domestic violence in cambodia essay

To end violence against women, Cambodian project teaches healthy relationships

KAMPONG CHAM, Cambodia –  Women in Cambodia’s Kampong Cham Province are no strangers to violence. A staggering 33 per cent of women in the province have experienced physical violence since age 15, a  2014 survey revealed . Statistics for the whole of Cambodia are not much better. Nationwide, one out of five women has been subjected to physical violence.

And much of this abuse is considered acceptable:   Half of Cambodian women, and more than a quarter of men , believe there are conditions that justify violence against women. And  in a 2013 study , close to 100 per cent of both men and women  believed that to be a man, one must be “tough.”

A pilot programme is working to stop the cycle of violence. Facilitators are reaching out to community members to address thorny issues of  gender-based violence  and  gender inequality  – by first tackling problems at home.

Ouk Kimchheang, 52, talks about her experiences with her family. © UNFPA Cambodia/Sophanara Pen

“Frequently, he comes home drunk and blasts his anger toward me when I ask his whereabouts or talk about his alcoholic behaviour,” Ouk Kimchheang, 52, said about her husband at one of these group sessions in Samraung Commune.

She described struggling to speak with him about issues, like communication, that had been raised in a previous session: “I told my husband about what we discussed. He seemed uninterested and kept quiet.”

A new generation of healthy relationships

Facilitators say Ms. Kimchheang’s situation is common. Session attendees are often women looking to improve their family relationships. But organizers say this can be a crucial first step in ending domestic abuse and promoting gender equality.

Many studies show that  children’s exposure  to  domestic violence   makes them more likely to perpetrate or experience  abusive behaviour  as adults. The pilot initiative therefore aims to help adolescents create healthy future relationships by improving their current home environments. It also helps parents model healthy behaviours. And as participants’ family relationships improve, they are better able to address issues such as harmful gender stereotypes.

Sor Bunthat, a facilitator in Boeung Nay, says the programme helps prevent domestic violence. © UNFPA Cambodia/Sophanara Pen

The programme hosts two series of group sessions, one for adolescents and the other for caregivers. The sessions focus on promoting positive relationships, coping with stress, improving communications, managing anger and resolving conflict.

Participants also discuss gender and human rights issues, and learn to recognize different forms of violence, including psychological and economic abuse.

Chan Nary, 33, a regular participant in the caregiver sessions in Sro Ngè Commune, says the information has been helpful: “I now can manage my temper much better when communicating with my children. I listen to their problems more attentively.”

A visible impact

The programme  was launched in September 2016, in partnership with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, UNFPA and the  Partners for Prevention Regional Joint Programme . It is being implemented in five communes of Kampong Cham.

Some 30 facilitators – volunteers selected from the local community – have received the intensive training required to run these sessions. In turn, they have reached 125 caregivers and 125 adolescents.

“What I have learned at the weekend sessions has helped me to change the ways in which I communicate with my husband and children,” said Heng Chanthorn in Samraung. © UNFPA Cambodia/Sophanara Pen

The facilitators, too, report that the programme has influenced their relationships.

“My work not only contributes to preventing domestic violence in my community, but it also helps me to improve my own interactions with my children,” said facilitator Sor Bunthat, 35, a farmer and father of two.

And Suong Thach, one of the facilitators in Sro Ngè Commune, says the programme is having a visible impact. “I am so excited to see the change in people’s attitudes,” she said. “People use nicer words for their daily communication.”

And even Ms. Kimchheang says her relationship with her husband has improved.

“These days, my husband doesn’t drink alcohol and he has shared household chores frequently. And although he doesn’t join the sessions, he tells me to come every weekend,” she reported.

Source: Sophanara Pen, UNFPA

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Domestic Violence Against Married Women in Cambodia

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Kathryn M. Yount, Jennifer S. Carrera, Domestic Violence Against Married Women in Cambodia, Social Forces , Volume 85, Issue 1, September 2006, Pages 355–387, https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2006.0151

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We evaluate the effects of marital resources and early-life experiences on recent domestic violence and attitudes about wife abuse among 2,074 married Cambodian women. Household standard of living was negatively associated with physical domestic violence. Women with 8–13 fewer years of schooling than their husbands more often experienced physical and psychological domestic violence. Women with more living children more often experienced physical domestic violence and justified wife beating. Having surviving parents and siblings was not associated with domestic violence nor with attitudes about wife beating. Women reporting higher paternal schooling, urban childhood residence and domestic violence against their mothers had higher odds of experiencing physical and psychological domestic violence. Findings underscore the effects of marital resources and early-life experiences on domestic violence in Cambodia.

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Cambodian Women Vulnerable to Domestic Violence Due to Lack of Protection, Punishment

• Kann Vicheika

When Sopheap married in 2018 she was happy to settle down and start a family with her husband, and she gave birth to a son soon after. But within a few years, her marriage descended into domestic abuse after her husband became an alcoholic.

She faced regular beatings and insults by her husband, who works as a rattan basket maker in Kampong Chhnang province, and often had to stay with relatives together with her son to avoid abuse.

“Sometimes… I feel like I've run out of emotions and am almost crazy. It has been very difficult,” said Sopheap, adding that she had kept her family together for her son’s sake.

“If he keeps using violence and does not change, I only have the choice to divorce,” said the thin 43-year-old, who broke down in tears during a recent interview with VOA Khmer at her sister’s house in the province.

Sopheap’s plight is not uncommon in Cambodia, where domestic abuse remains widespread. But women like her who wish to break free of abusive marriages face a range of cultural and legal barriers, while the law offers them weak protection, rights activists say.

