Cambodia: Logging abuse

Activists and journalists who exposed eco-scandal under threat.

29.06.2007
By Andrew Wasley
Index on Censorship for free expression

Journalists and campaigners working to expose an environmental scandal in Cambodia are under threat from the political and business interests with most to lose from their investigations. Andrew Wasley reports.

Journalists and environmental activists investigating deforestation in Cambodia are facing harassment, death threats and censorship after a report accused senior officials within the country's government of involvement in illegal logging, kidnapping and attempted murder.

In Cambodia's Family Trees UK-based campaign group Global Witness claims that leading figures in Cambodia's government - including relatives of Prime Minster Hun Sen - are complicit in destroying large swathes of the country's remaining forests and is calling for international donors to conduct a thorough inquiry into the activities of this 'forest mafiosi' before pledging future development money.

The Cambodian authorities responded to the report's allegations by banning its publication inside the country, threatening Global Witness campaigners and harassing journalists reporting on the story.

The prime minister's brother directly threatened Global Witness earlier this month, stating, ‘if they … come to Cambodia I will hit them until their heads are broken’. Copies of the investigative report have subsequently been confiscated in Phnom Penh and several journalists targeted for covering the story.

Lem Piseth, a reporter with Radio Free Asia, received an anonymous death threat by mobile telephone after producing a piece looking at deforestation in the Kompong Thom province in central Cambodia. The caller accused Piseth of being insolent and asked if he ‘wanted to die’ before stating that there ‘will not be enough land to bury you in’.

The journalist also claimed that whilst researching the story, he was followed by police and the military and was unexpectedly forced to leave a hotel by its owners, who provided no explanation. Piseth, fearing for his life following the death threat, has now fled to Thailand.

Soren Seelow, news editor with the French language daily Cambodge Soir, also suffered after publishing extracts of the Global Witness report in an article highlighting the pressure group's findings. Seelow was summarily dismissed by the paper's owners who claimed the article would upset the authorities and put them in a difficult position.

Employees on the newspaper subsequently went on strike in protest at Seelow's removal, and have now been told the newspaper faces closure.

The worldwide press freedom organisation Reporters sans Frontières commented: ‘It is obvious that the Global Witness report on the over-exploitation of the Cambodian forests is upsetting some people. Since this report was released, all media have been subjected to unjustified state censorship... and we urge the authorities to identify those who made threats (to Lem Piseth) so he can safely resume his work.’

The report alleges that one of the most powerful logging syndicates in the country is the Seng Keang Company, allegedly controlled by the prime minister’s cousin Dy Chouch; his ex-wife Seng Keang; her brother Seng Kok Keang; the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Chan Sarun; and, director-general of the Forest Administration, Ty Sokhun.

Under the guise of a rubber plantation scheme, the syndicate is accused of logging timber from the Prey Long forest. The targeting of resin trees has also destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds, if not thousands, of families living in the area, states the report .

Global Witness also claims that the company attempted to kill two community forest activists who had protested against illegal logging in Prey Long. It is alleged that the elite army unit, known as the Brigade 70, which reportedly has close connections to senior politicians, including the prime minister, has transported illegally logged timber and other smuggled goods.

Environmentalists and human rights pressure groups are now calling on a ‘complacent’ international donor community to launch their own inquiry into the allegations - and support the prosecution of those involved. Failure to do so, argue campaigners, will effectively mean that international money will continue to be fed into a corrupt regime and ultimately offer little benefit to Cambodia's impoverished people.

It is not the first time the Cambodian authorities have attempted to stifle the findings of Global Witness. In 2005, copies of a previous report Taking A Cut were confiscated by customs officials at Pochentong Airport; in 2002 a senior Global Witness campaigner was beaten by a gang of masked men armed with sticks in Phnom Penh. Prior to this, activists had received threats by email from forest concession security staff.

Illegal logging, in Cambodia and across the world, is big business and frequently linked to organised crime and corrupt government officials.

Index on Censorship previously revealed the dangers facing journalists and activists reporting on environmental abuses (‘Dangers lurking in the forests’, 2002) following a brutal attack on an Indonesian reporter, Arbi Kusno, investigating logging issues. Kusno was attacked by thugs armed with machetes and was so badly injured he was presumed dead, only waking up en-route to the morgue.

Cambodia Loses an Independent Press Voice

25 June 2007
Douglas Gillison
Asia Sentinel (Hong Kong)

A tiny but influential French-language newspaper closes in Phnom Penh amid allegations of political conflict of interest

A staple of Cambodia's post-Khmer Rouge press may well have died this month after it carried a story on corruption and environmental destruction that veered too close to the country’s leaders, cutting seriously into the remaining independent journalistic voices in the country.

