CAMBODIAN’S FIRST WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN

Agencies working directly with women in crisis have long considered violence against women to be a major social problem in Cambodia. To this day, however, there has not been any reliable collation of national figures to do with trafficking or sexual assault in general. Research on domestic violence has been carried out by MoWVA in association with PADV, but the figures are thought to be too low (1 in 6 families living with domestic violence) due to discounting of "light" violence in research interviews.

More recent research undertaken by the University of Phnom Penh’s Department of Psychology students with a Palestinian academic, Raghda I. Saba, indicates that VAW is more widespread than has previously been acknowledged. In a sample of 250 school children aged 10 to 12 years in Phnom Penh and Kompong Speu, 41.2% had witnessed domestic violence in their own home and 8.8% had witnessed a rape. Response rates on kidnapping, bullying and beatings of close relatives or friends were also very high, indicating that violence outside the home is also a problem. Newspaper reports in the last one year have highlighted some extremely savage gang rapes, while more substantial NGO research indicate that rape and sexual harassment are occupational hazards for street vendors and women working in public places generally.

The demobilization of Cambodia’s armed forces has received a great deal of attention and publicity in the last one year, whereas violence against women has had comparatively little profile, although arguably it affects more people. Also, an unintended impact of the publicity surrounding earlier research on domestic violence has been that VAW is now typically equated only with domestic violence, and top government leaders have reacted by questioning its widespread nature.

The time is ripe, therefore, to draw attention to violence against women (VAW) as a broad issue affecting all Cambodians and one, which requires specific legislative and administrative responses.

Gender and Development for Cambodia (GAD/C) undertook this particular campaign because of a number of related activities and public processes occurring during this time, All of these provide useful platforms for discussion and advocacy on VAW.

The issues raise in this public forums urgently required a response in terms of gender impacts and all of this coincided with GAD’s more long-term advocacy aims

Public distribution of white ribbons as a symbol of non-violence formed the backbone of the campaign. GAD/C chose November 25, International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women, to begin the distribution, also giving out information on the new Cambodian Men’s Network and handbills on the different forms of violence against women. By the end of the campaign, 18,000 white ribbons and 12,000 handbills had been distributed through GAD/C.

Pre-publicity two days before the campaign began brought coverage from key media organisations including Raksmei Kampuchea, the country’s biggest selling daily paper, Voice of America Khmer language service, National Radio, Agence France Presse and a popular current affairs TV show, Rendez-Vous.

Agencies contacted by mass mailing prior to November 25 and a number responded by staging their own white ribbon distribution or other appropriate event. Khemara, a women’s NGOs, carried out white ribbon distribution on December 2 in 4 areas where they have community development activities, including the docks and the biggest red-light area of Phnom Penh, Svay Pak. Friends, an NGO working with street children, held a workshop on December 7 on family violence, where children wore ribbons, drew pictures and discussed their personal experiences.

On Human Rights Day, December 10, GAD/C staff and supporting agencies again distributed white ribbons in public at Hun Sen Park, where Oxfam’s partner agencies staged a "Speakout" event. GAD’s white ribbon distribution in the event gave a focus and theme to this annual gathering and provided a small concrete action whereby passersby could show support for the cause - to stop violence against women.

The Cambodian Men’s Network, launched on November 25 with the first of the white ribbon days, has held a series of consultations with interested male NGO staff in five regions incorporating 10 provinces. Involvement of men in the VAW campaign and male-to-male contact and discussion was crucial, because it positioned the issue not as a "women’s problem" (and therefore considered of minor importance) but one affecting all of society. In the words of a campaign slogan made up during the time, "Violence against women is a problem belonging to men, and men must solve it." The Cambodian Men’s Network is an ongoing programme, which will hold its first national consultation in early 2001.

GAD/C published its third issue of Gender Watch, a bi-monthly bulletin of facts and statistics, focusing on the need for specific domestic violence legislation for release during the campaign. Apart from the regular mailing list, this issue has been widely distributed to commune leaders who attended a 1-day seminar on 6 December, NGOs, and National Assembly members.

Gender Watch is a regular publication of GAD/C. Previous issues have focused on women’s participation in the commune elections, and on girls’ education.

During the campaign period, GAD/C staff also prepared and convened two important NGO meetings:

i. December 7 GADNet meeting to consider small working group submission to Ministry of Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs on draft Criminal Procedure Code.

ii. December 12 meeting with about 35 NGOs to make comments on draft Penal Code.

The Criminal Code, when it is passed, will supersede existing provisions under 1992 UNTAC criminal law. It is expected that the Procedural Code will be passed first and then the Penal Code. Current drafts, especially of the Penal Code, contain features detrimental to women, including criminalisation of abortion (currently legal under the 1997 Abortion Law) and reduced rape penalties (from 5-year minimum penalty under UNTAC law to a 1-year minimum penalty). There are also no specific provisions as yet within the Procedural Code, for female victims of violence to be interviewed or examined by female staff so far as possible.

