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I. Main Statement of NGOs to the 2006    

Consultative Group meeting

 

 (i) Introduction

 

The Prime Minister, Samdech Hun Sen, in his speech at the Conference of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction on 6 February, welcomed the role that civil society can play in policy dialogue and monitoring, likening civil society’s feedback to a “reflection” through which the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) can understand its own strengths and weaknesses, and make improvements.

 

The work of Cambodian NGOs and civil society organizations spans a broad range of development issues and involves close engagement with Cambodians of all walks of life and socio-economic status. As such, civil society is well placed to assist the RGC by sharing our grassroots knowledge, and providing valuable feedback and suggestions regarding development policy and implementation.

 

In 2006, the RGC published the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), which outlines its development priorities for the next five years. Ensuring implementation of the NSDP is the RGC's main challenge for 2006. The NGO community welcomes the opportunity to engage with The RGC and its development partners in discussing these priorities and approaches to their implementation, in a range of fora including the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and this Consultative Group (CG) meeting.

 

The NGO community hopes that the implementation and monitoring phase of the NSDP will be at least as inclusive as its planning phase, with regular opportunities for meaningful participation and feedback. We believe that such a collaborative process of policy development and implementation is critical to the realization of the goals of the NSDP and to improving the lives of all Cambodians, particularly those living below the poverty line.

 

 (ii) Priority Issues

 

Compared to the early 1990's, it is clear that Cambodia has experienced considerable progress. The country is more peaceful and political liberalization and market-based economic development have produced significant dividends. There is greater prosperity and poverty has been reduced from an estimated 47 percent in 1993 to 35 percent in 2004. As noted in the World Bank’s Poverty Assessment, the initial change in circumstances in the early 1990's led to a country-wide improvement of living conditions.

 

Subsequent government policy choices have promoted the development of thriving urban manufacturing and services sectors that have contributed significantly to the economic growth that the country has enjoyed over the last years. However the fruits of economic growth have not been enjoyed equally among Cambodian society. Instead the benefits of growth remained with only a relatively small elite that resides in the urban areas. In order to be able to achieve the Cambodian Millennium Development Goal on poverty reduction, economic growth needs to become more equitable. To achieve this, the development efforts of the RGC and donors need to reach the majority of the poor in the rural areas, especially through supporting and stimulating small-scale agriculture in the countryside. The NGO community welcomes the emphasis that the NSDP puts on improving the lives and livelihoods of the rural poor through securing property rights, equitable access to common property, increased investments in agricultural extension services, and the delivery of health and education services.

 

However, the RGC should bear in mind that increasing economic opportunities is only one dimension of improving people's livelihoods. Reducing poverty depends as much on whether poor people have the ability to effectively voice their concerns with the authorities regarding their opportunities for economic progress. By expanding citizens’ involvement in, and influence over, how they are governed, democracy brings principles of participation and accountability to the process of human development. The expansion of political freedom that comes with democracy is a desirable outcome in itself, but democratic institutions and processes are also critical to the achievement of human development. A well functioning electoral process in a multi-party democracy makes politicians more likely to respond to people’s needs and aspirations. Only when the poor and vulnerable have the chance to draw attention to the difficulties they are facing, and are able to seek some sort of justice, can equitable growth occur.

 

The NGO community notes a lack of progress on some of the commitments made by the RGC during the Consultative Group meeting in December 2004. Indicators of progress on these commitments need to be rolled over into 2006. Excluding these important indicators from the current set of Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMIs) would signal a failure to deliver on agreed actions and furthermore it would weaken the credibility of the dialogue between the RGC and its partners in the Consultative Group.

 

The NGO community wishes to support the RGC in its efforts to achieve critical development objectives. In order to be effective in this supportive capacity, the NGO community has the obligation to play the role of social conscience, and to voice its concerns when government actions seem not to match stated policy objectives. Towards this end, the NGOs would like to stress a number of key-issues under the following subheadings: good governance, human development, and agriculture and natural resource management.

 

Good governance

The NGO sector recognizes the development and publication of the Legal and Judicial Reform Strategy published by the RGC in 2003 and wishes to reiterate its great interest in seeing the effective and efficient implementation of these reforms within the sector. Respect for the rule of law is critical to equitable and sustainable development in Cambodia. A large number of key existing institutions should be subject to fundamental reform, including the National Election Commission (NEC) and the Supreme Council of the Magistracy (SCM). It is fundamentally important that these institutions be independent and non-partisan in nature and membership. The NGO sector stresses in particular the need for the SCM to be reformed. Until the SCM is a truly independent and effective body there will be no possibility of real judicial reform.

 

NGOs also call on the RGC to establish, as soon as possible, an Anti-Corruption Commission and a National Human Rights Commission that meet international standards. That is to say, they should be independent, non-partisan, competent and credible. Furthermore the RGC needs to address the need for the creation of new laws to ensure that the legal system is able to deal with ongoing, critical problems. All of these laws must be reviewed and debated by legislators, the government and civil society to ensure that their passage comports with acceptable international standards and human rights principles in order to genuinely serve to strengthen the rule of law and democratization. These new laws (many of which are already in draft form) need to include, as a matter of priority, a new Penal Code and a law on criminal procedures, a law on access to information, a framework for civil legislation, and a system of administrative complaints.

 

Laws also need to be passed to deal with specific critical problems that continue to plague Cambodia. The NGO sector acknowledges initiatives and actions taken to move Anti-Corruption legislation to the forefront of discussion and debate. However, we firmly recognize that more work must be done to ensure adherence to international standards before the finalization and enactment of the Anti-Corruption law. Such work includes the passage of laws related to the transparency of the financial management of political parties, and on the enforcement of the declaration of assets chapter under the Anti-Corruption law, which should ensure that all the members of the RGC declare their assets before and after taking office.

