Advocacy in Cambodia: Increasing Democratic ... - Pact Cambodia

Increasing Democratic Space
less pressing need for NGOs to organize them. On
occasion networks have not sufficiently
coordinated their events, especially International
Women’s Day, resulting in low turnout at some
individual events because too many events were
organized on the same day. As special events
consume energy, time, and resources,
coordination needs to be a priority and
effectiveness carefully analyzed.
Most advocacy campaigns have not featured
a strategic media campaign, though advocating
organizations are learning to court the media. The
most common media strategies include press
releases, radio, and television spots. More
innovative approaches include inviting journalists
on field trips to learn about a situation or video
taping speeches made by the Prime Minster and
high officials to circulate at the village level that
inform villagers of promises made. In view of the
importance of the media in raising awareness and
generating sympathy for a cause, a separate
section on media strategies is presented below.
Staging Organized Action
Civil society groups have been conducting
organized action in the form of demonstrations,
strikes, and peace marches since before the 1993
elections. Marches are a regular part of special
event days such as International Women’s Day.
Demonstrations in front of national institutions
such as the National Assembly, Royal Palace,
Independence Monument, and Wat Phnom also
feed into media campaigns, as any time large
groups of people gather the media will usually
attend.
Examples of demonstrations include
the march for the Commune Council
Election Law lobbying and, more recently,
the demonstration organized by Women
For Prosperity to protest the suspicious
deaths of three women commune council
candidates. The demonstrations serve
mainly as a symbolic protest to express
the anger and solidarity of a group or
network. As demonstrations consume
enormous amounts of energy and
resources, it is important for organizers
to have a clear understanding of the
intended effect of a demonstration, as well
as possible roadblocks to organizing an
effective one. NGOs have experienced
delays in the past in obtaining
authorization from the Phnom Penh
Municipality to organize demonstrations
and occasionally have not received
authorization to march, as was the case
when 20 NGOs wanted to demonstrate
against corruption in 2001. Some
PADV held this event during Women’s Day
2002 to raise awareness about Cambodia’s
domestic violence problem. Banteay Meanchey
province.
demonstrations have small attendance. Follow up
to demonstrations is important and organizers
need to learn how the energy generated during an
event can be harnessed for future activities.
The main protest recourse for garment
workers is the strike, which uses controlled
conflict as a bargaining tool. Strikes can take the
form of marches and demonstrations outside
factories or of work stoppage, in which workers
enter factories, punch their time cards, but refuse
to work. Both strategies have become common
practice in Cambodia, and a review of press articles
from the past two years indicates that in most
cases workers are able to win limited concessions
through such action. Pro-enterprise supporters
argue however, that demonstrations are not
effective because workers automatically lose their
regular attendance bonus of $5 paid at the end of
Women For Prosperity (WFP) organized a non-violence march
around Wat Phnom in
January 2002 to protest
the suspicious deaths of
three women commune
council candidates. The
WFP Director spoke to
participants during the
demonstration (left).
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