Latest tourist attraction has 'bloody' past

Vaeng Vanhorn, 30, the wife of fisherman Heng Meng, dumps freshly caught fish into a bucket near the Trapeang Thma dam in Banteay Meanchey province. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Comrade Im Chaem (Photo:Im Navin, RFI)

Monday, 20 August 2012
May Titthara and Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

The brilliant green rice paddies of Banteay Meanchey’s Phnom Srok district stretch as far as the eye can see this time of year. Locals are thankful for the bounty, but it’s a gratitude tempered by the painful history of its source – the Khmer Rouge-era Trapeang Thma dam.

The construction of the massive dam and its associated canal network transformed the area’s once-volatile agricultural fortunes with the introduction of year-round irrigation. Building it today would cost in the millions, but in the late 1970s, the price was paid in human life.

“The authorities celebrate ceremonies every year, especially during the water festival, to dedicate to the spirits of the victims who died during the construction of that dam,” Heng Meng, 34, said as he arranged his fishing net by the edge of the dam.

Vietnam accused of using drug addicts for forced labor

Sep 08, 2011
Jared Ferrie
The Christian Science Monitor

In Cambodia, rights groups have documented torture and abuse in detention centers, but the use of forced labor is on a smaller scale and “ad hoc,” Amon says, adding that HRW is paying attention to Cambodia's new plan to consolidate its centers with the help of Vietnam.

Cambodia plans to close facilities around the country and instead send addicts to one large center, to be built in its port city of Sihanoukville. The land was donated by Mong Reththy, a Cambodian tycoon who also owns a port and a palm oil plantation, which both sit adjacent to the site.

Cashew lovers may be disappointed to hear that the snack could have decidedly distasteful origins.

A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses Vietnam of imprisoning hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese drug addicts throughout the past decade without due process and forcing them to work long hours in detention centers processing cashew nuts and other items for sale by companies.

The report also documents beatings and torture inside the centers, which increased in number from 56 in 2000 to 123 by early this year. The report puts a spotlight on human rights abuses against drug addicts across Southeast Asia.

“This is an absolutely outrageous example of government-condoned forced labor using one of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations,” says Joe Amon, HRW’s director of health and human rights, in an interview.

Groups Join for Cambodian, Foreign Brides in Taiwan

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
05 September 2007

Five women's groups will stage a demonstration in front of Taiwan's Foreign Affairs building later this month to demand easier naturalization for the country's foreign brides.

More than 5,000 Cambodian women are married to Taiwanese nationals, but the barriers for naturalization are too high for them to become citizens, said Y Say Hun, a Cambodian rights advocate in Taipei.

The Taiwanese government has four possibilities for would-be citizens, she said. A person can deposit 400,000 Taiwan dollars in the bank; have a job earning more the 32,000 Taiwan dollars; own a house worth 5 million Taiwan dollars or more; or finish 72 hours of a Chinese-language class.

These barriers are too high for most foreign brides, which include women from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, Thailand, China and the Philippines, Y Say Hun said. Even the language classes prove too difficult for the women, most of whom come from backgrounds with little education in their own countries.

"No Cambodian brides can fit these conditions," she said. "The minimum wage in Taiwan is 28,000 [Taiwan dollars], but for us they only pay 15,000 to 18,000 [Taiwan dollars]. We don't have 400,000 to deposit, we don't own houses and we can't read Chinese writing."

Women's groups for each nationality have joined together to demand the conditions be easier, to provide more rights to brides, who often find themselves alone and in abusive situations. They will protest for a third time Sept. 9 if the government does not consider lowering the requirements for citizenship.

That the women are legally married makes their cases different than trafficking cases, said Ung Kantha Phavy, the Cambodian Minister of Women's Affairs.

"These women married Taiwanese men," she said. "I'm aware of the abuse and violence by Taiwanese husbands. I'll bring this case to discuss with the Cambodian government."

Y Say Hun said many of the marriages are fake, leading women into forced labor or prostitution.