FOX News : Health

27 February, 2009

Watchdog slams UN over KRT

Watchdog slams UN over KRT

The Phnom Penh Post
Written by Georgia Wilkins
Thursday, 26 February 2009


UNLESS the UN reverses the Khmer Rouge tribunal's latest anti-corruption plan, they risk "lowering the bar for all future efforts to try international crimes", international watchdog the Open Society Justice Initiative said Wednesday.

Referring to a new agreement by the two sides of the court to work separately to protect the court against corruption, the New York-based monitoring group said there were no real changes made to the existing system, which had allowed for graft allegations to arise last year.

"Taken together, these provisions do nothing to alter the de facto Cambodian government veto, which has stymied genuine investigations of corruption to date," a press release Wednesday said.

Top UN legal official Peter Taksoe-Jensen met with Deputy Prime Minister Sok An to finalise the new mechanisms Monday. The two sides resolved to set up individual mechanisms that would report back to each other and agree on the type of action to take.

But according to OSJI, the new "parallel" mechanisms mean that staff is restricted to reporting corruption to its own side of the court and does not contain provisions to protect whistleblowers.

"A system where each side handles the complaints of its own staff has

already been tried and shown not to work," James A Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, is quoted as saying in the statement.

"To be credible going forward, any mechanism must have the confidence of all staff that their complaints will be taken seriously, that whistleblowers will be protected and that effective action will be taken to address valid complaints," he added.

A report by a UN oversight body in August 2008 detailed allegations that the court's Cambodian staff members were paying kickbacks to their bosses. The report was sent directly to the Cambodian government, who have not released results of its review. The UN has also failed to make the report public.

The new mechanisms come after months of diplomatic wrangling over what monitoring system would satisfy both sides. The suggestion of an international, independent monitor by the UN side was turned down by the Cambodian government during talks for a mechanism that better respected national sovereignty.

"The agreement lacks details about the protections afforded to staff who alert authorities to instances of wrongdoing, and contains inadequate
promises of confidentiality," the statement said.

"In addition, it fails to offer provisions for dealing with outstanding allegations of corruption," it added.

Observers of the court say the failure to take action could be the last straw for the court's credibility.

"Allegations of corrupt practices involving the Cambodian side of the court threaten to taint the legal proceedings. This matter must be resolved and cannot be allowed to fester," John Hall, professor at Chapman University School of Law, told the Post via email.


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The joint statement smacks of political COMpromise and acquescence

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"It is simply unreasonable to expect Cambodian staff to come forward with complaints of wrongdoing if they must file such reports with Ethics Monitors appointed by the Cambodian government or the Cambodian management at the court," he said.

Hall added that the parallel mechanism envisaged in the Joint Statement could "chill" future complaints of wrongdoing.

"That may be convenient for those who want the accusations of corrupt behavior to simply go away. The Joint Statement smacks of political compromise and acquiescence. Hopefully as the details are announced in coming weeks, the new mechanism will not turn out to be as flawed as it appears at first sight."

Members look beyond bloc for solutions

Members look beyond bloc for solutions
Lilian Budianto , The Jakarta Post , Bangkok Thu, 02/26/2009 2:11 PM World

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gears up to build an integrated community under the newly adopted ASEAN Charter, its ten member states continue to use bilateral or other regional arrangements to address disputes because of a lack of commonalities.

Many trans-boundary issues within the region of more than half a billion people are solved outside of the ASEAN forum, the latest being the case of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

Myanmar and affected countries have agreed to solve the plight of the Rohingya people under the Bali Process, a 2002 multilateral initiative aimed at increasing cooperation among countries in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific regions.

The plight of the boat people will not be on the agenda at the five-day ASEAN Summit this weekend in Hua Hin, Thailand, and any discussion about it during the summit will be addressed during informal talks only, Thailand's director general for ASEAN affairs Vitavas Srivihok said.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said the diversity in the values, norms and standards among the member states meant a great reluctance to discuss sensitive matters under the ASEAN forum.

"We are not like the European Union. In Europe you have to have certain commonalities and standards in politics and economics to move as a unit. In ASEAN, as long as you are in Southeast Asia, you are qualified," Surin said during a recent interview.

ASEAN member countries have different political realities - ranging from military-ruled Myanmar and communist Vietnam to capitalist Singapore and democratic Indonesia and the Philippines. When the issue of bilateralism comes up, ASEAN will ask members whether they want the forum to be involved and whether they want the bloc to mediate.

"Most of the time members states will be reluctant, not because ASEAN is reluctant, but because of the differences between member states. They prefer their own bilateral arrangements," Surin said.

When a border dispute erupted between Thailand and Cambodia last year, the two countries initially resorted to the UN to solve the dispute. It was a slap in the face of the bloc as it happened during the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Singapore last July.

Many have cast doubt over the sustainability of the ASEAN Charter, signed in December 2008, which will see the ten member states living under one roof with the pillars of economic, security and socio-cultural communities.

Under pressure from ASEAN, Cambodia and Thailand subsequently decided to deal with the issue through bilateral agreements. Negotiations of the border dispute, which involves the disputed sovereignty of an ancient Hindu temple, have been stalled as occasional military hostilities along the border continue.

ASEAN was very ready to mediate, but the two parties could not agree on the desired level of involvement or timeframe for its involvement. "What we did was to help behind the scenes, leaders made phone calls and appeals and asked for restraint," Surin said.

Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo said last week there was no reason to bring disputes to multilateral forums if the countries involved could settle their problems bilaterally or utilize international mechanisms with more favorable arrangements.

As the bloc's dispute settlement mechanism - as envisaged under the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation - has not once been used, ASEAN is now working on developing a new mechanism, under the ASEAN Charter.

Singapore and Malaysia went to the UN International Court of Justice to solve their decades-old terrirorial dispute. The ICJ granted the Pedra Branca islands to Singapore in 2008; Malaysia got the Middle Rocks islands.

"We both made our own cases and presented it to the international tribunal. We let them decide and we both agreed to abide by whatever decision was made. It's a good way of solving the dispute, it's de-politized and completely objective and professional and there is no need to worry about accusations that you have sold out your country," he said.

Indonesia has also opted to go to the ICJ to solve its dispute with Malaysia over the Sipadan Ligitan islands. It lost the case in 2002 in a defeat that dealt the government a great blow. Indonesia and Malaysia are still engaged in the bilateral negotiations over the maritime area of Ambalat in the Celebes Sea, which is rich in oil reserves.

Djuhari Oratmangun, the Foreign Ministry's new director general for ASEAN affairs, said that integration of ASEAN was a target that would be achieved gradually by completing the regional mechanism, which members could then turn to confidently to solve disputes.

"ASEAN is now working on developing various mechanisms for member states as options to help them sort through disputes. Many cases, such as the Rohingya boat people, are brought to other forums because of the unavailability of sufficient arrangements within the bloc," he said.

ASEAN human rights body lacks power to punish

ASEAN human rights body lacks power to punish
The Associated PressPublished: February 27, 2009
Posted by Chea Sophal

CHA-AM, Thailand: Southeast Asian officials on Friday hailed the creation of a regional human rights body as a historic first step toward confronting abuses in the region, but the body will lack the power to investigate or punish violators of human rights like military-ruled Myanmar.

A confidential document obtained by The Associated Press says the rights body, which the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations hopes to form later this year, would "promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms" in the region but will abide by the bloc's bedrock policy of not interfering in members internal affairs.

The document, which outlines the proposed powers of the future rights body, falls short of key demands voiced by international human rights groups, which say the body will have limited effectiveness unless it can impose sanctions or expel countries that violate the rights of their own citizens.

The document was being presented behind closed-doors to ASEAN foreign ministers gathered at a coastal resort in Thailand ahead of an annual leaders summit this weekend. It is a first draft for the body's proposed powers, with a final draft scheduled for completion in July.

The delegates are expected to devote most of their time to grappling with how the region can best cope with the global economic crisis. Although reform in Myanmar may be discussed on the sidelines of the conference, ASEAN traditionally shies away from criticism of its members.

Thailand, which currently holds ASEAN's rotating chairmanship and is hosting the summit, bills the meeting as a turning point for the bloc.

It is the first time leaders will meet since the group signed a landmark charter in December. The document made ASEAN a legal entity and moves it a step closer toward the goal of establishing a single market by 2015 and becoming a European Union-like community.

One of the charter's key pledges is to set up the regional human rights body. It is a landmark step and a highly controversial one for the Cold War-era bloc made up of fledgling democracies, authoritarian states, a military dictatorship and a monarchy.

"It is a historic first for Southeast Asia," said Rosario Manalo, a senior diplomat representing the Philippines on the high-level panel that drafted the human rights body's outline. "It marks the efforts of the region to move toward democracy."

Officials describe the human rights body as a work in progress, saying its powers will evolve over time.

