Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eighty-sixth session

18 January–5 February 2021

Consideration of reports of States parties

Replies of Cambodia to the list of issues in relation to its combined fourth to sixth reports *

[Date received: 6 July 2020]

Part I

Reply to paragraph 1 of the list of issues (CRC/C/KHM/Q/4–6)

1.There has been no new law regarding children since 2018. The Cambodian National Council for Children has been initiating the Child Protection Law.

2.The Cambodian National Council for Children has amended the composition of the National Child Protection Committee through decision No158 dated 11 September 2019 of CNCC to coordinate and cooperate with ministries, institutions, national and international NGOs, development partners and private sectors in order to strengthen the child protection system to prevent, protect and eradicate all forms of abuse and violence against children aimed at serving the best interests of children. The commission has currently been in the process of drafting a national policy on child protection system.

3.In 2019, with the cooperative assistance of UNICEF, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) launched the Child Protection Information Management System (CPIMS) with indicators and a set of 55 key data, with 11 ministries and institutions in charge. At the same time, the Ministry has been collecting inputs to develop a strategic plan on child protection information management system. The ministry plans to install the child protection information management system and complete IT equipment in the future.

Reply to paragraph 2 of the list of issues

4.To eliminate discrimination against girls and boys, Cambodia has proposed the following measures:

(a)Strategic Plan for Social, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation Development 2019–2023 to improve the quality and opportunities of alternative care for children with disabilities in the Kingdom of Cambodia;

(b)The Social, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation Development Strategic Plan 2019–2023 is a roadmap focused on three key programs: (1) Social welfare services optimization (2) Optimizing social security system and providing physical labor rehabilitation services for the disabled, and (3) Strengthening institutional capacity and partnership development;

(c)The National Action Plan for the Prevention of Violence Against Women 2019 – 2023, is established based on the sectorial strategies of legal protection for women and girls for the purpose of ensuring that women and girls have equal access to legal protection by incorporating women’s rights into the process of drafting and enforcing laws and providing efficient services to victims of domestic violence, sexual aggression, and human trafficking;

(d)The action plan for the prevention and response to children violence 2017–2021 sets out a positive parenting strategy and sets out the discrimination against LGBT and HIV-positive children;

(e)The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has included the non-discrimination for LGBT children and children living with HIV/AIDS in health education subjects from primary to secondary school in the study program;

(f)Strategy No 6 and 7 of the National Strategic Plan on Disability 2019–2023 define the accessibility of girls with disabilities to justice and freedom services and the empowerment of girls with disabilities:

(g)Strategic plan for protection development and promotion of the Rights of the Child 2019–2023 to strengthen coordination and monitoring of child fundamental rights implementation, including the right to life, the right to development, the right to protection and the right to participate with a focus on five strategic goals: (1) strengthening the protection and monitoring of child rights implementation; (2) enhancing education, dissemination and human resource development; (3) strengthening institutional capacity and partnership development; (4) strengthening the working group for Children, ministries and institutions; and (5) promoting education, dissemination, protection and promotion of the rights of the child in city-province;

(h)The Council for Agricultural and Rural Development has developed the National Food Security and Nutrition Strategy 2019–2023 with the aim of reducing food insecurity and combating all forms of malnutrition against all Cambodians, especially women and children. The main goal of this strategy is to reduce the underweight of children under five to 7% point, from 32% in 2014 to 25% in 2023 by reducing the underweight of children under 5 years by 2% point, from 10% in 2014 to 8% in 2023 and reduce the incidence of overweight and obesity among children under 5 and women of productive age.

Reply to paragraph 3 of the list of issues

5.Department of Registrar of the Ministry of Interior has begun the process of collecting data on birth registration rates in just six city-provinces, including Phnom Penh with 96.5%, Svay Rieng 95.5%, Preah Sihanouk 78.7%, Oddar Meanchey 86.8 and Rattanakiri 52%. Overall data were 86% in rural areas and 97.7% in urban areas.

6.In Cambodia, birth registration or birth certificate is free of charge.

7.Plans of the use of information technology in the civil registration system in all provinces beginning in 2019 are being tested in 10 communes in Krong Kampot, Kampot province and 10 sangkat-communes in Kep province. By 2020, the plans will be continued to gradually expand to other city-provinces.

8.For the measures taken to ensure that children born of foreign parents or undocumented parents are registered, the Royal Government of Cambodia has been drafting the law on civil registration, identification and civil registration statistics to international standards, recognizing the universal principle of birth registration, which will be completed by the end of 2020.

