2011 Defence Economic Trends in the Asia-Pacific [... including Cambodia]

https://www.box.com/s/fd02b51920136f5bf2b1

HIV epidemic at critical juncture in Asia Pacific - UNAIDS

August 29, 2011
ABC Radio Australia

The AIDS epidemic is at a critical juncture in the Asia Pacific region, according to the UN's top body on tackling the disease, UNAIDS.

A new report launched at the 2011 International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, ICAAP, found that while the region has seen impressive gains, there have also been setbacks.

The executive director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe says most countries in the region are a long way from giving all HIV sufferers full treatment and care.

The report card, it seems, is still mixed.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Michel Sidibe, executive director, UNAIDS

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

SIDIBE: We're just realising that after ten years, the reduction of 20 percent of infection in this region, is very encouraging. But it's encouraging, because we're seeing a new policy reform in different parts of the region. a few years ago, it was not possible to think one second, that we'll have methadone maintenance treatment in Indonesia, or in China. Today, it's there. We're seeing a growing interest for investing on HIV in many parts of the region - Thailand is almost financing the bulk of their epidemic, we're seeing China taking more and more interest in financing their programs, but at the same time, it is not time for complacency. In the Philippines, just a few years ago, we were thinking an epidemic would never happen there. We were having zero-point-one per cent of prevalence, so it was very, very low. But in less than two years, in the city of Cebu, the prevalence rose from zero point six percent to 53 percent, amongst people who injected drugs.

LAM: So, as you say, there have been impressive gains in the Asia Pacific region in recent years, such a 20 drop in infections, a threefold increase in access to therapy. But are you saying also that the gains are pretty uneven across the region?

Asia Pacific Internet Landscape 2011 [... unfortunately no data for Cambodia, Laos and Burma]

For additional information, please click the link below:

http://www.veedvil.com/ad-infographic/infographic-asia-pacific-social-media-statistics/

Mu Sochua to speak at 2011 Asia Pacific Rule of Law Conference (APAC)

Thursday, December 2, 2010
Source: http://www.apac2011wjp.org/mu-sochua-to-speak-at-apac

Mu Sochua, a Cambodian Parliament member, will be a panelist at the Asia Pacific Rule of Law Conference. Sochua has been an outspoken advocate for a diverse array of human rights issues in Cambodia, including a campaign against sex trafficking, the prevention of domestic violence and the promotion of labor rights for women. For more information on Mu Sochua and other prominent speakers at the Asia Pacific Rule of Law Conference, please visit our speaker page.

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Speaker Biography

Mu Sochua

Member of Parliament, Cambodia

Mu Sochua, a member of the Cambodian Parliament and advocate for human rights, gained her freedom from the Khmer Rouge as a girl when her parents put her on a plane to Paris in 1972. After 18 years of exile and a successful career in the U.S. as a social worker, Sochua returned to Cambodia and found her country transformed into what Time magazine called "a pervert’s paradise", where women and girls were so devalued that becoming a sex worker was a common fate.

As Cambodia’s first woman seated as Minister of Women’s Affairs, Sochua negotiated an agreement with Thailand allowing Cambodian women trafficked as sex workers there to return to their home country in lieu of being jailed. As the author and defender of the Domestic Violence Law in the Cambodian Parliament, Sochua has served the women of her nation as an unrelenting advocate for the preservation and full practice of women’s rights. She also launched a campaign to bring NGOs, law enforcement officials and rural women into a national dialogue and education program to help protect women and girls victimized by trafficking and to boost prevention efforts nationwide. In 2005, when Vital Voices honored Mu Sochua in Washington, D.C. for her efforts in combating child trafficking in her native Cambodia, she said her mind remained with the women and children of Cambodia and called for international attention to government corruption and human rights abuses in her government, conditions she says create a climate where traffickers flourish. Sochua continues to be steadfast in her call for action toward the formation of an authentically democratic Cambodia where women’s rights are revered as human rights.

US eyes bigger Asian-Pacific presence

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrives in Melbourne, Australia on November 7, 2010

Sun Nov 7, 2010
PressTV

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says Washington plans to expand its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, denying that the move is a challenge to China.

"We're looking at ways to strengthen and perhaps make more robust our presence in Asia," Gates said, en route to Melbourne, where he later held talks with Australian officials, AFP reported on Sunday.

On his arrival, Gates added that the US and Australia will discuss deepening military ties, including cooperation on cyber security and missile defense and "space surveillance."

The US official noted that Washington has “no plans for new US bases in Australia or elsewhere in the region.”

The Australian meeting comes amid concern over China's military buildup in the Pacific. The US has frequently expressed alarm about China's military buildup in the Pacific.

But Gates insisted that Washington's plans in the region are not aimed at antagonizing or countering Beijing. "This isn't about China at all," he said.

The United States says it is interested in strengthening military ties with Asian countries in a bid to boost counterterrorism and military cooperation.

Australia's Defense Minister Stephen Smith greeted Gates upon his arrival and the US defense chief is expected to join US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived in Melbourne on Saturday for a string of meetings.

Clinton's visit is the final leg of her 10-day Asia-Pacific tour which took her to Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

The AUSMIN meetings, which will be attended by Australian foreign and defense ministers and their US counterparts, are scheduled to be held on Monday in Melbourne.

The two countries have held the AUSMIN meetings, which are the principal forum for bilateral consultations between the US and Australia, regularly since 1985.

Bigger cities mean more poverty, says UN

Urbanisation is resulting in larger numbers of poor people, reports ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

Friday March 21, 2008
Bangkok Post

Urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific region has driven up poverty, says the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap).

The agency's latest yearbook showed that with an increase in urbanisation and growth, urban poverty had also worsened.

This year represented a turning point in human geography. For the first time in history, more people now live in cities than in rural areas.

Although the Asia-Pacific region, along with Africa, was still one of the least urbanised regions of the world, its urban population had grown at the fastest pace in the last 15 years, said the yearbook, which describes economic, social and environmental trends in Asia and the Pacific.

Only 33% of people in Asia lived in urban areas in 1990, compared with 41% today.

The Asean bloc, comprising the 10 member countries of Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, had seen the fastest influx of people from rural areas to cities.

This growth was having an effect on the way people lived, said Pietro Gennari, the chief of Escap's Statistics Division.

"We're seeing more and more people living in slums and also a negative effect on people's ability to get access to clean water and sanitation in urban areas."

In Asia and the Pacific, two in five urban dwellers live in slums, compared with three out of five in Africa.

In China, Indonesia and the Philippines, fewer urban people had access to sources of high-quality water, said Mr Gennari. The region's rapid economic growth led to better social outcomes, but also put strain on the environment, partly owing to a rapid increase in energy consumption.

Energy consumption per capita in Asia and the Pacific more than doubled between 1990 and 2004, a pace unmatched anywhere else in the world, said Mr Gennari. Motorisation rates measured by the number of passenger cars in use per 1,000 people had also increased significantly in the Asian and Pacific region.

Vehicles had helped improve mobility and contributed to economic growth, but also increased pollution levels and traffic accidents, he said.

Personal mobility levels in many South and Southeast Asian countries were higher than the number of cars in use suggested, as two-and three-wheelers made up more than two-thirds of all motorised vehicles in Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam.