Is It Time For NGOs and Foreign Donors To Get Off a 30 Year Long Cambodian Merry-Go-Round Ride?
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
Cambodian Anti-Corruption-Law
A Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) spokesman said in an article published by The Phnom Penh Post on May 21st, 2009 while addressing a 15 year long wait for the adoption of an Anti-Corruption-Law for Cambodia, "Even though the law is being worked on, a finalization date is ‘unclear’ due to a number of obstacles."
On May 20th, 2009, civil society groups called on the government and the National Assembly to speed up passage of the draft Anti-Corruption Law, whose progress was described by Anti-Corruption campaigner Sek Borisoth as the slowest moving legislation he has seen. Borisoth, the program director of anti-corruption NGO PACT, said corruption was a pervasive problem, and politicians had first discussed the need for an anti-corruption law in 1994.
The initial draft Anti-Corruption Law came out in 2003 but remains to be adopted by the National Assembly. "We continue to insist that the law on anti-corruption be finalized and approved soon," he said at a press conference on May 20 marking the first anniversary of a campaign that collected more than 1 million thumbprints and signatures demanding the law's passage.
"We are upset that we have seen no progress whatsoever in the year since we handed over the petition given by eligible Cambodian voters to representatives of the National Assembly to confirm their willingness and demand for the passage of the law on anti-corruption."
READ MORE HERE
Cambodian Human Rights
Meanwhile, in an article that appeared on Ka-set.info published on April 24th 2009, The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) announced the drafting by a coalition of NGOs – coordinated by the Alliance for Freedom of Expression in Cambodia (AFEC) and assisted by the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC) of a joint submission on freedom of expression and assembly in Cambodia to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, for inclusion for the purposes of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Cambodia’s Human Rights record.
Those organizations wish their recommendations to be included in the document’s summary concerning the situation of Human Rights in Cambodia. The submission, summed up in a communiqué released by the AHRC, shows that the last four years have seen freedom of expression and assembly in Cambodia “seriously undermined”, with opinion restricted, parliamentarians silenced, the media controlled, access to information blocked, and assembly and public demonstration prevented, the organization details. Those NGOs elaborated a series of recommendations in their submission: inviting the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression to visit and assess the situation in Cambodia, working with other ASEAN member states to create an ASEAN Human Rights body in 2009, and decriminalize disinformation in the course of reforming the Criminal Law.
Cambodian Government Addresses NGO's
According to an article written by Andrew Nette that appeared online at IPSNEWS.NET on April 24th 2009, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a five-hour speech September, 2008, "NGOs are out of control...they insult the government just to ensure their financial survival."
Mr. Hun Sen said that new laws are needed to curb NGO activity, as "he feared terrorists might settle in the kingdom under the guise of NGOs."
Said Naly Pilorge, director of the prominent local human rights organization Licadho, "Here, with the weak judiciary and lawlessness that we have, we don’t see any benefit from an NGO law."
ADHOC president Thun Saray remarked, "We agree that terrorism is an important issue but the government should deal with it by other laws, not through an NGO law. They don’t care about financial management or governance structure what they want to do is control the voice of NGOs." he said, echoing the opinion of many in the sector.
Many believe the law will squeeze democratic space in Cambodia, a trend some say is already underway post the July election, which left the opposition weakened and the ruling CPP in control of both houses of parliament.
"After the election it does appear that the space is narrowing," said one observer who declined to be named. "There is the expectation civil society should be a check and balance but this is under retreat."
Cambodia dropped 41 places on the 2008 Paris-based Reporters Without Borders press freedom index for 2008 compared to the previous year. This was based on factors such as murders, imprisonment and physical attacks on journalists, threats and censorship.
While I don't know much about terrorists, I know that taxpayers in the Western World are terrorized every year when they see their tax bills and then realize that Cambodia has received 30 billion USD during the last 30 years from foreign donors, with 900 million flooding in this year alone!
Will NGOs Leave The Country?
Mr. Hun Sen should ban foreign NGOs altogether if only to save us from ourselves. Entities such as Nobel Peace Prize winners Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontières / MSF) are leaving the country at the end of July, 2009 but others should do the same including:
The World Food Program who at one point fed 700,000 Cambodians a day.
Pour un sourire d’Enfant, (Association “For a child’s smile”) that has helped 5000 Stung Meanchey dump children living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia attend school during the past 10 years while providing a free breakfast program for the landfill workers.
William Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative who negotiates lower prices for antiretrovirals (ARV) such as lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine used to treat HIV positive Cambodians
American Assistance For Cambodia, a NGO that has built dozens of schools for Cambodian children and developed the "Skip A Meal And Save A Cambodian Child" program.
World Vision, an international Christian relief and development organization working to promote the well-being of all Cambodian people, especially children.
Even a woman from Holland who built a school for 250 HIV positive orphans should be banned.
Cambodian Constitution: Upholding The Cambodian Constitution Is Not Foreign Donors Job
Mr. Hun Sen has read the Cambodian Constitution, he respects women’s rights, environmental protection, human rights, economic development, political rights and health care, and he doesn't need foreign donors to give him money or help his government develop any more programs.
The people of Cambodia were accustomed to having been an outstanding civilization, a prosperous, large, flourishing and glorious nation, with high prestige radiating like a diamond long before NGOs started telling them what to do.
Mr. Hun Sen is the man in charge of restoring Cambodia to an "Island of Peace" based on a multi-party liberal democracy and he knows how to do it without anyone's help.
