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A case study of indigenous traditional legal systems and conflict resolution in Rattanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces, Cambodia Produced by: United Nations Development Programme (2007) Following a case study in Cambodia during March to April 2006, this paper presents a summary of the findings of the participatory action research case study into indigenous traditional legal systems in Rattanakiri and Mondulkiri Provinces. It discusses some of the main policy issues that need to be dealt with as part of a reform process to enhance access to justice for indigenous peoples. It also summarises the main recommendations resulting from the work. The research found that indigenous communities overwhelmingly trust, use and support their customary laws and conflict resolution processes within their communities. In addition to this, indigenous groups are marginalised in the formal legal system, but traditional law allows minority cultures to maintain their integrity and deal with change. The formal and traditional legal systems address different rights, responsibilities and conflicts. The researchers learned that this type of research cannot be rushed a! nd significant time and effort is required to understand the living conditions of the marginalised groups during the early part of the research process in order to develop appropriate policy recommendations. Although the authors argue that it is not possible to come up with a list of instant recommendations to be implemented, some suggestions include: create a facility within the Ministry of Justice authorised to liaise with other relevant institutions (e.g., Ministry of Interior [MoI] and Department of Ethnic Minorities in the Ministry of Rural Development [MRD]) support an ongoing process of consultation, research and documentation with Indigenous Peoples' communities (in a number of provinces). This should be led by indigenous organisations/networks, and feed into national level consultations the government should invest traditional authorities with the formal authority to deal with illicit land sales and conflicts,! and to mediate boundary disputes, including ancestral land claims explore the opportunity for the Traditional Authorities to have a more formalised role of Conflict Resolution under the commune councils with delegation of power from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and MoI.
http://www.un.org.kh/undp/ict4dtoolkit/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_vie...
Keywords: Cambodia, Conflict resolution, Conflicts. Terrorism, Law and legislation, Legislation, Southeast Asia,

A comparison between students’ mental health in Sweden and Cambodia / Maria Nyman, Sofie Bjärntoft. - Gävle : , 2010. - 29 p. - Gävle : University of Gävle. Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies (Bachelor's thesis) Mental illness is seen as a public health problem around the world, especially among adolescents. Cambodia is one of Asia's poorest countries, and has one of the lowest health statuses. Only one in four children are able to go to school in Cambodia for economic reasons however in Sweden all children have the right to education but mental health is still a major problem. The aim of the present study is to make a comparison between the mental health of children in English schools in Sweden and in Cambodia, using a target group of fifteen-year-olds, and also to see if there are differences in the school staff's work in promoting children's mental health. This study used both a qualitative and a quantitative method involving sixty-six fifteen-year-old students. A questionnaire adapted from Antonovsky‟s Sense of Coherence (SOC) theory was used. Five qualitative interviews with teachers working with health were also carried out.The results showed that the Swedish students were satisfied with their life situation, and also had a higher SOC than the Cambodian participants. The students in Cambodia enjoyed school more than the Swedish students, but still, anxiety and worries were more common among students in Cambodia. The teachers in Cambodia and in Sweden had different ways of defining what health is.
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-7066
Keywords: Cambodia, Health, Nordic Perspective, Publications, Southeast Asia, Sweden,

A descriptive study of self-perceived attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS in Cambodia / Sara Bodling, Sarah Larsson. - Gävle : University of Gävle. Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, 2010. - 26 p. (Bachelor's thesis) Cambodia is the most HIV-afflicted country in Southeast Asia. The level of knowledge about the virus among the people is low and because of the poor conditions few people have access to testing and treatment. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been followed by a stigmatization against people living with the disease and negative attitudes are common. The aim of this study was to identify self-perceived attitudes experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS in Lvea Em, Cambodia. In this study, a qualitative interview method was used. Ten interviews were conducted with ten Cambodian men and women, aged 25-48 years. They lived in different villages in the district of Lvea Em, outside Phnom Penh. The contact-organization Asian Outreach Cambodia (AOC) provided us with the informants. Most interviews were conducted in the informant’s own homes. One of the staff from the AOC also worked as an interpreter during the interviews. Since HIV/AIDS can be a sensitive topic, particular consideration was given to ethical considerations. To evaluate the results from the study a content analysis was used. The results showed that there are several negative attitudes connected to people living with HIV/AIDS. The main reason for negative attitudes seems to be fear of contagion. The result also showed some positive attitudes that derive from having HIV, like the discovery of love and care from family members and strengthening of the relationship to them. The results indicate that it is important to target the main underlying causes for stigmatization against people living with HIV/AIDS, but also that it is necessary to focus on the positive attitudes that do exist towards them. We wish that this study may contribute a little in the future work to eliminate the stigma and negative attitudes and also in the work to bring forward and increase the positive attitudes.
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-7080
Keywords: Cambodia, Health, Nordic Perspective, Publications, Southeast Asia, Sweden,

