German court considers that a woman's life is less important than her husband's right to beat her

This story, which has been around since March, is despicable. What is worse is that this happened in Europe in 2007. I am disgusted.

The crux case centres on a woman called Nishal, a 26-year-old Moroccan immigrant to Germany with two kids and a psychotic husband. Since their wedding night, this husband beat the hell out of her. She crawled to the police covered in wounds, and they ordered the husband to stay away from her. He refused. He terrorised her with death threats.

So Nishal went to the courts to request an early divorce, hoping that once they were no longer married he would leave her alone. A judge who believed in the rights of women would find it very easy to make a judgement: you're free from this man, case dismissed.

But Judge Christa Datz-Winter followed the logic of multiculturalism instead. She said she would not grant an early divorce because - despite the police documentation of extreme violence and continued threats - there was no "unreasonable hardship" here.

Why? Because the woman, as a Muslim, should have "expected" it, the judge explained. She read out passages from the Koran to show that Muslim husbands have the "right to use corporal punishment". Look at Sura 4, verse 34, she said to Nishal, where the Koran says he can hammer you. That's your culture. Goodbye, and enjoy your beatings.

It is one thing to accept multiculturalism but it is quite another to refuse to grant a divorce to an abused spouse. The German legal system is basically telling this woman to suck it up and deal and that her life is less important than her husband's right to beat her. That is certainly not the multiculturism I envision.

Germany and all European countries have fundamental choices to make with regard to their legal systems if they choose to embrace this perverted vision of multiculturism. How will the law be applied? Does this embrace of multiculturism extend to murder, mutilation, FGM, stoning, child abuse, or rape? Does it relate only to women or will the German authorities step in if a man is to have his hand chopped off for stealing or hanging for possession of drugs. This is a very dangerous road.

If a woman is fleeing from abuse, rape, FGM, mutilation or stoning is she not entitled to protection by the police. Will she have to seek asylum in another country? How has the situation got so bad that a woman has no protection against violence in a modern developed country like Germany?

The end of the affair?

The Cambodian Bar Association has decided to cede to the demands of the international community in Cambodia and abroad. It will reduce foreign lawyers fees from $4 900 to $500. The money is a flat registration fee for a foreign lawyer to practise in a Cambodian court. Of course the wrangling, head butting and mudslinging of the past month could have been avoided if the president of the Bar Association had been prepared to negotiate. Curiously although vocal prior to the reduction in fees, Ky Tech has made no statement to date.

Now the ECCC can hold the plenary session to adopt the internal rules and basically get the show on the road.

Previous posts on this issue - hopefully the fee issue is resolved now

That clinking clanking sound
KR tribunal and international fees
Delays in court
Tribunal update

Take back the blog

I'm a little late to the party but I'm here at last. Take back the blog is about supporting the rights of women to blog without fear of harassment, intimidation, stalking and violence. Online harassment of women has happened time and time and time again. Check this out for additional posts and stories.

Chris Clarke has a great post about online behaviour at Pandagon. He's been experimenting with female handles as research for his article. Definitely recommended reading

Within five minutes of logging on I had sexually abusive IMs popping up from men I didn’t know. Didn’t matter which room I was in: general chat, politics, classical music. I kept up the experiment for I think four days, a couple hours a day, sometimes chatting with people about non-sexual topics, sometimes just lurking.

Online stalking happens. It's not a myth. Wrap it up now people.

EDIT: Check out the front page of the Washington Post. Thanks to Jinja for the heads up.

Equality and development

Yesterday I met up with K for dinner and drinks. We stumbled on to the topic of feminism as I’ve been reading some great books and have been thinking about my brand of feminism. An additional reason is that I’m at odds with a friend of hers who spouts misogynist crap whenever he opens he mouth. K’s not worried about that because after all he’s only 21, he’ll get more tolerant when he’s older. Of course K, he’ll stop stalking women that have told him never. He’ll stop choosing interns based on his desire to fuck them. Sure he will.

Anyway K told me weeks ago that she is not a feminist. It seems like people have the weirdest ideas about what it is to be a feminist. You do not have to be “fat, ugly, lesbian, man-hating, shrewish, whorish, or frigid” to be a feminist. I’d direct to K to Feminism 101 but her work has blocked access to blogs.

It is surprising because K is the embodiment of an independent woman. She has worked in harsh conditions throughout the developing world. She had repeatedly chosen her career over her relationships. She demands equality in all things but says she is not a feminist because we have already achieved gender equality. I disagree.

Anyway we spent a good three hours discussing the matter and we went back 300 years and across continents in our arguments.

It is difficult to see progress in Cambodia with regard to gender relations. Not a single day passes without a newspaper article detailing the vicious rape and murder of girls and women. I could blog them every day but I’m not sure that does any good. Perhaps equality comes with development. K rejects that idea not because of equality but because of “development”. She is of the opinion that the western model of development should not be imposed upon developing countries because it is our model and not home grown. That sentiment is all very well but unless someone has an alternative suggestion, the western model will be the default. I am not saying I support this but alternative solutions must be available before one model is abandoned.

An analogy of this idea is that of the production of coca (made into cocaine) and alternative development. In Colombia, farmers farmed coca and the government sprayed it with mycoherbicides on the orders of the US. As an alternative the government promised seeds and financial support to those farmers who agreed to destroy their crops. The farmers did and they waited for the promised support. And they waited and they waited and they starved and some died from mycoherbicide poisoning. Eventually half of what was promised arrived months too late. And that is a problem

Everything must be in place before action is taken. If you want an alternative development strategy not related to the western model, it must be fully mapped out. Does gender equality come with development. Many developing countries cultures are rooted in inequality. How can a society treat citizens equally when a woman cannot hand something directly to a monk? She has to place the object on a surface or hand it to a man before the monk can touch it. What about the 14 year girl who is the prettiest in her family and so is sent to Phnom Penh to prostitute herself for the good of her family? It is difficult enough to define all but the most cut and dried of rape cases in the west but here theirs is virtually no concept of it. Good girls get married and accept their husband’s brothel visits. Bad girls deserve what they get.

