Sithi​ Newslette​r Vol 5

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Sithi Newsletter Volume 4 - Sithi Monitoring Freedom of Expression in Cambodia

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Sithi Newsletter Vol. 3

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Sithi Newsletter Vol. 2

Dear All,

Today– 30 January 2012 – The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) Sithi project releases the second edition of its bi monthly newsletter, entitled “A multi-Faceted Approach to the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights.”

This month’s edition illustrates this multi-faceted approach by examining work that the CCHR, through the Sithi Project and activists trained by the Sithi Project,have undertaken to resolve issues and push for greater respect in relation to land rights.

For further information, please see the attached edition of the newsletter available in Khmer and English, or visit the Cambodian Human Rights Portal, www.sithi.org or the CCHR website, www.cchrcambodia.org.

Should you wish to find out more about the Newsletter or the Sithi Project please contact:

Ms. Chor Chanthyda, Project Coordinator


The Cambodian Center for Human Rights
Email: info@sithi.org
Phone: +855 (0) 23 72 69 01
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CCHR's Sithi​ Newslette​r Vol 1

Dear All,

Today - 14 November 2011 – The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) unveils our bi-monthly Sithi Project newsletter – our latest tool for disseminating information concerning the project and through this medium, increasing the awareness and understanding of the human rights situation in Cambodia.

“The Sithi Newsletter” will be aimed at providing information about the findings of Sithi’s monitoring and documentation work. The Newsletter’s will have variable themes determined by the project’s findings but will particularly focus on political and civil rights.

Should you wish to find out more about the Newsletter or the Sithi Project please contact:

Ms. Chor Chanthyda, Project Coordinator

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights

Email: info@sithi.org

Phone: +855 (0) 23 72 69 01

Please see attached newsletter in Khmer and English.

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Sithi.org Wins an ISIF 2011 Award

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights is proud to announce that Cambodia’s first online human rights portal www.sithi.org has won an Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) 2011 Award under the category of “Rights and Freedoms”, granted by the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC). The ISIF 2011 Award has been granted in recognition of the role that the portal has played in advocating for social change and in promoting the civil and political rights of Cambodian citizens, using information communication technologies (ICT) in innovative ways.

The CCHR management committee, staff and project team would like thank all our donors whose generous support transformed an idea into a reality. We would also like to thank everyone that has contributed to the continued development of the Portal and everyone who has visited the website and used itin their research. Thank you to you all - we would not have won the award without your continued support.

In response to the award, Chor Chanthyda, the Portal Project Coordinator, commented:

“ The Sithi team are proud to receive this reward in recognition for the hard work we are doing in promoting online platforms as an effective tool to share information on the situation of human rights in Cambodia. This reward will spur us to work harder, to constantly improve sithi.org in order to provide users with a valuable tool in their research and efforts to promote and protect human rights in Cambodia"

CCHR would finally like to thank APNIC for the recognition this award gives the Portal.

Please find attached a press release from APNIC outlining the presentation of the ISIF Awards 2011.

For more information please contact:

Ms Chor Chanthyda, Project Coordinator
Email: thyda@cchrcambodia.org
Phone: +85 (0) 12515506


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Press release from the Cambodian Human Rights Portal - Sithi passes 100,000 hits

Dear all

The Cambodian Human Rights Portal Project team is delighted to announce that the portal (www.sithi.org) has recorded its 100,000 visitor.

We would like to thank you all for your support and hope that you continue to use the portal in the promotion and protection of human rights in Cambodia.

Please see attached in Khmer and English a press release marking this event.

Thank you and kind regards

--

Sithi Team

Tel: +855 23 72 69 01

Fax: +855 23 72 69 02

Nº798, Street 99, Beoung Trabek,

Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Profile Of Cambodian Journalists Killed Available In sithi.org Now

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

PROFILE OF CAMBODIAN JOURNALISTS KILLED

AVAILABLE IN sithi.org NOW

The Sithi Team is delighted to announce that the Cambodian Human Rights Portal, sithi.org has mapped and made available the profiles of Cambodian journalists killed in Cambodia since 1993. To access this information, Please visit http://www.sithi.org/temp.php?url=journalists.html. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@sithi.org.

