The UK to strip aid to Cambodia

The inquiry was ordered by International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell

Britain freezes millions in aid to 16 countries after inquiry discovers they are actually no longer in poverty

27th February 2011

By Daniel Martin

Britain is to stop giving aid to 16 countries after a major review found they were no longer in poverty.

Countries such as Russia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Moldova and Serbia will be stripped of millions of pounds a year, following the inquiry ordered by International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

Aid to India - which can afford its own space programme - will also be frozen.

Danish Support for Cambodia to Stop

24 January 2011
Gregers Moller
ScandAsia.com

Denmark's Minister for Development Søren Pind announced on Thursday that he over a few years will stop all development support for Cambodia and two countries in Africa, Zambia and Benin. Mr. Pind made his announcement in an interview with the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The minister was quoted as referring to "strategic considerations" as the reasons for cutting further development support for the three countries.

When asked by the newspaper whether the problem is that the three countries are located strategically in the wrong places for Denmark, the Minister replied:

Søren Pind: - I do not think they perceive themselves as being in the wrong place. But one can say that Danish interests justify that our commitment must lie somewhere else.

The newspaper quotes internal papers from the Ministry of Development why the two African countries should be taken off the list of countries that Denmark supports, but the interview did not give any clues why Cambodia was taken off the list along with them.

International Aid in Context

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Friday, June 11, 2010
Op-Ed by MP

IT should be apparent to all concerned by now that there can be no scope for meaningful reforms leading to the growth of civil society unless political institutions themselves are overhauled. One could say Cambodia had a brief flirt with democracy in 1990s which was violently snuffed out by the coup in 1997 as the Hanoi backed CPP could not see its survival being secured under genuine political pluralism.

It was not so much because Cambodia herself was not ripe or ready for democracy, but subsequent developments (such as the current secrecy surrounding border delineation between Cambodia and Vietnam) indicate that her socialist neighbour to the east was not in the mood to see a vibrant democratic state flourishing next door either. That would be destabilising to a regime which was just content to inaugurate economic reforms without loosening its political grip on their 90 million subjects.

So one could see here domino theory being applied in reverse - a factor in US foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s in this part of the world.

The donors know the Cambodian regime has holes in its pocket, yet they see nothing wrong in putting their cash into that pocket. If their long term aim is to engage the social rebuilding of a fractured post-war country, irrespective of, or in denial of political liberty and human rights, then they could perhaps succeed to an extent. The state then as repressive as it has been could only be made to feel more invincible and impudent in its flagrant excesses. With every road paved and bridge constructed through loans and donors' money, it is another concrete evidence of a 'win win' strategy and a platform for the ruling party to engineer electoral outcomes at the expense of the politically disenfranchised opposition.

How can judges and policing personnel be trained to be professional in the exercising of their respective duties where their appointments were decided and offices formed solely on the basis of their political affiliations and party memberships?

What are the donors playing at exactly beside fuelling authoritarian rule and giving sustenance to a regime that refuses to accept that it has long outlived its usefulness? If, on the other hand, the donors are pouring in their aid with a view to counteracting growing Chinese influence in the country without insisting on concrete betterment in its governance or even poverty alleviation, they are possibly doing what the Chinese themselves have been decried for doing: aiding rogue regimes.

One is not surprised to learn that Western governments and donors (which include Japan and Australia) do not always make an effort to replicate their domestic conditions or norms through their actions overseas, and this fact can be excused with or tempered by reference to extenuating circumstances, yet the extent to which their own electorate have effectively been kept in the dark over their missions in places like Cambodia is quite alarming. For most people around the world living in aid dependent countries the whole culture of international aid and provision has proved more often than not to be a mixed blessing. The immediate effect of this culture has been to distort the economic realities of the local people by creating a sudden boom in expatriate driven economy that puts some locals in their blessed shade, but many out of their means.

It is perhaps no accident that Cambodia - not unlike most developing countries that have the good fortune of being the chosen ones among recipients of international finance and assistance – is a land of extremes – i.e. that between wealth and object poverty, luxury and destitution, power and powerlessness, security and despair...

Foreign donors pledge record sum for Cambodia

June 4, 2010
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia's annual donor conference has ended with donors pledging a record 1.1 billion US dollars for the country's development programs. The government is pleased, but there are plenty of warnings that the country needs to step up the fight against social ills including corruption and increasing landlessness.

Presenter:Robert Carmichael
Speaker: Masafumi Kuroki, Japan's ambassador to Cambodia

Click to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

CARMICHAEL: These may be tight times internationally, but here in Phnom Penh the Cambodian government is celebrating another year of record funding courtesy of the country's donors.

