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.
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.
7 comments:
really who care...if people in cambodia don't care...and don't love her own country....it is very said....that why...i hope someday (but not too late i hope) our god will sent someone to save our country and kill all corrupted person in our country in any way our buddha want it to be.....i hope that our people will stand up together not just wait for usa or japan or china to help...but help themself...but i don't know why all
corrupted person and destroy all our resource in cambodia live for a
very very long.....please help us god..and have mecy to cambodia don't let it be like africa.....
I think that Khmer people are full blatenly scary and a mythical believer. Sometimes, they black magic or someone intimidate them. They run and hide in a chicken coop. They (Khmers) are egotistical and internally battle among their citizens. They are borned to destroy themselve. That is why they allow whoever to come into the country and do whatever they please.
Next, the Thais/Vietnameses/Laotians will dump thrashes/chemical wastes/sewage in Khmerland. No one will care because they ONLY think about themselve.
Khmers are introvert and egotistical being.
hoo really in your dream mother fucker thailand is just a sex paradise soo shut the fuck you idiot thaiwhore
dont say bout cambodia cuz now were in trouble after the long decades of war lets see in 10 years thailand will be swallow up the south by muslim and hit by another tsunami hahah and thailand are just jaleous bout cambodia economony right now if thailand a good country we dont see you guys in olimpics world cup or race F1 you guys are just retarded and get fucked by white man
i shit on the thaiking head he create sextourism cheers!!!
They cant even control muslim separatists south of thailand.Thai smelly pussy
Hun Sen government and his thuggy colleangues cannot close their plundering activities from the world....they can only intimidate and threat to innocent Cambodian people...but they cannot stop interational NGOs to reveal their evil deeds...
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