VN, Cambodia, Laos step up fight against drugs

As many as 84 officials from Vietnam , Cambodia and Laos have gathered at a tripartite and bilateral ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh to seek ways to strengthen the fight against drug crimes.

While opening the three-day conference, Head of the Cambodian National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) Ke Kim Yan called for stronger cooperation among the three nations to achieve the target of a drug-free ASEAN by 2015.

There are flaws in cooperation in preventing the growing of opium poppy and the production, transport, smuggling and consumption of drugs in border areas of the three countries, he said.

The official stressed that the three countries have to turn the border areas into a firm wall to prevent and combat these illegal operations.

NACD’s Secretary General Moek Dara said that Cambodia is actively fighting against drug criminals. Since the beginning of 2010, 320 cases of drug offensives have been brought to light with 638 suspects, including 63 foreigners, and a large volume of drugs was seized for destruction, he said.

The Vietnamese delegation to the meeting, which will last until Dec. 10, was led by Le The Tiem, Deputy Minister of Public Security and permanent member of the National Committee for AIDS, Drugs, Prostitution Prevention and Control, while the Laotian officials were headed by Soubanh Sritthirath, Chairman of the Lao National Commission for Drug Control and Supervision./.

Related Articles

• Market moves up sharply
• Greenback firmer on signs of rising demand
• Health costs expected to get even higher
• Tevez on target as Man City beat Liverpool 3-0
• Big enterprises benefit from tax mechanism

Friendship association extends condolence to Cambodia

The Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association (VCFA) has offered condolence to Cambodia over the tragedy occurred in the Koh Pich (diamond) island in Phnom Penh on the evening of Nov. 22.

In a message sent to the Office of Permanent Deputy Prime Minister and President of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Association Men Sam An, the VCFA expressed the deepest sympathy to the victims’ families and the Cambodian Government and people, saying it believed the Cambodian Government and people would mobilise all resources to soon overcome the aftermath of the tragedy.

On Nov. 25, representatives of Vietnamese agencies, businesses and people conducting business in Cambodia donated 2,770 USD which will be channelled to the Cambodia Red Cross.

A delegation of Ho Chi Minh City on Nov. 24 handed over medicines worth 50,000 USD and 100,000 USD in cash to the Phnom Penh authorities to help the city overcome the tragedy’s aftermath.

The death toll in the stampede was confirmed at 347, including 221 women, said the Cambodian Social Affairs Ministry and the investigation committee on Nov. 25 morning.

President of the Overseas Vietnamese (OV) Association in Cambodia Chau Van Chi said that nine Vietnamese were killed and one remains missing in the stampede. Six out of nine injured Vietnamese have been discharged from the hospital, Chi added.

Cambodia observed a national day of mourning on Nov. 25 and pagodas across the city prayed for the spirits of people who were killed in the stampede.

Cambodian PM Hun Sen and his wife burnt incense at a memorial service held at the site of the bridge stampede which drew the participation of more than 400 Cambodian monks and hundreds of representatives from Cambodian agencies and local people./.

Related Articles

• Bulgarian envoy gets friendship medal
• Ethnic minorities, poor to receive free legal aid
• Prime Minister discusses relations, co-operation with Lao counterpart
• Painters show works inspired by nature, nostalgia
• Gov’t orders check on Guang Lian steel project

At least eight Vietnamese dead in Cambodian stampede

At least eight Vietnamese were killed in Cambodia's water festival stampede which left more than 350 people dead, according to an association of Vietnamese people in Cambodia.

Trinh Viet Long, an official from Vietnam Embassy in Cambodia, said among the dead was Nguyen Van Cu, a 12-year-old boy, while others have not been identified.

There were five other Vietnamese missing and eight injured, Long said. All of the victims were all from districts around Phnom Penh, he said.

Many Vietnamese people in Cambodia were worried as they have failed to contact relatives who left home over the weekend to attend the water festival called Bon Om Thook held between November 21 and 23.

The association has sent representatives to communes near Phnom Penh to get more information.

Following the incident, several tour operators in Ho Chi Minh City such as Fiditour and Lua Viet have delayed tours to Cambodia.

Panic ensued and around 350 people were trampled to death on Koh Pich bridge after a rumor spread that the narrow bridge was unstable, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP.

The festival-goers had been crossing the bridge to reach an island hosting concerts, food stalls and ice sculptures.

Many of the deaths were caused by suffocation and internal injuries and about two-thirds of the dead were women, Kanharith said.

More than 400 people were injured.

