Ministry of Women’s Affairs Dr. Ing  Kantha Phavi said most women remain unaware of their rights and often face social pressure to continue living in an unhappy marriage. She told a recent workshop, titled Access to Divorce for Women in Cambodia, that women need greater support during the difficult process of divorce, and better protection of their rights.

Divorced Cambodian women face social stigma. Many prefer to suffer an abusive husband in silence.

The ministry stressed that divorce was a devastating experience for all involved, and should be a last resort. But, she added, “As there are reasons to try to save a marriage, there are also reasons to end one.”

“A divorce has more negative economic and social consequences on women than on men, which leaves women often without the means to financially support herself and her children. And many women have little or no knowledge of their rights and how to claim them.”

According to the UNDP, Cambodian traditions do not condone violence in the home, either by parents towards children or husbands towards wives. Nonetheless, 23 percent of ever-married women over the age 15 who were surveyed in the 2000 Cambodia Demographic Health Survey (CDHS) reported being physically abused in the home.

Abused women have limited options. If they do not own land or other assets, they risk losing financial support for themselves and their children when they leave their husbands. If a husband is imprisoned, the wife loses his income for that period and she risks that he will return more abusive than ever.

Ouk Kimleng, legal director of Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC), an implementing partner of UNDP’s Access to Justice Project (A2J), told Economics Today that three main factors drive divorce in Cambodia, especially in rural areas (LAC’s findings are primarily related to the poor). They found violence to be the main cause of divorce, followed by male infidelity and irresponsibility.

He said wives fear the social isolation, costs and complex procedures associated with divorce. Those without a proper education, fewer skills and less access to information are more vulnerable as they can be more easily abused and exploited in the informal economy, he added. Some are lured and trafficked across the border to neighboring countries.

So Kimleng strongly suggests Cambodian women to register for an official marriage certificate to provide better legal protection. A legally married woman can legally claim support from her ex-husband for her under 18-year-old children and receives other legal protection, at least in theory.

In fact, while men and women have equal legal rights as regards property ownership, many poorly educated Khmer women have a deep fear of the authorities in any form, and little or no knowledge of property laws. This means they are unable or unwilling to register land that they are legally entitled to in the case of a divorce of death of the head of the household.

A World Bank assessment found that “the rights of women, especially women-headed households, are often ignored, partly due to their lack of knowledge of land rights and of land titling procedures.”

Land liberalization in 1989 and the confusion that followed due to unclear legislation, resulted in negative impacts on women’s land rights, especially for female household heads, found the World Bank. ‘War widows’ own less land than the general population. Of those that own land, 84 percent own less than half a hectare. “Women in male-headed households face a different set of constraints with respect to land. … Women’s rights to land may be weakened by their subordinate status within a household where land rights are vested in the name of the male head of household,” the World Bank found. The land law passed in 2001 includes a progressive measure to ensure that both women and men are identified as owners of the land, but women’s low literacy limits their access to information about land issues, sales and rights.

Under the law, women have equal inheritance rights. However, the cultural idea that women are of lower status than men has led to a perception that the head of a Cambodian family should be male, legitimizing discrimination that can result in dispossession. More commonly, women’s typically lower level of education means they are often unaware of their rights, and/or afraid to go against well-established societal norms by publicly speaking up against dispossession or land grabbing, especially when it involves a male relative.

Cambodia needs to do more to ensure that divorced and bereaved women do not fall by the wayside.   

“As there are reasons to try to save a marriage, there are also reasons to end one.” Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, Ministry of Women’s Affairs

Read the original story at the Economics Today Magazine

This activity report starts with the activities of LAC in 2009, but also contains background information about the organization in chapters 7-11

 Read pdf

While there is certainly much to celebrate, International Children’s Day also serves as an occasion to reflect on the challenges still facing children in Cambodia.  Legal Aid of Cambodia would like to express its concern for the excessive detention of children in correctional centers.