Last year foreign donors gave Cambodia 950 million dollars, a record at the time. This year they gave even more -- 1.1 billion dollars -- around half the country's annual budget.

The money is to be used to fund development in areas as diverse as health, education, infrastructure, judicial reform, good governance and more. The list of needs is long.

The announcement came at the end of the two-day long donor conference in Phnom Penh, a gathering of senior government officials, ambassadors, UN agencies and other worthies.

Cambodia's Finance Minister Keat Chhon made the announcement at a press conference, where he confirmed that Japan was again the largest contributor.

But the week has heard warnings that the government needs to improve its handling of public finances. Recent media reports have noted that millions of dollars in revenues have not been properly accounted for.

And other critics say Phnom Penh must be more open about how it spends aid.

Japan's ambassador Masafumi Kuroki agreed that aid effectiveness needs to improve. But he feels that mechanisms now in place will ensure that happens.

KUROKI: There is very increased monitoring of aid between the government and development partners, so I think we have to further promote this process of monitoring of aid.

CARMICHAEL: The week of the conference heard plenty of calls for donors to push the government to combat scourges such as graft and a lack of transparency.

On Tuesday, UK-based non-governmental organisation Global Witness said donors must stop turning a blind eye to corruption and the government's shoddy and opaque handling of natural resources.

On Thursday, the World Bank said improving transparency and accountability in the management of public finances and natural resources was a critical issue.

All of which tells you that the subject of graft is hard to avoid. Cambodia is, after all, regarded as one of the most corrupt countries on earth.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen told donors that the fight against graft is central to equitable development. And he cited the recent passage of an anti-corruption law and moves to combat illegal logging as evidence of the government's good faith.

Ambassador Kuroki addressed the issue obliquely when he said that Japan was looking at providing 130 million dollars.

KUROKI :That's only an indication, that's not a commitment, but an indication. We want the money will be utilised in an efficient and effective and transparent way, with concrete results on the ground.

CARMICHAEL: He said that while combating graft is important, economic growth counts too.

In the past decade, Cambodia's economy has grown by nine percent a year. But those benefits have not been shared. Around four million Cambodians live under the poverty line, and many others are close to it.

Another key issue is landlessness, which some believe has the potential to spark social unrest.

But Thursday was about the money, and despite tough times globally, Cambodia's donors have shown they are prepared to keep the financial taps turned on.

But that largesse will not last forever.

At some point Cambodia will need to stand on its own two feet. Donor funding is meant to ensure that at some point it can.

Donors pledge $1 billion but criticise corruption

PHNOM PENH, 3 June 2010 (IRIN) - Donors pledged the largest aid package in Cambodian history this week while at the same time scolding the country for failing to implement various reforms.

Donors pledged US$1.1 billion in aid for this year - up from last year’s $950 million - during a two-day conference ending on 3 June. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen insisted his government would use the funds effectively, calling reform a “life-or-death issue for Cambodia”.

But rights groups say donors should take a tougher stance to weed out corruption; the country was last year ranked the world’s 22nd most corrupt by Transparency International.

Activists say much of last year’s money has been diverted from the projects they were intended for, such as schools, roads and hospitals.

“The onus for protecting donor aid falls squarely at the door of the donors themselves,” said Ou Virak, head of the Phnom Penh-based Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.

Donors needed to do more to make sure their aid was put to good use, he added.

The World Bank is also unconvinced there has been adequate progress. "It is important for the government to take the lead in aligning resources to development priorities," Annette Dixon, country director for the World Bank, said at the conference.

The Bank said the Cambodian government had to be more transparent with its public finances and handling of natural resources after allegations that foreign oil companies paid bribes for oil exploration deals in the Gulf of Thailand, off Cambodia’s southwest coast.

Last summer, Carol Rodley, US ambassador to Cambodia, said Cambodia lost about $500 million to corruption each year, a remark the government condemned as "politically motivated”.

"It's normal that these donor countries raise this issue of corruption,” Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, told IRIN. "The new anti-corruption law will reduce those improper activities."

Some lawmakers have praised the anti-corruption law, passed in March, which requires government and military officers to disclose their wealth to an anti-corruption body.

But critics say the law was passed hastily and that it contains disturbing amendments, including prison time for whistleblowers.

Various drafts of the law lingered in the National Assembly, the lower house, for 15 years before the bill suddenly went to the floor in March.