Many thanks in advance for your support and assistance.

Best regards,


Sithi Team
Tel: +855 23 72 69 01
Fax: +855 23 72 69 02
Nº798, Street 99, Beoung Trabek,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

SITHI.ORG now operating in Khmer

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The Sithi Team is delighted to announce that the Cambodian Human Rights Portal, Sithi.org, is now operating in both Khmer and in English. Please visit www.sithi.org to find information in Khmer and English about human rights in Cambodia including information about human rights laws, human rights violations and human rights news. If your computer does not have Khmer Unicode preventing you from seeing the text in Khmer, you can download the relevant font for free from the Khmer language Sithi homepage.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@sithi.org.

Many thanks in advance for your support and assistance.

Best regards,
--
Sithi Team
Tel: +855 23 72 69 01
Fax: +855 23 72 69 02
Nº798, Street 99, Beoung Trabek,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Call for human rights photos to Sithi.org

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As you may be aware, the Cambodian Human Rights Portal, www.sithi.org (“Sithi”) was recently officially launched. Facilitated by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, the aim of Sithi is to encourage collaboration amongst those working in human rights in Cambodia and to share information on the human rights situation in Cambodia to increase awareness and understanding of human rights in order to mobilise action to protect and promote them.

As part of the sharing of information, we kindly request that you please consider sending any and all photos you may have related to human rights in Cambodia, together with captions, to info@sithi.org. These will be placed on the ‘Photo Blog’ section of Sithi and will be properly referenced to include the source of the photos. The information that is sent to Sithi will be part of a unified source of human rights information, accessed by many, significantly improving access to information and resources on human rights in Cambodia.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@sithi.org.

Many thanks in advance for your support and assistance.

Best regards,
--
Sithi Team
Tel: +855 23 72 69 01
Fax: +855 23 72 69 02
Nº798, Street 99, Beoung Trabek,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Cambodia uses the net to map human rights abuses

July 30, 2010
ABC Radio Australia

A new website is putting Cambodia's human rights online, where everyone can see them.

The portal, www.sithi.org maps rights violations across the country. The site is a intended as an advocacy tool that would make it much harder for the government to ignore abuses taking place.

Presenter: Matt Abud
Speakers: Chor Chanthyda, Project Coordinator, Documentation and Data-base Projects, Cambodian Centre for Human Rights; Chak Sopheap, Youth Network for Change; Daniel D'Esposito, Executive Director, HURIDOCS International

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

Click here for sithi.org

Cambodia: The Official Launch of the First Online Human Rights Portal

26 July 2010
By Sopheap Chak
Global Voices Online

Sithi.org, a Cambodian human rights portal that aims to crowdsource and curate reports of human rights violations, officially launched on July 22, 2010 with participation from various institutions including embassies, international and local NGOs, media and university representatives.

Over the past year, the site has developed rapidly. A number of reports of human rights violations, relevant legal instruments and publications have been made available on the site. This expansion of information has been accompanied by an increase in the number of visitors — from 8,000 to over 33,000 in the six months since the site was documented for the Technology for Transparency Network.

Information available on Sithi has been quoted and used in critical analysis and assessment for human rights and development. “Reports prepared by other NGOs on The Rights of Indigenous People submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination used two maps from Sithi.org to outline the extent of land problems facing indigenous people in Cambodia,” said Chor Chanthyda, Project Coordinator of Sithi, during her launch presentation. She adds that Economics Today also used Sithi’s development trend maps in reporting problems with land concessions.

There was much useful feedback from the participants concerning the site navigation, users' contributions, and security for those who contribute cases.

