Justice, and the Perception of Justice
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 693
In the morning of 11 March 2010 an anti-corruption law was discussed and adopted by the National Assembly with 82 votes in favor from the 82 voters present. During the current week, its application – with the arrest of the first suspects – started.
To recall part of the history, it is said that this is the Cambodian law which had been in the status of being drafted for the longest time, compared to other laws. This process began in 1994, and when it was announced in December 2009 that the draft is finally ready, its text was not released until 5 March 2010, about only one week before its adoption.
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Photojournalist Go Takayama Imprisoned In Cambodia
Photojournalist Go Takayama, 28, a visual journalist from Japan who is a graduate of Ohio University's School of Visual Communication and who has interned at several American newspapers, has been jailed in Cambodia after taking pictures for a story he was working while participating in the Angkor Photo Workshops.
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Responding to a Stampede Disaster in Germany since July 2010
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 693
The deaths of many people as a result of a stampede – as it happened on 22.11.2010 in Phnom Penh – is not an unique tragedy. Some other examples, which also resulted in the loss of many human lives, are the following – all these relate to religious pilgrimages.
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This Is Not About Guns – It Is About Implementation and Enforcement
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 689
During the week, The Mirror had carried two reports entitled Garbage and Gender Makes a Difference. Both referred to positive suggestions and regulations. But one of our readers commented:
It is not clear from the article [about garbage regulations] what happens to the sorted waste from the markets? In any case, increased focus on waste management is important. However, with no publicized master plan and lacking composting facilities public participation in waste separation efforts may be moderate at best.
May I suggest that the requirements of the Phnom Penh Municipality and the actions taken by the market chiefs, is followed up on by journalists in Cambodia.
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Corpse shakedown
A family says bad cops and shakedowns kept them from recovering the body of a deceased loved-one for five days.
Relatives of a deceased Vietnamese-Canadian have accused a policeman and several others of attempting to extort money from them as they struggled to recover his body.
For refusing to pay kickbacks, the family said they endured a five-day nightmare before picking up the body at a hospital in District 7. The saga concluded with them discovering that the body had been autopsied without their consent.
Qld charity rescues child sex workers
AN Australian organisation comprising ex-police and special forces soldiers has rescued four child sex workers from an illegal brothel near the Thailand-Cambodia border.
The team of volunteer operatives from The Grey Man, a Brisbane-based charity, staged the successful operation at a brothel in the Thailand town of Aranyaprathet, 1km from the Cambodian border, on Saturday.
Organisation president John Curtis said the brothel trafficked girls from Vietnam and Cambodia to Thailand where they were being offered to customers for sex.
The Arbitration Council and the National Arbitration Center
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 681
The Manager of Training and Communications at the Arbitration Council Foundation sent me the following request.
My apologies for my misleading interpretation of the information I had collected is combined with my thanks for pointing out this mistake. Whenever it should be necessary to correct something, I am happy to do so.
The Law, Rules, and Common Sense
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 680
Some readers of The Mirror said that there was too much published related to the state of law. True, matters relating to the role of the law in Cambodia have received quite some attention. And this did not only happen when dealing directly with legislation and legal reforms, which are on the agenda of the government. Also related to such complex and difficult problems like the Temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site, and at a place in a region where both Cambodia and Thailand have taken different positions. Not emotions, but referring to what has been written – even when it is interpreted differently – will be crucial reference on the way to solutions.
To Trust the Law Means to Trust that the Law is not only Written, but that It Is Implemented
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 679
Social stability depends on a situation where the citizens trust that the law is implemented. Not every time when somebody thinks to be treated unjustly this is also true. But the fact that every week there are several reports of demonstrations of groups
The Samrith Law Group Offers Free Defense Services to Poor People and Reduces Dependence on External Aid
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 679
“They provide legal assistance, but they are not a non-government organizations. They accept work for profit, but they are not working just for money. The Samrith Law Group, the first institution in Cambodia providing legal services to serve public