9.The status of drafting the law on surrogacy is in process.

Reply to paragraph 4 of the list of issues

10.The Inter-Ministerial Commission leading the implementation of the action plan for the prevention and response to violence against children (2017–2021) has established three technical working groups including:

(a)The Technical Working Group on raising awareness and prevention of violence against children aims to promote the implementation of strategic activities #2, the primary prevention and Cambodia PROTECT;

(b)The Technical Working Group on service provision and legal implementation to promote the implementation of strategic activities #3, multi-sectoral response to child protection and strategic activities #4, legal establishment and amendment and policy implementation;

(c)The Technical Working Group on legal standards, monitoring and reporting to promote the implementation of strategies, coordination, cooperation and strategic activities #5, monitoring and evaluation.

Reply to paragraph 5 of the list of issues

11.Seeing the impact and challenges that arise with the online sexual exploitation and abuse of children, the Kingdom of Cambodia entered the global partnership for the elimination of violence against children (Path Finding Country) on September 12, 2019. Besides, the Kingdom of Cambodia has also signed the WePROTEC Declaration in Abu Dhabi in 2015 in relation to the prevention campaign of online child abuse and exploitation, with the Ministry of Interior as the mediator. This positive development is in line with the plan of action for the prevention and response of violence against children 2017–2021, which has also encouraged the prevention of violence and online child sexual exploitation(OCSE).

12.Some of the key institutions and ministries that are working to respond to the OCSE include:

(a)The Ministry of Interior has two specialized departments under the Commissariat General of Cambodian National Police, including the Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection and the Department of Anti-Technological Crime which play a role in preventing and protecting children from online sexual abuse. The departments have also been processing mechanisms and establishing policies and standards for the respond and resolution of the issues;

(b)The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has been supporting the prevention and protection of children from online child sexual abuse and exploitation by establishing policies or other relevant legal standards and all forms of cooperation in order to prevent all acts of online child sexual abuse and exploitation and cyberbullying;

(c)The Commissariat General of Cambodian National Police has a Hotline (117) for receiving information and dealing with any crime incidents. Plus, there is a separate telephone number (1288) for receiving information and handling incidents related to human trafficking and juvenile protection. At the same time, the Commissariat General of Cambodian National Police has been cooperating with several national and international organizations working on the OCSE to prevent, protect and respond to online child abuse.

13.In 2019, the Cambodian National Council for Children, in collaboration with Teere des Hommes and APLE NGOs, conducted the analysis of the first status of online child sexual exploitation (OCSE) to assess the current threat of child sexual exploitation (OCSE) in Cambodia, the areas and method of driving children into vulnerable situations as well as the capabilities and gaps in national policy, legal standards, criminal justice, social services and the private sector.

14.Currently, there are two cases of online child sexual abuse and exploitation, the case of child pornography distribution with conditioning order and threat, and the case of child pornography dissemination on the Internet. In both cases, the suspect is Cambodian working as a telephone repairer, and the court has not yet taken action.

15.Cambodia has been drafting the law on suppression of technological crime.

Reply to paragraph 6 of the list of issues

16.The Royal Government issued a Sub-Decree No.119, dated September 15, 2015 on the management of childcare centers, which aims to promote the strengthening quality and effectiveness of the management of childcare centers and the protection of the best interests of children. The sub-decree states that allowing a child to stay in a foster care facility is a final and temporary option and may only be available after the impossibilities of finding parents or father or mother, a relative or a guardian or a foster parent. Therefore, family childcare is the best choice because children living in the family are better at development than children living in a child care centers.

17.The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) has launched a plan of action on child care and reintegration of children by 30% from child care centers to their families safely by 2018, with a scope to apply in five city-provinces including Phnom Penh Capital, Battambang, Siem Reap, Kandal and Preah Sihanouk province. As a result, from 2015 to October 2019, a total of 1,393 children (51% girls) were reunited and reintegrated into family and community. Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) has also partnered with UNICEF and civil society through the USAID-funded Partnership to Protect Children (3PC) program and Save the Children organization through the priority family child care and effectively respond to the Child Welfare System (FCF/REACT) to lead a multi-level reform package, including reintegration of children form foster care to family and various initiatives to prevent the unnecessary separation of children from families.

18.The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation undertook a program to monitor the implementation of the minimum standards for child care in the center once a year in order to promote the provision of residential services to children.

