ofGay

Cambodian Relief Fund dinner on Friday [25 Sept. 2009]

Over 55,000 young women in Cambodia are trapped in sexual slavery

A means to an end

Monday, September 21 2009
Rachel Lamb, Asst. Life Editor
The Spectrum (Student's newspaper at the U. at Buffalo)

Girls and women are kept in steel cages in dark back alley slums until eager men are escorted in, pick one out and then give money to have sex with them on tattered cots.

This is reality for over 55,000 young women in Cambodia that are trapped in sexual slavery. It is estimated that 35 percent of those girls are younger than 16 years old.

Vintage On Campus, a student Christian group, is trying to end sex trafficking in Cambodia. They are teaming with Agape International Missions, which has a station in Asia where sex trafficking is most prevalent.

On Sept. 16, VOC held an event in the Student Union to raise awareness and money to help stop human sex trafficking in Cambodia. Members of VOC also rocked on a giant seesaw for one-hour timeslots.

“The seesaw was mainly to catch people’s eyes and have them come over,” said Jay Perillo, VOC’s campus minister. “But we also wanted to get the message across that we were ‘tipping the scales of injustice.’”

Many students milled around the event last Wednesday, where there were plenty of brochures, pamphlets and literature to read about the event. VOC also offered Web sites, like Agape International Mission’s Web site, aim4asia.com, where people can make donations.

VOC also supplied orange bracelets, claiming that orange is the color of freedom. The group encouraged students to wear the color to show that they are a part of finding an end to sex trafficking.

“We need to do whatever we can to stop human trafficking,” Perillo said.

Along with the money raised by the VOC members and their sponsors, Perillo estimates that donations brought in over $1,000. All of the proceeds will go directly to AIM’s site to help rescue young girls who are sex slaves.

According to Perillo, AIM helps those who are enslaved by pulling them out of the alleys, educating them, and giving them food, shelter and safety in its Restoration Center in Cambodia. The program also provides therapy and spiritual guidance to the traumatized victims.

“[AIM] is a great organization and we want to help them in whatever way we can,” Perillo said.

According to its Web site, AIM has helped thousands of people and has opened over 600 churches in Cambodia since its inception in 1988 in California.

AIM also provides financial support, disaster relief, medical supplies and personnel.

The VOC is relatively new to UB. It was started in the spring 2009 semester. Dave Ashby, a UB alumnus and head of the set-up and teardown team, hopes that the VOC will make a difference with the sex trafficking in Cambodia.

“The VOC would like to eventually expand and do mission trips and raise more money,” Ashby said.

Ashby raised money and sat on the seesaw for an hour with a fellow member of the VOC.

“I wish I could have raised more, but I’m glad that I was able to help,” he said.

VOC would like to put together more events to help end sex trafficking not only in Cambodia, but also all over the world.

“I hope that VOC will expand over the next few years so that we can have more support on campus and so that we can raise more money for all the people that we want to help,” Ashby said.

Prawit: No more fight [among Thais] over Preah Vihear

PAD vows to uphold Thai sovereignty over disputed area [-The thieves are throwing a tantrum?]

September 21, 2009
The Nation

Yellow-shirt activist Veera Somkwamkid yesterday vowed to uphold Thai sovereignty over 4.6 square kilometres of terrain near Preah Vihear Temple claimed by Cambodia. Veera also threatened to take legal action against officials condoning the encroachment.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his government was trying to resolve border problems via the legal process and not force.

Former premier Thaksin Shinawatra said on Twitter that Preah Vihear actually does belong to Cambodia by a decision of the International Court of Justice.

He accused the government of favouritism for letting the yellow shirts, who clashed with local villagers in Si Sa Ket on Saturday, read out a statement reaffirming Thailand's dominion over the temple area.

Local villagers had tried to block access to the area by the yellow shirts.

