Campaign targets malnourished children

A woman with her child at their home in Phnom Penh. A campaign launches today to promote complementary feeding for children between the ages of six and 24 months. Photo by Will Baxter

Friday, 27 April 2012
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

It could save the government more than US$100 million a year, and all it takes is a few spoonfuls a day.

This is the message from UNICEF and its government partners at today’s launch of the campaign to promote complementary feeding for Cambodian children aged between six and 24 months.

According to a 2010 study, 40 per cent of children in the Kingdom below the age of five years were chronically malnourished (stunted), 11 per cent acutely malnourished (wasted) and 28 per cent underweight, UNICEF nutrition specialist Joel Conkle told the Post by email yesterday.

“It is caused by the inability to afford nutritious food, high rates of infectious diseases and inappropriate feeding practices,” Conkle said.

Watching a country change

Richard Bridle (Photo: Men Kimlong)

Thursday, 22 March 2012
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

“The other crucial issue for Cambodia is to tackle the alarming inequality that is growing here,” Bridle said.

“The gap between those who are very rich and those who are very poor is worrying and it is a gap that is widening.”

It never used to be this fancy,” Richard Bridle said as he sat down yesterday to a double espresso in Phnom Penh’s Raffles Le Royal Hotel lobby.

When the UNICEF country director was first in Cambodia in 1983, he and his agency were sequestered in the hotel and could only leave under the watchful eye of a government-appointed “guide”.

But things are different now, and Bridle, who has spent nearly 30 years working here, is packing his bags for the bright lights of New York to a posting at UN Headquarters.

“When we first got to Cambodia, everything needed to be reestablished,” Bridle recounted.

Buddhist monks and UNICEF join to improve the lives of vulnerable families

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-y-nOB29uk

VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent RobMcBride reports on efforts made by Buddhist monks to support families affected by HIV in Cambodia. Watch in RealPlayer

At Ang Popel Temple, monks lead prayer sessions for people affected by HIV and AIDS. Participants also get advice on maintaining their health and a range of support services. (UNICEF Cambodia/2012/McBride)

The Buddhist Leadership Initiative has been life-changing for Cheng Sophea, who is living with HIV. She lost her husband to AIDS and is now raising their 11 year-old-son on her own. (UNICEF Cambodia/2012/McBride)

By Rob McBride
UNICEF

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, 6 February 2012 – Cheng Sophea dropped to the ground with her son and bowed in a gesture of respect as Khun Khat arrived at her home in Kampong Speu Province, several hours outside Phnom Penh.

Ms. Cheng was diagnosed with HIV in 2002, and a year later her husband died of an AIDS-related illness. Since then, Khun Khat, a monk, has visited regularly, offering invaluable support as the 34-year-old mother comes to terms with the challenges of living with HIV while raising her 11-year-old son, Seung Panha.

“Sophea has had a lot of challenges in her life,” said Khun Khat, “but we’re advising her, and others, how to live and how to carry on.”

Ensuring quality education for children with disabilities in Cambodia

Soun Vanna, 13, is in grade six at Wath Prasat School. She is partially deaf and has found it difficult to keep studying this year. (UNICEF Cambodia/2011/Bona Khoy)

By Bona Khoy and Carly Witheridge
UNICEF

PREY VENG PROVINCE, Cambodia, 4 November 2011 – Soun Vanna, 13, sits quietly amongst her classmates while she completes the morning’s assignment. Partially deaf, Vanna attends classes like any other child, receiving support and encouragement from her teachers at Wath Prasat School.

Equal education

Currently, there are over 300 children living with disabilities in Prey Veng’s Kampong Trabek district, and 16 of them, like Vanna, attend Wath Prasat School, studying right alongside their non-disabled classmates.

“I have difficulty hearing what my teacher explains,” said Soun Vanna, who is now studying in grade six. “I feel uncomfortable when the teacher takes more time to explain things to me as it means the other students have to wait.”

Cambodia introduces improved standards for children at risk

Sep 8, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government said Thursday it had introduced improved standards to regulate how orphans and vulnerable children are assessed and cared for.

The move followed concerns raised earlier this year by UN children's agency UNICEF that children in orphanages were at risk, in part from 'volunteer tourism.'

In March, UNICEF said the number of orphanages in Cambodia had nearly doubled in six years to 269. Fewer than one in 10 was state-funded; the rest were predominantly overseas-funded and faith-based.

During the same period the number of orphans rose from 5,751 to nearly 12,000. But nearly three-quarters of them had one surviving parent, which raised questions as to why so many children were being placed in institutions.

Cambodian government to investigate orphanages after UN concern

Mar 23, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government has started inspecting hundreds of orphanages after the UN children's agency UNICEF said it was worried children were at risk, in part from 'volunteer tourism.'

The Cambodia Daily newspaper reported Wednesday that a spokesman for the Ministry of Social Affairs had confirmed action commenced out of concern for children at orphanages.

