Strey Khmer

March 8th was a busy day for Strey Khmer! The SKO team joined in several events to help advocate for women’s rights.

1) Strey Khmer helped to fund women’s activities across the country. Locally we helped support communities that have lost their land including: Boeung Kak, Borei Keila, Boeung Chhouk and Tmor Kol as they joined peace walk  around the US and French embassys and walked to submit letters to the Ministry of Women’s affairs for the release of Boeung Kak land activist Bopha.

Peaceful protestors gathered together near the U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh

Petitioning at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs for the release of Bopha

2) Some of our staff also attended the release of a new documentary about the efforts of the Cambodian sex worker’s union to challenge trafficking laws in Cambodia to not name sex workers as victims, but allow them to pursue the work of their choice without discrimination.

3) The Women’s Voices, Women’s Choices radio team also organized for over 70 participants from Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, and Kampong Speu to join together to celebrate women and publically address key issues such as health, migration, trafficking, livelihood, and political participation in regards to the interest of women. The goal of the event was to urge attendees to work to disseminate the information

WV WC participants gathered to learn about women’s issues

WV WC participants joining to march for women’s rights.

Strey Khmer hopes that all of our readers also celebrated International Women’s Day, we are hopeful that 2013 will bring more positive change for women across the globe!

Last week our program manager, Polet, participated in a workshop hosted by Women for Prosperity. The panel showcased stories from indigenous people,  Members of Parliament, and various female leaders.

Participants shared the struggles and triumphs they experienced during the process of  joining politics at the national level.

The main takeaways were:

1) Leaders in all political parties should work to help promote women to high leadership roles within politics.

2) Elected female leaders have a great responsibility to help their people. They should work to learn what their communities need and find ways to address these issues.

3) Elected leaders top priorities should include: health, land security, and alleviation of poverty.

Strey Khmer is now on Facebook and Twitter!

Please help to like and share our Facebook page for the latest updates on SKO’s activities.

Make Human Rights and Democracy Real in ASEAN

Cambodia is host to the 21st ASEAN Summit on the 18th to the 20th of November. Ahead of this summit, the ASEAN Grassroots People’s Assembly (AGPA), made up of civil society groups including Strey Khmer Organization, has held 4 days of meetings in order to raise human rights and democracy issues to the Royal Government of Cambodia.

1,500 Civil Society Members in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh

While the authorities have attempted to block AGPA’s activities, the events of peaceful rallies culminated to a peaceful demonstration infront of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh. 1,500 members gathered this morning to submit their recommendations ahead of the summit. The group chanted and sung about their right land, decent pay, human rights, and fundamental freedoms.

Recommendations to the 21st ASEAN Summit by AGPA included:

• We demand that governments assess and redress the negative impacts of economic land concessions
• We demand an end to forced evictions and implementation of on-site development
• We demand an end to the manipulation of the judicial system and the violence perpetrated by state and non-state actors, which criminalize and attack human rights defenders and land activists.

For a full list of recommendations submitted, please click here.