"Investigative powers should not be ruled out. We'll take it step by step," said Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Thailand's chairman of the drafting committee. "We have to go as far as we can but at the same time we have to be realistic."

ASEAN's 10 members — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — range from very poor to moderately rich.

The bloc that has long been criticized as a talk shop that forges agreements by consensus and steers away from confrontation — a factor that rights groups note will impede progress for the eventual human rights body.

According to the confidential document, the human rights body would follow the principles of "noninterference in the internal affairs of ASEAN member states" and would "respect the right of every member state to (be) free from external interference, subversion and coercion."

Any decisions taken by the group "shall be based on consultation and consensus," the document says, effectively giving Myanmar and other violators veto power to block decisions.

International human rights groups have urged ASEAN leaders to press military-ruled Myanmar to end its rights abuses.

London-based Amnesty International said in a statement earlier this week that ASEAN "must be empowered to effectively address human rights in Myanmar."

New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a letter to ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan, urged the summit to address "the dire human rights situation in Burma" and also improve treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the region.

The United States also blasted Myanmar's junta for having "brutally suppressed dissent" through a campaign of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture.

In its annual report on the state of human rights around the world, the U.S. State Department on Wednesday criticized Myanmar's junta for a range of abuses including the holding of more than 2,100 political prisoners, the continued detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and a brutal military campaign against ethnic minority groups.

CAMBODIA: The government's record "remained poor" during 2008

U.S. challenges several Asian countries on human rights
By Mark McDonald Published: February 26, 2009

HONG KONG: The U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights took a number of Asian countries to task over a broad range of issues in 2008.

Countries such as Myanmar, North Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia were sharply criticized, while Indonesia and Thailand received generally high marks.

The survey (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/index.htm), a worldwide roundup required by Congress, is compiled from reports by U.S. diplomats in each country.

CAMBODIA: The State Department said the government's record "remained poor" during 2008, and it criticized extrajudicial killings by security forces, arbitrary arrests, prolonged pretrial detentions, a weak judiciary and denials of the right to a fair trial.

Seizures of private land for government and commercial projects has caused extensive unrest in Cambodia, especially in the capital Phnom Penh, and the U.S. report cited land issues as "a continuing problem."

"Corruption was endemic," the report said.

The commercial sex trade continued to ensnare women and children, the report found. Cambodia has long been a regional destination for child-sex tourists, and the report cited "increasing reports that Asian men traveled to the country to have sex with underage virgin girls."

HONG KONG: The U.S. report found that the Hong Kong government "generally respected" the rights of its citizens in 2008 and passed new measures to protect women against violence, including marital rape.

One of the persistent "core issues" of concern for the State Department, however, is the semi-autonomous Chinese territory's Basic Law, which the report said "limits the ability of citizens to participate in and change their government."

"The legislature was limited in its power to introduce or amend legislation," the survey said, "and could not approve executive appointments."

INDONESIA: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton detoured through Indonesia last week during a trip to Asia - her first overseas mission for President Barack Obama - and she said the country had undergone "a great transformation" since the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago.

The State Department report, on balance, also was complimentary of Indonesia, referring to "significant measures to advance human rights and consolidate democracy."

"Indonesia deserves credit - really remarkable," said Zachary Abuza, a professor of political science at Simmons College in Boston and a widely recognized expert on Southeast Asia. "The story of this year's election is that there is no story: parties are out doing things parties do, candidates are campaigning, and there is little political violence. Democracy, albeit imperfect, is taking root."

But Abuza added that "the usual suspects deserve their comeuppance" in the report - the judiciary, well-connected business interests and the military.

"In practice," the State Department said, "the judiciary remained susceptible to influence from outside parties, including business interests, politicians, and the military."

MACAO: Incidents of official corruption, human trafficking and some limits on political activities were the principal blots - and largely minor ones, according to the U.S. report - on the record of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which the report said "generally respected the human rights of its citizens."

But the survey cited a number of cases of Hong Kong lawmakers, politicians and activists being denied entry to Macao, presumably for their opposition to the proposed Article 23, a broadly worded amendment to Hong Kong's Basic Law that prohibits subversion against the Beijing government. Macao's largely pro-Beijing Legislature passed a version of the measure on Wednesday.

MALAYSIA: The country's national elections in March were held in "a generally transparent manner," the U.S. report said, and the central government "generally respected the human rights of its citizens."
But the report also found worrisome and chronic problems, including "credible allegations of immigration officials' involvement in the trafficking of Burmese refugees" as well as governmental preferences given to ethnic Malays. Malaysia also continued to restrict some basic freedoms, including press, speech and religion, the State Department said.

In practice, the report found, "the country does not permit Muslims, born into Islam, to convert to another religion," and civil courts have not intervened in these apostasy cases that have come before courts enforcing Shariah, or Islamic law.

"The report completely skipped over the huge number of contentious cases regarding apostasy," Abuza said. "It mentioned the one case of Lina Joy, but none of the others. Communal tensions are as high as they've been in years."

MYANMAR: The report on Myanmar, which the State Department survey refers to as Burma, called the ruling junta "highly authoritarian" and said military officers "wielded the ultimate authority at each level of government."

The U.S. criticisms were harsh and wide-ranging: extrajudicial killings; official rape, torture and disappearances; the abuse, harassment and detention of political activists; the delay of international aid to cyclone victims; use of children as soldiers and forced laborers for the military; the trafficking of women and girls; and restrictions on speech, assembly and worship.

"Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn't influenced the Burmese junta," Clinton said last week. "Reaching out and trying to engage them hasn't worked either."

Two senior opposition leaders - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, a longtime political activist - remained under house arrest. Severe restrictions on aid workers and NGOs remained in place, despite a crippling cyclone in May that left some 130,000 dead and missing. The State Department assailed the junta for delaying the distribution of international humanitarian aid to citizens and areas affected by the storm.

NORTH KOREA: "A dictatorship under the absolute rule of Kim Jong Il" is how the State Department described the North Korean regime.

The report on 2008 reiterates the regime's many known abuses, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture of prisoners through the use of electric shocks, public nakedness and extreme stress positions. "Pregnant female prisoners underwent forced abortions in some cases," the survey said, "and in other cases babies were killed upon birth in prisons."

The regime's nearly absolute control of information meant Internet access was limited to high-ranking officials and select university students, the report stated, noting that Web access was routed by phone lines through China and a local connection linked to a German server.

SINGAPORE: The U.S. report assailed the government's use of its "broad powers to limit citizens' rights and to handicap political opposition," and also criticized the practice of preventive detention, executive influence over the judiciary and abridgements on freedom of speech and the press.

"Government intimidation and pressure to conform resulted in self-censorship among journalists," the report found. "However, there was a moderate level of debate in newspapers and on the Internet on some public issues such as rising income inequality and whether to repeal a statute that bans homosexual activity."

THAILAND: It was a fractious year for Thailand, with anti-government protests and court rulings leading to substantial political changes. Mass protests at one point shut down both the airports in Bangkok for eight days, causing a serious blow to the economy. The political street theater calmed in December, with the selection of a new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The U.S. report found that Thailand "avoided unconstitutional disruptions in governance, and the government's respect for human rights remained unchanged."

"In all, the State Department seems so pleased that Abhisit is in power and that there is the potential for political stability that it's willing to gloss over much of the undemocratic means that got him there," Abuza said.

"The report also glosses over the back-room machinations of the monarchy and the total politicization of the judiciary," he added. "It also generally ignores the fact that under the 2007 Constitution, half the senators are appointed, mainly by the crown."

The report tied numerous human rights abuses to a separatist insurgency in southern Thailand.

"The human rights community has documented more than 34 extrajudicial killings in the south, far above the State Department's reporting," Abuza said.

VIETNAM: The summary of the State Department report on Vietnam was sharp and to the point: "The government's human rights record remained unsatisfactory."
"Political opposition movements were prohibited," the report stated. "The government continued to crack down on dissent, arresting political activists and causing several dissidents to flee the country. Police sometimes abused suspects during arrest, detention, and interrogation. Corruption was a significant problem in the police force."

State controls were found to have been tightened on the press and freedom of speech; foreign human rights groups were barred from the country; and human trafficking, violence against women and Internet firewalls (particularly against sites affiliated with the Catholic Church) remained areas of concern to the United States.

"The country was a significant source for trafficking in persons," the report stated, and there were reports of women being sent not just to other countries in the region but also to Britain, Eastern Europe, and the United States. "Children were trafficked for the purpose of prostitution, both within the country and to foreign destinations."

Garment industry in Cambodia: towards a thorough revision of social dialogue?


Garment industry in Cambodia: towards a thorough revision of social dialogue?

