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

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communities protest land grabbing in front of the National Assembly, when garment factory workers hold strikes, and when commercial sex workers march on the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The strategy may also include large-scale education or awareness-raising activities to ensure that affected communities have a clear understanding of the issues and the options available to them. An example of this strategy would be a commemorative activity such as International Human Rights Day. Advocacy campaigns will use different strategies depending on whether the advocates are members of the community, influential people, government officials, and/or institutions like multilateral banks. Community-based campaigns depend on the power generated through solidarity and thus require intensive organizing, while advocacy by influential institutions is conducted along more official lines. Solidarity between institutions can make an advocacy campaign stronger. In a country like Cambodia where the evolution of legislation is now part of the political process, advocacy will be directed at lawmakers. However, advocacy is by no means limited to influencing government. In the past two decades, NGOs around the world have begun to influence the multilateral banks on a number of policies. Companies and large corporations are also a common target. In Cambodia, garment factories have been the main target of labor unions because the factories have shown a disregard for the basic rights of workers. Because the Ministry of Labor has been slow to enforce the labor code with companies, the unions are also focusing their advocacy efforts on the government while trying to limit company violations. Footnote 1 This report uses this definition, although it is understood that advocacy can be organized to benefit a cause, such as promoting the arts, protecting the environment, or saving animals from extinction. advocacy in the cambodian context 6Increasing Democratic Space Growth of Cambodian Civil Society and How It Affects Advocacy Civil society is generally understood to include all associations and interactions that exist outside of the government and market sectors. Civil society organizations (CSOs) were first allowed to register in Cambodia in 1992 during the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia administration (UNTAC). The main manifestation of civil society in Cambodia has been nongovernment organizations (NGOs). Other types of organizations include labor unions, communitybased organizations (CBOs), professional associations, and student groups. Less common types include religious organizations, sport associations, and youth clubs. As of November 2001, 867 local organizations and associations were registered with the Ministry of Interior’s NGO Department. There are no reliable statistics on how many of these associations are currently in operation, but estimates put the actual figure at between 200 and 400. According to the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC), there are 250 international agencies working in the country. All CSOs are nonprofit organizations and the two main types of structures are associations and NGOs. Associations When individuals or groups identify common interests they set up associations to further those interests. The most common structure of an association is a large membership group that elects a voluntary management committee. If necessary, the committee can hire staff. A provincial rice millers association is an example of a group of people who work in the same industry. They come together as an association to exchange information, increase their technical skills, and look for ways to improve the standards of the rice industry, such as better quality of seed or higher quality of milled rice. Although the individual businesses comprising the association are forprofit entities, the association itself is a non-profit organization. Many of the groups that are called associations, such as student associations, are in effect managed like local NGOs because in these associations the membership does not determine the direction of the programs. Often they will not have a functioning board. For this reason, only
Pursat Rice Miller’s Association, 2000. professional associations and small local associations, such as funeral associations, are perceived as legitimate associations that represent the interests of their members. Local NGOs NGOs differ from associations in that they generally do not have a membership. In other countries, they usually start as initiatives of concerned individuals who come together to do voluntary work. If the initiative grows and the founders decide to hire staff, they may choose to register as a formal organization. It is not unusual for founders of nascent NGOs to sit on the first board of directors, which has ultimate responsibility for the management and direction of the organization. The history of NGOs in Cambodia is somewhat different than that of other countries. When international development agencies and donors began working in Cambodia in the early 1990s, they looked for mechanisms to assist