Meas' house now has electricity and her six children go to school.
In 2016, Mrs. Meas Phon and her family were living below the poverty line. Meas, aged 40, previously had been supporting herself and her six children successfully by selling Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP) in the Siem Reap province. However, informal and illegal logging was extremely prevalent in her commune, and as more and more illegal loggers tapped into forest resources, competition for the rapidly depleting NTFP became fierce and Meas struggled to forage fruits, mushrooms and bamboo. As a direct consequence of income depletion, many families in the community, who were struggling like Meas, were unable to afford children’s education. Once children dropped out of schools, they usually started working on farms or joined their parents in foraging forest resources to maintain subsistent livelihoods, further increasing competition.
In 2018, Meas learned about the People Center for Development and Peace (PDP-Center) and its work in her commune to strengthen community forest protection. She began participating in forest patrols, trainings and — along with her community members — pushed for forest protection in her commune. After 3 months of championing forest protection rights, they successfully obtained a Natural Resource Management (NRM) Protection Deika (commune-level by-law).
After the NRM protection deika went into effect, Meas was able to increase her income through the sale of mushrooms, fruits and vines. She also took up a daily rice farming job and through the collected savings, she eventually established a small poultry farm in her backyard. Not only has she been able to save in monetary terms, Meas has also reduced the amount of time it used to take to forage NTFP. Meas, along with other community members, now have a lot more time to be civically engaged and push for necessary reforms in their communes. Additionally, Meas has used these time savings to take up basket weaving as a secondary source of income. Now, supplementary income from monthly weaving is about 100,000 riels ($25) and income from collection of mushrooms and fruits is about 50,000 riels per day ($12.50). Last season, Meas’s income from collecting fruits was about 1,000,000 riels ($250) which enabled her family to save up and obtain electricity for the household at a cost of 390,000 riels ($96).
Through PDP-Center’s efforts, Meas went from struggling to make ends meet, to selling fruits, mushrooms as well as bamboo baskets, diversifying her sources of income to allow personal savings of $100 this year, electrifying her home, and sending her six children to school – all within a few months.
The community campaign not only led to a new law, but also provided a platform to reinforce commitment by all local actors to protect the forest. This process built ownership and laid the groundwork for inclusive effective implementation. As a result, illegal logging has dropped sharply and citizens have been able to increase the income they earn from non-timber forest products.
Since 2017, and with the help of a grant under the USAID Cambodian Civil Society Strengthening project (CCSS), implemented by EWMI, the PDP-Center has assisted eight communities, including that of Meas Phon, to push for their rights and enforce deikas that protect not only community rights over NTFP resources but also provide job and income security to its people. 200 families in Rum Chek Commune reported that they now earn between 25,000 to 30,000 Riels per day ($6.50), 20 families in Lemprohut Village said they earned between 30,000 to 50,000 Riels per day ($7 – $12) and 30 of the 150 families living in Utey Village reported earnings between 45,000 to 55,000 Riels per day ($11 – $14) from selling fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, honey, firewood, vines and medication. At least five families have been able to save up for and obtain electrical connections in their homes.
As a result of PDP-Center trainings, Meas and several community members are now familiar with the process of approaching relevant local authorities and pushing for their rights, especially in livelihood protection.
Highlanders Association and Peak Village, Ratanak Kiri, Cambodia
CCSSMar2020-2
Construction on the 27-meter bridge as agreed upon by the Mesco Gold (Cambodia) Ltd. mining company.
CCSSMar2020-3
Peak Village School
As Cambodia continues its rapid economic growth, the steady increase in economic land concessions, and particularly mining concessions, has often created tensions between companies that hold these concessions and local communities. This is especially true in the remote northeastern areas of the country, where most of the villages comprise indigenous peoples. And for these indigenous communities, whose lives for generations have been tied to the surrounding forests for economic sustenance and to their traditional social and religious practices, mining operations often cause disruptions and even pose significant threats to their daily lives.