'We are conducting the inspections because we don't know how the children are treated,' said spokesman Lim El Djurado, adding that those orphanages which fell short would be closed.

Earlier this week UNICEF said there were now 269 orphanages in Cambodia, almost double the number in 2005. The number of orphans had also risen to nearly 12,000 from 5,751 over the same period.

But nearly three-quarters of 'orphans' still had at least one surviving parent, which raised questions as to why so many children were being institutionalized.

Cambodia not ready to resume adoptions: UNICEF

March 21, 2011
ABC Radio Australia

The United States is working to resume the processing of adoption applications of children from Cambodia and Vietnam.

Inter-country adoptions are suspended with thesecountries because of concerns related to fraud and the inhumane buying and selling of children.

The US Special Adviser to the Office of Children's Issues will meet with Cambodian and Vietnamese officials this week to discuss progress made to comply with international obligations.

Presenter: Kate McPherson

Speaker: Dr Diane Kunz, director, Center for Adoption Policy, United States; Richard Bridle, UNICEF Representative to Cambodia

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

East-Asian orphans illegally adopted and abused: report

Fri, 18 Mar 2011
Kate McPherson
Radio Australia News

Children in Cambodian and Vietnamese orphanages are being abused and adopted illegally, says a UNICEF representative.

Richard Bridle, UNICEF Representative to Cambodia, says there is insufficient regulation and inspection of orphanages in these countries.

"The number of children in orphanages has doubled from 2005 - 2010," he said.

"There's approximately 12,000 children in these institutions today, of which less than one third are actual orphans."

Holiday in Cambodia?

April 6, 2010
Joe Amon
Director of the health division at Human Rights Watch
The Huffington Post (USA)

"The law don't mean shit if you've got the right friends"

A couple of weeks ago, the Sunday New York Times ran an article in the travel section about gay hot spots in Cambodia: "...men in their 30s and 40s wearing unbuttoned collared shirts and checkered krama scarves sipped fruity cocktails and jostled for space with the young Khmer crowd."

I couldn't help but feel a certain dissonance because it is exactly this demographic that might best remember the Dead Kennedys' song "Holiday in Cambodia." When the song was released in 1980 it felt rebellious to sing along with the refrain: "It's a holiday in Cambodia, it's tough kid but it's life." And while for tourists the idea of a Cambodian vacation has become an idyll, for young Cambodians, the Dead Kennedys' lyrics are still very much alive.

"A holiday in Cambodia, where you'll kiss ass or crack"

Each year, Cambodia sends thousands of people to drug detention centers, where they are physically and sexually abused and made to do manual labor and exhausting military drills in the name of "treatment" and "rehabilitation."

Detainees are subject to harsh physical punishments. Breaking a rule could result in being whipped with electrical wire, electrocuted, or being chained to a pole in the sun. Human Rights Watch interviewed Cambodians who had been detained in these centers. One explained:

"[The staff member] would use the cable to beat people. He had three kinds of cable, made from peeling off the plastic from an electrical wire. One cable was the size of a little finger, one is the size of a thumb and one is the size of a toe. He would ask which you prefer. On each whip the skin would come off and stick on the cable."

"For a bowl of rice a day, slave for soldiers till you starve"

Former detainees told us they were given insufficient food, sometimes rotten or insect-ridden. They described symptoms such as difficulty walking, or swelling and numbness in their extremities, all consistent with beriberi - a lack of vitamin B. "I could never get full," one person told us." You were full for a short period of time, and then you start starving again."

"A holiday in Cambodia, where you'll do what you're told"

One of the most heartbreaking things we found was that UNICEF was funding one detention center where these abuses were taking place. The children were sent there from street sweeps or were arrested at the request of a family member. For between US$200-300, the police will arrest your child. There is no formal charge, no lawyer and no opportunity to appeal. As long as the family keeps paying the monthly treatment costs the child is kept.

Families are often desperate for help managing drug dependency problems, and the government promotes the centers as treatment centers. Without voluntary, community-based alternatives, where else can families go? Tragically, we also heard that the police would arrest and detain children regardless of whether or not they even used drugs - if parents thought that their kids were gay they might be at risk. The centers also hold alcoholics, gamblers, and the mentally ill.

As rebellious youth go, young Cambodians today are far from hard-core punks. When Human Rights Watch talked with these kids, they were almost invariably softly spoken and polite, often from poor families or broken homes. The majority used ya ba (methamphetamine) or ice (crystal methamphetamine) recreationally. Some may have been dependent on drugs; many did not seem to be. Some had a genuine desire to stop using drugs. Others were open about their past drug use, but told us that they had stopped using drugs weeks or even months before they were thrown into detention.

"The law don't mean shit if you've got the right friends"

Last week, facing intense criticism from our report, UNICEF went out to the detention center they fund for a visit. They told the Phnom Penh Post, that they too found the kids to be polite and engaging. They concluded that no abuses could be taking place because the kids just didn't look brutalized.

