Showing posts with label Disabled war veterans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disabled war veterans. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Friday, July 01, 2011
Veterans' pensions delayed by ministry
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post
More than 30 disabled veteran soldiers from four districts in Siem Reap province continued protests on Tuesday in front of the provincial department of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation, demanding pension payments they claim have been frozen since 2007.
Iet Sivlong, provincial investigator for rights group Licadho, said on Tuesday that the protest began on Monday but dispersed temporarily after the department’s director promised to distribute the last six months’ worth of overdue payments. The protest resumed after no money was disbursed.
Phea Sophat, director of the provincial Social Affairs Department, said that in 2009 the Interior Ministry had deemed about 2,000 disabled veterans in Siem Reap eligible to receive government pension payments.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Facing history in Cambodia
Cambodia is beginning to deal with the legacy of decades of civil war: soldiers and civilians maimed by landmines.August 10, 2010
By Akshan deAlwis
The Boston Globe - Passport (Massachusetts, USA)
Akshan deAlwis will be a freshman at Noble and Greenough School in the fall.
Last month, I visited Siem Reap in Cambodia, a city founded upon fable and legend, and more recently tears.
Siem Reap is home to to the majestic Angkor Temple complex. As I drove down the main road from the airport, I watched as hotel upon hotel passed my window, their lights dimly lit in the still of the night.
A large portion of Cambodia’s economy comes from tourism. But Cambodia has not always been a tourist haven. It has actually been one of the most tragic places in the world, and that legacy remains.
Cambodia was plunged into civil war for more than 20 years. A decade of genocide left more than 25,000 combatants and 2 million civilians dead and countless more disabled.
The main reason for my visit was to meet with the Angkor Association for the Disabled (AAD), a meeting arranged through a much admired family friend. At her request, I did a slide show on the rights of children with disabilities as outlined by the United Nations, which she had translated into Khmer and sent to AAD.
The day of my meeting, I woke up at dawn to see the sun rise over the Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu and later Buddhist temple in the world, built by Suryavarman II in the 12th century. It is the proud symbol of the Khmer Culture, depicted on the Cambodian flag. As I quietly tiptoed around the towering spires, the sun slowly burst into the purple sky. I held my breath, afraid to spoil the beauty of the moment.
As the light broke through the still morning, I gasped at the exquisite bas reliefs that brought to life the churning of the sea of milk by the gods and demons to create Amrita, the elixir of life.
The civil war in Cambodia began with the invasion of US and Vietnamese forces in 1969 to attack Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge forces that were using bases in Cambodia. When Saigon fell in 1975, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell to Khmer Rouge forces, who were lead by Pol Pot.
The city was evacuated, and the population was sent to the countryside to work. All things “western” were destroyed. Libraries and temples were ransacked and razed. The agricultural methods were changed to the “Traditional Cambodian Methods” of the 11th century.
In 1979, when a leftist Vietnamese-Cambodian force captured Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge began a guerilla war, laying hundreds of land mines. Although the civil war officially ended in 1993, the mines remain.
Cambodia is the third most land mined country in the world. According to UNICEF, “So common are they in Cambodia that they are now used for fishing, or as property security devices, or even to settle domestic disputes.”
According to the Asian Development Bank, close to 10 percent of the
Cambodian adult population is disabled due to malnutrition, violence, and land mines.
After breakfast, I was picked up by the Director of the AAD, Sem Sovantha who drove a car with levers because he is missing both legs.
Sem was a captain in the army, his future ahead of him, until the day he stumbled upon a “double personnel” mine filled with half a pound of TNT. Both of his legs were ripped off.
Most land mine victims are on their own, he said. No one will employ them, hospitals are already overflowing, and families cannot support them with the average annual income of $805.
Sem hit the streets, begging. But he knew that things had to change, so he put himself through school and set up the AAD. His goal is simple: to make Cambodia a better place, not through foreign intervention, but through self help.
Sem told me about the new disability law that the Cambodian government recently passed. “The law is only on paper,” he said. "This is our law and we were not consulted.''
The law aims to protect the rights of persons with disabilities and to ensure equal opportunities for persons with disabilities. It provides for accessible education, health care, and employment for persons with disabilities. The law also sets up a council to advise on the administration of the law. While the law is sweeping in its rhetoric, the terms are ambiguous and merely aspirational.
