Social Framework Cambodia

Pacific island states top disaster risk index

The World Risk Index – developed by the U.N. University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in Bonn – calculates risk values for 173 countries worldwide.The index, published for the first time this year, is based on the premise that the frequency and strength of natural disasters - including earthquakes, storms and floods - are not sufficient to determine the probability of a country, is to live a catastrophe. The ranking also takes into account the social structures and processes, such as level of education, food security, poverty, and how the institutions function. At least 220,000 people died in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the impoverished and politically unstable Caribbean. But the death toll in nine.0-magnitude Japan quake and tsunami was far lower, at around 28,000, thanks to its higher coping and adaptive capacities, including better building laws. Haiti ranks 32 in the index and Japan 35. "The World Risk Report shows the need to focus in the future more on disaster risk reduction than just on humanitarian aid after an extreme event," its editor Peter Mucke, managing director of Alliance Development Works, said in a statement .

"The comprehensive analyses allow to better detect threats and to identify the needs more precisely, as well as to place political demands similarly in affected countries and donor countries.

Commentary: Elizabeth Becker and the Campaign to Put NGOs ...

Commentary: Elizabeth Becker and the Campaign to Put NGOs above the Law

AKP Phnom Penh, September 5, 2011 –

The full text of the commentary wrote by Allen Myers:

Nobody seems entirely sure of the number of non-governmental organisations operating in Cambodia, but more than 3000 are registered. One of the reasons for the uncertainty about the number is that Cambodia is one of the few countries that has not established laws and procedures for the formation and operation of NGOs.

The Royal Government has been working since 2003 to rectify this situation by adopting a law that defines NGOs and sets a few broad parameters for their operation. Under this law, NGOs will have to register with the government and submit annual reports on their activities, income and expenditures.

Unfortunately, a minority of NGOs have objected to the very idea that NGOs should be required to register or be subject to any rules established by the elected government. To a certain extent, this is understandable: nobody enjoys being subjected to rules, as you can see by observing the behaviour around traffic lights when no police are present. But most people realise that some rules and regulations are a necessary part of social existence. NGOs that aim to promote democratic principles ought to be particularly aware of this, rather than claiming to be above the law.

The minority campaign against NGO registration has partly overlapped with legitimate concerns about the wording of particular provisions of the draft law, which may not have always been completely clear in early drafts. However, there have been numerous consultations between NGOs and the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, and such legitimate concerns have been or are being addressed in redrafting (the third draft of the law is now being discussed). But that of course does not satisfy those who are opposed to any registration requirement, and they have continued their campaign against the law by denying or dismissing the changes that have been made, and by exaggerating or inventing what the law supposedly says.

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