By contrast, Cambodian government officials pushed back hard on our conclusions. The Interior Ministry spokesperson, Khieu Sopheak, insisted that those in detention "need to do labor and hard work and sweating - that is one of the main ways to make drug-addicted people become normal people." Nean Sokhim, the director of one drug detention centre in Phnom Penh said that his center was voluntary - it was only if people tried to escape that they were drugged.

"It's time to taste what you most fear"

Hard work and sweating - or beatings and starving - do not treat drug dependency, and effective drug dependency treatment is not one-size- fits-all. Medical professionals, not Interior Ministry staff, should be responsible for defining approaches to drug treatment. And defining who is "normal"? That's a slippery slope to widespread detention and abuse; better to take another sip of your fruity cocktail than to think about that.

Rather than quoting again from "Holiday in Cambodia," let me switch to another song, sung by kids at the "Youth Rehabilitation Center" that UNICEF supports. Children we interviewed told us that they were forced to sing it two mornings a week:

Before I was handsome; I was a soldier
Babe the salary I had
I was a soldier; with 2500 [riel]
On the first imprisonment eating the ox's penis three times is exercise....

"Eating an ox's penis" is slang for being beaten with a policeman's baton.

Cambodia is a beautiful country and a wonderful place for a vacation. For too many young Cambodians though it still more hell than haven.

Who Will Defend the Children in Cambodian Drug Rehab Centres?

March 31, 2010
By Joe Amon
The Nation

At the end of January, Human Rights Watch released a report on abuses throughout Cambodia's system of drug detention centres. Our report detailed terrible abuses and sadistic violence. The adults and children we interviewed told us of being beaten, whipped and punished with electric shocks.

Unicef provides direct funding for one of the centres, where drug-users and children - some reportedly as young as four - are brought in from the streets. When we briefed them four months before we released our report, they told us they were shocked. They promised to look into the abuses. Children who had been detained at the Unicef-funded centre told us of being tortured. They told us of being forced to do exhausting military exercises, work on construction projects and even dance naked for guards.

We expected Unicef to press for a thorough and independent investigation and to demand that those responsible for the abuses be held accountable. We hoped they would conduct a review of their funding, programming and activities. We expected them to press the Cambodian government more broadly about the detention of children alongside adults.

What actually happened? Not much. Unicef issued a statement when our report was released saying that past reviews conducted by the Ministry of Social Affairs - the ministry running the centre - had found no evidence of "major violations". Over the next few weeks Unicef officials defended their support for the centre, saying that they monitor conditions in the centre "from time to time". Unicef's director in Cambodia, Richard Bridle, said that they "look for the positive". At the same time, Bridle conceded that he "wouldn't be surprised" if abuses were taking place, and that these kinds of abuses are "typical in centres [such] as this one".

Last week, Unicef officials visited the centre - the Choam Chao Youth Rehabilitation Centre, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh - and then told reporters that Human Rights Watch had made a mistake. Mr Bridle said that on their visit, Unicef staff had joked with children being held there and found them "engaging". Bridle told the Phnom Penh Post that "there is no culture of violence" at the centre. He pointed to an as-yet-unreleased internal assessment by the Ministry of Social Affairs and to statements made by a non-governmental organisation that provides some services in the centre (and which is also financed by Unicef) to suggest that we had our facts wrong.

It's a tactic we are more accustomed to seeing from repressive governments than from Unicef officials: A quick trip, an internal investigation and an announcement of no wrongdoing.

In contrast to Unicef's cursory review, our investigation was independent and thorough. We conducted detailed, in-depth interviews with 53 people who had been detained in drug detention centres within the last three years, 17 of whom had been detained at the centre Unicef supports. Our interviews were conducted outside of the centres, where children could feel safe from possible retaliation for telling us of their experiences.

While Unicef claims that the Choam Chao centre is "open" and "voluntary", here is what a few children who had been held at the centre told us:

"I tried to escape but my feet got stuck on the barbed wire. I was re-arrested. They beat me with a rattan stick until I lost consciousness and they poured water on me. They said, each time, "Don't run again!" Teap (14 years old);

"As soon as I arrived, the Social Affairs staff kicked and beat me. I don't know why. He said, 'You stay here. Do not run! There are high walls here. If you get re-arrested, I won't be responsible if your leg is broken.'" Chambok (17 years old);

"They shocked the big kids who tried to escape. I saw when they escaped and when they got shocked. They shocked them a lot." Chamnauth (15 years old);

"If anyone tried to escape, he would be punished. Some people managed to escape, some didn't. Most who were punished for escaping would be beaten unconscious. Beatings like this happened every day." M'noh (16 years old).

All of these children were detained during the period when the centre was getting funds from Unicef.

We're not the only ones presenting evidence of abuse. In the same article that quotes Richard Bridle saying that "These were not brutalised kids", the reporter from the Phnom Phen Post quoted a drug-user who had been at the Unicef-funded centre a year ago: "They used sticks. They unlocked the door, entered and started beating. They punched me in the face. They smashed my head against the wall. They beat me three times with the cable in the same place. You could see the flesh come out. It was like pieces of flesh from a fish." He then showed the journalist his scars.