The already-ailing 12-year-old French and Khmer-language Cambodge Soir, which claimed to be the only independent daily paper for political and general news published in French in all of Asia, failed to appear on newsstands on Tuesday, June 12 and has not reappeared.

The day after the paper’s failure to appear, the 14-member Cambodian and French editorial staff said a political squabble with management had led to the summary dismissal of reporter Soren Seelow for publishing the article on an environmental report damning the government for corruption. After Seelow’s firing, the staff walked out in protest.

In a statement, the staff said that publisher Philippe Monnin had told them that their holding company, which technically employed the paper's 30-member staff, was bankrupt and would be shuttered for good. Internet access was discontinued and the paper's fledgling Web site www.cambodgesoir.info was taken offline.

The offending article, written by Seelow on June 1, described a report by the London-based forestry NGO Global Witness. "It started with the article on the Global Witness report with a theme judged too critical toward the government," said Stéphanie Gée, Soir’s editor-in-chief. Gee says, however, that the staff do not believe Cambodian authorities placed any pressure on management to fire the reporter. Two Cambodian officials have also denied attempting to bring any pressure.

The Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders alleged that Monnin was employed by France's overseas development agency as an advisor to Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry. In a statement, Reporters Without Borders said Monnin had told Seelow his article "would upset the authorities."

The journalistic watchdog protested the closure, calling on Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, a multilateral development organization created to promote the French language and one of Soir's principal financial backers, to intervene. OIF provides slightly less than half of Soir's operating budget and was committed to fund the paper until 2009, making bankruptcy seem improbable.

"Although your organization had just released new funds to support this newspaper, its management has decided to terminate this 12-year-old venture on the grounds of financial difficulties," Reporters Without Borders said. "We ask you to help prevent the disappearance of this exemplary French-language daily."

On Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists also issued a statement in Brussels saying that “the IFJ gives our full support to the staff of Cambodge Soir and urges management to halt liquidation to ensure Cambodia does not lose a vital voice in the French Language media,” said Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park.

A request for comment from OIF Secretary-General Abdou Diouf has not been answered.

Monnin, who has declined all comment, was asked when the strike began why the staff was angry. "They don't have the same way of perceiving the development of the country."

The Global Witness report, Cambodia’s Family Trees, was scathing its indictment of how “a syndicate comprising relatives of Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior officials has looted the country’s forests.” The report accused a "kleptocratic elite" within Cambodia of wholesale environmental plunder and venality. Cambodian authorities responded by banning the report and confiscating copies. Following the banning, information minister Khieu Kanharith ordered a probe into the report’s findings, because, he said, the report had destroyed Cambodia's international reputation.

The announced confiscation of the edition appears to have been symbolic since it is on the Internet as well. The Information Ministry has ordered newspaper not to reprint or serialize the report, with Sralanh Khmer, a pro-Sam Rainsy paper, did for a week straight.

Prime Minister Hun Sen's elder brother, Kompong Cham Province Governor Hun Neng, whose son and wife are both accused of various crimes by Global Witness, issued a warning: "If [Global Witness] come to Cambodia, I will hit them until their heads are broken," he said.

A Cambodian journalist following up allegations in the report for Radio Free Asia received death threats and has fled Cambodia for Thailand, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Lim Pisith received the threats on his mobile phone, and late last week crossed into Thailand seeking refuge.

An anonymous caller told Lem "to beware," and warned that he "could be killed" for his radio reports on alleged illegal logging activities, Lim Pisith CPJ. "I didn't want to leave my country and stop my reporting, but my life was in danger."

Gée said Soir decided to give the government more column inches by devoting subsequent articles to official responses. On June 4 the paper printed lengthy denials from Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun, whom the report accuses of auctioning off posts in his ministry posts to the tune of $2.5 million in bribes.

Six days later, Monnin nevertheless told Seelow, who had planned to leave Cambodia in September, that he was fired, according to the paper's staff. Contacted by telephone, Seelow declined to comment.

Meanwhile many of the 3,500 French residents in Cambodia appear to have lost hope that Soir will ever live again and have resigned themselves to struggling bleary-eyed through the English print media every morning.

"The decision to shut the newspaper Cambodge Soir is infused with a certain brutality and was definitely a mistake," a Franco-Cambodian reader wrote in a group email protesting the closure. "And as always the decision was taken without the least consideration for the Cambodian journalists and readers."