 

Key issues and recommendations from the NGO community concerning the political will to fight corruption and the need for the Access to Information Act are outlined in the "Governance and Transparency" sectoral paper. Details on institutional reform, the need to create new institutions and laws, and amendments to the Constitution can be found in the sectoral paper on "Rule of Law".

 

Human Development

Two cross cutting issues affecting human development are the need for better implementation of existing laws and the persistent problems regarding adequate and timely release of budgetary allocations.

 

Concerning the first point, the NGOs are calling on the RGC to make a major effort to make all stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies, aware about the laws on domestic violence, rape, and human trafficking. Situations where police and officials are reluctant to interfere and refuse to investigate cases of domestic violence, regarding them as private matters, are not acceptable. Key issues and recommendations from the NGO community concerning this matter are outlined in the sectoral paper on Gender and Poverty Reduction.

 

Concerning the second point, the NGOs fully agree with the NSDP’s assertion that there are “continuing and persistent problems in regard to adequacy and timeliness in release of budgetary allocations, which need to be quickly overcome” in order to achieve stated government policies. Timely and adequate disbursements would undoubtedly contribute to improved service delivery in health and education as it enables better planning at the local level, stimulates staff retention, and removes one cause of corruption. The NGO community therefore encourages the RGC to continue to work towards improving public financial management. Key issues and recommendations related to government budget disbursements are outlined in the sectoral papers on Education and Health.

 

Agriculture and natural resource management

There is a need to re-orient the focus of the agricultural sector from the awarding of large-scale land concessions to support for small-scale agriculture. Findings quoted in the World Bank’s Poverty Assessment show that improving production of small-holder agriculture in the rural areas is the quickest route lifting the majority of the Cambodian poor out of poverty. NGO and RGC efforts to promote low input methods of increasing agricultural productivity (such as the “system of rice intensification”) and to develop a niche market for organic products appear to be particularly promising, and should be expanded.

 

To promote the development of small-scale agriculture the RGC needs to pursue policies that: i) ensure farmers' property rights, and stop and revert, the practice of land-grabbing from the poor owner-cultivators; ii) secure the land tenure system; iii) cancel all existing concessions which are larger than allowed by the Land Law or which negatively affect community livelihoods and relocate these to smallholders or common property access; iv) step up investment in small and medium-scale irrigation systems which are manageable by farmers themselves; v) improve market access for the rural communities by providing all-weather roads; vi) improve rural education to respond to the needs of the rural youth, especially in terms of agricultural skills, environmental conservation, and community development; and vii) increase public awareness on sanitation, health and nutrition.

 

Experience has shown that self-help and community-based producer organizations, (e.g., farmer associations or cooperatives, saving groups, etc.) are keys to rural development in Cambodia, as they bring economic benefits to small farmers and enable farmers to play effective roles in overall community development. Thus, existing programs with participatory approaches to assist farmers to organize themselves (e.g., Farmer and Nature Net) should be assessed and further developed for nationwide support of farmer organizations.

 

Besides stimulating small-scale agriculture there is a great need for improved management of forests and protected areas in order to ensure the long term development prospects of rural communities, including indigenous minorities. Too often development planning ignores the real contribution that natural forests make to the national economy and local livelihoods. Therefore the issues of logging concessions, land concessions and plantation schemes remain key threats to Cambodia’s forests, and need to be tackled. The NGO community is calling upon the RGC to increase transparency of the state management of natural resources through the disclosure of existing contracts and compliance status of contracts governing not only economic land concessions, but also mining concessions, fishing lots and military development zones, and continued disclosure of the status of review of forest concessions.

 

A key indicator of governance and good land management is how the most vulnerable sectors of society are treated. Indigenous communities in Cambodia are now losing their land at a greater rate than ever before. The long-term development prospects for indigenous minority communities should be protected by putting a stop to illegal land sales and commencing communal land titling without delay.

 

Key issues and recommendations from the NGO community on these issues are outlined in the sectoral papers on "Forestry and Plantations Development", "Land Reforms", and "Trade and Economic Development".

 

 (iii) Moving Forward

 

In the accompanying message to the National Strategic Development Plan, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen writes that: "It is time now that resources begin to be properly directed and effectively used to maximise benefits for the disadvantaged and the deprived to lift them into the mainstream".

 

The NGOs would like to continue to contribute to RGC's efforts to improve the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable groups in society. In addition to their day-to-day projects in the villages, there are several ways in which the NGO community could consider complementing the RGC in its efforts:

 

w NGOs need to discuss how they can make NGOs’ involvement in the Government-Donor Technical Working Groups more effective.

w NGO research needs to be more widely shared. To ensure that this research is known and understood by government policy-makers, face-to-face meetings with government officials may be the most effective and appreciated method of getting ideas across.

w NGOs need to start a dialogue with the Ministry of Planning and the Council for Social Development on how NGOs may best contribute to the monitoring of the new National Strategic Development Plan.

 

The constructive role that civil society desires to continue to play in Cambodia's development process can best be encouraged by the RGC by: i) providing an enabling environment in which NGOs and associations can freely and responsibly operate; ii) ensuring that freedom of expression is protected; iii) encouraging the growth of a free and responsible media; iv) ensuring disclosure of information to all stakeholders, and v) meeting and building relationships with NGOs on a more regular basis.

 

It is our belief that through our concerted efforts as the RGC, donors and civil society, we can overcome the hurdles to Cambodia's economic and social development, thus improving the livelihoods of Cambodian people and allowing them to lead lives of worth and human dignity.

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