Activists said that in Cambodia’s male-dominated and conservative society, physical and sexual violence against women and girls is often surrounded by a culture of silence and a tendency to find fault with victims.

Sothea, 50, from Battambang province, told VOA Khmer that she was raped when she was 18 years old by her brother-in-law, but she did not dare to file a police complaint because her family was ashamed and wanted to hush it up, while her father would not have been supportive as he often beat her mother. “In the evening I told my mother and she told me not to speak about it, saying: ‘If you tell your father he will beat me to death.’”

After her parents passed away in 2014, she tried to file a complaint at her local police office but was told it happened too long ago to open a case.

Traditions that tolerate domestic violence

The lack of protection is particularly pressing in cases of domestic violence, which is often seen as a private matter by the victim’s family members and law enforcement authorities, as Cambodian culture traditionally views wives as subordinate to their husbands.

Domestic violence is the most common form of abuse against women globally. A large 2015 study by UN Women and the World Health Organization found that some 20 percent of Cambodian women experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in a relationship or marriage; a third of women experienced emotional abuse. Rates were higher in rural areas and a third of the time children were present during incidents of violence.

“The reason many women continue to be subjected to all forms of violence is because Cambodia still has a patriarchal mindset, meaning that men are given more priority in [gaining] education than women, are considered to have more decision-making power in the family and are economically powerful,” said Norm Sina, community coordination manager of non-government organization called Gender and Development for Cambodia.

She added that children who witness domestic violence suffer severe mental health impacts.

The Chbab Srey, a centuries-old, traditional code of conduct for women that idealizes female submission to men and gender-specific roles in the household, was part of the official school curriculum until 2007 and still influences girls and women’s mindset and place in society, a 2018 Cambodian Center for Human Rights paper said.

A 2013 UN Women report found 98 percent of Cambodian women and 96 percent of men supported the idea that women should obey their husbands; 67 percent of women believed they should tolerate domestic violence to keep their families together.

In 2016, the then-U.N. Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia criticized some local news reporting for lacking basic ethical standards, perpetuating gender discrimination stereotypes and normalizing gender‐based violence. This prompted the government in 2017 to issue a code of conduct for news reporting on violence against women.

Mediation instead of divorce or police complaints

Seng Reasey, executive director of gender equality NGO SILAKA, said because of conservative attitudes, victims are often unaware of their legal rights, while commune chiefs, police and courts usually encourage them to accept mediation solutions instead of filing for divorce or police complaints.

When authorities intervene, Seng Reasey said, “Solutions are generally limited because in some areas awareness of the legal framework is limited and knowledge of [the impact of] violence is still limited. They think it should be tolerated because it is a family affair. And in some cases, women victims are blamed [for abuse] for not doing the housework.”

These practices foster impunity and the reoccurrence of violence by perpetrators, she noted.

Sitha, a 50-year-old fishmonger at a market in Kandal Province with three children, one of whom lived with her, said she suffered threats and emotional abuse from her drug-addicted husband, but she had nowhere to turn for help after local police failed to respond to her requests.

“He always intimidates and insults me at home. In the worst case, he threatens me with an axe or knife… Sometimes, I almost suffocate and [feel like I] stop breathing” she said, adding that she still hoped for better as her husband recently entered drug rehabilitation.

Punishments are few

A 2017 paper by rights group Licadho—based on its consultations in 237 closed domestic violence cases in Cambodia that resulted in 12 deaths—found that about 30 percent of victims divorced, and 22 percent started a procedure that ended with criminal punishment. Some 43 percent returned to live with their violent partner, either through their own choice or mediation by commune chiefs, police and courts. The remainder of cases ended differently.

The 2005 Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims allows local authorities to mediate and to interpret whether violent acts are a felony or severe misdemeanor that should be prosecuted under the Criminal Code, according to Licadho.

The report said officials not only discourage divorce and police complaints because of conservative views, but also since “Local authorities and police are under-resourced, poorly trained and are in general unfamiliar with the law… In these circumstances it is just much easier, quicker and cheaper for local authorities to carry out reconciliations.”

Licadho added that many victims are also discouraged from pursuing justice because of Cambodia’s weak and corrupt court system.

Police force spokespersons could not be reached or said they were unable to comment on domestic abuse cases when contacted by VOA Khmer.

‘Cease law enforcement based on the old culture’

In the past decade, the Cambodian government has adopted several guidelines, national action plans and strategic plans to improve women’s rights that have been welcomed by activists as significant steps, yet they say more resources, legal training and stronger protection under law are required.

Seng Reasey said civil society groups operate support programs and hotlines for victims, while they have long campaigned to change attitudes in society and practices of police and the court system. They also advocated for amending the 2005 Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims to clarify and strengthen legal protection.

“Stakeholders must empower women and girls to understand their right to justice and to dare to report all abuses. These cases can only be dealt with effectively if the culture of blaming the victims is stopped, and… by ceasing emotional law enforcement based on the old culture,” she said.

Sar Sineth, deputy director general of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs’ General Department of Social Development, said her ministry had worked closely with civil society over the years to improve women’s rights, but acknowledged that law enforcement authorities need to be more protective of victims who file complaints against abusive partners.

“Providing support services entails responding to their needs and considering what they want. And most importantly, try not to blame the victim, because blaming the victim is one thing that puts the victim in even more danger,” Sar Sineth told VOA Khmer.

(Names of victims in this story have been changed to protect their identities.)

Cambodian Tycoon Faces Police Probe After Wife-Beating Videos Go Viral

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Domestic Violence Against Married Women in Cambodia

2006, Social Forces

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