Friction

Despite the prime minister’s assurances, Cambodian officials have in recent months issued increasingly bold warnings to donor governments and the UN, complaining of interference in internal matters when they urge officials to clean up corruption, halt arbitrary land evictions and curtail defamation lawsuits against opposition lawmakers.

In March, Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong threatened to have UN country head Douglas Broderick expelled after Broderick had requested the government spend more time drafting the anti-corruption law. The foreign minister called this an “unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Cambodia” in a letter to Broderick. The UN has stayed silent on the issue.

Cambodian officials claim the country has been transformed from a war-torn pariah state to a politically stable destination for tourists and investors.

But activists say that is not enough. “The aid situation has done pretty well in infrastructure,” Donald Jameson, a former US embassy official in Phnom Penh, told IRIN by telephone from Washington DC. “But there is very little being done about the quality of education, healthcare or corruption in the judiciary.”

About one-third of Cambodians still live on $1 a day or less, according to government statistics.

Playing the China card

Some analysts contend that China, Cambodia’s largest donor, is shaking things up by increasing the size of its aid packages each year, with few conditions. Cambodia now makes more decisions in the interests of China, observers say.

In December, Cambodia deported 20 Uighur refugees from Xingjian, a province in northwest China. The UN and US condemned the decision, claiming it was against international refugee law.

After the expulsion, China awarded $1.2 billion in aid and soft loans to Cambodia.

Foreign donors concerned about accountability in Cambodia

Wed, 02 Jun 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's donor conference opened Wednesday with warnings that access to land, improved transparency, and accountability for use of natural resources will be essential for the country's development goals.

World Bank country head Annette Dixon noted that 4 million Cambodians - about 30 per cent of the population - live in poverty while many more "live precariously near poverty."

"Life continues to be extremely challenging for the majority of Cambodian rural families, who remain vulnerable to shocks," she said.

Dixon applauded reforms in managing public finances, and said the government had strengthened social protections for the poor.

She said donors remained "strongly committed" to development efforts help the poor, despite global financial woes, "which in turn heightens the need to improve aid effectiveness and accountability for results."

Cambodian officials, non-governmental groups and foreign donors are meeting for two days to discuss the country's most pressing issues. On Thursday, donors will announce how much money they will give to help the government for it development goals.

In 2009, donors provided 951 million dollars, around half the government's budget. The finance ministry said it expected pledges of more than 1 billion dollars this year.

Prime Minister Hun Sen told the conference that good governance was "the most important prerequisite for a sustainable and equitable economic development and social justice."

"In the context of this vision, the Royal Government considers the fight against corruption as a top priority," he said, citing a new anti-corruption law, and an ongoing crackdown on illegal logging and fisheries, as evidence of the government's commitment.

Hun Sen said agriculture was the top development priority for the predominantly rural population, saying it could bolster economic growth and ensure food security.

He also pledged to pay more attention to granting land concessions to the poor. Land concessions are a highly contentious subject, with large investors in possession of more than a million hectares.

Non-governmental organizations said improvements in some health indicators showed similar gains could be made in governance, land use and natural resources. They called for reform of the judiciary, which is seen as corrupt and inefficient.

On Tuesday, the Britain-based organization Global Witness, called on donors to pressure the government to deliver meaningful reforms in the face of "gross mismanagement" of its natural resources.

Global Witness is not participating in the conference.

Foreign donors meet to help the dictator oppress Cambodia?

Foreign donors meet in Phnom Penh for aiding Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, June 2 (AP) - (Kyodo)—International aid donors opened the annual Consultative Group meeting here Wednesday to decide on the level of aid disbursements to the country for 2010.

More than 100 representatives from 16 donor countries, including Japan and the United States, and from seven international financial organizations such as the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, are attending the forum. They are expected to make aid pledges at the end of the two-day meeting.

The group has met annually since 1996, and as of today, Cambodia has received foreign aid worth about $4 billion.

In December 2008, considering the global economic crisis, Cambodia had sought about $500 million for 2009, but it received $951.5 million, almost double, as China pledged $257 million, followed by the European Union with $214 million and Japan with $113 million.

Cambodia received aid pledges of $690 million in 2008.

Delivering a speech at the opening of the forum to the group, Prime Minister Hun Sen promised that his government will continue to tackle several key issues including corruption, judicial reform, and land disputes, all of which have been often cited by the donors as being areas of concern.

On Monday, Global Witness, a London-based environmental advocacy group, urged international donors to tackle the gross mismanagement of the country's natural resources.

"The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years, but nothing had changed," said Global Witness Campaigns Director Gavin Hayman.