Despite France’s former prominence in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam as the colonial occupier, Asia has the smallest share of French speakers of any continent. In part due to the murderous ways of the Khmer Rouge, who outlawed the language, French is even less prevalent in Cambodia than in Vietnam, where the prestigious Paris daily Le Monde lamented last year that the language "is collapsing."

But Soir's language is not the immediate concern. In a country where nearly all Khmer-language media are aligned with either Prime Minister Hun Sen or other powerful individuals, a newspaper willing to face facts is particularly conspicuous for its absence. The two English-language papers in Phnom Penh, the Cambodia Daily and the bi-weekly Phnom Penh Post, are now virtually the only independent print media in the country.

Soir’s staff have continued to gather every day in the newsroom, according to Gee, who said in her statement that a “climate of trust” needs to be rebuilt if Soir is to have any hope of gaining the support of its former staff. She and the staff have called for a dialogue with management and the reinstatement of their fired colleague plus written rules on employment and termination.

"We're left waiting again," she said. "The ball is in their court."

Death threat made against Radio Free Asia journalist

19 June 2007
Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders today condemned anonymous death threats made against Lem Piseth, of Radio Free Asia in Cambodia after he reported on damage from deforestation in the Kompong Thom province in the centre of the country.The authorities had banned all national media from carrying extracts from a report on deforestation in the area, recently released by the NGO, Global Witness. The journalist has now fled the country to take refuge in Thailand.

Piseth, aged 38, was on his way to Kampong Speu in southern Cambodia on 16 June when he received a call on his mobile phone from a number he did not recognise. When he replied a man’s voice said to him:
- “Is that you Lem Piseth?
- Yes. Who are you?
- You are insolent. Do you want to die?
- Why are you insulting me like this?
- Because of the story about the forest and know this, there will not enough land to bury you in.”

The unknown caller then hung up and when the reporter tried to call the number back, he found himself through to a call centre.

“It is obvious that the Global Witness report on the over-exploitation of the Cambodian forests is upsetting some people,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “Since this report was released, all media have been subjected to unjustified state censorship. We urge the authorities to identify those who made these threats so that Lem Piseth can safely resume his work”.

Following publication of the Global Witness report, Piseth wrote four articles on the damage resulting from deforestation in Kompong Thom province, particularly in the Tumring region, where it has been particularly disastrous. While reporting in Kompong Thom, the reporter said he was followed by police and the military. He had to leave the hotel room he was staying in for several nights, at the request of the owners who gave him no explanation.

Information Minister, Khieu Kanharith, said on 8 June that “the media has had a week to put out news [about the report] and that is more than enough. Newspapers can refer to it but not reproduce it. If this ban is not respected, we will take the necessary legal steps”.

Radio Free Asia is among several media which have continued to talk about the report. A police official went to the radio’s broadcasting centre and ordered the journalists to desist.

Soren Seelow, a journalist on Cambodge Soir was sacked without notice on 10 June for having mentioned the Global Witness report but there were hopes that a strike by staff at the paper could lead to the case being resolved.

Negotiations over Cambodge Soir

16 June 2007
By Mayarith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The negotiations to look for a restart in the publication of Cambodge Soir, the French-language newspaper, took place for the first time between a representative of the Editorial team and one company officer who has the power to look after the publication of the newspaper.

Kong Sothanarith, spokesman for the Editorial team, said that this meeting took place last Friday. “We held negotiations again, and this is the start of the first negotiation following an unannounced stop without official paperwork. The negotiation was held with Mr. Yves Bernardo who is a company officer of the newspaper. He told us through the Editor in chief that he will personally conduct the negotiations, and we stay behind waiting for information. He told the Editor in chief, Ms. Stéphanie Gée, that Cambodge Soir should not be closed down, and that it should wait until after discussions between the other 4 company officers.”

Cambodge Soir declared that it was closing down on Wednesday after its employees strike to oppose the firing of a French reporter who wrote an article about the Global Witness report discussing about the Family of the Thieves of the Nation (Cambodia’s Family Ties).

All the newspaper employees said that one director of the Cambodde Soir newspaper was not pleased with this article and he criticized Soren Seelow, the French reporter who wrote the article, of being biased towards one side.

In Cambodia, there are hundreds of newspapers being published, but there are only two newspapers published in French, and Cambode Soir is one among the two.

Cambodge Soir spokesman said that if there is no obstacle in the negotiations, Cambodge Soir could restart its publication again in the near future.

