Territory of Cambodia Was Marred

¶ … territory of Cambodia was marred by civil war, under the ruling massacre of the Khmer Rouge. Until the Paris Conference in 1991, the Marxist regime that carved in blood Cambodia's history between 1975 and 1979, along with the 10-year Vietnamese communism, has left a persistent scar on its civil population.

Despite the immense financial efforts of a handful of international organizations, 16 years from the (re)establishment of democracy Cambodia is still struggling (at least apparently) to dig its way out of the social, economical and political maze that has been going on since Pol Pot took the lead in the mid 1970s.

The body of this paper will consist of several parts:

short description of the Khmer Rouge's genocide

The international attempts to reestablish order in Cambodia after 1992, and the unremitting financial aids the country has received in the past decade

The failure to create a valid, efficient set of rules and an overall justice system

The present situation of the population - effects of the attempts to slide to a state policy focused on the people rather than on state security

Conclusions over the present general level of Cambodia

In 1975 when the Khmer Rouge communist party took the reins of what would later become Democratic Kampuchea (Wikipedia Encyclopedia, 2007), the country has closed its borders as if water-tight. In an incredibly short interval the oppressive regime closed all schools, hospitals and factories, banned all religions and urged the entire population into collective farms on forced labor, where they had to work for as long as a half a day uninterrupted in inhumane conditions. The so-called enemies of the state were killed: intellectuals (the situation was so absurd and dramatic that even people who wore glasses were included in the same category), people who were part of or sympathized the old government, people who had connections with foreign governments, Christians, Muslims, ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese and anyone who was suspected of sabotage. The numbers vary widely from 800,000 to 2 million dead during the 5-year hell and other tens of thousands somehow managed to flee to Vietnam (Wikipedia Encyclopedia, 2007). An estimated 25% of the whole population either died of malnutrition, hard labor, exhaustion, illness or execution, or left the country in that interval.

By the beginning of the 1990s, things seemed to take a different turn for the Cambodian people, along with the first free elections and the new constitution back in 1993. The United Nations have then embarked for their most ambitious project - the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) has then taken over for the first time the administration of an independent member state, it has organized and run the elections, repatriated the escaped Cambodians and promoted human rights. The elections were won by the royalist FUNCINPEC (short for the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia) to the prejudice of the Cambodian People's Party. Given the recent Communist experience, it was no wonder that the CPP lost. Nevertheless, two problems arose from this situation only. First, as Ronald Bruce St. John states in his article "Cambodia's Failing Democracy," "CPP over time leveraged its power and reach at lower levels of government to outmaneuver FUNCINPEC, progressively accumulating a disproportionate share of power. In the process, it became all too clear the political elite of Cambodia was not as committed to democracy as the Cambodian people. On the contrary, a series of power-sharing agreements between the two parties over the next few years, all of which were increasingly dominated by CPP, made the very idea of power-sharing an oxymoron in Cambodia "(St. John, 2006); second, UNTAC never managed to disarm the rival political groups.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other major international organizations around the world totally invested over $5 billion in the reconstruction of Cambodia. Humanitarian programs were established, results have been achieved in the Education field (given the small percent of literate people that had survived the three decades of communist terror); repeated attempts to increase the state's economy lead to the relative development of tourism and textile industry and donor countries supply half of Cambodia's annual budget.

Nevertheless, things are not by far as bright as they might seem. Far from disappearing, violent practices, death threats and political manipulation continued just like the decades before. The years of persecution, violence and permanent threat made Cambodia now completely lack competent people in the justice sector: lawyers, judges. Corruption was at high price and the laws were also impossible to call humane. Even after the enactment of the new constitution the country found it hard to keep up with the international standards. Basic human rights were and still are, ignored or not acknowledged.

While donor countries pump millions in humanitarian programs, reform programs are awaiting. The Hun Sen government makes promises it fails to honor. A law that would diminish corruption at a high level is still awaiting approval since 1994, for instance (St. John, 2006)

It took the United Nations six years of tedious negotiation to create the extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia that would trial the leaders of the Khmer Rouge for genocide. The negotiations were halted multiple times by both sides, as the main issues were whether the tribunal should follow national or international laws and who should be the members of the court. The United Nations tackled with the idea of using only international judges (given the weak, corruptible and easy to influence Cambodian justice system) while the state's government refused the proposition obstinately. While almost $60 million were invested in the disorganized justice system, common people were anxiously awaiting for justice to be done.

As Josefa S. Edralin states in her paper "Human Security and Peace Building: Focus on Local Capacity and Institutional Development," a subtle yet strong change has taken place in the past years as referred to national security. The stress has shifted from territorial defense and national security to the individual - centered policy. When we talk about human security we no longer refer to the entire population taken as a whole, but to the individuals that form it. For one to feel secure, he needs to know there are some basic human rights that protect him wherever he might be - on the streets or in his office. People no longer see arms as a means of obtaining human security, but progress and education.

This is not what is happening in Cambodia, some fourteen years from the first democratic elections. In the past years, the country's rate of inflation has been close to zero. Small, yet constant increases in the GDP have been recorded. But free elections and economical increase are not enough to call a country democratic.

In a country where human rights are still close to nil, child labor and sex industry flourish. Trafficking of children and women has augmented and the drug market is expanding rapidly. The most affected groups are evidently women and children. Social and health instability have lead to HIV / AIDS becoming a serious threat.

The fast economic development applied on a weak legal and political framework has done wonders for the prosperity of urban areas and great cities, but has yet increased socio-economic instability in the rural areas.

The World Bank in currently investing important sums in solving matters of immediate impact on society. Infrastructure, education, entitling land holders, diseases are some of the WB's current concerns, along with environment protection.

Cambodia's railway infrastructure counts less than 1000 kilometers and many of the roads are very difficult to use. This needs improvement in order to support rural development. The Agriculture Productivity Improvement Program is meant to boost the productivity of small farmers and the Disease Control and Health Development Project is trying to fight the increased death and illness from diseases that an normally be prevented. In the context of durable development and sustainable rehabilitation of the ecosystem, a project that focuses on the development of a well-organized protected areas' system could not be omitted.