Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar KRAING KAOK, Cambodia, Apr 2, 2011 (IPS) – Death haunts women in this Cambodian village at a moment of happiness – when they give birth. "Today, nothing frightens Cambodian women more than having to give birth," says Mu Sochuea, former minister of women’s affairs. "It [...]
CAMBODIA: Convicted Khmer Rouge Prison Chief Appeals Sentence
March 29, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy PHNOM PENH, Mar 28, 2011 (IPS) – The only Khmer Rouge figure to be prosecuted by a United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal here is arguing that his conviction should be overturned. Lawyers for Kaing Guek Eav, also known as ‘Duch’, told the tribunal Monday that [...]
Women in Garment Factories Help Cambodia Out of Poverty
March 24, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar PHNOM PENH, Mar 25, 2011 (IPS) – Cambodia’s rise out of poverty continues to depend on the nimble fingers of young women like Khiev Chren. She has spent the last three years in a garment factory on the outskirts of this capital city, churning out [...]
UN Rights Envoy Faces Balancing Act in Cambodia
February 26, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy PHNOM PENH, Feb 25, 2011 (IPS) – A United Nations rights envoy says Cambodia must accelerate the pace of its democratic reforms, but it’s unclear how much sway he holds with a government that has become increasingly resistant to international criticism. Surya Subedi, the U.N.’s [...]
POLITICS: Cambodia, Vietnam Differ from Laos in Cluster Bombs Ban
November 16, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy SEKONG, Laos, Nov 16, 2010 (IPS) – On a windy morning in southern Laos in November, a team of deminers built a makeshift bunker out of sandbags and piled the barrier around a tiny explosive. A thin electrical wire snaked its way from the bunker, [...]
DEVELOPMENT: Cambodia Passes On Demining Skills
October 26, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy KAMPONG CHHNANG, Cambodia, Oct 26, 2010 (IPS) – Ngoun Thy shuffled through the darkened room. To the right, mortar shells, lined up in a row. To the left, a spool of aged wiring and a pile of metal. "Anti-tank mines," he said. The squat, rusting [...]
CAMBODIA: Gov’t Critic’s Conviction Casts Shadow Over Room For Dissent
September 24, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy PHNOM PENH, Sep 24, 2010 (IPS) – Questions hover over the future of Cambodia’s political opposition, as well as room for dissent, in the wake of the conviction and sentencing of the exiled leader of the country’s largest opposition party to 10 years in prison. [...]
CAMBODIA: Justice Goes Beyond Indictment of Khmer Rouge Leaders
September 20, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy PHNOM PENH, Sep 18, 2010 (IPS) – A war crimes tribunal in Cambodia may have reached a major milestone this week by indicting four former leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rouge. But much more needs to be done to ensure that the long-awaited trial is [...]
Cambodian Garment Workers Push for a Living Wage
September 16, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Jaya Ramachandran IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis AMSTERDAM (IDN) – Some 68,000 garment-factory workers in Cambodia are demanding a monthly wage of 93 U.S. dollars. The workers, most of whom are women, say that a recently-established minimum wage of 61 dollars fails to cover basic living expenses and does not [...]
CAMBODIA: Verdict Marks End of Impunity for Khmer Rouge Torturer
July 28, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Jul 27, 2010 (IPS) – For a country plagued by a weak judiciary and where government officials have profited from a culture of impunity, Monday’s verdict in the first case to try a surviving commandant of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime broke new [...]