We argued back and forth development, equality and feminism and the relationship between the three elements. Of course we didn’t solve any problems and the more we talked, the more the problems seemed insurmountable. If nothing else then we can take every opportunity to point out the inequality we see.

And after our discussion, I think K might reconsider her attitude to the feminist/not feminist position.

Enlightened self-interest?

Eddie Bauer. Liz Claiborne. Phillips-Van Heusen. H&M. You know these top manufacturers? You recognise the names? Their profit margins? You probably own their garments. They are fairly global brands - Eddie Bauer ($ 410.28 million gross profit in 2006), Liz Claiborne ($2,387.47 million gross profit in 2006), Phillips-Van Heusen ($ 1,029.86 million gross profit in 2006) and H&M (whose profit margins do not appear on Google Finance).

Several international clothing manufacturers have demanded Cambodia to investigate the recent murder of a top labour leader, saying swift justice was key to their continued presence in the country's key garment sector.

The manufacturers were reacting to the February assassination of union boss Hu Vuthy, who was the third top labour leader killed since 2004 amid an escalation of attacks against workers' rights advocates.

"The recent death of Hu Vuthy has been brought to our attention. ... It is of upmost importance to us as buyers that rule of law be swift, just and transparent," said the letter, which was addressed to Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior government officials. (Source: AFP)

I'm fairly ambivalent about this action. On the one hand, the protests of garment factory owners, especially multinationals might be the only practical pressure that the PM might bow to. He is famous for blowing off the donor governments, the UN, the opposition etc etc. But the garment factories are so necessary to keep Cambodia afloat, that the multinationals do have power. There are two men in prison for the murder of Chea Vichea that are known to be not guilty. His murder was political and requires a full investigation. Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun need to be released.

The letter went on to call for an international committee to be formed to investigate the deaths of Hu Vuthy and labour organiser Ros Sovannareth, as well as the 2004 killing of Chea Vichea, who was president of Cambodia's largest union. (Source: AFP)

Perhaps the multinationals sent the letter to the PM to demonstrate their enlightened self-interest and drum up some PR. The letter would also have the effect of reminding the government of their obligations towards their business partners and the economy to a lesser extent. The corps are after a stable business environment and PR is always good for business.

On the other hand, Cambodian garment factory workers get an average of $50 in salary a month. They work long hours in cramped conditions. They are young women who are supporting extended families in the provinces. They have work and are grateful for it but the conditions are foul. In addition, the corporate watchdog Corp Watch features some of these multinationals in human rights abuses articles.

It is necessary that some entity has leverage over the government. It is good that the corps do and choose to exercise that leverage for the good of the country. However, I question their motives and some of their human rights records.

Language - the latest casualty of dumbing down our education system

I don't mean to shock anyone but I think it's time for a War on Grammar and Spelling and by that I mean bad grammar and bad spelling. Text talk - Lik 4get bo 4eva + myb l8r 2moro i cu - is getting out of control and will destroy Western civilisation as we know it.

Quoting Hamlet ends up being "2b r nt 2b?" But what is even more scary is that university students are not writing "to be or not to be" they are text-message writing.

According to the Irish State Examination Commission

Text messaging, with its use of phonetic spelling and little or no punctuation, seems to pose a threat to traditional conventions in writing. The report laments that, in many cases, candidates seemed "unduly reliant on short sentences, simple tenses and a limited vocabulary."

Well no shit Sherlock. Text talk has infiltrated our lives. I hated "niteclub" back in the day. It is no wonder that students in university are illiterate despite a tolerable education system. However bad it is in Ireland, I cringe at the latest from the UK, which is the brain fart of a university professor. The Indo has this:

The project will send text message quotations and plot summaries of seven works, from Milton's Paradise Lost to William Golding's Lord of the Flies, to mobile phones to act as an aide-memoire for undergraduates.

The mobile phone company behind the scheme yesterday denied it was guilty of a poetry-crushing gimmick. Instead, Dot mobile, a service for students, pointed out that its messages were devised by the media-savvy academic, John Sutherland, emeritus professor of modern English literature at University College London.

Shame sir! How do you expect student to get a first class honours degree in English if they summarise the plot for Pride and Prejudice as follows

5SistrsWntngHsbnds.NwMenInTwn-Bingly&Darcy Fit&Loadd.BigSisJaneFals4B,2ndSisLizH8sDCozHesProud. SlimySoljrWikamSysDHsShadyPast. TrnsOutHesActulyARlyNysGuy&RlyFancysLiz. SheDecydsSheLyksHim.Evry1GtsMaryd

I abhor text talk. It disgusts me to read it and I don't care that that makes me horribly conservative. Correct grammar and spelling are necessary for a good job. Besides the point of reading works of literature is to revel in the words, wrap yourself in the sensuality of language, engage with simile, metaphor and onomatopoeia.

Shakespeare is not a "whodunit" or "romance". It is not about finding out that the prince is power mad and wants the throne or that Romeo loved her from the moment he saw her. Those are elements to literature but it is more than the some of its parts. Language itself is a character, who is slowly being killed off by a villain that favours brevity.

A new planet

BBC are talking about our neighbours, living on Gliese 581, should we call them the Glieseans? Will they call us Earthers, Earthlings or Terrans maybe?

