Hopes That New U.S. Measures Will Cut Slavery from Global Supply Chains

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLipt61-Ps6_GGiyuS-HjLE83ljOS1nrCN1TTHKnTQUg1cJ6xxaN6bTn4DepTMYHQISmM0CXoomjciGEZl5S4m_utbrmGqs1gvuLoOTUIeNRgSe25UYRhmBdeSpkNDFOd2TRxi-FWlI4A/s1600/00.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLipt61-Ps6_GGiyuS-HjLE83ljOS1nrCN1TTHKnTQUg1cJ6xxaN6bTn4DepTMYHQISmM0CXoomjciGEZl5S4m_utbrmGqs1gvuLoOTUIeNRgSe25UYRhmBdeSpkNDFOd2TRxi-FWlI4A/s640/00.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15.75px; line-height: 22.05px; text-align: left;">Migrant workers work on fishing boats at a pier in Prachuabkhirikhant province, southern Thailand Tuesday, March 4, 2014. An environmental and human rights group charged Tuesday that Thailand is not adequately addressing severe abuse against migrant workers in the Thai fishing industry. </span></div> <div class="intro content-offset" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 36px 27px 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"> Forced labor generates about $150 billion a year, according to an estimate by the International Labor Organization.</div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="wysiwyg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">WASHINGTON DC — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The U.S. government recently closed a loophole that was allowing goods tied to forced labor to be imported and sold to consumers. Many hope the new legislation will lead profits to dry up for businesses that depend on human trafficking, and in turn free more victims from slavery.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The legislation, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 24, closes an 85-year-old legal opening, which had exempted from anti-slavery rules imported goods that the United States could not produce itself.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> This and other measures signaled recently by the United States are expected to strengthen the scrutiny on imported goods that may have been sourced from supply chains tainted by slavery, including from the Thai fishing industry, which employs many Cambodian migrant workers. But enforcement will be all important, given the vast profits thought to be derived from forced labor—about $150 billion a year, according to an estimate by the International Labor Organization.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Karen Stauss, director of programs at the organization Free the Slaves, said the new law sent a strong message that goods made by slaves are no longer welcome in the U.S. market. “They [companies] must do more of their own due diligence processes to ensure that there is no slavery or human trafficking tied to such products that they wish to sell in the United States,” she said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The new measure could encourage Thai seafood companies, for example, to change their business behaviors, she said. “The incentive for them is to change their behavior so that they can continue to sell their products in a market that no longer wants to tolerate the presence of slavery within items they are selling,” said Stauss.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The repeal of the loophole has been a long time coming, says David Abramowitz, vice president for policy and government relations at the non-profit Humanity United and a former chief counsel to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “It has been a major advocacy goal of a number of organizations and civil society in the United States. And if the U.S. government follows up on this bill, and implements well, it could really make the difference all around the world,” he said in an interview with SuperShare.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The new law would allow the U.S. government “additional diplomatic pressure” to promote human dignity as a principal of doing business around the world, he said. This would also be promoted through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a new free trade scheme that includes three Southeast Asian countries, he said. “There is a specific provision which requires all countries that join the TPP to discourage to the import of goods made of forced labor,” said Abramowitz.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Annick Febrey, senior associate for the group Human Rights First’s anti-trafficking campaign, said that stronger enforcement would likely follow the legal change. “Our hope is that this new legislation, once it is enforced, will start to dry up some of the profit for the perpetrators who are trafficking people into the industry, such as fishing in Thailand,” Febrey said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Thailand is one of the world’s largest seafood suppliers, exporting in large quantities to the United States and the European Union. Investigations last year led to calls for the Thai government to crack down on forced labor. Hundreds of Cambodians, Burmese and Bangladeshi workers were rescued from Thai-registered boats and from an Indonesian island where some had fled from their abusive captains.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Chum Phally, advocacy and policy advisor to Winrock International’s countering trafficking-in-persons program for Cambodia, praised the collective international intervention against slavery in supply chains. Going forward, he said, uniform monitoring and enforcement was needed.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “International intervention is one of the effective measures to protect workers’ rights, especially those immigrant workers such as those trapped on Thai boats,” he said. “And I believe the U.S. legislation to close the loophole will continue to contribute to the fight against human trafficking and forced labor in developing countries.”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> But holding perpetrators accountable is a challenge given the nature of global supply chains, Febrey said. For those who benefit from forced labor, it’s a very low-risk crime. Last year, an estimated 23.9 million people were employed in unfree conditions, but only about 4,000 convictions were made in courts worldwide. “So we need to make it more risky for the perpetrators,” Febrey said, “and that will begin to dry up the profit, in order to put that into the equation.”</div> </div> </div> <br /></div>

