Makeover for trauma

A new psychiatric method for treating post-traumatic stress disorder arrives from Harvard The Royal University of Phnom Penh’s psychology students have become the first in the world to be taught a new holistic model of trauma treatment aimed at helping refugees. It’s hoped the model could be useful as Cambodia faces an influx of refugees via Australia’s detention centres and asylum-seeking Montagnards from Vietnam. Developed by Harvard University’s refugee trauma program, HPRT, the “H5 Model” has been designed to get counsellors to concentrate on survivors’ “trauma stories” in order to better understand their personal contexts and consequently provide better care. Michael Hirsch, a visiting assistant professor who began teaching the newly developed model at RUPP this year, explained that other therapy models did not take into account survivors’ individual living situations, cultural and religious beliefs or health. For example, cognitive behavioural therapy provides techniques to change a patient’s thought processes but does not address patients’ individual context. The H5 Model, on the other hand, is based around exploring five overlapping areas key to trauma recovery: human rights, humiliation, self-healing, health promotion and habitat.

Koh Kong villagers

Villagers angered by the continued drive by Chinese firm Union Development Group to evict them from their homes in Koh Kong province have been threatened with force after they blocked a road leading to the district governor’s house. On Tuesday, about 30 security guards from the company entered Prek Smach village in Kiri Sakor district, which is protected against forced relocation by a government order, intending to destroy houses. Villagers intervened, according to a community representative, 71-year-old Prak Thorn. But the guards returned the same afternoon with a dump truck full of sand, which they used to block access to village. “So we decided early this morning to block another road in front of the district governor’s office, which is a new road that was built by the district governor himself,” Thorn said. “The Union Development Group still wants us to move from here, even though they know we won’t move, and the authorities cannot do anything because they get money from the company,” he said. UDG was granted a 36,000-hectare land concession in Kiri Sakor and Botum Sakor districts in April 2008 for a $3.8 billion mega-tourism zone. Another adjacent concession for a hydropower dam brought the total land under the firm’s control to 45,000 hectares. In Kong Chit, the provincial coordinator for rights group Licadho, said the company has been ordered to halt forced evictions in the area and refrain from using violence. “A lot of people know that most of the authorities, including the district governor and the chief of the commune, get money monthly from the company to listen to their wishes,” he claimed.

Ministry tackles

As an unlicensed doctor sits in pre-trial detention on charges of murder and infecting his patients with HIV in Battambang province, the Ministry of Health is drafting a letter to provincial authorities nationwide, urging them to crack down on illegal medical practices immediately, according to a senior official. The new directive comes on the heels of a similar notice to provincial health departments on December 18, mere days after it emerged that some 70 people in Battambang’s Sangke district had been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The infection count has since soared well past 100, with most affected living in Roka commune. New figures were unavailable yesterday. “It is the same topic, but the second one will be sent directly to the capital-provincial halls to take an urgent action against [unlicensed health services],” said Sok Srun, director of the medical department at the Ministry of Health. “We are drafting it and it needs checking.” “We will also take immediate measures when we get any information or problems from the provinces,” he added. In the statement dated December 18, the Ministry of Health advised all municipal and provincial health institutions to move on “illegal health services” throughout the country. Four days later, Yem Chroeum, the local doctor whom residents are blaming for the outbreak, was hit with murder charges and “intentionally” infecting people with HIV. He was also charged with operating a clinic without a licence. “All directors of the health departments have to take serious measures against illegal health services defying the law and previous directives and send them to court,” reads the December 18 statement, signed by Dr Te Kuyseang, secretary of state at the Ministry of Health.

Social affairs minister

Cambodia's social affairs minister promised yesterday to improve the Prey Speu social affairs centre and other detention centres across the Kingdom by increasing food rations and encouraging transparency with supporting NGOs. The promise comes after the National Assembly’s eighth Commission on Health and Social Affairs requested the ministry to streamline the management of the detention centres, especially Prey Speu, which has long been criticised by NGOs for its reputation as a dumping ground and asylum for Phnom Penh’s “outcasts” and mentally ill residents. In response to the request, Social Affairs Minister Vong Sauth said his ministry will work on amending a sub-decree adopted in 2006 that prevents human rights abuses against detainees. “The ministry will work harder to improve the sub-decree with the help of experts working with national and international groups to safeguard their rights, especially children’s,” Sauth said. By early 2015, the ministry plans to increase detainees’ food rations from about $0.40 cents to $1 per day. Sauth added that they will also open some detention centres to organisations or individuals interested in visiting and extending help to detainees. Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Asia division, which has called for the closure of Prey Speu in the past, said that the ministry’s planned developments have come too late.