We have briefed Unicef four times, before our report and afterwards, both in Cambodia and New York. It's been six months since we first presented our findings, methodology and recommendations. While Unicef officials defend their colleagues at the Ministry of Social Affairs, who is defending the children at the centre they fund, or at the 10 other drug detention centres throughout the country? When will Unicef decide to listen to the voices of the children who have been beaten and tortured? When will they support our call for a thorough, independent and credible investigation?

Joe Amon is director of health and human rights for Human Rights Watch.

Cambodian detention centres 'torturing kids'

Authorities are accused of taking children off the streets and delivering them to detention centres. (AFP : Rob Elliott)

Tuesday, February 02, 2010
By Conor Duffy in Bangkok for PM
ABC News (Australia)

Audio: Cambodian authorities accused of torturing prisoners (PM)

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a scathing report accusing Cambodian authorities of locking up and torturing thousands of people a year in drug detention centres.

The human rights group says many of the detainees are children and that they suffer abuses such as rape and electric shocks.

HRW has also accused UNICEF of involvement in one of the detention centres, saying one of the organisation's vehicles has been used to transport children to the drug treatment centre.

HRW says there are 11 drug detention centres scattered across Cambodia and that more than 2,000 people are detained inside each year.

The organisation has been trying to peer inside the jail cells for more than a year and has now released a detailed report.

NRW New York-based director Joe Amon says the group has spoken with more than 50 recently released detainees who suffered violence he describes as sadistic.

"We found a pretty uniform set of abuses being reported across all of the centres where we talked to people," he said.

"People reported being beaten, being whipped with electrical cables. There were reports of being raped or witnessing other rapes and also the use of electric shock."

Mr Amon says many of those imprisoned are children and that the centres breach Cambodian and international law.

"There were two different ways in which people ended up in the centres. One was through street sweeps, where the police would detain people and bring them to the centres and drop them off," he said.

"In those cases there was no formal charge, there was no lawyer, there was no judge, there was no process for appeal.

"And the second main way was through family members who would pay the police to arrest their loved ones, their children or spouses or brothers."

UNICEF implicated

UNICEF has been working closely with the Cambodian government at one of the detention centres.

A Cambodian newspaper has published a photograph which it says shows a UNICEF van being used to transport illegally detained children to a detention centre.

Mr Amon has called on UNICEF to denounce the centres.

"The van very clearly says 'provided with the support of UNICEF and the European Union' and there was another picture also which wasn't published, but which I saw that said 'in support of child friendly justice'," he said.

"The idea that these centres are child friendly justice is really outrageous. These centres are abusive and they're torturing kids."

A European Union spokesman said he was concerned at any use of EU assets in illegal activities and has called for an immediate investigation.

Richard Bridle, the UNICEF representative in Cambodia, says his organisation has put questions to the Cambodian Social Justice Ministry over the use of the van.

"We are also concerned if a vehicle was provided partly with UNICEF funding," he said.

"The main source of funding actually came from the European Union delegation here, so the vehicle doesn't belong to us, it belongs to the government; we're looking into the terms in which it was transferred."

However Mr Bridle has resisted the calls from HRW to close the prisons down because he says it would lead to children being locked up in adult prisons.

"What would worry me about shutting down this centre is that then the only alternative that's left is closed detention and we have seen period round-ups by the police of street children," he said.

Mr Bridle told ABC Radio's PM that he would not be surprised if abuses were occurring in the drug detention centres, but that HRW's call to close the centres down immediately is simplistic.

"I understand where Human Rights Watch is coming from. I understand it is an advocacy organisation and that from our point of view it tends to see things in black and white," he said.

"We have much more difficult calls to make here with regards to the best interest of all children who come into conflict with the law."

Similar drug detention centres exist in many other Asian countries and it may be an argument that plays out across the region.

UNICEF exhibition highlights children's rights

November 6, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

It's 20 years since UNICEF opened up the Convention on the Rights of the Child for countries to sign.

And ahead of the anniversary in nine days time, an exhibition has opened in New York showcasing some of the issues surrounding children's rights.

Presenter: Richard Ewart
Speakers: Guy Jacobsen, director, 'Redlight'; Ann M. Veneman, executive director, UNICEF; Anthony Asael, founder, Art in All of Us

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

EWART: Called "Art in All of Us", the exhibition was based around a book that features the art, photography and poetry of children. It also features the film documentary 'Redlight' which turns the spotlight on child trafficking in Cambodia.

SFX: 'Redlight'.

EWART: The film is produced and narrated by the Hollywood actress, Lucy Liu, who is also one of UNICEF's goodwill ambassadors. The director, Guy Jacobsen, says the movie sets out to inspire, by showing how people are overcoming the complex challenges involved in tackling the trafficking problem.

