Children in Cambodia are dropping out of school as their families cannot afford to supplement the teachers' low wages. Guy Delauney reports. Click here to watch this BBC video.
Showing posts with label Lack of education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lack of education. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
School drop-outs in Cambodia
Children in Cambodia are dropping out of school as their families cannot afford to supplement the teachers' low wages. Guy Delauney reports. Click here to watch this BBC video.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Cambodian Women Still Lacking: Rights Group
Cambodia observed Women's Day Saturday, but not all had something to celebrate. (10 March 2008)By VOA Khmer, Reporters
Original reports from Washington and Phnom Penh
10 March 2008
Women across Cambodia still lack education and other basic needs, a leading female rights worker said ahead of International Woman's Day Saturday.
"We have a lot of resources, so we better use them all to develop the country and not leave them in vein," said Kek Galabru, founder of the rights group Licadho said.
Members of Licadho traveled to PJ, Prey Sar and Takmau prisons Saturday to highlight the conditions across Cambodia's penal system.
More than 500 women live in Cambodian prison, and in February the group found four pregnant.
About 50 children nationwide live with their mothers in prison, Licadho says.
Kek Galabru told VOA Khmer ahead of International Women's Day that women need more higher education and encouragement from their families and society in general.
"We have a lot of resources, so we better use them all to develop the country and not leave them in vein," said Kek Galabru, founder of the rights group Licadho said.
Members of Licadho traveled to PJ, Prey Sar and Takmau prisons Saturday to highlight the conditions across Cambodia's penal system.
More than 500 women live in Cambodian prison, and in February the group found four pregnant.
About 50 children nationwide live with their mothers in prison, Licadho says.
Kek Galabru told VOA Khmer ahead of International Women's Day that women need more higher education and encouragement from their families and society in general.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Faber Sees a Holiday in Cambodia for Investors: William Pesek
Commentary by William Pesek
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- If you want to learn about Cambodia's economy, you can peruse government data and a small mountain of aid-agency reports. Or you could go trekking in the jungle near Mount Kbal Spean.
There, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the temples of Angkor, you'll find a small nature preserve. The Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity is one of a handful of efforts to protect Cambodia's wildlife that sprang up during the last nine years of peace.
It's mostly a breeding facility for critically endangered animal species. There, you will come face to face with gibbons, lemurs, turtles, scores of local birds and even native bees. The scene may offer one of the best reasons for investors to pay more attention to Cambodia.
When most think of Cambodia, extreme poverty springs to mind. While stability since 1998 is raising living standards, a third of the nation's 14 million people live on less than 50 cents a day. Much of the blame goes to lingering fallout from the mass killings by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.
There's a cruel irony to the fact that Cambodia's No. 2 tourist attraction is the infamous ``Killing Fields,'' one of the sites where an estimated 1.7 million died under dictator Pol Pot. Nearby, hawkers still sell Dead Kennedys T-shirts, a nod to their 1980 song ``Holiday in Cambodia.''
Bullish
Yet waves of tourists are making their way to Cambodia, pumping up its $7 billion economy. Until recently, most made a beeline for Siem Reap, where Angkor's magnificent temples rise defiantly from dense forests. These days, more are exploring the nation's capital, Phnom Penh, and the fast-growing selection of beach resorts.
In 2007, tourist arrivals topped 2 million. For an economy that depends largely on the garment sector -- it accounts for 80 percent of exports -- increasing tourism is a big plus. It will help sustain the roughly 10 percent growth of the past four years.
Together with efforts by conservationists around the country, strong growth explains why investors such as Marc Faber are bullish on Cambodia. Both show that after decades of struggling to survive, Cambodians are getting serious about preserving their heritage and competing in the globalization age. Cambodia, in other words, is becoming a normal country.
``Cambodia offers an enormous potential for future capital gains,'' says Faber, the Hong Kong-based investor and publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report. ``It may take some time, as was the case for Vietnam and India, where stocks languished for a number of years before huge upward trends in asset prices developed. But patience was amply rewarded.''
Contrarian Bet
The Asian Development Bank continues to pump fresh aid into the economy. ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda was in Cambodia this week to christen a project to rebuild decades-old railway tracks to spread the benefits of growth.
More importantly, the government is stepping up efforts to attract foreign capital. It plans to set up a stock market in 2009 and officials are working to diversify the economy. Prime Minister Hun Sen recently visited India and appealed to technology firms to invest in Cambodia.
Of course, Cambodia is a contrarian investment with a capital ``C.'' For every positive trend cited in this column, one can find a reason, or two, to avoid the place.
While Cambodia has great promise, says Simon Ogus, chief executive of DSG Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, it has a long, long way to go before many investors are willing even to consider putting money there. For one thing, he says, ``the monetary system is 95 percent dollarized'' and the country lacks a bond market.
Poverty
Cambodia's challenges run deeper. Crushing poverty means all too many aren't being educated to compete globally. Good roads, bridges, and power systems are in short supply. The export-dependent economy is vulnerable to a U.S. slowdown and rising fuel costs.
Corruption means double-digit growth doesn't get very far anyway. In Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index, Cambodia ranked 162nd -- behind Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Tajikistan.
Cambodia also is sitting on a discovery that will either attract investors or have them aggressively avoiding the country: oil. While deposits are still being estimated, the potential of Cambodia's petroleum industry is attracting interest from BHP Billiton Ltd. and Chevron Corp.
Next BRICs
The question is what happens to billions of dollars of oil revenue. Corruption-prone governments have a poor track record of using such wealth wisely, too often suffering the ``oil curse.'' Since weak institutions oversee its underdeveloped economy, Cambodia's odds aren't great.
Then again, what if Cambodia surprises skeptics? That's a big ``if,'' given the prime minister's failure to eradicate corruption and crack down on illegal logging.
Yet investors are searching for the next generation of developing-market stars now that the ``BRIC'' economies -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- and Vietnam have been discovered. Watching neighboring Vietnam thrive also may inspire Cambodia's government.
If oil profits are used to improve education, reduce poverty and upgrade infrastructure, investors who took a chance on Cambodia will be, in Faber's words, amply rewarded.
(William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer of this column: William Pesek in Tokyo at wpesek@bloomberg.net
There, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the temples of Angkor, you'll find a small nature preserve. The Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity is one of a handful of efforts to protect Cambodia's wildlife that sprang up during the last nine years of peace.
It's mostly a breeding facility for critically endangered animal species. There, you will come face to face with gibbons, lemurs, turtles, scores of local birds and even native bees. The scene may offer one of the best reasons for investors to pay more attention to Cambodia.
When most think of Cambodia, extreme poverty springs to mind. While stability since 1998 is raising living standards, a third of the nation's 14 million people live on less than 50 cents a day. Much of the blame goes to lingering fallout from the mass killings by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.
There's a cruel irony to the fact that Cambodia's No. 2 tourist attraction is the infamous ``Killing Fields,'' one of the sites where an estimated 1.7 million died under dictator Pol Pot. Nearby, hawkers still sell Dead Kennedys T-shirts, a nod to their 1980 song ``Holiday in Cambodia.''
Bullish
Yet waves of tourists are making their way to Cambodia, pumping up its $7 billion economy. Until recently, most made a beeline for Siem Reap, where Angkor's magnificent temples rise defiantly from dense forests. These days, more are exploring the nation's capital, Phnom Penh, and the fast-growing selection of beach resorts.
In 2007, tourist arrivals topped 2 million. For an economy that depends largely on the garment sector -- it accounts for 80 percent of exports -- increasing tourism is a big plus. It will help sustain the roughly 10 percent growth of the past four years.
Together with efforts by conservationists around the country, strong growth explains why investors such as Marc Faber are bullish on Cambodia. Both show that after decades of struggling to survive, Cambodians are getting serious about preserving their heritage and competing in the globalization age. Cambodia, in other words, is becoming a normal country.
``Cambodia offers an enormous potential for future capital gains,'' says Faber, the Hong Kong-based investor and publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report. ``It may take some time, as was the case for Vietnam and India, where stocks languished for a number of years before huge upward trends in asset prices developed. But patience was amply rewarded.''
Contrarian Bet
The Asian Development Bank continues to pump fresh aid into the economy. ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda was in Cambodia this week to christen a project to rebuild decades-old railway tracks to spread the benefits of growth.
More importantly, the government is stepping up efforts to attract foreign capital. It plans to set up a stock market in 2009 and officials are working to diversify the economy. Prime Minister Hun Sen recently visited India and appealed to technology firms to invest in Cambodia.
Of course, Cambodia is a contrarian investment with a capital ``C.'' For every positive trend cited in this column, one can find a reason, or two, to avoid the place.
While Cambodia has great promise, says Simon Ogus, chief executive of DSG Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, it has a long, long way to go before many investors are willing even to consider putting money there. For one thing, he says, ``the monetary system is 95 percent dollarized'' and the country lacks a bond market.
Poverty
Cambodia's challenges run deeper. Crushing poverty means all too many aren't being educated to compete globally. Good roads, bridges, and power systems are in short supply. The export-dependent economy is vulnerable to a U.S. slowdown and rising fuel costs.
Corruption means double-digit growth doesn't get very far anyway. In Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index, Cambodia ranked 162nd -- behind Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Tajikistan.
Cambodia also is sitting on a discovery that will either attract investors or have them aggressively avoiding the country: oil. While deposits are still being estimated, the potential of Cambodia's petroleum industry is attracting interest from BHP Billiton Ltd. and Chevron Corp.
Next BRICs
The question is what happens to billions of dollars of oil revenue. Corruption-prone governments have a poor track record of using such wealth wisely, too often suffering the ``oil curse.'' Since weak institutions oversee its underdeveloped economy, Cambodia's odds aren't great.
Then again, what if Cambodia surprises skeptics? That's a big ``if,'' given the prime minister's failure to eradicate corruption and crack down on illegal logging.
Yet investors are searching for the next generation of developing-market stars now that the ``BRIC'' economies -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- and Vietnam have been discovered. Watching neighboring Vietnam thrive also may inspire Cambodia's government.