After receiving a 30-year concession from the Cambodian government in 2016, an Indian-owned mining firm Mesco Gold (Cambodia) Ltd, began underground gold mining operations in northeast Ratanak Kiri province, near Peak Village, in Yatung Commune, O’yado District Nearly all of the residents of Peak Village come from the ethnic Jarai indigenous community. As soon as mining operations began, the residents of Peak Village became concerned about the negative effects that these underground operations were having on their daily lives. These included disruptions of traditional indigenous farming practices in the neighboring forest, negative impacts on the quality of the water supply, and the loud noise from the excavation machinery that was affecting the tranquility of their village.
Highlanders Association (HA), a sub-grantee of the Cambodian Civil Society Strengthening project (CCSS), implemented by EWMI, is a community-based organization based in Ratanak Kiri province that works with indigenous communities to strengthen their sense of empowerment and their capacity to use, manage, and conserve their lands, forests and other resources so as to sustain and improve their livelihoods and local economies. Even before plans for the Mesco Gold mining project were announced, HA had been working closely with the people of Peak Village by training and raising awareness of community members on human rights and indigenous rights issues.
As a result of the knowledge obtained through these trainings and meetings organized by HA, residents of the Peak Village community were empowered to take proactive steps. On their own, community members took the initiative to meet with Mesco Gold officials to express their concerns about the company’s mining operation near their village. After initially failing to get a response from the company, community members nevertheless continued their efforts. Eventually, community leaders met in Phnom Penh with officials at the Ministry of Mines and Energy (including the minister himself) to discuss their concerns and to provide the ministry with specific evidence of the negative effects that the mining was having on their village. This resulted in the Ministry of Mines and Energy taking action to pressure Mesco Gold to provide specific, tangible benefits to the community as compensation for their ongoing mining activity. After a series of negotiations between Mesco Gold and members of the Peak Village community, it was agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the company and the village would be drafted. The idea for an MOU came from the villagers themselves, with knowledge obtained from previous HA trainings on indigenous land rights and community empowerment. With HA’s help, the villagers drafted an MOU which was later accepted by the company.
Mesco Gold officials and local authorities, including the O’yado DistrictGgovernor and the Yatung commune chief were invited to a signing ceremony. The MOU was signed by Peak Village community representatives, Mesco Gold officials, the district governor and the commune chief.
Under the terms of the MOU, Mesco Gold promised to build a three-kilometer paved road into Peak Village, along with a 27-meter bridge. After completion of the bridge and paved road, a water pipe system, which would include pipes for running water and sewage would then be installed. In addition, computers would be provided to the local school, as well as English language and computer training for the youth in the village. An action plan to monitor the MOU was also signed by the community people and Mesco Gold officials. The commune councilors also agreed to enforce the company’s agreement with the community people to deliver their promises made in the MOU.
‘Previously we had believed that our purpose was to be the main advocate for Indigenous peoples in this area, but now we realize our role is to provide technical and educational support to empower communities, because the real change makers are the communities themselves.’
Highlanders Association
The success of the efforts of the Peak Village community in their dealings with Mesco Gold was due in large part to effective education, training and empowerment efforts by the HA staff. HA employs a grassroots approach in its work with indigenous communities by providing training to groups of people in each village who work closely with local indigenous community leaders.Known as ‘focal persons,’ and usually consisting of three members from a particular village or community, these individuals are indigenous people who in effect serve as village human rights defenders. Focal persons serve on a volunteer basis and are selected by members of the individual communities.
HA provides training for those focal persons on advocacy strategies and provides opportunities for them to attend national training workshops and conferences on indigenous rights and on other issues relevant to the local communities. Focal persons also share knowledge with their fellow community members on human rights advocacy. Along with sharing their knowledge with fellow community members, they also meet with companies involved in economic concession activities in the area, as well as local authorities and members of other Community Based Organizations (CBOs). In Ratanak Kiri, HA plays an active role in a network of CBOs that deal with land issues, advocacy on behalf of indigenous persons, and issues related to agriculture, gender empowerment, health and education.
According to HA’s Executive Director, Mrs. Dam Chanthy, being involved in the CCSS project has prompted a change in the organization’s program approach. ‘Previously we had believed that our purpose was to be the main advocate for indigenous peoples in this area, but now we realize our role is to provide technical and educational support to empower communities, because the real change makers are the communities themselves.’
