Table showing statistics of civil servants holding positions from directors general down to chiefs of offices in cities/districts/khans

2009		2010		2011		2012
Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female
24 172	3 853	24 243	4 428	24 662	4 502	25 346	4 845
100%	15.93%	100%	18.26%	100%	18.25%	100%	19.11%

–Permitted by the Royal Government, the Ministry of National Defence recruited over 100 female staff to work as National Military Police (Royal Gendarmerie Khmer) Officers, of whom 50 are trained and qualified as Judicial Police Officers in Phnom Penh and Provincial Military Police Offices.

–Increasing the number of women in the judiciary is quite challenging because of competitive capacity for legal matters in legal sector. In 2012, the number of women in the judiciary is shown as follows:

Judge		Prosecutor		Court Clerk		Lawyer
Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female
266	37	142	15	621	l32	704	133
l00%	l3.9%	l00%	10.5%	l00%	21.25%	100%	18.8%

Response to question 14

1.Literacy rate update

–In the past five years, the literacy rate among female population of Cambodia aged over 15 has increased by 4.3 per cent on average.

Table 1The rate of literacy of people aged over 15 by geographic area in Cambodia (2008 vs. 2012)

		2008-2009		2011-2012		Ratio
Area	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
Phnom Penh	96.9	88.9	92.6	98.5	94.1	96.6	1.9	5.2	4.0
Urban	89. 7	77.6	83.2	82.1	94.9	88.1	(-)7.6	17.3	4.9
Rural	82.2	63.2	72.1	85.2	68.0	76.2	3.0	4.8	4.1
Nationwide	84.6	67.7	75.6	87.8	72.6	79.9	3.2	4.9	4.3

Source: NIS 2011.

Table 2The rate of literacy by age group and gender (2008 vs. 2012)

		2008-2009		2011-2012		Ratio
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
15-24	87.9	89.6	88.8	91.3	91.6	91.5	3.4	2.0	2.7
25- 34	71.7	85.3	78.4	79.2	90.2	84.6	7.5	4.9	6.2
35-44	67.0	82.1	73.9	69.3	85.1	76.8	2.3	3.0	2.9
45-54	58.9	81.6	69.0	62.6	83.1	72 .0	3.7	1.5	3.0
55-64	47.6	80.5	61.6	54.9	84.7	67.3	7.3	4.2	5.7

Source: NIS 2011.

Meanwhile, in order to promote equitable educational development and enhance enrolment of indigenous children, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has set up a bilingual education programme or Bridging Programme where a total of 1,620 students, of whom 751 were female or 36.59 per cent, attended primary schools in five provinces (Ratanakiri, Kratie, Monulkiri, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear) in academic year 2011-2012.

Children with disability are also provided with full opportunity to access equitable education. In current years (2011-2012), 70,648 children with disability or 41.46 per cent nationwide attended schools.

2.Dropout rate

The education outcome shows that the drop-out rate at basic education level has decreased compared with the 2008-2009 academic year, but the Ministry of Education, Youth and Spot has considered this achievement as a challenge, which could become a barrier to gender-equitable development in the country, and a priority in the ministry’s strategic plan and annual activities.

3.Solution

Measures the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has taken to prevent dropout rate of students in the general knowledge education and address gender barrier in education, especially to promote the participation of girls and women in development process in all sectors include:

–Exploring the possibility of reducing incomplete primary schools and providing scholarships for students from poor families, indigenous peoples’ children and children with disabilities, especially girls.

–Implementing scholarship programme for secondary school students in 283 more communes. In 2012, this programme covered a total of 809 schools where 52,864 students, of whom 31,615 or 59.8 per cent were female, have received scholarships funded by the government’s budget. 1,934 students, including 1,359 female students or 70.26 per cent have been provided with scholarships supported by the Improved Basic Education in Cambodia (IBEC) Project. At the same time, 3,500 students, of whom 2,100 were female or 60 per cent, have been provided with scholarships supported by the Enhancing Education Quality Project (EEQP).