If oil profits are used to improve education, reduce poverty and upgrade infrastructure, investors who took a chance on Cambodia will be, in Faber's words, amply rewarded.
(William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer of this column: William Pesek in Tokyo at wpesek@bloomberg.net
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Cambodia facing uneducated future [thanks to the achievements of Samdach Dek Cho Hun Sen, the Jayavarman VII No. 2 of Cambodia]
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
By Guy de Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh
Pich Dy's eyes are welling with tears as she remembers her classroom humiliation.
Pich Dy's father died of Aids, leaving her mother poverty-stricken
"The teachers asked me to stand up," she sniffs. "Sometimes I was ordered to stand for 30 minutes or one hour, just because I didn't have money."
It is something Pich Dy does not have to worry about anymore. At the age of 14, she has dropped out of school and is unlikely to return. Her hope that an education would give her a better future has been dashed.
The story could have come from any poor community in Cambodia. All over the country, teachers' demands for "informal fees" are forcing children to quit classes because their parents cannot afford to pay.
Seng Hong of Education Partnership, an umbrella grouping of Cambodian education organisations, says research shows sending one child to school uses up almost a tenth of the average family income.
"This increases if the family have two or more kids to send to school," he says. "Then they may reconsider which kids should go to high-grade education and which kids should stop."
Justifiable expense?
In many respects, Cambodia is doing remarkably well at school. Registration rates for primary school are high, at about 90%, and in the countryside yellow-washed school buildings are some of the most noticeable landmarks.
Before and after classes, the surrounding roads are packed with white-shirted students, most of them sharing bicycles or walking along the red dirt roads. The numbers dwindle, however, as the students get older.
Cambodia's Ministry of Education has recognised the scale of the problem. The department's Bou Chum Serey has estimated that half of those who start primary school fail to complete their classes.
I want the authorities, especially teachers, to help children - not take money from them - Sophal
Poverty is the main factor. The schools are supposed to be free, but in reality they are a major drain on family resources. With about one-third of Cambodians living on less than 50 cents (25p) a day, it can be difficult for parents to justify the expense.
That was certainly the case for Pich Dy's mother, Sophal. She lives with her five children in the community of Boeng Salang, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
During the rainy season the area is flooded, leaving many of the ramshackle houses semi-submerged in murky brown water.
Sophal's husband died of Aids, leaving her HIV-positive and struggling to cope.
Like many others in Boeng Salang, she gets by on what she can earn from collecting bottles and cans on the streets. It was not enough to cover the "informal fees" for Pich Dy's teachers.
"When my daughter was smaller I had to pay a few cents a day for school," recalls Sophal.
"As she grew up, I had to pay more - almost 25 cents a day. We had no money, so she had to quit and come scavenging with me. I want the authorities, especially teachers, to help children - not take money from them."
Supplementary income
The teachers, however, have problems of their own. Before Cambodia's decades-long civil war, they were highly valued and relatively well-paid.
Now teachers live close to the poverty line themselves, earning as little as $30 a month.
I cried when my mum said we had no money to send me to school - Srey Mom
"The salary barely only covers utility payments like water and electricity. There's nothing left to spend on anything else," claimed one teacher in Phnom Penh, who did not want to be named.
She admitted that she and her colleagues took money from students - for test papers, course materials, or simply for attending class. It was the only way they could earn a living.
Another teacher in nearby Kandal province supplemented his income by driving a motorbike taxi, and saw informal fees simply as a matter of survival.
"Students have many problems, teachers have many problems, people in our communities have many problems," he said.
Limited chances
For the enforced drop-outs in Boeng Salang, it comes as little comfort to hear that teachers are also struggling to get by.
All 15-year-old Srey Mom knows is that her hopes for the future have been thwarted.
The children of Boeng Salang play when they should be at school
"I cried when my mum said we had no money to send me to school," she remembers. "With an education, when I grow up I could have a job. All I can do now is make half a dollar from scavenging."
The scene at Boeng Salang speaks for itself - dozens of school-age children play in the filthy water when they might be expected to be in class. The situation is similar in other parts of the country.
Everyone seems to agree that the best way to change the situation is to raise teachers' pay, but there seems to be little chance of that happening quickly.
Cambodia still depends on overseas donations for about half the national budget, and the teachers will continue to rely on their students to top-up their salaries.
BBC News, Phnom Penh
Pich Dy's eyes are welling with tears as she remembers her classroom humiliation.
Pich Dy's father died of Aids, leaving her mother poverty-stricken"The teachers asked me to stand up," she sniffs. "Sometimes I was ordered to stand for 30 minutes or one hour, just because I didn't have money."
It is something Pich Dy does not have to worry about anymore. At the age of 14, she has dropped out of school and is unlikely to return. Her hope that an education would give her a better future has been dashed.
The story could have come from any poor community in Cambodia. All over the country, teachers' demands for "informal fees" are forcing children to quit classes because their parents cannot afford to pay.