It's 20 light-years away and so we won't be going there anytime soon, but with new kinds of propulsion technology that could change in the future. And obviously we'll be training some powerful telescopes on it to see what we can see.

Right you rocket scientists over to you. It's about time we had warp factor, hyperspace or jumpgates to explore the galaxy. It can't be too complicated - Hollywood's been doing it for year - Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Firefly, and you are rocket scientists, reputed to have the brains and bright ideas.

Of course nobody knows if there is life out there but if we get there first maybe we can find a new planet now that we've completely destroyed Earth. Think of it, we could start whole new wars and have an excuse to develop new weapons!

Seriously though, remember to

Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.
- Monty Python - Galaxy song

Filing

Why is it impossible for a geek to invent a logical content management system? All the tech I've seen is for internet publishing. There has to be something better than

Folder -> subfolder 1a -> subfolder 2 -> subfolder 3 -> ad nauseum

I like the open source content management systems that are out there but I need tweaks. Maybe there's a whole corner of the net dealing with all the sort of programme I'm after but I ain't seen it.

When will there be the equivalent of Del.icio.us for file organisation? Sometimes I wonder why people buy software when the best stuff is open source. Unfortunately open source follows the most coveted stuff.

I just want a logical filing system.

Earth Day 2007

The blogosphere is banging on about Earth Day, which apparently was yesterday, so I am a little late and not a little surprised. I was under the impression that Earth Day was at the spring equinox - in March. But event that promotes awareness of the continued deterioration of the environment is a good thing in my book.

A few examples of this FUBAR

Very little arctic thick sea ice replenished in 2005

Sudden sea level surges threaten 1 billion

China says that global warming threatens development

World must invest now to counter impact of extreme weather from global warming

Small farmers hit by changes in the climate

Extreme weather threatens over one million people

UNFCCC Executive Secretary says significant funds needed to adapt to climate change impacts

We've all seen An inconvenient truth. Global warming is a threat to the Earth and the unkindest cut of all is that it effects the developing world most severely. Citizens of the developing world have to deal with global warming on a daily basis - famine, drought and flooding.

Save the planet

No more limbo?

The current review of limbo began in 2004, when Pope John Paul II asked the commission to come up with "a more coherent and enlightened way" of describing the fate of innocent babes. (Source)

Pope Benedict, in his infallibility, has declared that limbo has never been a definitive truth of the faith. A document, "The hope of salvation for infants who die without being baptised" has been published to support the abolishment of limbo.

It said the study was made all the more pressing because "the number of nonbaptised infants has grown considerably, and therefore the reflection on the possibility of salvation for these infants has become urgent". (Source)

That is very interesting, but it appears to only apply to children that have died before baptism. Where are the souls of the virtuous pagans now that limbo is gone?

And entering led me with him on the bounds
Of the first circle, that surrounds the abyss.
Here, as mine ear could note, no plaint was heard
Except of sighs, that made the eternal air
Tremble, not caused by tortures, but from grief
Felt by those multitudes, many and vast,
Of men, women, and infants. Then to me
The gentle guide: "Inquir'st thou not what spirits
Are these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass
Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin
Were blameless; and if aught they merited,
It profits not, since baptism was not theirs,
The portal to thy faith. If they before
The Gospel lived, they served not God aright;
And among such am I. For these defects,
And for no other evil, we are lost;
Only so far afflicted, that we live
Desiring without hope." So grief assailed
My heart at hearing this, for well I knew
Suspended in that Limbo many a soul
Of mighty worth.
- Dante's Inferno, Canto IV

Does limbo still exist for Virgil, Dante's guide in the nine circles of hell? The idea of the virtuous pagans needs to be addressed. It is hardly fair to exclude a soul from heaven solely based on the knowledge that was available at the time of their birth. They, like the infants, were not baptised and so cannot enter heaven. Do they spend eternity in purgatory perhaps?

It's a good day to be Hok Lundy

It really pays to be a top level official in most countries. You can get away with murder, trafficking in drugs and people, conspiring to attack a peaceful demonstration by the opposition.

One of the foremost human rights organisations in the world can claim that you represent the absolute worst that Cambodia has to offer and should never have been given a U.S. visa. Through all this your government will defend you against unacceptable, groundless, baseless allegations that tarnish the reputation of the national police chief and the police force.

Your crimes do not seem to matter, what is important is your reputation and presumably your "good name". Is this another indication of face saving or simply a "protect our own" thing? For the FBI, it is clearly an expediency issue. Despite the outcry of human rights and other groups the so-called "War on terror" is trampling on human rights worldwide by supporting and funding those in power, guilty of human rights abuses.

Update on dangerous supersition

Warning: graphic details ahead

So the police have not yet arrested anyone in connection to the murder and evisceration of the young pregnant girl in Battambang. Some more facts have come to light however the two major newspapers in Phnom Penh don't seem to agree on the details.

According to the Cambodge Soir, the girl was twelve, not thirteen, and her family gave the police the name of the perperator. Apparently the victim and perperator's families were close before the murder but the victim's family have moved now for fear of other attacks.

According to the Cambodia Daily, she was raped and in addition to her fetus, her attacker also cut out her internal organs - liver and gallbladder. Her intestines were found outside her body. It also turns out that the victim's brother in law, Leang Lonh, was the one to find her. He then fled the area and hasn't been heard of since.

The Phnom Penh Post may also cover this crime, but it's not out until tomorrow. Despite the fudging of details in the cited newspapers (one is more reputable than the other!), this is truly a horrific crime and here there doesn't appear to be much outrage. If this happened in another country, the hype would be considerable. I wonder why there is no discussion of the crime at all. It could be a combination of lack of literacy, fear, no shock factor, or superstition.