Reply to paragraph 7 of the list of issues

19.The environment of prison-based parenting is as follows:

•The mother and child are placed in separate rooms, along with those with small children;

•Opportunities for NGO partners to take their toddler out of the room for extra day care by providing pre-school education and nutrition by following an older diet;

•When the baby is sick, the prison officer accompanies both the mother and the baby to the hospital with a watchman;

•For pregnant women, the following-mother child, and the minor are placed in a separate room and under regular health checkups;

•There are nutrition provided for pregnant and nursing women who are undernourished;

•There is a baby nursery for the following-mother child (at II Correctional Center) with literacy and painting teachers;

•There are free lawyers for women and children.

Reply to paragraph 8 of list of issues

20.The goal of the second Strategic Plan of the National Strategic Plan for Disability 2019–2023 sets out to public and private institutions, including organizations to:

(a)Increase the quality and sustainability of health services in local health facilities without discrimination and improve the benefits and conditions of the social assistance and social security systems based on the national budget to ensure that people with disabilities receive quality and free health care service;

(b)Raise awareness of primary disability to health service providers in local health facilities to minimize and prevent disability among children and the elderly;

(c)Enhance disability protection for all people through health care during pregnancy, timely follow-up and diagnosis leading to disability, vaccination against disability, physical nutrition provision and education about the causes of disability, and medical treatment and physical education.

21.Children with disabilities can receive the same education as children in general. At the same time, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has also introduced special education programs for children with disabilities, including environmental education for preschool implemented in Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Thom, Prey Veng, Ratanakiri, Kratie, Preah Sihanouk, Oddar Meanchey and Phnom Penh. The program involved 542 public preschools with 453 children with disabilities of whom there were 208 girls). 1334 state kindergarten teachers has been trained on environmental education of whom there were 1236 female teachers, focusing on general health checkups, functional impairment, developmental delays, and ways to help learning and teaching children with disabilities to achieve the same goals. Community kindergarten has implemented a total of 302 environmental education programs with 121 children with disabilities of whom there were 85 girls and has trained 365 community-based preschool teachers (348 women).

Reply to paragraph 9 of the list of issues

22.The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) have technical cooperation to integrate sexual and reproductive health education into education programs, which start from primary to secondary education for one hour per week from grade 1 to grade 12.

23.The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, and the National Authority for Combating Drugs have made education about drug prevention, the impact of early marriage and other public health issues such as primary health, mental health, environment in the education program. In addition, Article 101 of the Law on Drug Control of the Kingdom of Cambodia also guarantees the rights of the child.

24.The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has introduced lessons on gender-based violence, sexual health and reproductive health in secondary school curriculum.

25.Ministry of Women’s Affairs in collaboration with UNICEF has provided support to the Ratanakiri Provincial Women and Child Affairs Advisory Committee in the formulation and implementation of the provincial action plan on the prevention and protection of child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, and the action plan is in progress of piloting in Ratanakiri province.

26.The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, with the support of the UNFPA, has implemented a preventive intervention program with boy, girl adolescents and nurturers on the “development of a healthy and fun relationship”, successfully piloted in Kampong Cham and has been implemented in other target areas using the national budget.

Reply to paragraph 10 of the list of issues

27.Free enrolment at primary school for all children in Cambodia.

28.Construction of toilets, water supply networks and hand washing facilities in schools across the country, from the 2016 to 2018 budget, provided for 673 schools for the project.

29.In order to meet the dropout rates, especially among female students, the Ministry has issued guidelines on the implementation of minimum water and sanitation requirements in schools, including the provision of sanitary napkins for schoolgirls needed during their menstruation, educational dissemination of the girls’ growth and change during adolescence. This measure will ensure that schoolgirls are fully trained and not missing during their menstruation.

30.To improve access to education, including early childhood education for children of vulnerable groups such as children in poverty or indigenous children, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport provided scholarships to 110,156 students (54% female), with a total of 5,000 students in grades 1 to 3 (54.2%) in 4 951 schools, 184 municipalities, districts, and all cities and provinces. In addition, the Ministry has provided food program in 1167 schools Provincial Food and Agriculture Program provides 8,414 food scholarships (56% female) 443 schools. The Ministry provided food in 1,167 schools with 325,957 students (49% female); including breakfast program by using community agribusiness in 267 schools with 56,785 students (49% female) in Battambang, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Kampong Thom, Stung Treng, Siem Reap, Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear in cooperation with the World Food Program.