Seng Hong of Education Partnership, an umbrella grouping of Cambodian education organisations, says research shows sending one child to school uses up almost a tenth of the average family income.
"This increases if the family have two or more kids to send to school," he says. "Then they may reconsider which kids should go to high-grade education and which kids should stop."
Justifiable expense?
In many respects, Cambodia is doing remarkably well at school. Registration rates for primary school are high, at about 90%, and in the countryside yellow-washed school buildings are some of the most noticeable landmarks.
Before and after classes, the surrounding roads are packed with white-shirted students, most of them sharing bicycles or walking along the red dirt roads. The numbers dwindle, however, as the students get older.
Cambodia's Ministry of Education has recognised the scale of the problem. The department's Bou Chum Serey has estimated that half of those who start primary school fail to complete their classes.
I want the authorities, especially teachers, to help children - not take money from them - SophalPoverty is the main factor. The schools are supposed to be free, but in reality they are a major drain on family resources. With about one-third of Cambodians living on less than 50 cents (25p) a day, it can be difficult for parents to justify the expense.
That was certainly the case for Pich Dy's mother, Sophal. She lives with her five children in the community of Boeng Salang, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
During the rainy season the area is flooded, leaving many of the ramshackle houses semi-submerged in murky brown water.
Sophal's husband died of Aids, leaving her HIV-positive and struggling to cope.
Like many others in Boeng Salang, she gets by on what she can earn from collecting bottles and cans on the streets. It was not enough to cover the "informal fees" for Pich Dy's teachers.
"When my daughter was smaller I had to pay a few cents a day for school," recalls Sophal.
"As she grew up, I had to pay more - almost 25 cents a day. We had no money, so she had to quit and come scavenging with me. I want the authorities, especially teachers, to help children - not take money from them."
Supplementary income
The teachers, however, have problems of their own. Before Cambodia's decades-long civil war, they were highly valued and relatively well-paid.
Now teachers live close to the poverty line themselves, earning as little as $30 a month.
I cried when my mum said we had no money to send me to school - Srey Mom"The salary barely only covers utility payments like water and electricity. There's nothing left to spend on anything else," claimed one teacher in Phnom Penh, who did not want to be named.
She admitted that she and her colleagues took money from students - for test papers, course materials, or simply for attending class. It was the only way they could earn a living.
Another teacher in nearby Kandal province supplemented his income by driving a motorbike taxi, and saw informal fees simply as a matter of survival.
"Students have many problems, teachers have many problems, people in our communities have many problems," he said.
Limited chances
For the enforced drop-outs in Boeng Salang, it comes as little comfort to hear that teachers are also struggling to get by.
All 15-year-old Srey Mom knows is that her hopes for the future have been thwarted.
The children of Boeng Salang play when they should be at school"I cried when my mum said we had no money to send me to school," she remembers. "With an education, when I grow up I could have a job. All I can do now is make half a dollar from scavenging."
The scene at Boeng Salang speaks for itself - dozens of school-age children play in the filthy water when they might be expected to be in class. The situation is similar in other parts of the country.
Everyone seems to agree that the best way to change the situation is to raise teachers' pay, but there seems to be little chance of that happening quickly.
Cambodia still depends on overseas donations for about half the national budget, and the teachers will continue to rely on their students to top-up their salaries.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Cambodia cannot afford to neglect its children
Child picking up trash for a living
A boy selling water bottle water to tourist for a living
Children pushing merchandise cart for a living
A girl and her younger sibling beg for a livingSARADA TAING
Posted on UPI Asia Online
Guest Commentary
In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia and decimated its government, economy and society. The extremist communist group forced people out of the cities and into the countryside to forcibly work in labor camps. The Khmer Rouge killed nearly two million people through overwork, starvation and murder from 1975 to 1979. Cambodia was in the dark -- completely isolated from the world.
Although it has been three decades since that genocide, Cambodia is still struggling to recover from the misguided and fatal policies of the Khmer Rouge. It is one of the 50 poorest countries in the world as a result of years of civil war. It has remained in this impoverished state, however, because of corruption and the absence of the rule of law.
Cambodia's children are among the most vulnerable victims of this poverty. Thousands of them live in slums. Others are homeless and sleep on the sidewalk. They face starvation, illiteracy, diseases, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation, gang rape and human trafficking.
They are at risk, as no system exists to protect them. There is no government welfare system, for example, or free health care services. No one is alert to the ill-treatment of abusive parents. These children live without hope; they live in fear of their unknown future.
Many children moreover do not have enough food to eat. They sniff glue instead of eating breakfast, lunch or dinner. The glue takes away their hunger and makes them forget the pain in their stomachs.
Furthermore, many families in Cambodia are too poor to send their children to school. They cannot afford to buy school uniforms or to offer extra payments to poorly paid teachers to supplement their income, which can result in discrimination against the child. These families make their children work to earn money for the family. Most of them are scavengers who collect plastic bags or soda cans from the street or from the trash bin to sell, receiving about US$.50 a day for their labor. The children also pick up food from the street or the dump to eat. Sometimes they save this food for their entire family.