With the financial support of the East West Management Institute (EWMI), Legal Aid of Cambodia is committed to providing legal representation to children housed in Cambodian correctional centers.  LAC’s work has revealed that many children are held in correctional centers beyond their scheduled punishment, in some cases the children wait from 1 to 28 days. In fact, in 245 cases represented by LAC lawyers, 44 cases involved the detention of the children beyond their proscribed sentence.  These statistics suggests that approximately 18% of children in correctional facilities serve excessive sentences.

For example, a seventeen year-old L.NG was initially detained on December 9, 2008 on theft charges.  On March 31, 2009, he appeared before the judge and was sentenced to ten months in prison starting from his initial detention date of December 9, 2008.  Accordingly, L.NG completed his ten month service on October 9, 2009 and should have been released.  However, L.NG was not released until October 21, 2009.  He waited twelve days for his release in illegal confinement.

This excessive detention of the children violates the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure.

Article 37 of UNCRC stipulates that “no child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily…[t]he arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law.” Article 38 of the Cambodian Constitution agrees that the “prosecution, arrest, or detention of any person” must conform to domestic and international law.  Article 506 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that detentions centers may not “receive or detain any person without a written judicial authorization,” therefore, excessive detention should be considered “illegal confinement.”

In response to these violations and in the spirit of International Children’s Day, Legal Aid of Cambodia strongly appeals to the government, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, and the Courts and competent authorities to turn their attention to preventing and remedying the excessive detention of the children.  Legal and judicial reform is one of the foundational corners of the rectangle policy of Samdech Akkak Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, and strong reforms are needed in this area.  Child detention laws should be strengthened, and government officials should carefully monitor the implementation of these laws.  The government should make the rights of children a top priority because children are truly the key to Cambodia’s future.

More information, please contact Mr. Run Saray, Executive Director at (855-12) 838 341 or email lacdirector@online.com.kh, or  laccc2@online.com.kh

However, after despairing for years, the 45-year-old from Kampong Chhnang – who asked that her real name not be used – took a step taken by very few Cambodian women: She got a divorce.

Gathering in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, representatives of the government and civil society organisations met for a workshop to discuss the legal and social hurdles faced by women, like Bopha, who seek separation from their abusive husbands.

“A divorce should always be the last option, as marriage is a sacred bond between two people,” Ing Kantha Phavi, minister of women’s affairs, told the workshop. “However … I am also sure that we agree that as there are reasons to try to save a marriage, there are also reasons to end one.”

Though comprehensive statistics on the issue are unavailable, it is clear that divorce is out of reach for many Cambodian women today. This is particularly true in rural areas, not least because of a basic lack of workers in the legal sector, said Dorine van der Keur, international coordinator of the UN Development Programme’s Access to Justice project.

Of the around 650 registered lawyers in Cambodia, van der Keur said, “only half of them are practising, and only a small percentage of that are actually providing free legal aid to the poor, so you can imagine that it’s almost impossible to get a lawyer if you’re poor”.

Compounding this difficulty, said Thida Kus, executive director of the local rights group Silaka, is the great gender imbalance within the legal profession, where male judges and lawyers are often less sensitive to domestic disputes and gender violence than their female colleagues.

Although the Ministry of Justice has dispatched a working group to encourage more women to join the sector, the disparities remain stark: 178 male judges versus 30 female, and 98 male prosecutors versus two female.

In the case that a woman does secure a divorce hearing, she must travel to the nearest court and pay a fee of 55,000 riels (US$13), both potentially prohibitive costs.

She must also have a legally registered marriage, which is not the norm for many in rural areas.

Even then, a successful divorce is no panacea for gender equality in the face of long-standing cultural bias, Thida Kus said.

“Given the local context of Cambodia, we cannot totally rely on law enforcement to protect a woman from domestic violence,” Thida Kus said. She called for an increase in economic and social programmes targeting women, as well as a broader reassessment of cultural mores.

“Right now, socially, a woman is frowned upon if she decides to leave her husband – she is looked down upon by the community, even by her own family,” she said.