JACOBSEN: It's a very inspirational story. Not of the gloom and doom of how horrible things are, but to the contrary, how incredible people on the ground have been able to make a dent into this problem, even in the most difficult situation.

SFX: 'Redlight'.

EWART: The UNICEF exhibition was opened by the organisation's executive director, Ann M. Veneman. She says film and photography can be a powerful mechanism for exposing practices that might otherwise remain hidden from general public view.

VENEMAN: Photography and film are powerful means of shining a spotlight on the issues that are often left in the dark.

EWART: The founder of Art in All of Us is Anthony Asael. He says the issues affecting children can often be expressed most powerfully by the children themselves, using their own images and their own written words.

ASAEL: Sometimes they fear in some countries to speak out: having a camera or having pencils or using their hands, it's a lot easier for them to express themselves. So it's a very good opportunity that each kid in the world can grab that opportunity to speak out, and give their own opinion and express themselves.

EWART: UNICEF describes Art in All of Us as a powerful tool, bringing together a child's right to self expression, and the power of art as a vehicle for change.

UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu raises awareness of child trafficking

US Fund for UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lucy Liu speaks out against child trafficking at a symposium organized by the US Agency for International Development in Washington, DC. (Photo: USAID/2009)

Source: UNICEF

WASHINGTON DC, 18 September 2009 – US Fund for UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lucy Liu delivered an impassioned speech here this week to raise awareness about the estimated 1.2 million children who are trafficked worldwide every year.

The internationally acclaimed actress and humanitarian activist spoke at a symposium organized by the US Agency for International Development on 16 September.

Ms. Liu has become increasingly involved in efforts to end child trafficking since her appointment as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2004. She recently produced a documentary film, ‘Red Light’, which focuses on the issue of trafficking in Cambodia.

Effects on women and girls

At the USAID event, Ms. Liu described girls’ experience of being trafficked, both globally and in the United States.

“With no options and not enough protection,” she said, “the world’s poorest children are being recruited more and more into a gruesome array of practices that include trafficking for sex, soldiering, begging, scavenging, working in factories and on farms, and domestic servitude.”

As Ms. Liu pointed out, the most common form of human trafficking, by far, is for sexual exploitation, whose victims are predominantly women and girls. Trafficking for forced labour is the next most common form.

Creating a ‘protective environment’

Other speakers at the trafficking symposium included USAID Acting Administrator Alonzo Fulgham, Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Luis CdeBaca and Carlson Companies CEO Marilyn Carlson Nelson.

The participants noted that statistics on trafficking are difficult to gather and often unreliable. Children trafficked into domestic work, for example, are hard to document because servitude in private homes is often hidden from public view and unregulated.

UNICEF’s efforts to protect children from trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse focus on creating a ‘protective environment’ for them. In such an environment, people at all levels of society work to enforce protective laws. They also educate children, educators and social service providers about how to prevent and respond to abuse, and challenge discrimination.

“I truly believe there is hope,” said Ms. Liu. “I believe this because of devoted workers and individuals around the world in organizations like UNICEF and USAID.”

Buddhist monks trained to support Cambodian families affected by HIV/AIDS

UNICEF has trained thousands of monks to counsel, advise and guide families affected by HIV in Cambodia. (Photo: UNICEF Cambodia/2007/Kong)

Through the Buddhist Leadership Initiative, monks assist provide both psychosocial and spiritual aid to HIV-affected families. (Photo: UNICEF Cambodia/2007/Kong)

Senior monk, the Venerable Ong Sary (centre), prepares 19-year-old novice monks before leaving for an HIV family visit near Phnom Penh. (Photo: UNICEF Cambodia/2007/Laurila)

By Guy Degen
UNICEF Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, 6 June 2007 – Throughout Cambodia, Buddhist monks are held in high regard, not only as religious leaders but for their traditional role of helping those most in need. For many Cambodians living with or affected by HIV and AIDS, Buddhist monks are a vital link in receiving treatment and counselling.

Approximately 123,000 adults and 12,000 children are infected with HIV in Cambodia.

Through the Buddhist Leadership Initiative, UNICEF works closely with the government and international partners to train monks to support the special needs of people affected by HIV and to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in communities.

Spiritual and social support

“Buddhist monks play an important role to decrease stigma and discrimination against families living with HIV/AIDS,” said the head of UNICEF Cambodia’s HIV/AIDS Section, Haritiana Rakotomamonjy. “Monks provide spiritual and psychological support to families and children affected by HIV/AIDS. They also help mobilize community support to make sure that those children are able to come to their monthly medical visit.”

On one recent weekday afternoon, the Venerable Ong Sary and two fellow monks from the Chbar Ampov Pagoda near Phnom Penh visited the home of Sim, a 43-year-old mother of four who is living with HIV and lost her husband to AIDS three years ago.