To pacify the rival groups, authorities allowed Veera and about 30 yellow shirts to climb up to Pha Mor-I-Daeng, a cliff inside the Phra Wiharn National Park located in Kantharalak district opposite the temple, to read the declaration.

"We Thai patriots want to declare our intent to form a people's network to restore Thai sovereignty to the surrounding areas of Prasat Phra Wiharn," Veera said.

He pledged to pursue every legal means to reclaim Thai territory. He also warned officials that they would be penalised if they were caught involved in the territorial violations.

He went on to complain against the Cambodian government for allowing Cambodian villagers and soldiers to settle and build a road on Thai soil.

He called for an immediate withdrawal by Cambodia from Thai property. He urged the Thai military to take action under martial law to repel the transgression.

The five co-leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy have remained in close contact with Veera and the people's network over the temple issue, PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila said.

The PAD fully backed the attempts to protect Thai territorial integrity and was not back-pedalling from Veera as alleged, he said.

The scuffle between the villagers and yellow shirts was instigated by the authorities, he said, adding that the yellow shirts were not going on the warpath to recover land lost to neighbouring countries.

"We agree with the option for a negotiated settlement of the border dispute and do not want war, but the government must be clear about the timetable and guidelines for negotiations," he said.

Abhisit said police were trying to mediate between the rival groups but the running battle broke out because the barricades were inadequate.

He insisted that Thailand has not surrendered sovereignty over the disputed areas and that the two countries have already agreed to forge a peaceful settlement.

He said his government had no hidden agenda but just the desire to safeguard Thai territory.

He admitted, however, that several border issues were too sensitive to bring up in public, so interested parties should hold discreet discussions with the government in order to update themselves on the status.

Democrat MP Boonyod Sukthinthai said Veera and the PAD should soften their stance on the temple issue in order to avoid inflaming the stand-off.

"It looks like Thais are fighting Thais and becoming the laughing stock for Cambodians," he said.

Ex-reporter helps Cambodia face up to past

party gay sex with young boy(video)

200 Cambodians held a Pchum Ben ceremony at Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvarak

Thai nationalists disperse

Army keeps tight lid on border protesters; 'red shirts' vow to hold further protests in Bangkok

By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent
		Locals in the area remained deeply resentful of the PAD, and the military personnel at the site also appeared clearly unhappy with the turn of events on Saturday. -- PHOTO: AP

BANGKOK - THAI nationalists who clashed on Saturday with locals and police near an ancient temple on the Cambodian border dispersed on Sunday, after making speeches in an event tightly controlled by the army.

The group from the royalist yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) said it had come to the border to fight for Thailand, and that it was the 'duty of every Thai'.

It brushed off resentment from locals, who were fearful that the activists would provoke a war with Cambodia, saying local villagers did not understand the issue.

And though the mood at the border was calm on Sunday - in contrast to the violent clashes a day earlier - there was every indication that the contentious Preah Vihear temple issue will continue to pose a challenge for the Thai government as domestic political players use it to inflame passions.

On Sunday, a group of 33 activists from the People's Rights and Liberty Protection Group, led by Mr Veera Somkwamkid, was taken by the army in a bus to a cliff called Mo I Daeng, from where the main structure of the Preah Vihear temple was visible on the next ridge. Journalists travelled in a separate bus.

From the cliff, the activists unfurled a white banner that said 'Get out of our land'. Some carried pictures of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and one held aloft a figure of a garuda, which is half-man and half-bird and carries the Hindu god Vishnu. It signifies the King's reign and is Thailand's official symbol.

The group is part of the PAD and while senior PAD leaders have distanced themselves from Mr Veera, he and others said on Sunday that they remained very much a part of the PAD. The PAD activists demanded that the military push out Cambodians from the disputed land, an area of about 485ha.

Citing a 1904 border demarcation, Mr Veera said: 'The PAD would like the Cambodian government to quickly move its people and soldiers out of this area, or else Thai people will have to do their duty in protecting the country's sovereignty.'

