Cambodia

Report based on the Special Representative's 10th mission to Cambodia, 27 Nov.-6 Dec. 2003, focusing on the general political climate in the wake of the National Assembly elections; justice sector reform and ongoing problems in the criminal justice system; and the human rights impact of natural resource policies and practices in Cambodia.

Transmits report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia, Peter Leuprecht, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 57/225 of 18 Dec. 2002. Reports on major developments during the period Jan.-July 2003. Gives an account of the Special Representative's 8th and 9th missions to Cambodia and provides details on: i) general political climate and the 2003 National Assembly elections; ii) administration of justice; iii) compliance with international human rights obligations; iv) justice sector and accountability; v) land and forestry issues; vi) economic and social rights; vii) Khmer Rouge trials; and viii) refugees and asylum-seekers. Presents recommendations.

Transmits report of the Special Representative for human rights in Cambodia, Peter Leuprecht, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 56/169.

Over the last four decades since the initial mass resettlement of refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 1975, principally in the US and France, the Southeast Asian communities in Europe and the US have registered a demographic shift with the emergence of diaspora-born generations with different experiences, access, mobility, ties to the ancestral homeland, and notions and claims to citizenship and belonging in multiple contexts. Despite the long history of migration to France, dating back to the colonial period, there is little scholarly attention paid to the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian communities (heretofore referred to as "Southeast Asian") in France. French preoccupation remains largely fixated on Asia and on the antiquities, rather than on the diaspora. This is particularly noteworthy given that Southeast Asians collectively constitute the second largest Asian population in France, a close second only to the Chinese. Despite the resurgent attention to immigration issues in Europe in recent years, we know little of the integration experiences of these earlier but relatively recent refugee communities in Europe. In particular, we have virtually no knowledge of the post-refugee generations that are an integral part of French cultural, political, economic, and social fabric. These knowledge gaps deprive us of critical insights that would be relevant and invaluable in view of the current refugee situations in Europe, and the intensifying debates engendered by demographic and cultural shifts both in the US and in France. Though relatively more prolific, scholarship on Southeast Asians in the US remains uneven, with more studies available on Vietnamese Americans than on other communities, and comparatively little on the post-refugee generations. With their different historical relationships with Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and different philosophies about immigrant incorporation and cultural pluralism, the US and France make for a rich comparative study that is at the center of our proposed collaboration. This two-part initiative proposes, firstly, to bring together an interdisciplinary group of European and American researchers working on Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian diasporas to engage in critical, cross disciplinary discourse on the post-refugee generations. Among other concerns, the researchers on the project are particularly interested in their social, cultural, political, and transnational negotiations with regards to identity politics, networks, and public engagement, as guided in part by the following questions: What are the experiences of the Southeast Asian post-refugee generations in Europe? What forces and factors in the receiving contexts shape their experiences, and how, and what are the differences and commonalities among the contexts of reception? How, if in any way, does historical memory inform their identity constructions, socialities, and diasporic consciousness and engagement? What, if any, are their relationships with the ancestral homeland? How are those ties maintained or made manifest? The ultimate aims of this project are as follows: - to map the landscape of research on contemporary Southeast Asian migration to Europe - to share research methodologies, trends, and findings - to broaden and deepen our comparative understanding of refugee resettlement and incorporation experiences in America and in Europe that are the two principal refugee resettlement hubs - to foster cross and trans-disciplinary discourse on migration and diasporas - to advance and widen the transnational fields of critical refugee, migration and diaspora studies - to transnationalize the Critical Refugee Studies Collective, which is a University of California-based network of critical refugee studies scholars. Secondly and as an extension of this larger conversation, Um and Le Bail also propose to begin ethnographic research on post-refugee generations of Southeast Asians in France, with particular attention to the Sino-Vietnamese community that is their shared research interest and that constitutes an underexplored research terrain.