Hopes That New U.S. Measures Will Cut Slavery from Global Supply Chains

Migrant workers work on fishing boats at a pier in Prachuabkhirikhant province, southern Thailand Tuesday, March 4, 2014. An environment...

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Cambodia Laying Tracks for Transport Future

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsXbDHbY-Vk4HYf8VYeiJte_bpIzSBGVwlFEPKOR-n84JanFWULBXUXyxpjscQECoR_59Jv8M9QXdnWxUr8NnH1aUog2-2-wHL8LsnJCfCriMGWRq4TCTrlixxJ424uTDbJK-BMbYAQs/s1600/00.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsXbDHbY-Vk4HYf8VYeiJte_bpIzSBGVwlFEPKOR-n84JanFWULBXUXyxpjscQECoR_59Jv8M9QXdnWxUr8NnH1aUog2-2-wHL8LsnJCfCriMGWRq4TCTrlixxJ424uTDbJK-BMbYAQs/s640/00.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15.75px; line-height: 22.05px; text-align: left;">A train being prepared for departure at Phnom Penh station.</span></div> <div class="intro content-offset" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 36px 27px 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"> Experts say Cambodia will require between $13 billion and $16 billion in infrastructure investment from 2013-2022 if it is to maintain its growth trajectory.</div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="wysiwyg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> It’s been nearly 13 years since a passenger train last departed from Phnom Penh’s train station. But after years of refurbishment works along the country’s dilapidated southern line, more than 170 eager travelers boarded the 7am train on Saturday to take the scenic eight-hour maiden trip to the coastal town of Sihanoukville.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “I think it is a good alternative transportation to a bus, a car or airplane, and I think the train is safer than a bus,” said Putserey Roth, an excited train traveler.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> This voyage was the first in a weeklong trial that its operators, Royal Railway, hope will spark enough interest to pave the way for a regular daily service.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> While the sold-out 266-kilometer journey marks a small step forward for the country’s tourism sector, the railway line began commercial operations in 2013, providing a much needed transport option for Cambodia’s freight sector, whose infrastructure needs are struggling to keep up with the country’s fast growing economy.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Struggling to keep pace</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> For over a decade Cambodia’s economy has grown at an average of close to 7 percent.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Expansion plans are underway at the Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville ports. The capital’s airport has recently undergone an upgrade and roads are constantly being developed and rebuilt, with the government having targeted priority areas for development.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Experts, however, say that seeking funding for the infrastructure needs to support trade over the next decade will be a challenging task.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> According to the Jakarta-based Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, from 2013 to 2022, Cambodia will require between $13 billion and $16 billion in infrastructure investment – from roads and railways, to power plants and ports – if it is to maintain its growth trajectory.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Driven by worldwide exports in Cambodia’s garment and rice sectors, as well as new car imports demanded by the country’s emerging middle class, Phnom Penh Dry Port has rapidly increased it’s rail freight between the capital and the country’s largest sea port in Sihanoukville, from 50 containers a month when it first started three years ago to more than 2,500 per month today.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “The business is growing, it is about proving to people that we are safe, reliable, and above all we don’t have any theft,” said John Guiry, Chief Executive Officer at Royal Railway, whose company runs two to four trains per day, depending on demand.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “As people get used to using rail, the business will continue to grow,” he said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Logistics suffering</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Yet experts say there is still much to do to bring down costs across all forms of transport, from waterways, to inland trucking, rail and even air freight.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> While there have been improvements in customs clearing times, according to the World bank, Cambodia’s weak logistics mean that export costs are 30 percent higher than neighboring Thailand and Vietnam.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> David Van, of business advisory firm Bower Group Asia, who has played an active role in Cambodia’s rice and garment industry for over a decade, says that the waterways flowing through the country are underutilized and there is too few businesses in the trucking industry.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> He said the government needs to offer up more financial incentives such as tax breaks and short-term tax holidays to entice investors. “In order to attract foreign or local investment, into this kind of heavy, capital intense infrastructure, it goes back to the same song that people keep singing: 'what are you providing me in terms of fiscal incentives?'”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Government called to action</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> As the country edges closer towards middle-income status, its potential to attract aid in order to support infrastructure needs is reduced.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> This, according to economist and senior government advisor Mey Kalyan, has the government eying new sources of funding - from accessing assistance from the recently formed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to planning for the issuance of a future sovereign bond.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The government is also working to enhance its standing among infrastructure investors with the development of a policy for public private partnerships (PPPs). These contracts vary from project to project, but often involve the private entity building and operating anything from a power plant, to a road or a railway line, over a long term.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Since the 1990s, Cambodia’s government has entered into several PPPs, largely in the power sector - in hydro dams and coal plants, although many of these deals have been negotiated behind closed doors.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> But according to Kalyan, following their narrow victory in the 2013 election, the ruling Cambodia Peoples Party recognizes that voters expect more.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The government must open up, he says, to win the trust of the private sector and lure the investment it needs to underpin the growth that improves the livelihoods of everyday Cambodians.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.2px; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “[PPPs] have to be negotiated in a very transparent way, and for that we need an institution which is capable, and honest and with integrity. I think there is no doubt about that,” he said.</div> </div> </div> <br /></div>