31.The Ministry has implemented the pilot counseling program on early childhood care and development in 300 primary schools, with 8,192 children (girls 53.33%), aimed at improving the parenting mechanism. 300 principals, (female 11.33%) and 300 trainers (female 90%) were provided training on the implementation of parent education programs. This program has strengthened the capacity of school principals and trainers in program structuring and implementation planning.

32.The Ministry has collaborated with development partners to implement community-based preschool programs in 21 floodplain areas of 742 children (379 girls) in Kampong Chhnang and Pursat provinces, and trained 31 female kindergarten teachers. The program builds preschool buildings in four floodplains.

33.The Ministry has implemented a multilingual education and mobile kindergarten program for indigenous children in 18 districts in five target provinces: Ratanakiri, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri, Preah Vihear and Kratie. The program was implemented in three public preschools, with 115 students (57 girls) and 104 community-based preschools, with 2,022 students (1,027 girls). Languages used include Tumpuon, Kreung, Pnong, Kouy, Craol, Kavat, Prov, Jarai and Kachak.

34.The mobile kindergarten program covered children from the age of 3 to 5, served 132 children (62 girls), who lived in ethnic minority areas with relocated families, and were away from state-run kindergarten or community-based preschools. The program was implemented through a variety of vehicles and seasonal mobility in Taveng Krom commune, Taveng Leu commune of Taveng district, Koh Peak commune of Von Sai district and Talao commune of Andong Meas district, Ratanakiri province and Sre Sambor commune of Siem Pang district, Stung Treng province. Early childhood education in ethnic minority areas with a form of mobile kindergarten, in collaboration with development partners, provided an opportunity for the sub-sector early childhood education.

35.The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training has continued its focus on technical and vocational training, and in 2019, the ministry has trained trainees and students in public, private and NGO vocational training institutes (VTI), including 5,884 Master/Associate degree trainees (equivalent to 9.43%), 4,295 vocational degree trainees (equivalent to 6.88%) in Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 and 46,138 trainees of vocational certificate level (equivalent to 74.01%). By type, the public institution has trained 52,807 trainees (equivalent to 84.69%), 2,852 trainees of private institutions (equivalent to 4.57%) and 6,689 trainees of organizations (equivalent to 10.72%). In particular, the VTI promoted the training of offenders in 17 city-provincial prisons with a total of 1,570 trainees (325 females). In addition, the ministry has provided short trainings to 46,618 trainees (23,665 female), including 12,407 trainees of institutional foundation fund, 7,320 trainees of poverty reduction training fund, 23,947 trainees of certified vocational training programs and 2,944 trainees of vocational bridge training programs.

Reply to paragraph 11 of the list of issues

36.The MoSVY:

•Issued a Prakas on the organization and functioning of Phnom Penh Social dropping center;

•Issued a Decision on the nomination of members of the national committee for handling the homeless;

•Launched a book on safe migration;

•Preparing a Sub-Decree on the organization and functioning of aftercare center and mentally retarded person rehabilitation center;

•Preparing a Sub-Decree on the code of professional conduct of social affairs;

•Preparing a book on guidelines for assisting the homeless;

•Preparing a five-year action plan for National Committee for handling the homeless;

•Preparing a five-year action plan for aftercare center and mentally retarded person rehabilitation center;

•Preparing a five-year action plan for safe migration programs.

37.The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training has taken measures to impose fines and criminal case building for all forms of child labor, except for those who are performing economic activities that are not within the scope of the Labor Law. As a result, in 2019 there was no child labor in the industrial enterprises of the economy.

38.The Ministry of Commerce has implemented Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) to monitor the working conditions of workers in factories and child labor as well. The ministry has also set up a checklist and labor inspection, which play a vital role in enhancing the efficiency of child labor inspections.

39.The Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts urged the manufacturing enterprises, before recruiting the workers, to check age according to the Royal Government’s labor law and policy.

40.The types and scope of child trafficking, measures to harmonize the Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation with Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol include:

•Cambodia ratified on January 18, 2006 on the international protocol on the prevention, suppression and prosecution of the trafficking in persons, in particular women and children, in addition to the international convention against transnational crimes. Then, in 2008, Cambodia issued a comprehensive law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation for the implementation of the crackdown on all forms of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Then, in 2013, the Ministry of Justice issued an explanatory note that related to each article of the Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in order to provide clear legal justice for law enforcement officials to identify the elements of the offenses covered by the law, which are in line with Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol describing the actions, means, and purposes of the perpetrator and the co-perpetrator in committing crime.

