Cambodia Program on Rights and
Justice (PRAJ) I and II
2003 – 2014
EWMI’s USAID-funded Program on Rights and Justice (PRAJ) in Cambodia combined work with Cambodian NGOs and legal institutions to improve access and quality of justice and judicial system transparency in Cambodia. Through financial and technical support to local NGOs, EWMI supported legal aid and advocacy efforts for those people most marginalized and underrepresented. From a legal standpoint, EWMI worked with local organizations to litigate high impact cases that represent larger issues relevant outside the scope of the actual case. EWMI also promoted clinical legal training through the Cambodian Bar Association’s Legal Training Center. EWMI worked directly with judicial institutions on training and capacity-building of new and sitting judges, improving legal education, improving court efficiency and transparency, providing relevant information and materials to judges, lawyers and the public, improving access to justice in rural areas, and supporting legal protections and services to child and female victims of human trafficking and sexual crimes. PRAJ I was implemented between September 2003 and December 2008.
From 2008-2014, PRAJ II focused on human rights advocacy, rule of law promotion, and biodiversity protection to address some of these challenges. The project built on the success of its six-year predecessor, PRAJ I, and continued EWMI’s innovative work to promote access to justice, improve the professional standards of the future Cambodian legal community, and strengthen grassroots advocacy and community networks, including community–based advocacy to protect Cambodia’s biodiversity. New initiatives under PRAJ II included activities to improve the collection and use of justice system data, develop the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Justice, and improve court administration and case management in selected courts.
Impact Stories
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 ...
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, ...
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) ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
When the East-West Management Institute’s USAID-Funded Cambodia Program on Rights and Justice II (PRAJ II) began its legal education programs in Cambodia six years ago, no law schools had any form of moot court or practical lawyering exercises. This year, when PRAJ 2 launched its fifth annual Client Counseling Competition, ...
Following intensive collaboration between the Ministry of Justice and the EWMI’s USAID-funded Cambodia Program on Rights and Justice II (PRAJ II) to support the investigation in a child trafficking case, an Australian national was convicted in Siem Reap in July and sentenced to eight years in prison for a sexual ...