Disgustingly enough, this is not the first time organ theft has occurred in the same area. Two years ago, a man was killed and his liver stolen, presumed eaten. Yes eaten. Under the Khmer Rouge, it was not uncommon to eat fried human liver. Apparently it contains special powers.

Which brings us to cannibalism. Cannibalism is practiced culturally, by necessity or by the mentally unstable. It could and has been argued that eating a human liver under the Khmer Rouge was motivated by extreme hunger and was a question of survival, as well as ritual.

Neil Davis reported that Khmer (Cambodian) troops ritually ate portions of the slain enemy, typically the liver. However he, and many refugees, also report that cannibalism was practised non-ritually when there was no food to be found. This usually occurred when towns and villages were under Khmer Rouge control, and food was strictly rationed, leading to widespread starvation. Any civilian caught participating in cannibalism would have been immediately executed. Source

However, although the vast majority of those in rural Cambodia are living in extreme poverty, I doubt that, if the perpetrator stole the girl's organs to consume, that it is due to famine. This whole story is disturbing. Perhaps the police will catch the criminal in the days to come and the newspapers can devote another three inches to this horrific crime.

Human trafficking charges disappear!

It is well known by many in Cambodia that some police are involved in human trafficking. Some have been known to kidnap and return underage girls whom NGOs have rescued from brothels.

The chief of police Hok Lundy was denied a visa to the US last year because of rumours of his involvement in human trafficking. This year things are different. This year he supports the establishment of a permanent FBI office in Cambodia for counter terrorism.

In February 2006, the State Department’s human trafficking office specifically cited Lundy’s alleged involvement in human trafficking as grounds for denying him a visa. That decision was linked to a brothel raid in December 2004, following which Lundy reportedly ordered the release within hours of several traffickers before an investigation could be conducted.

State Department officials confirmed today that Lundy has been invited to the FBI specifically because of his purported cooperation in counterterrorism efforts. Source

This year he has been granted a visa despite his appalling human rights record. In fact according to HRW,

Aside from his boss, Prime Minister Hun Sen, there is hardly anyone in Cambodia who has shown more contempt for the rule of law than Hok Lundy.

So is he involved in trafficking or have certain parties decided to overlook such trifling matters to focus on the "War on terror (sic)"?

Dangerous superstition

There was a gruesome story in last Thursday's "Cambodia Daily". A thirteen year old girl was murdered and disemboweled in Battambang province. She had been missing for five days. She was pregnant and her fetus was cut from her body.

Shockingly it is not unheard of to remove a fetus from a pregnant woman because it is believed that an amulet made from an unborn fetus can protect the owner and help him see into the future.

Obviously there are multiple issues here - a pregnant thirteen year old, her murder and evisceration, and the mistaken belief in the magically properties of an unborn fetus. The story only merits a small column in the newspaper because the rape, assault and murder of girls and women is commonplace. What is more unusual is the part the fetus plays. That is not as common as murder.

... this strong superstition will outweigh all morals. Recently a smalltime young criminal was arrested after trying to cut his pregnant girlfriend's fetus out of her womb. She struggled and escaped, probably saving both her own and her unborn child's life. To local police investigating the crime afterwards, his motive was obvious. The man had not wanted a child. He wanted a talisman to help him improve his criminal skills, and he had deliberately impregnated a young woman claiming he loved her to achieve that. Source

The casual disregard for women's lives is documented every day - a man in Koh Kong chopped his wife to death with an axe in a violence rage brought on by her drinking and gambling (classic blame the victim game) and a 24 year old from Dangkao stabbed his girlfriend to death because she refused to have sex with him. These stories barely merit mentioning in the press.

Cambodia is a land of superstition. Before marriage, a couple see a fortune teller so he can tell them on which date they may have their wedding. Soothsayers are revered, almost worshiped, here. People put much stock in their predictions. Even the government takes the time acknowledge and then reject their predictions. Soothsayers are predicting a bad year for Cambodia (fifty percent of the rice and other crops will be destroyed although some say that it is closer to seventy percent) and that is bad for politicians and those who believe.

Nobody knows if the predictions are linked to the murder of the girl. Her family are being uncooperative and will not discuss what happened with the police. She was discovered near her home and was only reported missing after her body was found. It is possible that her family were responsible. Nothing further was reported.

Keating in Cambodia

Ronan Keating is going to play Phnom Penh next month. I wonder how far one must go to escape his pretentious brand of "music". At this stage, people barely remember Boyzone, which is a blessing, but Ronan is now famous for being famous and making bad covers of course. He has mangled such wonderful songs as "Iris", "Baby can I hold you", "Father and Son", "When you say nothing at all", with his average voice and lack of interpretation.

Anyone remember Dave Fanning's famous voiceover to a Boyzone song when he forgot the mike was on? Dave rightly slammed their "talent" and as a result had to wear a Boyzone t-shirt the following week. I wonder if Ronan will be big in Cambodia.

I love Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is one hell of a city. There is a magnificent mix of the old, the modern, the spiritual and the soulless. There are the newly arrived and those living there for generations. The citizens make up three principal ethnicities - Malay, Chinese and Indian. It is interesting to note that the Sri Mahamariamman Indian Temple and The Masjid Negara (National Mosque) are located in Chinatown. Chinatown also contains Buddist and Taoist temples. It is really quite diverse.

As soon as we set foot in Malaysia, we were made to feel welcome - even by immigration, which has not been my experience in other countries. People, wherever we went, were consistently friendly and helpful, offering titbits of advice on trains and live music venues. Most found it amusing that three foreigners (Irish, South African, French) were travelling together.

Although Cambodia and Malaysia are but an hour and a half (or two hours depending on the prevailing winds) apart, they are very different. To begin with, KL was breezier and so seemed less hot than PP, although the sun burns the same.