Mr. Samoeun Vuthy, HA’s CCSS Project Coordinator, notes that in terms of its internal operations HA has changed the way of working to a standard of practice that was more professional and formal. Working with CCSS partner VBNK on capacity development has improved the skill sets of staff, and has assisted HA in the drafting and implementation of a strategic plan, effective project monitoring, and the formulation of clear, specific project outcomes. All of this has helped to improve the organization’s effectiveness in serving these indigenous communities. Vuthy adds that developing better focused strategic plans has helped HA improve its advocacy strategy, establish clear goals, and helped develop more effective methods in which indigenous communities can help themselves. He also agrees that the CCSS project has changed HA’s program approach. Previously it was focused on the national level. Now the organization realizes that change must come from the grassroots, and the focus is now on training and empowering communities to take actions on their own.
As a CBO led by an indigenous woman, HA is particularly aware of the importance of empowering women from indigenous communities. As part of the CCSS project, indigenous women are taking leading roles as community advocates in land rights and land concession issues, and in negotiating with local authorities and economic concession holders. Of the 125 indigenous community members that are serving as village focal persons, 70 (56%) are women.
Despite the initial success of their efforts to secure community compensation from the Mesco Gold company, the residents of Peak Village acknowledge that significant challenges remain. Although construction of the bridge has already started, construction of the three-kilometer paved road, promised since 2016, has yet to begin, despite repeated assurances by the company. The construction start date has now been re-scheduled for March, 2020.
Residents are also concerned about the cutting of trees in the mining operations, which has affected their religious spirit lands. Numerous holes in the ground from mining excavations in the neighboring forest areas lack warning signs, which presents a danger to villagers and their children. There are also concerns from women members of the community regarding the lack of security while they are collecting wild vegetables in the forest areas near the village and male mine workers are working unsupervised nearby. With regards to computers, the company so far has only provided one computer for the village school. English teachers provided by the company started teaching English to the youth in the village but since February 2020 the classes have stopped. Even while the teaching was going on, it was very sporadic, with irregularly scheduled classes. A community playground for the children and a community garden was also promised by the company, but so far nothing has been built.
Community members now plan to take up these issues directly with officials at Mesco Gold, and if unsuccessful, they will request a meeting with officials at the Ministry of Mines and Energy in Phnom Penh. The ministry has provided the Peak Village community focal persons with the personal telephone numbers of high-ranking ministry officials, and have been told to phone them whenever problems arise with the company’s non-performance of its terms of the MOU. Recently, when there was yet another delay in the construction of the road, villagers telephoned the ministry and within one week, a ministry official came to Peak Village from Phnom Penh to personally meet with villagers and investigate their complaints. Shortly thereafter, the Mesco Gold announced a definite start date for the road construction in the first week of March, 2020. According to one member of the Peak Village community: “We have now created a regular contact with high ranking people in the Ministry of Mines. They are listening to us and respond to our complaints. They want to know if the company is doing what they promised us.”
Despite the daunting challenges and the slow progress, the people of the Peak Village community have learned that change does not come without taking the initiative themselves. They have also learned that without constant reminders and pressure from the community, the company will not act on their promises, and no change will come. The training that they have received from HA have given them the confidence and knowledge that will help them effectively lobby for their own interests.As one community focal person put it: “Our community has learned that we have to take action ourselves to get the results we want. It is slow it is difficult, but we will keep trying.”
Cambodia’s Community Peace-Building Network (CPN) constructively addresses human rights issues by linking communities and dialoguing with government.
PRAJ2Jan2015-2
Cambodian CSOs opposed a draft Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations (LANGO) that threatened multiple harms to their organizations.
PRAJ2Jan2015-2a
EWMI trained Ministry officials on new PRAJ2-supported systems developed in partnership with the MoJ: the Justice Statistics Database, Detention Database, and Trafficking Database.
PRAJ2Jan2015-3
Mock Trial competitions were held as part of PRAJ 2's legal education program.
PRAJ2Jan2015-4
PRAJ2Jan2015-5
EWMI organized workshops to strengthen ADR skills.
EWMI’s Program on Rights and Justice II (PRAJ II), funded by USAID, came to an end in December 2014 after six years of activity. Designed to build the foundation of support for reform of the justice sector in Cambodia, the program worked to strengthen the voice of civil society in promoting change while helping Cambodian legal institutions continue their reform efforts.