Three days ahead of the meeting, members of parliament of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party issued a statement praising and acknowledging the progress made in several areas but saying more work remains in key sectors.

Cambodia is one of the world's poorest nations with some 35 percent of its 14.5 million people living below the poverty line, defined as earning less than $1 a day.

NGOs Call on Donors To Strengthen Conditions

Cambodian Non Governmental Organizations workers shout slogans during a demonstration in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: AP)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 01 June 2010

“The donors should have influence or power over the Cambodian government to respect human rights and democracy.”

Leaders of Cambodia’s leading development organizations said Tuesday they want the international community to put conditions on development aid pledges, which are expected to be more than $ 1 billion when they meet with senior government officials this week.

A donor meeting Wednesday and Thursday will focus on the government’s national development plan, which is expected $6.2 billion over the next five years.

The meeting, officially known as the Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum, gathers Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cabinet with representatives from the US, the European Union, China, Japan, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, UN and others.

Local and international non-governmental organizations will also be represented by NGO Forum and the Committee for Free and Fair Elections.

“We request international donors to present the list of recommendations on what to demand from the Cambodian government before agreeing to provide future development aid,” Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum, a consortium of development organizations, said. “We have concerns over the management of land and natural resources, which the government and the donors should think about deeply.”

Much of Cambodia’s annual budget is supported by aid from other countries and larger development banks and agencies. In recent years, that has included large aid packages from China, who Cambodian officials say grant money without the conditions typically imposed by the West.

“The stance of the NGOs is of reflection and discussion,” Chhith Sam Ath said. “We don’t want to prevent development aid. We welcome the aid, but we want the aid provided to Cambodia to be used directly and effectively.”

Aid conditions have nettled Cambodia’s leaders in the past, although some critics say the donors do not use enough leverage to push the government to do more to fight corruption, poverty and human rights abuses.

Ahead of this week’s meetings the outspoken critic of Cambodian policies, Global Witness, called on donors to do more.

“The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years, but nothing had changed,” Global Witness Campaigns Director Gavin Hayman said in a statement Tuesday. “Our latest report shows that the political elite has no intention of loosening its stranglehold over the country’s natural resource wealth. Donors simply cannot continue to turn a blind eye.”

Hang Chhaya, executive director of the Khmer Institute for Democracy, said the donors should “put condition pressure on the government for providing aid to end human rights violations and evictions, as well as recommend to the government legal and judicial reform and anti-corruption [where] reform is slow.”

“The donors should have influence or power over the Cambodian government to respect human rights and democracy,” Hang Chhaya said.

Ros Sopheap, executive director of Gender and Development organization, said the government’s policy to promote gender equity has not been effectively implemented.

“So we would like the government and the donors to take care of solving the challenges to women, like poverty, low education, domestic violence and trafficking,” she said.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Aid

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Tackle Cambodia mismanagement, donors urged

1st June 2010
Source: Global Witness

International donors must act on entrenched natural resource-related corruption in Cambodia, says Global Witness

Cambodia’s international donors must tackle head on the gross mismanagement of the country’s natural resources at tomorrow’s government-donor meeting, campaign group Global Witness said today. Donors gave Cambodia $1bn in aid last year, despite evidence of widespread corruption and mismanagement of public funds and repeated failures to implement promised reform.

Ambassadors from donor countries will meet in Phnom Penh from June 2-3 for the regular review of the government’s progress towards meeting reform targets. They are expected to agree to continue to provide aid to the tune of $1bn a year - a figure almost equal to Cambodia’s entire domestic revenue through the national treasury in 2008 - even though the government has failed to meet agreed benchmarks.

“The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years, but nothing had changed,” said Global Witness Campaigns Director Gavin Hayman. “Our latest report shows that the political elite has no intention of loosening its stranglehold over the country’s natural resource wealth. Donors simply cannot continue to turn a blind eye.”

Tomorrow’s meeting follows a series of revelations of high level corruption and governance failures over the last 18 months, including:

• The mysterious circumstances surrounding a multi-million dollar payment in signature bonuses and “social funds” made by French oil giant Total to the government. No information about the whereabouts of these payments has been made public by the authorities.
• A total lack of transparency in the latest bidding round for oil and gas exploration rights, held in late 2009. No information about the result has been made public by the government;
• An investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission into possible violations of anti-graft legislation by multinational mining company BHP Billiton during operations in a country widely reported to be Cambodia;
• The bankrolling of Cambodia’s military by private businesses, formalised by Prime Minister Hun Sen in February 2010. The following month a CPP Senator used the Battalion he sponsors to guard a plantation owned by his company against community protests;
• An escalation of land grabs resulting in urban and rural forced evictions;
• Condemnation by civil society of a new Anti-Corruption Law passed in March 2010 which fails to protect whistleblowers, and of the lack of independence of the new Anti-Corruption Unit.