–Providing scholarships in cash and food for the poor, disadvantaged girls in community schools and indigenous children by giving them breakfast in primary schools.

–Improving the quality of scholarships directed particularly at female students in all regions.

–Exploring the possibility of increasing the number of secondary schools, especially following the one commune one secondary school policy. Currently, there are 1,633 communes/sankats in total. But 165 communes/sankats still do not have public secondary educational institution because of geographic, demographic and resource factors.

–Constructing and exploring the possibility of building dormitories for female students with appropriate accommodation and sanitation facilities.

–Ensuring gender equity of school attendance in lower secondary and upper secondary schools in accordance with quality standards, especially increasing the number of students attending high school for general knowledge and technical education.

–Expanding the bilingual class programme or Bridging Programme for the indigenous peoples more effectively.

–Cooperating/collaborating with national and international development partners such as UNICEF, UNFPA, etc, in developing documents and training students in both formal and non-formal education to equip them with knowledge about daily health, sexual health and measures to prevent violence in home and society.

–Strengthening cooperation between the state and private sector, improving performance and quality of education in all geographic circles across the country, including education of indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities living in the country such as Chams, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.

At the same time, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has cooperated Development Partners to implement the School Drop-out Prevention Pilot (SDPP) in 55 districts in Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Kampong Speu, Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces with 322 secondary schools. Among these schools, 107 has implemented Proactive Learning Approach and 108 schools has implemented Proactive Learning Approach and computer classes while 107 are targets schools to compare with the schools that do not get interventions from this programme.

Response to question 15

Results of implementation of the Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan 2009-2013 in Labour and Vocational Training:

–Integrated the Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan (priority strategic goal 5) into the action plan of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training as part of its inputs in the National Strategic Development Plan Update 2009-2013

–Conducted training

		Number of courses		Number of participants
Year	Topic	Total	Female
2008	Training needs assessments and labour	3	86	24
2009	Gender mainstreaming project and policy development	1	60	40
	Gender auditing	1	38	22
	Results of gender mainstreaming in labour and vocational training sector	1	75	31

In 2010, implemented the Gender Auditing Project at National Technical Training Institute where 30 members participated.

+Measures that have been taken to increase women’s participation into labour markets

Technical and Vocational Education and Training:

	Number of institutes	Number of courses		Number of trainees
Total	Female
National Training Fund for poverty reduction	12	40	823	491
Educational institute support budget	31	18	3 673	1 830
Samdech Techo Prime Minister Special Fund	16	167	6 820	3 565
Certificate-based training programme			68 134	42 114

Technical and Vocational Education and Training

	Tertiary course		Advanced Technical c ourse		Long-term course		Short-term course
Academic Year	Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female
2008-2009	1 330	259	2 959	1 048	1 214	395	117 240	67 394
2009-2010	1 981	458	3 308	842	746	35	66 695	37 646
2010-2011	1 612	281	6 192	1 611	1 034	176	82 251	40 589
2011-2012	14 683	4 604	5 738	1 460	2 774	1 074	105 364	57 961

Provision of funds for self-employment

Samdech Techo Special Fund Project has provided micro-credits:

Year	Amount		Number of participants	Number of capital/province
Total	Female
2009	136 000.000 Riels	143	79	5
2010	472 500. 000 Riels	400	194	11
2011	54 500.000 Riels	53	29	3
2012	305 000.000 Riels	231	158
Total	968 000.000 Riels	827	470	19

+Labour Policy

Cambodia has been in the process of conducting the third National Consultation on National Employment and Labour Policy with all relevant government’s ministries and institutions, local non-governmental organizations and international organizations.

+Measures to address sexual harassment

Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has included the knowledge of moral education, including sexual harassment and entrepreneurship in curricula of all vocational training institutes.

In Cambodia, sexual harassment is a criminal offence punishable by law, including:

–Rape shall be punishable by imprisonment from 5 to 10 years.