rural communities or act as a service delivery mechanism. Some international agencies implemented their own projects (some of which have become local NGOs over time), while others started to fund local initiatives. The establishment of the majority of local development NGOs was not based on a philosophy of carrying out the development demands of the people they served, rather local NGOs were created to implement programs that were directed by an original (often foreign) founder or donor agency. The local NGO sector has grown rapidly in the past ten years. An important consequence of this is that NGO staff was often hired before the organization had an independent board or governance structure. In some cases this led to problems of accountability and explains why many local organizations do not have a functioning board. Currently many local NGOs are revising their governance structures to include boards. Another effect was that the voluntary aspect of traditional non-profit organizations is often absent and, at best, very nascent. In Cambodia’s NGO history, development agencies began with emergency and relief activities and eventually made the transition to sustainable development. While testing program models, organizations had limited human resources. Human rights organizations were some of the first organizations identified with advocacy activities because they conducted human rights education activities, monitored and reported violations, and defended clients in the early 1990s. However, it was not until the late 1990s that the majority of local development organizations began to understand the meaning Civil society organizations in Kompong Cham claim that freedom of expression and the ability of communities to advocate is being stifled by the early release of criminals and short sentences given to certain suspects. This causes fear within the general population because they do not know when people who have threatened them will be released. Witnesses are often reluctant to testify against charged criminals because they are uncertain whether they will be sentenced or released. In most cases of early release authorities claim that they are working on the case or the perpetrator has fled the area. A related problem is the immunity of military officials. Kompong Cham has a large military presence and violations by military personnel abound but the civil justice system and provincial authorities have no authority over them. Increasing Democratic Space 7
Page 1 and 2: advocacy in cambodia: increasing de
Page 3 and 4: executive summary The Cambodian non
Page 5 and 6: sectors reviewed in this document
Page 7: livelihood of populations, includin
Page 11 and 12: Protected Forest and Land Dispute:
Page 13 and 14: implementation. Without policy impl
Page 15 and 16: drafts incorporated into the new La
Page 17 and 18: the relocation site and not at the
Page 19 and 20: Landless Families: O’thkov Villag
Page 21 and 22: Short-term and long-term implicatio
Page 23 and 24: EMOs do not traditionally base thei
Page 25 and 26: or even fearful to solve conflicts,
Page 27 and 28: collection of information on public
Page 29 and 30: each month. Facilitating Engagement
Page 31 and 32: analyzing impact of advocacy activi
Page 33 and 34: communities and NGOs can work with
Page 35 and 36: influencing the legislative process
Page 37 and 38: informal contacts and being able to
Page 39 and 40: CHART OF LEGISLATIVE PROCESS (10) K
Page 41 and 42: considerable public attention, but
Page 43 and 44: lessons learned Advocates have lear
Page 45 and 46: ecommendations The following are re
Page 47 and 48: conclusion Outside of human rights
Page 49 and 50: conclusion of the forum, the govern
Page 51 and 52: level can sustainable resource use
Page 53 and 54: literature, interviews, and field v
Page 55 and 56: Future Considerations The following
Page 57 and 58: Timeline of Land Issues Over the Pa
Page 59 and 60:
The new Land Law will require betwe
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labor The garment factory labor mov
Page 63 and 64:
input from AFL-CIO, the largest lab
Page 65 and 66:
intervene are by activating the Lab
Page 67 and 68:
ights have, in principle if not in
Page 69 and 70:
commune council election law The ca
Page 71 and 72:
maximize the group’s collective i
Page 73 and 74:
communication between EMOs and dono
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The CCEL campaign was the first opp
Page 77 and 78:
in every four women (25%) aged 15-4
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estimates the number of sex workers
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elections saw an increase to 14 fem
Page 83 and 84:
healthcare. While many women know t
Page 85 and 86:
losing influence. For this reason,
Page 87 and 88:
plaintiffs at a disadvantage. A sec
Page 89 and 90:
level to increase interaction betwe
Page 91 and 92:
courses for members of the media (p
Page 93 and 94:
economic issues NGOs are advocating
Page 95 and 96:
come together to discuss problems a
Page 97 and 98:
the issue on the government’s age
Page 99 and 100:
premier center for rights-based and
Page 101 and 102:
Penh. Watson, Gabrielle, 2000. Advo
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