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NGO Statement, 2000 Consultative Group Meeting On Cambodia


 CHILD'S RIGHTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS


NGO Statement to the 2000 Consultative Group Meeting on Cambodia

- Home.................................
- About us.............................
- Message.............................

- Introduction........................
- Progress.............................
- Good Governance................
- Human Resource 
- Development
......................
- Reaching the Poor...............
- Conclusion..........................

Sectoral Papers..................

- Agriculture..........................
- Child’s Rights....................
- Commune Administration 
- and Decentralization
............
- Commune Elections.............
- Disability and Rehabilitation..
- Education............................
- Fisheries.............................
- Forestry Reform..................
- Gender and Development.....
- Good Governance................
- Health................................
- HIV/AIDS...........................
- Human Rights......................
- Landmines..........................
- Land Reform.......................
- Microfinance........................
- Weapons Reduction.............

General NGO Information...

References.........................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


INTRODUCTION

The NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child (NGOCRC) has been working actively on children's issues since its formation in 1994. Today, the network consists of 24 NGOs, a majority of which are Cambodian NGOs. The principle roles of the NGOCRC are to advocate, promote and monitor the right's of children in Cambodia.

Over the past three decades Cambodia has been devastated by civil war, which almost entirely destroyed the structure of the economy, culture, and other infrastructures. This plight specifically affects the lives of the children who represent nearly half of the population of Cambodia, and in the worst cases leads them to be malnourished, working as prostitutes, homeless, disabled, petty criminals, drug addicts, or children affected by HIV/AIDS.

According to the 1998 General Population Census, the present population is around 11.4 million, of which 46 percent is under 18 years old. This rate is among the highest in the world - on average children represent only 36 percent of the total population.

The reconstruction and development of the country is gradually moving forward and the future of Cambodia depends on its children. On behalf of the NGOs and IOs working for children's rights and the overall well being of children in Cambodia, the National Coalition of NGOs working on children's issues (NGOCRC) strongly recommends that the following important children's issues be addressed in the National Development Plan of Cambodia.

KEY ISSUES

  • The Right to Education is still not a reality for many
    According to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport education indicators 1997- 1998, the national government budget allocation for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports was only 10.3% in 1997. It was increased to 12% in 1998, which is still very low, particularly when compared to a budget allocation of 52% for the defense sector. (Source: Report of Special Representative of the secretary- general for Human Rights in Cambodia 1999).

Dropout and repetition rates 

Grade Repetition rate % Drop-out rate %
1 41.2 11.9
2 26.7 15.2
3 19.2 14.9
4 12.6 17.4
5 7.5 21.1
6 4.4 18.0
  • Lack of Access to Health Care Services
    Presently, there are only a few pediatric hospitals in Phnom Penh, and these are supported by foreign assistance. Just 4% of the sick and high risk children in rural areas are sent to the pediatric hospitals in Phnom Penh and this process can sometimes be difficult for children because of slow trans- portation and slow services after their arrival. Furthermore poor people can find it impossible to send their children from rural areas because of high travel costs and fees charged for treatment. 

Most of the government hospitals or health centers have inadequate equipment, facilities and medicine and do not have enough professional staff. Apart from this there are only a few general hospitals and private inadequately trained medical practitioners who are unable to provide a satisfactory level of health services for children or mothers.

  • HIV issue
    According to a 1999 report from the Anti-HIV and AIDS Center, the rate of HIV transmission in Cambodia is the highest in Asia. Preliminary result estimates indicate that 180,000 people are HIV positive, 3 percent of them are pregnant women. There are an estimated 8,000 adults with AIDS, and 3,000 children are HIV positive. In the year 2000, about 1,000 children will die of AIDS transmitted by their parents. Another 10,000 children will become orphans due to the death of their parents from AIDS. 

  • Lack of birth registration
    The absence of birth registration affects social status with regards to nationality, juvenile justice, sexual exploitation and trafficking and inheritance rights in cases where parents get divorced.

  • Lack of local child adoption policy and monitoring mechanism
    The absence of any mechanism for processing local adoptive families, the total lack of regulation of private adoptions, and the plethora of foreign adoptions without any monitoring of outcomes or follow-up, constitute matters for grave concern.

  • Lack of juvenile justice system
    The Youth Rehabilitation Center was opened in 1995 in order to rehabilitate children in conflict with the law. According to NGO surveys in 1999, the center currently provides no education above grade two and no vocational training, due to shortage of funds. There are also concerns about lack of clean water, shortage of bedding and food and a high incidence of sickness, especially skin diseases related to unsanitary conditions. Despite efforts by the Royal Government of Cambodia article 37 paragraph (b) to (d), and article 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child have still not been implemented. Children continue to be sent to detention centers or prisons without proper court judgment and access to due process of law, and there is a lack of basic health, education and rehabilitation services for detained children.

  • Drug abuse
    Increasingly Cambodian children are facing the influences of substance and drug abuse: street children are especially vulnerable. These problems are caused by the influx of drugs without effective control, particularly from Thailand. Some children are coerced by adults or gangsters to use substances to force them to commit illegal acts such as theft and robbery. Some children using glue also commit crimes to find money to pay for the glue once they become addicted.

  • Labor and sexual exploitation of children
    Child prostitution is a very serious problem in Cambodia due to the low level of education, poverty, and the need for children to work in order to pay off family debts. Children are coerced, raped, kidnapped, and deceived into prostitution by pimps, con artists and brothel owners with barbiturate use and other forms of deception. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

To improve the plight of children in Cambodia and address these issues, NGOs recommend the following:

  • Provide a sufficient national budget allocation for education in order to ensure improved quality of education and to guarantee free and compulsory primary education for all children.
  • Establish more health centers and motivate nurses to provide good health care services at the community level, through increased salaries and more effective training in order to respond to children‘s medical care needs.
  • Introduce and enforce a compulsory national birth registration law.
  • Tackle the issue of adoption urgently in order to protect the best interests of the child.
  • Establish a national juvenile justice system that is practiced all over the country.
  • Take immediate measures to prevent the influx of narcotic drugs and prohibit the sale of glue to children.
  • Give priority to the implementation of the CNCC's National 5-Year Plan against commercial sexual exploitation of children.
  • Increase allocation in the national budget for children's programs in all sectors. 

The implementation of the above recommendations demands technical and financial support for NGOs and the RGC. 

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM CHILDREN WHO ATTENDED A WORKSHOP ON CRC

  • Eliminate corruption.

  • Raise public awareness of child’s rights.

  • Bring offenders to justice and punish according to the law.

  • Eliminate use of illegal drugs.

  • End violations of children's rights.

  • Close gambling dens and stop gangster's activities 

  • Establish more care and protection centers.

Workshop facilitated by the NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child (NGOCRC), Phnom Penh, 1999


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