Through a coincidence of timing, the tenure of the outgoing UN Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in Cambodia closely corresponded with the lifespan of PRAJ II (2008-2014). Over the course of his tenure, the Special Rapporteur, Surya Subedi, made many trips to Cambodia, meeting with people from all segments of Cambodian society, and issued five substantial reports. In January 2015, Subedi made his final trip to Cambodia. In his last press conference, he noted many of the ongoing human rights problems in Cambodia. However, looking back to the beginning of his mandate, he had this to say: “The major difference between then and now rests in the people. They are no longer afraid to speak out. People know their rights and are ready to claim them.”
Quantitative data supports Subedi’s observation. In the final months of PRAJ II, the project conducted a national legal aid awareness survey, mirroring in methodology a similar survey conducted eight years before under PRAJ I. The results were astounding. Whereas only 20% of those surveyed in 2006 were aware of the existence of legal aid and where to access it, in 2014 a full 54% of respondents were so aware, a nearly threefold increase. The dramatic opposition gains in the 2013 elections, and the protests thereafter, further support Subedi’s claim. It is significant that the themes of land grabbing and deforestation, a key focus of advocacy by many PRAJ II partners, were underlined by the opposition in the electoral campaign.
Social change is a complex phenomenon, the result of many political, economic and demographic factors. But there is no doubt that Cambodian civil society has changed in the past six years and that PRAJ II contributed to that change. The numbers speak for themselves: over 187,000 Cambodians participated in PRAJ II-sponsored constituency-building activities during this period, and over 35,000 advocacy initiatives resulted from PRAJ II support. The project trained over 37,000 people on topics related to rights awareness and advocacy, and by targeting the next generation of advocates and leaders – over 5,000 law students trained – amplified the long-term effect of its efforts. The visible engagement of legal defense teams in high profile cases involving activists and human rights defenders demonstrated the subtle power of asserting one’s rights, even when the results were unjust.
Cambodian civil society — and the country as a whole — remains fraught with problems and challenges, and ultimately it will be the Cambodian people on their own who must bring Cambodia to a brighter day. But over the course of PRAJ II, as Subedi noted, a page has been turned. Whatever Cambodia’s future holds, its civil society will be at the center of it.
The new ODC board comprises seven members with a vast range of knowledge and experiences in Cambodia’s development, particularly in the IT field.
PRAJ2Jul2013a
ODC launched an Election Page in June for the Cambodian July 2013 election, featuring maps, briefings, documents, news, videos and past ballots.
Open Development Cambodia (ODC) is soon to become an official Cambodian NGO. On July 10, ODC’s governing board was installed and by-laws promulgated in a brief ceremony at the EWMI office, shared by ODC. The board, comprised of seven members with a vast range of knowledge and experiences in Cambodia’s development, particularly in IT field, were announced to more than 20 supporters on hand to witness the event. The ceremony was followed by a reception. Thy Try, one of the original members of ODC’s advisory group, was announced as the interim board chair. He will serve in that role for three months before exiting it to become ODC’s director in October 2013. This was a critical milestone in the localization of ODC, which expects to make application to the Ministry of Interior to register as a local NGO before the end of next week.
Open Development Cambodia has had a very successful year so far. On a monthly basis, ODC posts hundreds of news items, receives thousands of visitors, and has nearly 3,000 “Likes” on Facebook. The ODC was featured on the tech website, Geeks in Cambodia, and Loy 9, a BBC Media Action TV show, shared ODC’s press release on its Face Book page.
On June 28th, 2013, ODC launched the much anticipated Election Page for the Cambodian election held at the end of July 2013, which features maps, briefings, documents, news, videos and past ballots. The page is in Khmer. The team is now working on a simpler parallel page containing basic information about Cambodian elections in English. The ODC staff has completed building a Phnom Penh Polling Station map and is uploading it into the site. After a few days of testing, a press release about the launch of the new page was sent out to various media outlets, aid agencies, universities, professional networks, and NGOs on July 4.
