This statement on Child Rights is complementary to other documents as children's rights are relevant to every sector. It has been prepared by the NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child (NGO CRC) which is a coalition of 40 national and international NGOs working together on raising awareness of the rights of children, advocacy, and monitoring of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Cambodia.
The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) ratified the UN Convention on Child Rights in 1992. Since then, efforts have been made to implement this Convention in such a way to improve the situation of children in Cambodia. In 2000, the UN Committee for Children made a 31-point recommendation list for Cambodia to better implement the UN Convention on Child Rights.
To this end, the RGC has subsequently developed public policy concerning children, strengthened its leadership, commitment, and increased resources for various government institutions working with children, so that poor and vulnerable children can equally benefit from Cambodia's development.
“ We must speak together about investment on children. The welfare of children is not only an obligation of social morality, but also a key to sustainable economic growth in the future and a contributing element in the heart of poverty reduction strategy”.
1. Implementation and Monitoring of the UN Convention on Child Rights
The Cambodian National Council for Children, established in 1995 under a Sub-Decree, is a coordination entity for advocacy, and monitoring of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Cambodia (a signatory State) to effectively promote the rights of children in Cambodia, the Cambodian National Council for Children has established 4 Sub-Committees (inter-ministerial): i) the Sub-Committee on Counter Trafficking and Exploitation of Children, ii) the Sub-Committee on Child Labour, iii) the Sub-Committee on Legislation, and iv) the Sub-Committee on Small Children Development, as well as national policies associated with children such as the "Cambodia fit for children" policy and the National Plan of Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children, 2000-2004.
At the same time, it is noted that the Cambodian National Council for Children (CNCC) has not functioned well due to the lack of personnel (all staff are borrowed from other ministries) and the fact that the Council falls solely under the control of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Youth Rehabilitation. Since its Chairman is a Minister, it is difficult to make contact with him and other high-ranking members. If the Council were chaired by a Deputy Prime Minister, then it’s functioning would be improved. Furthermore there is substantial room for improvement in the Council's operations since: i) the Council's structure and activities do not cover all places throughout the country, ii) it does not have a database management system to follow-up on cases or monitor the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The RGC has made vigorous efforts in its fight against drugs through a number of actions and initiatives: i) the establishment of the National Authority to Combat Drugs, ii) the establishment of Anti-Drug Departments and the Provincial Anti-Drug Structure throughout the country, iii) passing the Law on Drug Control, iv) the introduction of a 5-year Master Plan to Combat Drugs, v) issuing the 10-point recommendations of Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, and vi) various cooperative efforts on combating drugs with other countries such as Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and China. Though many measures have been carried out by the RGC the number of drug users has increased.[1] According to the Report Cambodia had 5,502 drug users in 2004, which increased to 6,876 in 2005. Further, it is estimated that the real number of drug users is 5 or 10 times as high. It has been estimated that 30 percent of all drug users are children.
At present Amphetamine Type Stimulate (ATS) abuse has been adversely plaguing poor youth which leads to other social misbehaviour. Furthermore there is great concern over the spread of HIV/AIDs infections through sharing needles, intravenous injection and unsafe sex. Furthermore it is noted that Cambodia does not have enough centres to treat, care for, and rehabilitate those children addicted to drugs. While drugs produce many undesirable effects on social security and health, the awareness raising campaign of the impacts of drug abuse has unfortunately not yet reached out to the students’ and community.
The RGC has been very successful in preventing the spread of HIV infection through the establishment of the National AIDS Authority, the National Centre for HIV/AIDS and Dermatology, and their offices in all provinces in the country.[2] The campaign for 100% condom use throughout the nation has achieved good results namely the decrease in infection rate. In 1997, the prevalence rate was 3.3%, which decreased to 2.6% in 2002 and decreased further to 1.9% in 2003. In 2003, there were 123,100 people in Cambodia living with HIV and 19,880 people living with AIDS. The RGC has provided more anti-retroviral drugs to HIV/AIDS infected people, and up to June 2005 the Royal Government has provided the medicine to 11,000 people of which 1,000 were children. This strategy helps to reduce the number of orphans whose parents have died of AIDS. This success has been achieved through joint efforts of the RGC, NGOs and various donors.