I found KL to be a modern globalised city - the first I've visited in Asia (still haven't made it out Bangkok airport) with a great public transport system and a multicultural society. Although it is of course impossible to make any other than superficial statements based on such a short visit, if you are in Asia check it out. It's worth it!

Oh holidays!

I'm on a long weekend break in Kuala Lumpar and this city is fantastic, modern and while not cheap, affordable. The people are very friendly and very mixed ethnically.

Happy Khmer New Year

Compensation

Sorn Bun Choeun, Government official, compensated Srey Touch, bar girl, to the tune of $250 because he feels sorry for her. Although yesterday he maintained that he was flirting with Srey Touch but to escape his attentions she had slammed herself into the door, today he has no idea what happened. Great memory there.

Srey Touch says that she dropped the complaint because he admitted his mistake and paid compensation. "He really pities her and he has helped provide money for her", according to his aide, but he didn't admit his crime and instead "pities" her for the situation in which he put her.

So either he beat her up and apologised for his mistake (read assault) in the same manner as one might when one breaks a glass, or he suffers from memory loss and maintains that he wasn't doing anything wrong by flirting with her to a degree that she felt she needed to remove herself quickly from the situation.

Either way he treated her as an object not a person. Is it because she works in a bar, because she is a woman, because she is poor? Maybe all. She has to live with assault and perhaps attempted rape and then he buys her off with $250. The officials in Cambodia enjoy impunity, unless they piss off the PM.

(Source: Cambodia Daily)

PM sneers at karaoke workers

Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that many women working in karaoke bars across the country skipped Cambodia's recent local elections because they feared getting their fingernails dirty with black ink.

"Many karaoke ladies did not go to vote because they feared getting their fingernails dirty," he said. "Some of them might have planned to go to vote but after seeing others return from voting with black ink on their fingernails, they decided to skip the polls. "But that was their right, their freedom — freedom to vote and not to go to vote," he said.

Hun Sen seemed to be speaking partially in jest, as laughter could be heard when he raised the subject.

Source

There is such a disdain for women working in the karaoke industry in Cambodia. Yet the karaoke bars are patronised by rich and poor men alike. I say men because women are not allowed to enter unless they are escorted, something I personally experienced.

The women working in the karaoke industry are there to sing with and for the men and bring drinks. It is a service business so the hostesses are dressed and made up nicely. Some indirect sex work does take place but for the women involved, this is a job like any other and is probably the only job they can get. The work they do is legal and popular and they are treated as unclean and fallen women by the powerful who use their services.

Unemployment is high in Cambodia especially among women. There are few professional positions open to women. In fact apart from some positions in NGOs or the bank, young women are employed in garment factories or bar work, where they can earn up to $50 a month, half of which is sent back to their families in the province. Many do turn to sex work and although some outsiders may see that as a choice, it is a harsh economic reality. There is a definite "death before dishonour" attitude in Cambodia but this does not feed families.

And the PM is sniggering at women who are working in legitimate employment by insinuating, without a shred of evidence, that they do not vote because of their vanity. KI Media wonders how the PM knows this about the karaoke workers. It is his job as PM to create employment and raise the standards of living of all Cambodians. He is supposed to encourage gender equality. Why just a few months ago 3G phones were banned because immoral women would use them to corrupt pure Khmer men.

He has no evidence and is making public statements about his disdain for women working in the karaoke industry. Everybody else is talking about women taking an active role in politics following the commune elections. All he does is sneer and suggest that women would choose not to exercise their democratic rights just because of perceived vanity. Shame on him.

A cautionary tale

Two women I know were returning last Thursday from an evening at a friend's house. I was at the same evening but had left earlier. They had to walk before they found two moto drivers to take them home. One of the motos had no lights on his bike so the two women got on one, gave their address and he drove off.

Moto driver without lights followed and as they were going over the Japanese bridge (quite steep) he tried to knock them off the bike. He was angry at not getting a customer. This continued until they agreed to pay 5000 riel ($1.25) to him. They paid because he was threatening them and they were in a vulnerable and isolated position. The moto driver they were riding with did nothing while they other tried to knock them off.

Once they paid he backed off and zoomed into the night. It is worth calling a moto or tuktuk driver you trust, especially after what happened to the Australian volunteer. Crime triples in the days leading up to Khmer New Year. People are looking to score cash. Having said that, this particular incident probably would have happened at any time of the year.

Government official attacks bar girl

Srey Touch was kicked from behind and beat with a microphone. She was cursed, along with all the other women at the bar, and accused of prostitution. She was hospitalised and is now in pain and finding it difficult to move.

Her attacker is a senior provincial official named Sorn Bun Choeun. The hospital deputy director issued a statement saying that Srey Touch can move and that it is not serious. The official's aide claimed that his boss was flirting with Srey Touch but to escape his attentions she had slammed herself into the door. Sorn Bun Choeun's deputy said his boss is gentle and quiet and would never do this, even if he was drunk.

The only corroboration of the attack comes from the owner of the bar who claimed that he had never seen such violence in his club. Is it not flabbergasting to think that a woman can be so viciously attacked to a public place and all the witness, except the owner, claim that it was her fault? Is it sexism or corruption? Bar girls are treated very poorly in Cambodia as a general rule and the attacker in this case was a Government official. Probably both sexism and corruption - he attacked her because he could. Everyone will cover up for an official.

His story is that Srey Touch to escape his attentions she had slammed herself into the door. She would have to have been terrified to sustain such injuries trying to escape from Sorn Bun Choeun's "flirtations".

(Source: Cambodia Daily)

Reading between the lines I imagine it happened like this. He came in and flirted with her. She served him beer. He propositioned her. She rejected him. He kicked her. She tried to escape. He hit her with the microphone and called her a whore. This is only speculation, but I can see it happening.