–Sexual harassment shall be punishable by imprisonment from 1 to 3 years and a fine from 2,000,000 (two million) riels to 6,000,000 (six million) riels.

–Sexual assault shall be punishable by imprisonment from 6 days to three months and a fine from 100,000 (one hundred thousand) riels to 500,000 (five hundred thousand) riels.

+Plan to ratify the International Convention on Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their families

–The Kingdom of Cambodia does not have any plan to ratify International Convention on Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their families.

+Measures for management of labour migration

–The Royal Government of Cambodia issued Sub-Decree No. 190, dated 17 August 2011 on the Management of the Sending of Cambodian Migrant Workers to work abroad through the Licensed Private Recruitment Agencies.

–The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has assigned specialized officials to visit workers in their workplaces.

–In 2012, a total of 20,209 workers (7,814 women) departed to work in foreign countries through 25 legal recruitment agencies.

Numbers of male and female workers in each foreign country:

	Numbers
Countries	Total	Females
Malaysia	162	63
Thailand	19 997	7 746
Japan	50	5
South Korea	19 292	2 878

–The Royal Government of Cambodia has prepared Identification Certificate for 99,196 male and female workers out of a total of 220,022, who illegally go to work in Thailand.

–The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has developed a Labour Migration Policy to address challenges to border crossing movements of migrant workers. The said policy covers the issues of governance of labour migration, protection, empowerment of migrant workers as well as monitoring and using resources [remittances] derived from labour migration for workers’ personal and families’ development to improve their economic statuses.

Response to question 16

+Measures taken by the Royal Cambodia Government to tackle threats are as follows:

1.Unsafe abortion

•The Law on Abortion was promulgated in 1997

•In 2002, the Ministry of Health issued a Prakas on guidelines for implementation of the Abortion Law

•In 2007, the Ministry of Health trained health staff on Methodologies for Safe Abortion

•By 2012, The Royal Government of Cambodia has had 78 Public Hospitals and 275 Health Centres and Marie Stopes International Cambodia has set up 7 clinics where safe abortion services and post-abortion/miscarriage care are being provided.

•The Ministry of Health has taken actions to increase the utilization rate of modern family planning methods or contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) to prevent unwanted and undesired pregnancies and reduce the unmet needs of women.

2.Lack of medical equipment for cervical cancer screening

•The Ministry of Health created a programme to combat cancers, including breast cancer, cervical cancer and uterus cancer.

•The Centre for Cancer Examination and Treatment has been functioned in Phnom Penh.

•The Ministry of Health has conducted a training of trainers and trained medical professionals from all provincial hospitals and eight health centres on treatment and care of different cancers.

•In 2012, The Ministry of Health provided 2 breast scanners and 13 cervical cancer scanners to 4 national hospitals and 2 provincial hospitals.

3.Malnutrition:

–The Royal Government of Cambodia has introduced the National Nutrition Programme and the National Policy on Infant and Young Child Feeding.

–Ministry of Health has provided three interventions to ensure the implementation of the national policy:

1.Established 16 baby-friendly hospitals

2.Established 6,482 baby-friendly communities

3.Implemented Sub-decree No. 133 on Marketing of Products for Infant and Young Child Feeding.

–Ministry of Health has put in place the Child Nutritional Status Improvement Programme, including:

–Providing micronutrients to children

–Providing folic acid tablets for pregnant women, postpartum women and children

–Trained masters trainers and service providers on care and treatment of severe malnutrition

–Created supportive environment for nutrition in communities

–Mobilized people from relevant stakeholders to participate

–Strengthened law reinforcement

–Campaigns to promote provision of complementary feedings, “Fortified-Blended Porridge” to children aged 6 to 24 months old.

–Ministry of Health cooperated with the Council for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) in organizing a Training Workshop on Food Security and Nutrition for Mothers and Children for competent authority officials from Provincial, District and Commune levels and health officials at all levels to integrate the Nutrition Action Plan into the Commune/Sangkat Investment Plans.