Reactions around the closing of Cambodge Soir

15 June 2006
By Mayarith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Two days after the closing of the Cambodge Soir newspaper, various reactions came from both national and international opinions, as well as from the French embassy in Cambodia, and the Reporters Without Borders organization, asking for intervention from the representative of the Francophone organization.

Kong Sothanarith, representative of Cambodian employees working at Cambodge Soir, said that the successive reactions will shed some light and lead to a resolution in the dispute. “Because of the numerous reactions coming from readers and a number of organizations, both at the national and international levels, the French embassy was pushed to request for a restart of the negotiations. We hope that these negotiations will take place and we hope that we could reach some optimistic conclusions.”

The closing of Cambodge Soir took place after the employees of the French-language newspaper opposed the firing of Soren Seelow, a French journalist, who wrote an article about the Global Witness report on “Cambodia’s Family Trees” (“Family of the thieves of the Nation” in Khmer) which detailed about government officials and their families who are involved in illegal logging in Kompong Thom.

Philippe Monin, a director of Cambodge Soir, admitted to his employees that he is an advisor of Chan Sarun, the Minister of Agriculture who is named by Global Witness for his involvement in illegal logging corruption, and the latter was not pleased by the publication of Soren Seelow’s article.

Philippe Monin criticized Soren Seelow’s article by saying that it lacked professionalism, and that was the reason why Soren Seelow was fired. Soren Seelow said that his firing was unfair.

The closure of Cambodge Soir generated comments from various sources, and (hopefully) these reactions will provide some hope to a settlement on this issue. “We reach a point where there is a linkage … and we are fighting together to put to an end the closing of Cambodge Soir. We hope that Cambodge Soir will reopen again.”

RFA could not contact Philippe Monin for his reaction on this issue.

SEAPA protests firing of editor, closure of newspaper in Cambodia

14 June 2007
Source: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) strongly protests the firing of "Cambodge Soir" news editor Soren Seelow and the over closure of the daily bilingual newspapercoverage of a banned report that implicated top government officials in the plunder of Cambodia's forests.

According to the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ), Seelow was fired on 10 June for publishing an article that cited the banned report by London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness on illegal logging in Cambodia.

"In its announcement on 13 June, the newspaper's management had cited financial difficulties as a reason for the closure. But the timing of the announcement, just two days into a protest staged by the paper's entire staff over the firing of Seelow, makes the decision to fold up suspicious," said SEAPA Executive Director Roby Alampay. "The people of Cambodia deserve to know the real reason for the closure of a newspaper that over the past 12 years had been vital to the democratisation of their country."

At the French-Khmer daily's 10th anniversary celebrations, then Ambassador of France, Yvon Roé d' Albert, commended the newspaper for its contributions to the rebuilding of Cambodia. He said, on difficult road to democracy, "Cambodge Soir" helped to establish in Cambodia "the freedom of the press, without which freedom (itself) could not exist". The "Cambodge Soir" began publication in 1995. It was sold in the Phnom Penh capital and provincial towns, with a circulation of 3,000 that reached entrepreneurs, government officials, parliamentarians, non-governmental organisations, students, foreign embassies and foreigners living in Cambodia.

French-language daily to close, editor fired after publishing excerpts of report on illegal logging

Date: 15 June 2007
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Person(s): Soren Seelow
Target(s): editor(s) , newspaper(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): fired
Urgency: Flash

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders is outraged at the 12 June 2007 decision by the owners of the French-language daily "Cambodge Soir" to close the newspaper, just two days after unfairly dismissing its news editor for publishing extracts from a long report on illegal logging that was critical of the government.

The press freedom organisation voiced its solidarity with the newspaper's 30 employees - 14 of them journalists - who could all lose their jobs, and called on Abdou Diouf, the secretary-general of the International Organisation of Francophone Countries (OIF), to intercede.

"The OIF has for years been supporting 'Cambodge Soir', which has set the benchmark for the French-language media in Asia and had produced many talented French and Cambodian journalists," Reporters Without Borders said. "Although your organisation had just released new funds to support this newspaper, its management has decided to terminate this 12-year-old venture on the grounds of financial difficulties. We ask you to help prevent the disappearance of this exemplary French-language daily."

"Cambodge Soir"'s owners, among them minority shareholder Philippe Monin, on 12 June told their staff that the liquidation of the newspaper and the company that publishes it, Société des Editions du Mékong, had already begun. The announcement came just one day after the newspaper's journalists began a strike in protest against the summary dismissal of news editor Soren Seelow for publishing a detailed story based on a report by the environmental group Global Witness implicating associates of Prime Minister Hun Sen in illegal logging (see IFEX alert of 6 June 2007).