In Phnom Penh, many of the beggars at gasoline stations and restaurants are children. Most of their parents are from the countryside where they could not produce any agricultural products because of drought and land-grabbing. Consequently, the poverty afflicting adults becomes the poverty of children.
This reality is perhaps best comprehended by understanding the lives of adult beggars in Phnom Penh, many of whom sold their land to pay debts. In the countryside many poor families are forced to borrow money from private businessmen to pay for medical services or medicine when one of their family members gets sick or is injured.
Moreover, it is difficult for people in Cambodia to find a place to live. Land-grabbing, for example, has been a serious issue since the end of the 1980s. After the Khmer Rouge fell, Cambodians left the labor camps and went to look for a place to live. Everyone tried to get a piece of land; people grabbed whatever they could find.
Unfortunately, land is still being grabbed, but now powerful businessmen and government officials are taking the land of poor, powerless people. Those with economic and political power pay local officials to secure illegal land titles to valuable property and pay soldiers to evict the villagers from the property. The villagers are rarely compensated. If they refuse to leave their homes, officials use bulldozers to crush their small houses. Any further resistance by those who are forcibly evicted is met by the police and military with assault rifles and electric batons.
In these circumstances, Cambodia's judicial system is of little use: it is not transparent, and it rarely helps the poor. As a result, Cambodia lacks institutions to uphold the rights of those without influence. Those who are poor remain poor and, if anything, become more impoverished.
Cambodia's children are a product of this unjust environment. If Cambodia's children and, indeed, Cambodia itself are to have a future, the government must introduce and implement measures to quickly transform this scenario. The creation of rehabilitation centers for the children of the poor that provide food and clothes as well as organize sports activities for the youth would be a logical step in this direction.
Health care for the poor in both urban and rural areas would also be a welcome development, as would immediate steps by the government to end the practice of land-grabbing, especially the seizure of the land of the poor. In this regard, all land concessions should be cancelled and the land returned to landless or homeless families.
A comprehensive solution though entails support for the families of poor children so that they can receive adequate care from their parents and society. Education is a vital necessity for the children and the country so that child beggars do not become adult beggars in a few years. The children of today can become a valuable human resource for Cambodia instead of a weight on its future economy.
Having ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Cambodian government has indicated its intention to its citizens and the international community to uphold the rights of its children and meet their needs.
Cambodia has even expressed this intention in its own Constitution as it has inserted the provisions of the U.N. convention in Article 48 of the Constitution, in which it declares that the state shall protect the rights of children to life, education and health, that they shall be protected against economic or sexual exploitation and the violence of war.
While these actions by the government are positive developments, it is not enough without creating a domestic law and ensuring that this law is implemented. The government thus should enact a domestic law as soon as possible to rectify this shortcoming.
The international community in general, and the United Nations in particular, should assist the Cambodian government in achieving these goals, not just with aid, which naturally is a valuable contribution, but even more importantly with advice and encouragement to make the necessary legal changes that offer an institutional framework to support the other essential policies.
In addition, the international community should help strengthen Cambodia's civil society to enable it to better promote these changes and to monitor the actions of the government. Cambodia has lost a generation to the Killing Fields. It would be a further tragedy if another generation is lost in Cambodia to apathy, neglect and a lack of action by the government to serve the needs of its children.
--
(Sarada Taing is a program assistant for the Cambodia project at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously a human rights investigator and radio reporter for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.)
Although it has been three decades since that genocide, Cambodia is still struggling to recover from the misguided and fatal policies of the Khmer Rouge. It is one of the 50 poorest countries in the world as a result of years of civil war. It has remained in this impoverished state, however, because of corruption and the absence of the rule of law.
Cambodia's children are among the most vulnerable victims of this poverty. Thousands of them live in slums. Others are homeless and sleep on the sidewalk. They face starvation, illiteracy, diseases, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation, gang rape and human trafficking.
They are at risk, as no system exists to protect them. There is no government welfare system, for example, or free health care services. No one is alert to the ill-treatment of abusive parents. These children live without hope; they live in fear of their unknown future.
Many children moreover do not have enough food to eat. They sniff glue instead of eating breakfast, lunch or dinner. The glue takes away their hunger and makes them forget the pain in their stomachs.
Furthermore, many families in Cambodia are too poor to send their children to school. They cannot afford to buy school uniforms or to offer extra payments to poorly paid teachers to supplement their income, which can result in discrimination against the child. These families make their children work to earn money for the family. Most of them are scavengers who collect plastic bags or soda cans from the street or from the trash bin to sell, receiving about US$.50 a day for their labor. The children also pick up food from the street or the dump to eat. Sometimes they save this food for their entire family.
In Phnom Penh, many of the beggars at gasoline stations and restaurants are children. Most of their parents are from the countryside where they could not produce any agricultural products because of drought and land-grabbing. Consequently, the poverty afflicting adults becomes the poverty of children.
This reality is perhaps best comprehended by understanding the lives of adult beggars in Phnom Penh, many of whom sold their land to pay debts. In the countryside many poor families are forced to borrow money from private businessmen to pay for medical services or medicine when one of their family members gets sick or is injured.