4.Incomplete antenatal care: the solutions include

–Ministry of Health issued guidelines for pregnant women to make at least 4 visits to health facilities for antenatal care during pregnancy.

–Training service providers on antenatal care for pregnant women, malnutrition and identification of dangerous sign related to pregnancy, blood test for anaemia and viruses, development of foetuses, treatment and timely referral to health facilities where emergency obstetric cares are available.

–Giving education on feedings, hygiene, birth preparedness, birth delivery at health facilities, postnatal care, caring for infants and young children, family planning, prevention of mother-to-child [HIV/AIDS] transmission (PMTCT).

–Conducted campaigns to promote antenatal care through radio spots, TV spots and outreach visits to educate women and families.

+Measures taken to overcome obstacles to women’s access to health service, especially poor women and women in remote areas.

–The Royal Government of Cambodia determined that poor women are exempted from paying user fees and are entitled to equity funds supported by national budget.

–Cooperating with donors community and health development partner organizations, the Royal Government of Cambodia has established health equity fund to help poor women, who are identified, to get health services and the user fees are covered by the equity fund.

–Established reproductive health voucher project to help poor women to receive reproductive health, maternal and child’s health services, including antenatal care, birth delivery at health facilities, postpartum care, family planning and safe abortion.

–Established waiting houses in remote areas so that women can come to stay and wait for one week before giving births and one week after giving births. At present, there are 29 waiting houses in remote areas.

–The Royal Government of Cambodia has established and pushed for an increase in the number of Health Centres in villages and communes across the country and made efforts to build roads and bridges in rural area and to connect with neighbouring countries to make it easy for women to access health services.

Response to question 17

Over the past two decades, the Royal Government of Cambodia has paid attention to combating and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, making significant achievements: HIV/AIDS prevalence has decreased from 1.7 per cent in 1998 to 0.7 per cent in 2013. In numeric terms, in 2013, there are 73,433 people living with HIV/AIDS, of whom 39,516 are females (53.81 per cent). This has resulted from the implementation of strategies for mainstreaming and incorporating gender in all systems, mechanisms and services in response to the endemic of HIV/AIDS all over the country. Practically, gender has been constantly mainstreamed in policies, strategic plans and resource mobilization plans and incorporated into guidelines for regular implementation of action plans and monitoring and evaluation plans, promoting gender equality and enabling women and girls to access preventive, care, treatment and support services related to HIV and AIDS such as:

–More than 80 per cent of female entertainment workers have access to preventive services through condoms use, counselling and blood test.

–About 80 per cent of women living with HIV have access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).

–Over 70 per cent of women and girls infected or affected by HIV/AIDS have received support kits such as shelter, education, medical care and businesses to generate income, etc.

–About 90 per cent of in-school youth have received knowledge of HIV/AIDS, sexual health and reproductive health.

Response to question 18

The impacts of the Action Plan to increase the proportion of rural women accessing sanitation from 8.6 per cent in 1996 to 30 per cent in 2015 include:

–Rural women are aware of hygienic practices, but their knowledge about the needs for clean water is limited and they still hold a view of waiting for assistance.

–Lack of sanitation facilities such as open defecation/urination and absence of hygienic practice causes health problems, including infections, diarrhoea and tapeworms resulting in high rates of child’s morbidity and mortality.

–Women’s contribution of land for construction and repair of roads, wells and ponds and their participation in other local development projects is limited because they have no income and mostly wait for their husbands to make decision.

–Rural women have limited knowledge and livelihoods, making them not fully participate in the village development.

–Rural population, including women still hold views of running self-employed businesses.

To address the challenges above, the Royal Government of Cambodia has taken different measures to reduce poverty of the people, especially addressing their needs and what is required to be in place for rural women to consider, raising social awareness and mainstreaming gender at all stages of implementation of development projects, including reduction and elimination of diseases stemming from lack of sanitary and hygienic practices, drinking unclean water, giving women the knowledge to improve their practice of hygiene and environment, helping women have livelihoods and jobs to generate income to support their families and making women aware and feel empowered to make decision to participate in social programmes.

