Over the past two months the government has evicted the families from Phnom Penh to live in metal sheds without running water or adequate sanitation at Tuol Sambo (left) (PHOTO: AP)July 28, 2009
AFP
PHNOM PENH - AIDS campaigners and rights groups protested on Tuesday at Cambodia's shunting of sufferers of the virus into an insanitary 'Aids colony' outside the capital.
Over 100 international and domestic pressure groups told Prime Minister Hun Sen and Health Minister Mam Bunheng in a letter they were 'deeply disturbed' by the government's treatment of 40 HIV-affected families.
Over the past two months the government has evicted the families from Phnom Penh to live in metal sheds without running water or adequate sanitation at Tuol Sambo, an area 25km from the capital, it said.
'By bundling people living with HIV together into second-rate housing, far from medical facilities, support services and jobs, the government has created a de facto AIDS colony,' said Shiba Phurailatpam, of the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, in a statement issued by the groups.
Rebecca Schleifer of New York-based Human Rights Watch said: 'The housing conditions in Tuol Sambo pose serious health risks for families living there.
'People living with HIV have compromised immune systems and are especially vulnerable. For them, these substandard conditions can mean a death sentence or a ticket to a hospital,' she added.
The Cambodian government has faced mounting criticism of forced evictions throughout the country at the hands of the army and police, which a recent human rights report said has affected more than 250,000 people.
Evictions for development purposes have increased in Cambodia as land prices have risen over the past few years. Critics say the practice is fuelling poverty.
Over 100 international and domestic pressure groups told Prime Minister Hun Sen and Health Minister Mam Bunheng in a letter they were 'deeply disturbed' by the government's treatment of 40 HIV-affected families.
Over the past two months the government has evicted the families from Phnom Penh to live in metal sheds without running water or adequate sanitation at Tuol Sambo, an area 25km from the capital, it said.
'By bundling people living with HIV together into second-rate housing, far from medical facilities, support services and jobs, the government has created a de facto AIDS colony,' said Shiba Phurailatpam, of the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, in a statement issued by the groups.
Rebecca Schleifer of New York-based Human Rights Watch said: 'The housing conditions in Tuol Sambo pose serious health risks for families living there.
'People living with HIV have compromised immune systems and are especially vulnerable. For them, these substandard conditions can mean a death sentence or a ticket to a hospital,' she added.
The Cambodian government has faced mounting criticism of forced evictions throughout the country at the hands of the army and police, which a recent human rights report said has affected more than 250,000 people.
Evictions for development purposes have increased in Cambodia as land prices have risen over the past few years. Critics say the practice is fuelling poverty.
6 comments:
Where are the voices of the Ultranationaists, the anti-Hun Sen, the Anti-King Sihanouk, the Anti-SRP, and the all parties' lovers?
These fanatical Cambodians despise each others because they claimed they know the sources of the troubles and the answers. Who is Cambodian man dying alone while a little boy look to him through the window?
The Hun Xen regime is punishing the poors.
this is an understatement. it is a sign of ignorant to even think about establishing an aids colony like this in cambodia or anywhere on the planet. don't these ignorant people know that aids/hiv, like knowledge and whatever else knows no boundary? go figure, they are ignorant should people should respect ignorant individuals like these people! what planet are they from? they too can get hiv/aids and other deadly diseases out there; i think it's just a stigma and bigotry here, and i'm glad to see world is against such establishment. instead, these ignorant people need to be educated about hiv/aids and other deadly diseases out there. establishing aids colony like this is a pure sign of stupidity and lack of education. it doesn't solve any problem, to say the least; instead it is discrimination and is so against common law for people in cambodia or anywhere in the world. they should not be allowed to do this to sick people, no matter who they are! please continue to education cambodia about hiv/aids, etc...
anybody could get aids/hiv and other deadly diseases; diseases know no boundary, like love and knowledge. yes, people need to be educated big time here! god bless cambodia.
where is the justice?
Why asked for justice? Justice never existed among us humans and animals. It will be justice until the Kingdom comes (Christianity, Jews and Islams), and Khmers used to say "Sassna then pleung chhess karl".
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