As part of its plan to bring an end to violence against women in the country, Cambodia’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs will set up a Gender Issues Observatory, the first of its kind in the country. According to the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Dr. Ing Kanthaphavi, the centre will study the challenges that Cambodian women face to prevent further violence.
APC member Open Institute will be cooperating with the Ministry updating libraries and the Ministry website. Information and communication technology (ICT) will also be an important part of the Observatory, in which the Open Institute will be involved in advocacy work using ICTs to fight violence against women.
News of the centre and partnership was announced at a workshop organised by the Ministry and Open Institute on the implementation of a national plan to prevent violence against women in Phnom Penh on May 5. Ms. Chim Manavy of Open Institute emphasised that the results of this workshop would foster a better collaboration between the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, civil society and other stakeholders to work together to address violence against women.
The workshop, which was funded by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) as part of the Take Back the Tech! To end violence against women initiative in twelve countries, aimed to discuss and set priorities to map activities and identify strategies to eradicate violence against women, the third in the list of Millennium Development Goals.
Read the press release or learn more about the seminar (in Khmer and English).