700000 Hungry Khmers

The Khmer people die on a daily basis because the rich are richer and the poor are poorer.

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Release: United NationsFood Aid Cut-Off Looms for 700,000
HUNGRY CAMBODIANS DUE TO FUNDINGSHORTFALL - UN
New York, Jan 19 2007 11:00AM

More than 700,000 hungry Cambodians, mostly young children and HIV/AIDSand TB patients, will start going without essential food next month,and the situation is likely to worsen unless millions of dollars in new donations are received soon, the United Nations World Food Programme(WFP) warned today.

"Cambodia is one of the world's poorest countries, and these peoplerely on WFP's help to keep them coming to school and getting HIV and TB treatment," WFP Executive Director James Morris said, underscoring theseriousness of a funding crisis that has already forced the agency toreduce rations and cut the numbers of those receiving aid.
"We are very grateful to donors for generously supporting thisoperation thus far, but the money is now running out," he added, notingthat those affected include some 650,000 children on school feedingprogrammes, as well as 70,000 people affected by HIV/AIDS and 18,000 TBpatients.
"Food and nutrition are an essential part of the package of care forpeople receiving treatment for HIV and TB," Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director Peter Piot said. "Ration cutsjeopardize the effectiveness of these critical interventions."
What is especially dangerous from a health perspective is thedevelopment of drug-resistant variants of TB among patients who do not complete their treatment, with food aid a major incentive in drawingthem to health posts and clinics to receive a full course of treatment.
Those who fail to complete the course may well become incubators for new types of TB that threaten society at large. Treatment of suchcases, moreover, can cost up to 100 times as much as the originalmedication.

Since October 2006, a funding shortage has forced WFP to progressively reduce rations, thereby cutting the number of Cambodians eligible foraid, and delaying the distribution of food to those who need it themost. WFP now needs at least $10 million to distribute some 18,000metric tons of food to 1.1 million Cambodians until July 2007.

Donor support for the agency's programme in Cambodia has diminishedalarmingly since 2005. "Hundreds of thousands of children in Cambodiacount on the nutritious meal provided to them by the World Food Programme," WFP Country Director Thomas Keusters said. "We want torestore this needed food assistance for children, for the very sick,and for the desperately poor, but we can only do this with theimmediate and valued support of the international community."

According to the 2006 Global Hunger Index of the International FoodPolicy Research Institute, Cambodia is one of the 12 "hunger hot spot" countries listed as "extremely alarming," and with nearly 35 per centof its people living below the poverty line, it is classified as aleast developed and low-income, food-deficit country.

High population growth, low agricultural productivity and poor access to health services continue to hamper progress in human development andthe country ranks 129th out of 177 countries in the 2006 UN DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) Human Development Index.

Ready for elections?

Kem Sokha, human rights activist and former Deputy and Senator, is going to form his own party. He has been critical of the government and has a good support from Khmers overseas. Unfortunately, as the director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) he is entangled in a lawsuit by his former employees who accused him of embezzlement. Will he overcome this scandal?

The main parties opposing the ruling CPP are the SRP of Sam Rainsy, FUNCINPEC of Keo Puth Reaksmey and the NRP of Prince Ranariddh.

Let the dance begin.

Cambodia: Sex destination

Cambodia is a very beautiful country. With Angkor Wat, the soon to be voted as one of the 7 Wonders of the World, Cambodia can easily bring in tourists from all over the world if the leaders care more about the country than about their own pockets.

It's very unfortunate that sex predators and pedophiles like to go to Cambodia to satisfy their needs. This is wrong and the Cambodian government should protect our children from being sexually abused.

Statistics released this year by the NGO Violence Against Women and Children in Cambodia. The information was gathered through months of interviews and workshops with street sex workers in Phnom Penh.


54% named poverty as their reason for entering sex work
38% began working between 15 and 18 years old
42% are divorced
82.6% send money home to support family
41% have six or more siblings
79% cannot write; 50% cannot read
29.1% have between 6 and 10 clients a day.
95% work seven days a week
70.8% say they have been gang raped
100% of sex workers who say they pay protection money, say they pay it to police.

New Year's Only Resolution

Happy New Year 2007.

We need only one resolution for 2007. There must be free and fair elections. The pundits already predicted the victory of the communal election on April 1, 2007 by the CPP. For sure the CPP is going to win because it controls everything. If there's no pressure and intimidation from the CPP, the people of Cambodia would have a freer choice.

The international community must put pressure on the Cambodian government to allow equal time for the all the parties on state televisions and radios. The people of Cambodia must be free to choose.