The launch ceremony of the Evaluation Report of the Action Plan to prevent and respond to violence against children 2017-2021 held in Phnom Penh. SUPPLIED
Cambodia's progress on tackling violence against children was recognized by an independent evaluation report released on September 16, which examined Cambodia’s “action plan” to prevent and respond to violence against children, which was carried out between 2017 and 2021.
The release of the report was co-hosted by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation and UNICEF, with Minister of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation Vong Soth, Foroogh Foyouzat, UNICEF’s representative in Cambodia, and Mikami Masahiro, Japan’s ambassador to Cambodia, all in attendance.
“This evaluation of the Action Plan is very encouraging for the Government. It shows that we are on the right track to ending violence against Cambodian children and demonstrates why all sectors of the Government need to continue working in a coordinated way to accelerate results,” Soth said, speaking at the event.
The press statement about the report said that ending violence against children has been a priority of the Cambodian government for more than a decade. In 2013, Cambodia became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to conduct a national survey on violence against children and the survey showed that at least half of Cambodian children had experienced physical violence.
Foroogh Foyouzat said that violence against children has a devastating impact, not only blighting individual lives but damaging whole communities and future generations.
“This evaluation shows progress in certain areas, but there is still much more to be done, as is also noted in the Child Rights Coalition committee recommendations of June this year,” she said.
She added that finalisation of the upcoming child protection bill and increased investment in the social welfare workforce and prevention programmes were crucial to keeping children safe and breaking the vicious cycle of violence that afflicts too many families.
The evaluation commended the effectiveness of the “multi-sectoral approach” taken for making progress on the action plan. It said Cambodia’s approach was well aligned with international standards and frameworks.
However, the report said there are still concerns because the action plan was implemented during the period when normal daily life in the world, including Cambodia, was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It said that the Cambodia Health and Demographic Survey 2022 revealed that 43 per cent of children report that they are still being disciplined in their homes by adults with physical violence.
“A key recommendation of the evaluation was therefore to build robust results monitoring all activities so that improvements can be measured more accurately in the years ahead, and best practices established. It is only then that we can achieve our common goal of keeping every Cambodian child safe and protected from any kind of violence,” the statement said.