Moreover, it is difficult for people in Cambodia to find a place to live. Land-grabbing, for example, has been a serious issue since the end of the 1980s. After the Khmer Rouge fell, Cambodians left the labor camps and went to look for a place to live. Everyone tried to get a piece of land; people grabbed whatever they could find.
Unfortunately, land is still being grabbed, but now powerful businessmen and government officials are taking the land of poor, powerless people. Those with economic and political power pay local officials to secure illegal land titles to valuable property and pay soldiers to evict the villagers from the property. The villagers are rarely compensated. If they refuse to leave their homes, officials use bulldozers to crush their small houses. Any further resistance by those who are forcibly evicted is met by the police and military with assault rifles and electric batons.
In these circumstances, Cambodia's judicial system is of little use: it is not transparent, and it rarely helps the poor. As a result, Cambodia lacks institutions to uphold the rights of those without influence. Those who are poor remain poor and, if anything, become more impoverished.
Cambodia's children are a product of this unjust environment. If Cambodia's children and, indeed, Cambodia itself are to have a future, the government must introduce and implement measures to quickly transform this scenario. The creation of rehabilitation centers for the children of the poor that provide food and clothes as well as organize sports activities for the youth would be a logical step in this direction.
Health care for the poor in both urban and rural areas would also be a welcome development, as would immediate steps by the government to end the practice of land-grabbing, especially the seizure of the land of the poor. In this regard, all land concessions should be cancelled and the land returned to landless or homeless families.
A comprehensive solution though entails support for the families of poor children so that they can receive adequate care from their parents and society. Education is a vital necessity for the children and the country so that child beggars do not become adult beggars in a few years. The children of today can become a valuable human resource for Cambodia instead of a weight on its future economy.
Having ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Cambodian government has indicated its intention to its citizens and the international community to uphold the rights of its children and meet their needs.
Cambodia has even expressed this intention in its own Constitution as it has inserted the provisions of the U.N. convention in Article 48 of the Constitution, in which it declares that the state shall protect the rights of children to life, education and health, that they shall be protected against economic or sexual exploitation and the violence of war.
While these actions by the government are positive developments, it is not enough without creating a domestic law and ensuring that this law is implemented. The government thus should enact a domestic law as soon as possible to rectify this shortcoming.
The international community in general, and the United Nations in particular, should assist the Cambodian government in achieving these goals, not just with aid, which naturally is a valuable contribution, but even more importantly with advice and encouragement to make the necessary legal changes that offer an institutional framework to support the other essential policies.
In addition, the international community should help strengthen Cambodia's civil society to enable it to better promote these changes and to monitor the actions of the government. Cambodia has lost a generation to the Killing Fields. It would be a further tragedy if another generation is lost in Cambodia to apathy, neglect and a lack of action by the government to serve the needs of its children.
--
(Sarada Taing is a program assistant for the Cambodia project at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously a human rights investigator and radio reporter for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.)
Hun Sen's economy grows by leaps and bounds ... but 50% of the children do not even complete elementary school due to poverty
A very young boy collecting trash in Stung Meanchey trash dump.50% of children do not complete elementary school due to poverty
04 November 2007
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
The Ministry of Education indicated that the number of Cambodian children who do not complete elementary school is about 50%, and that this is due to poverty.
During the third celebration of the day for the March against Hunger in Cambodia, on 04 November 2007, Bou Chum Serey, the secretary of state of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), said that 90% of school age children have registered to attend school, however, not all of the children complete elementary school.
Bou Chum Serey said: “Among all these children, only 50% of them can complete their elementary school. We know that extremely poor families could choose not to send their children to school. We all must participate together to fight against hunger.”
Mrs. Kong Kanitha, an official of the FAO which organized this celebration, talked about the fact that in the world, 18,000 children die each day from lack of food.
Kong Kanitha added that the FAO organized this celebration in order to relieve half of the poor people in the world from hunger.
Kong Kanitha sadi: “We must raise the issue of hunger and bring it up to the front page. The action in the world in the fight against hunger was done to push the world population to ask their governments to work harder to put an end to this shameful hunger.”
One girl among the multitude of other girls, who used to live on a pile of trash (Stung Meanchey) declared that her life on a pile of trash was met by constant fear and daily starvation. “I collected recyclable objects from a huge pile of trash which is very accident prone, when I am tired and hungry, I have to pick up food or rotten fruits (from the trash), clean them … pick up the acceptable ones, and eat them to fill my stomach. I don’t have the mean to go to school like other children do, my eyes swell up with tears when I stare at other children walking to school.”
According to FAO officials, in 2006, the FAO provided food to 22 million children, about half a million of whom are Cambodian children. In 2008, the FAO plans to feed at least 50 million children in the world, including 550,000 Cambodian children.
During the third celebration of the day for the March against Hunger in Cambodia, on 04 November 2007, Bou Chum Serey, the secretary of state of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), said that 90% of school age children have registered to attend school, however, not all of the children complete elementary school.