By the way don't you think it's ironic that he called her a whore when she wouldn't have sex with him? Contrary to popular belief, bar girls are not prostitutes. Some do supplement their earnings with sex work but they are not a majority. There is a real need to stop impunity in Cambodia in general but especially with regard to gender based violence.

Gender politics

Technically women in Cambodia were granted equality in 1955 and in 1958 a woman was elected to the National Assembly. Tong Siv Eng held two ministerial positions - social action and health and after the Khmer Rouge she played a vital role in brokering peace which led to the 1991 Paris Peace Accords.

During the Khmer Rouge's reign, women held various positions in the Government but virtually all were nepotistic appointments and showed a need and desire to keep power within the family -

Pol Pot's wife, Khieu Ponnary, was head of the Association of Democratic Khmer Women and her younger sister, Khieu Thirith, served as minister of social action. These two women are considered among the half-dozen most powerful personalities in Democratic Kampuchea. Son Sen's wife, Yun Yat, served as minister for culture, education and learning. Several of Pol Pot's nephews and nieces were given jobs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One of Ieng Sary's daughters was appointed head of the Calmette Hospital although she had not graduated from secondary school. A niece of Ieng Sary was given a job as English translator for Radio Phnom Penh although her fluency in the language was extremely limited.

In 2004 only 9.8 of the seats in the Cambodian parliament were held by women. However, the political parties are wising up and realising that female candidates are popular. It is a difficult process as the role of Khmer women is not always conducive to politics -

As described in Khmer literature, the Khmer woman, must remain virtuous to uphold the image of her family. She is required to speak softly, walk lightly and be well-mannered at all times. She is required to stay in her home, and serve as the caretaker of the family and preserver of the home. As a young woman, a Khmer woman must be a virgin before she marries and be faithful to her husband after marriage, even though he is allowed to have extramarital affairs. But if a wife is virtuous, he will not need to look elsewhere for happiness. She must be clever and wise by bringing greater wealth and status to her husband. Heavy consequences exist for women who disobey the didactic message directed to them in Khmer literature. Often times the women are punished by rape or end their lives in suicide from shame. Source

It is wonderful that Cambodian women are overcoming cultural difficulties to participate in politics. Indeed the Phnom Penh Post has an article detailing April 1st commune elections

Twice as many female candidates ran in Sunday's commune elections than did in 2002, and the emergence of female candidates is quietly reshaping the Cambodian political landscape.

"As a female candidate it is very hard to persuade citizens to elect you," said Kim Chansopath, council member in Sangkat Boeng Keng Kong I. "As a female commune council member, you have to struggle to convince both men and women that you are able to do this job. [But] there are only two important things in politics: whether you win or lose - not whether you are man or woman."

"The work is gendered... Women focus on healthcare, education, and other services whereas men focus on infrastructure, law and order, security. But due to the fact the work is gendered, women have become key to commune councils. And as their confidence grows, they are taking on more work."

Over the last five years, voters have become more open to female candidates, and women more eager to participate in politics, Nanda said. Female involvement in local level politics since the 2002 commune elections has helped break down the widely held view that politics is dirty, corrupt, violent and best left to men, she said.

I take issue with the statement that politics is dirty, corrupt, violent and best left to men even if Nanda contends that this is merely a view. If politics are dirty, corrupt and violent, how does it follow that it is best left to men? After all the women of Cambodia have been on the receiving end of corruption and violence for many years now. There is a certain amount of familiarity with it. I am sure that women will put up of the intimidation and threats of the CPP as well as the men.

Women are changing the face of Khmer politics. If it was truly believed that politics is dirty, corrupt, violent and best left to men then I doubt voters would be clamouring for female candidates. But they are. Women are working locally to represent their communes and showing what can be done. Despite the gendered aspect of the focus areas it is encouraging to see progress.

The article in the Phnom Penh Post finishes with

I believe Cambodia could have a female prime minister," she said. "I see many strong women in Cambodia, women are sometimes stronger than men. I think that in the next three or four years you could have a female candidate for prime minister.

I have serious doubts regarding any change in PM in the next three to four years not only because the incumbent has expressed a desire to remain in the position until his 90th birthday which is in about 3 decades but also because I do not think that the Cambodian people would be willing to accept a female PM yet. It would be a tremendous step for equality but with the current status of women it will take a lot longer than three to four years.

Solar power is the answer?

Here it is - the solution to global warming and oil prices. It is solar power. It is clean, cheap in long term and provide resources in the developing world where already they are suffering the effects of global warming.

Could it work? Admittedly the big oil businesses would have no more work and billionaires need their toys. It would involve much international cooperation when the current mentality seems to be "a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face" (Blackadder).

Here's hoping that we won't be living in Waterworld when my nephews are all grown up. That is not a pleasant prospect.

There be bird flu here

The first Cambodian victim of bird flu in 2007 was a 13 year old girl who died yesterday. She was the seventh fatality from the H5N1 virus that seems to be taking its toll on South East Asia.

According to WHO bird flu has killed at least 170 people since it began ravaging Asia in 2003, according to the WHO. To counter the threat WHO simulated the pandemic.

As of mid-morning, four out of five people infected with the virus in the mock scenario were dead, and WHO Cambodia personnel were in the field conducting an investigation, said Dr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional adviser for communicable disease, surveillance and response.

Officials were rushing to send influenza drug Tamiflu and protective gear, like goggles and masks, from a Japan-donated stockpile in Singapore to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. At least 24,000 Tamiflu courses were needed, and the WHO Manila office could only send 3,000 courses. It asked for the rest to be flown from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations' stockpile in Singapore.