Ka-Set
By Ros Dina and Laurent Le Gouanvic
24-11-2008

Posted by Chea Sophal


Chom Chao (Cambodia), 25/09/2008. Garment workers on their way home after the shift
© John Vink / Magnum

Today in Cambodia, more than 1,000 trade unions coexist within the odd 540 garment factories established in the country. The unions' role is officially to defend workers' fundamental rights, but the de facto reality is quite different: their representatives sometimes use the unions to obtain personal advantages here or reap some money there. The situation was loudly denounced by Nang Sothy, Secretary General of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, who, on the occasion of the Government – Private Sector Forum held on Friday 21st November, deplored the degradation of the social climate in 2008. The social model had up until now helped attract western buyers willing to better their reputation, but shaken on the one hand by the pressure of the overall inflation, which ruined workers' buying power, and weakened on the other hand by the first consequences of the world financial crisis, the model may well be endangered, unless new forms of negotiations are elaborated between Cambodian employers and workers, at last.


Inflation, economic crisis and strikes: this is what employers fear the most, a truly explosive mixture of circumstances. They took upon themselves to voice their concern during the 14th Government-Private Sector Forum which gathered representatives of the executive power and entrepreneurs.

Jousting trade unions
The Secretary General of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and also chairman of the Phnom Penh special economic zone embarked on the criticism of “some unions”, accused of solely serving their own interest at the expense of employers as well as workers. Nang Sothy, who is also the co-chairman of the Industrial Relations Working Group, complained in his speech at the G-PSF that “In some factories, workers are represented by up to ten unions! Their quest for members transformed their role: instead of protecting the interests of workers, they tend to focus more on competing and seeking financial profit.”
According to him, the social climate has kept deteriorating during 2008: the first ten months of the year saw 95 illegal strikes organised in Cambodian textile factories, i.e. a 48% increase compared to the same period last year, Nang Sothy asserted.

“90% of unions corrupt”?
Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) and brother of famous union activist Chea Vichea assassinated in 2004, disagreed with these figures. However, the Union representative confirmed Nang Sothy's analysis of the sometimes deleterious actions of unions in an already shaky context.

“90% of unions are corrupt, either because they resort to blackmailing, or because of their relations with employers and high-ranking political representatives”, the FTUWKC leader declared point blank.

Workers held hostage
“Unions are trying to mobilise workers on strikes and then use them as hostages, and this, in their own interest”, Chea Mony detailed. “These are bad unions who generate strikes in order to blackmail employers into giving them money, and who leave the factory once they have received it.” This situation is not helping Chea Mony's trade union's actions, according to him, as he would like to focus on negotiations rather than on power struggle.

Establishing representation and a new jurisdiction
In order to put an end to the situation and prevent the scores of micro-unions from detracting from the interest of entrepreneurs, the latter, also members of the Industrial Relations Working Group, asked the government to take at least two measures: first, to promote the recognition of both the most representative unions - clearly organised in each factory and sector - and agreements coming out of collective negotiations, while making sure that union federations respect the labour law and legal procedures. Then, to prepare the drafting of a law concerning unions and creating a labour jurisdiction, which would be defined by “properly enforced” binding decisions.
“At the moment, twenty-six union federations are active within the garment industry but only ten of them can be considered as being the most representative out of all”, Nang Sothy observed, thus backing up employers' request to create a special interaction with unions, who represent at least 51% of the workers in a factory today and receive the contributions of at least 33% of their members.


Proliferating micro-unions could be detrimental to big ones
The proposition stating the recognition of big unions by factory and by sector of activity came as good news for Chea Mony and his FTUWKC, the most major union in the textile industry together with the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU). But the union activist is yet doubtful regarding the authorities' actual will to enforce such measures, even though the Prime Minister declared himself in favour of them in his reply to Nang Sothy on November 21st . “I had already voiced the idea but it hadn't worked out because the representatives of the Ministry of Labour did not support it. It would be a good thing, but I do not think that the government will accept it, because they prefer leaving these small unions to proliferate in order to weaken the FTUWKC”, Chea Mony estimated.

A law regulating trade unions?
For his part, Nang Sothy reckons that the solution will come through law. “It will be difficult if both parties – the union federation and the employer, do not intend to take the responsibility of what they agreed on and signed in their collective agreement. We, in the private sector, believe that work relations must be regulated by law, within a framework where it can be enforced, and which will impose sanctions on those who do not abide the law. The labour law allows the creation of unions but no law regulates the way they should work.”, the Secretary General of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce remarked.

Nang Sothy also demanded the reinforcement of the mechanisms of negotiations and sanctions, starting with the establishment of a proper labour court, the powers of which would be more extensive than the limited possibilities of the current Arbitration Council, an independent institution gathering representatives of employers and employees, in charge of solving labour disputes and able, in some cases and with both parties' prior agreement, to make binding decisions. “99% of strikes started by unions in Cambodia happen even before the dispute has been mentioned to the Arbitration Council. If the strikes have already started, experience [...] proves that even binding decisions cannot prevent them”, the employer reported.

The authorities' role
Chea Mony estimated that the authorities have their share of responsibility in the stiffening of work relations. “Some employers have been able to invest in Cambodia thanks to certain favours and were not required to leave the usual security deposits. In the event of bankruptcy, they can leave the territory overnight and leave workers high and dry without employment. A lot of last-minute strikes are organised because of the fear of bankruptcy, in order for salaries to be paid before the employer flees”, the union activist explained.

To Nang Sothy, the strengthening of the legal framework must be enforced as soon as possible. But this must also be done with tact and in accordance with the unions themselves, otherwise they could yet again threaten employers with strikes. This resulted in an announcement made by Prime Minister Hun Sen towards union activists and workers on the occasion of the G-PSF. “It is not time to go on strike against factories but rather time to bring home the bacon!”, he declared before calling for an association between “all partners, workers and employers” in order to collaborate and abide the law. To this statement, Chea Mony retorted: “If employers truly abided the law, there would be no need to go on strike. And bad unions would not be able to play with corruption.”

NSSF: Work-related accidents: first shaky steps for the Cambodian social security system

Work-related accidents: first shaky steps for the Cambodian social security system
Ka-Set
By Ros Dina , 26-02-2009
Posted by Chea Sophal


Chom Chao (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), 29/09/2008. In the space of three months, the National Social Security Fund registered 350 accidents among garment workers on their way to work
©John Vink/ Magnum



Close to 350,000 Cambodian workers, mainly working in the textile manufacturing sector, have been benefiting for the past three months from a brand new insurance service regarding work-related accidents. The service is funded by specific employers' social contributions and is managed by a new public institution, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Before, the Cambodian authorities only cited a dozen accidents at work per year, most of which were revealed by media like newspapers. Since the establishment of the system in November 2008, 350 work-related accidents have been reported, of which 20 serious cases and three cases of death, thus proving the usefulness of the service, on both sides, employers and trade unions.

More than 380 companies accepted to play the game
Adopted in March 2007, the law regarding work-related accidents requires every employer in Cambodia to have their employees registered with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and pay for work and health social contributions which correspond to 0.8% of the gross salary of every one of them. Sum Sophorn, deputy director of the public institution and in charge of managing the new social security system, is very pleased that this legal obligation saw 386 companies comply with it since the establishment of the NSSF in November 2008.

Textile companies constitute the main part of this first batch and therefore appear as pioneers in that field, in a country where the concept of national social insurance is timidly developing: 280 of them accepted to play the game. This finally represents slightly more than half of the textile companies who officially operate in Cambodia but, as claimed by the NSSF deputy director, others have expressed their intention to conform to the new requirement in the few months to come and simply ask for an extra delay for them to adapt to the new system, and this, in the difficult context of global financial crisis. As for the odd 100 illegal textile sweatshops still not listed on the registers of the Ministry of Commerce, their fate is not sorted yet...

Insecurity on the road, commuting from home to work: first cause of accidentsThe 350 accidents declared since November at the NSSF logically and mainly concern workers in the country's best-represented sector, i.e. the textile industry, followed by construction, hotel business, the banking sector and restaurants. This social insurance does not only cover risks related to working conditions but also those inherent to journeys to or from the working place. Indeed, most of the accidents listed happened on the road, between home and the factory.

In the event of an accident, victims can benefit from the payment of 70% of their medical expenses without having to advance any money, provided they go to a NSSF referral hospital. To this day, three hospitals are listed with the Fund: Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh, and the provincial hospital centres of Kandal and Kampong Speu. The network will progressively extend to other provinces of Cambodia in the course of the year 2009: Siem Reap, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng and Preah Sihanouk.

Medical expenses and pension
“At the beginning, we found it hard to reach an agreement with hospitals because it is something new and usually, patients have to pay in advance. But little by little, we managed to find a compromise and workers can now benefit from the service”, Sum Sophorn says, very pleased. A night in a hospital room with air-conditioning at Calmette Hospital will cost an insured worker 7.20 dollars, and the remaining 16.8 dollars are directly covered by the NSSF. However, only 35% of expenses related to home-nursing can be covered. If patients wish to be admitted to a non-referral hospital - and same goes for external consultations and the purchase of medicines prescribed as part of care linked with their work-related accident - they will have to advance payment themselves and then present an invoice to the NSSF in order to obtain the reimbursement of the 70% of their out-of-the-pocket expenses.