Asked whether he was conscious that his actions might ignite a war with Cambodia, Mr Veera replied that the war had already been started - by Cambodia.

Locals in the area remained deeply resentful of the PAD, and the military personnel at the site also appeared clearly unhappy with the turn of events on Saturday. Between 3,000 and 5,000 of the nationalists fought local Thai residents and police that day after trying to reach the temple. Dozens of people were injured.

Cambodian King returns home from China PHNOM PENH, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni returned home on Sunday from Beijing, China. Cambodian Senate President Chea Sim, Prime Minister Hun Sen and other government officials, and royal family members as well as Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Zhang Jinfeng welcomed King Sihamoni at the Phnom Penh International Airport. Sihamoni, along with former King Norodom Sihanouk and former Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, left for Beijing on Sept. 3 for his father's medical checkup. During his stay in China, Sihamoni met with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Sept. 16. Sihamoni was crowned King in 2004 from his father Norodom Sihanouk who had maintained close relations with China.

Sister of Khmer Rouge murder victim John Dewhirst hopes for UN trial

Thai leader calls for peace after activists' clash

Thai villagers fall on the ground after clashing with protesters, left, as riot police officers try to save him during a protest against the occupation of land by Cambodian people in Sisaket province, northern Thailand Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Violence broke out as a political group broke through police lines to march to a temple on the Cambodian border and demand the Thai government recover disputed territory. (AP Photo)

By GRANT PECK
AP

BANGKOK — Thailand's prime minister called for peace and reconciliation on Sunday, a day after a nationalist group provoked clashes with police and villagers during a march to the Cambodian border.

"We can express different opinions but please don't hurt each other. Don't hurt our own people," Abhisit Vejjajiva said.

At least 17 people were injured in northeastern Sisaket province when several hundred members of the People's Alliance for Democracy tried to march to a border area claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia to demand that the Thai government seize the territory. They clashed with police and with hundreds of local Thai villagers who oppose them.

Both the protesters and villagers were armed with sticks, slingshots and other homemade weapons.

The alliance also led demonstrations three years ago that helped spark a military coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for alleged corruption and disrespect for the country's monarch. After Thaksin's allies returned to power, it occupied the prime minister's office for three months last year and seized the capital's two airports for a week.

Abhisit, a Thaksin rival who took office after those demonstrations, sought to appease the protesters, saying Sunday that they should "be assured we are not losing out territory" and that the government was continuing to work on the issue.

"I'm sorry that police couldn't prevent the violence. They were really outnumbered and couldn't block the protesters," he said, adding that they were under strict instructions not to use force.

Police mostly carried only riot shields, making it difficult for them to fend off attacks by the alliance's marchers. Television footage showed alliance members thrusting staffs bearing the Thai flag.

The clashes were linked to a decades-old territorial dispute. The World Court in 1962 awarded control over the nearby 11th century Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia, but some surrounding land remains in dispute.

The People's Alliance for Democracy seized on the land issue last year to stir up nationalist sentiment and attract support, accusing the government of failing to defend Thailand's sovereignty.

Abhisit after the clashes told the army and police to negotiate with the protesters, who agreed to send a small group Sunday to a spot near the temple to make their statement. About 30 of the group's representatives, escorted by soldiers, carried an assortment of royal symbols to the area Sunday.

"We demand that the government and army press the intruders to move out. We are not making war but are protecting our sovereignty," protest leader Veera Somkwamkit said.

The Saturday confrontation came on the same day that about 20,000 pro-Thaksin demonstrators in Bangkok marked the third anniversary of the military coup, saying it set back the cause of democracy.

The protesters want Abhisit to step down, claiming he came to power illegitimately.

More than 6,000 police were on hand to prevent a repeat of rioting that killed at least two and injured hundreds in the last major anti-government protests in April. There was no violence.

Thaksin, who is in self-imposed exile, addressed the crowd by video.

"The whole world thought Thailand was already developed, or almost developed, but it has gone backward to dictatorship," he said.