Of all the countries in South East Asia, it is Cambodia which stays with you longest after you leave.
The time I spent there sent me head-over-heels in love with the place.
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| Small border towns like this one straddle the hardly distinguishable line between Vietnam and Cambodia. All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE |
The muted tranquility of the jungle, and the mysterious lawlessness of the towns hint at both great danger and excitement - surrounded by a deeply compassionate people.
Internationally, the country seems to somehow exist outside the rest of the world, and when speaking to the ordinary people who live there, one can sense that they each carry a weight of personal grief on their shoulders.
Although Cambodia rarely makes it into the headlines, it is a country where the tragedies of it's past remain inseparable from it's politics of today.
Any news which does reach 'western' ears usually concerns the ongoing attempts to bring the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge to justice.
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| Despite being poor, places such as the Angkor temples have helped Cambodia nurture a notable tourist industry. All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE |
The head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, nicknamed 'Dutch' was recently tried, and the occasional articles written on the country almost always deal with how the country is still wrestling with the atrocities of it's past.
Very rarely however, do positive reports of the country make it into the papers. Absent are stories of Cambodia's growing backpacker industry, fuelled by large numbers of visitors from China and Thailand. Little too is ever mentioned of the government's continuing efforts to stamp out sex-tourism and child prostitution.
In the eyes of the media, it seems Cambodia is destined to remain the downtrodden, war-torn underdog that it so comfortably sees itself as being.
But as Cambodia struggles to find it's place in the world, contrary to it's representation in the media, it is becoming increasingly influential amongst it's neighbours, standing up regularly to the unreasonable demands and bullying tactics of Thailand on a number of issues.
Today however, Cambodia has caused considerable controversy with the news that it is closing a centre in Phnom Penh, set up for Vietnamese refugees who are at risk from their own government. After the Vietnamese government cracked down on protests against land confiscation, many escaped over the border and sought refuge in neighbouring Cambodia.
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| Sadly, sanitary conditions in Vietnam remain poor. These children live along the Mekong River, close to the border with Cambodia. All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE |
Among the refugees are also groups who claim they will face religious persecution if forced to return to Vietnam.
It will seem a particularly unpleasant coincidence to the UN that this news was released today - exactly 60 years to the day since the creation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The UN Refugee agency was created in the wake of the Second World War to help the 40 million people in Europe who had been displaced by the conflict.
It was only expected to remain in existence for a short time - and yet sixty years later, it continues to help people from all nationalities who are, for whatever reason, without a country to return to.
The war in Bosnia brought about the first time that the UNHCR assisted people actually during armed conflict, and they have, over the years, been the recipient of two Nobel Peace Awards.
The organisation was clearly surprised by Cambodia's decision to close this particular refugee camp, clearly aware of what type of reception the Vietnamese government would give those 62 people, should they be forced to return.
Kitty McKinsey of the UNHCR told the BBC: "We have asked the Cambodian government to give us more time to find a long-term solution for these 62 individuals who are at that site, and we hope that the Cambodian government will give us a favourable reply,"
But the Cambodian Foreign Ministry seems to be serious about its intentions. It was quoted as saying:
"If we don't tell them to close the site, the work of the UNHCR will be prolonged endlessly."
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| Even in Saigon many still struggle to make a living on the street. All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE |
While this is a pragmatic and unfortunately fairly accurate appraisal of the situation, it is surprising that a country so experienced in the realities of fear and repression would seek to send innocent people back to certain misery.
I myself can often be heard to praise the government in Vietnam . This is probably because they seem unwilling (or unable) to restrict their people to quite the frightening extent that the governments of both China and North Korea do, despite all three countries having once been cut from the same ideological cloth.
The stark reality is that the fate which would await those innocent families would not, to put it lightly, be a nice one.
Traveling through Vietnam is an eye-opening experience. Alien landscapes surround you and poverty - the equal to that in Cambodia - is seen all over, be it in the villages in the centre of the country, or on the street corners in Saigon. Although the countries larger cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh seem more affluent and are undoubtedly more developed than Phnom Penh or Siam Reap across the border, the quality of life which you encounter throughout both subtropical paradises is equally abysmal.
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| Many families rely on the polluted rivers of Vietnam. Few are ever likely to escape these conditions . All pictures by: JOE BRISCOE |
And while Cambodia suffers from constant allegations of corruption within the government, at least it is, to some extent, answerable to it's people. Vietnam, for all it's bars and nightlife, remains a secretive state - it's rulers deciding laws behind closed doors, and it's hold on the people unfaltering.
To march those poor souls a few hundred metres across the border and into Vietnam would be irresponsible and unforgiveable, and I can only guess at why Cambodia has decided to do this. In an attempt to project it's small but steadily increasing power in the region, the government has decided to put its foot down on this matter, attempting to hoist Cambodia's image into that of a hard, worthy opponent. Presumably in the hope that Thailand is watching.
But is sending good vulnerable people towards their death and turning your back to it really something that Cambodia of all countries should be doing?
Vietnam surely hopes so.
The tension which exists between these two outcast countries is palpable, with each country's distaste for the other startlingly obvious in conversation. The complicated relationship which they share stretches back many years, the distrust ingrained. While it was Vietnam who ultimately cleared up the mess left by the Khmer Rouge, effectively 'liberating' Cambodia, most Cambodians see the resulting period as highly unfair and the influence of the government in Hanoi as extremely repressive.
And though the UNHCR is currently pleading to the Cambodian government for more time, it's possible that they either know something we don't, or have faith in Cambodia, much as I always have.
"They haven't sent them back yet, so let's not get ahead of ourselves" said Kitty McKinsey of the UNHCR.
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