Earlier this month Global Witness published Shifting Sand which outlined how a largely unregulated sand trade between Cambodia and Singapore was threatening coastal ecosystems and local livelihoods. It named two of Cambodia’s senator-tycoons as benefitting directly from the trade, and estimated that more than $10m in royalty fees could be missing from national accounts.

Global Witness is calling on Cambodia’s donors to make aid dependent on basic governance reforms which will enable Cambodia to harness its own resources for development. “Donors must take a coordinated stand against the horribly subverted dynamic of aid in Cambodia in which their country’s money props up the basic functions of the state, leaving an elite free to exploit the state’s assets for personal profit and gain further power,” said Gavin Hayman. “Taxpayers rightly expect development aid to be spent on genuine poverty reduction rather than underwriting corruption and state failure.”

/ENDS

Notes

1) In April 2010, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that the French company Total had made a payment of US$28 million to the government. US$8 million of this was for a social development fund as part of its agreement to explore for oil offshore, and an additional US$20 million signature bonus went to the government. Information can be found at http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/961/en/multi_million_dollar_payments_to_cambodia_by_french_oil_giant_total_should_be_scrutinized_by_countrys_donors

2) In April 2010, it was announced that the company BHP Billiton is under investigation for potential anti-graft violations by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Information can be found at http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/958/en/global_witness_statement_on_bhp_billiton_engagemen

3) Information about the private sponsorship of the Cambodian military, can be found at http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/935/en/global_witness_urges_cambodias_donors_to_condemn_s

4) Information about land grabs and forced evictions in 2010 can be found at www.ngoforum.org.kh

5) Information about the anti-corruption law can be found at http://www.licadho-cambodia.org/press/files/221Jointstatementondraftanti-corruptionlaw11march2010-Eng.pdf

Global Witness investigates and campaigns to end natural resource-related conflict and corruption and associated environmental and human rights abuses.

NGO says Cambodia's donors must demand reform for cash

Tue, 01 Jun 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - The British non-governmental organization Global Witness said Tuesday that foreign donors must pressure the Cambodian government to deliver meaningful reform in the face of "gross mismanagement" of the country's natural resources.

"The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years, but nothing had changed," said Gavin Hayman, the group's campaigns director.

Donor nations were scheduled to meet in Phnom Penh Wednesday and Thursday to discuss pledges. Last year, they provided almost 1 billion dollars in assistance, around half Cambodia's annual budget.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon said in April that he expected donor pledges to match or exceed last year's sum.

In a statement released to coincide with this week's meeting, Global Witness, which monitors natural resource exploitation, claimed evidence of widespread corruption and mismanagement of public funds.

Donor nations' "money props up the basic functions of the state, leaving an elite free to exploit the state's assets for personal profit and gain further power," Hayman said.

"Taxpayers rightly expect development aid to be spent on genuine poverty reduction rather than underwriting corruption and state failure," he said.

Cambodia is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries by the anti-graft monitor Transparency International, which last year placed the country near the bottom of its annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

Government spokesman Prak Sokhonn declined to comment on the statement by Global Witness, but last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out at the group, a regular critic of his government, describing the organization as "a group of thieves."

The opposition Sam Rainsy Party acknowledged some progress had been made in health, education and child protection since the last donor meeting in December 2008 but highlighted problems with land disputes and evictions.

"Titling of land must be increased, and a moratorium on evictions and arrests should be implemented until all land is formally adjudicated according to the law," the party said.

Aid donors urged to get tough on Cambodia over land

Tue Jun 1, 2010
Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian rights groups and farmers urged foreign donors on Tuesday to press the government to suspend land concessions to investors and use fair and lawful means to settle disputes.

Non-governmental organisations and landless farmers have accused Cambodia's government of awarding a wave of concessions to foreign and local firms before evicting villagers from their land without negotiation or adequate compensation.

International donors have played a major role in the development of the impoverished country's economy, although the government has regularly admonished donors critical of its policies and accused them of interference.

On Monday Cambodia's parliament approved a five-year plan to achieve GDP growth of 6 percent annually, a figure that would require donors to provide $6 billion of foreign aid.

Sar Sok, a villager embroiled in a land dispute with a sugar company in Kompong Speu province, 48 km (30 miles) west of the capital Phnom Penh, asked donors to use their influence to force the government to change its approach.