41.The estimates of the National Action Plans (2014 to 2018) and measures planned based on the results of those plans:

•Updates and revisions to the national plan of action for combating trafficking in persons in the past. Previous lessons and experiences have been incorporated into national strategic planning concepts, including the annual United States Evaluation and the ASEAN Action Plan;

•More attention has been paid and promote the practice of filling the gaps. The National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking has received suggestions and recommendations for consideration to incorporate into activities of the National Strategic Plan and the Annual Action Plan to promote the implementation of filling gaps in cooperation, inactivity of the legal system and professional capacity building and enforcement mechanism with high effectiveness;

•Law enforcement officials were trained understand the law and Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol.

42.A campaign has been launched to promote the prevention of the use of child labor in brick-making, with 166 inspectors working on 486 handicrafts, and working with 7,558 workers (505 women) in 21 city-provinces and also conducting outreach to communities and 1,259 child families.

43.Inspection teams have inspected 15 times on the factories which employed young workers in 2018.

44.The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training has put in place an action plan on reducing child labor and eliminating the most severe forms of child labor 2016–2025.

Reply to paragraph 12 (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) of the list of issues

(a)Guarantee the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Law, including budget allocated to it

•Issued a Prakas No. 155, dated September 29, 2017 on the Organization and Functioning of Youth Rehabilitation Centers (for children in conflict with the law);

•Announced the implementation of the Strategic Plan and the Executive Plan 2018–2020 on the implementation of the Law on Juvenile Justice;

•Released Prakas No. 101, dated March 11, 2019 on the nomination and recognition of 50 social workers across 25 city-provinces after receiving training (for facilitating and providing services of social affairs to children in conflict with the law);

•Extended capacity training for social workers on social affairs and case management of children in conflict with the law;

•Trained 261 officers from 199 municipal, district/khan in 25 city-provinces on Juvenile Justice Law;

•Established an inter-ministerial working group to promote the implementation of the diversion procedure stated in Chapter 10 of the Juvenile Justice Law;

•Incorporated Juvenile Justice Law into the curriculum of the Police Academy of Cambodia.

(b)Reintegrate and support children in conflict with the law, child victims and witness children

•Currently, Cambodia is organizing a working group to process the diversion procedure for delinquency juvenile for integration;

•Children in conflict with the law receive lawyers since their detention and at each stage of court proceedings;

•The Royal Government of Cambodia provided 900 million riels per year to the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia to provide legal services to children. By 2021, it will reach 1,600 million Riels;

•Currently, a number of non-governmental organizations have been providing free legal services to delinquency juvenile, including: Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC), Bridge to Justice. In 2019 LAC provided legal services to 64 children in conflict with the law (5 girls). Two of them were acquitted and 15 received mitigating circumstances.

(c)Eradicate the preventive detention of children

•As a measure, the government has been implementing a diversion program in Juvenile Justice Law that could eliminate or reduce child custody in the justice system;

•The Ministry of Justice has set a guideline on diversion and child-friendly justice, which, in principle, decreased child custody from 1,641 in December 2018 to 1,540 in March 2019.

(d)Eradicate detention of children together with adults

•There is currently no child custody with the elderly, only in separate rooms or buildings;

•Cambodia has been preparing for the establishment of a juvenile rehabilitation center for separate children in conflict with the law under the control of the MoSVY.

(e)Establish a complaint procedures available to children in detention, in prisons or police custody, in relation to abuse, violence, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

45.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, the grievance procedure for juvenile detainees is set out in the Prison Law (Article 28), which includes:

•Detained children may file a complaint through a prison official or visitors or a lawyer or a prosecutor’s representative;

•The complaint can be filed at the prison’s director or at the director general of the Department General of Prisons or the prosecutor or prosecutor general of the Court of Appeal;

•Each room has an accountability box where children can file complaints. All lawsuits are not discriminated against and punished.

Reply to paragraph 13 of the list of issues

46.Following the recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the optional protocol on child trafficking, child prostitution and child pornography, the Royal Government of Cambodia approved the Cambodian National Council for Children to review and redistribute those recommendation to the relevant ministries, institutions for the implementation.

Reply to paragraph 14 of the list of issues

47.Following the recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Royal Government of Cambodia approved the Cambodian National Council for Children to review and redistribute to the relevant ministries, institutions for the implementation.

