Fight Is About Corruption, Not Government: Advocate

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
15 December 2009

"...many of the corruptors work in the government" - Mam Sitha

The fight against corruption should not be viewed as antagonistic towards the entire government, a leading anti-graft advocate said Monday. Instead, laws, regulations and policies should be aimed at anyone involved in corruption, leaving aside those who aren’t.

“Don’t confuse them,” said Mam Sitha, president of the Cambodian Independent Anti-Corruption Committee.

“To fight against corruption is to fight against those who commit corruption,” she said, as a guest on “Hello VOA.” The issue can be confused as anti-government, she said, “because many of the corruptors work in the government.”

Last week, the Council of Ministers green-lighted a draft anti-corruption law that has been in the works for more than a decade and is anxiously awaited by donors and other organizations. The bill, which has nine chapters and 57 articles, is expected to be debated in the National Assembly soon.

Critics like Mam Sitha, however, worry the law will be difficult to enforce and is missing key components to stanch the country’s endemic corruption.

For example, a strong law should call for public—not secret—declarations of assets by public officials and must protect informants, she said.

A strong law will also have an independent corruption committee that is under the prime minister, not the Council of Ministers, Mam Sitha said, and should carry enough authority to dissuade political interference.

In the current climate, people are afraid to speak out on corruption, even if they witness it, and a newly passed criminal law has little to allay those fears, she said.

The criminal law, which was passed as a precursor to the anti-corruption law, upholds as criminal offenses both defamation and disinformation. Critics charge that both offenses have been used in punitive attacks on government critics, including journalists and opposition members.

Trade Officials Fight Allegations of Label Swaps

Cham Prasidh involved in garment quota sale to neighboring countries?

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report form Washington
27 November 2009

“No one can trick us. The one who talk about the Vietnamese clothes, they even provoke problem at the Vietnamese border. (sic!)” - CPP Cham Prasidh

Commerce officials are working in the US to counter accusations that garments claiming to be made in Cambodia are actually produced in neighboring Vietnam.

Members of the opposition “told America that our shirts were not made in Cambodia, but were made in Vietnam,” Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh told VOA Khmer in an interview on a recent visit to Washington. “Is it fair to say that?”

Cham Prasidh and other officials were in Washington to seek more markets for Cambodian products and to lobby for continued preferential trade agreements.

The garment industry provides more than 300,000 jobs and is economic earner for Cambodia, sending most of its items to the US market.

Sandra Polaski, deputy undersecretary of the US Department of Labor said allegations of label-swapping had reached her, but she dismissed them.

“There is actually a fairly strict system to monitor, to be sure that the products that were labeled, ‘Made in Cambodia,’ came from Cambodia. So I don’t think it is an extensive problem.”

Similarly, Cham Prasidh said that the Cambodian ministry of commerce has effective examine systems to every garment factories that can’t be cheated. He urges those critics better to think more about the country benefits.

“We have control systems at every garment factory,” Cham Prasidh said. “No one can trick us. The one who talk about the Vietnamese clothes, they even provoke problem at the Vietnamese border.”

Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay said the allegations should be investigated.

And Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Unions of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said the government still needs to establish an inspection group to monitor factories.

Van Sou Ieng, president of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, said there was no benefit to label swaps, as the costs of smuggling goods or paying bribes to conduct the scheme would outweigh the benefits.

"...many individuals, including police and judicial officials, are both directly and indirectly involved in [human] trafficking": US Dept of State

Excerpt from Trafficking in Persons Report 2009
US Department of State
Link: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/index.htm

CAMBODIA (Tier 2 Watch List)

Cambodia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and girls are trafficked to Thailand and Malaysia for exploitative labor as domestic workers and forced prostitution. Some Cambodian men migrate willingly to Thailand and Malaysia for work and are subsequently subjected to conditions of forced labor in the fishing, construction, and agricultural industries. Cambodian men and women repatriated from Malaysia report experiencing conditions of forced labor after migrating there for work with the assistance of Cambodian labor recruitment companies. Cambodian children are trafficked to Thailand and Vietnam to beg, sell candy or flowers, or shine shoes. Parents sometimes sell their children into involuntary servitude to serve as beggars, into brothels for commercial sexual exploitation, or into domestic servitude. Within Cambodia, children are trafficked for forced begging, waste scavenging, salt production, brick making, and quarrying.

