Contents:

Cambodian court gives German man 15 years in jail for child sex abuse

UN committee slams Government on bad treatment of Indigenous People

Arrest of the american Thomas Rapanos Wayne, president of the NGO BHAKTIVEDANTA ECO VILLAGE

Cambodian court gives German man 15 years in jail for child sex abuse
The Associated Press
Published: March 13, 2008

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: A Cambodian court sentenced a German man to 15 years in prison Thursday (13 Mar) after finding him guilty of sexually abusing a girl.

Judge Sao Meach said he convicted Walter Munz, 62, of Stuttgart of debauchery for sexual offenses committed against a 13-year-old girl last year. Debauchery is a Cambodian legal term covering sexual abuse of children.

The judge said there was sufficient evidence to convict Munz despite the defendant's denial of the charges during his trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

The evidence included many photographs of other children Munz had taken and planned to distribute on the Internet, he said.

Cambodian police arrested Munz in April last year in a raid on his guesthouse room in the capital Phnom Penh.

They had kept him under surveillance for several days after receiving a tip-off from child rights activists about his suspicious conduct with children.

Police found him in the room with a 13-year-old girl, who alleged Munz forced her to have sex with him several times.

The court plans to announce on Friday (14 Mar) its verdict in a case involving Alexander Trofimov, a Russian businessman accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl. He was arrested in October on allegations he had sexually abused as many as 19 girls since 2005. (AP)

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UN committee slams Government on bad treatment of Indigenous People

The UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has issued a follow up letter to the Philippine government (letter dated March 7th 2008 attached available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/early_warning/Philippines070308.pdf)

The following is a summary of the content of the letter:

Referring to its Early Warning Urgent Action letter of August 2007 the committee states that it 'remains preoccupied by the situation of the community of the Subanon of Mount Canatuan. It notes with concern that the situation has not improved and ... requests from the [Philippine Government] further clarification and additional information in relation to the following issues already raised in August 2007:

the granting of a concession to a Canadian mining company (TVI Pacific) authorizing mining activities on Mt Canatuan a sacred site of the Subanon without having obtained their FPIC in line with their traditional forms of decision making; the continued recognition of the 'Siocon Council of Elders' as the representative body of the Subanon Community by the NCIP despite thwill inquire e repudiation of this body by the community concerned; the measures taken to protect the members of the community from acts of violence and attacks on their property, sacred sites and institutions bearing in mind in particular that paramilitary forces deployed by TVI Pacific are accused of human rights violations, allegedly with the cooperation of the armed forces; whether amendments introduced in 2002 and 2006 to the 1998 Implementation Rules and Regulations impose restrictions in relation to the time-frame and process required to obtain the free and prior informed consent of indigenous communities and the failure to process all complaints and legal actions brought by the community.' It goes on to say that the committee is concerned that Mt Canatuan 'is not an isolated case but is rather indicative of similar situations faced by other indigenous communities in the State Party' and reminds the Government that FPIC is required for any developments on ancestral lands under IPRA.'

The government is required to respond by 30 June 2008 and also to provide its full state report by the same date. In the absence of a response it will adopt concluding observations in light of information received from other sources at its 73rd session to be held from 28th July to 15 August 2008.

The questions in this letter to the Government are more focused than the previous one, and it is clear that the governments response was inadequate and did not address the committees concerns. The letter also broadens the scope to other communities impacted by similar issues. As is clear from the diplomatic nature of the committees dialogue with governments and from the history of other cases this is a process which can take a some time before a final decision is taken. However, even while waiting for a decision it should increase the pressure on the government to address the issues raised. End.

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Arrest of the american Thomas Rapanos Wayne, president of the NGO BHAKTIVEDANTA ECO VILLAGE

Mr. Thierry Darnaudet of child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants.-APLE- based in Cambodia is responsible for the growing public awareness and police action about child abuse and the exploitation in Cambodia. His organization is reliable and professional and his report below is very instructive. It is additonal evidence how some

Mr. Thierry Darnaudet reports:

I like to inform you that the American man Thomas Rapanos Wayne also known under his hare krishna devotee' s name, tattva Darshan Das, has been arrested yesterday in phnom penh cambodia on suspicion of abusing young girls.

-He was found in a guest house with two naked girls aged 12 and 16 years old.
-They both confessed of the abuse while the suspect in police custody denies it.
-He will be presented in front of the judge today who will decide to charge him or no.
If charges, Wayne, should be trial in about 6 months.

-We also came to know from the American agents from ICE that wayne have had previous conviction in the USA for burglary crimes.

-Wayne is the president of the NGO BHAKTIVEDANTA ECO VILLAGE (BEV)which is linked to the hare krishna religious group (ISKCON).

-Please see web site links to his NGO activities in India, Cambodia, etc below this mail.

-PS: I take the opportunity to inform you that a Russian and an Italian have been arrested in January and February in Cambodia in a costal town of sihanouk ville.

I hope you are all well.

Mr. Thierry Darnaudet
President
Action Pour Les Enfants.-APLE-
Website: www.aplecambodia.org

Thomas Rapanos Wayne he is the PRESIDENT and DIRECTOR of the Indian ngo BHAKTIVEDANTA ECO VILLAGE Š

http://ecovillage-asia.org/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=46

Tattva Darshan das: President of Bhaktivedanta Eco Village . Tattva has been extensively traveling and implementing various projects in South East Asia for over 25 years. He has expertise in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, education and alternative community building.