Sem said his organization would be educating police and community officials about the rights all persons with disabilities have to live in dignity and equality.
Sem showed off his group's workshop, where he and others teach peers how to make a living by playing traditional Cambodian music and making woven baskets and small wooden figures. “Work creates the first step to empowerment”, Sem told me proudly.
As the Khmer Rouge trials continue in Phnom Penh, I want those on trial and their judges to remember Sem and his peers. The two million dead are not the only victims of the genocide.
To learn more about Sem, go to his website at: http://www.angkorad.org/
“The law is only on paper ... This is our law and we were not consulted'' - Sem, a disabled veteran, on the new disability lawI was nine when I read “First They Killed my Father.” It had a profound impact on me and I wanted to learn more about both the glory that was the Khmer civilization and its more recent history of conflict.
Last month, I visited Siem Reap in Cambodia, a city founded upon fable and legend, and more recently tears.
Siem Reap is home to to the majestic Angkor Temple complex. As I drove down the main road from the airport, I watched as hotel upon hotel passed my window, their lights dimly lit in the still of the night.
A large portion of Cambodia’s economy comes from tourism. But Cambodia has not always been a tourist haven. It has actually been one of the most tragic places in the world, and that legacy remains.
Cambodia was plunged into civil war for more than 20 years. A decade of genocide left more than 25,000 combatants and 2 million civilians dead and countless more disabled.
The main reason for my visit was to meet with the Angkor Association for the Disabled (AAD), a meeting arranged through a much admired family friend. At her request, I did a slide show on the rights of children with disabilities as outlined by the United Nations, which she had translated into Khmer and sent to AAD.
The day of my meeting, I woke up at dawn to see the sun rise over the Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu and later Buddhist temple in the world, built by Suryavarman II in the 12th century. It is the proud symbol of the Khmer Culture, depicted on the Cambodian flag. As I quietly tiptoed around the towering spires, the sun slowly burst into the purple sky. I held my breath, afraid to spoil the beauty of the moment.
As the light broke through the still morning, I gasped at the exquisite bas reliefs that brought to life the churning of the sea of milk by the gods and demons to create Amrita, the elixir of life.
The civil war in Cambodia began with the invasion of US and Vietnamese forces in 1969 to attack Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge forces that were using bases in Cambodia. When Saigon fell in 1975, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell to Khmer Rouge forces, who were lead by Pol Pot.
The city was evacuated, and the population was sent to the countryside to work. All things “western” were destroyed. Libraries and temples were ransacked and razed. The agricultural methods were changed to the “Traditional Cambodian Methods” of the 11th century.
In 1979, when a leftist Vietnamese-Cambodian force captured Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge began a guerilla war, laying hundreds of land mines. Although the civil war officially ended in 1993, the mines remain.
Cambodia is the third most land mined country in the world. According to UNICEF, “So common are they in Cambodia that they are now used for fishing, or as property security devices, or even to settle domestic disputes.”
According to the Asian Development Bank, close to 10 percent of the
Cambodian adult population is disabled due to malnutrition, violence, and land mines.
After breakfast, I was picked up by the Director of the AAD, Sem Sovantha who drove a car with levers because he is missing both legs.
Sem was a captain in the army, his future ahead of him, until the day he stumbled upon a “double personnel” mine filled with half a pound of TNT. Both of his legs were ripped off.
Most land mine victims are on their own, he said. No one will employ them, hospitals are already overflowing, and families cannot support them with the average annual income of $805.
Sem hit the streets, begging. But he knew that things had to change, so he put himself through school and set up the AAD. His goal is simple: to make Cambodia a better place, not through foreign intervention, but through self help.
Sem told me about the new disability law that the Cambodian government recently passed. “The law is only on paper,” he said. "This is our law and we were not consulted.''
The law aims to protect the rights of persons with disabilities and to ensure equal opportunities for persons with disabilities. It provides for accessible education, health care, and employment for persons with disabilities. The law also sets up a council to advise on the administration of the law. While the law is sweeping in its rhetoric, the terms are ambiguous and merely aspirational.
Sem said his organization would be educating police and community officials about the rights all persons with disabilities have to live in dignity and equality.
Sem showed off his group's workshop, where he and others teach peers how to make a living by playing traditional Cambodian music and making woven baskets and small wooden figures. “Work creates the first step to empowerment”, Sem told me proudly.