In Cambodia, a significant proportion of female victims of trafficking for prostitution are ethnic Vietnamese, some of whom were born in Vietnam. Some Cambodian and ethnic Vietnamese women and girls are trafficked internally to areas in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville for forced prostitution in brothels and karaoke bars. NGO and media reports indicated that internal sex trafficking of women and girls from ethnic minority groups and of ethnic Vietnamese is an increasing problem. The sale of virgin girls continues to be problematic in the country, with foreign (mostly Asian) and Cambodian men paying $800 to $4,000 to have sex with virgins. Cambodia is a destination country for foreign child sex tourists, with increasing reports of Asian men traveling to Cambodia in order to have sex with underage virgin girls. Some Cambodian women who migrated to Taiwan as a result of brokered international marriages may have been subsequently subjected to conditions of forced prostitution or forced labor.

The Government of Cambodia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite these overall efforts, the government did not show evidence of progress in convicting and punishing human trafficking offenders – including complicit public officials – and protecting trafficking victims; therefore, Cambodia is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. After enactment of a law that included anti-trafficking provisions in February 2008, the government obtained the convictions of 12 trafficking offenders and initiated 71 trafficking prosecutions over the last year, a significant decrease from 52 convictions obtained during the previous reporting period. The government also failed to prosecute and convict officials involved in trafficking-related complicity, despite a high prevalence of trafficking-related corruption in Cambodia. Efforts to protect and assist victims did not improve during the reporting period, and victims continued to be detained and punished for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, including for prostitution. During 2008, there were reports of prostituted women being detained and physically abused by police and Ministry of Social Affairs Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY) officials.

Recommendations for Cambodia: Train law enforcement and other government officials to place greater emphasis on enforcing the human trafficking provisions in the February 2008 law; significantly improve the number of prosecutions, convictions, and punishments of trafficking offenders; substantially improve efforts to prosecute, convict, and criminally punish public officials complicit in trafficking; hold labor recruiting agencies criminally responsible for labor trafficking induced by fraudulent recruitment; improve interagency cooperation and collaboration, particularly between government officials and law enforcement officers working on trafficking; increase efforts to proactively identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups such as foreign women and children arrested for prostitution; institute procedures to ensure that victims are not arrested, incarcerated, or otherwise punished for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked; and conduct a public awareness campaign aimed at reducing demand by the local population and Asian visitors for commercial sex acts.

Prosecution
The Government of Cambodia demonstrated uneven law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking during the last year. The February 2008 law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation covers a wide variety of offenses with 12 out of its 30 criminal articles explicitly addressing human trafficking offenses. Cambodian law prohibits all forms of trafficking and prescribes penalties that are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties for other grave crimes, such as rape. Under the new law, the government initiated 71 prosecutions of human trafficking offenders during the reporting period. Because the new law covers a wide range of offenses, not all government officials have appeared to distinguish between the law’s articles on trafficking offenses and non-trafficking crimes such as prostitution, pornography, and child sex abuse. As a result, law enforcement has focused on prostitution-related crimes, and many police, courts, and other government officials appear to believe that enforcing all prostitution articles of the law contributes to efforts to combat trafficking. Following the passage of the law, Cambodian police conducted numerous raids on brothels, and detained a large number of women in prostitution, while failing to arrest, investigate or charge any large number of persons for human trafficking offenses. Moreover, the detained females in prostitution may have included some trafficking victims, though police made few attempts to identify, assist, or protect them. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court handed down convictions of 11 trafficking offenders and initiated prosecutions of 22 offenders in 2008, compared to 52 convictions in 2007. During the reporting period, some Cambodian courts charged trafficking offenders with less serious offenses that carry shorter punishments. The Cambodian police reported that they arrested 41 trafficking perpetrators during the reporting period. However, police did not always follow through on NGO investigations into entertainment establishments in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville allegedly involved in trafficking. Some observers continued to report the general inability of law enforcement and other government officials to act on trafficking leads. The Ministry of Interior provided training to some police officers on the new Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. There were reports of Cambodian migrant workers falling victim to trafficking due to the exploitative conditions in destination countries, such as Malaysia. The government did not report any prosecutions or convictions of labor recruitment companies that were allegedly involved in labor trafficking. From April 2008 to November 2008, the government banned all marriages of Cambodians to foreigners out of concern that some Cambodian women were vulnerable to trafficking, and subsequently implemented new regulations in an attempt to prevent trafficking through international marriages.