Besides, the system allows for the payment of incapacity benefit, if an accident has caused them a serious disability, as well as financial help to the insured person's family members, should the patient die. “If they have a spouse and children, maintenance will be provided until their children turn 18 years old, if not 21, in some cases. The payment of such spousal support will end in the event of remarriage”, Sum Sophorn details.

Social contributions limited by a ceilingFor employers, the amount of contributions to be paid out corresponds to 0.8% of the gross salary of each worker, with yet a minimum and a maximum for each: the gross salary used to calculate the amount of the monthly social contribution will have to equal at least 200,000 riels (USD 50), even when the employee receives less than this sum of money, and at most a million riels (USD250), i.e. monthly contributions amounting to 1,600 riels (0.4 dollar) and 8,000 riels (2 dollars) per employee.

Before the establishment of the system, compensations paid to employees who have been victims of work-related accidents used to be debited from the company's budget and depended much on the good will of the employer. For serious accidents, the case was generally solved through negotiations between the employer and victims' families: for example, the payment of a 1,000 or 1,500 dollar compensation in case of death.

Trade unions denounce the policy of free as theoreticalIn theory, the system should satisfy workers and those who defend their interests, i.e. trade unions. But the latter are already pointing at the malfunctioning of the system, which deprives many potential beneficiaries from having real access to the service. Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), the main union in the textile industry, says the system is too complex and does not protect workers from abuse and corruption. The FTUWKC president cites an example: in order to assert their rights after a road accident, the insured person must provide the NSSF with a statement and a letter in which the employer acknowledges the facts. But obtaining the first one from police services can cost a lot (at least 10 dollars) when companies do not necessarily find any interest in drafting the second one. “If that system was implemented in a correct way, it would really benefit workers' health. But I do not trust that social security system, because there is still far too much corruption and because we do not consider the interest of workers as a top priority”, FTUWKC president says.

The young insurance system also suffers from a lack of transparency, Chea Mony criticises, and most union representatives have only managed to obtain very little information on the way it works. Nuon Veasna, a coordinator at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Cambodia, in charge of trade unions and workers, acknowledges there is a lack of information, but nevertheless stresses that these are only the beginnings.

Employers: too slow, too expensive
On the other side, that of bosses and employers, the system was also greeted with lukewarm feelings. Cheat Khemara, a high-ranking representative in charge of labour conflicts at the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) is rather positive about the establishment of an insurance system, which should clarify their responsibilities. But the situation has not changed in three months: in the event of a work-related accident, although he has paid contributions, his company keeps paying compensations to victims as it used to do before, since the NSSF reimbursements are far too slow. And he is not the only one in that situation, he claims. “These are therefore extra difficulties for employers”, he says, yet hoping for improvement: “Problems are usual at the beginnings.”

Times unfavourable to social progressThe unfavourable economical context adds up to these administrative complexities, the GMAC representative also argues. These times of economical turmoil are not appropriate for the establishment of such a system, when employers, he says, are in a “very difficult situation”, faced with a drop in orders and financial difficulties. “Some entrepreneurs in the textile industry balk at complying with that system. They are unhappy. They were not given the choice. If we were in a period of strong growth, like in 2007, it would not be a problem. But now... Sure, this is the law, but what can we do?” Cheat Khemara wonders.

The GMAC representative hopes the government will soon answer employers' concerns: according to him, authorities said they were ready to pay for some of the employers' social contributions - 0.3% of gross salaries - which will leave employers to pay for the remaining 0.5%. However, that decision has not yet been officialised by the government.

For their part, representatives in charge of the NSSF say they will welcome criticism rather than object to it. To this day, only two seminars gathering spokespersons for employers and trade unions have been organised to explain in detail the functioning of the work-related social insurance. “It is true that some unions have only received little information on the subject”, the deputy director of the public fund admits. “We are going to launch a hotline so that workers can directly get information and know their rights. But circulating all this information is expensive and for the time being we must limit our expenses as we have already spent an important amount of money in administrative functioning.” Before launching a more ambitious information campaign, the NSSF organises small informative meetings every Thursday, during which workers' and employers' representatives can share comments about the problems they are faced with regarding the implementation of the system.

Planned sanctions
Private companies who do not conform to these new obligations face sanctions, in theory: along the lines of the day-fine system, the fine will be ten days per worker, with a basis of 8,000 riels (2 dollars) per day, i.e. USD20 per person, when the average annual social contribution per employee only amounts to 7.60 dollars. But until now, no company has been punished. “We are trying to explain first [to lawbreakers] the good of that system, by presenting clear arguments to them, to avoid fines”, Sum Sophorn justifies. “First, we must draw the attention of investors. If they refuse to understand that principle, then we will enforce sanctions”.

The National Social Security Fund therefore favours a smooth approach: first, it urges the concerned entrepreneurs to take part in meetings about the new insurance system. Bosses then have a month to fulfil their duty and obtain more information. If by the end of that “reflection” time they haven't satisfied requirements, they will receive within fifteen days a notice from the NSSF telling them they have a month to register their employees and pay out contributions.

An extensive patternAfter the launching of the social insurance system for work-related accidents, the NSSF hopes to bring two other projects to the surface: a health insurance system in 2010 and two years later, a pension fund. Social contributions are put into a bank account with the private bank Acleda, and they will possibly be invested into the property sector or into government bonds. “If we manage to collect a lot of money, we will invest above all into the state, which offers long-term security. But each placement must be decided by the Council of Administration”, Sum Suphorn insists on saying. Useful precision, given these times of financial turmoil.

26 February, 2009

Asean can help solve Preah Vihear dispute

S'pore minister says Asean can help solve Preah Vihear dispute
Posted by Chea Sophal
Source:The Phnom Penh Post
Written by Sam Rith
Thursday, 26 February 2009

Asean secretary general says if the bloc is asked to help with the crisis, he will send a fact-finding mission to the disputed area.

DIALOGUE MATTERS

Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said it was good that both sides had now chosen to talk to resolve the border issue. " [Cambodia and Thailand] are now finding ways to reduce tension between themselves through this bilateral arrangement."

SINGAPORE's foreign minister said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations stands ready to help Cambodia and Thailand resolve their long-running border dispute. George Yeo said the 10-member bloc remained concerned at tensions over the 800 kilometres of disputed border.

"Our concern is when these disputes escalate and erupt into violence, which was what happened in Preah Vihear last year," Yeo said, speaking at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore last week. "Right now, both sides are talking [but] I know Cambodia is not happy with the speed of progress."

"If Cambodia is aggrieved and wants to [refer the border issue] to Asean, Cambodia can do so," Yeo continued. He said border disputes were common, both between Asean members and around the world, and were best resolved through negotiations.

Troops from the two Asean member states clashed last year at the Preah Vihear temple complex amid escalating tensions that left several soldiers dead.


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Both sides are talking [but] ... Cambodia is not happy with the speed of progress.

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One of Asean's founding principles is respect for the territorial integrity of all member states. Article 2 of the Asean Charter states that member states must "respect ... the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all Asean member states" and push for the "peaceful settlement of disputes".

Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said if the regional body was asked to help resolve the issue, he would first send a fact-finding mission to the disputed area. But, he said, indications were that bilateral negotiations between the two nations seemed to be going well

Summit sidelines
Prime Minister Hun Sen confirmed Tuesday that he would attend the 14th Asean summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, and would meet bilaterally with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on February 27.

Hun Sen said the talks with his Thai counterpart would tackle more than simply the border dispute - they would also cover tourism, economic issues, investment and improved trade cooperation.

"The situation is now calming down between both sides," Surin Pitsuwan told a group of journalists touring Southeast Asia February 12. "[The two countries' leaders] will meet each other again during the 14th Asean summit, and I am sure both sides will discuss this further in the lobbies set aside for this kind of discussion."

Cha-am gives hope for another new beginning

Cha-am gives hope for another new beginning

Thailand wants to see a real community grow
By: SARITDET MARUKATAT and THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
Published: 26/02/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The venue for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cha-am is the perfect place for members to send the message that they can get through their political and economic problems together.

The huge development gap between the 10 members - Asean groups one of the poorest and one of the richest countries in Asia - has long been a concern as to how the Southeast Asian group can effectively move forward.

This was reflected in the exhausting negotiations in the early stages of the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) when members were reluctant to sacrifice their national interests for regional interests, despite their common position that it would be unavoidable if they wanted the region to survive and remain competitive in the global economy.

Although Afta finally became operational in 2003, the tepid enthusiasm for Asean unity continues today. "I feel some members do not give priority to Asean," an Asian diplomat based in Bangkok said, but declined to say who.

