Cambodia: Controversial mobile phone ad

21 September 2010
By Sopheap Chak
Global Voices Online

A recent advertisement of a major Cambodian mobile phone service provider is being criticized by many netizens for promoting bad behavior among the youth. The CellCard ad shows a group of young people taking pictures of another friend’s bottom and distributing the photos to others via the internet. Through the ad, the company hopes to promote its fast internet service. But the company also seems to ignore its social responsibility by encouraging the youth to violate the privacy of their friends.

Piseth Mao, blogger and also communication specialist for Women's Media Center of Cambodia, voices his concern and expresses a strong objection to that advertisement spot by requesting the spot to be banned. He encourages the company to convey a better message to the public particularly to the youth if it wants to promote its products. In his blog, Piseth asserted his right to freedom of expression to push for the removal of the ad:

LET ME USE MY FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: I really want to see the latest Mobitel (Cellcard) spot banned from all TV Channels. What is the value of the spot? Encouraging the youth to take a picture of a girlʼs ass and share it with a friend as the Internet is fast? The producer of this spot must be somehow unusual.

He continues by giving recommendation to the spot producer:

If you want to promote your good Internet connection, then why donʼt you think of something like “ A friend is at school and taking the picture of the lesson their teacher/lecturer writes on the board and share with a friend who is on mission in the province.”

With his recommendation, Piseth believes that the company, which he applauded for its previous commercial spots like the Angkor Wat promotion, would encourage the building of a better society where friends care for each other and allow people to stay connected and updated through internet accessibility.

Notably, there was also a past concern regarding another advertisement of a motorcycle company which devalues the image of women.

On the other hand, the government has just recently banned a TV series, titled “Strange Lovers”, which features a beautiful woman who will be auctioned for marriage starting with a price of one million dollars. This may be welcomed by those who see the film as negatively affecting the dignity of Cambodian women. However, there are also those who rather view it as a restriction on freedom of expression of film producers. They link it with past government orders banning the production of other cultural performances. For example, a pop song about a Buddhist monk touching and kissing a girl and another rock opera, “Where Elephants Weep,” which have scenes showing monks in bad behavior were also censored. The government justified the ban by invoking the need to respect social tradition and the image of Buddhist monks.

While banning performances may be acceptable in some cases, this action needs to be consistent with the freedom of expression principle and the government should look at the consistency of the content and intention of that content rather than the solely base its justification by citing good social tradition and national security which have been also applied to many critics who have been subjected to arrest or have been charged with defamation, disinformation or incitement due to their dissenting opinion on government policies.

How can there be more female lawmakers when they are being looked down by a dimwitted Priminister?

SRP MP Mu Sochua (R) was the subject of Hun Xen's bias and discrimination (L)

Target calls for more female lawmakers

Thursday, 09 September 2010
Brooke Lewis
The Phnom Penh Post

THE National Assembly and the Senate will need to increase the number of female lawmakers by 9 percent and 17 percent respectively during upcoming elections in order to meet a Millennium Development Goal aimed at improving gender equality, United Nations officials said yesterday.

A target under the gender-equality goal calls for 30 percent of national parliamentary representation to be female. Elections for the Senate in 2012 and the National Assembly in 2013 will be the Kingdom’s last opportunity to achieve this target before the 2015 MDG
deadline.

Speaking at a conference in Phnom Penh yesterday, Douglas Broderick, resident coordinator for the UN Development Programme in Cambodia, said women were underrepresented in high-level leadership and decision-making roles.

“Women make up 52 percent of Cambodia’s population, and yet represent 13 percent of the seats in the Senate, and 21 percent in the National Assembly,” he said.

During her opening remarks at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An said the Cambodian People’s Party was committed to improving women’s participation in governance.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia has been taking steps to improve the participation of women at all levels of national institutions,” she said.

But she noted that there were few other female politicians at her level.

Ho Naun, a Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker and head of the National Assembly’s public health committee, said “remarkable progress” had been made towards improving women’s rights in Cambodia.

“We have reached two-thirds of our goal,” she said.

But she added that “more activity from all stakeholders” was required.

Women currently hold eight of the 61 seats in the Senate, and 27 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly. The number of women in the Senate would need to more than double in the next election to reach the 18 seats required to meet the target. An additional 10 women would be needed to reach the National Assembly target of 37.

Mu Sochua Honored in ‘Real Life’ Play

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
18 March 2010

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer

An opposition lawmaker is among seven women activists celebrated in a new play that opened in New York last weekend, drawing an international audience that included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“Seven” is a collaboration between the activists, including parliamentarian Mu Sochua, and seven female writers and highlights the lives and struggles of women from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Guatemala, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, and Russia.

“We chose women around the world we believe have stepped up to make changes and have worked to carry their society and community forward through times of difficulties,” said Alyse Nelson, CEO and co-founder of Vital Voices Global Partnership, in an interview with VOA Khmer. “And I think Mu Sochua is a perfect example.”

Nelson, whose organization initiated the play in 2006, said Mu Sochua had put herself in “great danger” to ensure equal rights for other women.

“Seven” follows her life before the fall of Phnom Penh through her time as a student in the US, a UN worker on the Thai-Cambodian border and as a politician.“What is important in this play is that we see the lives of women’s rights activists are at risk of violence in a country where there is an absence of democracy, an absence of women’s rights protection, a lack of law enforcement, and an absence of the rule of law,” said Mu Sochua, who is a member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party. “This is real life turned into a play, not just a play by itself.”