EWMI’s CSO partners in Cambodia coordinated their advocacy efforts to fight for the release of imprisoned broadcaster and democracy activist Mam Sonando [photo: LICADHO]
PRAJ2ImageApr2013ab
Scene near the Court of Appeals during Sonando trial. [photo: LICADHO]
PRAJ2ImageApr2013ac
Scene near the Court of Appeals during Sonando trial. [photo: LICADHO]
PRAJ2ImageApr2013ad
Scene near the Court of Appeals during Sonando trial. [photo: LICADHO]
PRAJ2ImageApr2013ae
Scene near the Court of Appeals during Sonando trial. [photo: LICADHO]
The dismissal on appeal of the most serious charges against broadcaster and democracy activist Mam Sonando and his subsequent release in March were in no small part the result of efforts made by both human rights and legal aid partners of EWMI’s Program on Rights and Justice II (PRAJ II).
During January and February, EWMI partners continued their advocacy efforts to draw attention to the case of imprisoned broadcaster and democracy activist Mam Sonando and fight for his release. On October 1, 2012, he had been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for alleged involvement in an alleged secessionist movement in Kratie. On January 15, CCHR launched the Mam Sonando Justice Calendar Campaign marking the six months since the broadcaster’s arrest. An accompanying campaign allowed individuals to enter design ideas for a postcard related to his case. In February, CCHR distributed 10,000 copies of the winning entry and people were encouraged to write messages of support and return them to the pick-up points. The messages were read during CCHR’s weekly radio broadcasts and the postcards delivered to the democracy activist in Prey Sar prison.
On the international front, Amnesty International issued a call to action on February 21 urging people to call on Prime Minister Hun Sen and other government officials to release Sonando ahead of his retrial in March. Calling Sonando a “prisoner of conscience,” the appeal also urged people to call on the authorities to “protect, respect and promote the right to freedom of expression in Cambodia.” Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan dismissed the effort, reiterating a long-held position that Cambodia is a sovereign state and would not bow to international pressure. This campaign was significantly influenced by EWMI partners, especially LICADHO, ADHOC, and CCHR, which gave Amnesty International information and strategy advice.
In preparation for Sonando’s Appeals Court trial, EWMI staff spent significant time supporting the creation of a legal team that could effectively manage the intricacies of this case, involving multiple complex charges founded on a theory of secondary liability similar in nature to conspiracy and the (often conflicting) testimony of numerous witnesses, including fellow accused that had provided testimony in support of the prosecution, apparently for favorable treatment.
EWMI recruited law graduates (who had previously participated in EWMI legal education programs) from the Royal University of Law and Economics to prepare a database of testimony, evidence and legal conclusions identified in the court judgment supporting the October 1, 2012 conviction, which was used by lawyers to develop a strong legal memorandum in favor of acquittal. EWMI also engaged Vishnu Law Group lawyers (under its USAID-funded grant) in the preparation of witness requests, direct and cross-examination questions for witnesses, and a legal memo identifying contradictions in evidence and errors in law contributing to Sonando’s conviction. As a result of actions taken by EWMI partners and others who supported the Sonando defense, his defense team was well prepared for trial and there was a wellspring of public support for his release.
On March 5, the appeal got underway to review the verdicts against Mam Sonando and two co-defendants, Touch Ream and Kan Sovann. There was standing-room only during proceedings, with around 55 people packing the courtroom including numerous international observers. Before the trial began, Sonando’s lawyers had requested the court postpone the proceedings due to the absence of key witnesses. The request was denied.
Outside the building, around 600 members of the Association of Democrats, which Mam Sonando heads, as well as other activists, gathered to demand his release. Their shouts were heard inside the courtroom. Numerous national and international representatives observed, inside and outside the courtroom. Monitors included staff from LICADHO, ADHOC, CHRAC, and CCHR. Demonstrators included members of PRAJ-supported CSOs, including IDEA and their affiliates CCFC and CYN, and CPN affiliates from Boeung Kak and Borei Keila.
On March 6, the prosecutor unexpectedly asked that two of the charges against Sonando, inciting insurrection and a charge relating to use of arms against officials, be dropped, but that an additional, less-serious, charge be added of illegally clearing state-owned land. (ADHOC described this new charge as supremely ironic, given Sonando’s work to educate Cambodians about their land rights – and it may have been intended to discredit him in this respect.) The prosecution asked that the remaining charges be upheld. On March 14, the Appeals Court reached its verdict, which tracked with the prosecutor’s recommendations, dismissing the most serious offenses and finding Sonando guilty of remaining minor offenses, as well as illegally clearing forest. The court reduced his sentence from twenty to five years. As four years and four months of the sentence were suspended, Sonando was released from prison.