Gov’t seeks standardised

The Ministry of Economy and Finance says it is preparing simplified and standardised accounting procedures, targeted specifically at strengthening the books of small- and medium-size Cambodian businesses, although the release date has not been specified. The ministry is developing new forms that are intended to make bookkeeping more stream-lined for small businesses, improve tax collection efforts for the government and make it easier for lending institutions to evaluate loans. Ngy Tayi, secretary of state at the ministry and head of the National Accounting Council, said that while Cambodia has had accounting standards for about a decade, few small businesses actually fill out the current forms. Tayi said that owners will only need up to six months informal training to be able to fill out the new reports. “It is a key part of developing the Cambodian economy, because small and medium enterprises share a large percentage of the country’s accelerating economic growth,” he said, adding that SMEs will be able to save money on accounting services. “It will be easier for them to declare their taxes to the government and access loans from any banks.” According to the 2011 Cambodian Economic Census, Cambodia has more than 500,000 SMEs operating in the country, a figure that represents 99 per cent of all businesses and an estimated 1.67 million jobs.

China to fund farming

In a move it says will help Cambodia advance its agricultural sector, the Chinese government has announced its funding of a new agricultural training centre to the tune of $6.7 million. The agreement to establish the Cambodia-China Agriculture Promotion Center was signed by Ty Sokun, secretary of state at the Ministry of Agriculture, and Wenwen Luo, chairwoman of the Guangxi Forward Agriculture Technology International Corporation in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Sokun said the centre would result in improved techniques and skills for Cambodian farmers. “The goal is to equip farmers with techniques to respond to climate change, use more machinery in the fields, create more resilient crops, and encourage more agricultural goods to be exported,” he said. Currently, much of Cambodia’s agricultural goods do not meet international standards for foreign buyers, Sokun said yesterday, but thanks to the centre, he added, Cambodian agricultural products would be qualified to enter the global market. The project includes two phases over an 18-year period, said Nou Vuthy, assistant to the board of directors of Guangxi Forward Agriculture Technology International Corporation Co. The first phase will last three years and will be entirely funded by the Chinese government, while the second 15-year phase will be funded by the Chinese company. “During the project, the Center will provide training on farming techniques training for rice, cassava, vegetables and fruit to Cambodia farmers and agronomists, as well as promote Cambodia’s agriculture products to the international market, especially China,” Vuthy said.

Strike unfazed

As striking workers at a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district continued to burn tires yesterday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court filed an injunction ordering employees to return to work. Cambo Kotop workers walked off the job last week after management fired five representatives of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW). Amid the constant presence of strikers who have been caught on video toppling at least one of the factory’s gates, the court released the order on Tuesday, requiring employees to return today. Some strikers yesterday scoffed at the injunction, saying protests will continue until the factory meets their demands; the most crucial of which is the reinstatement of CUMW representatives. “I do not respect the court injunction. I will continue to protest until the factory accepts the five union members back to work,” Theang Srey Neang, a 32-year-old Cambo Kotop employee, said yesterday. “We destroyed the factory fence, because we were so angry at our employer.” Staff at Cambo Kotop’s office said several times yesterday that their corporate social responsibility manager, who identified himself in an interview last week as Kwak, was “in a meeting” and unavailable for comment. Kwak last week said that the five fired CUMW workers had disrupted operations in the factory over the course of two weeks, and had been warned.

Shukaku’s drain

Developer Shukaku Inc almost certainly won’t begin planned drainage work at its Boeung Kak site this month because the government has yet to approve its plans, a company representative said yesterday. Shukaku said on December 2 that it would break ground on a drainage system and corporate office before the year’s end. But formal permission has not yet been obtained after City Hall sent back Shukaku’s building plans, insisting on “minor” changes. “We were hoping to start this month,” said Amu Pillay, Shukaku’s head of corporate communications and public relations. “We can only start when we get official approval from the government agencies.” Shukaku had resubmitted plans with the requested changes made, Pillay said. The company’s efforts to push forward with development at Boeung Kak – from where thousands have been evicted since 2008 – follow the flooding of villagers’ houses to the east of the site during the recent rainy season. Seven of them were jailed for one year last month while protesting City Hall’s lack of response to the flooding. On December 10, the Post published details of a leaked report from Shukaku in which it warned that a severe rainstorm could result in the deaths of local residents because drainage pipes City Hall had installed on the eastern side of Boeung Kak were too small. “Loss of life and property could occur if a significant storm occurs in the next few years,” the report says. “[T]he finished system will not have sufficient capacity to handle a 5-year storm episode.”