48.Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC):

•Trained 674 skilled personnel who have been working to educate people about the dangers of landmines and unexploded ordnances;

•Trained local authorities to be able to educate community members on the dangers of landmines and unexploded ordnances, with 2,163 volunteer local authorities have currently been working for this work;

•National police officers educated citizens on the dangers of landmine / explosive remnants of war through the Safe Village Policy, with 377 volunteer police officers currently trained in this specialty;

•Provided training on landmines to 19 monks who have been attending to educate people through religious ceremonies.

Part II

Reply to paragraph 15 (a), (b), (c), and (d) of the list of issues

(a)The Royal Government has been preparing

•Draft Law on Suppression of Technological Crime;

•Initiate Law on Child Protection.

(b)New institutions (and their mandates) or institutional reforms

49.None.

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans and their scope and financing

50.National Strategic Plan for Persons with Disabilities 2019–2023, which identifies the provision of quality and sustainable health services for children with disabilities in local health facilities without discrimination to ensure that children with disabilities have free access to health care service.

51.The national action plan on reduction of child labor and elimination of the most severe forms of child labor 2016–2025 defines reduction of child labor and elimination of the most severe forms of child labor.

52.The National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking has issued the 5 year National Strategic Plan 2019–2023 on combatting human trafficking which promotes the implementation of four strategies defined in the following plans in which children are the core of the strategies. The four strategies are:

(a)Strategy 1: Strengthening cooperation in the establishment and implementation of laws, policies and legal standards;

(b)Strategy 2: Raising the protection and prevention of all forms of human trafficking and child sexual abuse;

(c)Strategy 3: Strengthening of criminal justice system to respond to human trafficking and sexual exploitation;

(d)Strategy 4: Enhancing the protection of victims, especially women and children.

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments

53.None.

Part III

Reply to paragraph 16 of the list of issues

Current budget for the expense of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 2017–2019

Unit: Million Riels

No	Description	2017	2018	2019	2020
Money	Total %	Money	Total %	Money	Total %	Money	Total %
	Total Current Charges	89 753 600		99 332 219		109 894 949		119 034 229
	Total:	93 934.7	0.10%	120 225.6	0.12%	138 080.1	0.13%	153 024.4	0.13%
1	Ministry of Health	51 083.9		71 852.7		113 145.5		96 881.3
	1.3. Sub-Program 3: Maternal and Newborn Health	5 694.7		5 664.7		5 589.7		6 174.8
	1.4. Sub-Program : Child Health	45 389.2		66 188.0		87 555.8		90 706.5
	Cash subsidy program for pregnant women and children under 2 years of age					20 000.0
2	Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport	40 635.5		46 272.7		22 953.1		23 635.4
	1.1. Sub-Program 1: Expansion of early childhood education	4 034.2		9 998.9		10 423.3		12 236.1
	1.2. Sub-Program 2: Strengthening the quality and effectiveness of primary education	4 619.7		4 507.9		3 796.5		3 568.4
	1.3. Sub-Program 3: Equitable learning access, enhancing the quality and effectiveness of secondary education	31 981.6		31 765.9		8 733.3		7 830.9
3	Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training	760.6		730.6		701.6		1 301.6
	1.3. Sub-program 3 prevents the use of the most severe forms of child labor and forced labor							1 301.6
	1.6. Sub-Program 6: Preventing the use of child labor	760.6		730.6		701.6
4	Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation	1 454.7		1 369.6		1 279.9		31 206.1
	1.1.3. Activity Cluster 3: Cash subsidy for pregnant women and children under 2 years of age							30 000.0
	1.3. Sub-Program 3: Provision of Child welfare and protection services	1 454.7		1 369.6		1 279.9		1 206.1

Reply to paragraph 17 (a), (b), and (c) of the list of issues

(a)The number of married children

54.Currently, the Royal Government of Cambodia in collaboration with development partners has been conducting a research study on young marriage.

(b)Cases of child abuse and neglect in families, foster families and other types of care in public and private institutions, such as residential care, group homes or pagodas, and the number of investigations and prosecutions carried out and sentences issued

55.The Royal Government has been paying close attention to control shelters as well as shared homes with children. In the case of shelters that do not comply with the standards set, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation will remove the child and close the shelters and put an end to this activity in which 3,500 children were reunited with their families In 5 target provinces (Phnom Penh, Kandal, Battambang, Preah Sihanouk and Siem Reap).

(c)Cases of torture and ill-treatment in juvenile detention centres and prisons

56.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, cases of torture and mistreatment at juvenile detention centers and prisons have been banned, which has so far not been the case.