A wide array of local NGOs and CSOs, including EWMI partners LICADHO, IDEA, and CCHR, were quick to issue statements welcoming his release and that of Touch Ream and Kan Sovann. Some pointed out that the release came in the wake of intense international and domestic pressure on the authorities for Sonando’s release, including statements by US President Barack Obama, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. (It was also noted in the press that, the week before, France had signed off on a multi-million dollar package of aid to Cambodia.) The pleasure at seeing Sonando released was tempered by the awareness that unwarranted convictions still stand against the three men and that Mam Sonando will remain under judicial supervision for the next three years. Nonetheless, the case stands as an example where EWMI human rights partners and a legal aid grantee worked together to obtain freedom, if not full justice, for a democracy activist who had obviously been imprisoned for expressing his thoughts, and encouraging others to think freely.
Vishnu lawyers provide legal advice to Porng Toek community members.
PRAJ2ImageDec2012b
Rice farming
For the two farmers at the center of the Porng Toek land case, a guilty verdict could have catastrophic for their large families. The men, one with five children, the other with four, faced from six months to two years in jail in a case that should have been a civil matter, but which like many disputes over land ownership, ended up in criminal court.
The case involved a dispute over 2.1 hectares of land between 20 families and an individual who had the backing of the district chief. The claimant charged the two farmers with trespassing and property damage, although both they and the other families had been peacefully growing rice on the land for years. Other clients were later added to the case, charged with discrediting a court decision.
The public interest law group, Vishnu, a EWMI-Cambodia Program on Rights and Justice II (PRAJ II) grantee and partner, came to their aid to defend their interests and keep them out of jail. Three lawyers worked closely with community members, providing legal advice, collecting further evidence, and meeting with additional witnesses. They also carefully prepared the two defendants for the September 25 trial, which 100 community members attended.
Thanks to Vishnu’s strong legal advocacy and the quantity of well-grounded evidence, the Kampot Provincial Court of First Instance acquitted the two defendants and ordered that the case be resolved by the cadastral commission due to its civil nature.
“I was happy to have been able to represent the community members and help them obtain justice,” said Vishnu lawyer Sao Kagna.
The case represents a major success and even goes beyond the fact that these two men received justice. Vishnu’s lawyers succeeded in persuading the court that criminal proceedings were categorically invalid in a case where the underlying issue was the ownership of property. If this kind of litigation outcome were replicated across Cambodia, it would result in justice for many people facing criminal charges simply because they refused to yield to questionable evictions.
Improving legal aid, specifically indigent criminal defense, has been an important component of EWMI’s justice reform work in Cambodia. With this goal in mind, EWMI–PRAJ works to strengthen the capacity of Cambodia’s existing legal aid NGO providers and through its grant program assists the most vulnerable groups of people in Cambodia.
MoJ training promotes global health equity, e.g. prosecution of counterfeit drug traffickers & protection of persons with HIV.
Following three years of measurable impact from EWMI gender-based violence prosecution programs, this year the EWMI’s Cambodia Program on Rights and Justice II (PRAJ II) expanded the work to address the growing global problem of drug resistance caused by counterfeit and substandard pharmaceuticals. Through a program supported by the USAID/Cambodia Health Office, in September 2012 PRAJ began to develop expanded prosecution training and case tracking to support the joint work of the Ministries of Health and Justice in investigating and prosecuting these crimes. The launch of the EWMI activities marks the first systematic effort to train justice and health officials side-by-side on the investigation and prosecution of counterfeit and substandard drugs and illegal drug services.
Malaria and tuberculosis alone kill more than 2 million people a year, while millions more are infected but do not die because they take malaria and TB drugs. Worldwide, these drugs are failing at alarming rates due to drug resistance, with resistance to the only known successful anti-malaria drug, artemisinin, traced to the Cambodian province of Pailin. The sale of counterfeit and substandard drugs and the operation of illegal pharmacies are regularly identified as primary causes of drug resistance. Counterfeit drugs are a 45 billion dollar a year business, and while laws are in place to combat these illegal drugs and services, global health efforts have focused mainly on defensive efforts to stop their spread: free mosquito nets, free drugs, and direct observation treatment. Limited attention focuses on offensive measures: investigating, prosecuting, and tracking those responsible for their production and sale.