Corruption is pervasive in Cambodia and it is widely believed that many individuals, including police and judicial officials, are both directly and indirectly involved in trafficking. Some local police and government officials are known to extort money or accept bribes from brothel owners, sometimes on a daily basis, in order to allow the brothels to continue operating. Citing a lack of evidence, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in September 2008 dismissed the case of the former President of Cambodia’s Appeals Court, who had been removed from her position in 2007 for reportedly accepting $30,000 for the release of two brothel owners who had been previously convicted for trafficking offenses. The brothel owners were later re-arrested and remain in jail. The former Appeals Court President has since been appointed to a staff-level government position and remains under investigation. During the reporting period, two immigration police officers were removed from their positions for corruption and it remains unclear if they were allowed to assume other positions. There were no officials prosecuted or convicted for trafficking-related complicity.

Protection
The Government of Cambodia did not improve efforts to protect victims of trafficking during the reporting period. The government did not operate trafficking shelters or provide any specialized assistance to trafficking victims. The government continued to refer victims to NGO shelters, but did not itself offer further assistance. Vietnamese victims are the only known foreign victims in Cambodia, and they are provided temporary residence in NGO shelters with legal, educational, and counseling services while awaiting repatriation, although there are a limited number of NGO shelters with the ability to provide proper care for Vietnamese victims, due to a lack of foreign language capabilities. While some of the detained females in prostitution were assisted by NGOs, others were reportedly turned over by police to brothel owners or parents, and subsequently returned to brothels. There were also reports that some police officers and guards working at the two Ministry of Social Affairs Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY) rehabilitation centers raped, beat, and extorted women rescued in the raids. The Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation contains no provisions to protect trafficking victims in general. Victims were encouraged by police to participate in investigations and prosecutions of traffickers, though conditioning by brothel owners and pimps, as well as credible fears of retaliation from traffickers, and police corruption in some cases continue to hinder victim testimony. Police, court officials, and judges often failed to separate victims from perpetrators during raids, detention, and trials. Foreign pedophiles sometimes succeeded in paying off victims or their families to cease cooperation with law enforcement or NGOs. The government did not provide witness protection to victims, including those participating in the prosecution of their traffickers. In a Sihanoukville trafficking case, a suspected pedophile and his girlfriend – a suspected trafficker – were released from prison on bail, and subsequently threatened the families of the victims and demanded the victims be returned to them. Although victims had the opportunity to file civil suits and seek legal action against their traffickers, most did not have the resources to do so. In 2008, MOSAVY placed 101 Cambodian victims who reportedly had been trafficked to Thailand at a jointly-operated MOSAVY-IOM Transit Center in Poipet. MOSAVY reported that a total of 505 victims of sex trafficking were referred to them by local police; according to UNIAP sources, many of these 505 individuals were women voluntarily in prostitution, and not trafficking victims.

Prevention
The Government of Cambodia demonstrated limited efforts to prevent trafficking over the last year. The government conducted some public awareness campaigns aimed at reducing the significant demand for child prostitution generated by Cambodian and other Asian pedophiles. In March 2008, the National Task Force on trafficking launched a nationwide antitrafficking campaign and a national dialogue on trafficking via public forums in five provinces across Cambodia that continued into July 2008. The forums also served to inform communities of the new Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation, forms of trafficking, and new trafficking trends. The Ministry of Tourism continued collaboration with an NGO on advertisements in tourist brochures warning of the penalties for engaging in child sex tourism, and also continued to hold workshops for hospitality industry owners and staff on how to identify and intervene in cases of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children by tourists. The government secured the convictions of six foreigners who sexually abused Cambodian children, though during the year, there were two reported cases of prison sentences of foreign pedophiles being suspended, including one Russian pedophile who fled the country while on bail after spending six months in pre-trail detention. Cambodian forces participating in peacekeeping initiatives abroad received training on trafficking in persons prior to deployment.