Mu Sochua lost a defamation suit to Prime Minister Hun Sen last year, but she said that episode is not included in the play.

The play has been produced in many countries, and Mu Sochua said it demonstrates that women’s issues go beyond politics.

“When it comes to women’s issues, they speak with one voice to protect women and to admit the truth, especially when a woman becomes the victim of violence or rape,” Mu Sochua said.

Mu Sochoa Receives Award from the Eleanor Roosevelt Project for Leadership in Human Rights

Mu Sochua receives the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for leadership in human rights from Allida Black, Director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Project at The George Washington University.

The Courage to Lead:
A Human Rights Summit for Women Leaders,
December 8-10, 2009.

The Courage to Lead Summit brought together experienced and emerging human rights leaders from over thirty countries to share and build on their experiences and to promote mentoring and
collaboration among women who play a key role in promoting human rights worldwide.

The conference is organized by The Eleanor Roosevelt Project of the George Washington University and Vital Voices Global Partnership with support from the U.S. Department of State, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Labour Organization. The Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO) coordinated logistics for the event.

Morning sessions of the December 8-10 summit at the ILO are also open to the public.

US Mission Photo: Photo by Eric Bridiers

Cultural standards prevent progress on women's issues

Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Written by Tom Hunter
The Phnom Penh Post

Despite the celebration of International Women's Day Sunday, double standards favouring men are still the norm in Cambodia, say advocates.

THE Khmer proverb that says "men are like gold and women are like cloth" is often used by Cambodian human rights advocates to demonstrate how cultural norms often collide with the rights of the individual.

The proverb, said Luke Bearup, the Children in Crisis regional coordinator for World Vision Asia Pacific, aptly describes the difficulties in advocating equality in the Kingdom.

"It is globally accepted that women face a one-in-three chance of domestic violence within their lifetime," Bearup said Sunday.

International Women's Day is historically an opportunity to reflect on gender issues in an attempt to advance equality and to promote the advancement of women worldwide.

But sexual inequality is so ingrained in Cambodian culture that most women are not aware of what their rights are, said Hung Nary, project manager at Gender and Development Cambodia.

Hung Nary, who spoke at a gathering of more than 500 people in Kampong Chhnang province over the weekend in an attempt to educate women about their rights, said residents were eager to pose questions to the district governor.

"The women were keen to talk about land titles, birth certificates and marriage certificates," she said.

"Men are not including women on land titles, or attaining birth and marriage certificates ... so when the man finds another wife, the women are left with nothing."

Hung Nary said women in the province had also urged authorities to take domestic violence more seriously, claiming that what she termed "police education" was only exacerbating the problem.

According to the villagers, reporting violence only inflamed men's tempers and ensured a continuing pattern of abuse.

Through his work on gender equality and sexual relationships, independent researcher Tong Soprach says the legal disparities that exist between the sexes remain the biggest obstacle to gender equality.

"Prostitutes are rounded up by police and made to pay a bribe," he said. "Why are the men not punished by the law?"
Double standards

In 2003, GAD/C surveyed 580 youths aged between 13 and 28 from 24 communes in Phnom Penh. When respondents were asked of their feelings on gang rape, or bauk, only 13 percent of those surveyed accepted that forceful sexual relations with a prostitute was in fact rape.

In a similar study conducted by Tong Soprach in January 2009, some 22.7 percent of respondents understood that bauk was rape while almost a third of respondents did not.

Alarmingly, the study also found that 10.8 percent of males aged 15 to 24 and not in a relationship had performed bauk with a sex worker in the three months prior to the survey.

Bearup said that in Cambodia, as in many countries, cultural double standards continued to favour men.

"Norms that condone men's right to engage in pre- and post-marital sexual experiences, but stigmatise women who are sexually active, ultimately foster a sociocultural environment that tolerates violence against women," he said.

Women’s Day No Cause for Celebration, Rights Workers Say

Kanika Suon
VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
08/03/2007

As government workers and others in Cambodia took the day off for International Women’s Day, human rights workers said Thursday the country still had a long way to go before true celebration was warranted.

Officials from civil society and women politicians from the opposition party said violence against women persists, and victims still are not offered enough protection. Cambodia has yet to effectively implement a law that would punish domestic violence, and respect for women’s rights remains elusive, they said.

“Women's rights are written in the constitution because we share equal rights with men, but it is not implemented,” Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, said.

In 2005, the country adopted its first anti-domestic violence law. However, women today continue to suffer – among other violations, they are constantly met with domestic abuse and human trafficking.

The idea that women are equal to men has left many skeptical.

“I do not believe in this law, it only exists on paper, because the law is not implemented nor enforced,” a 30-year-old woman told VOA on condition of anonymity.

“When my husband is drunk, he uses his rights as a husband to beat me, until my head bleeds,” she said. “Because I have children, I endured this for them.”

Project Against Domestic Violence's Executive Director Hor Phally said men and women need to communicate better, and they should not resort to violence to solve their problems.

Ung Chanthol, director of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center, said one of the driving forces behind the problem is the lack of appropriate law enforcement.

“If we could have a 70 to 80 percent increase [in law enforcement], it would help a lot,” she said. “Instead, the perpetrators are not arrested.”