Cambodia And United Nations Essay, Research Paper
Cambodia is a small
country located in Southeast Asia bordering the Gulf of Thailand.
Cambodia lies between Thailand and Vietnam. It occupies a total area
of 181,040 square kilometers, and out of all of this, only 176,520 square
kilometers are on land. Cambodia has a 2,572-kilometer long land
boundary and 443 kilometer coastline.
Cambodia has a tropical climate like most
countries in Southeast Asia. In this tropical climate, there is a
rainy, monsoon season from May to October. The dry season lasts from
December to March. The land terrain in Cambodia is mostly made up
of low lands, flat plains, with mountains in the Southwest and north.
There is a wide amount of natural resources in Cambodia. The natural
resources include, timber, gemstones, manganese, phosphates, and hydropower
potential.
The main kind of agriculture in Cambodia
is subsistence farming. This is where the food you grow on your farm
is for your own good. The opposite of subsistence farming is commercial
farming where big industries farm for commercial profit. The Mekong
river floods the fields in the wet season, making the land perfect for
growing rice, which is their main cash crop. Even though they grow
a lot of rice, their main export is rubber, and their man import is machinery.
Cambodia has a small population compared
to the many states of the United States of America. As of July 1993,
Cambodia had a total population of 9,898,900. The nationality, or
the names of the people who live in Cambodia are Cambodian(s). The
primary ethnic group that makes up 90% of the total population is Khmer.
The major religion in Cambodia is Theravada Buddhism. About 95% of
the people in Cambodia follow this religion. The official language
is Khmer, and French is the second most common language.
The French colonized Cambodia for 83 years.
Cambodia became independent in November 1953. This was because Norodom
Sihanuk led a peaceful independence movement against the French.
Norodom Sihanuk was the current Prince of Cambodia at that time.
Soon after this, a communist group called
the Khmer Rouge, which was lead by Pol Pot and backed up by the Chinese
stepped in. They were in charge of Cambodia for eight years.
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge murder millions of innocent Cambodians.
Their rule ended when the Vietnamese took control.
The Royal Government of Cambodia administers
the government in Cambodia. There are currently two Prime Ministers,
who are Hun Sen, and Ran Narit. This was because after Pol Pot was
over thrown, there was one Prime Minister, but they had conflicts over
who it was supposed to be. The UN later came in and made the two
opposing people both prime Ministers so that there would be no conflict.
This started on an internationally supervised
election in 1993. Cambodia gained its independence on November 1953.
This day is it?s national holiday. The capital of country capital
of Cambodia is Phnom Penh. The national flag has a blue background
with a temple in the middle. A picture of it is on the poster display.
The economy in Cambodia is certainly not
the best in the world. It is in fact a very poor country. Cambodia?s
economy is still recovering from a sudden switch to a free-trade market
in 1990, and a cutoff in aid from former Soviet countries. The country
does not have that many roads bridges or powerhouses. The country
is not heavily populated within cities. About 90% of all the people
who live in Cambodia live on the countryside. These people are highly
dependent on subsistence agriculture. The GDP per capita was $289
US dollars.
The main currency in Cambodia is the reil.
The value of the real has been going down for a long time and is very unstable.
For example, in 1996, 2620 real equaled one US dollar.
The life expectancy of many people in Cambodia
is not that high. The reason is because of many diseases, and conflicts,
which lead to early deaths. In 1990 the percentage of al the people
in Cambodia that were older than 15 was 53%. The life expectancy
at Birth in 1995 was 51 years of age. Of the 9,898,900 people in
Cambodia, the adult literacy rate was 65.3%.
Communication in Cambodia is not good
at all. There are hardly any telecommunication companies available,
and international services are limited to Vietnam and other few countries
only. Now, commuting from place to place is not as bad. Cambodia
has 612 kilometers of railroads, and 13,351 kilometers of highways.
There are also 3,700 kilometers of inland waterways, and ports are available
in Phnom Penh, and Kampong Saom. Cambodia only has nine useable airports.
The situation in Cambodia now is not that
good, but a lot better than how it used to be. It has been over 20
years since Vietnam soldiers ended the bloodshed caused by the Khmer Rouge.
There are still many killings, which have been caused by grenades or shootings
during public demonstrations. Recently on Easter Sunday of March
30, 1997 in Phnom Penh, there were grenades thrown at a crowd during a
public demonstration, which was supposed to be headed toward Sam Rainsy.
Sam Rainsy was the most visible and vocal Human Rights advocate in Cambodia.
In this, Easter Sunday Massacre, there were 19 innocent people killed,
and over a 100 people injured. The attempt to get Sam Rainsy failed,
and all the people in Cambodia waited for the International public to help
out.
There has not been much International help
in Cambodia and still the violence and economic problems continue.
I seriously think that people should help more than they are doing now,
and make this a big situation because many lives are at stake. My
proposal to the United Nations Economic Council is that they start donating
some money to Cambodia to help out their economy. By building up
their economy they can use their money to build schools, hospitals, and
more roads. By having educated people, more people could go and get
jobs and strengthen the economy even more.
My second proposal is towards the Human
Rights Council of the United Nations. The Human Rights Council should
send food and medical aid to Cambodia. They should and could do this
until the economy of Cambodia gets better and good enough to support its
own people.
My third proposal to the United Nations
is towards the Security Council. With a lot of violence going on
in Cambodia, there needs to be some authority that can take control.
The Security Council should send down troops to stop the violence and keep
a sort of peace in Cambodia.
Truly I think that Cambodia is a nice country,
but a nice country with many problems. These problems can of course
be fixed with a lot of help, which the United Nations can help them with.
We will just have to wait and see how Cambodia shapes up.