They got maimed fighting for a regime that took away their homes and lands, and abandoned them to begging in the street

Beggars near the National Museum in this 22 October 1999 file photo (Photo: RFA)

Disabled war veterans are becoming beggars in drove

10 Feb 2009
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Along various Phnom Penh city restaurants and sidewalks, a large number of handicapped people can be seen begging for money from Cambodians and foreigners. Among these handicap people, some of them are disabled war veterans.

Sophorn: How did you become disabled?

Beggar: I fought against the Khmer Rouge in Battambang. When I lost my legs, I went to protest because they took away my house and my land.

A number of disabled war veterans who are begging along the streets in Phnom Penh have expressed their displeasure, claiming that they were disabled in the frontline and, on top of that, they lost all their homes and farmlands. This is the reason why they have to beg for a living.

A 50-year-old blind man who also lost his legs, accompanied by his 7-year-old daughter, is begging along the sidewalk in Phsar Thmei market. He told RFA that in 1985, he became disabled when he was fighting the KR in Svay Sisophon (Sereysophorn) in Banteay Meanchey province. He then had to sell all his farmlands in Kampong Thom province to get medical care and to buy rice to eat: “I was a soldier, a soldier under the Heng Samrin regime. I was fighting in Svay Sisophon, during the fight with the KR, I stepped on a landmine.”

Another disabled man with only one leg is sitting on a wheelchair, begging for money in front of a restaurant along the (Tonle Sap) river bank. He said that he used to own a house in Russey Keo commune, Phnom Penh city, but after he was disabled during a fighting with the KR in 1987, he had to sell his house for his family needs. He then became a renter, and finally he had to beg everywhere just to feed his family: “I sold my house for 300 (dollars?) only so I can take care of my health, I received some help, I had to borrow money. I met with all sort of problems, I don’t have enough to eat. If I had enough to eat, I wouldn’t have to beg like this, I used to study agriculture in the army, but now I don’t own any farmland.”

Sim, a 45-year-old man with only one leg and one hand, is begging near Wat Phnom Park, is very displeased with the government. He claimed that in 1988, he was forced to join a special army unit to fight against the KR. Following his injuries, the government never took care or worried about his situation. Furthermore, the local authority in Snuol, Kratie province, his birthplace, confiscated all his farmlands. The situation turned him into a beggar to survive: “Disabled soldiers during my time, they confiscated everything from us, they used guns to point at us (to confiscate our belonging). I want to tell you the whole thing. The government should look into this situation, especially the country leaders. They should see that when they needed us, they took us away, but now that we are disabled, we have to sleep in the street.”

The Russey Keo district deputy governor indicated that in his district, there are 430 disabled war veterans, this includes both those who have a housing and those who do not.

Regarding the number of homeless and landless beggars on the street, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said that the situation is due to government corruption. Therefore, national budget for veterans does not actually reach actual veterans and disabled veterans, and in fact, lists of veteran names were sold out instead (to touch their pension).

He added: “We must account for all these disabled veterans, reorganize the statistics, organize centers and a system to guarantee a decent and honorable living condition for them because they served the country, they defended the nation before they were disabled. They should receive an honorable life. Therefore, we must maintain a good administration for these tens of thousands (disabled war veterans), we shouldn’t abandon all these disabled veterans as (the government) is currently doing.”

Sem Sokha, the under secretary of state for veterans social welfare, said that the government had built some housing for them in Kampong Speu province, and the government is planning to add some more: “There’s a plan to provide $1 million, or to build [more housing?] in Siem Reap province. [The government] ordered the ministry of [veterans] welfare to look for lands to build centers or housing for disabled veterans in all provinces. There is also a number of organizations that provide help for these disabled people.”

He also added: “From what I know, each army unit has a number (assigned to each veteran). This means that the lists of names from their units were transferred to the welfare department. There is a veteran department, and war veterans also have associations. Right now, Samdach Hun Sen is the president of the association of war veterans, so it is easy to contact the department. Furthermore, disabled veterans in each province should contact the veteran welfare department in their province, because they have branches there already.”