Cambodia Laying Tracks for Transport Future

A train being prepared for departure at Phnom Penh station. Experts say Cambodia will require between $13 billion and $16 billion in ...

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Date Set for Commune Elections Next Year

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3dwsgzFioX-IV5yAOrvL3lFK90hEYK8GguCtTK352xThJ2T3PI8cmKvwXty2Xci9kiuu-l0sn4Fi5mzWJ5FaiiJJIb5_ZOcXOVCVN_0GEA_A0yVGt54tXXWeyTgWkluU_zXSj5BWr10/s1600/00.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3dwsgzFioX-IV5yAOrvL3lFK90hEYK8GguCtTK352xThJ2T3PI8cmKvwXty2Xci9kiuu-l0sn4Fi5mzWJ5FaiiJJIb5_ZOcXOVCVN_0GEA_A0yVGt54tXXWeyTgWkluU_zXSj5BWr10/s640/00.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15.75px; line-height: 22.05px; text-align: left;">A woman finds her name on a list during a local commune election in Phnom Penh, file photo.</span></div> <div class="intro content-offset" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 36px 27px 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"> The decree, signed by Hun Sen on May 24, sets a June 4, 2017, date for the polls, which will come a year ahead of the next general election, due in 2018.</div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="wysiwyg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">PHNOM PENH — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Local elections will be held in June next year, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced in a decision signed earlier this month.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The decree, signed by Hun Sen on May 24, sets a June 4, 2017, date for the polls, which will come a year ahead of the next general election, due in 2018.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Sam Kuntheamy, head of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections, or NICFEC, said the National Election Committee (NEC) “would be a bit rushed” to complete voter registration ahead of the vote.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The announcement comes after the deputy secretary general of the NEC, Ny Chakrya, was jailed on charges of being an accomplice to bribery over his alleged involvement a defamation case against opposition deputy leader Kem Sokha.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Rong Chhun, the former president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, one of the opposition’s choices for membership of the NEC, was also recently charged with the alleged involvement in violence on Veng Sreng Boulevard in Phnom Penh during garment worker strikes in 2014.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Kuntheamy of NICFEC said while the case against Ny Chakrya would not interfere with the NEC’s role ahead of the vote, the presence of Rong Chhun would be sorely missed.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “The NEC needs nine people…any rule must be decided by an absolute majority, meaning five people, so that it’s valid,” he said. “So if there were only eight people any decision [could split the vote].”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Hang Puthea, NEC spokesman, said the body would “put its duties and responsibilities ahead of everything else.”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “The NEC was selected by parliament to fulfill duties in line with the law. The NEC doesn’t have any choice besides implementing the law,” he said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Tep Nytha, secretary general of the NEC, has said that the elections will cost about $52 million, including voter registration, which is due to start soon.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> In the last round of commune elections, in 2012, Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party won 97% of the vote, making way for the CPP to control almost all of Cambodia’s local administrations.</div> </div> </div> <br /></div>

Date Set for Commune Elections Next Year

A woman finds her name on a list during a local commune election in Phnom Penh, file photo. The decree, signed by Hun Sen on May 24, ...

