DPA
Phnom Penh - Young Cambodians have little understanding of their country's democratic institutions and struggle to get involved in issues that affect them, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said Thursday.
A new survey commissioned by the UNDP found fewer than one in three young people were interested in politics. And while three-quarters had heard about parliament, 62 per cent of that number had no idea how it functioned.
Two in three Cambodians are younger than 25.
The survey, which was carried out by the BBC World Service Trust, the charitable arm of the UK broadcaster, also found that four-fifths of young people felt Cambodia was moving broadly in the right direction.
The Trust's Colin Spurway, who led the study, said the fact that young people - particularly women - did not know about local issues or take part in solving them was 'very striking.'
'Young people are not thinking of themselves as having a responsibility at their local or national level,' he said. 'Cambodia needs to look at the fact that young people don't feel it's their responsibility to know what is going on.'
The nationwide survey, which questioned 2,000 people aged between 15-24 and divided equally by gender, sought to discern attitudes to civic participation, democracy and electoral participation.
Cambodia has local elections scheduled for 2012 and a general election planned for the following year.
Spurway said the Trust had found one of the major barriers for young people taking part in civic life was older people.
'Older people say: 'We just don't believe they are ready yet',' Spurway said of attitudes towards the young.
Among the other findings were that more than 90 per cent of Cambodia's youth either own a mobile phone or have access to one.
The UNDP and the Trust will next year launch a national television programme aimed at trying to get young people more involved in civic life.
Cambodia has the youngest population of any of the 10 states in the regional Association of South-East Asian Nations.
The nation's skewed population is largely a consequence of the policies of the Khmer Rouge movement which ruled the country between 1975-79 when as many as 2.2 million people - more than a quarter of the population - died.
7 comments:
The result of this survey proved how poor Cambodian educational system is.
also isolation policy have an effect on people's perspective of the world at larg! time to help make a change in cambodia, ok! do not isolate cambodia again! cambodia must be exposed to the world ideas, etc, you know! isolation make people stupid, look at the example of siem pad thugs, ok! they are so stupid in their frog mentality!
The main reason that those young people think that the country is moving in the right direction because they have been brain washed by local media that is controlled by the pro-CPP government and the majority of them, if not 100%, work for the CPP. Everything is rosy on all TV screens, everywhere you turn you see CPP or Hun Sen propagandas. Just like the old days during Sihanook era we were told that Cambodia was one of the greatest countries in the world. Guess what? people really bilieved him then. I watch Khmer TV on the Internet and Nothing has been said about land grabbing protests, even the people that got robbed by Hun Sen's club go to protest with posters of Hun Sen and his wife. Don't they know that Hun Sen's buddies with the approval from the devil himself that make them lose their land?
Anyway, Welcome to the Kingdom of Wondering...
what, you must be on drug again! keep your opinion to yourself, ok!
The United Nations must expand all its activities and missions in Cambodia to educate the whole of Cambodia's population about democracy, human rights, freedom of speech, the respect of the rule of law, nation building, economic development, advancing farming practices, environmental protection, stop all the deforestation, illigal land grabbing. Do all the above and more which you find necessary.
Thank you.
Cambodian youths are stupid just like their parents and grand parents.
សូមអានរដ្ធធម្មនុញ្ញខ្មែរជាភាសាខ្មែរ បារាំង និង
អង់គ្លេស។សិទិ្ធបញ្ចេញមតិ និយាយ ផ្សាយ។ល។
នាយករដ្ធមន្ត្រី ប្រាំឆ្នាំរើសម្ដង។អាចរើសអ្នក ដដែលបានរហូត។នេះជាច្បាប់ខុសពីរដ្ធមួយ
ចំនួនក្នុងពិភពលោក។
ហ៊ុន សែនបានធ្វើជានាយករដ្ធមន្ត្រី ៣២ ឆ្នាំ
វាក្លាយទៅជាជនផ្ដាច់ការ។
រាស្ត្រខ្មែរក្នុងស្រុកត្រូវតែធ្វើបាតុកម្មកែប្រែច្បាប់នេះ។
រាស្ត្រខ្មែរ សិស្សខ្មែរត្រូវតែចេះច្បាប់រដ្ធធម្មនុញ្ញ
ខ្មែរដាច់ខាត ដើម្បីកំចាត់ជនផ្ដាច់ការ ពុករលួយ។
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