All street vendors and homeless street children will be removed temporarily later this month in preparation for the Asean Tourism Forum, a city official said on Monday.
“The governor of Phnom Penh [Chea Sophara] has ordered the district chiefs [in areas along the riverfront] to clear the streets of all vendors and the children temporarily,” said Phnom Penh Cabinet Chief Mann Chhoeun.
Citing a need for “public order and security,” Mann Chhoeun said the city will remove the vendors and street children from the city streets for three to five days during the ATF conference.
He did not say where the children would be taken during the street clearing.
The ATF conference, scheduled to take place in Phnom Penh on Jan 20 to Jan 27, will bring tourism ministers and more than 1,000 tourism and travel agent representatives from all Asean countries to Phnom Penh.
The city proposed similar street clearings during November’s Asean Summit, “cleaning” the streets of homeless people and vendors along the riverfront.
During the Asean Summit, the city transported street children in Phnom Penh about 15 km outside of the capital to the Anlong Kngan squatter relocation site, where the city had set up a small shelter for them.
Sebastien Merot, director of the NGO Mith Samlanh/Friends, said on Monday that the NGO will allow any street children to reside temporarily at its shelters in Phnom Penh.
“We will try to offer [the children] another alternative,” Merot said, adding that they will ask police to refer any children they find to Mith Samlanh/Friends.
