 2007 it fully supported the event.
"The ministry asks the people who organise this contest to stop this action ... for protecting ... the honour and dignity of people with disabilities," the letter said in English.
But Norwegian pageant director Morten Traavik said the contest, which offers as the top prize a custom-made prosthetic leg, would increase awareness about the victims of landmines.
"I have asked to meet the Cambodian officials to clear up our misunderstanding, and I hope once they know about our project details, they will welcome this," he said.
He explained that the pageant aimed "to raise awareness of what landmines have done to the people", adding that it would be a "big shame" if people could not see the exhibition.
The first Miss Landmine contest was held in Angola last year, drawing protests from rights activists who viewed it as exploitative and racist.
Cambodia remains one of the world's most heavily mined countries, along with Afghanistan and Angola.
Hundreds of people are killed or maimed every year by the millions of landmines and other unexploded ordnance still littering the countryside after decades of conflict.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cancelled a Miss Cambodia beauty pageant in 2006, saying he would not allow such a contest until poverty in Cambodia was reduced by more than half.

Source: AFP

Cambodians begin to learn of bloody past

ANG SNUOL (Cambodia): It plunged their country into a communist “Year Zero” in the late 1970s and killed about a third of the population, but most young Cambodians shrug when asked about the Khmer Rouge.
“I never learned about the regime and my parents never told me about it either,” says 15-year-old Si Phana. Her schoolmate Ang Pheaktra, 17, knows only a little more about that bleak time which traumatised a generation.
“My parents only told me that the Khmer Rouge were very cruel,” Ang Pheaktra says.
Even though there’s a war crimes tribunal for senior leaders of the movement, most here are unaware the regime killed up to two million people and enslaving the population on collective farms