'VALOGLOB project has the scope to analyse Faro-Convention (2005) using a research methodology based on a systemic approach (Morin, 2005), a cross-cultural comparative study (Demorgon, 2004) with the World Heritage Convention (UNESCO, 1972) and field case studies in Europe, Euro-Mediterranean area and Russia. These objectives have the aim to better understand theoretical and practical mechanisms of a legal text (Faro-Convention, 2005) with great impacts on civil society (museums and inhabitants). Since the Second World War, tens of Conventions, Recommendations and Declarations on cultural heritage were adopted by governments. These normative instruments are rarely studied in a cross-cultural approach with main focus on citizenship as a key actor regarding its implementation. Faro-Convention (2005) stresses its aims on the values of cultural heritage for society. In time of globalisation, cultural heritage cannot be anymore a topic discussed only by specialists, but a dialogue in permanent interaction with the civil society in order to build a common European identify based on “diversity” and “unity”. To carry out this project, the researcher (PhD) has a great research experience (temporary Lecturer at University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France), has been involved in French and international projects (FP6, FP7, AECID, ANR), got a research award nomination titled “Cultural Policy Research Award” (CPRA, 2010), has published 3 peer-reviewed articles has an extended professional experience (Cambodia, Gabon, Sudan, Latin America, Russia, etc.) in international organisations (International Council of Museums (ICOM), UNESCO, APSARA, etc.). The IUEE, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) will give to the applicant the opportunity to carry out her research project in a major European and multicultural centre for intercultural dialogue and cultural policies dissemination for the Mediterranean basin and beyond (Russia).'

Deltas are coastal Social Political Environmental Systems (SPES) characterised by the interplay between rivers, lands and oceans, influenced by a combination of riverine and oceanic processes, shaped by human interventions under strong state water control management policies. Deltas provide numerous resources such as fertile land and water for irrigated and intensive agriculture, fisheries, abundant biodiversity as well as non-farm activities. Thanks to their location at the interface of lower valleys and the sea, and their fluvial connections, trade and exchange have flourished and led to the development and expansion of some of the world’s largest metropolises. Asia is home to the largest and most populated deltas in the world. However, deltas are recognised as one of the most vulnerable coastal environments. They face a range of threats operating at multiple scales, from global climate change (CC) and sea-level rise (SLR) to various hazards (floods, erosion, salinization, subsidence), local anthropogenic activities and land use changes. Deltas are relevant sites for adaptation to CC studies, given they are dynamic systems where communities have a long record of adapting to natural hazards and are accustomed to being highly exposed to environmental risks. Local populations whose livelihoods depend on natural resources have adapted in different ways to live with floods. Objectives The MOVINDELTAS project intends to understand the challenges for deltaic populations when their livelihoods are at risk due to environmental/climatic and global economic changes, and their adaptive capacity sustainability through the current scenarios in the Ganges-Brahmapoutra-Meghna and Mekong deltas. The project approach isinterdisciplinary, multi-scale and long term(past history experiences and forecasting) from four perspectives: i) a physical and environmental assessment of risks posed by multi-hazards linked to adaptive strategies, ii) a socio-economic vulnerability assessment of the population exposed to these hazards, iii) an assessment of the population and local stakeholders’ perception of risk in the risk hotspots, and iv) a projection of how the risk is expected to evolve in the coming decades, with climate changes in the GBM and Mekong deltas. Through its various components, MOVINDELTAS aims to meet several specific objectives: Enhance the understanding of the dynamics of deltaic Social Political Environmental Systems (SPES), and the level of sustainability of deltaic population livelihoods under multi-hazard environmental change. Define the complexity of new patterns of mobility and immobility/migration and non-migration, (involuntary) displacement and translocal livelihoods (across multiple locations, gender, cultures and social classes) in delta regions defined as risk hotspots. Assess the various adaptive strategies and community responses to multi-hazards under expected environmental change in risk hotspots, through model-scenarios/CC in a new context of global CC. Conduct an in-depth and evidence-based analysis of the differentiated perceptions, sensitivity and experiences of men and women in their strategies for coping with environmental, global and climate changes. Include stakeholders in an iterative consultative process throughout the project in order to better understand their perspectives, develop informed models and maximise the potential impact of policy response. Under this specific objective, experience sharing between deltas and the use of local knowledge on adaptation strategies in vulnerable flood deltas will allow future learning, and contribute to the sustainability of the proposed methodology. In fact, the Nile delta is the perfect environmental configuration for a test case as it has several converging and divergent parameters characteristic of South-East-Asia. Partnerships : 27 partners from 4 European countries (France, UK, Germany and Netherland), 4 Asian countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Bangladesh) and Egypt.