Russian tourism

Although Russia is over 7,000 kilometres away and 30 degrees colder, its economic woes are hitting Cambodia’s tourism and expatriate scene. Over the past year, Russia’s currency, the ruble, has lost two-thirds of its value to the US dollar, largely due to declining oil prices and Western sanctions sparked by the conflict in Ukraine. Here in Cambodia, the ongoing currency decline is causing the dollar value of Russians’ savings to plummet, even leading to cutbacks in certain sectors. In Sihanoukville, where the street signs on Serendipidity Beach ask tourists in Russian, Khmer and English not to litter, some Russian business owners are tightening their belts. Zogir Ibragimov, owner of Cambodia’s only Uzbek restaurant, The Spot, said significantly fewer tourists are expected to come this season. “We’ve had to undertake measures by introducing special deals, because obviously the people have [less money to spend].” Ibragimov said the ruble’s decline has hit Russian expatriates in Cambodia especially hard, since many of them retain an income by renting their homes in their homeland. Real estate agent Ruslan Gronov told the Post that Russian tourism to the coastal province was clearly dampened by the ruble’s weakening. “One month ago many, many Russians were coming to Cambodia, especially from Thailand because the visa is easier to get here,” he said. “But now, I can see it is quiet.” Currently, the ruble is buying just US$0.01, compared to December 2013, when the Russian currency was trading at more than US$0.03, according to currency website, XE Currency. Vandy Ho, co-chair of the Private and Public Sector Tourism Working Group, said that while Russians represented only a small part of the overall tourism scene, they drive development in certain areas such as Sihanoukville.

Ministry, TV stations agree on locally

In an effort to boost Cambodia’s entertainment industry, local television broadcasters will soon dedicate an hour of primetime programming to airing Cambodian-produced shows and films. During a meeting with the Ministry of Information on Monday, TV station representatives agreed to broadcast locally produced films and shows – including dramas, news or game shows – from 7pm to 8pm daily. The move is expected to reduce the monopoly of foreign shows on Cambodian TV, which, due to cheaper costs, has been increasingly saturated with dramas coming from countries like China, Thailand and the Philippines. “Having Khmer programming in primetime will empower local producers and artists by showcasing their skills to other countries,” MoI Secretary of State and Cambodian TV Association chief Mao Ayuth said. According to some broadcasters, allotting an hour of primetime would force their stations to bear potential financial loss, but the gains for the entertainment industry, they said, is worth it. “A lot of us know that we’re going to lose some income since it’s during popular TV hours, but we’re happy to do it, because it will be good for the country,” said Southeast Asia Television head of programming Touch Bopha. Over the past month, the Cambodian government has turned its focus on promoting the creation of locally produced shows and films. Last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen suggested creating a fund to support Khmer film, theatre and art development.

Boeung Kak activist

An imprisoned Boeung Kak land-rights activist was yesterday rushed to hospital suffering from heart problems, a rights worker said. It came amid renewed calls for authorities to release a group of Boeung Kak activists imprisoned last month, some of whom have been staging a hunger strike in Prey Sar prison. Phan Chhunreth was taken to Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital where doctors found her heart was beating unusually slow, making it hard for her to breathe, said Am Sam Ath, technical adviser for rights group Licadho. “She is very weak . . . she should be allowed to stay in hospital for follow-up checks. We are worried about her condition and the women on hunger strike in Prey Sar,” adding that Chhunreth herself has not been part of the hunger strike. A Post reporter observed three prison guards deny Chhunreth’s family members the chance to see her in hospital yesterday. She was later taken back to prison. Chhunreth and six other women from Boeung Kak were arrested on November 10 and swiftly sentenced to one year in prison. They were charged under the traffic law for blocking a road during a protest over flooding in their village. Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers have urged the president of the Court of Appeal, You Bunleng, to free the activists. In a letter obtained on Sunday, the lawmakers say no traffic congestion occurred during the protest and City Hall officials failed to meet villagers over their flooding woes. “We . . . would like [the president] to drop charges against the 10 women and release them so they can return to their homes to . . . [take] care of their families,” the letter says, referring to additional arrests that were made in connection with Chhunreth’s case. The Post reported on Saturday that Singaporean company HLH Group has cancelled plans to buy 1.3 hectares of land at Boeung Kak. CNRP president Sam Rainsy yesterday welcomed HLH’s decision.