H.E. Hong Sun Huot said that [3]“in the past 15 years around 100,000 Cambodian people have died of AIDS and left approximately 100,000 orphans. These orphans have been abandoned and ignored by community and relatives, and discriminated; these children are forced to leave school in order to work to support their younger sisters and brothers; children lack food, refuge, and study material. They face many hazards such as trafficking, prostitution and drug abuse”.
The RGC has strengthened its laws and provincial law enforcement institutions in response to child abuse, such as the establishment of the Police Department of Human Trafficking and Minor Protection, and their offices in all the provinces and the review of the law on The Suppression Of Kidnapping, Trafficking and Exploitation of Human Persons. According to information obtained by the NGOs Committee for the Rights of Children, child abuse has increased during recent years. The report states that in 2002-2005 there were 866 cases of child abuse of which 455 were rape cases. Among the rape cases, 24 % involved children below nine years old, 44 % involved children within the age of 10-14 years, and 32 % were children within the age of 15-17 years old.
In 2005, the Committee received 139 rape cases in which there were 142 girl victims: 32 girls less than 9 years, 69 girls between 10-14 years, and 41 girls between 15-17 years. Most of these cases happen in Banteaymean Chey, Kampong Thom, Battambang Kandal provinces and Phnom Penh. For the perpetrators among these 139 cases, there are 142 perpetrators; 104 have been in pre-trial detention; 4 are in prison; 3 are at large; 22 are on bail and 9 are unidentified status.
The increased figure shows the decrease in social morality and law enforcement. Many cases are resolved by compromise outside the court system.
5. Child Labour : Domestic Worker
The RGC has made various efforts to address the issue of child labour in Cambodia including: i) the establishment of the Sub-Commission for Child Labour, ii) the establishment of the Department of Child Labour, iii) the ratification of the ILO 182 Convention against the worst forms of Child Labour, and iv) issuing some Prakas by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Notwithstanding these efforts, child labour remains a severe. Cambodia has more than 1.5 million child labourers, of whom 250,000 are working in the most severe forms of child labour. Research by the National Institute of Statistics in 2003 shows that there were 27,950 children working as domestic workers in Phnom Penh. These children do not have an opportunity to study and most of them are facing exploitation and abuse, both physical and verbal, every day. Some NGOs and government institutions are working on the issue, but they lack sufficient experience, and sometimes there is limited coordination from concerned authorities and the homeowner.
6. Justice System for Children
The RGC has made an effort to improve the juvenile justice system. The Ministry of Justice has issued guidelines regarding the implementation of existing national and international law on juvenile justice and another draft law on minors.
However, Cambodia is lacking many laws and regulations concerning its justice system for children. Cambodia has enacted the Law on Aggravating Offense, under which the best interests of children are not always well served. There are some provisions regarding the detention period of children under criminal law. However, there are no provisions or guidelines saying that the arrest, detention or deprivation of the freedom of children should be carried out only as a last resort. Many old detention centres/prisons do not separate the children from the adult inmates. When children serve their prison term together with adults they gain many bad experiences from those adults.
The Cambodian correctional system does little to provide such rehabilitation services to detainees as psychological and physical treatment, and assistance re-integrating into the community. The situation for children is similar as there are few education or rehabilitation programs of for them.
1. Implementation and Monitoring of the UN Convention on Child Rights
In response to the child issue, which is a priority issue in the society, the Cambodian National Council for Children should:
2. Drugs
The Royal Government of Cambodia should:
3. HIV/AIDs
The Royal Government of Cambodia should:
4. Abuse, Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children
The Royal Government of Cambodia Gent should:
5. Child Labour: Domestic Worker
The Royal Government of Cambodia Gent should:
The Royal Government of Cambodia Gent should:
For more information on the issues raised in this paper, please contact:
NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child,
Mr. Chea Pyden, Chairperson
Mr. Soum Chamrong, Secretary General
Tel: (855) 23 882 412 , Email: ch.ngocrc@online.com.kh
[1] Report of early 9 months of 2005 by the National Authority to Combat against Drug
[2] 2005 Report the National Center for Dermatology and Venereology
[3] Quoted from Kampuchea Thmey, No. 747 dated 2 June 2005
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