The current legislation on divorce is reasonably progressive, van der Veur said, providing women with the possibility of alimony, shares of household assets and even restraining orders in the aftermath of divorce. A more pressing challenge, she said, is the “demand” side of justice – getting individuals and communities to assert and protect women’s rights.

For Bopha, a successful divorce came only after twice seeking mediation from her commune chief and paying a bribe to the provincial women’s affairs department that did not produce the desired outcome. With support and representation provided by workers from Legal Aid of Cambodia, however, she finally achieved legal separation from her husband.

“I’m not sure if he will come back, but even if he comes back, I will not accept him,” she said.

Read the original story at the Phnom Penh Post

In order to celebrate the International Women’s Day, March 8, 2010, the 99 Anniversary of its birthday, Legal Aid of Cambodia would like to disclose a statement on imprisonment of convicted women without copy of the judgments in prisons, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom and Prey Veng which are the target provinces implementing the project entitled “Justice for Women in Conflict with the Law in Cambodia” funded by EU and CCJAP.

Concerning the above said topic, according to the report on Progresses and Challenges in Implementing Prison Duties, Semester I, 2009 of the Department General of Prison, Ministry of Interior, presented that 2,346 convicts 128 of whom were women lacked of copy of the judgments (executing orders). Additionally, the result of interviewing the convicted women conducted in early March 2010 by the project of Justice for Women in Conflict with the Law in Cambodia showed that among 100 interviewees, 59 convicted women have been imprisoned without the copy of the judgments.

Prisons are institutions created by the law for detaining prisoners by the powers of the competent court orders and judgments. Prisons are not places for investigation, research, interrogation or torture and are not places for keeping suspects within 48 hours of arrest. The imprisonment of a convict enforcing his or her sentence in prison shall be done according to the Cambodian laws and international laws ratified by the Cambodian government. Each prison must receive only prisoners sent to by the competent courts with legally accurate orders and judgments.

Article 38 of the Constitution, the prosecution, arrest or detention of any person shall not be done except in accordance with the law.

Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 347 of the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure authorizes the judge or presiding judge to issue the judgment at the hearing or in a subsequent session. In the meantime according to Article 357, the judgment must be written based on holding and ruling. Additionally, Article 358 indicates that the written judgment must be signed by the presiding judge and the court clerk with no more than 8 days after the judgment was issued and the original judgment must be filed with the office of the court clerk. Article 359 specifies that all judgments must be issued and announced during a public hearing session.

Book Seven, Chapter 4 of the Criminal Code, Article 482 to 490 stipulates about the Writ of Information of Court Decisions to involved parties; this writ of information must be initiated by the prosecutors or one of the parties, and this particular performance must be implemented by the court.

Article 506 states that “No administrative agent of prisons or detention centers who have received and detained any person without a written judicial authorization.  Any administrative agent of prisons or detention centers who have received and detained any person without a judicial authorization shall be guilty of illegal confinement.”

According to the above said report and laws, the detention of persons, especially the detentions of convicted women in prisons without copy of the court judgments still continue to exist and in this regard the competent authorities have not solved this problem accordingly. Based on Articles 357 and 358 failing to write the court judgments are the responsibility of the presiding judges and the court clerks and based on Articles 482 t0 490 failing to provide the copy of the judgments to the prison directors and to the convicts are the responsibility of the prosecutors. In this context we cannot blame the bailiff because this agent or institution governing this agent has not been legally created yet. In this regard, according to Article 506, the question is asked whether we can accuse administrative agent of prisons of committing illegal confinement when the prisons have detained convicts or convicted women without the copy of the judgments, this is the question that cannot be answered.

Legal Aid of Cambodia who always works cooperatively with the government in order to protect the rights of the people, push for the proper implementation of the law and participate in the legal and judicial reform in Cambodia has great concerned that the imprisonment of the convicted women without the copy of the court judgments is the violation of women rights-human rights and the Cambodian Constitution, and failing to follow the due process set forth in the Criminal Code of Procedure and disrespecting the international conventions/treaties ratified by the Cambodian government.  The convicts being enforced their sentences in prisons are not informed in writing about the dates of commencing and ending of their punishment.  Failing to receive the copy of judgments, convicts have no legal grounds to request for conditional releases.