Preparation is helpful of course. When the crisis comes, we'll all be more prepared. We have been at advised to have six weeks of food and water at home in case we have to wait it out. But that is a lot of food and water and virtually no one has observed the guidelines. When bird flu mutates and becomes transmissible from human to human, what then? Do you lock yourself up and hoard your food and water like a miser while your friends and landlords become increasingly desperate? Or do you share knowing that there isn't enough for everyone. I think about these things and think that I will share but in the meantime, I nag, so the choice won't have to be made. Plus I hope we get evac'ed instead.

Domestic violence

Mrs Sang, a 37 years old mother with 4 children, had been a victim of domestic violence for many years. While the village and the local authorities knew and were sympathetic, they dared not intervene because it was regarded as a private family matter. Eventually Mrs Sang killed her abusive husband while he was trying to shoot her to death in their home.

Luckily for Mrs Sang the Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre was there for her. They found her children medical attention and accommodation and a lawyer for herself. They contacted the Human Rights NGOs and even advocated directly for her acquittal to the judge.

The judge sympathised with Mrs Sang and wanted to release her, but was unable to do so as the Cambodian Criminal Code does not acknowledge self-defence as a defence for murder. However, he only sentenced Mrs Sang to four years imprisonment, which is half the minimum sentence provided for by the law. Mrs Sang was very happy with such a short sentence.

Source

The CWCC are continuing to fight on her behalf. It is a great organisation. But imagine that - only four years for self-defense. It's amazing how the Cambodian Criminal Code can be tossed aside when the defendant is rich and powerful rather than a battered wife with four children.

Tribunal update

The controversy continues. Same issue, different answer. Now the Cambodian judges say that if the Bar Association is excluded they are out of there. And yet everyone is still talkin' about a resolution.

Sugar = vitamin?

Did you know that sugar is a vitamin? It is in Cambodia. I've been told it's necessary for health and wellbeing to consume a lot of sugar. In this country there is sugar in virtually everything. Rice is about the only thing that is sugar free.

You find it in vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, salad, fruit, soup... In fact when I request my dishes "at sco" (no sugar - my own transliteration) the restaurant staff seem as shocked as if I asked for a bloody steak in a vegetarian place.

The health implications are clear. Diabetes is second only to malnutrition as the top food-related danger in Cambodia. Diabetes can kill, main and blind. It can be aggravated by excess consumption of simple carbohydrates. And boy do they consume those here!

The answer, as with many issues, lies in education. Many health-related organisations are doing just that. In the meantime, there are people who believe in the healing power of sugar!

Delays in court

The international judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia today presented the President of the Supreme Court Chamber of the ECCC with a letter informing the Cambodian judges of their decision not to hold a judicial plenary session to adopt the internal rules of the court in April 2007.

The letter, signed by all the international judges of the ECCC, notes that two weeks have passed since the ECCC’s Review Committee issued a statement asking for the Cambodian Bar to reconsider its position over fees imposed on foreign lawyers. The letter states that the international judges were, “saddened that at the time of writing, the Cambodian Bar had not reconsidered its position.” With the fee issue still unresolved and not enough time remaining to fix their schedules or accommodate previous commitments, a 30 April plenary it is no longer possible for the international judges.

The international judges believe the Cambodian Bar's proposed first year fee of USD $4900.00 would create a prohibitive entry cost and was not in line with accepted practice at the international level. The proposed fee would severely limit the number of foreign lawyers able to appear before the ECCC and would allow the accused to argue that they have not been afforded the right to have counsel of their choice, in breach of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. Further, such a fee would exclude many lawyers that are volunteering to represent victims for free, as they would be left significantly out of pocket for offering their services pro-bono.

Source

So the Plenary Session has been put back (again) because of the fee issue. The proposed fees would be extortionate to be sure. Will relations survive between the Cambodian and International judges if this issue is resolved without the Bar Association? Legal it may be, but in the interests of diplomacy, a compromise including the Bar Association would be better. Unfortunately the Bar Association won't budge.

Sometimes I think the tribunal could benefit from being told to just get on with it. The constant delays and bickering is not really in the spirit of the thing and comes off as childish. Besides almost every day rumours abound that the tribunal collapsed or will only last another few days. It's tiresome. Get it together.

KR tribunal and international fees

The deadline expired yesterday. There has been no agreement. The issue of fees foreign lawyers will pay to become members of the Cambodian Bar Association is another issue that has been put on the back burner. They want $4 900 per lawyer for the first year. The International Judges fine this unacceptable. That is $4 900 to be a member of the Cambodian Bar Association for one year.

IJ: We could just exclude the Bar Association
BA: The Bar Association cannot be excluded unless you have the tribunal in your own countries.
IJ: Discussions are ongoing and a resolution is possible.
BA: The International Judges should not be putting pressure on the Bar Association.
IJ: This is holding up the entire tribunal. When can we have the plenary session?
BA: This is not a UN tribunal. You must respect the laws of Cambodia.
IJ: The agreement the UN signed with CamboGov says nothing about the BA or foreign lawyers so there's no legal problem there. Acceptability is the only question.

And on the saga goes. At the rate the tribunal is moving all the guilty will be long dead. The genocide took place twenty-eight years ago. It is time to get on with it. Give the people of Cambodia some resolution.