Bou Chum Serey said: “Among all these children, only 50% of them can complete their elementary school. We know that extremely poor families could choose not to send their children to school. We all must participate together to fight against hunger.”
Mrs. Kong Kanitha, an official of the FAO which organized this celebration, talked about the fact that in the world, 18,000 children die each day from lack of food.
Kong Kanitha added that the FAO organized this celebration in order to relieve half of the poor people in the world from hunger.
Kong Kanitha sadi: “We must raise the issue of hunger and bring it up to the front page. The action in the world in the fight against hunger was done to push the world population to ask their governments to work harder to put an end to this shameful hunger.”
One girl among the multitude of other girls, who used to live on a pile of trash (Stung Meanchey) declared that her life on a pile of trash was met by constant fear and daily starvation. “I collected recyclable objects from a huge pile of trash which is very accident prone, when I am tired and hungry, I have to pick up food or rotten fruits (from the trash), clean them … pick up the acceptable ones, and eat them to fill my stomach. I don’t have the mean to go to school like other children do, my eyes swell up with tears when I stare at other children walking to school.”
According to FAO officials, in 2006, the FAO provided food to 22 million children, about half a million of whom are Cambodian children. In 2008, the FAO plans to feed at least 50 million children in the world, including 550,000 Cambodian children.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Saen Sok slums: one of the many black spots of Hun Sen's "shiny" economy for the rich and powerful; Kep Chuktema remains silent on the issue
In Saen Sok Ghetto, No Reprieve from Poverty
Kong Soth, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 October 2007
Kong Soth, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 October 2007
The 1,900 people of Saen Sok are some of the city's poorest.
The residents of one of Phnom Penh's worst slums have been pushed out of their homes, burned out of neighborhoods, or simply fallen on hard times, deposited in a series of villages denoted by numbers.
The slum is home to the disabled, the diseased and orphans, who say they lack power, clean water and medical services and have just one school, put up by a human rights group.
An Chanthan, 58, is a disabled soldier. He was wounded by a 130-mm shell in 1991 at a camp along the Cambodian-Thai border and had his leg amputated at the knee. He fishes for a living and cannot afford to send his children to school.
After the war, he, his wife and four children lived in Phnom Penh, in Tonle Bassac district, selling sweets. But thousands of houses in the neighborhood burned in 2001, and Phnom Penh authorities moved them and other villagers to Saen Sok.
Now An Chanthan's wife lives at a pagoda in the city, and sends their 10-year-old boy to scavenge garbage for a living.
"I cannot make a living," An Chanthan told VOA Khmer recently. "I am sorry that I have no means to send my children to school. My children do not have a future. [My son] rummages through the garbage with his mother along the roads, in places that are not nice."
Saing Sim, 69, is a widow with yellow skin that suggests malnutrition. Her hut is four square meters, a roof of leaves, torn plastic sheets for walls. She cares for four grandchildren, all of them orphans.
"Right now, I am trying to make a living, a little bit at a time," she said. "One day, I scrub pots and pans, and people give me 1,000 riel; washing clothes I get 2,000 riel. In the evening, when I have nothing, I borrow money."
People of Saen Sok say that in Phnom Penh they earned enough to send their children to school, selling fruit, sweets, small clams. But they cannot make a living at Saen Sok.
San Sokha, who is in charge of the area, acknowledged that all seven villages lack food, that 40 percent of his residents need food badly, and that there only 15 percent of the residents are employed. The office of Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema declined comment.
Saen Sok is made up of seven villages, Nos. 1 to 7. The houses there are mainly small and disorderly. The only primary school is built of stones.
Srey Neang is a 12-year-old girl living with her mother, selling scrap from the garbage dump on a cart.
"I want to go to school, but my mom has no money to send me," she said. "The teacher wants 200 riel, but my mom does not have money. I eat salt. She does not have money to travel by motorcycle taxi. If someone takes me, I want to go. I don't want to be uneducated; it is very difficult."
The residents of one of Phnom Penh's worst slums have been pushed out of their homes, burned out of neighborhoods, or simply fallen on hard times, deposited in a series of villages denoted by numbers.
The slum is home to the disabled, the diseased and orphans, who say they lack power, clean water and medical services and have just one school, put up by a human rights group.
An Chanthan, 58, is a disabled soldier. He was wounded by a 130-mm shell in 1991 at a camp along the Cambodian-Thai border and had his leg amputated at the knee. He fishes for a living and cannot afford to send his children to school.
After the war, he, his wife and four children lived in Phnom Penh, in Tonle Bassac district, selling sweets. But thousands of houses in the neighborhood burned in 2001, and Phnom Penh authorities moved them and other villagers to Saen Sok.
Now An Chanthan's wife lives at a pagoda in the city, and sends their 10-year-old boy to scavenge garbage for a living.
"I cannot make a living," An Chanthan told VOA Khmer recently. "I am sorry that I have no means to send my children to school. My children do not have a future. [My son] rummages through the garbage with his mother along the roads, in places that are not nice."