EWMI has based its new prosecution training and tracking program on the successes of two previous programs in Cambodia. The EWMI trafficking in persons (TIP) prosecution training and case tracking program, begun in 2009, led to a 300% increase in convictions – a rate sustained over three years. In 2011, EWMI expanded this program beyond TIP cases to include all GBV prosecutions (nearly 20% of criminal cases), and in just one year the overall clearance rate for these cases, and the number of convictions, doubled. Taken together, these activities have trained several hundred officials from the Ministries of Justice and Women’s Affairs, while closely tracking thousands of court cases. The 2011 GBV program alone covered every Cambodian province, and trained over 500 officials.
Drawing on these three years of documented success, in 2012 EWMI and USAID turned to a third area of criminal conduct facing impunity – illegal pharmaceuticals — and expect to see similar measurable improvements in prosecutions over the coming years.
B.T. (full name withheld for privacy), a Cambodian domestic worker in Malaysia, was repatriated to her home country with the help of LICADHO, a partner-grantee of EWMI’s Cambodia Program on Rights and Justice II (PRAJ II), despite having been coerced by her Malaysian employer and a labor agency to extend her contract for an additional year.
B.T. had registered to work as a domestic in Malaysia with the Ung Rithy Group. After training and English classes, she left for Malaysia on April 28, 2010, and for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Repeated attempts by B.T.’s mother to contact her daughter were unsuccessful, and she could not get any information about her child’s whereabouts or health.
In Malaysia, B.T. told the local labor agency that she wanted to leave at the end of her contract. However, she was not allowed to do so and instead was coerced into signing on for another year. She finally managed to call her mother and express her desire to come back home. When her mother called the Ung Rithy Group in Cambodia, she was refused help.
So her mother filed a complaint with the LICADHO office, requesting intervention. In June of 2012, LICADHO staff contacted the Ung Rithy Group, pressing them to take action, following up in July by repeating the demand that B.T. be allowed to return. The company represented that it would bring the young woman back in July and pay her salary. But given the poor reputation many labor agencies have earned in recent years, LICADHO staff met with the third secretary of the Cambodian embassy during a mission to Malaysia, requesting intervention in the case.
With the embassy’s support, and the persistence of LICADHO staff, B.T. was repatriated to Cambodia on July 31. One day later, she received her $3,700 in back wages from the Ung Rithy Group.
While there have been several tragic stories of domestic workers in Malaysia, B.T. happily did not become one of them. Thanks to continued pressure from LICADHO, including discussions with Cambodian government officials in the receiving country, B.T. was reunited with her mother and obtained the full compensation she was due.
Human trafficking remains a serious issue in Cambodia. In addition to supporting the work of LICADHO, EWMI’s PRAJ II program works closely with government partners and other civil society organizations to address this crime through data collection, legal representation of victims, public outreach, legal training and advocacy.
Women investigators address court officials, explaining the difficulties with GBV prosecutions.
PRAJ2ImageMar2012b
MoJ Deputy Director of Research and Training, Sothea Nheom, demonstrates the new Trafficking Database.
PRAJ2ImageMar2012c
Nationwide working sessions featured intensive dialogue on the causes of low clearance rate of GBV prosecutions.
In Cambodia, the criminal justice system faces two significant barriers when addressing gender-based violence (GBV) cases. First, many cases either go unreported, or never make it past the police investigation to the court. Second, those prosecutions which do commence have a very poor clearance rate. In 2010, the percentage of GBV prosecutions that led to a final verdict was just 16%, whereas the clearance rate for all other criminal cases in Cambodia averages more than 80%. This second problem of prosecutions dropping away is injurious to society in a number of ways: not only does it rob the courageous survivor (most of whom are minor girls) from receiving justice, it also reinforces a belief in Cambodian communities that the rule of law does not protect them.