According Chiv Lim, the chairman of the information program for disabled veterans from landmines in Cambodia which operates under the Cambodian Red Cross, there are 2,705 disabled war veterans in the entire country. According to the statistics, the number of registered soldiers in Cambodia is 130,000.

Good Governance Should Be All-inclusive: Sam Rainsy

Sam Rainsy's letter to the Editor
The Cambodia Daily, November 11, 2008

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ALL-INCLUSIVE

Reports such as "Protests Continue Over ADB's Rice Distributions" (Nov 7, page 29) and "200 Protest as ADB Completes Rice Donations (Nov 6, page 27) reflect three interrelated problems that need to be seriously addressed through a comprehensive approach:

1- The increasing wealth and revenue gap between a political and financial oligarchy and the mass of rural poor, who survive near the starvation line, increasingly relying on handouts, in a country that boasts a relatively high "macroeconomic growth rate."

2- The need to check government corruption and official disdain for transparency and the rule of law that prevails at all levels of the state apparatus, from the Council of Ministers to village chiefs.

3- The absence of decentralization, meaning the failure to put in place procedures that would involve villagers at the grassroots level in decisions that affect their daily lives.

I would like to make a few remarks on the third issue, which few experts, analysts and observers have concentrated their attention on.

The current legislation on decentralization, meaning the devolution of power from the central government to elected local authorities, has existed only on paper since the first commune council elections in 2002.

The opposition SRP collected 25 percent of the popular votes at the last commune council elections in 2007. It has secured commune councillors in 85 percent of Cambodia's 1,621 communes. It has won commune chief positions in 28 communes, first deputy chief positions in 403 communes and second deputy chief positions in 963 communes.

According to the law, the first deputy chief is in charge of finance and budget, and the second deputy chief of public services and security.

However, except for a few SRP-affiliated commune chiefs, elected local officials from the opposition actually have no power whatsoever. The CPP authorities at the national, provincial, district, commune and village levels just ignore them or bypass them, thus stalling any system of checks and balances and making a mockery of decentralisation.

Therefore, in 98 percent of Cambodia's 1,621 commune councils that are headed by a CPP commune chief, the ruling party adamantly refuses to share power with the opposition.

Since the commune councils in turn elect village chiefs, virtually all the country's more than 15,000 village chiefs are also controlled by the CPP.

Village chiefs are like little kings in their respective villages. They are integral parts of both the state apparatus and the CPP machinery. They actually control the population through using and abusing their power in countless activity fields that directly affect the daily lives of villagers.

Political bias is often associated with corruption. Village chiefs select villagers who are entitled to assistance from national and international organizations, including the Red Cross, based on criteria that may have nothing to do with humanitarian considerations.

Regarding the ongoing protests over ADB's rice distributions, it was reported in one of the articles mentioned above that most of the complaints accused village chiefs of "bias and nepotism" in those chosen to receive rice and for excluding others from the beneficiary lists.

By violating the law on decentralization the CPP authorities block democracy at the grassroots level, which allows more and more irregularities and abuses to occur.

If, in each commune, all elected representatives of the people were properly informed, consulted and allowed to play their respective roles according to the law on decentralization and the spirit of democracy, the above problem of food distribution could be avoided. Many other and more serious problems could also be avoided.

The lesson is clear: The Cambodian government and the international donor community alike should abandon their ineffective piecemeal approach and start to solve problems from a comprehensive perspective by meeting conditions that are prerequisites of good governance: effective law enactment, effective decentralization and effective democracy at the grassroots levels.

Sam Rainsy,
SRP President

Concerns linger as Russian island development begins

Artist rendering of the development on Koh Puos Island (Drawing by KPIG)

Monday, 09 June 2008
Neth Pheaktra
The Mekong Times

A Russian company held a ground-breaking ceremony Saturday for a US$300 million island resort project off Cambodia’s southwest coast, despite one of its partners now being in jail for sex crimes. Political opposition has alleged that the government was involved in “serious corruption” during the bidding process of the island purchase.

Prime Minister Hun Sen presided over the ceremony marking the start of work on a 900 meter bridge that will link Koh Puos (Snake Island) with a coastal beach in Sihanoukville. Koh Puos Investment Group (KPIG) has a contract to develop and manage resorts on the island for 99 years.

At the ceremony, Prime Minister Hun Sen said he considered Sihanoukville a “multi-pole economy including tourism, ports and Special Economic Zones.” The premier called the area the “dragon’s head” of Cambodia’s economic growth, inviting other investors to develop Cambodian islands.

Sun Chanthol, minister of public works and transport, said the Koh Puos Bridge – built 32 meters above the ocean to allow cargo ships to pass underneath – will “play a key role in the transport system linking Sihanoukville and other areas to Koh Puos, serving the tourism sector and increasing jobs.”

The bridge will cost about US$31.3 million and be completed at the end of 2010, he added, saying it will help develop Koh Puos “into a world-class resort.”

Chepa Alexey, president of KPIG, said 20,000-25,000 jobs would be created by the project.

However, dark rumors surround KPIG, run by a group of Russian businessmen, according to its website.

One of the group’s partners, Alexander Trofimov, was sentenced in March by a Cambodian court to 13 years in prison on charges of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl.

Trofimov was arrested last October over allegations that he had abused as many as 19 girls since 2005, but was charged only in the case of the 14-year-old. He has protested his innocence.

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay alleged that island developments have been granted to firms with no experience or resources for development through non-transparent bidding. He requested the government should require development plans before granting permission to any firm to invest.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An rebutted Son Chhay’s allegations in a lengthy letter. “A case of lease is different from that of sale,” he wrote. “Usually, leasing does not involve bidding. It is necessary to carefully select investors, because some islands are located near borders.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen stressed at the groundbreaking ceremony that Cambodia does not sell islands, echoing Sok An’s clarification of the difference between sale and lease. “Cambodia does not sell islands but allows investment concession like in other countries … such as for islands in Thailand and Malaysia,” he said.

Son Chhay was unconvinced, alleging that the leasing process was also dubious. “The clarification is clearly indicative of serious corruption in leasing the islands to foreigners,” he said. “We are still concerned about investment in islands if there is no clear information about the [development] plans and no environmental impact assessment.”

World Bank denies corruption laissez-faire in Cambodia

World Bank’s anti-corruption work in Cambodia

Washington, DC
October 15, 2007
The World Bank

An editorial that appeared in the US newspaper, The Wall Street Journal on October 11 wrongly suggested that the World Bank has not taken corruption in Cambodia seriously. In fact quite the opposite is true.

Governance has been a long-standing focus of the World Bank’s Cambodia country strategy and it was in fact World Bank regional staff working on Cambodia who first raised concerns in 2004 about corruption in projects there. Subsequently, these staff joined with the Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity (INT) to undertake a fiduciary review that identified specific problems causing leakages in World Bank projects. INT then investigated the indications of corruption that arose from that review.

In June 2006 the Bank suspended the Cambodian Government’s right to draw funds for the three active projects where problems were identified by INT. In February 2007, after the Government had undertaken a series of measures that the Bank had required as conditions for resuming disbursements, the Bank lifted the suspension on the three affected projects. These activities included initiating the process of hiring an international procurement agent, and increasing audits and the use of beneficiaries in project oversight.

The World Bank cancelled $2.5 million in project funds. Subsequently, Cambodia agreed to repay the Bank $2.89 million and to implement a substantially strengthened governance effort. The Government agreed to:

1. Incorporate legally binding anti-corruption action plans in all active and future World Bank-financed projects;
2. Establish an Anti-Corruption Working Group to identify, promote, and implement anti-corruption measures in accordance with terms of reference satisfactory to the Bank; and
3. Initiate a program with INT to help strengthen Cambodia’s investigative capacity.

More recently, the Government has selected the international procurement agent who will manage and oversee all Bank-financed contracts. The World Bank has also initiated the process of debarring firms involved in the affected projects.

Cambodia, which suffered a genocide, needs help to strengthen its capacity for good governance as well as to build the foundations for inclusive growth. Today, World Bank projects are helping build roads, bring water to poor communities, and enable poor people to secure ownership of their land and homes for the first time.

The governance message was a specific focus of World Bank President Robert Zoellick when he visited Cambodia in August. He coordinated with the donor community to make the case to the Prime Minister and other senior officials on the need to stay the course on governance, anti-corruption, and strengthening the legal system.

James W. Adams
Vice President, East Asia and Pacific Region

Tourism is putting Cambodian orphans at risk

Cambodia has become one of South East Asia's tourism hotspots but an alarming trend is emerging. Orphanages and the children in them are now becoming a staple of the backpacker itinerary. But in a country where the child sex trade is out of control, critics fear the practice will attract pedophiles and put the children at risk.

Sam Rainsy visits Pursat province and meets with hundreds of villagers

July 17, 2007 , Pursat province (in northwest Cambodia ). Sam Rainsy meets with hundreds of villagers to denounce the current government that treats citizens as beggars, and to elaborate on good governance in the fight against poverty.

CAMBODIA: Donors told to attach conditions to aid

20/06/2007
Radio Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

International donors to Cambodia are being told to get tougher on the government as they deliberate on their annual aid contributions. The Phnom Penh government has failed to follow through on its own anti-corruption rhetoric, and its critics say the general population has little to show for the billions of dollars received in international aid over the past 10 years. Cambodia was ranked among the worst countries for government corruption in a report last year.

Presenter - Karon Snowdon Speaker - Soun Seyla, planning advisor, UN Development Program in Cambodia; Dr Chek Sotha, head of research, Centre for Social Development

SNOWDON: A World Bank report on Cambodia released this month says the country has made some good progress on poverty reduction since the 1991 Paris peace accord. It could however, be much better, given its high rate of economic growth during the past decade. The report noted with alarm the growing inequality between the rural poor and the urban rich. Soun Seyla, is a planning advisor with the UN's Development Program in Cambodia, and he points out the country's economic weaknesses.

SEYLA: The city, the urban areas, yes there's a lot of rich people, but if you compare economic vision and the income of the rural people and the urban people it's quite different. Most of the poorest are living at the rural area, so yeah, there's a lot to be done at the rural area in order to raise the living condition of those people living in rural areas.

SNOWDON: Stepping carefully around the word "corruption" the World Bank report concluded Cambodia has a long way to go on land reform and in public sector financial management. The bank is only one of almost two dozen aid donor countries and organisations meeting in Phnom Penh. Together over the past 15 years, they've poured about $US15 billion into Cambodia, half the national budget. Money not well spent according to the New York-based group, Human Rights Watch. The group's statement released to coincide with the donors meeting, says the government has made almost no progress on the rule of law or judicial independence, and accuses it of rampant corruption and human rights abuses. It's demanding the donors make it clear they won't accept the government's annual empty promises in return for aid. That demand is repeated in Cambodia itself, despite the government's record of stifling critics. A report by the Centre for Social Development published last December, found corruption had pervaded almost every sector of society.

SOTHA: If you are talking about the corruptions now, it cover up from the top until the bottom.

SNOWDON: Dr Check Sotha, is the Centre's head of research. She says Hun Sen's government must adopt the anti-corruption legislation it has before it as soon as possible. It's thought the clauses dealing with the disclosure of politicians assets and the independence of an anti-corruption agency are among the sticking points. Dr Check says those in power have little reason to change a system that has given them so much power and personal wealth and the donors group should exert some pressure.

SOTHA: I think the donor should put more pressure to the government and then follow up what the government is doing, to do monitoring, very careful what the government is do. Corruption and destroy the country you see and sometime the power people, they get a lot of money by the black market or some like that, so that is the problem and big issue for Cambodia, you know.

SNOWDON: Is it holding back Cambodia's economic development?

SOTHA: Yeah, I think so, because even investment, they cannot come to Cambodia for investment, because of corruption.

SNOWDON: Yet another report by Transparency International ranked Cambodia number 151 out of 163 nations in its corruption index last year. The UNDP's Soun Seyla, also says the donors group should be applying conditions to its aid package.

SEYLA: That is a must, that is a must condition, the bondings it must be tied up to some condition, via respect of human rights, via respect of free press or via anti-corruption law - must be drafted and approved as soon as possible. Yes, those are the condition that the donor must reconsider them and put on the table for discussion.