Reply to paragraph 18 (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the list of issues

(a)Separated from their parents

57.Cambodia has yet to do a detailed research into the data on children being separated from their parents.

(b)Living with relatives

58.In 2019, 242 children (110 girls) were integrated out of aftercare centers in the five target city-provinces, including Phnom Penh, Kandal, Battambang, Siem Reap and Preah Sihanouk.

(c)Placed in institutions

Age 0 – 3 years	4 – 5 years	6 – 14 years	15 – 17 years
Total	girls	Total	girls	Total	girls	Total	girls
170	70	227	94	3 969	1 864	2 217	1 205

2019 statistics .

(d)Placed with foster families (short and long term)

59.In 2019, 57 children (28 girls) have been integrated out of aftercare centers and placed in foster families in the five target city-provinces, including Phnom Penh, Kandal, Battambang, Siem Reap and Preah Sihanouk.

Reply to paragraph 19 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) of the list of issues

(a)Living with their families

60.Cambodia has yet to do a detailed research into the data on children with disabilities who are living with parents.

(b)Living in institutions

Type of disabilities	Total	Girls	Others
Intellectual	248	118
Deaf-mute	46	24
Total	294	142

2019 statistics .

(c)Attending regular primary schools

(d)Attending regular secondary schools

(e)Attending special schools

Quantitative section

61.Preschool multilanguage education implemented in five provinces, including Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stung Treng, Kratie and Preah Vihear in 18 districts, 107 kindergartens with 107 teachers (91 women) (104 community kindergarten and 3 public kindergarten) including the use the language of Tumpoun, Kroeung, Kachak, Pnong, Kouy, Kraol and Prov.

62.Multilingual education for primary education has been implemented in four provinces, Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stung Treng and Kratie in 15 districts, 80 schools and 205 teachers (83 women) including the use of language of Tumpoun, Kroeung, Kavet, Prov and Pnong.

Kindergarten level
Years	Provinces	districts	schools	Teachers	Students
Total	girls	Total	girls
2016 – 2017	5	18	83	83	72	1 568	835
2017 – 2018	5	18	97	94	78	1 798	899
2018 – 2019	5	18	107	107	91	2 127	1 084

Primary Level
Years	Provinces	districts	schools	Teachers	Students
Total	girls	Total	girls
2016 – 2017	4	15	80	187	68	4 470	2 155
2017 – 2018	4	15	80	197	73	4 866	2 347
2018 – 2019	4	15	80	205	83	4 954	2 421

63.The five native language alphabet system (Tumpoun, Kroeung, Kavet, Prov and Pnong) was developed using Khmer alphabet as the basis and approved by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in 2003.

64.Developed a multilingual base textbook and curriculum for indigenous people.

65.Implemented a multilingual education program from grade 1 to grade 3 using a language model in grade 1 (80% native language, 20% Khmer), grade 2 (60% native language, 40% Khmer), Grade 3 (70% native language, 30% Khmer) and 100% Khmer language from grade 4.

66.Guideline No. 2972, dated on August 26, 2010 on the implementation of a bilingual education program for indigenous children in the highlands.

67.Prakas No. 48, dated January 10, 2013, on language identification for indigenous learners of native Khmer and Khmer ethnicity.

68.A multilingual education action plan 2019–2023.

(f)Out of school

69.No data available.

(g)Abandoned by their families

70.No data available.

Reply to paragraph 20 (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the list of issues

71.Children in conflict with the law for four years from 2016 to 2019.

(a)Arrested

Children in conflict with the law captured
Year	Crime	Misdemeanor	Total	Other
2017	58	289	347
2018	16	119	135
2019	24	193	217
Total	98	601	699

(b)Referred to diversion programmes

72.The Kingdom of Cambodia has been studying diversion programs.

