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Home / CEDAW in Southeast Asia / Cambodia / State Reporting
 CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations
The key areas of concern raised by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women at their 34th Session in January 2006 included the following:
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The Cambodian Constitution includes recognition and respect for international human rights agreements, calls for abolition of all forms of discrimination against women and recognizes the Convention’s precedence over domestic law. The concern is that the provisions of CEDAW are not self-executing and not directly applicable in court proceedings. There is also limited awareness by judicial practitioners about CEDAW, which results in its poor usage in judicial processes.
- No legal provisions yet exist for special temporary measures (STMs)
- Scale and scope of programmes targeted at women are unclear, and data on implementation and effectiveness of measures taken is lacking
- Systemic problems for women seeking justice against violence, including arbitrary judgements in favour of perpetrators; impunity of perpetrators; limited legal aid for victims; and high costs associated with providing required proof of sexual assault (such as medical certificates). 2005 Domestic Violence Law does not adequately tackle spousal abuse
- Strong and persistent gender-role stereotyping – the traditional code of conduct, called ‘Chbab Srey’ legitimizes discrimination against women and is still widely practiced throughout the country. It also continues to be referenced in school curricula and textbooks
- Trafficking – lack of enforcement legislation, continued impunity of traffickers and absence of accurate data on trafficking. Victims of trafficking are often also prosecuted for illegal migration
- Migrant women – vulnerability of young women especially to violations; absence of data on migrant women and their situation
- Persistently high illiteracy rates among women, especially among rural population, ethnic minority groups, and the disabled. Poor school enrolment rates and high drop out rates of girls are symptomatic of obstacles to girls continuing their education such as early and forced marriages and gender-role stereotyping
- Occupational segregation and concentration of women in low-wage and low-skilled/unskilled labour sectors. The labour law contains ambiguities and is poorly enforced, leaving women workers open to discrimination and insecure employment situations. The Committee mentioned the potential negative effect of the termination of the MultiFibre Agreement on women garment workers (who constitute the majority of workers in this industry)
- Continued high maternal mortality rates, owing primarily to lack of access to obstetric emergency services
- The situation of rural women, particularly with regard to land distribution and land rights, and in terms of their access to health, education and credit services.
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