Legal Aid of Cambodia would like to strongly appeal for the government, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, Courts and other competent authorities to kindly pay much attention on the imprisonment of convicted women without copy of the judgments to improve the implementation of the Criminal Code of Procedure in response to the Constitution and international conventions/treaties as well as to strengthen civil rights, guarantee rule of law and to achieve the objective of legal and judicial reform in the Kingdom of Cambodia, where legal and judicial reform is one of the corners of the rectangle policy of the government headed by Samdech Akkak Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen.

More information, please contact Mr. Run Saray, Executive Director via (855-12) 838 341, Email: lacdirector@online.com.kh, or Mr. Kao Dyna, Women’s Justice Program Manager via (855-12) 887442, Email: lac_womenjustice@online.com.kh,  Legal Aid of Cambodia.

The Battambang provincial court on Wednesday announced its decision to drop five-year-old trespassing charges against six villagers involved in a long-running land dispute.

But one of the men, community representative Chem Keo, remained behind bars awaiting a verdict from the Appeal Court on related charges.

“I announced a verdict to lift the illegal trespassing charges against the six men,” said Judge Duch Sok Sarin, though he declined to explain why.

Ho Chheng Ourn, a lawyer for Legal Aid Cambodia who is representing the families, said the judge had failed to give a reason when he read out the verdict.

The fight over 124 hectares of farmland in Battambang’s Thmor Kol district has dragged on since 1999, when Ieng Oeung filed a complaint against 38 families he accused of illegal trespassing. The families said they had been living on the land since the mid-1980s.

Authorities evicted the families in 2002. Since then, there have been five separate incidents of arrests after various evictees were allegedly caught trespassing on the land.

In addition to the 2004 charges that were dropped Wednesday, Chem Keo was also arrested along with four other men in 2006. The other four men were ordered to pay 10 million riels (US$2,409) each to Ieng Oeung and then released on suspended sentences. The Appeal Court said Tuesday that it would issue a ruling on the case on November 26.

Read the original story at the Phnom Penh Post.

An excerpt from the report details some of LAC’s activities for the last year:

192 cases received a fair and just trial with the 83 lost cases. 63 cases were omitted from the record of the courts due to the process of the cases were too long and the courts and lawyers could not find the clients. The fair and just trial was defined as following:

• The procedure of the case is conduct properly
• The clients were acquitted of charge and found not guilty
• The charge to clients was change to the lower charge
• The mitigation circumstance was applied to the case
• The punishment to the clients were in accordance with the offend committed by
• the clients, referred to the investigation by lawyers
• The punishment to the clients was matched to the guilty found
• The numbers of complaint cases to appeal was in small amount

Additionally, the fair compensation was defines as the compensation is proper comparing to the damage and the perpetrators were punishes and found guilty.

Mr. Chim was denied justice at every stage of the proceeding: the appeal, the hearing, and the sentence all flagrantly violated Cambodia’s land laws and rules of procedure. Mr. Chim was convicted of trespassing without the proof required by law or legal representation, and was sentenced to a term in excess of the legal limit.

Prosecutor Sor Yous Thavreah’s appeal against Mr. Chim was inadmissible. Under Article 47 of the Land Law (2001), land disputes must be decided by special Cadastral Commissions before criminal trespass charges can be brought. Without a decision as to the ownership of the land, a criminal court cannot legally convict a defendant of trespassing. For that reason, the Battambang Court dismissed the charges against Mr. Chim in criminal case #343, 25 May 2006. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal illegally heard the case.

Further, neither Mr. Chim nor his lawyers at Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC) were informed that the hearing was going on. The Court of Appeal heard his case and convicted him in absentia, in violation of Article 388 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Mr. Chim’s sentence was also illegal. He has already spent ten months in provisional detention, imprisoned during the investigation and trial. Under Article 194 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, his sentence should include his provisional detention. But the Court of Appeal sentenced him to one year starting now, a major violation of the law and of Mr. Chim’s basic human rights. Mr. Chim suffers from diabetes, and will suffer severely from his excessive sentence.

