City Hall is preparing to launch a fresh
round of street sweeps, hailing its recent controversial efforts to clear Phnom
Penh of beggars, street sellers and homeless adults and children a success.
City
Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said the first round of the municipality’s
campaign to clear the city was over, with authorities looking to target a new
batch of “undesirables”.
“We are
not sure what date but, from July, City Hall will start the second campaign,”
he said, adding that everyone rounded up earlier this month was benefiting from
the initiative.
During
the first round of sweeps, the Post found that children as young as 7 years old
were being hauled into caged vans and taken to the city’s notorious Prey Speu
social affairs centre.
Several
witnesses said that rather than receiving training, those locked in Prey Speu
spent much of the two to three days they stayed there cleaning and collecting
rubbish.
Two
days after the first sweep, United Nations representatives visited the centre
and described conditions inside as “extremely poor”.
Authorities
denied that Prey Speu was used and said those rounded up were put into the care
of Pour un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE).
However,
PSE said it was providing help to just 13 children.
Last
week, in a further bid to clear the streets, City Hall named six intersections
across the capital that would be used as “model areas” in which beggars and
street sellers would no longer be allowed.
Dimanche
told the Post yesterday that such efforts were needed to ensure the safety of
people on the streets, to offer them a more prosperous future, to combat human
trafficking, and to make the city more attractive.
He
named PSE, Mith Samlanh, New Family and Enfants d’Asie Aspeca – all of which
focus on disadvantaged children – as NGOs joining in for the latest roundup.
Ouk
Sovan, deputy program director at PSE, confirmed that the partnership was
expected to continue.
“We are
working with City Hall in order to respect the rights of children,” he said,
adding that his organisation could only help those in its care and could not
ensure that no one rounded up would be sent to Prey Speu.
Son
Sophal, director of the Social Affairs Department, said the “roundup [of] the
homeless and beggars [was] for their benefit and the city’s”.
Sen David and Alice Cuddy
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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