As the Khmer Rouge trials continue in Phnom Penh, I want those on trial and their judges to remember Sem and his peers. The two million dead are not the only victims of the genocide.
To learn more about Sem, go to his website at: http://www.angkorad.org/
Thursday, July 15, 2010
5 representatives of land protesters arrested
Report by Tin Zakariya, Radio Free Asia
Video by Uon Chhin and Tin Zakariya
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
They got maimed fighting for a regime that took away their homes and lands, and abandoned them to begging in the street
Beggars near the National Museum in this 22 October 1999 file photo (Photo: RFA)Disabled war veterans are becoming beggars in drove
10 Feb 2009
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer
Along various Phnom Penh city restaurants and sidewalks, a large number of handicapped people can be seen begging for money from Cambodians and foreigners. Among these handicap people, some of them are disabled war veterans.
Sophorn: How did you become disabled?
Beggar: I fought against the Khmer Rouge in Battambang. When I lost my legs, I went to protest because they took away my house and my land.
A number of disabled war veterans who are begging along the streets in Phnom Penh have expressed their displeasure, claiming that they were disabled in the frontline and, on top of that, they lost all their homes and farmlands. This is the reason why they have to beg for a living.
A 50-year-old blind man who also lost his legs, accompanied by his 7-year-old daughter, is begging along the sidewalk in Phsar Thmei market. He told RFA that in 1985, he became disabled when he was fighting the KR in Svay Sisophon (Sereysophorn) in Banteay Meanchey province. He then had to sell all his farmlands in Kampong Thom province to get medical care and to buy rice to eat: “I was a soldier, a soldier under the Heng Samrin regime. I was fighting in Svay Sisophon, during the fight with the KR, I stepped on a landmine.”
Another disabled man with only one leg is sitting on a wheelchair, begging for money in front of a restaurant along the (Tonle Sap) river bank. He said that he used to own a house in Russey Keo commune, Phnom Penh city, but after he was disabled during a fighting with the KR in 1987, he had to sell his house for his family needs. He then became a renter, and finally he had to beg everywhere just to feed his family: “I sold my house for 300 (dollars?) only so I can take care of my health, I received some help, I had to borrow money. I met with all sort of problems, I don’t have enough to eat. If I had enough to eat, I wouldn’t have to beg like this, I used to study agriculture in the army, but now I don’t own any farmland.”
Sim, a 45-year-old man with only one leg and one hand, is begging near Wat Phnom Park, is very displeased with the government. He claimed that in 1988, he was forced to join a special army unit to fight against the KR. Following his injuries, the government never took care or worried about his situation. Furthermore, the local authority in Snuol, Kratie province, his birthplace, confiscated all his farmlands. The situation turned him into a beggar to survive: “Disabled soldiers during my time, they confiscated everything from us, they used guns to point at us (to confiscate our belonging). I want to tell you the whole thing. The government should look into this situation, especially the country leaders. They should see that when they needed us, they took us away, but now that we are disabled, we have to sleep in the street.”
The Russey Keo district deputy governor indicated that in his district, there are 430 disabled war veterans, this includes both those who have a housing and those who do not.
Regarding the number of homeless and landless beggars on the street, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said that the situation is due to government corruption. Therefore, national budget for veterans does not actually reach actual veterans and disabled veterans, and in fact, lists of veteran names were sold out instead (to touch their pension).
He added: “We must account for all these disabled veterans, reorganize the statistics, organize centers and a system to guarantee a decent and honorable living condition for them because they served the country, they defended the nation before they were disabled. They should receive an honorable life. Therefore, we must maintain a good administration for these tens of thousands (disabled war veterans), we shouldn’t abandon all these disabled veterans as (the government) is currently doing.”
Sem Sokha, the under secretary of state for veterans social welfare, said that the government had built some housing for them in Kampong Speu province, and the government is planning to add some more: “There’s a plan to provide $1 million, or to build [more housing?] in Siem Reap province. [The government] ordered the ministry of [veterans] welfare to look for lands to build centers or housing for disabled veterans in all provinces. There is also a number of organizations that provide help for these disabled people.”