The young monks were welcomed warmly by Sim’s family and neighbours. Along with spiritual guidance, it was an opportunity for the monks to advise the family about HIV treatment and prevention, and the importance of proper nutrition. Sim said she appreciates the monks’ help, particularly the rice they bring and the advice they offer her children. Fortunately, her teenage children are all HIV-negative, but having already lost one parent to AIDS they are among Cambodia’s growing number of orphans.

Centre for orphaned children

There are an estimated 570,000 orphans in Cambodia. With a rising AIDS death toll, it is projected that HIV/AIDS will account for about one in four orphans – making them one of the most vulnerable sectors of Cambodian society.

In Takeo Province, Partners in Compassion, a Buddhist-Christian care centre at the Opot Pagoda, is home to more than 60 orphaned children. A third of them are HIV-positive.

Children living at the centre are able to continue their schooling in a safe and stable environment and can learn vocational skills such as silk weaving and sewing.

The youngest child in the centre’s care is six-month-old baby Sreypo. Her mother was raped and does not want to care for her. Sreypo is still too young for a reliable HIV test, which under current conditions in the province can only be taken when she turns 18 months old. (A provincial transportation system for the blood samples of babies under 18 months of age is being developed to allow for earlier testing.)

At the frontline of AIDS awareness

With UNICEF’s support, Partners in Compassion has trained 80 local monks to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS. Their regular activities with primary school-age children aim to break down the social stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

Five home-care teams of monks have also been trained to work directly with HIV/AIDS affected families in Takeo.

For one mother named Khin and her daughter Sreynik, 4, the home visits are vitally important. Both are living with HIV. Khin wants her daughter to have a future and greatly values the monks’ help. Along with the rice, oil and salt provided by the World Food Programme, she said, the monks provide her and Sreyknik with hospital transport costs for their HIV treatment.

“We go to the villages to conduct home visits and most people appreciate what we have done,” said the Venerable Kuv Kosal, a monk at Sophy Pagoda trained by Partners in Compassion.

Working in harmony with the Buddhist principles of self-discipline, wisdom and compassion, UNICEF and its partners are helping monks to be more than just advocates for orphans, children or families affected HIV/AIDS. They are now at the forefront of HIV awareness in Cambodia and helping to care for the country’s most vulnerable.

UN agencies call for concerted effort to rapidly scale up access to HIV testing and counselling services in Asia and the Pacific

UNICEF Press Centre

PHNOM PENH/CAMBODIA, 4 June 2007– Fewer than 10 per cent of people infected with HIV in HIV in Asia and the Pacific are aware of their status. This is a major obstacle in the campaign to prevent the spread of HIV and to provide AIDS treatment, say United Nations agencies, which today called on governments in Asia and the Pacific to rapidly expand access to HIV testing and counselling.

Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) will meet 4-6 June in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with experts and civil society delegates to identify strategies for dramatically increasing the availability of these services.

As of 2006, an estimated 8.5 million people are living with HIV in the Asia Pacific region. In 2006 alone, a million additional people were infected and more than 500 000 people died. With so few people aware of their status, efforts to prevent new infections and treat those who are positive are becoming more difficult.

“Knowing his or her HIV status is a public health and human rights imperative, as it leads to life-extending HIV treatment, care and support services, as well as to evidence-based prevention interventions," said Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.

More than 20 years after the first reported case of HIV in the Region, access to testing and counselling is limited. Although voluntary counselling and testing sites have been established in all countries, poor infrastructure and limited human resources hinder the capacity of health services to introduce and deliver the needed testing and counselling.

Persistent stigma and discrimination also prevent many individuals from actively seeking help. Those infected tend to wait till they are too ill, thus jeopardizing the success of treatment. And often, those already at risk of HIV infection, such as partners of injecting drug users or men visiting sex workers, do not perceive themselves at risk of being infected.

In an effort to overcome these obstacles, United Nations agencies are calling for an increase in client- and provider-initiated testing and counselling, as well as a strengthening of prevention, treatment and care services.

The Phnom Penh consultation involves some 70 experts and scientists, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, civil society and affected communities, along with human rights experts from Asia and the Pacific. They will be looking at existing testing and counselling policies and practices, discussing global guidelines, and identifying ways to scale up HIV testing and counselling as part of prevention, treatment, care and support services in the Region.

An important component of this deliberation is the recently released WHO and UNAIDS guidance on provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling services. Provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC) is an approach in which health care providers specifically recommend an HIV test, when it fits the local epidemiological and social context. This requires that health facilities have the capacity to ensure that patients receive and understand basic information on HIV and have given informed consent prior to the testing. Provision of individual post-test counselling and referral to specialized services are steps that follow the HIV test, ideally done at laboratories linked to quality assurance and control schemes.

“Expanding access to quality HIV testing and counselling will require strengthening of existing infrastructure, quality assurance systems and human resource capacity, as well as monitoring and supervision systems, at all levels of the health system," said Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia.