"I ask donors to put pressure on the government on issues of human rights violations, forced evictions and land grabbing," Sar Sok said, a day ahead of an international donors' meeting in Phnom Penh.

In its drive to attract foreign investment, Cambodia has awarded big concessions to companies, mainly from China, Vietnam and South Korea, to run mines, power plants, farms and plantations for sugar, rice and rubber.

FORCED OFF THE LAND

However, rights groups say that has come at the expense of its people, with a sharp rise in the number of forced evictions by state officials profiting from the sale and leasing of farmland and urban real estate to foreign and local companies.

Cambodia's government has denied the allegations, claiming evictions are lawful and compensation is more than adequate.

Many Cambodians struggle to prove their ownership of land since legal documents were often lost or destroyed during decades of civil war.

Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum on Cambodia, said donors would be presented with a list of recommendations on what to demand from the Cambodian government before agreeing to future development aid.

He said existing land concessions should be suspended pending a review, while the government should halt the arrest of locals involved in land disputes and commit to a transparent and legal process to ensure cases are dealt with fairly.

"Donors have given a lot of money for land reform but there are still land evictions," Chhit Sam Ath said. "We won't stay calm with donors who give money and stay quiet while villagers are crying."

(Editing by Martin Petty)

"We need from abroad more than $1.05 billion a year": Tuon Thavrak

Cambodia aims for 6 pct GDP growth with donor help

PHNOM PENH, May 31 (Reuters) - Cambodia's parliament approved a five-year plan for the economy on Monday that aims for 6 percent growth a year with the help of about $6 billion from donors, who are meeting in Phnom Penh this week to discuss aid.

Gross domestic product grew 0.1 percent last year, Planning Minister Chhay Than told the National Assembly on Monday, and to achieve the growth target in coming years a total of $6.28 billion would be needed to support development efforts.

Tuon Thavrak, director-general of the planning ministry, told reporters during a break in the session that most of that sum would have to come from aid donors.

"We need about $6 billion, so roughly every year we need about $1.2 billion," he said. "We have our own money in the national budget, but only about $200 million a year. We need from abroad more than $1.05 billion a year."

Government ministers will discuss these plans at a meeting with rich country donors and agencies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank on June 2-3.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon said in a recent speech that donors were expected to give the country $1 billion this year, roughly the same as the $990 million in 2009.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Alan Raybould)

SRP Recommendations to the Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: 012 788 999
30 May, 2010

SRP Recommendations to the Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum

PHNOM PENH – The Sam Rainsy Party praises and acknowledges the efforts of CDCF mechanism for consulting with development partners and civil society. SRP also praises the goals of the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2009-2013, and acknowledges the progress made in the areas of health, education, child protection and disability since the last consultation in December of 2008.

Despite the hard work on the part of the CDCF partners, work remains in many key sectors.
A crucial first step is to strengthen enforcement of existing legislation and policies. In order to meet Cambodia’s international human rights obligations and to implement the NSDP and the 2008 CDCF Joint Monitoring Indicators(JMIs) in the areas of Health, Education, Agriculture, Land Reform, Good Governance, and the Electoral Process, the RGC should make these additional actions priorities in the next year:

Health: Access to health care for people living below the poverty line can be achieved with the elimination of user fees. Quality of care can be improved with higher investment in training and a living wage for medical staff. The fundamental principles of access to quality health care for the poor must be strictly upheld. Access must be addressed for people with disabilities according to the Disability Law.

Education: The student survival rate in primary schools in the academic year 2007-2008 was only 33.1%. At the secondary and tertiary level, access continues to be unacceptably low, especially for girls, poor children, and the indigenous peoples. As in the health sector, training of teachers and supervisors and adequate living salaries and elimination of all forms of corruption, including school fees must be closely monitored. Human and natural resources must improve: the deployment of teachers must be prioritized, as well as school construction/repair.
Agriculture: The RGC needs to focus on human resources development in rural areas, funding for agricultural technology research, small-scale, decentralized family farms, using mixed crops and combined organic/chemical farming, as well as the development of farmers’ cooperatives employing the youth.

Land Reform: At least 60% of rural families are landless or land-poor. Slow titling of private and indigenous community land has lead to land disputes with economic concessionaires claiming title. Economic Land Concessions that exceed the size allowed under the law are being issued, often before the land is classified and registered as State private property. Lawful possessors are displaced and arrests of villagers are common. Speed of registration of Indigenous Persons communities as legal entities, and titling of land must be increased, and a moratorium on evictions and arrests should be implemented until all land is formally adjudicated according to the law. The RGC should document all ELCs given to-date in a centralized and accessible space. It should also strengthen the independence of the Cadastral Commission and courts at all levels adjudicating land disputes.

