Cambodia To Seek Protection From Chemical Imports

Activists say that Cambodia has become a major dumping ground of pesticides by major companies and smaller operators. (Photo: AP)

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 19 July 2010

“Joining the Rotterdam Convention is a necessity, because when there is the import of hazardous chemicals into our country, we will be informed in advance.”

Cambodia is planning to apply to an international convention that could help reduce the number of illegal hazardous chemicals coming into the country, a senior official said last week.

The government is considering application to the UN’s Rotterdam Convention, which outlines responsibilities of states towards each other regarding chemicals.

“The ministry is considering convention membership because we want to prevent other countries from using Cambodia as a trash bin for their hazardous chemicals and pesticides,” Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun told a meeting of government and development officials on July 14.

The meeting was to discuss a draft law to bolster protections against pesticides and other dangerous chemicals.

The Rotterdam Convention requires proper labeling and and instructions from countries of origin for chemicals, as well as disclosures on restrictions or bans of the chemicals. Both Thailand and Vietnam are among the 134 parties to the convention.

Meanwhile, Cambodia struggles with dangerous chemicals, with only about a third of all chemicals in local markets registered with the Ministry of Agriculture. Of them, only 14 percent have instructions and other labels in Khmer.

“Joining the Rotterdam Convention is a necessity, because when there is the import of hazardous chemicals into our country, we will be informed in advance,” said Keam Makara Dy, a health program manager for the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture.

Tension mounts between Kuoy ethnic group and mining company in Preah Vihear

11 Summoned to Court Over Mining Row

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
05 February 2008

Preah Vihear provincial court authorities have summoned eight hill tribe representatives and three police officials to explain how a local mining operation was robbed during a demonstration last month.

The mineral company has sued local villagers, of the Kuoy ethnic group, for theft and damaged property.

About 200 Kuoy villagers demonstrated against the mine on Jan. 23, fearing that chemicals from the mine had poisoned their cattle, officials said.

In an ensuing fracas, equipment from the mine was stolen and some of its chemicals were destroyed, the company claims.

Sam Chheng, a Kuoy representative, said he and the other accused will appear in court Wednesday.

Chhim Savuth, an investigator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said local villagers reported poisonous chemicals to authorities many times but were ignored, leading them to demonstrate.

Villagers accused local officials of collaborating with the mining company.

Rovieng Police Chief Sin Than said the mining company was to blame for all the trouble and had sued authorities for damages as well.

He echoed concerns of the Kuoy villagers that he would be arrested after his appearance at court Wednesday.

Villagers destroy illegal gold prospectors’ acid stockpile containers

26 January 2008
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

On Saturday 26 January, about 200 Kuoy ethnic minority people from 4 villages, living in Rum Tum and Rumany communes, Roveang district, Preah Vihear province, have gathered to confiscate and destroy a container used for stockpiling acid and toxic chemicals that illegal businessmen sneaked into the region to use in illegal gold exploration.

The demonstration against the use of acid and toxic chemical took place after the villagers claimed that the raids conducted by the authorities were ineffective, and that the villagers’ health was affected and several heads of cattle died from this illegal use.

Several hundreds of villagers confiscated a piece of equipment used for grinding soil, and they destroyed a large wooden tank, measuring more than 77-square-meter, for stockpiling acid in the area of O’Bang Bat. The villagers claimed that they have been affected by this toxic chemical. “Two of my cows died. I went to my field, when I came back, the cows were sick and they died ... The villagers are unhappy with this, and they are very angry,” one villager said.

Sam Chheng, a representative of the Rumany commune community, said that villagers in his community are being affected by toxic chemical acid used by the businessmen illegally looking for gold, they dumped these chemicals in the ground and in wooded areas, causing various strange illnesses among the villagers.

Sam Chheng said: “They used so much chemicals that numerous cattle died. The health condition of the villagers is not good, they have stomach ache, nausea.”

Kom Siem, the police commissioner for the Roveang commune, said, on Saturday morning, that he did not receive information about the villagers’ destruction of the equipments belonging to the gold prospectors yet.

Kom Siem added that, in the past, the authority conducted raids also, but they were not successful, and the illegal gold prospecting is still taking place in deep wooded areas: “We raided them in the past, we confiscated some equipments, but they still kept on doing it because of poverty, they kept on going.”

Sam Leang Ny, the director of the department of mining and energy of Preah Vihear province, said, on 24 January, that the raids on the illegal gold prospectors were conducted several times already in Roveang district, but that it is a difficult case because, it seems that some of the police officers are behind these illegal businessmen. Each time, the police arrived for the raids, the prospectors all escaped, but as soon as the authority pulled out, they returned back to their activities again.

Sam Leang Ny said: “I went in to raid twice already. It’s difficult, the information leaked out. Some of the police officers are involved with these illegal businessmen.”

According to villagers from Trapeang Tim, Romchek, Bangkoeun Phal, and Sre Khnong villages, between December 2007 and January 2008, the villagers were affected by the toxic chemical products, and more than 20 heads of cattle died from them.