Saing Sim, 69, is a widow with yellow skin that suggests malnutrition. Her hut is four square meters, a roof of leaves, torn plastic sheets for walls. She cares for four grandchildren, all of them orphans.
"Right now, I am trying to make a living, a little bit at a time," she said. "One day, I scrub pots and pans, and people give me 1,000 riel; washing clothes I get 2,000 riel. In the evening, when I have nothing, I borrow money."
People of Saen Sok say that in Phnom Penh they earned enough to send their children to school, selling fruit, sweets, small clams. But they cannot make a living at Saen Sok.
San Sokha, who is in charge of the area, acknowledged that all seven villages lack food, that 40 percent of his residents need food badly, and that there only 15 percent of the residents are employed. The office of Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema declined comment.
Saen Sok is made up of seven villages, Nos. 1 to 7. The houses there are mainly small and disorderly. The only primary school is built of stones.
Srey Neang is a 12-year-old girl living with her mother, selling scrap from the garbage dump on a cart.
"I want to go to school, but my mom has no money to send me," she said. "The teacher wants 200 riel, but my mom does not have money. I eat salt. She does not have money to travel by motorcycle taxi. If someone takes me, I want to go. I don't want to be uneducated; it is very difficult."
Sunday, August 12, 2007
70% of the youth are jobless and are involved in crimes
11 August 2007
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
One NGO involved with the youth, indicated that 70% of the youth are jobless and are now involved in criminal activities.
During the day commemorating the 8th International Youth Day, Long Khet, the president of the Youth Peace organization, said, on 10 August, that 70% of Cambodian youth ranging in age between 18 and 30-year-old, are facing joblessness and these youth are currently involved in drug use, gangs, delinquency, creating unrest in the society, and are providing bad influence to the younger generations.
Long Khet added that the reason these youth are struggling in the society is because they are very poor and they did not get any education.
On the same day, Touch Marim, the deputy governor of the Kompong Chhnang province, said that whether the society will face success or failure depends on the youth, therefore the youth who are currently involved in criminal activities should change to better themselves.
Touch Marim added that the guidance and the education of the youth are not the responsibility of the government alone, but that it is an issue involving everyone. He said that he will arrange to have lights installed along a number of roads, and to have better security in order to facilitate for the youth in their studies.
According to Yean Reaksa, a youth from the People Development for Peace organization, he said that his participation in the celebration of the International Youth Day is aimed at telling aimless youth what they should do for the society.
Yean Reaksa said: “The first role of the youth is to help build peace, and help find various solutions in order to help the country’s development.”
Socheata, another young student from the Hun Sen junior high school, is attracted by the activities performed by the youth during this day which is an education of human beings of all age, and in particular to the children and youth, in order for them to behave well in the society so that they can become a pillar for the nation to rely entirely on. Socheata said that she will take the knowledge she acquired to educate her friends and younger siblings also.
Um Mean, the undersecretary of state of the ministry of labor and vocational training, said that he cannot provide a judgment on the number of jobless youth yet because he has not seen this report yet.
The Youth Peace organization celebrated the International Youth Day – which normally falls on 12 August – in Kompong Chhnang province on 10 August with the march of groups of people coming from 3 different directions. The marchers then proceeded to a forum which was participated by about 800 youth, school children and police officers.
During the day commemorating the 8th International Youth Day, Long Khet, the president of the Youth Peace organization, said, on 10 August, that 70% of Cambodian youth ranging in age between 18 and 30-year-old, are facing joblessness and these youth are currently involved in drug use, gangs, delinquency, creating unrest in the society, and are providing bad influence to the younger generations.
Long Khet added that the reason these youth are struggling in the society is because they are very poor and they did not get any education.
On the same day, Touch Marim, the deputy governor of the Kompong Chhnang province, said that whether the society will face success or failure depends on the youth, therefore the youth who are currently involved in criminal activities should change to better themselves.
Touch Marim added that the guidance and the education of the youth are not the responsibility of the government alone, but that it is an issue involving everyone. He said that he will arrange to have lights installed along a number of roads, and to have better security in order to facilitate for the youth in their studies.
According to Yean Reaksa, a youth from the People Development for Peace organization, he said that his participation in the celebration of the International Youth Day is aimed at telling aimless youth what they should do for the society.
Yean Reaksa said: “The first role of the youth is to help build peace, and help find various solutions in order to help the country’s development.”
Socheata, another young student from the Hun Sen junior high school, is attracted by the activities performed by the youth during this day which is an education of human beings of all age, and in particular to the children and youth, in order for them to behave well in the society so that they can become a pillar for the nation to rely entirely on. Socheata said that she will take the knowledge she acquired to educate her friends and younger siblings also.
Um Mean, the undersecretary of state of the ministry of labor and vocational training, said that he cannot provide a judgment on the number of jobless youth yet because he has not seen this report yet.
The Youth Peace organization celebrated the International Youth Day – which normally falls on 12 August – in Kompong Chhnang province on 10 August with the march of groups of people coming from 3 different directions. The marchers then proceeded to a forum which was participated by about 800 youth, school children and police officers.
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