Good Governance:

• Public Finance Reform: The public remains uninformed and unheard regarding financial matters, specifically in procurement. An up-to-date debt monitoring system has yet to be implemented, thus publication of debt information should be prioritized in 2010/11 and publications of monitoring statements should be added. Commune Development Funds must be made transparent to the people at the commune level by holding monthly community meetings as defined in the Commune Management Law.
• Access to information: The RGC has drafted the Policy Framework on the Rights Access to Information (August 2007). However, there is a need for a clear mandate and timeframe for the development of this law. Any form of threat and/or intimidation of the public, civil society and opposition MPs against receiving information must be seen as an obstruction to the right to information.
• Anti-corruption: The adopted law does not meet international standards, did not allow for adequate public participation in its drafting, and there remains a lack of clear plans for implementation. Also, no substantial actions have been yet taken towards strengthening education on and dissemination of corruption-related regulations, the cases of corruption of public officials have not been followed-up publicly in a rigorous and systematic way by an independent judicial system, public support and participation is still obstructed in the name of "national security and order", and by anti-corruption mechanisms put in place.
• Legal and Judicial Reform: The RGC should focus on the development of a sound legal framework and modernization of the law, as well as by implementing measures to enhance competence, independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
• Extractive Industry Revenue Management: Measures must be taken to increase transparency in the Extractive Industries, such as reviewing current mining concessions and grants and require all companies to publish licensing information.

Electoral Process: Reforms are still necessary to address problems with the right to vote which begins at the registration stage. The UNDP coordination and efforts to address the shortfalls of past elections should receive wide support.

Gender-Based Violence: Rape cases are increasing at an alarming rate throughout the country. Victims of sexual assaults have limited access to justice. Actions must be taken to help victims break the silence by taking measures to monitor the practice of compensation which is often negotiated and facilitated by local authorities. Gender justice is further hindered by corruption in the judiciary.

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The SRP is an opposition party dedicated to establishing a just and fair society by amplifying the voice of the people. SRP’s position is guided by principles of sustainable and inclusive development that provides a fair share of growth for all Cambodians as of right, not out of charity. To read the full statement, please go to: www.samrainsyparty.org.

Pledges reopen development debate

Deputy Prime Ministers Men Sam An, Nhek Bun Chhay and Keat Chhon (left to right) at the donor-government meeting on Wednesday. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Monday, 08 December 2008
Written by Kay Kimsong
The Phnom Penh Post

VYING FOR POSITION
China led the pack in international aid donations to Cambodia, pledging $257 million for 2009. It was followed by the European Union, which promised $214 million, and Japan with $113 million. The rest of the breakdown was not disclosed by the government.

Civil society groups, concerned that the emergence of China as a major aid player will not benefit the country, urge Western governments to be less complacent about corruption

LAST week's nearly US$1 billion international aid pledge - the largest ever granted under the auspices of the annual Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum - has reopened the debate over the Kingdom's development trajectory, amid concerns over the effect of a fresh influx in foreign aid.

Despite worries about the Kingdom's endemic corruption, government officials have interpreted the unsolicited donations as a unanimous vote of confidence for the government and its ability to effectively manage future development.

"We [are] a train running on the right tracks," Minister of Finance Keat Chhon said Friday, on the last day of the annual donor meeting. "We have put on a good performance. If we had not, [donors] would have cancelled their aid."

However, opposition leaders have lashed out at the pledges, questioning both the philanthropic intentions behind the aid and how far the Kingdom is set to benefit from such a vast injection of cash - which this year came from both traditional Western sources and nations such as China, participating in the donor meeting for only the second time.

"Loans and grants from China are just debt that the Cambodian people will have to pay back in the future," said Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay.

He added that donors have consistently pledged more aid every year since the meetings began in 1992, reaching a total of $690 million last year. In 2009, that amount could rise to more than $1 billion once the United States makes its aid pledges.
"Aid can do more harm than good, depending on how it is given."
Chinese strings

According to Son Chhay, donors - especially those such as China - have their own reasons for coughing up cash for Cambodia, which are neither philanthropic nor an indication of support for the government's development work.

Most of the soft loans and grants given by China are contingent on the government's using Chinese contractors to complete earmarked projects.

"Cambodia only really benefits from about three percent of the total loans that China gives," he said. "If China gives a $250 million loan, I think, in real terms, that Cambodia gets about $5 million in benefits."

