Government, local organisations and youth in Cambodia say No to violence against women

Phnom Penh, 10 December 2008 -- More than five thousand people from across Cambodia signed their name to UNIFEM’s Say No to Violence against Women campaign, including H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, Minister of Women’s Affairs. On the international day for the elimination of violence against women (25 November 2008), H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi recognised the achievements that have been made in Cambodia to address violence against women whilst remaining conscious of the many obstacles yet to overcome.

 “The Royal Government of Cambodia has taken significant steps to reduce violence against women, through the passing of the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims, and the inclusion of specific gender targets in the RGC National Strategic Development Plan. Furthermore, Cambodia was the first country to include targets on domestic violence and trafficking in its National Millennium Development Goals Plan 2005. However, there is still much work to be done to ensure that these achievements result in meaningful and widespread improvements to the lives of women and children affected by violence.”

Universities and local non-government organisations were instrumental in supporting the campaign by holding numerous workshops and collecting signatures via websites, postcards and signature books.

To encourage young people to realise their great potential to respond and contribute to the issue, People Health Development Association (PHD) organised a conference attended by over 200 young people on International Youth Day. PHD also collaborated with 8 universities to raise awareness of the campaign (Norton University, Build Bright University, Pannasastra University, International University, Vanada Institute, Cambodia Mekong University, Management University of Cambodia and ASAI EURO University).

The Women’s Program of the Open Institute provided a localised website in Khmer for people to join the campaign online and entered names from signature cards collected from around the country. Recognising the importance of dialogue amongst women in addressing violence, the Women’s Program promoted the campaign through various mediums such as online forums, blogs, mailing lists, newspaper and radio. They also organised three forums on “Reclaiming Information and Communications Technology to End Violence against Women”, attended by representatives of the Ministry of Women Affairs, Senate, women's organisations, research institutions and media agencies.

Other organisations active in campaigning included Programme Against Domestic Violence (PADV), Khmer Youth Association (KYA), and Village Support Group (VSG) in Battambang.

According to the Cambodian Gender Assessment 2008, 'violence against women remains widely prevalent' and the incidence of domestic violence remains high, affecting 20 to 25% of women'. A significant barrier is the widespread acceptance of domestic violence with 55% of women agreeing with at least one reason justifying a husband's violence. There are indications that some forms of gender-based violence are increasing, such as sexual assault and rape, particularly involving young girls and children.

While society and gender relations are complex and multi-faceted, the Khmer expression 'men are gold, women are cloth' reflects an unequivocal valuing of males over females. This underpins unequal and gendered power relations that give rise to behaviors ranging from disrespect to many forms of covert and overt violence against women.

Although progress is being made, particularly among younger women, gender attitudes and relations enshrined in the Chbap Srey, the 19th century code of conduct for women, and male attitudes and behavior, remain obstacles to achieving gender equality in all aspects of social, economic and political life.
Dr Jean D’Cunha, UNIFEM Regional Programme Director, believes that women must know they will be listened to and heard for national and global commitments to have an impact in the lives of women on the ground.

“This makes it critical to make all of our voices heard, to bring together the widest possible constituency to say NO to violence against women. We hope that the momentum started by this public awareness campaign in Cambodia will continue”.

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