The Court of Appeal ruling is a grievous human rights abuse. It violates Cambodian and international law at every level, and threatens the safety of vulnerable landowners all over Cambodia. LAC urges that the ruling be overturned, and the prosecutors and judges involved be investigated for serious misconduct.

These cases occurred in Presphos and Daunba communes of Korskralar district; in Orumchek village of Prekchik commune of Mong Russey district; and Ovoi Preng village of Khnach Romeas commune of Bavel district, Battambang province. The cases have happened due to Provincial Cadastral Commission does not have enough capability to take any appropriate action, particularly in preventing the violence resulting from the land dispute.

In this case, CHRAC has observed that provincial court has interfered in the work of the Cadastral Commission in resolving the land dispute which is contradictory to the Inter-Ministerial Statement. The provincial court often referred to the Articles 258 and 243 of the 2001 Land Law interpreting them in an inaccurate manner. Due to this reason, the local authorities had threatened the people to face of possible arrests and lose their as well as can not access to other social services. In addition, many victims who suffered from these acts continuously complained about the authorities for making lose of their case files and about no-responses from the authorities to resolve their complaints which had been submitted for resolution with regards to the land dispute cases.

CHRAC urges the Battambang provincial authority to take legal actions and resolve all land disputes and make it easy for the people to return to their lands depending on the actual land possession and their obvious living.

For further information please contact:

-Mrs. Peung Yok hiep, Executive Director of Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC), Tel: 012 823 745

-Mr. Chan Soveth, Monitor of ADHOC, Tel: 016 937 591

-Mr. Yin Mengly, Coordinator of ADHOC’s Battambang Provincial Office, Tel: 012 970 823

-Mr. Seng Senkaruna, Investigator of KKKHRO, Tel: 012 532 796

On June 19, 2007, Ms. Keat Kolney brought a complaint before the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia (BAKC) against three LAC lawyers and seven CLEC lawyers. The complaint accuses the lawyers of inciting villagers in Kong Yu village, Ratanakiri to file a lawsuit against Keat Kolney to reclaim their land. They are also accused of instructing the villagers to talk negatively about Keat Kolney and to give false information to the media.

On June 22, 2007, the BAKC asked our ten lawyers to respond to the complaint. We fully support a fair and transparent procedure for handling complaints regarding professional conduct of lawyers, and our lawyers have submitted their responses to the BAKC yesterday. In this reply, our lawyers have cleared their names by explaining the facts of the land dispute case and their actions on behalf of our clients. We support all of our lawyers’ actions in this case, and are certain that they operated well within the Code of Ethics and Bar Regulations. LAC and CLEC have full confidence that the BAKC will dismiss the complaint after it has heard both sides and weighed the merits of Keat Kolney’s complaint.

On June 21, 2007, Keat Kolney also filed two criminal complaints with the Ratanakiri provincial prosecutor. While we have not yet seen these complaints, we understand that one complaint criminally accuses the villagers themselves for cheating and fraud, while the other complaint accuses the LAC and CLEC lawyers of criminally inciting the villagers to cheat and fraud.

While any citizen may file a complaint to the prosecutor, LAC and CLEC oppose in the strongest terms any criminal prosecution of lawyers for lawful acts done within the scope of their duties. By providing vigorous legal advice and protection to their clients, the lawyers in this case have not committed any crime. LAC and CLEC support their lawyers and reaffirm their commitment to defend the poor and disenfranchised of Cambodia.

For further information, please contact
* LAC: Mrs. Peung Yok Hiep, Director of Legal Aid of Cambodia, +855 12 823 745 or director@lac.org.kh.
or
* CLEC: Mr. Yeng Virak, Executive Director of CLEC, +855 12 801 235 or virakyeng@clec.org.kh