According to the new guidelines, HIV testing continues to be voluntary and in compliance with the "3 C's" – informed consent, counselling and confidentiality. This requires that laws and policies against discrimination on the basis of HIV status are in place. Where such laws exist, a more concerted effort is needed to ensure they are enforced.

“As we work to scale up testing and counselling suitable to the regional context we must safeguard the rights of those who test positive while securing resources for training in the health care system to further reduce stigma and discrimination,” says Prasada Rao, UNAIDS Asia Pacific Regional Director. “We need a greater commitment to change attitudes about the virus and strengthen political will to make anti-discrimination policies a reality.”

Priority also needs to be given to children, who have faster disease progression than adults and for whom there are specific HIV testing issues around consent and confidentiality. Of the 64 000 children living with HIV in the Region who are estimated to be in need of treatment, only one in five are receiving antiretroviral treatment, and nearly all of these children are in three countries - Cambodia, India and Thailand.

“By increasing access to early diagnosis of HIV in infants and children, we are in a better position to improve the quality of life for children who test positive by providing better care, support and treatment,” said Anupama Rao Singh, Regional Director of UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office. “However, we need to ensure that when it comes to testing children, we adhere to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, especially that the best interest of the child is respected.”

UNICEF helps local government build pre-schools in Cambodia

Nita, 5, joins her friends at the Banteay Kraing Village community pre-school, which is helping Cambodian children enrol in primary school at the appropriate age. (Photo: UNICEF)

By Guy Degen
UNICEF

SVAY RIENG PROVINCE, Cambodia, 11 May 2007 – Every weekday morning, Nita, 5, joins her friends at the Banteay Kraing Village community pre-school. Small sandals and shoes are neatly lined up in a row outside the wooden shelter that houses the school.

Inside, the walls are adorned with bright watercolour paintings. A local volunteer teacher asks the class to name animals drawn on a whiteboard.

For children such as Nita, these simple and stimulating activities are not only fun but essential for early childhood education, helping to ensure that they will enter primary school at the appropriate age. Yet only 14 per cent of all three- to five-year-old children in Cambodia are enrolled in pre-schools – most of them in affluent urban areas.

A safe learning environment

UNICEF’s child rights programme in Cambodia, known as ‘Seth Koma’ in the Khmer language, is working with rural communities to build pre-schools that provide children with a safe learning environment, including access to clean water and latrines.

Local commune councils select the land and UNICEF supports them with funds for constructing pre-school shelters, playgrounds, wells and latrines, as well as providing basic school supplies. UNICEF also helps train volunteer teachers in nutrition, health, hygiene and early childhood development, and provides them with a small incentive payment for their efforts.

In the past year, UNICEF has assisted about 900 pre-schools in six rural provinces, helping to bring early education to some 20,000 children.

Preparation for formal schooling

“Currently the Cambodian Government doesn’t have the necessary funds to provide early childhood education to all Cambodian children, especially in the rural areas,” says UNICEF’s Seth Koma Programme Officer, Tessa Rintala.

As a result, she adds, there are problems with children enrolling in school at a later age, dropping out or repeating classes.

“UNICEF believes that community pre-school education actually better prepares children for formal schooling and aids them to be more socialized and adjusted for school life,” notes Ms. Rintala.

‘The education she needs’

A two-hour pre-school class provides Nita with a positive daily routine. Her parents are divorced and her mother lives in Phnom Penh, where she works in a garment factory. Nita and her elder sister live with their grandmother and a young cousin.

Nita’s grandmother believes pre-school is giving Nita a head start in life, explaining: “Without her father she is much more vulnerable. Community pre-school gives her the education she needs.”

Nita says she is looking forward to going to primary school next year when she turns six. Having attended community pre-school since she was three, Nita will be on track to enrol at her local primary school with her friends at the right age.

Poor Sanitation Triggers Child Health Concerns

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
07/05/2007

Poor sanitation affects 84 percent of rural Cambodians, leading to a high incidence of diarrhea and putting Cambodia low on the list of clean countries, UN health officials say.

Only 65 percent of people outside urban centers have access to safe water, the UN says.

Four out of five people in the agricultural country live outside the cities.

"Water and sanitation have been identified as one of the major causes of the high diarrhea incidence in Cambodia," Unicef Cambodia Project Officer Hilda Winarta said. "In particular, the sanitation situation is very poor. Cambodia has in fact been classified as one of the countries in the world with the lowest sanitation coverage in the rural areas."

Tan Try, a Unicef spokesman, said working with local communities to improve access to safe water and sanitation is one of the organization's Cambodian projects. Known as "Seth Koma" in Khmer, the project helps families with safe water use.

"We provided community hygiene classes to teach villagers how to safely use the water," Tan Try told VOA Khmer. For example, he said, "for some areas that do not have safe water, villagers need to boil water to drink."

One village recently built a new well, giving 10 families access to clean water. An information board nearby clearly explains hygiene. Over the past year, such projects have protected Cambodians from water-borne illnesses.

Unicef began preparations Monday for the International Year of Sanitation in 2008.