Despite this remarkable success, there is much room for discussion and improvement if the site is to reach its goal of raising more awareness about human rights abuses through collaborative advocacy. Though Sithi originally planned to allow the public to report and submit instances of human rights violations, only trusted NGO partners are currently permitted to participate in order to ensure data verification. Secondly, though the number of visitors is on the rise, the site is still not widely known. Finally, the site has been difficult to navigate, something the organization has attempted to address over the past year. During the launch, the team encouraged NGOs and individuals to suggest changes that would make the site even more user-friendly and to provide advice on creating a plan to train NGOs on how to contribute cases. Sithi's future plans include developing a more user-friendly platform and improving local language accessibility so that the site can maximize its potential benefit to Cambodian society.

Invitation to The Official Launch of The Cambodian Human Rights Portal

Dear All,

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) cordially invites you to attend the official launch of the Cambodian Human Rights Portal, Sithi.org (www.sithi.org). Sithi.org is a centralised hub of information on human rights in Cambodia. Its purpose is to:

1. encourage collaboration with civil society organisations and others interested in maintaining and promoting human rights in Cambodia; and
2. provide up-to-date information to increase awareness and understanding of the human rights situation in Cambodia.

To mark the occasion of Sithi.org’s official launch, the CCHR will hold a reception at CCHR offices in Phnom Penh on Thursday 22 July, where we will present the portal and its various functions. We hope that this event will encourage all stakeholders in Cambodia to use Sithi.org and contribute information to the Portal so that together we can strengthen capacity and improve human rights in Cambodia.

Programme:

• 4.00pm – 4:15pm Arrival of guests
• 4:15pm – 4:30pm Welcome remarked by Mr. Ou Virak, President of CCHR.
• 4:30pm – 5:00pm Interactive presentation of Sithi
• 5:00pm – 5:30pm Q&A
• 5:30pm – 7.00pm Refreshments

Location:

Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
No. 798, Street 99, Sangkat Boeung Trabek, Phnom Penh

We look forward to sharing the launch of Sithi.org with all of you. For further information on this event, and RSVP, please contact:

• Ms. Chor Chanthyda, Project Coordinator, CCHR, Tel: 012 51 55 06 / Email: thyda@cchrcambodia.org; or
• Miss. Sana Ghouse, Consultant, CCHR, Tel: 089 61 43 34 / Email: sana.ghouse@cchrcambodia.org

Best Regards,

Ms. CHOR Chanthyda
Project Coordinator, DIP.
Cambodian Center for Human Rights
Tel: +855 12 51 55 06
Fax: +855 23 72 69 02
Nº798, Street 99, Beoung Trabek,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Call for all media releases and reports to be sent to Sithi.org

As you are aware, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights is helping facilitate a Cambodian human rights portal, www.sithi.org (“Sithi”).

The aim of Sithi is to encourage collaboration amongst civil society organisations and others working in human rights in Cambodia and to provide information on the human rights situation in Cambodia to increase awareness and understanding of human rights in order to mobilise action to protect and promote them.

In order to encourage collaboration and provide information about human rights, the ‘Media’ section on Sithi makes available the latest news, press releases and reports from NGOs, community organisations, associations and other stakeholders working in the field of human rights, which users can access. To ensure that the information is up-to-date, Sithi is reliant on stakeholders to contribute information to the portal. We therefore kindly request that you please consider sending any and all media releases and reports you issue to info@sithi.org. All news, press releases and reports placed on Sithi will be properly referenced to include the source of the information. The information that is sent to Sithi will be part of a unified source of human rights information, accessed by many, and thus will significantly improve access to information and reporting on human rights in Cambodia.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@sithi.org.

Many thanks in advance for your support and assistance.

Best regards,

Sithi Team

Tel: +855 23 72 69 01
Fax: +855 23 72 69 02
Nº798, Street 99, Beoung Trabek,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Cambodia: Nothing left for sale!

Map prepared by Sithi.org

Development Trends in Cambodia

Maps presented here highlight the extent to which the government is signing off concessions for development which is monopolizing land, forest and other natural resources to private companiesboth Cambodian and international. Land conflict is a major issue which raises questions not only about poverty reduction and human rights but sustainable development in general.