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Cambodia Teetering on the Edge of Chaos: Analysts

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWFBNMPoJt3dQhX29bndKblCVP4jkqs4TnsOUuL91SWt-gQ-6OSUuwJzfq7wemIVumMtBAalmxPT0ESf_iL5v-3jaqZ6J3p1incCs53VLlRxlyy9C4dCpxY4EkgrWD6WsCGrCYnOR63g/s1600/00.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWFBNMPoJt3dQhX29bndKblCVP4jkqs4TnsOUuL91SWt-gQ-6OSUuwJzfq7wemIVumMtBAalmxPT0ESf_iL5v-3jaqZ6J3p1incCs53VLlRxlyy9C4dCpxY4EkgrWD6WsCGrCYnOR63g/s640/00.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15.75px; line-height: 22.05px; text-align: left;">Cambodian Vice President of the National Assembly Kem Sokha, also vice president of Cambodia National Rescue Party, foreground, delivers a speech during a Buddhist ceremony to mark 18th anniversary in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, March 30, 2015.</span></div> <div class="intro content-offset" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 36px 27px 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"> The comments came as the CNRP announced it was ready to organize mass protests in response to the attempted arrest of its deputy leader, Kem Sokha.</div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="wysiwyg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">PHNOM PENH — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Social and political analysts have called for renewed political dialogue between the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party amid a tense political standoff.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Speaking to SuperShare last week, the analysts warned of serious social and political upheaval if the current instability persisted.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The comments came as the CNRP announced it was ready to organize mass protests in response to the attempted arrest of its deputy leader, Kem Sokha, who went into hiding late last week.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Kem Sokha faces a contentious defamation case involving allegations he procured the services of a "prostitute."</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “The party will use the right to stage a non-violent demonstration in case Kem Sokha, acting president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) is arrested,” a party statement released on Friday said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Pou Sovachana, a researcher with the Cambodian institute of Cooperation and Peace, told SuperShare that the current standoff had caused divisions and was damaging to the national interest.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Only King Norodom Sihamoni was in a position to end the dispute, he added.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “I think that the king, if he understands and is willing to solve the problem, he should call the leaders of the two parties to sit and talk to each other in order to discuss and offer mutual understanding for our national interest, because the divisions are growing,” he said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> On Thursday, armed police attempted to arrest Sokha on the capital’s Norodom Boulevard, however, the CNRP leader was not in his car when the operation was launched.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The attempted arrest came after Sokha had refused to appear in court to answer questions related to a defamation case and allegations he used a prostitute.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> CNRP activists said they would do what they could to prevent Sokha’s arrest, arguing that he still holds immunity from prosecution under laws governing parliament.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Meas Ny, a social development researcher, said that the only reasonable solution to the standoff was for independently convened talks.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “If the leaders understand that what they are doing is harmful to social stability, honor, and the reputation of the country, but they still keep doing it, I think that it’s difficult to say. But if they think that this is too much and should turn to reconcile and work with each other, this is good,” he said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The CNRP also called for talks in its statement on Friday.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The party “will continue to use the culture of dialogue to be a base for restoring the situation in order to bring back normalcy, ensuring that the elections in 2017 and 2018 would be conducted freely, with fairness, and justice,” it said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> While the ruling party has welcomed previous calls for a return to the so-called culture of dialogue, which ended a yearlong parliamentary boycott by the CNRP in 2014, recently the CPP has said it would require a precondition that the release of party members and supporters from jail would not be discussed.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Heng Sreang, a social researcher, predicted a return to levels of violence seen in the 1990s, when Cambodia was in the final throws of civil war and violence against opposition rallies was commonplace and led to numerous deaths and disappearances.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “In Cambodia, from 1996, 1997 and 1998, tension erupted. There were mass movements of people going on demonstrations and protesters were arrested… it was similar [to today’s situation],” he said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Heng Sreang, however, said the king could not act as a neutral force to mediate the dispute and suggested the best mediator would be the United Nations, a possibility the ruling CPP has all but ruled out.</div> </div> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> </div>

Cambodia Teetering on the Edge of Chaos: Analysts

Cambodian Vice President of the National Assembly Kem Sokha, also vice president of Cambodia National Rescue Party, foreground, delivers...