Witnesses said there were people jumping and falling into the river below the bridge, so authorities are also searching for bodies in the water.

Prime Minister Hun Sen described the disaster as Cambodia’s darkest hour since the Khmer Rouge, whose 1975-1979 reign of terror left up to a quarter of the population dead.

Hun Sen said Cambodia would hold a national day of mourning on Thursday.

The bodies have been laid out in hospitals around the capital for relatives to identify them.

The annual festival, including boat races, concerts and fireworks, marks the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap Lake and the Mekong River in a natural flushing motion.

Related Articles

• At least eight Vietnamese dead in Cambodian stampede
• Teachers pay for class materials from salaries
• PM Dung outlines inflation strategy
• Tiger Woods and wife divorce after sex scandal
• Visit hell then heaven

At least eight Vietnamese dead in Cambodian stampede

At least eight Vietnamese were killed in Cambodia's water festival stampede which left more than 350 people dead, according to an association of Vietnamese people in Cambodia.

Trinh Viet Long, an official from Vietnam Embassy in Cambodia, said among the dead was Nguyen Van Cu, a 12-year-old boy, while others have not been identified.

There were five other Vietnamese missing and eight injured, Long said. All of the victims were all from districts around Phnom Penh, he said.

Many Vietnamese people in Cambodia were worried as they have failed to contact relatives who left home over the weekend to attend the water festival called Bon Om Thook held between November 21 and 23.

The association has sent representatives to communes near Phnom Penh to get more information.

Following the incident, several tour operators in Ho Chi Minh City such as Fiditour and Lua Viet have delayed tours to Cambodia.

Panic ensued and around 350 people were trampled to death on Koh Pich bridge after a rumor spread that the narrow bridge was unstable, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP.

The festival-goers had been crossing the bridge to reach an island hosting concerts, food stalls and ice sculptures.

Many of the deaths were caused by suffocation and internal injuries and about two-thirds of the dead were women, Kanharith said.

More than 400 people were injured.

Witnesses said there were people jumping and falling into the river below the bridge, so authorities are also searching for bodies in the water.

Prime Minister Hun Sen described the disaster as Cambodia’s darkest hour since the Khmer Rouge, whose 1975-1979 reign of terror left up to a quarter of the population dead.

Hun Sen said Cambodia would hold a national day of mourning on Thursday.

The bodies have been laid out in hospitals around the capital for relatives to identify them.

The annual festival, including boat races, concerts and fireworks, marks the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap Lake and the Mekong River in a natural flushing motion.

Related Articles

• At least eight Vietnamese dead in Cambodian stampede
• Teachers pay for class materials from salaries
• PM Dung outlines inflation strategy
• Tiger Woods and wife divorce after sex scandal
• Visit hell then heaven

One step closer to complete Pan-Asia railway

A major step was taken towards the completion of a Pan-Asian rail project after the first segment of an international railroad opened in Cambodia on Friday.

According to the Asian Development Bank, the 650-kilometer segment stretches from Cambodia’s border with Thailand, through the capital city of Phnom Penh, and southward to Sihanoukville.

The new railway will benefit Cambodia, whose underdeveloped transportation network has driven up the price of imported and locally made goods, ADB said in a statement. The Manila-based bank is providing US$84 million to the $141-million project.

Cambodia’s new railroad, which is slated for completion in 2013, will be linked to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City to complete the Pan-Asian railway.

Cambodia and Vietnam have already signed an agreement to link their railways, ADB said.

“We are on the cusp of a contiguous Iron Silk Road stretching from Singapore to Scotland,” said Kunio Senga, Director General of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department. “This possibility has been talked about for decades, but today the dream has finally taken a big step toward becoming reality.”

Related Articles

• One step closer to complete Pan-Asia railway
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Filipino President’s first visit to Vietnam
• IFC: Vietnam needs to increase PPP to support economy
• Vietnam Air accepts web check-in for int’l flights

One step closer to complete Pan-Asia railway

A major step was taken towards the completion of a Pan-Asian rail project after the first segment of an international railroad opened in Cambodia on Friday.

According to the Asian Development Bank, the 650-kilometer segment stretches from Cambodia’s border with Thailand, through the capital city of Phnom Penh, and southward to Sihanoukville.

The new railway will benefit Cambodia, whose underdeveloped transportation network has driven up the price of imported and locally made goods, ADB said in a statement. The Manila-based bank is providing US$84 million to the $141-million project.

Cambodia’s new railroad, which is slated for completion in 2013, will be linked to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City to complete the Pan-Asian railway.

