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UK continues to fund the ECCC
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UK to open trade office in Cambodia
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Complicated land issues
Phnom Penh,
Dec. 3, 2012 (PRU) – The Ambassador of the United Kingdom told Cambodian Deputy
Prime Minister Sok An on Monday that the UK expects to provide more financial
support to the UN side of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
(ECCC) to assist its goal of providing justice to the victims. The amount of contribution
is not yet known since it will depend on approval by the UK parliament.
His
Excellency Ambassador Mark Gooding said in the meeting that the announcement of
this contribution will be made soon. The Ambassador recognised the shortfall in
financial support for the ECCC as a “very serious issue”, and he encourages
countries in the region to come forward with contribution to support the
ongoing trial of the top leaders of Democratic Kampuchea regime, which ruled
the country from 17 April 1975 till early 1979, during which time nearly 2
million people died of starvation, execution, disease and forced labour.
In March,
the United Kingdom announced another financial contribution of $1.2 million for
the Cambodian side of the ECCC. Ambassador Gooding said at the time, “The UK’s
contribution is to indicate its strong support for both international justice
and for national reconciliation in Cambodia”.
Deputy Prime
Minister H.E. Dr. Sok An, Minister in Charge of the Office of the Council of
Ministers, expressed his thanks for the continuing UK support for the Court. He
said that the UK is one of the biggest contributors of funds to the ECCC.
“We made a
maximum effort from Cambodia’s side”, said Dr. Sok An, who is also Chairperson
of the Royal Government Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials, referring to
Cambodia’s contribution in cash and kind to support the ECCC.
Cambodia is
6th and the UK 7th in terms of contribution to the ECCC.
The
international community welcomed the ECCC Supreme court, in February, sentencing
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, the head of the Khmer Rouge’s torture
centre S-21, to life imprisonment.
The
architect of the KR regime, Pol Pot, died in 1998 in Anlong Veng near the
border with Thailand.
The
remaining senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge are: Nuon Chea, former chairman of
the National Assembly and chief ideologue; Khieu Samphan, former Khmer Rouge
head of state; Ieng Sary, ex-foreign minister; and Ieng Thirith, minister for
social action (who has been separated from the current trial due to her poor
mental health).
Dr. Sok An
welcomed Ambassador Gooding’s information that a trade office will be opened in
January 2013 which will be located in the compound of the UK embassy in Phnom
Penh.
Both sides
shared the view that bilateral relationship between the two countries has
improved over time, thus contributing to increased two-way trade which has
grown four-fold in the last five years.
Last year
bilateral trade was worth around US$600 million, most of its garment exports
from Cambodia to the UK. There are three major UK garment factories here that
provide thousands of jobs.
Minister
Jerremy Brown opened a new UK garment factory in Cambodia earlier this year.
Cambodia has
benefited from the EU trade preference called Everything But Arms, under which
LDCs can export products duty free to the EU.
There are
more and more British companies in Cambodia, not just in garment but also
education, architecture and design; the Vattanac Capital Development in Phnom
Penh is designed by British architects.
An estimated
100,000 tourists from the UK visit the Kingdom of Wonder each year.
Cambodia
receives 3 million tourists a year and that figure is expected to increase
around 20 per cent per annum thanks to its abundance of cultural heritage and
eco-tourism in addition to the legacies of the ‘Killing Fields’. The legacy
of Democratic Kampuchea was horrendous. The country’s human resources -
infrastructure, institutions and records—including records of ownership—were
almost or completely destroyed.
His
Excellency Dr. Sok An said that the land issue has been very complicated since
the fall of Democratic Kampuchea in early 1979.
“In the
1980s, people and officials alike were given lands and houses free but no one
wanted them until the prices of the assets increased; then everyone claimed
that house or this land belongs to them”, he explained to the Ambassador.
The
complexity of the issue prompted the government to set up a land management
committee, and other measures were implemented, including the land law, he
said.
Cambodia has
undergone four different stages of land reform: first step from 1979 to 1989
(cooperative land); the second from 1991to 1993 (distribution of land for
refugees who returned home); the third from 1998 to 1999 (the integration of
former Khmer Rouge who defected to the Royal Government); and the last phase is
the current land reform, H.E. Dr. Sok An said.
“Now the big
measure introduced by Prime Minister Hun Sen is to dispatch the concerned
officials, including the newly established Techo Hun Sen Heroic Youth Groups to
work on this land title deeds' process.
“Our
objective is to issue the land title deeds to up to 2 million hectares of
land”, Dr. Sok An told the diplomat.
Dr. Sok An
also added that nearly 500,000 families nationwide will benefit from the
Government provision of this land title deeds. In response, the Ambassador
Gooding said, “I understand that a lot of progress has been made, which is very
welcome. It is a step forward,” referring to the decision by Prime Minister Hun
Sen to suspend the economic land concessions. End.