One of the problems was that Thailand was under the administrative power of then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Asean seemed to be too small to serve his ambition as leader and that led to the creation of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) comprising Asian countries from the Mediterranean Sea to the west to the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan in the east.

The initiative was aimed at pulling together the strengths of all Asian countries and emerging as a global player.

Coincidentally, the first ACD meeting on June 19, 2002, took place at the Dusit Thani Hua Hin in the resort district of Cha-am in Phetchaburi. It is the same venue at which Thailand will host the Asean summit from tomorrow until Monday. Then foreign minister Surakiat Sathirathai said in his speech at the hotel that the ACD was "a new phase of Asian development".

After Thaksin was forced from power, there was no official position on the fate of his initiative, which was struggling to win over other countries. But the withdrawal of the ACD from the website of the Foreign Ministry, http://www.mfa.go.th, could answer the question of whether it has quietly died.

"The government at the time concentrated on realising the ACD. Now it's time to get back to Asean," said a government official who requested anonymity.

This time in Cha-am, junior and senior officials will start talks today followed tomorrow by meetings of foreign and trade ministers to prepare the agenda for their government leaders, who will meet on Saturday and Sunday.

Director-General of the Asean Affairs Department Vitavas Srivihok said on Monday the summit would be geared towards strengthening the interests and welfare of its members, fostering ties among the peoples of the 10 countries and setting a clear direction of turning the group into a rule-based organisation.

Thailand hoped the talks would help turn Asean into a "real community", he said.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also hopes the summit, which is chaired by Thailand, would increase international confidence in the country, battered as it has been by political turmoil which forced the most important meeting of Southeast Asia to be postponed twice last year.

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Ieng Thirith Blames Nuon Chea For Killings

Ieng Thirith Blames Nuon Chea For Killings
By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
25 February 2009

Posted by Chea Sophal


Jailed Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Thirith told tribunal judges Tuesday it was the regime’s ideologue, Nuon Chea, who was responsible for the thousands of executions at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison.

The chief of the prison, Kaing Kek Iev, is facing atrocity crimes charges for his role at the prison, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21, and will stand trial in coming weeks.

But during a hearing over her provisional detention Tuesday, Ieng Thirith said Nuon Chea was responsible.

“I must say that Noun Chea killed all my students,” said Ieng Thirith, 77, who was social affairs minister for the regime. She spoke in anger, hands shaking, in both English and Khmer.

Charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, Ieng Thirith restated her innocence in the deaths of nearly 2 million people under the regime.

“Noun Chea sent my students to Kaing Guek Eav to be killed,” she said. “Don’t accuse me of being a murderer, or you will be cursed to the seventh hell,” Ieng Thirith said, warning too that the international side in the courts “does not understand Cambodian internal affairs.”

The Pre-Trial Chamber of the courts has yet to decide on an appeal by Ieng Thirith’s lawyers that she be released ahead of her trial.

CAMBODIA: Cursed by oil and poverty

CAMBODIA: Cursed by oil and poverty
Thursday 26 February 2009
IRIN

Posted by Chea Sophal

About 35 percent of the country's more than 14 million inhabitants live below the poverty line
PHNOM PENH, 25 February 2009 (IRIN) - Having allegedly exhausted Cambodia's timber resources to fund its 1990s civil war, business and military elites are plundering mining resources while failing to uphold international human rights and transparency standards, a new report warns.

The long-term effects could fuel corruption and contribute to a "resource curse", whereby a tiny elite soaks up the profits instead of using oil and mining revenues to alleviate poverty, London-based Global Witness states in Country for Sale.

Cambodia is Southeast Asia’s second-poorest country after East Timor, with 35 percent of its population living on less than US$1 a day, according to government statistics.

Revenues from the 2005 oil find, which could total more than $1.5 billion annually, according to some estimates, should be directed to achieving its 2015 Millennium Development Goals, say critics.

"I see the rise of Cambodia's mining and oil sectors as just one part of the wholesale diversification of natural resource and state asset exploitation in Cambodia," Eleanor Nichols, a campaigner for Global Witness, told IRIN.

"Historically, the revenue generated by their misappropriation has reinforced the position and impunity of elites, further strengthening their hold on the levers of power," she said.

Global Witness has had a rocky relationship with the government, having closed its office in Phnom Penh in 2005 after threats over a report implicating top officials of illegal logging.

The Nobel-prize nominated group first monitored the country's forestry resources in the 1990s when international donors urged logging reform.


Photo: ReliefWeb
A map of Cambodia and surrounding countries
Greater transparency demanded

The group, with several other NGOs, continues to urge international donors to demand more transparency in Cambodia’s young oil and mining sectors as a condition for aid.

Cambodia receives about $600 million aid every year. In 2009, the national budget is $1.77 billion, with donors pledging around $1 billion.

"It is fair to say that the revenue generated would be significant for a country which still relies on donor countries to provide the equivalent of over 50 percent of the annual government budget in development aid," Nichols said.

Secretive mining contracts, mostly in the country's remote northern provinces, allegedly require the forced, mass evictions of rural poor and indigenous people.

"On some sites, land has been taken from local people and cases of intimidation of residents are reported," Global Witness stated. "There has been no free, prior and informed consent by the local population in any of these cases."

The Cambodian embassy in London issued an angry response to the report, denying the accusations.

"The Global Witness report was fairly underhanded and failed to recognise the tireless work and vision of some in government," Michael McWalter, the Asian Development Bank's oil and gas adviser to the government, told IRIN in an e-mail.

Oil worries

The International Monetary Fund estimated the find off the southwest coast at two billion barrels, though energy giant Chevron has been tight-lipped about numbers.

Cambodia could follow the patterns of Nigeria, Venezuela and Iraq, where mismanagement and secrecy surrounding oil contracts plunged the countries into further poverty, said Ou Virak, an economist and head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

"There's every indication Cambodia is heading towards Nigeria. We fit very well of a profile of countries facing a resource curse," he told IRIN. "The fact that all key institutions with money are headed by only a few people indicates there is no intention of having a system in place for transparency and accountability."

Donors last year asked the government to consider joining the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) a global coalition of governments, companies and civil society groups that requires full disclosure of oil, gas and mineral revenues.

The government originally considered signing on to EITI, but reportedly said in October it would not endorse the initiative.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) hosted a conference last March to address how the government should manage oil and gas revenues to alleviate poverty.

At the conference, delegates from the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, Supreme National Economic Council, and Norwegian Petroleum Directorate discussed the possibility of establishing an independent fund to manage revenues transparently, a model that has worked in Norway.

gc/ds/mw

Khmer Rouge trial: Time for soul searching

Khmer Rouge trial: Time for soul searching
Posted by Chea Sophal
By Lao Mong Hay
Column: Rule by Fear
Published: February 25, 2009

Hong Kong, China — In 1978, some Western countries and organizations took action at the U.N. Human Rights Commission to stop the Khmer Rouge’s violations of human rights in Cambodia, but got nowhere when communist countries blocked the attempt. In the same year U.S. President Jimmy Carter described the Khmer Rouge as “the world’s worst violators of human rights.”
In the 1990s, America wanted to bring Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader who continued an armed struggle against the elected government of Cambodia, to justice. In 1997 the Cambodian government asked the United Nations to create an international tribunal to try the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot then died.

Later, the Cambodian government wanted a Cambodian trial with U.N. assistance. In 2007, the U.N.-assisted tribunal was created and began work. Five surviving top Khmer Rouge leaders were subsequently arrested and charged with various crimes.

Last week, the Khmer Rouge tribunal began the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, head of the notorious S-21 prison of the Khmer regime, where over 12,000 people were tortured and killed. Duch is charged with crimes against humanity, homicide and torture.

The trials of Duch and other Khmer Rouge leaders will reveal at least some of the truth about this particular episode of Cambodia’s history, deliver some measure of justice for the victims and help Cambodia address its tragic past. They will also consolidate the “special measures” that were deemed necessary, according to the state signatories to the peace agreements concluded in 1991 to end the war in Cambodia, “to assure protection of human rights, and the non-return to the policies and practices of the past.”

However, those trials should not overlook the need for the Cambodian people themselves and others to do some soul searching.

Prior to the Khmer Rouge’s rise to power, the overwhelming majority of Cambodian people were Buddhist. Proportionally speaking, there must have been many Buddhist Khmer Rouge officials, from top leaders to the lowest-ranking cadres. After their defeat, many of them have willingly returned to Buddhism which, alongside other religions, they destroyed during their rise to power.

Cambodians should try to answer the question – which has been repeatedly heard in private but has not been raised in public – as to how these Buddhists among the Khmer Rouge could help kill some 1.7 million of their fellow countrymen in the short span of four years during their rule.

Recently, in a Buddhist temple, an elderly Cambodian who had been forced to abandon his monkhood when the Khmer Rouge came to power answered this question for a Buddhist foreign visitor: "The mighty communism simply swept Buddhism away.”

