Our program

Development and Peace is helping Indigenous communities to organize so that they can form a united voice in having their rights and recognized. These communities also experience extreme poverty and we are supporting them in developing economic activities that are sustainable and respect the environment.

Empowering women is also an important component of our program. Our local partners are engaging men on equality between men and women, encouraging women to take on leadership roles, including in politics, and raising awareness amongst youth on women’s rights. Their work reached more than 9,000 people in Battambang and Siem Reap provinces.

The situation

Cambodia is still emerging from the dark shadow of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s and occupation by Vietnam, which ended with a peace agreement signed in 1991. In the ensuing years, it has struggled in transitioning towards democratic practices and political stability. Current Prime Minister Hu Sen has been in power since 1998 is increasingly using his clout to curtail political opposition and to repress civil society and trade unions so he can remain in power.

Cambodia has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. Clearcutting for illegal logging or to make way for plantations is destroying the country’s ancient forests at an alarming rate and is leading to violent landgrabs. This is disproportionately affecting Indigenous communities, whose collective land rights are not recognized and who face extensive discrimination.

A recent study by the National Institute of Statistics and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs confirmed that violence against women is one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the country. Women’s rights are limited by social practices, such as Chbab Srey, which is a code of conduct for women that encourages obedience and submissiveness.