Since 2006, Cambodia has deployed nearly 7,900 peacekeepers to partake in the UN’s humanitarian, demining and peacekeeping operations in nine war-torn countries, 494 of them women. The proportion is a significant achievement and has ranked Cambodia second among ASEAN and 13th among 122 countries for women’s participation in and contribution to achieving international peace and security. NPMEC
March 8 this year marks the 111th anniversary of the Women’s International Day under the theme “Gender Equality Today for A Sustainable Tomorrow”. Thanks to the movement and efforts made by women in those early days, the world has assumed a new global dimension for women in terms of progress made for equality, justice, women’s right and participation in social, economic and political process.
Global calls for promoting gender equality, empowering women’s right and increasing women’ civic engagement has also been heeded since then. This has been translated in the adoption of various global initiatives including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5, which emphasises the need to gain greater equality for women, to name just a few.
In Cambodia, the government has put a great political will and attached a great importance to promoting gender equality and participation of women in all sectors aimed at achieving economically, socially and politically inclusive and sustainable development and becoming a middle-income country by 2030 and upper-income country by 2050.
In his speech to celebrate the 109th International Women’s Day in 2020, Prime Minister Hun Sen reaffirmed: “We continue to pay attention and promote women to participate at a higher level of leadership.”
The Cambodian government’s commitment to uplifting women’s status and empowering them to engage in the high-level leadership is echoed in government’s policies including the Rectangle Strategy, Neary Rattanak, and the Cambodian National Council for Women Plan, National Strategic Development Plans (NSDP), each of which includes the prerequisite of gender mainstreaming across all levels of governments.
This has resulted in the significant increase of women’s participation and civic engagement at all levels. As of 2021, women had made up 21 per cent of the National Assembly and 16 per cent of the Senate. There is one female deputy prime minister (10 per cent), three female ministers (10.34 per cent) and two female provincial governors (eight per cent). The proportion of women in the civil service increased to 41 per cent in 2021, up from 38 per cent in 2014.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as a case in point, currently five females are representing Cambodia in senior diplomatic role as an ambassador out of 27 embassies and four Permanent Missions in other countries, with two females assuming the role of Consul General. The figure means that the proportion of Cambodian women participation in diplomatic affairs accounts for 16 per cent, which has surpassed the 15 per cent of the global average. The relatively high rate of women engaging in diplomacy is the result of the Cambodian government’s strategies to promote women in high-level decision making and politics.
Aside from engaging in foreign affairs, there is also a belief that women play a significant role in contributing to building peace. Greater participation by women in the peacekeeping and peacebuilding process will change the dynamics of the peacekeeping missions and pave the way for a more enduring peace. Given this significance and critical role of women in peacekeeping and peacebuilding process, it led to the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 – the first and only resolution to solely dedicate to women in peace and security (WPS).
This resolution puts a specific focus on gendered impacts of conflict-related violence and promotes the full engagement of women at all stages of peace processes. Precisely, the WPS agenda is set forth on four priority areas concerning matters in international peace and security: (1) “participation” of women’s political leadership in peace and security governance; (2) “prevention”, putting an emphasis on strategies to combat violence; (3) “protection” of women, both of their rights and bodies; and (4) “relief and recovery for conflict survivors”, particularly survivors of sexualised violence in conflict.
Cambodia, from being a war-torn country to a contributory peacebuilding nation, has been active and committed to ensure the women’s meaningful participation in peace processes and security services in various conflict-war zones of the world.
During the commemoration of the International Women’s Day in 2018, Prime Minister Hun Sen stated in his speech that Cambodia was committed to increasing the numbers of female “blue helmet” peacekeeping forces, creating conducive environment for women to realise their full potentials and expanding their participation in sustainable development and peace building process around the world.
The continued determination has also been made by Prak Sokhonn, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), at an international conference on “Strengthening Women’s Role in Building and Sustaining Peace: From Commitments to Results”.
The strong commitment of Cambodian leaders has translated into the increased number of women peacekeepers. Since 2006, Cambodia has deployed nearly 7,900 peacekeepers to partake in the UN’s humanitarian, demining and peacekeeping operations in nine war-torn countries, 494 of them women. The proportion is a significant achievement and has ranked Cambodia second among ASEAN and 13th among 122 countries for women’s participation in and contribution to achieving international peace and security.
Reiterating the commitment and the promotion of women and issues of peace and security, in 2021 – when Cambodia was the chair of the 13th Asia-Europe Summit (ASEM13) – the Kingdom hosted a side event entitled “Asia-Europe Forum on Women, Peace and Security”. It served as an important event to promote and advance the WPS discussion on a significant role and contribution made by women in the security and peacekeeping arena as well ason challenges and critical concerns evolving around gender-based violence.
In addition, as this year Cambodia assumes the role of ASEAN chair for the third time, and despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has reaffirmed its strong commitment to promoting gender equality and the critical role of women in leadership by leading the second ASEAN Women Leaders’ Summit in 2022.
Considering women to be a key driving force for economic, cultural and social development, Cambodia has continued to place strong commitment to empowering women in all sectors and especially advancing women in the leadership roles and in peace and security. However, aside from the strong endorsement and great efforts of the government to promote and empower women, it is also important that women have to believe in themselves and that anything is possible.
To break the social norms and prejudice, they should consistently enhance their knowledge and capacities, instead of imposing limitations on and holding themselves back when given an opportunity.
Sokpanya Phon is an adviser to the National Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
