Legal systems worldwide are open to abuse because of design. Cambodia is no exception to the rule. Despite convictions, defeated appeals and supreme court judgments on a multiple murder charge, former Khmer Rouge Commander Chhouk Rin, who was convicted of the murder of three Western backpacker
Cambodia is a complex place with such a sad checkered history. It is democratic…in a sense, with a single party dominance, a nominal royalty and an often harsh judicial reaction to opposition. It is also in recovery. It is a poor nation courted by regional powers and building infrastructure so
Always been a fan of the motto where there is a will there is a way, especially so when the cause is for the good. Cambodia has an unhealthy case of schizophrenia when it comes to the question of landmines. It is darkly ironic that a country littered with unexploded ordinance as a legacy of its
01.9.2010 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
What is it with the monks in Cambodia? There are already many dangers there - unexploded landmines, border scuffles with Thailand, snakes, tigers and more. However, rampaging Buddhist monks wouldn’t usually make it near the top of the list. We reported a while back about 76 year old Kiet Cha
01.3.2010 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
Cambodia is one of those countries blessed with beauty and cursed by human misuse. A result of its torturous history is a legacy of unexploded land mines. There are still an estimated 6 million active mines of various persuasions remaining from past conflicts, unmapped and still deadly. These
Cambodia is at a fork in the road and which direction it takes will determine its future. When we were there earlier this year the local scuttlebutt among the journalists and ex-pats was a tightening up on human rights and freedom of speech. This contrasts with the current trial of the Khmer Rou
12.4.2009 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
Bioengineering has a checkered reputation. Many people object to science manipulating nature for gain, and suspect that such initiatives will come back to haunt us through unexpected mutations and environmental impact. However, in a nice little story Scottish researchers have developed a bacterium t
We have reported before that many developing countries are under strain due to interest and repayments of loans from the major powers. In the case of Cambodia, these loans were a last ditch effort for survival at the time of internal crisis. It ran up massive debts rebuilding its military capability
Regular readers will know we have a keen interest in the progress of development in Cambodia. We still remain guardedly hopeful that Cambodia will emerge in a post-Khmer Rouge generation as a wise, vibrant, and robust democracy, but frequently we see challenges to this optimism. On our most recent v
10.9.2009 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
It is an oddity of a truly global market that whether a US consumer keeps buying clothes at the Gap retail store can determine the poverty levels of a Cambodian worker. A knock on effect of the global recession is a decline in retail sales. One can see the effect in stores on the high street. Invent
10.4.2009 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