ACU to police public

Corruption watchdogs yesterday called on the Cambodian government to stamp out corrupt practices within the public procurement process during the first public forum on the Kingdom’s Budget Law. Speaking at the forum at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia (TI) said the Kingdom’s road construction projects were being affected by illicit payments between private and public sector institutions. “I urge the ministry and relevant institutions to take a closer look at public procurement process,” Kol said. “I have evidence to show that construction contractors are often asked to pay ‘tea’ money to land the public bidding process, which in turn forces companies to cut some of the project’s budget and results in poor quality roads.” Cambodia passed its Public Procurement Law in 2012 after numerous calls from both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to design comprehensive guidelines to manage public spending and eradicate loopholes in the process. Prior to the passing of the 2012 law, public procurement was governed by a set of fragmented legal frameworks spread out over several prakas, sub-decrees and internal guidelines. Cambodia’s public procurement law states that all cases of corruption in the process will be reported the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). Admitting that Cambodia’s 2012 procurement law alone had not been enough to stamp out corruption, Economic and Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth said the ACU would now oversee every public tender process.

follows Angkor

A cross-cultural concert tour in Cambodia last December has turned into a cross-border fiasco, with artists and labourers maintaining that they have yet to receive thousands of dollars in payment a year after the event. Called Fondamentus, the two-week contemporary and classical music tour spanned stops in Yangon, Mandalay and Siem Reap on December 5 and 6 last year. It employed more than 50 performers and contractors, most of whom received partial payment before the Cambodia performance, but who are still owed a total of more than $700,000 in wages, participants said. The event, which had an operating budget of $1.1 million, was funded by French organisation Khloros Concert and endorsed by UNESCO and the French embassy in Cambodia. “In the beginning, we thought it was a fantastic occasion, because there was so much support, but later on, it soon became obvious that it was going to be a huge problem,” said Agnes Pyka, artistic director of Des Equilibres ensemble, who are owed $50,000. “A lot of us are in financial trouble . . . but it’s also a disaster for relations between France and Cambodia.” The tour coincided with the 20th anniversary of the creation of the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding of Angkor Wat and the 10th anniversary of the designation of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, one of the performing groups, as an Intangible Cultural Heritage as classified by UNESCO. It was also the first time that the Cambodian government has authorised the use of Angkor Wat’s first floor for any public function. “We are very upset about this situation,” said Prince Tesso Sisowath, private secretary of Princess Bopha Devi, who heads the Royal Ballet. “This was supposed to be a celebration of Cambodian culture but it has turned for the worse and has left some people bankrupt.” The Royal Ballet of Cambodia is owed $15,000 for their performance, Sisowath added. A hotel spokesman also confirmed that the Sofitel’s Siem Reap branch, where the performers and guests stayed over the concert days, was not paid a “significant amount of money”.

Rights Groups Want Cambodian

Two human rights groups have called on the Cambodian government to immediately close all detention centers that arbitrarily detain people outside the criminal justice system, following the controversial death of a homeless man who had been taken to one such facility. New York-based Human Rights Watch and Phnom Penh-based Licadho cited the Nov. 26 death of an ill homeless man named Phea, saying he was denied medical treatment in the notorious Po Senchey Vocational Training Center in Prey Speu, outside the capital. Security forces had picked him up on Nov. 2 during a routine “sweep” of people considered “undesirable” in Phnom Penh to clear the streets for Cambodia’s Water Festival on Nov. 5-7. The social affairs center, which has come under fire in years past for abusing people detained there, has continued to abuse human rights and leave sick people to die without medication, claimed senior Licadho investigator Am Sam Ath. “This is a serious human rights violation,” he told RFA’s Khmer Service. “The Prey Speu center was criticized long ago. The detention center detains people illegally because only prisons can detain people.” Officials at the center and the Ministry of Social Affairs, which oversees the operation of such centers, could not be reached for comment. “Keeping Cambodia’s detention centers open is an endless invitation to the authorities to violate the human rights of people deemed ‘undesirable,’” said Naly Pilorge, director of Licadho, in a statement. “The systematic abuse of Cambodia’s most vulnerable people occurs at these centers and the government should close them immediately.” Official order Pa Socheatevong, Phnom Penh’s governor, had ordered local police, public-order contingents and armed gendarmes to conduct the sweeps to also deter anti-government protests during the holiday, the statement said. Although Phea was extremely thin and covered with infected wounds when he was taken to the Prey Speu center, staff did not provide medical treatment or take him elsewhere for it, the statement said. After he died, his body was immediately cremated, and police failed to launch a proper investigation into his death, it said. Other detainees at the Prey Speu facility also live in poor conditions and are being held without charge or trial, the two human rights groups said. Of the roughly 30 others there at the time of Phea’s death, two were small children with their physically ill mother and a third small child was with her father in violation of international law prohibitions against the arbitrary detention of children, they said. A late-term pregnant woman and a transgendered person being held at the center managed to escape, according to the statement, quoting an unnamed source.

