Germany Gives $1.5 Million for Tribunal Victims Unit

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC Wednesday, 22 December 2010

The German government is providing $1.5 million to the cash-strapped Khmer Rouge tribunal, with funding to go toward the Victims Unit.

The unit was established to help people file grievances and testimony with the UN-backed court, in an effort toward national reconciliation.

The money will cover a 16-month project that began in September, including processing, outreach and victim participation, the tribunal said in a statement.

More than 8,000 victims have filed with the unit and are awaiting the trial of four jailed senior Khmer Rouge leaders. The Victims Unit has struggled with funding along with the rest of the court.

Germany assists in flood control in Cambodia

September 17, 2010
Xinhua

Germany has provided assistance to Cambodia for flood control system project that will benefit about 700 households with approximately 3,500 farmers and their livestock, according to a statement released by German Embassy on Friday.

The statement said the project was just completed and the hand- over ceremony of the flood control system built in the three districts in Kandal and Prey Veng Provinces, located about 65 kilometers southeast of Phnom Penh, was organized on Friday.

It said that the newly constructed Safety Areas, 900 to 2000 square meters in size, consist of sufficiently raised foundations (several meters above the respective highest flooding levels of the severe flooding in the year 2000), equipped with latrines and drinking water supply facilities.

The assistance was made available after it has learned that severe flooding, as recently witnessed in Pakistan and China, poses substantial threats for human lives.

Flooding also occurs frequently along the Mekong River, and based on requests from the respective district governors, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) - under its Flood Management and Mitigation Program (FMMP) - constructed five Safety Areas in the three districts.

The activities have been financially supported by the German Government and implemented by GTZ (German Technical Cooperation Agency).

Following the year 2000 flood in Cambodia, safety area identification and management by the provincial and district authorities became one of the important flood preparedness activities for evacuation and temporary shelter for flood affected people and their livestock.

The statement said the project costs of the five Safety Area constructions were approximately 20,000 U.S. dollar in total, and the beneficiaries are almost 700 households with approx. 3500 farmers and their livestock, who will be able to evacuate with their belongings to those Safety Areas in times of severe flooding.

Number of Cambodian landmine casualties shows further annual drop

Thu, 11 Feb 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Official figures released Thursday showed the number of Cambodians injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance dropped 12 per cent last year from 2008 although the number killed remained constant at 47 in each year. A total of 243 people were killed or injured in 2009 by explosive remnants of war (ERW), down from 271 the previous year, the Cambodian Mine/ERW Victim Information Service said.

The number of victims has shown a steady decline year-on-year since 1994 when almost 3,000 people were killed or injured.

Chhiv Lim, a project officer for the service, said a survey undertaken four years ago showed several reasons behind the annual decline in deaths and injuries.

"We found the number one reason was demining activities, and that's because we have a lot of people involved in demining," he said. "The second is that people [have been educated] to understand the dangers of mines and ERW."

Other experts have previously said a further factor in Cambodia's predominantly agricultural society has been farmers earning better prices for crops. Improved incomes mean less need to forage for supplementary products such as bamboo and firewood and a lower risk at coming across unexploded ordnance.

More than half of last year's deaths and injuries came from three provinces in the country's north-west. The majority of victims were men while around one-third were children.

In 1999, Cambodia ratified the Ottawa Treaty, which bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines. While more than 150 countries have signed the treaty, China, Russia and the United States are among those that refuse to do so.

The treaty gave countries 10 years until 2009 to clear all mines from their territory, but Cambodia missed that goal. In December, Cambodia was granted a 10-year extension on the deadline although it is still thought unlikely to reach that revised target.

This week, Germany pledged 1.4 million US dollars for demining in Cambodia's north-west, adding to around 10 million dollars it has provided for demining in the country since 1999.

Cambodia has one of the highest disability rates in the world, a legacy of the country's decades of civil war that started in the 1960s and finished in the late 1990s.

Extended German relief aid for victims of Typhoon Ketsana

Cambodia: Extended German relief aid for victims of Typhoon Ketsana

Source: Government of Germany

Phnom Penh, 11 December 2009 - With the aim to support those victims of typhoon Ketsana who have lost their houses and suffer from food shortages due to the devastating tropical storm the Federal Republic of Germany has, in addition to its previous assistance, provided 200.000 Euro relief aid. The additional assistance is channelled through the German Organisation Welthungerhilfe in cooperation with the local Ketsana Emergency Response network. The assistance will bridge humanitarian assistance provided earlier and will support efforts to reconstruct communal infrastructure in Ratanakiri Province. The affected population will also receive agricultural inputs in order to prepare for the next harvesting season.

In October 2009, the Federal Republic of Germany already provided 228.920 Euro assistance to the victims of typhoon Ketsana of which 200.000 Euro were addressed to assist the efforts of reconstruction and food provision through the NGO Care in Ratanakiri Province as well as for immediate relief aid in cooperation with the Red Cross.

In total, the Federal Republic of Germany therewith provided 428.920 Euro of relief aid to the victims of typhoon Ketsana.

Contact:
German Embassy, No. 76-78, Street 214, Phnom Penh, Tel.: 023-216381; Fax: 023-427746

Germany to sign 50-million-dollar aid agreements with Cambodia

Tue, 12 Aug 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Germany was scheduled to sign two aid agreements with Cambodia Wednesday that would allocate more than 50 million dollars to the impoverished Asian nation, embassy officials said. The two agreements were worth 24.7 million and 26.7 million dollars, an embassy official said Tuesday.

The first is an agreement on technical cooperation that includes technical support on social welfare projects and developments in electricity supply, agriculture and irrigation.

The second is for financial cooperation for projects including social welfare, reproductive health, electric power programmes in rural areas and rural infrastructure.

"This is direct bilateral cooperation," the embassy official said. "It does not include the substantial amounts being provided by Germany through various non-government organizations."

Negotiations on the development aid agreement were concluded in October and a signing ceremony scheduled Wednesday at the Foreign Ministry would formalize them, the embassy official said.

Germany is an important donor to Cambodia and donated millions to the joint UN-Cambodian court set up in July to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.