A study of Japanese official development assistance (ODA) for educational development in post genocide Cambodia / Chihiro Yabe. - Tromsø : Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, University of Tromsø, 2009. - 127 p. (Master's thesis) Foreign aid in war-torn societies is often significant for peace building after an early phase of urgent humanitarian military intervention. Numerous development organizations have been contributing to rebuild war-torn societies. The Kingdom of Cambodia is one of those countries which has been receiving a large number of development assistance since the end of the civil war and tragic genocide, which occurred during Pol Pot's communist period (1974-1979). During the genocide, approximately 80 per cent of Cambodian elite were killed, and national education system was destroyed for ideological control. Therefore, educational reconstruction has been one of significant sectors in Cambodian post-war reconstruction. Japan International Cooperation Agencies (JICA) is a Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) based bilateral aid agency. In post-war Cambodia, JICA has been contributing for post-war reconstruction as one of those numerous development assistance. Their contribution is broadly known as philanthropic peacebuilding practices. However, in the current situation of Cambodia, there seems to be several controversial issues which might be an indirect cause of the structural violence, such as aid-dependency, economic disparity between the urban rich and the rural and urban poor, and corruption of the Cambodian government. It is my contention that educational development assistance by JICA may have also negatively influenced peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. Therefore, this study aims to explore and understand if Japanese foreign aid and JICA's support to Cambodian educational development is truly being positive peace or can it be said to be an indirect cause of structural violence. For this purpose, this study focuses JICA's motives for educational development in Cambodia.
http://www.ub.uit.no/munin/bitstream/10037/2408/2/thesis.pdf
Keywords: Bilateral aid, Cambodia, Development, Development. Poverty, East Asia, Japan, Nordic Perspective, Norway, Publications, Southeast Asia,

Authors: Chanboreth,E. ; Hach,S. Produced by: Brookings Institution (2008) Self description: Development assistance contributes significantly to the development process of Cambodia. After the first General Election in 1993, there have been at least 35 official donors and hundreds of civil society organizations that have provided development aid to Cambodia in various sectors and development areas. This report is a case study of aid effectiveness in Cambodia. It is based on the main concepts of aid effectiveness relating to the emerging role of new aid players, country programmable aid, fragmentation and volatility of aid and aid coordination. At the same time, it examines trends in development aid to Cambodia. Cambodia is one of the developing world's most aid-dependent countries, consisting of a large number of official bilateral and multilateral donors and private aid donors. The report argues that the high level of aid fragmentation poses a tremendous challenge in coordinating aid. In addition, the delivery of funds to most sectors remains rather volatile although overall aid is disbursed as pledged. Generally, the flow of resources is not predictable, which makes the funds provided insufficient to achieve project goals. The report recommends that to enhance aid effectiveness, some key challenges desperately need to be addressed. These include: the use of program-based approaches (PBAs) the strengthening of technical working groups (TWGs) promoting the role of civil society organizations improving government systems, particularly public financial management improving the database on aid delivery and management.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2008/12_cambodia_aid_chanboreth...
Keywords: Cambodia, Development, Development. Poverty, Southeast Asia, Sustainable development,

freelance
Danish freelance journalist (Danish school of Media and Journalism 2006) writing for a range of mainly Danish media about news, trends and politics in South East Asian countries. Lived in Cambodia 2006-2008. Now based in Bangkok.
http://www.palmwritings.com
Keywords: Cambodia, Denmark, Human rights, Malaysia, Nordic Perspective, Person, Southeast Asia, Thailand,

Recognising the lack of adequate data on trafficking, IOM launched a pilot research project to identify “best practice” in data collection on trafficking, and to prepare a situation report by government agencies in four ASEAN member countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand). This extensive report presents the findings of that research. The report looks at the data presently available from government sources in the four countries studied and highlights some of the issues that need to be addressed in order to improve data on trafficking over time. The report discusses lessons learned from the country studies, including common challenges facing each of the four countries. Key recommendations include: * countries need to use the definition of trafficking in the UN Trafficking Protocol as the regional standard for collecting data on trafficking * countries need to establish a mechanism for the collection of qualitative and quantitative data to prevent trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and to prevent victims of trafficking from re-victimisation * coordination and cooperation on data collection needs to be improved at the regional level by establishing a “focal point on trafficking data collection” within each country * templates for data collection need to be developed
http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/publishe...
Keywords: Cambodia, Crime, General references, Human trafficking, Indonesia, Law and legislation, Philippines, Research, Research methods, Southeast Asia, Thailand,

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO) is a special body of ASEAN which is concerned with promoting cooperation between ASEAN parliaments and parliamentarians in order to encourage the growth of greater democracy in the region. Members include: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia. The website provides information on the history, purpose of the organisation and its recent activities.
http://www.aipo.org/
Keywords: Cambodia, Democracy, Development. Poverty, In Focus, In Focus 2007, In Focus 2007 Week 35, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Political systems, Politics and society, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam,

ARTNeT is an informal and open network of research and academic institutions with a strong interest in trade and investment policy and facilitation issues. Institutions involved in the network are classified as ARTNeT Members, Core Partners, and Associate Partners. Please consult the ARTNeT membership guidelines or the list of members and partners for more information. iven the increasing complexity of the international trade environment, policy makers in the UNESCAP region are in need of more effective institutions able to deliver the research and analytical studies to make better decisions. In April 2004, developing countries in Asia and the Pacific expressed support for the establishment of a research network on trade to equip the region with a mechanism for enhancing the capacity of research institutions. This led to the creation of the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), an open regional network composed of leading trade research institutions across the UNESCAP region, and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. The UNESCAP Trade and Investment Division is the Secretariat of the Network and coordinate its activities, while an Institutional Advisory Board (IAB) has been set up to provide leadership and guidance during its initial phase. Three Permanent Advisors for Research, Professors Jagdish Bhagwati, Alan Deardorff and John Whalley, also provide strategic guidance on the ARTNeT research programme and its implementation.
http://www.unescap.org/tid/artnet/member.asp
Keywords: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, East Asia, Economic issues, Education, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Laos, Melanesia, Nepal, Oceania, Philippines, South Asia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam,

the work of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aimed at improving the welfare of the people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the 1.9 billion who live on less than $2 a day. Despite many success stories, Asia and the Pacific remains home to two thirds of the world's poor. ADB is a multilateral development financial institution owned by 65 members , 47 from the region and 18 from other parts of the globe. ADB's vision is a region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their citizens.
http://www.adb.org/
Keywords: Burma - Myanmar, Cambodia, Development. Poverty, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam,