Much Room in Politics for Women, Youth: Analyst

Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, on "Hello VOA". Photo: by Men Kimseng

Tuesday, 08 May 2012
Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

“The youth tend to feel that they would rather leave political issues for others to handle.”

Women and youth still have only minor roles in Cambodian politics, which remains dominated by men, a prominent rights activist said Monday.

But both may yet still emerge as powerful political forces, said Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, as a returning guest on “Hello VOA.”

A huge percentage of young people remain disengaged from politics. Many don’t know who their local commune leaders are. And few are actively involved in upcoming election campaigns.

“If the youth don’t know what their commune councilors are doing, [they feel] there is no point for them to vote,” Ou Virak said. “The youth tend to feel that they would rather leave political issues for others to handle.”

Decentralization and the promise of indigenous peoples’ empowerment: the case of the World Bank in Cambodia - by Stefan Ehrentraut

Decentralization and the promise of indigenous peoples’ empowerment: the case of the World Bank in Cambodia


http://www.scribd.com/full/53667956?access_key=key-27ply12qkrho5456rs4b

Scholarship for Asia Leaders Programme at the University For Peace

KI-Media Note: Dear Readers, should you need additional information about this scholarship, please contact Mr. Sovannarith Keo (email: skeo@student.upeace.org) who was a former alumni there.

Asia Leaders Programme
(MA Dual Campus with Ateneo de Manila University)

The Asia Leaders Programme, a Dual Campus Master Programme, is a shared initiative between The Nippon Foundation, the University for Peace, and Ateneo de Manila University. The objective of the programme is to train Asians to become practitioners who will work in the field for peace building. Take special note that the programme is not designed to train and develop academics.

This modality offers the support for individuals who do not have a proficient command of English to work in this increasingly common international language and to become comfortable in their professional abilities as they gain academic skills.

Description of the Programme

This 19-month intensive academic programme begins in April and is accomplished in three terms: the initial language-training module and courses at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines; regular courses at UPEACE headquarters in Costa Rica; and a practical four-month internship in the Philippines.

Admitted applicants will be automatically granted full scholarships provided by The Nippon Foundation. A full scholarship includes: tuition fee, language-training module, academic materials, air travel and living expenses during the period of studies.

The Asia Leaders Programme offers the theoretical and practical post graduate education to Asians from diverse cultures and backgrounds to attain a deep understanding of the central issues of peace building. Participants will broaden their base of knowledge and will be able to engage with the major concepts, themes, and debates within peace studies, preparing themselves for work with NGOs, governments, aid agencies, the UN and other organizations.

Furthermore, this programme empowers participants to conceptualize the key challenges faced by the international community, and the most promising potential areas and courses of action through an interdisciplinary and multicultural perspective.

Academic Schedule

From April to August (The Philippines): Content based English language instruction module. Participants are expected to reach a score of 600 points of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) at the end of the academic courses of the programme.

From August to spring (Costa Rica): Participants will continue their studies in one of the Regular MA Programmes at UPEACE:

• Environmental Security and Peace
• Environmental Security and Peace - Specialization in Climate Change and Security (CCS)
• Gender and Peace Building
• International Law and Human Rights
• International Law and the Settlement of Disputes
• International Peace Studies
• Media, Peace and Conflict Studies
• Natural Resources and Peace
• Peace Education
• Responsible Management and Sustainable Economic Development

From spring to June (The Philippines): Students will pursue specialized Asian-context courses; these are similar in nature to the ones below:

• Gender and Peacebuilding in Asia
• Asia Peace Psychology
• Small Arms, Arms Control and Human Society in Asia
• Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Asia
• Graduate Project preparation workshop

From June to October: Participants will work on the internship in a local/international organization in The Philippines.

Examples of professional involvement of our graduates

• A student from Bangladesh is now working at UNDP Liberia, as an International Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist through United Nations Volunteers (UNV).
• A student from Sri Lanka is working at UNDP Indonesia on the position of Project Officer for the ART GOLD programme.
• One student from Japan is working in the Japanese diplomatic mission in Afghanistan.
• One student from Indonesia is UN Office of the Recovery Coordinator in one region from Indonesia.

For complete course descriptions, course calendar and information about the professors, please follow this link

For further information on admission, please contact: admissions@upeace.org

• Application Deadline: 15 October
• Notification of Admission: 3 December

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING AN APPLICATION

Your application represents you, so be sure that it is complete and accurate and that the essays and supplementary materials represent your own work. It is not acceptable to misrepresent one's accomplishments, to borrow from the works of others without proper acknowledgment, or to submit as one's own material that has been written, re-written or heavily edited by others. Breaches of these protocols will result in rejection of the application.

YOU MUST SUBMIT THE COMPLETE APPLICATION PACKAGE containing all supporting documents. Incomplete packages will not be reviewed.

The instructions below will help you complete all forms that will make your application package complete. Please read the guidelines carefully to determine which documentation is needed.

• Fill out the on-line application form
• Gather and send a complete hard-copy (i.e. printed paper) of all the following materials:

1. Official Undergraduate Transcript (Original or certified true copy)
2. Certified True Copy of Diploma
3. Two letters of recommendation
4. Curriculum Vitae or Résumé
5. Statement of Purpose
6. English Proficiency Scores Report
7. Six Passport Size Photographs
8. Copy of Passport
9. Visa Form

Applicants are responsible for gathering hard copies of all these materials and for submitting them in a single package to the UPEACE Department of Academic Administration (DAA) by the application deadline.

Letters of recommendation, English proficiency test scores, and transcripts must all be in sealed envelopes

Please, send all materials to the following address by the Application Deadline:

University for Peace
Department of Academic Administration
Application for Asia Leaders Programme
P.O. Box 138-6100
San José, Costa Rica
ZIP Code: 10701

We will confirm receipt of application materials by e-mail. If you wish to receive swifter verification of the receipt of materials, you should send them via registered mail or other receipt-requested service using the following address:

University for Peace
Department of Academic Administration
Application for Asia Leaders Programme
El Rodeo de Mora, Ciudad Colón
San José, Costa Rica
Tel: (506) 22-05-90-00

"I Don't Want to Be Famous. I Want Our People to Get Enough Rice": The Messenger Band Interview

Suffer from Privatization - The Messenger Band

The Messenger Band, made up of former garment workers, gives concerts that highlight the difficulties of factory work and other women's issues in Cambodia. (Photo: Moritz Ege)

Click here to visit the Messenger Band website

For additional photos of the Messenger Band, click here

Friday 12 March 2010
By Anne Elizabeth Moore
t r u t h o u t | Interview

Do you want to become a famous pop star?

Vun Em: A lot of people ask me, why don't you go to the TV and sing the song and become a famous star? I don't want to become a famous star. I don't want to be a famous person, but I want my song, I want my information to become recognized by the big people, and be respected. And provide the rights to those people. For me, I don't want to be famous, but I want our people here to get enough rice, enough food to eat, and they have the right to demand their rights.

"My name is Saem, and the name of my group is the Messenger Band," the singer more formally known as Vun Em explains. We are in Phnom Penh's Meta-House, where four members of the six-member Messenger Band are about to give a quick a cappella concert to the reporters ex-pats, and tourists gathered.

It's not their usual venue. The Messenger Band was formed by the Cambodian NGO Women's Agenda for Change in 2005 to bring the concerns of the young women who move to the city to earn money for their families back to the provinces. They write songs in the traditional folk style, and choreograph moves to accompany their laments, and villagers are often riveted: the subjects of these songs are their daughters, their nieces, their friends.

The subjects of the songs are members of the Messenger Band. All former or current garment factory workers themselves, the varying group of women that perform as the band are well versed in the issues that affect women in Cambodia. "We are tired but we say nothing," one song goes. "We are hard working and much of this money I earn is dollars to help my mother."

But the message of the band is clear: "The voice of garment workers must be used to shout to tell all Cambodian women that to be a servant is very difficult," they sing in tones unheard in American pop tunes, and all the more affective because of it. "We have no freedom and no rights."

Vun Em, the 25-year-old front person for the band - at least for the night - took a few moments before their late January concert to answer a few questions.

How long have you been doing the band?

Vun Em: I work in the band for five years, start from 2005.

And you used to work in the garment factory?

Vun Em: Yes, I worked in the factory from - I started in 2000, until 2005. And from 2005 until now, I work with the band.

You are with the band full time?

Vun Em: Yes.

How do you make a living working full time with a political band in Cambodia?

Vun Em: I have some support from the donors. Women's Agenda For Change, they created this big group and they provide some support to Messenger Band. Not much, just small.

Enough?

Vun Em: Yeah.

Why do you think it's important for garment factory workers to start a band?

Vun Em: I think it's really important because I can really speak out about the situation when I was working in the factory. I saw a lot of problems with the workers in the factory. I think that it's good if we write a song that educates the people. And also do advocacy through song.

What did you see in the factories that you think needs to be changed?

Vun Em: Oh, that's a good question. First, I want to see change, like see the garment worker respected by the law and supported by the government and the investors. It's important for investors: they have to follow the law in Cambodia and they have to respect worker's rights.

How is the law not being followed in Cambodia?

Vun Em: A lot of [ways], like the forced overtime and the low wage. They have to ask permission for when they have to take leave or when they get sick. It's really difficult to take leave. And sometimes, they are dismissed by the company because they cannot go to work, like when they get sick, they have to go to the hospital. But the factory owners, they don't allow them to go. Some factories, when the workers fall unconscious in the factory, when they awake from unconsciousness, they tell the worker that, "you have to promise that you will not [lose consciousness] again, otherwise, you lose the job."

So, if people faint, they have to promise that they won't faint again?

Vun Em: Yes, they have to promise. They cannot unconscious again. Otherwise you will lose the job. And the workers are so scared, they just promise the leaders.

Are you nervous being an activist in Cambodia?

Vun Em: Hmmm, a little bit. But if we don't stand up, no one hear the story. And that's why we have to stand up and share some information about the poor people in Cambodia. We have to stand up and speak out, otherwise we die.

Yes, the workers, they welcome us and they tell us, Oh I have heard your song, through the radio and sometimes through the TV - but not often on the TV.

Do you want to become a famous pop star?

Vun Em: A lot of people ask me, why don't you go to the TV and sing the song and become a famous star? I don't want to become a famous star. I don't want to be a famous person, but I want my song, I want my information to become recognized by the big people, and be respected. And provide the rights to those people. For me, I don't want to be famous, but I want our people here to get enough rice, enough food to eat, and they have the right to demand their rights.

As garment factories close, more and more women enter the sex industry by working at the karaoke bars. You have a song about this.

Vun Em: When the factories close down, some girls will go to become entertainment workers, and HIV will spread out around. But why don't [the NGOs] care about their living life? Why they don't care about their family? Why they don't care about the security of those people? Why they care only about HIV? [She starts to cry.] I don't know, I don't understand.

We also care about HIV, but you have to think about the lives of the people, not only HIV. If the people don't have enough food to eat, if they don't have enough education, if they don't have good health, how can they prevent themselves from the HIV? They don't have time to think about HIV, they only have time to think, I need food, I need food. All the time.

What can people in the United States do to support the factory workers?

Vun Em: I want them to support health care to garment workers, and the poor people in Cambodia. Because health care and food is really, really needed.

One more thing: I want to let those people in the United States be aware that the worker situation in Cambodia - it's really bad. And I want the investors ... to respond to the workers, and our laws in Cambodia. Not only put pressure to our government, put pressure to our people here. You have to respect our law and our people. And also you can support our country and our government and our people, not only judge. You have to learn, you have to understand what is the real situation in Cambodia.
---------------
"A Karaoke Girl's Life" (song written by the Messenger Band):

I have had bad fate in my life since I was born; my life has been different from others. Always facing unhappiness, I bear the family's burden; I bear the shame and sell my voice.
I became a karaoke girl I sing in the karaoke bar I don't want to be here but I am poor. Please don't blame me for being bad I have tried to live in this darkness.
Though I work day and night and never resting, I am still poor I was in debt to the owner. If I take rest, they reduce my money.
The tears of a karaoke girl I am living as a slave, without freedom. I was mistreated by the owner and forced to serve clients.

"Voice of Garment Workers" (song written by the Messenger Band):

The voice of garment workers must be used to shout to tell all Cambodian women that to be a servant is very difficult. They curse, they blame us and say we are bad girls, but we have no freedom and no rights.
We are all garment workers, we live in bad conditions, we struggle with difficulty, we are tired but we say nothing, we are hard working and much of this money I earn is dollars to help my mother.
The song that we sing is about the real life of garment workers, please pity us and consider the life of garment workers. How we are suffering? We are faced with suffering and problems because the factory owners exploit us.
When the workers are in trouble, who can help to solve the problems? Where is justice? When I need you, why do you ignore me?

SRP holds party provincial congress

SRP congress in Kompong Chhnang (Photo: SRP)

Following its announcement of the timetable for its party congress all provinces and municipalities in Cambodia, the SRP first provincial congress took place in Kompong Chhnang province on 27 July 2007, where a party provincial leader and member of the party provincial steering committee were selected. The provincial congresses are organized to empower party members at the grass root levels in the selection of their local party representatives.

Source: SRP