The development trends presented on these maps signifies a new approach to viewing the information on land allocation for concessions and other development initiatives. It is hoped that by taking a holistic approach to viewing development trends across sectors national and international organizations, the RGC and their relevant departments along with development Donor groups can begin to analyse and potentially rethink development from a new paradigm perspective. Hopefully influencing more environmentally sustainable development models which are socially equitable and just.

Click here to learn more about this issue

Cambodia: A land rich with ... violations?

Map of violations in Cambodia (Sithi.org)

Violations

The map and table below set out different human rights violations occurring throughout Cambodia. Much of the data provided has been collected as part of the USAID/EWMI/TAF funded Cambodia Human Rights Database Project, which aims to enable widespread and sophisticated documentation and investigation of human rights violations in Cambodia and better awareness raising and collaborative advocacy for change. The database – Openevsys – has been developed by Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems International (HURIDOCS) and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR).

You can search the violations by ‘human right’. Use the drop down menu above the map to select the human right that you are interested in, and the map and table will reveal only those violations that relate to that right. Use the drop down menu to further narrow down the violations according to sub-categories of the particular right, victim, start date, case status, and location. Click on the map markers to view reports on the violations. For more guidance on using Sithi.org, click here to view the Instruction Manual.

Click here to learn more about violations in Cambodia

Sithi.org shows maps of the "EVIL" land concessions signed off by Hun Xen's regime

Click here for the Sithi website

Source: Sithi.org

Development Trends in Cambodia

Maps presented here highlight the extent to which the government is signing off concessions for development which is monopolizing land, forest and other natural resources to private companies both Cambodian and international. Land conflict is a major issue which raises questions not only about poverty reduction and human rights but sustainable development in general.

The development trends presented on these maps signifies a new approach to viewing the information on land allocation for concessions and other development initiatives. It is hoped that by taking a holistic approach to viewing development trends across sectors national and international organizations, the RGC and their relevant departments along with development Donor groups can begin to analyse and potentially rethink development from a new paradigm perspective. Hopefully influencing more environmentally sustainable development models which are socially equitable and just.

Information presented here is an understatement of the many other land deals which are currently active on the ground and difficult to monitor. Thus when reviewing the information it is important to note that data gathered for these maps is from open public sources of information from Government bodies, company websites, press releases and organizations working on specific sectorial issues. The actual status of many of these projects is scattered and mostly yet to be confirmed by the RGC.

A report by Amnesty International in 2008, noted that around 150,000 Cambodians were at risk of eviction. This conservative estimate has since been widely quoted in the international media. For the most part, however, the individual experiences of those affected go unreported. People living in poverty are routinely excluded from decisions affecting them. So-called development often happens to their detriment and at their expense, rather than in consultation with them.

But just how widespread is the problem? All around the country, thousands of families have lost -- or are at risk of losing -- their homes and livelihoods. They report losing their land and forest through economic land concessions, mining concessions, special development zones, logging concessions, hydro-electricity dams and just plain-old land grabbing by the rich and powerful. These maps have attempted to gather information about all these factors into one place.

Cases of land alienation, though totaling a large area, are not possible to map. The maps we release her, therefore, could be considered to be a conservative estimate of the problem of land and forest conflict in Cambodia.

The issue that we also need to look at is the claim that these developments are being done in the name of development and poverty reduction. Everyone needs to think about the reports that come in from communities to say that it is not the local people affected by concessions that are employed as laborers on the concessions – it is the landless people from other areas and from other countries who are brought in –ironically creating more landless poor.

The maps presented here are a complement to the database currently presented on this website which we are developing in order to show the extent of human rights abuse in Cambodia. We would like the government to declare which of the area in the maps are not concessions or have been cancelled. We welcome government clarification.

Forest Cover Map

Official government data as released by Save Cambodia’s Wildlife in their Cambodian Atlas maps available on line at http://www.cambodiaatlas.com/map. The map outlines 33 Protected Areas in Cambodia which accounts for a total of 4,624,971 hectares.