Cambodia and Vietnam have already signed an agreement to link their railways, ADB said.

“We are on the cusp of a contiguous Iron Silk Road stretching from Singapore to Scotland,” said Kunio Senga, Director General of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department. “This possibility has been talked about for decades, but today the dream has finally taken a big step toward becoming reality.”

Related Articles

• One step closer to complete Pan-Asia railway
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Filipino President’s first visit to Vietnam
• IFC: Vietnam needs to increase PPP to support economy
• Vietnam Air accepts web check-in for int’l flights

Cambodia jails Japanese man for sex with minor

A Japanese man has been sentenced to prison for buying sex with a 13-year-old Vietnamese girl in Cambodia.

Atsushi Kato, 41, from Aichi Prefecture in Japan, was sentenced by a Cambodian court on Wednesday (October 13) to seven years in prison and to be deported after serving his sentence.

Kato was also ordered to pay the victim 400,000 riel (US$100) in compensation, the Agence France Presse (AFP) reported. Kato was arrested in September last year.

“The verdict is just for the girl in terms of the imprisonment sentence but the compensation does not reflect the damage she has suffered and seems insulting,” Samleang Seila, who heads Action Pour Les Enfant in Cambodia, told Thanh Nien Weekly by email. The human rights organization had provided the Vietnamese victim with a lawyer.

But the verdict sends a message across to traffickers and brothel owners and advances the cause of children’s rights, he said.

Seila said the Japanese paid the girl for sex at a brothel but he said he did not know she was a minor. “Later, the brothel was raided and some of the girl prostitutes were rescued and placed in a government aftercare facility... The authorities were informed of the Japanese national’s contact and arrested the man when he was coming to visit the girl.

“In general, most trafficked victims to [Cambodian] brothels are Vietnamese,” Seila said.

“Some are trafficked or sold from local families to the brothel and others are trafficked from Vietnam with promises of a good job.”

He said job scarcity and “statelessness” in Vietnam forces some Vietnamese people to migrate to Cambodia and also allow their children to go to Cambodia and find a job. “This factor exposes children to human trafficking traps.”

“They are also promised a job in Cambodia by traffickers and thus children with or without their family come to Cambodia and end up being sold or trafficked,” Seila said.

AFP reports that “Cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as a haven for pedophiles, putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes since 2003 or deporting them to face trial in their home countries.”

Seila said Vietnam and Cambodia should work “closely with each other to strengthen border controls and ensure children are not trafficked; and blind migration is discouraged.” Both sides should take tough action to punish criminals who sell children to brothels, he added.

Related Articles

• Cambodia jails Japanese man for sex with minor
• Banks scramble for mid-level managers
• Vietnam film week opens in Germany
• Greenback firmer on signs of rising demand
• Ministry to improve its human resources

City doctors provide care in Cambodia

KAMPONG SPEU — Nearly 3,000 Cambodian people living in Cambodia's Kampong Speu and Kampong Chnang provinces received free healthcare during a charity programme run by volunteers from the HCM City Young Doctors' Association and HCM City Medicine and Pharmacy University.

The programme is part of this year's international volunteer programme organised by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and its partners to provide medical treatment for local residents, especially women and children.

Fifty volunteers, including young doctors from leading HCM City hospitals like Cho Ray, raised funds and procured medical supplies worth over VND500 million (US$25,000) from donors before undertaking their trip to Cambodia last week.

"We provided consulting services and treatment to poor people in Kampong Speu and Chnang provinces," said Nguyen Van Dan, a member of the HCM City young Doctors' Association.

Dan said his group travelled to remote villages like No To Ru, Bo Ri Po and Kpong Chnang located on the shores of the Tonle Sap Lake in Kapong Chnang Province, which is home to many Vietnamese-Cambodian people.

The doctors even brought mobile clinics equipped with X-Ray machines to provide quality treatment.

"Our volunteers gained valuable experience while helping others," said 25-year-old Dan, adding that he and his friends also learnt new things about local people's culture and lifestyle.

Lay Sapang, a Cambodian National Assembly deputy, said the volunteer doctors, who had both ability and experience, spent several days working with residents in isolated villages and helping them apply simple treatment methods in their daily life.

"Through their work here, they [the volunteer doctors] are playing a role in improving the long-term relationship between Viet Nam and Cambodia," he said. — VNS

Related Articles

• Authorities set to turn Hue into festival city
• Future doctors look for clues in crazy race
• Energy group asks for 50% price hike
• Can Tho asked to turn into hub of Mekong Delta
• Civil servants to enjoy State housing