CCHR Press Release—Phnom Penh, 07 March 2012

To coincide with International Women’s Day, CCHR announces the launch of a Project to promote women’s representation in politics

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”), a non-aligned, independent and non-governmental organization that work to promote and protect democracy and respect for human rights in Cambodia, is delighted to announce the launch of a  new project today entitled The Project to Promote Women’s Political Representation in Cambodia(“the Project”).

The project is a part of regional program called “Building Sustainable Partnerships to Promote Women's Political Representation in Southeast Asia” being managed by Kemitraan (Partnership for Governance Reforms), an Indonesian non-governmental organization, in partnership with the National Democracy Institute based in Indonesia with funding from the United  States Agency for International Development. The Program will focus on strengthening democracy and the political rights of women by promoting an increase in women’s representation through regional partnership initiatives. ​ The Program will be implemented in five countries across Southeast Asia, CCHR will be the Cambodian partner joining the Indonesian Women’s Coalition (“KPI”) in Indonesia, Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (“EMPOWER”) in Malaysia, the Women’s Caucus in Timor-Leste and the Center for Popular Empowerment (“CEP”) in the Philippines.

As the Cambodian partner, CCHR will advocate towards the achievement 30% representation of women at all levels of government, in keeping with Millennium Development Goal 3 To Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women. To this end, CCHR will employ a multi-disciplinary which will include monitoring and mapping the election of women in the commune and national elections of 2012 and 2013 respectively, coordinating training to female candidates in the run-up to both elections, roundtable discussions focusing on issues of women in politics, and domestic and international advocacy. The Project is a two-year project focusing on the commune and national elections and will run from March 2012 to February 2014.

Commenting on the launch of the Project, Project Coordinator Chor Chanthyda commented:

“Over the next couple of years, through the commune and national elections, CCHR will seek to create an understanding amongst the general population of the importance of female representation in politics and increase demand throughout the country for female representatives, as well as to empower female candidates in the run up to the elections. Cambodia has made some progress in women’s representation in politics over the last couple of decades and we hope that we can contribute to the ongoing efforts to achieve levels of female representation along the lines of Millennium Development Goal number three and to the continuing development and democratization of Cambodia”

For more information, please contact Ms. Chor Chanthyda, Project Coordinator, via telephone at (+855) 12 515 506 or email at thyda@cchrcambodia.org

The press release is available to view or download in Khmer and English on the Cambodian Human Rights Portal www.sithi.org and on the CCHR website, www.cchrcambodia.org 

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The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) is a non-aligned, independent, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect democracy and respect for human rights throughout Cambodia. For more information, please visit www.cchrcambodia.org.