This answer begs further questions: Why was Buddhism unable to restrain those killers, temper their ruthlessness and the harshness of communism? Why, just a few years after embracing communism, did they abandon all notions of Buddhist ethics, when the overwhelming majority of the Khmer Rouge had been so nice to people during their struggle for power? Was Buddhism just skin deep, and were Buddhist ethical values – such as respect for life, loving-kindness and compassion – not the Cambodian people’s strong, deep-seated core values as these people might have thought?

Cambodians need to do some deep soul searching as to how Buddhist they were prior to the Khmer Rouge times, and even in current times, where crimes are no less ruthless. The Cambodian Buddhist clergy and the Cambodian government should inquire into the failure of Buddhism to restraint the Khmer Rouge’s extremism.

Other peoples may need to do a different kind of soul searching. When the Khmer Rouge was killing its own people many countries, mainly in Asia, did not utter a word. No Asian country was on record supporting the attempts by Western countries and organizations at the U.N. Human Rights Commission to end the Khmer Rouge’s violations of human rights.

China, for instance, which was supporting the Khmer Rouge and which could have influenced them, maintained “normal and friendly relations,” ignoring altogether the massacres that were going on and doing nothing to stop them.

Back then, the way a state treated its own people was of no concern to any other state. Rather, it was considered an internal affair of that state, which no other state could interfere in.

This particular norm of international relations cost dearly the powerless Cambodian people in the Khmer Rouge times and has continued to cost enormously other nations such as East Timor and Burma.

Based on the tragedy of the Cambodian people and others, this norm should be completely abandoned. How a state treats its own people should be the concern of other states too.

--

(Lao Mong Hay is a senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in 2003. In 1997, he received an award from Human Rights Watch and the Nansen Medal in 2000 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)

High manufacturing costs hurt apparel Industry

High manufacturing costs hurt apparel Industry
Posted by Chea Sophal
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Daily Mirror, Financial Times

By Cheranka Mendis
The greatest dilemma in the apparel industry is the high manufacturing cost, said Chairman of Apparel Exporters Association, Channa Palansuriya at their Annual General Meeting of Apparel Exporters Association held last Friday.

"The garment industry is currently facing challenges such as high manufacturing cost in Sri Lanka, the slow down in the US economy and the market situation in European Union (along with the renewal of GSP benefits and GSP+ by EU)," said Mr. Palansuriya. However the industry was said to be performing plausibly well with the foremost growth being from the European Union sector while the U.S sector having a slight decline.

"Total exports on apparel showed a 3.5% marginal increase in 2008 even though total exports decreased by 5.3% in December 2008 in comparison with December 2007," said Mr. Palansuriya. The overall exports to the United States recorded a negative growth of 5.5% but those to the EU remained positive at 10.7% over the same period. However he stated that if the Sri Lankan Rupee is devaluated by 15% and apparel exporters are given stimulus packages, the decrease in the total exporters can be somewhat subdued. But it cannot be done with the current situation prevailing in the economy, he added.

Commenting on the global recession and the meltdown of the United States economy, Sri Lankan apparel future seems to be in a gloom, as 50% of our exports are sent to the United States. However Sri Lanka is currently looking at other countries optimistically, especially China, alleged Mr. Palansuriya. "The major weaknesses of the textile industry are the absence of an indigenous fabric base, the lack of designing capabilities, low productivity and high concentration on few markets and finance cost," point out Mr. Palansuriya.

The strengths are the government policies of liberal business environment, educated and trainable labour, quality supplies, logistics, and speedy turn around time as well as adhering to compliances.

Mr. Dhammika Perera, Guest of Honour of the AGM expressing his view stated that the removal of fuel surcharges on electricity and waving ESC charges for 2009 via discussions with the Treasury prior to the budget and the reduction on port charges will hel the industry in the future. He also stated that with the 5% package introduced to the exporters, the future speculation will be positive if used wisely; "The 5% on value addition benefit given by the government without depreciating the Sri Lankan rupee can reduce government debt." He also acknowledged that even though the apparel industry boasts of bringing in the highest income to the country, after the value addition, only 1/3 will actually remain in the country. Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs as well as the Deputy Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said that the government is aware of the requirements of the apparel industry. "Government is extremely conscious about the requirements in the industry and we try to accommodate as many as possible as this benefits the country immensely," he said. Speaking on future development strategies, the Minister said, "In BOI aspects, North and East have been identified as special zones for growth and we hope to develop the apparel industry in these areas."

The main motive behind all these measures is to protect all medium scale garment factories without allowing them to shrink and to sustain them throughout the credit crunch and any negative socio aspects, said Mr. Palansuriya.

Report says global economic crisis led to factory closings

Report says global economic crisis led to factory closings

Written by Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
The Phnom Penh Post
Posted by Chea Sophal

The Ministry of Labour report says laid-off employees will be able to find work; unions claim ex-workers are pushed into sex industry.

OUT WITH THE OLD...

The report presented Tuesday by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training also found that 236 new garment and footwear factories opened between 2004 and 2008, creating jobs for approximately 62,000 employees.

MOST garment factories that shut down in 2008 did so because of the global economic crisis, which resulted in a rapid decrease in purchase orders from key markets, according to a report completed last week by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training.

The report, presented Tuesday at a seminar in Phnom Penh, states that 207 "garment and footwear enterprises" employing 75,000 workers closed down between 2004 and 2008.

Although the report does not specify how many closed in 2008, it points to a sharp drop in purchase orders from the United States and the European Union as a principal factor that pushed factories into bankruptcy.

Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, told the Post Tuesday that 30 garment and footwear factories employing 27,000 workers closed in 2008.

Options for the unemployed
The report states that many of those who lost their jobs are "skilful employees" who have applied for new jobs at factories in Phnom Penh.
Others have opted to return to their home provinces, it states.

But Chea Mony said some unemployed workers were reluctant to leave the capital and had taken jobs in karaoke bars and beer halls.

Dr Vichet Lok, executive director of the NGO Cambodia Health Education Development, which works with garment factory workers in Phnom Penh, said a rising number of unemployed workers were considering indirect sex work, which would expose them to diseases including HIV/Aids.

Costs the real problem, not jobs

2009/02/25
Posted by Chea Sophal

Costs the real problem, not jobs

Santha Oorjitham


Labour-intensive industries, like the garment and textile trades, have to move into higher value-added products to survive


The employment scene is not as bleak as some retrenchment figures suggest, Malaysian Industrial Development Authority director-general Datuk Jalilah Baba tells SANTHA OORJITHAM. Companies are re-absorbing and retraining workers and taking the softening in demand as an opportunity to move into higher technology products

Q: Could we have the latest figures on retrenchment and re-employment?

A: We have a good relationship with all the companies to which we've given licences and incentives. They come here to give us the "true picture". Sometimes, the news released is not accurate.For example, Intel closed its operations in Penang and retrenched 1,000 workers but the story that was not picked up or highlighted was that all these workers were given an offer to be absorbed in its Kulim High-Tech Park operations.Another example was that of Hualon Corp. The textile manufacturer retrenched 5,382 staff in its Negri Sembilan operations and 1,789 in Malacca, but when it was acquired by Recron of India's Reliance Group, workers were re-employed.


I would say 70 to 80 per cent of workers are absorbed by the same or different companies. It's not as bad as people think. Last year, 19,000 were retrenched from the manufacturing sector, but you must take into account the re-absorption offered by the same companies, and manufacturers approved by Mida which have commenced operations last year, with 35,000 new jobs (mostly skilled) created.There are more than enough job opportunities, compared with the number of retrenched workers seeking re-employment.

Q: How many retrenched workers are expected to return from abroad?

A: There are an estimated 45,000 Malaysians working in Singapore. The assumption is that half them have been laid off. But through our networking, we have learnt that the Singapore government is giving assistance to those companies to help keep them open during this slowdown.Instead of retrenching workers, they are using the soft period to retrain them with higher skills. The cost is being borne by the government as part of its incentives.We are also thinking of proposing some kind of similar assistance for our industries.

Q: How have unemployment levels been affected?

A: You must remember that before this economic downturn started, the unemployment rate was only 3.4 per cent. This year, it will be almost five per cent. But we have almost full employment. That's good, in the eyes of the workers.However, in our efforts to attract investment, those companies we are negotiating with are alarmed that there's a shortage of skilled manpower here, which is a common issue.So, with the sudden availability of skilled manpower (those being laid off), they don't have to worry because there are projects we are negotiating which are eyeing them.Workers should look for these opportunities.

Q: Which sectors will be retrenching the highest number of workers?

A: Most of the retrenched workers will be in labour-intensive industries, such as garments, textiles, furniture, consumer electronics (memory chips and memory products) and component assembly. They have to move into higher, value-added products and knowledge-driven industries and abandon those which are labour-intensive, or move that section to cheaper destinations. To a certain extent, we shouldn't be too worried about companies, Malaysian or foreign, moving to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and even some African countries. There is no capital outflow and if such companies stayed here, they would die anyway. They bring back their earnings to Malaysia, because there are incentives. When they bring back their profits, the government gives them tax exemption.