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the government was labouring under the illusion that the Chinese government was proffering aid without strings attached.

"The [government] says China is the nicest donor, since they give without any human rights or anti-corruption agenda," he said.

"Even though Western donors don't hold the government to their demands, at least the West makes demands. China is playing politics in Cambodia. It is very scary."

Western complacency

Others said that Western donors needed to reconsider their complacency in the face of government inaction.

"Aid can do more harm than good depending how it is given," said Sin Somuny, director of Medicam, an umbrella organization for health-related NGOs that attended the donor conference.

Sin Somuny said that donors - particularly traditional Western donor nations - should give civil society organisations more chances to participate in the drafting of the national strategic development plan, and to use them as the primary channel for aid.

"The role of NGOs and civil society groups in providing complementary services, particularly in areas where state services do not reach, is crucial and should be recognised by donors," he said.

Qimiao Fan, country manager for the World Bank, said that the amount pledged was irrelevant next to the way the funds were used.

"I think it is not important how much we have provided. It is important that what we provide is used efficiently and effectively in priority areas," he said, adding that he was not able to disclose the figure the World Bank has pledged.

But improving the regulatory framework and passing the long-awaited anti-corruption law was essential to the proper use of the aid money, he said.

"Adopting the anti-corruption law is not going to be a ‘magic bullet', but we feel it is very important because it does provide an essential legal framework," Qimiao Fan said.

"We believe our support will help protect the poor. We are not here to put pressure on any government."

He added that the government needs to take ownership of reforms and that it was not up to development partners to push the government over the content of domestic reforms.

EU Representative Kerstin Henke, from the German Federal Ministry of Education Cooperation and Development, said the adoption of the anti-corruption law would be an important step.

"I think we have promises on the adoption of the anti-corruption law, which will be a step forward because for all development partners ... good governance is a key issue," she said.

"We have called on the leadership of the government to take more steps to implement the policies which were announced," Henke said, adding that the European Commission has pledged an aid package worth around $634 million over the next three years.

Pledges, promises, faint praise

Monday, 08 December 2008
Written by Kay Kimsong
The Phnom Penh Post

Observers ask how useful the annual donor ‘ritual' really is

WITH a record of nearly $1 billion in foreign aid pledged, last week's annual donor-government meeting has been lauded as a success by its official participants.

In a statement ending a two-day meeting, Finance Minister Keat Chhon announced pledges totalling $951.5 million in development aid for 2009.

Donors last year pledged $690 million to the Kingdom.

Keat Chhon said China - which only joined the annual meeting last year - had made the biggest pledge of $257 million.

But the donors' requests for reform and the government's promises of action sound sadly familiar, indicating that a decade-old pattern of rewarding inaction with aid has not been broken, observers say.

"It's a ritual, an annual ritual between the government and the international community," said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

"They said exactly the same things last year, the language is the same, the outcome is always the same - we finish the ritual with a stamp of approval [on the government's development plans] and then its back to business as usual," he added.

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday opened the meeting with a new promise to donors that he would fight corruption by passing long-awaited anti-graft legislation as soon as possible.

Speaking on behalf of donors, Cambodia's World Bank country manager, Qimiao Fan, urged the government to quickly pass the anti-corruption law and to use the pledged aid effectively.

These same requests have been made at every donor-government meeting, including by Fan's predecessor, Ian Porter, last year.

"In many ways, it is a ... dance. Donors demand nothing concrete, there is very little expectation," Ou Virak said.

International Donors Pledge Nearly $1 Billion To Cambodia

Friday December 5th, 2008

PHNOM PENH (AFP)--International donors Friday pledged nearly $1 billion to Cambodia, its government said, their most generous aid package ever to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation despite the global economic downturn.

In a statement ending a two-day donors' meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's finance minister Keat Chhon announced pledges totaling $951.5 million in development aid for 2009.

Keat Chhon expressed "appreciation for these indications of support," and said some countries were still to make their pledges, including the U.S. as it remains in transition between presidents.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday opened the meeting promising foreign donors he would fight corruption with a new anti-graft law as soon as possible.

Donors last year pledged $689 million to the country, despite strong concerns over rampant corruption and demands by rights groups that donors get tough on the government's apparent refusal to reform.

While still among one of the world's poorest countries, Cambodia has emerged from decades of conflict as one of the region's rising economies.

It has posted annual economic growth averaging 11% over the past three years on the back of strong garment and tourism sectors.

But the International Monetary Fund recently said Cambodia's economy was expected to flounder next year as the world crisis deepened.