There are Millions of Sam Rainsys. I am Sam Rainsy.

On September 29, 2010, KambodschaBlog posted an article titled, ‘Mu Sochua: “There are Millions of Sam Rainsys. I am Sam Rainsy.”‘ Posted in German, an English language translation can be found here.

Sochua is quoted saying, “Even today, every day … I get inside the car and say: ‘This is my last moment.’ But it is personal and I try to push it out because then you live in fear and it’s the fear that haunts you, it’s the fear that paralyses you, it’s the fear that ends your fight for justice. And it gets to the point where I say: ‘Let it be.’ I don’t know how my life is going to end but life has to end. If it has to end this way it’s an end for the people, for justice, for a cause. I think it … helps me not to live in fear.”

Read the full article (in German language) here.

Organizing Farmers in Cambodia’s Last Frontier

Battambang. September 21, 2010

Lush corn, cassava and bean fields stretch a far as the foot of the limestone mountain range that separates Cambodia from Thailand, in the North West districts of Kom Rieng, Sompuev Loun and Phnom Preuk of Battambang province. It is the Cambodia that tourists don’t see, where little of the annual $2 billion U.S. development package is spent. This is the last frontier and one of the areas with the highest number of landmine victims in the country; an area in which malaria is still feared by the local residents.

Kon Reng, Cambodia

For years, the government has declared its strong commitment to the agricultural sector. However, such promise has brought no real results to improve the living conditions of the farmers in these three districts. Although the farmers have moved to the area more than two decades ago from all over the country, their rights to land tenure are not guaranteed until they have registered their land with the land management ministry the full title is issued to them. The land title registration process has benefited only 30% of Cambodians. Like farmers throughout the country, farmers in these three districts stand vulnerable to government’s economic land concessions policy that benefits mega companies at the expense of small farmers. Since 2009 over 150,000 families have been victims of land grabbing and economic land concessions.

Phnom Preuk: the Morning Mountain

Farmers work the land twelve months a year but due to lack of capital and access to credit, they depend on Thai farmers who are free to cross the border to sell seeds, fertilizers and farming equipment to Cambodian farmers. Thai farmers are well organized and have the backing of Cambodian local officials local who receive payments and cuts from deals; made at the expense of Cambodian farmers. Thai farmers set the price of the crops and this form of trade translates to Cambodian farmers using their own land to work for Thai farmers. Small farmers- who are mainly women and families of victims of landmines- talk of their concerns and fear of losing their land as they fall further into debt year after year.

Sampov Loun, Cambodia mung beans

Farmers hire extra labor, mainly women and children, to work in the fields, paying them less than US$ 1 a day. A great majority of workers are youth whose luck of finding work in their villages has failed. They work wherever they can, crossing the border every day to Thailand where they are offered US$3 per day. Border police and the middlemen take one third of their earnings and their savings are sent back home.

Organizing local farmers

Organizing farmers is essential to ensure that our farmers- Cambodian farmers- have bargaining power with Thai farmers.

Children working on the corn farms for daily survival

Loans at low interest rate and technical inputs should be provided to our farmers in order to assist them in obtaining higher yield and better use of their land. Special assistance should be provided to women farmers and farmers with disabilities.

Economic land concessions must stop. Furthermore, the Courts must not be used as a tool for the government to prevent farmers from exercising their right to protest against illegal land concessions to powerful companies.

Female Face of Poverty in Issue of Land Tenure

On September 14, 2010 Cambodia Daily published my article:

The Female Face of Poverty is Seen in Issue of Land Tenure.

“I wish to congratulate Kuch Naren for her excellent report on the high number of women in land protests in her recent article (“The Increasingly Female Face of Land Protests,”Sept 2 page 1).

The article focused on the number of women. I wish to draw the attention of policy makers and lawmakers to the serious social and economic impact on women, families and on society in our women’s desperate fight for land tenure.

Denying people their right to land tenure is a violation of their constitutional rights, a deprivation of their basic human right for security, an affront to their dignity and their right to development.”

Read the full article in the link above.

Workshop on Achieving MDG3 by 2015

Raffles Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

On Wednesday 8th September, Mu Sochua’s team participated in an all-day “Workshop on Achieving MDG3 [in Cambodia] by 2015”, organized by the Technical Coordination Secretariat, in collaboration with the Ministry of Woman’s Affairs and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (co-funded by UNDP/Legislative Assistant Project, UNIFEM, UNMC and Action Aid).

In 2000, the United Nations recognized the central role of women in development in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which has the empowerment of women as one of its measurable goals (MDG3 – as “the proportion of seats held by women in national parliament).

As stated by the UN, Cambodia has made significant gains in changing attitudes towards women, as shown, for instance, by the rise in numbers of women in decision-making positions. However, there is still a lot to be done for women, and to achieve the MDG 3, especially in terms of domestic violence, which remains a very important issues in the daily life of Cambodian women.

The workshop organized yesterday was thus aimed at discussing the recent developments and the challenges remaining. Infront of a national and international audience of political figures, civil society staff, academics, and journalists, the speakers focused on 4 main set topics:

• Women’s Political Participation
• Political Parties and Women’s Participation
• International and Regional Experiences in Achieving MDG3
• Achieving MDG3 by 2015.

Speakers included national representatives (including Dr Ing Kantha Phavi, Minister of Women’s Affairs and Mrs Thida Khus, Representing Committee to Promote Women in Politics, Executive Director of SILAKA), international academics (Prof. Drude Dahlerup, Political Science Dept, Stockholm University, Sweden), and international civil society members (Ms Wenny Kusuma, Country Director, UNIFEM) and politicians (Ms Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy, MP National Assembly Vietnam, member Committee on Social Affairs). All agreed on the positive evolution of the women’s status in Cambodia but underlined many points which still need to be advanced, including in terms of domestic violence and psychological discrimination. As Mr Douglas Broderick, UN Resident Coordinator himself declared, “immediate and urgent action is required […] we must double our efforts”.

Please click the link for the Workshop Agenda and speakers’ list.

Forced Labor Must be Attacked at Roots to Protect Workers

Mu Sochua. Cambodia Daily. September 06, 2010

A 25 year-old woman from Prey Veng province is desperately looking for help to avoid getting her land confiscated by the employment agency that has trained her as preparation for a job in Malaysia.

She wants to back out of the contract she signed with the agency, fearing her fate would be the as that of so many young women who have returned to Cambodia after their dream of a brighter future working as maids has actually resulted in a more difficult life.

She was told that she would have to repay the agency for the passport, visa and training costs they provided. She is more than desperate as she has in her hand an order from police to appear for questioning.

In the past few months, a series of recent articles about two labor recruitment first accused of illegally detaining hundreds of women seeking employment abroad have been reported by local and international media.

Read the full The Cambodia daily article.