A beauty pageant in which landmine victims were to compete to win a prosthetic limb has been cancelled after the Cambodian government said it was in bad taste, organizers said.
In the “Miss Landmine Cambodia” contest, competitors from around the country were due to appear in a photo exhibition opening in Phnom Penh, followed by an Internet voting campaign to select the best candidate.
“I’m not looking forward to breaking the news to the 20 candidates involved, as I know they will be very disappointed in the lack of support from Cambodian authorities,” Norwegian pageant director Morten Traavik told AFP.
The exhibition went down like a lead balloon with Cambodia’s Ministry of Social Affairs, which demanded the cancellation of the contest to protect “the honor and dignity of people with disabilities”.
However the contest, intended to raise awareness about landmines and empower the disabled, will continue with Internet voting at miss-landmine.org, Traavik said.
“The event as planned is cancelled...But the project moves squarely to Web site voting,” he said.
“I think it is regrettable that we were not able to show this project freely in Cambodia,” he added.
The first “Miss Landmine” contest was held in Angola last year, drawing protests from rights activists who viewed it as exploitative and racist.
Cambodia remains one of the world’s most heavily mined countries, along with Afghanistan and Angola.
Hundreds of people are killed or maimed every year by the millions of landmines and other unexploded ordnance still littering the countryside after decades of conflict. (AFP)
地雷小姐選美比賽主辦單位表示,這場由地雷受害者參與角逐、冠軍獎品是免費義肢的比賽,因柬埔寨政府認為會帶給社會大眾不良觀感而宣布取消。
在這場名為「柬埔寨地雷小姐」的比賽中,來自全國各地的佳麗的倩影將在金邊的一場攝影展開幕式中亮相,接著由網友上網票選出他們心目中最美麗的佳麗。
來自挪威的選美負責人摩頓.特拉維克對法新社表示:「我不打算把這個消息告訴入圍的二十位佳麗,我知道少了柬埔寨官方的支持,她們會感到非常失望。」
柬埔寨社會事務部完全不認同這項活動,並要求主辦單位取消比賽,以捍衛「傷殘人士的名譽及尊嚴」。
特拉維克說,這場比賽的原意是要喚醒大眾對地雷的重視,並讓傷殘人士更有自信,比賽將繼續在網路上進行票選(網址:miss-landmine.org)。
他說:「原本預計舉行的選美活動取消了…但我們將直接進行網路票選。」
他還說:「無法在柬埔寨自由地進行這項計畫,我覺得非常惋惜。」
第一屆「地雷小姐」比賽去年在安哥拉舉行,當時也受到人權團體的抗議,他們認為該比賽剝削人權又有種族歧視。
柬埔寨仍是全世界佈雷最多的國家之一,另外還有阿富汗和安哥拉。
柬埔寨的內戰已結束數十年,但鄉間仍遍佈上百萬顆地雷和其他未爆彈,每年都有數以百計的民眾因此喪生或傷殘。 (法新社╱翻譯:袁星塵)
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
On Tuesday last week, the flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000km before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It’s meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event and the ancient Greek original on which it was initially modelled. Once
Drive-through (or drive-thru) restaurants provide people with the immense convenience of being able to purchase and pick up meals without needing to leave their vehicles. These restaurants have been around for decades, and their success has spawned a number of equally handy services. The drive-through concept originated with the drive-in restaurant, the first of which was established in the US in 1921. Patrons would order and eat the food that was delivered to their cars by workers called “carhops.” Ten years later, a drive-through service was introduced, but it was not until 1947 that the first exclusively drive-through restaurant opened its