The story did not please Monin and the newspaper's managing editor, who summoned Seelow on 10 June and told him he was fired.

Monin, who is also employed by the French Development Agency (AFD) to act as an adviser for the Cambodian agriculture ministry, told Seelow that his article would upset the authorities and put him in a difficult position.

The Cambodian government has banned publication of the report in full or in part, while the prime minister's brother, Hun Neng, reportedly said that if anyone from Global Witness came to Cambodia, he would "beat them on the head until it broke."

"Cambodge Soir"'s striking employees meanwhile issued a statement on 13 June condemning Seelow's summary dismissal, the meddling in its editorial policies and the fact that the newspaper seems to have no future.

Reporters Without Borders contacted Monin, who has been a shareholder since the newspaper was launched in 1995, but he refused to make any comment.

A Cambodia-based journalist who spoke to Reporters Without Borders on condition of anonymity claimed that the new managing editor hired by "Cambodge Soir"'s board in September 2006 had been given the job of "sabotaging" the newspaper.

With support from the French embassy, the staff recently launched several new projects including a website (which is no longer online) and special sections to cover the trial of Khmer Rouge members. But the managing editor allegedly did several things to undermine these initiatives, including abruptly suspending an advertising sales contract in December.

"Cambodge Soir" had a reputation for editorial independence compared with its French-language counterparts in Laos and Vietnam. Despite its limited circulation (about 2,000 copies) and recurring financial difficulties, it had a significant impact on the Cambodian media landscape and its reports were often quoted in the Khmer-language press.

Cambodge Soir management fires its editor for publishing extracts of GW report, shareholder Monin is linked to Chan Sarun's ministry

Cambodia 13 June 2007
Reporters Without Borders

Francophone organisation asked to help save
French-language daily facing sudden liquidation

Reporters Without Borders is outraged at yesterday's decision by the owners of the French-language daily Cambodge Soir to close the newspaper, just two days after unfairly dismissing its news editor for publishing extracts from a long report on illegal logging that was critical of the government.

The press freedom organisation voiced its solidarity with the newspapers 30 employees - 14 of them journalists - who could all lose their jobs, and called on Abdou Diouf, the secretary-general of the International Organisation of Francophone Countries (OIF), to intercede.

"The OIF has for years been supporting Cambodge Soir, which has become a landmark of the French-language media in Asia and had produced many talented French and Cambodian journalists," Reporters Without Borders said. "Although your organisation had just released new funds to support this newspaper, its management has decided to terminate this 12-year-old venture on the grounds of financial difficulties. We ask you to help prevent the disappearance of this exemplary French-language daily."

Cambodge Soir's owners, among them minority shareholder Philippe Monin, yesterday told its staff that the liquidation of the newspaper and the company that publishes it, Société des Editions du Mékong, had already begun. The announcement came just one day after the newspaper's journalists began a strike in protest against the summary dismissal of news editor Soren Seelow for publishing a detailed story based on a report by the environmental group Global Witness implicating associates of Prime Minister Hun Sen in illegal logging.

The story did not please Monin and the newspaper's managing editor, who summoned Seelow on 10 June and told him he was fired.

Monin, who is also employed by the French Development Agency (AFD) to act as a adviser for the Cambodian agriculture ministry, told Seelow that his article would upset the authorities and put him in a difficult position.

The Cambodian government has banned publication of the report in full or in part, while the prime minister's brother, Hun Neng, reportedly said that if anyone from Global Witness came to Cambodia, he would "beat them on the head until it broke." Cambodge Soir's striking employees meanwhile issued a statement today condemning Seelow's summary dismissal, the meddling in its editorial policies and the fact that the newspaper seems to have no future.

Reporters Without Borders contacted Monin, who has been a shareholder since the newspaper was launched in 1995, but he refused to make any comment.

A Cambodia-based journalist who spoke to Reporters Without Borders on condition of anonymity claimed that the new managing editor hired by Cambodge Soir's board last September had been given the job of "sabotaging" the newspaper.

With support from the French embassy, the staff recently launched several new projects including a website (which is down today) and special sections to cover the trial of Khmer Rouge members. But the managing editor allegedly did several things to undermine these initiatives, including abruptly suspending an advertising sales contract in December.

Cambodge Soir had a reputation for editorial independence, compared with its French-language counterparts in Laos and Vietnam. Despite its limited circulation (about 2,000 copies) and recurring financial difficulties, it had significant impact on the Cambodian media landscape and its reports were often quoted in the Khmer-language press.