PMs talk migration

The shooting of a Cambodian woman by Thai soldiers was left off the agenda during recent talks between Cambodia and Thailand’s prime ministers, which instead focused on issuing migrants passports and the ownership of ancient treasures. Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart General Prayuth Chan-ocha met on Friday during the Mekong Sub-Region leaders meeting in Bangkok. The pair reached an agreement to issue Cambodian migrants in Thailand with passports and progressed on talks over the ownership of Khmer antiques seized by Thai authorities. However, the case of 55-year-old Horn Chem from O’Smach commune in Oddar Meanchey’s Samrong town, who was shot by Thai soldiers after straying across the border in search of food, was avoided. The omission contrasts sharply with a strongly worded letter delivered to Thai authorities by the Cambodian government last week, demanding an investigation and calling for a stop to border killings by the Thai military. Prior to the meeting, Prayuth dismissed reports of the shooting as inaccurate, saying Thai soldiers did not shoot unarmed people at the border. He said the region was “plagued by illegal logging” leading to fights between soldiers and loggers. He did, however, say that a joint panel involving both countries would be set up to investigate. Prayuth’s denial came as deputy O’Smach commune chief Nhean Sarom said Chem was likely looking for timber as well as food, which was common among villagers. Arriving back in Phnom Penh with Hun Sen on Saturday, a minister attached to the premier, Kao Kim Hourn, said 10 teams of officials would be dispatched across the border to issue Cambodians passports, helping potentially thousands avoid repatriation. According to Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng, there are more than 600,000 Cambodians working legally and illegally in Thailand. Meanwhile, Kim Hourn said Cambodian experts would be allowed to inspect 36 antiquities recently seized by Thai authorities, including Buddha statues, works presumed to be from Phnom Da and figurines of Hindu deities.

Has the money spent

Recently widowed and with a newborn baby, Pannha* left her home in Cambodia to work in Malaysia – where she was promised a job in a sewing factory. When she arrived, however, she was given an umbrella, a bag and a metal bowl, and brought to the market. The job she was promised, never materialised. Instead, she was told to beg for money or be sent to jail with her baby. Each day, Pannha asked strangers for a few coins. While she made a significant amount from begging, she was unable to keep the money as her broker ordered her to pay back the cost of transportation to markets, housing, electricity, food, bowl, umbrella, bag, water supply and the rest for paying debt. When she was able to escape, eventually, she returned to Cambodia. But her life did not improve. She was a victim of human trafficking, and her life is in no better condition than when she left two years earlier. Over the last 15 years, this type of story has been repeated over and over. Young people continue to be persuaded to work in richer countries. When they arrive, the jobs promised to them never materialise. Instead, they are forced into jobs they didn’t want or didn’t sign up for. In these jobs, they face violence, extremely difficult working conditions and exploitation. It’s a sad admission that the problem hasn’t ended, despite the millions of dollars that have been poured into anti-trafficking work in the Greater Mekong Sub-region for well over a decade. So what has been working?

Fire ravages land

At least two people were injured over the weekend when a wildfire swept across a Phnom Penh community that has been entangled in a land dispute for more than a decade. The fire ripped through the capital’s Boeung Chhouk village in Russey Keo district’s Kilometre 6 commune early on Saturday evening, Khiev Chenda, a representative of Boeung Chhouk villagers, said yesterday. “The blaze [only] lasted for an hour, but it destroyed 26 houses,” Chenda said. “Two men were seriously injured and more than 50 families lost their homes.” Chenda said villagers believe the fire started in a grocery store because of an electrical malfunction. Fire department officials are still investigating, said Prom Yorn, director of Phnom Penh’s Municipal Fire Fighter Unit. Members of the Cambodian Red Cross and local authorities have provided affected villagers with food, money and medical supplies, community representative Mor Savet said yesterday. Just over a month before the flame devoured homes in the village, Russey Keo Governor Khlaing Huot issued an order for villagers to move out of their homes to make way for seven planned roads. The November 14 order says authorities will take down houses of villagers who do not comply. It does not offer compensation. Since the fire, villager Touch Chamnan and his family are now increasingly anxious about being evicted from their home, he said yesterday. His land certificate from 1990, family book and all forms confirming his identification and ownership of the land were destroyed. “Now we are concerned about the eviction from our land, where we live, because we cannot prove [our ownership],” Chamnan said. “The authorities want us to move from our land without any compensation, so they can build the road.”