EMWI’s USAID-funded Cambodia Program on Rights and Justice II (PRAJ II), has been assisting the monitoring of GBV prosecutions in Cambodia since 2009. A case tracking database developed with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and used to train the courts and legal aid groups, has been instrumental in this process. In February 2011, PRAJ and the MoJ discovered the abysmal 2010 clearance rate in these prosecutions — which number several hundred a year — and immediately worked with their partners at GIZ in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) to design a yearlong evidence-based training program to improve the success of the prosecutions. The very next month the nationwide program was launched, and by September 2011 over 500 justice sector officials and legal aid lawyers, from every province, had participated.
These intensive regional workshops set out to diagnose the causes of the attrition, and to design solutions. Last month, PRAJ and the MoJ returned to the database and confirmed that the clearance rate had doubled to 32%. While the rate of successful prosecutions remains poor, hundreds of Cambodian women and girls — and thousands of their family members and neighbors — are now receiving greater care, improved due process, and final justice as a direct result of these programs. This is a good start to correcting a systemic access to justice issue.
PRAJ understands that the 2011 success must be repeated to begin to bring the GBV clearance rates and convictions up to par with other criminal cases. To that end, this year PRAJ — again with its partners from GIZ — will expand on the national training series to engage civil society organizations that provide support to rape and domestic violence victims in the provinces, improving the critical referral systems to hospitals and to MoWA investigators. Reviewing the case data from 2011 to examine procedural bottlenecks, the joint program will also offer more advanced sessions based on the assessment that accompanied the 2011 trainings. These sessions will focus in more detail on key evidentiary matters facing the male magistrates and female MoWA investigators alike: instruction on the elements required to prove GBV crimes under the new Penal Code, pertinent due process matters under the new Penal Procedure Code, and issues such as medical forensics, working with post-traumatic stress disorder, and how to conduct gender-sensitive witness interviews.
Cambodian Eng Vannak codes as Mozilla representative speaks with localization team.
To protect a free and open web, citizens need to understand their gateways to the Internet. If web browsers don’t operate in local languages, then a web user’s relationship with the Internet is troubled at best, and the social commitment necessary to protect a free and open web is weak. With a local language in place, users feel ownership of their Internet – and want to protect it.
Knowing this need to deliver an official Khmer web browser to Cambodia’s rapidly growing web citizenry, EWMI, Mozilla, and the Khmer localization team in Phnom Penh joined together to reenergize – and complete – the stalled localization effort of the Firefox web browser. As of January 2012, a localization process several years in the making was finally accomplished: the most popular web browser in Cambodia was officially transformed into Khmer Firefox.
The Mozilla Corporation, and the Foundation that guides it, support the makers and doers of Internet freedom through the hands-on, transparent, and participatory principles of Open Source software. This philosophy is appreciated by many young Internet users, such as the youth of Cambodia who choose the Firefox browser over the alternatives by a ratio of more than 3 to 1. John O’Duinn, the director of release engineering at Mozilla – and responsible for shepherding the 93 languages of Firefox’s 450 million users worldwide – explains the approach simply: “We just want people talking and sharing on a free and open web.”
Internet use is exploding in Cambodia, with the number of Facebook users last year reaching more than a quarter million – a two thousand percent increase from the year before. This dramatic growth, however, is taking place in an environment increasingly hostile to Internet freedom, with a recent crackdown on free expression followed by a pending new Cyber Crimes Law. With an awareness that localization builds advocates of a free and open web, in September 2011 EWMI and Mozilla co-hosted Open Cambodia: an event that brought the human rights elements of civil society in contact with the coders and developers of the private sector, sparking dialogue and tool-building among these one hundred web leaders to strengthen the constituency of Internet freedom. Drawing on the knowledge and enthusiasm of Mozilla, and the training expertise of the Technology and Social Change Group at the University of Washington in Seattle, Open Cambodia successfully bridged the private sector and civil society, and re-ignited the development of Khmer Firefox.
Four months later, in January 2012, Mozilla’s John O’Duinn returned to Cambodia for the first time in six years, and hosted a final localization design session at the EWMI offices in Phnom Penh. Building on the momentum of Open Cambodia, O’Duinn worked with the localization team led by Eng Vannak to understand the process and prepare the final few hundred strings of code. By the end of January, a six year journey was complete: Khmer Firefox was officially submitted to Mozilla to become the 94th language, joining half a billion other local users worldwide.
