Launching of “National Action Plan on Violence Against Women 2019-2023”

(Check Against Delivery)

Samdech Krolahom, Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior

Her Excellency Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi Minister of Women’s Affairs

Mr. Pablo Kang, Australian Ambassador to Cambodia

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Gender equality champions,

On behalf of the United Nations in Cambodia, I am honored to join this important launch of Cambodia’s third national action plan on violence against women.

Let me begin by echoing what is stated clearly in the action plan – “women have an important role in Cambodian society and are the backbone of the national economy and social development.”

Indeed, women’s equitable and active participation is vital to stability, helps prevent conflict, and promotes sustainable, inclusive development.

However, everywhere in the world, women are worse off than men, simply because they are women.

Migrant and refugee women, those with disabilities, and women members of minorities of all kinds face even greater barriers.

This discrimination harms us all. Especially when it turns into violence. It harms the economy, the society and the individual. The estimated global cost of violence against women and girls is 1,5 trillion USD.[1]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Gender-based violence is a human rights concern.

Globally 1 in 3 women experience one form of intimate partner violence - physical, sexual or emotional - in their lifetime, and it is the same here in Cambodia. 

Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in all forms of violence against women and girls and threatens to roll back achievements of the sustainable development goals.

Economic and social stresses, and measures to restrict social contact and movement, along with crowded homes, substance abuse, limited access to services, and reduced peer support are exacerbating these conditions.

Homes are not a safe place for many women and girls who experience violence and abuse in the household, at the hands of the person they should be able to trust.

Violence cuts deep into children’s physical and mental health, constraining their ability to reach their full potential.

While the pandemic has set us many challenges, it also comes with opportunities – opportunities to build back better.

The UN Secretary-General urged all governments to make prevention and redress of violence against women and girls a key part of national response plans for COVID-19 and called for a “cease-fire at home”.[2]

I am pleased to say that in Cambodia, the United Nations has worked hand in hand with the Government at national and sub-national levels, as well as with NGOs, in order to timely respond to the pandemic from its onset, putting women and girls at the forefront by:

• Improving access to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) services via communication interventions through social media
• Providing safe spaces and psychosocial support for GBV survivors amongst returning migrants and host communities via communication interventions through social media
• Distributing culturally relevant dignity kits to women and girls at risk of GBV
• Adapting the regional guidance on ensuring the Continuity of Essential Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal Health (SRMH) services including family planning and GBV for health providers
• Supporting Ministry of Women’s Affairs with both technical and IT equipment to provide more online supervision regularly to ensure the functioning of a multi-sectoral response to VAW survivors.

It is clear that only by promoting gender equality and empowering all women and girls can we build back better to a more sustainable and inclusive society where everyone can enjoy their human rights.

But we need all hands on deck to do this.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We only have nine years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. 

While there is progress in preventing and responding to violence against women, challenges remain.

The launching of the third National Action Plan on Violence Against Women could not be more timely, given the increased focus on gender-based violence due to the pandemic.

I appreciate the strong leadership of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in developing the action plan with the support of UN Cambodia through UN Women and UNFPA. It demonstrates Cambodia’s commitment to a strong multi-sectoral effort to prevent and respond to violence against women.

The United Nations in Cambodia stands ready to support the Royal Government of Cambodia in its implementation. Gender Equality and Gender-Based Violence are priorities in the UNDAF 2019-2023 through integration in all outcomes, especially in expanding socio-economic opportunities and strengthening participation and accountability.

Now, let me focus on four key areas to step up our collective action: Prevent. Respond. Collect. Fund.

First, prevent.

The best response is prevention.

Efforts should be concentrated on system strengthening and coordination across sectors.

For instance, ending violence against women cannot be achieved without also addressing violence against children in an integrated and coordinated manner.

One of the key entry points is to further strengthen coordination between the action plan to prevent and respond to violence against children, led by the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, and the national action plan on violence against women, led by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, in terms of implementation and monitoring.

Further, as part of an integrated approach to address all forms of violence against women and girls, recognizing the role of world of work institutions to ensure survivors are safe at work- through occupational safety and health policies and risk assessments – and supported and able to return to work when they have recovered.

Second, respond.

Law enforcement, judicial, legal, and social welfare services should all be readily available for survivors to ensure their safety and healing.

Equally important is ensuring that the guiding principles for essential services are implemented – promoting a well-coordinated and integrated survivor centered approach, ensuring safety and holding perpetrators accountable – not blaming the victim.

As for COVID-19 response and recovery plans, they must be more gender responsive. We know that the pandemic has disproportionately affected women and girls.

Women are key change agents in communities. If they are not involved, efforts to build engagement and resilience will not succeed.

Third, collect data.

In times of crisis, quality data is essential to inform evidence-based emergency responses that meet the needs of all population groups.

Data is also crucial to an evidence-based approach to violence against women and girls.

For instance, ensuring continuous national prevalence studies of both violence against women and violence against children is essential for monitoring and to continue building an understanding of the nature of these types of violence in Cambodia.

Lastly, fund.

Preventing and responding to gender-based violence cannot be done without prioritizing funding for it.

National commitment to implement, coordinate and allocate national budget for gender-based violence at national and sub-national level is vital.

Making urgent and flexible funding available for women’s rights organizations working at the nexus of COVID-19 and ending violence against women and girls is also important.

Ladies and Gentlemen, before closing, I would like to emphasize that

There is no better way to make these four actions a reality than by ensuring that the Post COVID-19 economic recovery plan of the Royal Government of Cambodia is gender responsive. How do we do this?

At the meeting with the Ministry Economy and Finance on Friday, to discuss the Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan, I spoke about how women and girls are impacted differently by COVID-19.

That sectors dominated by women and girls, such as garment and tourism, have been hardest hit.

That many more women and girls are in informal work and the first to lose their jobs. And when women lose their jobs, they have fewer alternatives than men to generate income.

That more girls have dropped out of school because of COVID-19. Girls take on more domestic responsibilities, cutting their time dedicated to learning.

That women-headed households living in poverty and near-poverty line in Cambodia are more likely to remain in poverty.

To respond better and faster, we will need gender-disaggregated data.

We will need to ensure continued attention is given to:

• access services of women to maternal and sexual reproductive health services
• support distance learning and teaching
• measure unpaid and care work in the efforts to formalize the informal sector
• formulate a gender budget and prioritize the needs of women as economic actors
• prevent all forms of gender-based violence at home and in the world of work.
• strengthen women’s machinery and representation of women in the COVID-19 response, across all sectors, including the informal economy.

The COVID-19 crisis revealed the structural weaknesses of our systems and responses not only to address gender-based violence, but in most aspects of how our societies and economies function. At the same time, COVID-19 also presents once-in-a-generation opportunities to re-build better, focusing on women and girls’ human rights.

The UN together with governments, the private sector, civil society, religious and traditional leaders and other partners can play a key role to raise awareness on the issue and strengthen our common efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence as part of building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Together we can ensure that women and girls in Cambodia have equal access to quality and comprehensive GBV prevention, information and services through the implementation of the third National Action Plan on Violence Against Women.

Let’s work together to achieve that vision. I thank you.

[1] COVID-19 and Ending Violence against Women and Girls, UN Women, 2020.

[2] See: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061052