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Speaking of elections, here's a report on campaigns getting under way.

The election is scheduled for the 1st of April and will see 102,266 candidates from 12 parties running for 1,621 commune, village and urban neighborhood seats. (Until 2002, these were ruled by political appointees.)

The head of the Cambodian NGO charged with monitoring the election is prediciting:

"This election is merely going to strengthen the current ruling party. And as already expected, the Cambodian People's Party will (again) lead in the number of local governing councils," he said.

We shall see.

Not that I'd expect any more from something conceived and organized by the UN, but you'd think the Khmer Rouge trials would not be running into sticking points that may end up deal-breakers that are about fees, would you?

The Cambodian Bar Association want to impose a fee on the foreign lawyers representing defendants and victims, and the international judges may boycott the whole shebang.

Some NGOs are urging the bar association to reconsider the requirement.

What a mess, and my heart breaks for those who have been hoping that justice will be served.

A team of Canadian police are in Cambodia to train Cambodian authorities in investigation practices in cased of child sex abuse by tourists.

Ted Price, director of the Canadian Police Chiefs International Service Agency, said he has assembled a team to train Cambodian police in taking statements from young survivors of sexual abuse, doing searches of homes and computers and managing cases.

Sounds only fair, since it is some Canadians doing the abusing.

For a different sort of tourist, it seems there is a new type coming to Cambodia, a sort the PPP has dubbed "orphanage tourists". The link is to an interesting first-person perspective.

... in many other poorly-run orphanages the traffic of tourists wishing to see kids dance or treat them to trips to the water park results in kids being extracted from school far too often (the kids from the orphanage I support never lose out on their regular schooling). This is tricky; with many visitors coming to Phnom Penh purely for silly hedonism , it's great that tourists are being encouraged to do something worthy (some combine both), and I'm one of those who encourage them.

The notion of pedophiles is brought up, as well, which was my first thought. I've never heard or thought of anyone doing something like this. Live and learn ...

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