He also added: “From what I know, each army unit has a number (assigned to each veteran). This means that the lists of names from their units were transferred to the welfare department. There is a veteran department, and war veterans also have associations. Right now, Samdach Hun Sen is the president of the association of war veterans, so it is easy to contact the department. Furthermore, disabled veterans in each province should contact the veteran welfare department in their province, because they have branches there already.”
According Chiv Lim, the chairman of the information program for disabled veterans from landmines in Cambodia which operates under the Cambodian Red Cross, there are 2,705 disabled war veterans in the entire country. According to the statistics, the number of registered soldiers in Cambodia is 130,000.
Sophorn: How did you become disabled?
Beggar: I fought against the Khmer Rouge in Battambang. When I lost my legs, I went to protest because they took away my house and my land.
A number of disabled war veterans who are begging along the streets in Phnom Penh have expressed their displeasure, claiming that they were disabled in the frontline and, on top of that, they lost all their homes and farmlands. This is the reason why they have to beg for a living.
A 50-year-old blind man who also lost his legs, accompanied by his 7-year-old daughter, is begging along the sidewalk in Phsar Thmei market. He told RFA that in 1985, he became disabled when he was fighting the KR in Svay Sisophon (Sereysophorn) in Banteay Meanchey province. He then had to sell all his farmlands in Kampong Thom province to get medical care and to buy rice to eat: “I was a soldier, a soldier under the Heng Samrin regime. I was fighting in Svay Sisophon, during the fight with the KR, I stepped on a landmine.”
Another disabled man with only one leg is sitting on a wheelchair, begging for money in front of a restaurant along the (Tonle Sap) river bank. He said that he used to own a house in Russey Keo commune, Phnom Penh city, but after he was disabled during a fighting with the KR in 1987, he had to sell his house for his family needs. He then became a renter, and finally he had to beg everywhere just to feed his family: “I sold my house for 300 (dollars?) only so I can take care of my health, I received some help, I had to borrow money. I met with all sort of problems, I don’t have enough to eat. If I had enough to eat, I wouldn’t have to beg like this, I used to study agriculture in the army, but now I don’t own any farmland.”
Sim, a 45-year-old man with only one leg and one hand, is begging near Wat Phnom Park, is very displeased with the government. He claimed that in 1988, he was forced to join a special army unit to fight against the KR. Following his injuries, the government never took care or worried about his situation. Furthermore, the local authority in Snuol, Kratie province, his birthplace, confiscated all his farmlands. The situation turned him into a beggar to survive: “Disabled soldiers during my time, they confiscated everything from us, they used guns to point at us (to confiscate our belonging). I want to tell you the whole thing. The government should look into this situation, especially the country leaders. They should see that when they needed us, they took us away, but now that we are disabled, we have to sleep in the street.”
The Russey Keo district deputy governor indicated that in his district, there are 430 disabled war veterans, this includes both those who have a housing and those who do not.
Regarding the number of homeless and landless beggars on the street, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said that the situation is due to government corruption. Therefore, national budget for veterans does not actually reach actual veterans and disabled veterans, and in fact, lists of veteran names were sold out instead (to touch their pension).
He added: “We must account for all these disabled veterans, reorganize the statistics, organize centers and a system to guarantee a decent and honorable living condition for them because they served the country, they defended the nation before they were disabled. They should receive an honorable life. Therefore, we must maintain a good administration for these tens of thousands (disabled war veterans), we shouldn’t abandon all these disabled veterans as (the government) is currently doing.”
Sem Sokha, the under secretary of state for veterans social welfare, said that the government had built some housing for them in Kampong Speu province, and the government is planning to add some more: “There’s a plan to provide $1 million, or to build [more housing?] in Siem Reap province. [The government] ordered the ministry of [veterans] welfare to look for lands to build centers or housing for disabled veterans in all provinces. There is also a number of organizations that provide help for these disabled people.”
He also added: “From what I know, each army unit has a number (assigned to each veteran). This means that the lists of names from their units were transferred to the welfare department. There is a veteran department, and war veterans also have associations. Right now, Samdach Hun Sen is the president of the association of war veterans, so it is easy to contact the department. Furthermore, disabled veterans in each province should contact the veteran welfare department in their province, because they have branches there already.”
According Chiv Lim, the chairman of the information program for disabled veterans from landmines in Cambodia which operates under the Cambodian Red Cross, there are 2,705 disabled war veterans in the entire country. According to the statistics, the number of registered soldiers in Cambodia is 130,000.
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