Q: Which sectors are still hiring?

A: Companies still hiring and expanding are in electronics, alternative energy, basic metals, transport equipment, food production, chemicals and chemical production and petrol products. This is the transition period we should use to retrain our workers.In order to stay ahead, we have to keep moving up. Other countries are catching up.

Q: What measures are companies taking instead of retrenching, and what would you recommend?

A: A few companies are facing softening demand but they are trying to convince their headquarters not to retrench workers. Retrenchment is in the hundreds, not thousands. Companies are asking for assistance to use this soft period to train them in higher technology, which they hope to bring here.Many companies are sending workers to be trained at their headquarters, with our assistance, and contributing to human capital development. They will come back and train newcomers.

Q: How else is the government assisting? What will be in the second stimulus package?

A: We are looking into it. This assistance could be not only through the stimulus package but also through the committee on high-impact investments, chaired by the deputy prime minister, for which Mida is the secretariat.

We can respond within a month but they (industries) must give us detailed proposals. We will process these applications and bring them to the committee.The major concern of industries is the increased cost of production.

The major contributor to this is the increase in electricity and gas prices. Non-availability of gas for newcomers is also hampering our ability to attract investment and encourage existing companies to expand.

The deputy prime minister has instructed Petronas to look into this problem.

There has been a reduction (in oil and gas prices) but it is not equal to the quantum increased. The companies are still not too happy. Hopefully, the next review will bring good news to industries.Some of them are asking for a second round of incentives. If the proposals benefit the country, we will consider.We are constantly looking for feedback.

The International Trade and Industry Ministry has called all industry associations to ask what else the government can do to assist them during this period. Small and medium industries, for example, have asked for deferment of income tax for a year and a moratorium on payments to banks. These might be in the stimulus package.

25 February, 2009

On this day in history

On this day in history
February 24, 2009

On Feb. 24, 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, or edict, outlining his calendar reforms. (The Gregorian Calendar is the calendar in general use today.)

In 1803, in Marbury vs. Madison, the Supreme Court ruled itself the final interpreter of constitutional issues.

In 1821, Mexico declared its independence from Spain.

In 1836 painter Winslow Homer was born in Boston.

In 1863 Arizona was organized as a territory.

In 1868 the House impeached President Andrew Johnson after his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.

In 1874 Hall of Fame baseball player Honus Wagner was born in present-day Carnegie, Pa.

In 1903 the United States signed an agreement acquiring a naval station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In 1920 a fledgling German political party held its first meeting of importance in Munich; it became known as the Nazi Party, and its chief spokesman was Adolf Hitler.

In 1942 the Voice of America went on the air.

In 1945 American soldiers liberated Manila from Japanese control during World War II.

In 1967 the Nizam of Hyderabad, who had 1,200 bodyguards and was one of the world's wealthiest people, died in India at 81.

In 1975 the U.S. government announced it would begin an airlift to Phnom Penh, the besieged capital of Cambodia.

In 1980 the U.S. hockey team defeated Finland 4-2 to clinch the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

In 1981 Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain's Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. Also in 1981 a jury in White Plains, N.Y., found Jean Harris guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of "Scarsdale Diet" author Dr. Herman Tarnower.

In 1988, in a ruling that expanded legal protections for parody and satire, the Supreme Court overturned a $200,000 award that Rev. Jerry Falwell had won against Hustler magazine and publisher Larry Flynt.

In 1989 a state funeral was held in Japan for Emperor Hirohito, who had died the month before at age 87.

In 1990 magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes died in Far Hills, N.J.; he was 70.

In 1991 the United States and its Gulf War allies launched a large-scale ground assault against Iraqi troops.

In 1994 entertainer Dinah Shore died in Beverly Hills, Calif.; she was 76.

In 2000 after Gov. George W. Bush refused to intervene, the state of Texas executed Betty Lou Beets, 62, by injection for murdering her fifth husband.

In 2001 mathematician and computer scientist Claude Shannon, whose theories about binary code became the basis for modern mass communications networks, died in Medford, Mass.; he was 84.

In 2002 the Salt Lake City Olympics came to a close, the same day Canada won its first hockey gold in 50 years and three cross-country skiers were thrown out of the Games for using a performance-enhancing drug.

In 2003 seeking UN approval for war against Iraq, the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the Security Council declaring that Saddam Hussein had missed "the final opportunity" to disarm peacefully.

In 2004 a 6.5-magnitude earthquake devastated a region of northern Morocco, killing more than 600 people.

In 2006 death claimed actors Don Knotts in Los Angeles and Dennis Weaver in Ridgway, Colo.; both were 81.

Recession: a boon or woe for Bangladeshi T&G industry?

Recession: a boon or woe for Bangladeshi T&G industry?
February 24, 2009 (Bangladesh)

Exports records of Bangladeshi textile and garment industry- a vital sector in country’s economy, show ascending trend since past few years, and accounts a considerable share in country’s GDP. Current economic challenges, that have perplexed eminent countries across the globe, on contrary, have augured the prospects of the Bangladeshi textile and garment industry.

During the first three months of the fiscal year 2007-2008, RMG exports embarked a 44.66 percent growth, while it hiked to 45.26 percent in September, according to the BGMEA.

Apart from this, ever increasing imports of plant and machinery by the sector in the second half of last year, investments by garment companies in up-gradation of machinery and infrastructure to pace up with the times, considerable investments by the textile industry setting up spinning mills across the country to save precious foreign exchange on import of raw materials like fibre and yarn, etc. justify the optimism amongst global fraternity for Bangladeshi textiles and garment industry.

In spite of this optimism, as the sting of global recession is spreading like a slow poison, engulfing even strong economies; it is an obvious question if Bangladeshi textile and clothing sector will be an exception. Getting inquisitive on this and such more interrogations, Face2Face team at Fibre2Fashion interviewed Mr SM Nurul Huda Chowdhury - Managing Director, Base Textiles Limited – a pioneer in composite manufacturing of fabrics to garments with its headquarter in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Please click here to read complete conversation.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

VIEW: Justice at last —Benny Widyono

Sunday, February 15, 2009

VIEW: Justice at last —Benny Widyono

The trial, though late, still heralds a long-awaited process of healing and national reconciliation that require full accounting of what went on. A successful conclusion of the trials would include recognition of denial of justice imposed on Cambodia during the 1980s

Nearly 12 years after the UN initiative to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Cambodian genocide that took the lives of approximately 1.7 million people, the first preliminary hearing will be held in Phnom Penh on February 17. After years of talk and proclamations, but little action, Cambodians and people all over the world will watch how justice is delivered.

The first person to be tried is Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, accused of crimes committed in the secret prisons S-21 (Tuol Sleng) and S-24 (Prey Sar), and the killing ground of Choeung Ek. Awaiting the tribunal with him are four remaining top leaders still alive: Nuon Chea, now 82, the former second in command of the Khmer Rouge movement; former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith; and former Minister of Social Affairs Khieu Samphan. Pol Pot, the former head of state and supreme leader of the movement, died 11 years ago.

Why did it take so long for justice to come to Cambodia?

The answer can be found within the international political dynamics during the Cold War and later in protracted negotiations between the Cambodian government and the UN for setting up the court. Because of the Cold War, a long period of international amnesia followed the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War II. In 1993-94, this amnesia was broken when the UN established the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and later by the establishment of the permanent International Criminal Court in 2002 to deal with serous human rights abuses worldwide.

In Cambodia, Cold War diplomatic manoeuvres swept Khmer Rouge atrocities under the carpet. On January 7, 1979, the Vietnamese Army and Cambodian defectors ended the Khmer Rouge rule. The People’s Republic of Kampuchea, which soon gained control over 90 percent of the country, was established.

In a great irony, as the battle shifted to New York, the United Nations, in a resolution spearheaded by the US and China, awarded Cambodia’s seat in the General Assembly to the exiled Khmer Rouge terror regime; the actual government in Phnom Penh that ended the killing was turned into an international pariah.

This travesty continued for 11 more years thereby prolonging the suffering of the Cambodian people. Throughout the 1980s, bringing the Khmer Rouge criminals to court was far from the minds of the powers that be. The PRK did try Khmer Rouge leaders Pol Pot and Ieng Sary, but few in the outside world paid attention.

Finally, the international aspects of the Cambodian problem were settled with the elections sponsored by the United Nations in May 1993 and the establishment of a new government of Cambodia headed by two prime ministers, Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen.

In June 1997, following a strong suggestion by the UN special representative on Human Rights in Cambodia, Thomas Hammarberg, the co-premiers requested UN assistance to bring the Khmer Rouge to trial. A UN expert group recommended establishment of a hybrid tribunal such as that for Sierra Leone. However, the Cambodian government, which after violent clashes in July 1997 was headed by one prime minister, Hun Sen, quickly rejected the idea and insisted on a Cambodian tribunal with international assistance.