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Dialogue Elusive as World Powers Call for Talks

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzIMmxDgALYkzPCpbwOINBHdlXooWggbWCC9yUMDncKXz2JQzlkIYZBGI_XckK4AyiQyAQK5RMktXxo1eXebL5hWQIqmiZ2EIvHDGJ3jtPVgBUbOc-BePKoN1KuJ7IFgE8BMw233xzCY/s1600/00.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzIMmxDgALYkzPCpbwOINBHdlXooWggbWCC9yUMDncKXz2JQzlkIYZBGI_XckK4AyiQyAQK5RMktXxo1eXebL5hWQIqmiZ2EIvHDGJ3jtPVgBUbOc-BePKoN1KuJ7IFgE8BMw233xzCY/s640/00.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15.75px; line-height: 22.05px; text-align: left;">Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, second from right, shakes hands with the main opposition party leader Sam Rainsy, left, of Cambodia National Rescue Party, as Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, second from left, looks on after a meeting in Senate headquarter, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.</span></div> <div class="intro content-offset" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 36px 27px 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"> At least 16 other opposition members and supporters have been jailed since the two parties in late 2014 agreed to work together in parliament under a so-called culture of dialogue.</div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="wysiwyg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">PHNOM PENH — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The United States and European Union have expressed concern over the deteriorating political situation in Cambodia following weeks of tension between the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Last week, the U.S. Embassy said it was deeply worried by the deployment off paramilitary forces to the CNRP headquarters during a march by opposition supporters.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The statement was followed on Monday by an E.U. released which echoed the sentiment of the U.S., saying it regretted the “dangerous political escalation…and urge the Cambodian authorities to resume as soon as possible a peaceful and constructive dialogue with the opposition.”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Armed police attempted to arrest Kem Sokha last Thursday while his car was traveling on a busy road in the capital, but he was not in the car. Security forces later appeared at the party headquarters to try again without success.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Ruling party spokesman Sok Eysan said that there had been no formal approach from the CNRP to request talks and that renewed dialogue was unlikely in the near future.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Prime Minister Hun Sen is due to visit Malaysia in the coming days, while Interior Minister Sar Kheng is on a tour of the provinces, he said. “So there is no time.”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Eang Chhay Eang, a CNRP lawmaker, said the party’s working group stood ready to hold talks, adding that Kem Sokha was now staying at the party headquarters, fearing arrest.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “He is staying here. Now, we don’t know when they [police] will arrest him... in here, we received the citizens and let them observe every day,” he said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The E.U. statement on Monday also called for an end to the “harassment” of civil society representatives. Four local rights workers and an election official were arrested in early May and soon after they were held on bribery charges.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Eysan said that all discussion of the possibility of the cases against Kem Sokha and the civil society members were off the table in any potential talks in the future.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> He added that it was only a matter of time before Kem Sokha was apprehended.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> “Nobody intimidated him. When the day for the arrest comes, they will go to arrest [him] because this [arrest] was approved by parliament. So, it’s now in the stage of the judiciary’s power,” he said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Kem Sokha is being investigated for allegedly procuring the services of a prostitute, a minor offense under Cambodia’s criminal code. He is also the subject of two defamation cases related to the prostitution charge.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> He has failed to attend two court hearings in recent weeks, an offense that carries a penalty of up to six months in prison and a fine.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> The party leader, Sam Rainsy, remains in self-imposed exile since an arrest warrant was issued over years-old defamation ruling that would see him jailed for two years upon his return.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> Since the arrest of the rights workers and election official in early May, protesters have gathered on Mondays dressed in black to call for their release.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;"> At least 16 other opposition members and supporters have been jailed since the two parties in late 2014 agreed to work together in parliament under a so-called culture of dialogue, ending about a year of parliamentary boycotts and street protests that were often met with violence.</div> </div> </div> <br /></div>

Dialogue Elusive as World Powers Call for Talks

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, second from right, shakes hands with the main opposition party leader Sam Rainsy, left, of Cambodia Na...

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