According to the results in early 2013, the coverage rate of rural sanitation has reached 29 per cent, namely, about 43 per cent of the population have access to clean water supply. Based on this result, The National Strategy for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation has set the following targets:

–By 2015, 30 per cent of rural population and by 2025, 100 per cent of rural population will have access to clean water supply.

–By 2015, 50 per cent of rural population and by 2025, 100 per cent of rural population will adopt practice of clean hygiene in connection with access to clean water for use.

Implementation of the National Strategic Development Plan 2006-2010 and Action Plan for Rural Development

At present, the Royal Government of Cambodia has developed policies related to land issues and wrote up a “Land Sector White Paper” that links land issues with gender and the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction already conducted, with funding support from CLASP-Canada, a series of consultation about the content of land issues and gender for inclusion in the “Land White Paper”, produced and launched the Gender Strategic Plan in Land Sector for short, medium and long terms, of which most activities are focused in rural area where a large majority of poor households live.

Observations of land titling programme show that participation of men and women in systematic land registration is higher than 97 per cent. Both men and women agreed that there were some confusion about identification of property types, but by and large, the level of understanding of men and women about land registration and adjudication of property type is very high.

The Royal Government of Cambodia issued Order No. 01, dated 7 May 2012 on New Actions on Existing Policy on Land Issue, aiming to address the impacts on land and houses of the people, who had occupied, used and grown fruit trees on them before 7 May 2012 in the three types of state’s land, forest land concession, economic land concession and land under forest cover map of 2012. Consequently, as of 5 April 2013, out of a total of 1.8 million hectares of the state’s land that has been in disputes with around 500,000 (five hundred thousand) households, (1) 570,000 parcels or 900,000 hectares have been measured and provided for people from 350,000 households, (2) over 200,000 titles have been definitely issued for 170,000 households and this process will continue until it is complete. In this regard, most rural women as household heads, wives, mothers and daughters have participated and benefited from this, because the land measurement campaigns have transparent procedures, ensure gender equality and clear participation and the rural development in areas where land has been already registered have a series of development projects such as rural roads, wells or ponds, schools, health posts, etc.

The Royal Government of Cambodia issued the National Policy on Land Management, aiming to ensure the transparent and effective management, protection and use of land and natural resources to sustain the environment and equitable economic and social development in both urban and rural areas. This policy points out clearly that the use, development and management of land according to land management plan and equitable land policy, gender equality and protection as well as support for livelihoods of communities and vulnerable groups must be ensured.

The Royal Government of Cambodia has pushed for the formulation of a national policy on housing and resettlement for middle-class and poor households as well as protection of women’s interests.

Measures taken to protect women’s human rights regarding land distribution, particularly in the case of dislocation:

–The Royal Government of Cambodia has policy, sub-decree and directive related to social land concessions that define people’s participation, steps in selection and identification of land and selection of target population to receive land. Female household heads, landless women or land lacking women are considered to be priority targets.

Based on this, the Royal Government of Cambodia issued a sub-decree to re‑classify 8 places of land or 4,1687.7 hectares of the state’s public land as the state’s private land for distribution with a purpose for poverty alleviation.

–As of October 2012, the land distribution included:

1.Through Land Allocation for Social and Economic Development (LASED) project, there were 2,285 households, of which 836 are headed by women or 36 per cent of the total households that have received land. Of these, 5,243 women have received 4,010 parcels or 5,143 hectares.

2.Through Land Allocation Programme for the retired and invalid Veterans and the Poor, Landless Households, 3,415 hectares of land were provided for 2,971 households. Women as wives, mothers and daughters were direct beneficiaries of this programme.

3.Through New Actions on Existing Policy Campaigns, about 1.8 million hectares of land that was cleared, occupied and used by people before 7 May 2012 have been granted for about 500,000 households.