Child-friendly schools support girls’ education in Cambodia

Sixth-grade students in a Khmer grammar class at a child-friendly school in Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia. (Photo: UNICEF/2007/Maloney)

By Ticiana Maloney
UNICEF

KAMPONG THOM, Cambodia, 12 April 2007 – Taxi, 14, lives in a rural community of Kampong Thom Province, central Cambodia. It is the dry season and dust chokes the air in her poverty-stricken village, as in most of rural Cambodia. Small palm-roofed bamboo huts line the dirt road that leads to Sankor School, where Taxi attends sixth grade.

In March, with a few months left to complete her primary education, Taxi dropped out of school. “I was going to drop out because I am poor and I needed to work,” she says.

In many poor communities, girls tend to drop out when they reach the upper grades of primary school. “Poverty is the main reason why girls drop out,” says Huoy Sophea, a girl counsellor at Sankor school. “They often leave to work in the garment factories around [the capital], Phnom Penh.”

Reaching out to girls

“In grade 1 there is no gender gap,” says Director Sou Kim Try of the Kampong Thom Provincial Office of Education. “But when they reach grade 7, the percentage of girls is much lower than boys.”

The Government of Cambodia is committed to keeping children in school and, with UNICEF support, has been implementing a Child-Friendly Schools Initiative in 6 of the country’s 24 provinces. The aim is to increase equitable access to school and the quality of basic education.

Gender responsiveness is one of the key components. Through such activities as community research on gender and counselling for girls – known as ‘girl counselling’ – child-friendly schools reach out to girls who are at risk of dropping out, identifying gender barriers to education and increasing awareness about gender equality.

In Kampong Thom, girl counselling has been implemented in a majority of child-friendly schools. It targets girls in grades 5 and 6 who are at risk or have already left school. Preliminary results show that most girls have returned to school after receiving counselling.

Counsellors at Sankor School provide support to girls who are at risk of dropping out or have already left school. (Photo: UNICEF Cambodia/2007/Laurila)

Back to school

Taxi is one of the girls who benefited from the initiative. Three days after leaving, she was back in school. The Sankor school counsellor visited Taxi and her family at home after finding out she had dropped out. “The teacher persuaded me to come back to school. She said that education is important for me,” recalls Taxi.

Girl counselling works in a similar way in other child-friendly schools in Cambodia. Teachers inform girl counsellors, who are usually female teachers or mother representatives, when students have been absent for more than three days or have dropped out. The counsellors visit the at-risk student’s home to discuss the problem and to identify underlying causes for dropping out. Appropriate solutions are agreed upon by both students and parents.

Although many girls return to school, there are some who do not return or who drop out again. And while poverty is the main reason children – especially girls – drop out of school, there is also a traditional perception that education is not important for girls. Parents often feel that education has little value for their children, since economic opportunities are limited once they complete school.

“There is a lack of role models,” says UNICEF Education Officer Kerstin Kalstrom. “The girls and their parents see very few people who have better jobs thanks to their education, particularly in rural areas.”

Comprehensive approach

Cambodia has gone a long way towards rebuilding its education system after the abolition of schools during the Khmer Rouge regime.

New schools have been built, hundreds of teachers have been trained and enrolment has been increasing steadily in recent years. But according to data from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the country hasn’t achieved universal primary education, and completion rates remain low, especially for girls.

At the secondary level, participation is low and the gender gap particularly wide, with only about 30 per cent of boys and 10 per cent of girls of secondary school-age enrolled.

UNICEF is working with the government to improve education outcomes, change perceptions and help increase opportunities for children. The Child-Friendly Schools Initiative adopts a comprehensive approach that can accelerate progress towards education for all.

UNICEF donates 140,000 USD for demining in Cambodia

March 08, 2007

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has donated more than 140,000 U.S. dollars for demining and landmine education in the western provinces of Cambodia for this year, an official said on Thursday.

The fund will be used for demining, education about danger of landmine and UXO (unexplosive ordnance), organizing spots for broadcasting on TV, building network to educate villagers in communities of landmine areas, Khem Sophoan, head of the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC), told Xinhua on phone.

The money is for 26 districts in the western provinces of Cambodia, including Battambang, Preah Vihear, Oddar Mean Chey, Banteay Mean Chey and Pailin, where mines pose great danger for the communities, he said.

UNICEF has donated over one million U.S. dollars for CMAC since 1995, he said.

In the past two months of this year, mines killed over 10 people, including seven deminers of CMAC, he added.

According to official statistics, there were more than 400 human casualties over mine and UXO explosions in 2006 in Cambodia, or 50 percent decrease over the average number of the previous six years.

Due to 30 years of armed conflicts, Cambodia has become one of the world's most heavily mined countries with an estimated 4-6 million of such "hidden killers" buried underground in areas as extensive as 2,900 square kilometers.

It may take the kingdom another 150 years to clear out all the mines and UXO, statistics say.

Source: Xinhua