While the campaign helped to draw attention to some of these issues, continuing the lobbying process will require a sustained effort over the next one year or more to track government responses and secure support from National Assembly members and key civil servants.

Important features of the VAW campaign were:

i. the high number of cooperative relationships developed between GAD and other agencies within a short time

ii. the ability of the campaign to replicate its main public activity - white ribbon distribution - without direct involvement from GAD

The following agencies cooperated in carrying out or facilitating other agencies to carry out white ribbon distribution: Khemara, UPWD, MCC, CSARO, USG, CWCC, NIFTUC, YRDP, Youth For Peace, University of Phnom Penh students, especially the Law Faculty, Russey Keo high school students, Bat Tuk and Santomuk high schools, Weapons Reduction Working Group, PADV, LICADHO, Star Kampuchea, DIAKONIA, Oxfam, Friends, Wat Than, Don Bosco and about 30 GADNet member agencies

Staff of the following organisations cooperated in planning of the Penal Code workshop:

University of San Francisco Community Legal Education project, ADHOC, University of Phnom Penh Law Faculty, UNICEF, Oxfam Hongkong, CDP, Health Unlimited, UNCHR

1. CEDAW conference on 27 and 28 November at Cambodiana Hotel

This 2-day meeting, organised by MoWVA, involved key lawmakers, Ministry personnel, law students, selected NGOs and politicians to discuss how CEDAW could be specifically incorporated into Cambodian laws and its legal and administrative processes.

This conference was prepared by the 16 Days Campaign to Stop Violence Against Women, a group of 34 agencies including representatives of MoWVA and the Council of Ministers. The conference was funded through money donated by H.E. Sok An (Minister of State in the Council of Ministers) two years ago to the 16 Days working group. At the conference this year, the Queen presented a US$5,000 gift from the King to the 16 Days group. Prime Minister Hun Sen spoke at the close of the conference. His speech presented an extremely conservative view of women and their role, and questioned the validity of research on domestic violence, suggesting that the 1 in 6 figure was too high. However, both Hun Sen’s speech and the King’s cash donation represented the highest level of recognition of this important issue to date. GAD staff were involved in preparing the conference and assisted with publicity.

• A half-day seminar organised by CDP on 8 December drew about 40 NGO representatives, including 3 GAD/C staff, to work on drafting a definition of trafficking for recommendation to the government.
• UNICEF organised a trafficking workshop on legal protection and law enforcement with key government personnel, mainly from the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Justice (20-21 November at the Juliana Hotel).

In a GAD/C staff review and reflection process after the campaign, the following factors were identified as strengths of the campaign:

• White ribbon distribution created a high public profile for the issue
• The campaign gave people real information about the law
• People were happy to get ribbons and receive information
• Preparing for the public ribbon distribution was a good team-building exercise for staff as everyone was involved in working towards one central goal
• The main activity was one in which many people could take part
• GAD had interaction with young people and the mass public
• The issue was motivating for young people who were interested to take part
• GAD cooperated with other NGOs as equals - no one agency was dominating
• Other agencies approached GAD asking to take part, as the issue was perceived as interesting and relevant
• Many useful working relationships were developed with other agencies

The following features of the campaign were identified as having medium impact:

• The level of publicity was moderate, partly due to the relevant persons not receiving the information, and partly due to the outbreak of fighting in Phnom Penh just two days before the start of the campaign (journalists were busy chasing this big story)
• The regular Gender Watch mailing list does not adequately target middle-level managers or officials
• Coordination within GAD and with other agencies could have been improved if planning had started a couple of weeks earlier

The following features of the campaign were identified as being weak:

• The white ribbon distribution was only in Phnom Penh
• Some of the information used in the campaign had been prepared before the campaign was thought of, and either did not have direct relevance to the issue, (such as the poster on women’s work) or the terminology used was different to what was used during the campaign (such as the Men’s Network brochure)
• There was not one coordinating point within GAD for information, therefore some agencies received double mailing
• More specific policy requests should have been addressed to the government through our publicity efforts
• Some of the campaign partners only attended ribbon distributions in order to receive a free T-shirt but did not want to talk with people on the street
• There was not a debrief session with key partners afterwards

• GAD should repeat the campaign at the same time next year, again using white ribbon distribution as the main activity, and targeting more locations with more ribbons next time.
• Ribbon distribution should go to the provinces, perhaps with the Men’s Network members acting as contact points for organising provincial distribution
• Although involvement of other agencies was good this time, a couple of weeks earlier planning could help to ensure even wider involvement e.g. from the peacebuilding/weapons reduction groups who did not have enough time this time to respond
• University students who gave the most enthusiastic response should be targeted as main partners next time
• One individual in GAD should be identified as the contact point for release of all public information including mailings and press releases
• The campaign should aim for increased publicity through using the phone more, rather than relying only on fax and email, and through using Ministry of Information channels to distribute press releases
• Greater attention to policy and public affairs regarding gender during the next one year should result in more specific requests being made to the government during the next VAW campaign period.

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