4.The Royal Government of Cambodia has prepared social land concession programme within the national framework, aiming to prevent the clearance of the state’s land, forests land, natural protected area land and environment.

Regarding relocation of people based on law and policy framework aiming at improving welfare and livelihoods of the citizens, the Royal Government of Cambodia has primarily adhered to consent and win-win policy. Every process of finding solutions always involves notification and direct consultation with the communities and stakeholders in a timeframe of at least 2 to 3 years. This approach has been supported and accepted by the people, who have common sense. The solutions include on-the-site development or relocation or resettlement or compensation in cash or in kind and there is a policy in place for those sublet from previous dwellers.

Obviously, out of 503 communities in Phnom Penh, 345 communities have agreed to engage in on-the-site development while 45 others have voluntarily accepted the authority’s solution, namely, resettlement.

Response to question 19

–Measures to address obstacles facing vulnerable women:

1.Access to education:

–The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has increased school attendance of the indigenous peoples through different education programmes. This resulted in total 1,620 students, including 751 female students attending schools in 2011 and 2012 and an increase of 438 students or 36.59 per cent. These education programmes have been implemented in the provinces of Rattanakiri, Kratie, Mondalkiri, Stueng Treng and PreahVihear. At the same time, 52 per cent of primary school students from indigenous communities in Rattanakiri, Mondalkiri and PreahVihear provinces have been provided with scholarships.

–The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has been exploring the feasibility of developing bilingual programme with all components for all indigenous students and transforming community schools into public schools.

–The Royal Government of Cambodia has made efforts in building more schools in villages, communes, roads and bridges to make it easy for women to go to school.

2.Health Care:

The Royal Government of Cambodia determined that poor women are exempted from paying user fees and are entitled to equity funds supported by national budget.

Cooperating with donors’ community and health development partner organizations, the Royal Government of Cambodia has established health equity fund to help poor women, who are identified, to get health services and the user fees are covered by the equity fund. The equity fund will be expanded all over the country in 2015. In addition, there are reproductive health voucher projects to help poor women to receive reproductive health, maternal and child’s health services.

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Health c entres with equity fund	44	53	57	63	64
Hospitals with equity funds	101	141	291	302	370
Health c entres with reproductive health vouchers	0	0	0	118	118
Hospitals with reproductive health vouchers	0	0	0	5	5

3.Women in Drug Rehabilitation Centres in 2012

–Overall statistics

Total number	Female	Reintegrated	Leave on one’s own	Remain
2 223	153	1 184	111	928

–Actual statistics by age

Total number	Female	10-17 years old	18-25 years old	26-35 years old	36-45 years old	Over 45 years old
928	67	98	532	268	24	6

–Actual statistics by type of drugs

Total number	Female	WY	ICE	Ecstasy	Heroine	Marihuana	Glue	Others
928	67	151	698	10	11	5	49	4

–Actual statistics by occupation

Total number	Female	Civil servant	Student	Entertainment	Worker	Assistant	Street children	No regular job	Others
928	67	58	232	21	140	52	67	283	75

Response to question 20

–Any person who has parental authority as stated in article 948 of the Civil Code refers to the person, who has parental authority of the child.

–Based on the provision of article 78 of the Law on Implementation of Civil Code effective in 2011, article 9 of the Law on Marriage and Family was revoked.

–Article 950 of Civil Code states, “Women may remarry if the 120-day period has not past, starting from the day the previous marriage was dissolved or repelled”. This provision is aimed at women only to avoid competition for the assumed paternity of the child, meaning that when a child is born should he or she be assumed to be child of the former husband or latter husband. This provision does not aim to restrict the marriage right of women and it only seeks to identify paternity.

Article 950 of the Civil Code, para. 2, also states that in case of women were pregnant before the previous marriage was dissolved or repelled and given birth or in case of medical certificate of no pregnancy from a medical doctor, the marriage may take place.