One can only surmise that the government feared that some UN personalities, donor and human-right organisations would broaden the scope of the tribunal to favour adding more defendants, including senior ex-Khmer Rouge officials now serving in the government, while the Cambodian side insists that the trials should be limited to the five surviving top leaders.

The Cambodian concern is on principle, not just numbers, as they fear that spreading the net would result in more instability. This proved to be true when most recently, in 2008, the UN Representative on Human Rights Yash Ghai went so far as stating in his March 2008 report to the UN Human Rights Council that “The real test will be if a suspect in or close to the Government is investigated and brought before the ECCC [Extraordinary Chambers in Courts of Cambodia].”

Control of the tribunal was the main issue over which the Cambodian government and the United Nations argued at every twist and turn. It was no surprise that the negotiations were protracted and acrimonious, even suspended in February 2002, as the UN walked out. The government’s foot-dragging may have also contributed to improved relations between Hun Sen and China, which, as an erstwhile supporter of the Khmer Rouge, could be embarrassed by an international tribunal. In June 2003, the UN and the Cambodian government signed an agreement that established the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. It started functioning in 2006.

Since then, achievements of the tribunal include the arrest of top surviving leaders and the participation of highly regarded international judges and prosecutors. The addition of a unit in which victims can participate in the process is widely acclaimed. By July 2008, it was announced that the first trial would commence in September. In the end, it took four more months. Proponents argue that the tribunal can be a tool to improve the judicial system in a transitional state ravaged by war and political upheaval, as well as political interference and control.

On the negative side, the lack of an independent and trained Cambodian judiciary, continuing yet unspecific accusations of corruption, and budgetary woes serve to mar progress, and in practice protracted negotiations continued during implementation of the agreement. As of February 2009, the international prosecutor continued to argue that five more defendants should be tried, while the Cambodians insisted five is enough,

As the tribunal is financed from voluntary contributions, individual donors influence the process. Donors were concerned when accusations of corruption surfaced. It’s reported that the US, which has not contributed to the tribunal, and perhaps others as well, favour a court with a top international personality overseeing the Cambodian director of administration and the UN deputy.

To placate the donors, new UN appointments were made in June, including David Tolbert, an ex-Yugoslavia tribunal prosecutor, who was named special expert to the UN secretary-general, with particular mandate over the budget. Knut Rosandhaug, a veteran of the UN Kosovo mission, took over from Michelle Lee as coordinator of UN assistance and deputy director of the tribunal administration; UN sources reportedly considered Lee, a Chinese national, as too lenient on the Cambodians.

It remains to be seen how the new balance of power will play out in the court’s day-to-day operations. At the end of 2008, the UN conducted an investigation of corruption in the tribunal, but the findings have not been published.

The trial, though late, still heralds a long-awaited process of healing and national reconciliation that require full accounting of what went on. A successful conclusion of the trials would include recognition of denial of justice imposed on Cambodia during the 1980s, a leftover obligation to be borne by donor countries. Such a successful conclusion for the tribunal would put an end to a dark chapter of history and exorcise the curse of the Khmer Rouge hanging over Cambodia. — YaleGlobal

Benny Widyono is author of Dancing in Shadows: Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge and the United Nations in Cambodia

'Justice is the precedent for future justice'

'Justice is the precedent for future justice'
Written by Lay Vicheka
Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Dear Editor,

On February 17, 2009, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) opened its trial of Khmer Rouge leader Kaing Guek Eav, whose alias is Duch, for atrocities committed in Cambodia between 1975 to 1979.

Since the ECCC was instituted, there have been various allegations, especially regarding corruption in the court and underfunding, which could have substantial implications for the justice that Cambodians seek from the trial.

Consequently, two public opinions have arisen: to endorse the Khmer Rouge tribunal or to eliminate it, largely because the Cambodian people will never benefit from it.

As the court is still in its infancy, it would be hard to speculate to what extent the Cambodian people would enjoy the benefits. At least, the trial has unveiled the faces of the atrocity-committers and the international human rights violations they have committed, as well as the accountability to which they will be held.

In addition to the offences of homicide and torture under Cambodian criminal law, Duch is now facing the charge of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. And certainly, there will be punishment for these human rights and legal violations. One of the goals of international law is to make the public aware of international law itself, the penalties arising from violations of these international laws and, finally, the mandate of "never again".

Justice is permanent and timeless. Justice does not discriminate on the basis of physical appearance or age. Justice plays no favourites. And finally, justice is the precedent for future justice.

The trial of the Khmer Rouge leadership is upholding all of these legal principles.

The opinions expressed in this letter represent the personal views of the author and are not reflective of the views of any entity to which the author is affiliated.

Lay Vicheka
Phnom Penh

PM to hold border talk

Cambodian, Thai PMs to hold talks at ASEAN Summit


www.chinaview.cn 2009-02-24 14:10:17

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said here on Tuesday that he will meet his Thai counterpart at the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Thailand for talks to strengthen the bilateral cooperation.

"I will meet with the Thai premier at 04:30 p.m. local time (0930GMT) on Feb. 27 to talk about the bilateral cooperation and we will focus on the trade, investment, economy, tourism and border conflicts near the Preah Vihear temple," he told a student graduation ceremony of a university in Phnom Penh.

On Monday, a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed that Hun Sen will attend the 14th ASEAN Summit to be held in Thailand from Feb. 27 to March 1.
Editor: Xiong Tong

24 February, 2009

ASEAN under spotlight during crises

ASEAN under spotlight during crises
February 24, 2009 10:04:00
Martin Abbugao
Agence France-Presse

SINGAPORE -- Southeast Asia's regional bloc will come under close scrutiny once more as its leaders meet in Thailand this week for a summit watered down by the absence of big guns China, India and Japan.

Political woes in key member states and a global economic slump are putting new pressure on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to show its relevance despite persistent criticisms it is a talking shop, analysts said.

Host and current ASEAN chair Thailand is struggling against an impending recession, riven by political turmoil and locked in a border dispute with Cambodia, while Malaysia's ruling party is fighting off a resurgent opposition.

Singapore, ASEAN's wealthiest member per capita, is meanwhile facing its worst recession since independence.

Myanmar's junta continues to defy an international outcry to release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and to carry out democratic reforms.

And months after a US housing problem erupted into the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, ASEAN has yet to come up with a coordinated response, analysts said.

"Within ASEAN, the key challenge is a lack of leadership, which has contributed to fragmentation," said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia specialist at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

"The meeting has no focus, and it is likely not to have one as a result of internal pressures on regimes," she told AFP.

ASEAN officials said a key agenda item for the summit, which runs from Friday until Sunday, will be how the region will deal with the economic crisis.

On Sunday, ASEAN finance ministers and their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea agreed to a 120-billion-dollar fund to help regional states cope with financial stress.

ASEAN is to contribute 20 percent while its bigger neighbors would chip in 80 percent, mirroring the lopsided power balance -- although there is no timeframe yet for when it will be operational.

"There's nothing much they (ASEAN states) can do," said Song Seng Wun, a Singapore-based regional economist with CIMB-GK Research.

"The global recession has affected everyone, and to a different degree those with much larger domestic markets will be looking at their domestic economies to cushion the slowdown."

Originally planned as a celebration of a landmark charter that ASEAN hopes will strengthen the 10-nation regional bloc, the summit became a victim of Thailand's political upheaval.

It was deferred from December after protesters opposed to the previous government seized Bangkok's two airports.

Traditional back-to-back meetings with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, as well as Australia, India and New Zealand were provisionally postponed to April, leaving the meeting an all-ASEAN affair.

The absence of the big powers "takes the momentum out of the summit," Welsh said. Even the international media is scaling down its coverage.

While ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan is working to strengthen the bloc, any changes will be gradual because "the regional political context and economic contractions are not conducive to these ambitions," Welsh said.

ASEAN remains relevant as a discussion forum and to articulate the region's interests opposite bigger countries, she said.

But "expectations of substantive outcomes have usually been unmet and this pattern is likely to continue," she added.

Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, a human rights group, said ASEAN needs to further engage with civil society organizations.

Burma is the former name of Myanmar, where the ruling junta is accused of committing massive human rights abuses.

Activists have expressed fears that an ASEAN human rights body will be powerless to punish rights violators in countries like Myanmar.

"ASEAN will always be a hostage to one or more of its members," Stothard told AFP. "Its effectiveness and relevance is in jeopardy."

Former ASEAN chief Rodolfo Severino defended the grouping, saying it has overcome more serious problems in the past.

ASEAN continues to be the main driver for wider regional engagement and needs to be strengthened, said Severino, who heads the ASEAN Studies Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

"This means that ASEAN has a great responsibility and it should exert greater leadership," he said.

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