Student demonstration at Lycée Descartes in Phnom Penh

The side entrance to the high school during the morning of the demonstration. Lycée Descartes was a school frequented by children of Cambodian elite. Queen-Mother, Ranariddh and Sihamoni, as well as a few of Hun Sen's close subordinates (Cham Prasidh and Prak Sokhon) used to attend this school, but obviously, none of the above have stood up for the plight of poor Cambodians threatened by eviction. (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

09 April 2009
By Maxime Revol
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

About 50 students from Lycée Descartes, a French high school in Phnom Penh, held a demonstration this morning in front of their school. They wish to see the families occupying the fourth floor of the school building – who are threatened with eviction – be treated with dignity.

“Blockade” and “Freedom? Equality? Fraternity?” can be read on the banners blocking the access to the French high school in Phnom Penh. About 50 high school students have decided to go on strike. They fear that the Cambodian families living on the fourth floor of Building C in the high school would be evicted without dignity and without proper compensation. “There is a risk of eviction, and we know that here [in Cambodia], it is never done right. We are mobilizing ourselves so that the families receive a fair compensation and that all violence will be avoided” Timothée, a senior high school student, explained. He believes that all the families would agree to leave but the compensation amount offered by the city is not enough. “A meeting was recently held between the student parents and a representative of the [French] embassy, but there is no progress. The students want to see a good departure of the families, should they have to leave. Most of all, they should be fairly compensated,” said Nina, another senior student.

The students wrote an open letter to the French embassy, the Phnom Penh city hall and the school principal to explain their strike. They consider that an eviction under the present condition would violate human rights: “We ask that Lycée Descartes and the French embassy intervene to insure that the rights and the dignity of the residents on the fourth floor of Building C be respected, and that a sufficient compensation be given to them so that they can pursue their life in dignity. $10,000 in compensation and a small plot of land – far from the city center and in an area prone to flooding – are not acceptable.” A new discussion on this issue should take place this afternoon.

French Students Protest Eviction of Poor [-At least somebody has some conscience left in the corruption kingdoom]

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 April 2009

More than 60 French students at Phnom Penh’s Lycee Francais Rene Descartes international school held a peaceful demonstration Thursday against a city-ordered eviction of Cambodian families living on the school’s property or in shanty homes adjacent to it.

The students gathered in front of the school, near Wat Phnom, Thursday morning, some of them beating large drums or water buckets, others shouting in French, “Please give a fair solution for the eviction.”

Phnom Penh municipal authorities last year ordered the 37 families—many of whose members work at the school—to leave the adjacent property, which they plan to turn over to the French. The city fenced some of the families out of their homes on Tuesday and issued a 30-day eviction warning to them on Thursday.

Students said Thursday many of them had formed close relationships with the people living either in the school’s fourth floor or in an abutting plot of land.

“If the Cambodian government wants to evict them, they should pay a fair solution,” one of the students, who asked to be identified as Romando, said.

The city has offered each family from $5,000 to $10,000 in compensation and will give them 32 square meters of land in Boeung Tumpuon commune in the city’s Meanchey district.

Seng Vutha, 37, a security guard at the school who has lived in the compound since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, said he was not against the move, but he needed higher compensation and a larger plot of land.

“With more land, it is easy for me to build a house,” he said. “If we compare the land prices today, they are very high. If the government pays me $5,000, I can’t buy anything for living.”

Tung Sok Lim, a spokesman for the French Embassy, said the French government plans to renovate the school, which has been in operation since 1951.

Daun Penh district’s deputy governor, Sok Penh Vuth, said he was not forcing an eviction on the families.

“Right now, 50 percent of the 37 families are happy to receive the compensation,” he said. “But there are still 50 percent more. We will try to persuade the people to understand the government policy.”

The compensation was a high price, he said, because some of the families were now living on just 2 square meters of land, sharing one bed, on the fourth floor of the school building.

Medical School Hopefuls Protest Failure

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
28 November 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

Prospective students for Phnom Penh’s University of Medicine undertook a third day of demonstrations Friday, angered that a high number of them had failed and swearing to continue protests until they are admitted.

Around 400 would-be medical students have been protesting since Wednesday, with less than 400 out of 1,800 test-takers able to meet the 50 percent minimum score.

Health Minister Mam Bunheng said Friday Cambodia needs “qualified doctors and nurses” and the National Committee of Examinations had judged correctly in admitting only the 369 who passed their entrance exams.

“If you are not qualified enough as a medical student, you cannot be a physician,” he said at a press conference Friday. “For example, if you are operating on someone and cut the wrong artery, and you cut the artery that bleeds a lot, the patient will quickly die.”

Officials from the ministries of Health and Education, the National Committee of Examinations, and several cabinet ministers met with five student representatives and the Independent Teacher’s Association Thursday night to resolve the problem.

At that meeting, officials decided to reduce the entrance score from 50 percent to 25 percent, which would allow an additional 507 students to join the university, filling a total 876 slots.

Even with the entrance score lowered to 25 percent, some students remained dissatisfied.

Students said the university had earlier announced that 1,481 slots would be open and they would continue to demonstrate every day until that many slots were filled.

Of the 936 students who scored below 25 percent on their entrance exams, 605 more need to be admitted to satisfy the demonstrators.

Student demonstration in Phnom Penh

(Photo: Pring Samrang, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

27 Nov 2008
By Im Navin
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

A dispute led to the confrontation between students and the management of the Phnom Penh Health Science University. The problem: a lower number of students were allowed to attend their first year of study.

About 200 demonstrators, all of them students, were standing in front of the entrance to their university since Wednesday 26 November. They denounced the fact that the university management reneged on its promises. The university promised to accept 1,000 out of the 1,500 students who are currently taking preparation classes. However, only 300 students were admitted this year.

A student denounced these false promises and she argued: “These results were announced late in the year. This prevented us from registering somewhere else in case of failure.” The students wished to see “an acceptable resolution to this problem.”

When reached over phone by Cambodge Soir Hebdo on Thursday 27 November, Oum Sophal, the dean of the university declared that: “up to now, no decision has been made yet. The management committee is currently holding a meeting to discuss this problem.”