Toll bails on rail

Publicly listed Australian logistics firm Toll Group has sold its stake in the Kingdom’s national railway, a project plagued with botched community resettlement attempts and development setbacks. A Toll Group draft media statement, dated today, says Toll Group on Friday offloaded its 55-per-cent stake in the Toll Royal Railway concession to its joint venture partner, Royal Group. “The decision to divest our interest in the concession was not taken lightly, but it was decided after generating lower-than-expected returns over a period of time,” Toll group managing director, Brian Kruger, is quoted saying in the statement. “In addition, setbacks and delays in track rehabilitation works by external contractors over the past two years has in our view also impeded the efficient operation, and hence economic viability of the railway.” Toll will continue to provide external logistics support to Royal Group, today’s media statement says. “Toll Royal Railway has prided itself on the professional approach it has taken to training staff, safety management, community education and operational excellence, and Toll recognizes the importance of the improvement of logistics services to support the growth and prosperity of Cambodia,” Kruger said in the statement. In 2009, the Cambodian government awarded Toll Royal Railway a 30-year concession to operate the Cambodian Railway Network and also the rights to Samrong Estate on the outskirts of Phnom Penh to build a new freight terminal.

Don Sahong

Today, the Mekong River Commission is holding its first regional public consultation on the Don Sahong Dam in Pakse, Laos. We believe the Don Sahong Dam poses an unacceptable risk to regional fisheries, food security and the future of the Mekong, and as such, should be immediately cancelled. The Don Sahong Dam imperils a critical and ecologically unique area of the Mekong River. The Hou Sahong Channel, on which the Don Sahong Dam would be built, is one of the main pathways in the Mekong, used year-round by fish migrating between Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Blocking the Hou Sahong Channel will have an irreversible impact on fish migration and, consequently, on food and livelihood security throughout the Mekong. The environmental impact assessment for the Don Sahong Dam failed to properly address the threat to regional fisheries. Despite the project being located less than 2 kilometres from Cambodia, the transboundary impacts of the project were not adequately considered or assessed. Construction and operation of the Don Sahong Dam will require significant change in the hydrology of the area, increasing the Mekong River’s dry season flows through the Hou Sahong Channel from 4 per cent to 50 per cent. Such changes would affect the renowned Khone Phapheng Falls and threaten the globally protected wetlands at the Stung Treng Ramsar site in Cambodia. The proposed mitigation measures, upon which the project’s success hinges, have never been tested in the Mekong region, and regional experts have expressed fears that these measures will not be sufficient to mitigate the loss of the Hou Sahong Channel for fish migration. The decisions that have been made about the design and operation of the Don Sahong Dam are based on assumptions which gamble with the future of the Mekong River and her people.

Cambodia’s economy must move beyond

Cambodia’s development in the past two decades has been remarkable. Economic growth has averaged 7.6 per cent a year since 1995. The national poverty rate has been cut in half. Led by supportive government policy, the country’s strengths – in arable land and natural resources, low-cost labour, and cultural heritage – have secured Cambodia a strong global presence in rice production, garments, and tourism. The impact on people’s lives is visible, with impressive gains across a range of indicators including primary school enrollment and reduced infant mortality. To maintain this momentum, Cambodia must deepen its reform efforts, diversify its economy, and upgrade its industrial base. These actions are critical to boosting growth potential – particularly in the more complex and sophisticated goods and services needed for the country to climb the global value chain towards middle-income status and beyond. Cambodia’s industrial base and exports have evolved considerably in recent years. In 1990, rubber, scrap metals, logs and wood, and soya beans led the country’s exports. Today, it is garments, bicycles, rice, and light manufacturing assembly. The shift from raw materials to manufactured goods is nascent but gaining momentum. Still, exports remain narrowly based and concentrated on a few markets. The dominance of garment exports leaves the economy particularly vulnerable to sector specific price and demand shocks. In the wake of the global financial crisis export demand plunged and growth dropped to near zero. The economy recovered quickly, but the experience is a strong reminder of the importance of economic diversification and developing a broader range of export destinations.