NGOs and FOREIGN DONORS….PLEASE LEAVE HIM ALONE and put your next 30 billion dollars elsewhere. I hear Somalia is beautiful this time of year.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
Cambodian Anti-Corruption-Law
A Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) spokesman said in an article published by The Phnom Penh Post on May 21st, 2009 while addressing a 15 year long wait for the adoption of an Anti-Corruption-Law for Cambodia, "Even though the law is being worked on, a finalization date is ‘unclear’ due to a number of obstacles."
On May 20th, 2009, civil society groups called on the government and the National Assembly to speed up passage of the draft Anti-Corruption Law, whose progress was described by Anti-Corruption campaigner Sek Borisoth as the slowest moving legislation he has seen. Borisoth, the program director of anti-corruption NGO PACT, said corruption was a pervasive problem, and politicians had first discussed the need for an anti-corruption law in 1994.
The initial draft Anti-Corruption Law came out in 2003 but remains to be adopted by the National Assembly. "We continue to insist that the law on anti-corruption be finalized and approved soon," he said at a press conference on May 20 marking the first anniversary of a campaign that collected more than 1 million thumbprints and signatures demanding the law's passage.
"We are upset that we have seen no progress whatsoever in the year since we handed over the petition given by eligible Cambodian voters to representatives of the National Assembly to confirm their willingness and demand for the passage of the law on anti-corruption."
READ MORE HERE
Cambodian Human Rights
Meanwhile, in an article that appeared on Ka-set.info published on April 24th 2009, The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) announced the drafting by a coalition of NGOs – coordinated by the Alliance for Freedom of Expression in Cambodia (AFEC) and assisted by the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC) of a joint submission on freedom of expression and assembly in Cambodia to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, for inclusion for the purposes of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Cambodia’s Human Rights record.
Those organizations wish their recommendations to be included in the document’s summary concerning the situation of Human Rights in Cambodia. The submission, summed up in a communiqué released by the AHRC, shows that the last four years have seen freedom of expression and assembly in Cambodia “seriously undermined”, with opinion restricted, parliamentarians silenced, the media controlled, access to information blocked, and assembly and public demonstration prevented, the organization details. Those NGOs elaborated a series of recommendations in their submission: inviting the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression to visit and assess the situation in Cambodia, working with other ASEAN member states to create an ASEAN Human Rights body in 2009, and decriminalize disinformation in the course of reforming the Criminal Law.
Cambodian Government Addresses NGO's
According to an article written by Andrew Nette that appeared online at IPSNEWS.NET on April 24th 2009, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a five-hour speech September, 2008, "NGOs are out of control...they insult the government just to ensure their financial survival."
Mr. Hun Sen said that new laws are needed to curb NGO activity, as "he feared terrorists might settle in the kingdom under the guise of NGOs."
Said Naly Pilorge, director of the prominent local human rights organization Licadho, "Here, with the weak judiciary and lawlessness that we have, we don’t see any benefit from an NGO law."
ADHOC president Thun Saray remarked, "We agree that terrorism is an important issue but the government should deal with it by other laws, not through an NGO law. They don’t care about financial management or governance structure what they want to do is control the voice of NGOs." he said, echoing the opinion of many in the sector.
Many believe the law will squeeze democratic space in Cambodia, a trend some say is already underway post the July election, which left the opposition weakened and the ruling CPP in control of both houses of parliament.
"After the election it does appear that the space is narrowing," said one observer who declined to be named. "There is the expectation civil society should be a check and balance but this is under retreat."
Cambodia dropped 41 places on the 2008 Paris-based Reporters Without Borders press freedom index for 2008 compared to the previous year. This was based on factors such as murders, imprisonment and physical attacks on journalists, threats and censorship.
While I don't know much about terrorists, I know that taxpayers in the Western World are terrorized every year when they see their tax bills and then realize that Cambodia has received 30 billion USD during the last 30 years from foreign donors, with 900 million flooding in this year alone!
Will NGOs Leave The Country?
Mr. Hun Sen should ban foreign NGOs altogether if only to save us from ourselves. Entities such as Nobel Peace Prize winners Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontières / MSF) are leaving the country at the end of July, 2009 but others should do the same including:
The World Food Program who at one point fed 700,000 Cambodians a day.
Pour un sourire d’Enfant, (Association “For a child’s smile”) that has helped 5000 Stung Meanchey dump children living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia attend school during the past 10 years while providing a free breakfast program for the landfill workers.
William Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative who negotiates lower prices for antiretrovirals (ARV) such as lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine used to treat HIV positive Cambodians
American Assistance For Cambodia, a NGO that has built dozens of schools for Cambodian children and developed the "Skip A Meal And Save A Cambodian Child" program.
World Vision, an international Christian relief and development organization working to promote the well-being of all Cambodian people, especially children.
Even a woman from Holland who built a school for 250 HIV positive orphans should be banned.
Cambodian Constitution: Upholding The Cambodian Constitution Is Not Foreign Donors Job
Mr. Hun Sen has read the Cambodian Constitution, he respects women’s rights, environmental protection, human rights, economic development, political rights and health care, and he doesn't need foreign donors to give him money or help his government develop any more programs.
The people of Cambodia were accustomed to having been an outstanding civilization, a prosperous, large, flourishing and glorious nation, with high prestige radiating like a diamond long before NGOs started telling them what to do.
Mr. Hun Sen is the man in charge of restoring Cambodia to an "Island of Peace" based on a multi-party liberal democracy and he knows how to do it without anyone's help.
NGOs and FOREIGN DONORS….PLEASE LEAVE HIM ALONE and put your next 30 billion dollars elsewhere. I hear Somalia is beautiful this time of year.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
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