Alanis versus Fergie

This is one number on YouTube at the moment. It's a vid of Alanis singing Black Eyed Peas "My Humps". I hated the song before I knew the artist. When I saw it was BEP's I was so disappointed. How could such a group go from

If love and peace so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong
Nations dropping bombs
Chemical gases filling lungs of little ones
With ongoing suffering
As the youth die young

to

I drive these brothers crazy,
I do it on the daily,
They treat me really nicely,
They buy me all these ices.
Dolce & Gabbana,
Fendi and NaDonna
Karan, they be sharin'
All their money got me wearin' fly

Anyway I hated that song until I heard the Alanis version because of the terminology BEPs use, the image of Fergie as a golddigging tease and the inevitable conclusion that certain people draw - "women are just golddigging whores". But thanks to Alanis for turning it into a parody and we can laugh at Fergie as a result.

Drug bust

Methamphetamines aka Crystal Meth aka Yama is a cheap high used all over South East Asia. It's possible to inject, smoke or pop a pill. Eighteen people (Chinese, Thai and Cambodian) were arrested after raids on methamphetamine labs in Phnom Penh and Kampong Speu. According to the Cambodia Daily

in terms of both the quality of chemicals seized and the scale of the police investigation, the operation was a first for Cambodia.

There is an acknowledged link between drugs and child trafficking. I've met children - one of the youngest was six years old - that are in rehab for yama abuse. Yama is given to children that are stolen from or sold by their families and are trafficked into Thailand, where they beg, sell roses and some end up in the sex industry.

Child trafficking is a big problem in Cambodia, and many government officials and others are involved. Drugs are also a problem and these two issues are linked. In fact some sources claim that one of the men arrested was an adviser to the Secretary General of Funcinpec, the CPP's coalition partners. It could have been a set up to get someone out of the way. I remain unconvinced that the police investigated the labs without political or financial motivation. Whatever the real reason, perhaps the number of drugs on the street will decline - at least for a little while.

That clinking clanking sound

The deadline, to find a solution to the problem of international defense lawyers fees, runs out today. This issue is one of the many that plagues the ECCC. The two sides seem to find it difficult to agree on anything. Of course it does not help that the bar association president Ky Tech is admonishing the international lawyers for behaving childishly. The story from the International Herald Tribune -

The bar association wants foreign lawyers to pay a US$500 (€375) membership application fee. If chosen to work with a client, they must pay an additional US$2,000 (€1,500) and a US$200 (€150) monthly fee, Ky Tech said.

He argued that foreign lawyers selected to practice at the tribunal could earn up to US$30,000 (€22,510) a month and could, therefore, afford the fees.

The international judges have said the fees severely limit the rights of the accused and of victims to select counsel of their choice. They said they will boycott a meeting next month on internal rules governing the proceedings if the fee issue is not resolved.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission said in a statement Friday the bar association "must be condemned for their action in imposition (of) exorbitant fees, which has no doubt brought more delays and may even be the reason why the trial proceedings collapse altogether."

The move "is immoral and reprehensible" and "must be looked at as an inhuman act," the commission said, adding the bar association "is widely known to be under government control."

Yeah we know the Bar Association is under government control - everything is. One could compare a 98% share of the commune council elections to other developing countries which have autocratic leaders that are "elected" by a overwhelming majority.

Officials are arguing that these fees may affect the quality of lawyer that will be willing to come to Cambodia as defense counsel and as a result defenders may be constrained in their choice of counsel. Others are comparing the fees for international and national lawyers.

The point about the Bar Association, is this issue appears to be yet another attempt to wrangle as much cash out of internationals as possible. One of the more cynical opinions I've heard lately is that the Government is not going to let the tribunal collapse because there still are millions to get of the international community. Whether one agrees with that statement or not, there is a case to be made. The fees are objectively exorbitant.

Well perhaps a decision will be made today and the tribunal can move on to the next divisive issue.

Archiving and record keeping

The Director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has written this interesting article on the necessity of archiving and safe guarding historical records.

DC-Cam mostly gathers information about the Khmer Rouge, genocide, survivors and works with the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

They also welcome volunteers!

CPP wins 98% of votes

The results are in, less than 24 hours after polling closed. At least the CPP have declared that they have taken 1,593 communes out of 1,621 - around 98% of the vote. That is what all the papers are reporting. The turnout was in the region of 70% - the lowest since the elections under UNTAC. Footloose has an interesting post about why one woman did not vote.

I have mentioned the text message ban but did not know at that stage that the NEC was considering banning all telephone communications. That proposal was shot down. Mobile phone are more important here than in other countries because the landline service is extremely limited. I failed to mention the political ramifications of the text message ban, which Details are Sketchy mentions:

For starters, Khmer fonts for the average telephone are virtually unheard of. But, really, that’s besides the point. The fact is, an overwhelming majority of the Cambodian population is illiterate. And poor. So in practice such a ban would only effect registered voters who also own a telephone and can read English. That’s a pretty small group. Significantly less than 1% of the population. It is, however, exactly the kind of people that vote for Sam Rainsy.

Other details are coming to light now. COMFREL, who are independent election monitors, trained their people to send monitoring information to a database by text. Given that the ban was announced on Friday afternoon, there was little time to prepare another method of information transmission. It is possible that details were lost or are incomplete because of this most unusual move of banning text messages.

Indeed, when the NEC were asked where else in the world are text messages banned before an election, the only answer that they would give is that Cambodia is an independent country and they don't need to follow any other country. Have you ever heard of any other countries banning text messages before an election? I haven't.

Stories were surfacing on Saturday night, of officials knocking on doors and providing rice for votes, prior to the polls opening. The occupant signs away their vote at the door and receives the rice directly. Such stories centre around Phnom Penh. Who can say whether it is true or not? Were votes bought in this way? People voted with ink and a fingerprint so one can see who voted.

There have been no official declarations as to the freedom or fairness of the elections. After all the polls closed yesterday at 3pm. It is interesting that CPP declared its victory before the polls closed and received 98% of the vote.

Details may yet come to light...

Additional sources: The Cambodia Daily and Cambodge Soir