(c)In pre-trial detention

The figure of juvenile detainees by ages as of December 3, 2019
No.	Name of Prisons	Grand Total	Female	14 years old	15 years old	16 years old	17 years old	child living with mother
total	female	total	female	total	female	total	female	total	female
1	ECCC Detention Facility	0	0
2	Correction center 1	0	0
3	Correction center 2	745	37	22	1	83	7	190	16	450	13	53	29
4	Correction center 3	0	0
5	Correction center 4	0	0
6	Phnom Penh	4	0					1	0	3	0
7	Kandal	118	8	1	0	19	3	21	1	77	4	3	1
8	Takeo	35	0	2	0	8	0	10	0	15	0	1	1
9	Kampot	49	1	4	1	10	0	16	0	19	0
10	Kampong Speu	34	1			6	0	9	0	19	1	3	0
11	Preah Sihanouk	82	2	4	0	16	1	18	1	44	0	11	3
12	Prey Veng	33	2	1	0	4	0	8	1	20	1	4	1
13	Svay Rieng	27	0					13	0	14	0	1	1
14	Kampong Cham	25	1			2	0	7	1	16	0
15	Kampong Thom	27	0			7	0	8	0	12	0	1	1
16	Kampong Chhnang	23	1			4	0	5	0	14	1	1	1
17	Pursat	18	3	2	1	1	0	7	2	8	0	1	0
18	Battambang	60	2	4	0	7	0	14	2	35	0	2	0
19	Banteay Meanchey	101	5	4	1	14	2	38	0	45	2	6	4
20	Siem Reap	363	18	11	0	30	3	82	12	240	3	13	5
21	Koh Kong	21	1			3	0	4	0	14	1	3	1
22	Preah Vihea	7	1					3	1	4	0
23	Rattanakiri	26	2	2	0	1	0	12	0	11	2
24	Mondulkiri	4	0					3	0	1	0
25	Kratie	11	0					7	0	4	0	1	1
26	Stoeng Treng	8	1			1	0	1	0	6	1	1	1
27	Pailin	13	0	1	0	1	0	4	0	7	0	2	1
28	Uddar Meanchey	7	0	1	0	2	0			4	0	7	7
29	Tbong Khmum	27	3	4	3	4	0	8	0	11	0	4	2
Grand Total	1 868	89	63	7	223	16	489	37	1 093	29	118	60

(d)Serving a sentence in detention and the length of the sentence

The figure of juvenile detainees sentenced by the scope of offense as of December 3, 2019
No.	Name of Prisons	Total	Female	Under 5 years	5 – under 10 years	10 – under 20 years	20 – 30 years	Lifetime
all	female	all	female	all	female	all	female	all	female
1	ECCC Detention Facility	0	0
2	Correction center 1	0	0
3	Correction center 2	365	18	318	15	38	2	9	1
4	Correction center 3	0	0
5	Correction center 4	0	0
6	Phnom Penh	0	0
7	Kandal	39	1	38	1	1	0
8	Takeo	10	0	10	0
9	Kampot	12	0	12	0
10	Kampong Speu	5	0	5	0
11	Preah Sihanouk	17	1	17	1
12	Prey Veng	8	1	7	1	1	0
13	Svay Rieng	14	0	11	0	2	0	1	0
14	Kampong Cham	11	1	11	1
15	Kampong Thom	7	0	7	0
16	Kampong Chhnang	6	0	6	0
17	Pursat	1	0	1	0
18	Battambang	34	2	33	2	1	0
19	Banteay Meanchey	16	0	16	0
20	Siem Reap	190	6	183	6	7	0
21	Koh Kong	9	0	8	0	1	0
22	Preah Vihea	0	0
23	Rattanakiri	6	1	6	1
24	Mondulkiri	1	0	1	0
25	Kratie	5	0	3	0	1	0	1	0
26	Stoeng Treng	1	0			1	0
27	Pailin	9	0	8	0	1	0
28	Uddar Meanchey	4	0	2	0	1	0			1	0
29	Tbong Khmum	11	0	10	0					1	0
Grand Total	781	31	713	28	55	2	11	1	2	0	0	0

73.Child victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation include.

Year	Child Trafficking	Child Exploitation
Children age 15 – 17	Children under 15 years of age	Children age 15 – 17	Children under 15 years of age
2016	23	07	21	40
2017	19	32	21	106
2018	10	09	13	83
Total	52	48	55	229

Reply to paragraph 21 of the list of issues

74.In the sustainable development goals, the Kingdom of Cambodia includes issues relating to children such as:

•The proportion of children living below the national poverty line;

•The proportion of children living in poverty in all composition according to national definition;

•The proportion of infants between the ages of 6–23 months receiving the minimum diet;

•By 2030, complete all forms of malnutrition, including the achievement by 2025, at the internationally agreed target on stunting and thinning of children under the age of five and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant women and nursing women and elderly women.

Reply to paragraph 22 of the list of issues

75.Data updates will be sent in the next report.

Reply to paragraph 23 of the list of issues

76.The Kingdom of Cambodia considers the issue affecting other children is the migration of children going with parents to work abroad.