Bangkok, October 28, 1999 -- "The Ministry of Women's Affairs and all other involving Ministries are ready to implement this policy," said Mrs. You Ay, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Women's Affairs. She was speaking at a panel discussion on women's economic empowerment at the Intergovernmental Meeting to Review the Beijing Platform for Action, which started here on October 26.
Women's Affairs Minister Muo Sok Huo stated that the government has committed itself to prioritising economic empowerment of women and legal protections for the rights, along with women's education and health, from among the 12 critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action.
Mrs. You Ay stressed that if the strategies for economic and political empowerment of women are implemented, women could play an important role in reducing poverty. She also emphasised that poverty reduction is a priority for the Kampuchean government.
Among the steps taken by the Kampuchean government to improve women's economic status, are microcredit services in 17 provinces, and training in vocational and marketing skills through centres in eight provinces.
She added that not only does Kampuchea have to deal with the "heavy legacy of three decades of war, unrest and instability", it too has been affected by the regional economic crisis. This is reflected in the reduced funding for health services, education and law enforcement.
A fall-out of the economic crisis has been the increase in the trafficking of women, she noted.
Alongside, one of the legacies of the war is the high number of widows, female-headed households, and migration.
Minister Muo Sok Huo, expressing confidence that her Ministry would be able to help uplift the living conditions of Kampuchean women, caution that this would, however, be a gradual process.
The Minister expressed the hope that the government allocation for the Ministry would be increased to at least two percent of the total budget - involving almost doubling the current allotment -- by the year 2000. The additional budget would be allocated for health, banking, education and vocational training services, and to construct dormitories for poor women and girls, she said.
The Minister also plans to undertake an exercise for promoting gender sensitisation of civil servants.
Pok Nanda, President of Chamroeun Satrey (Women for Prosperity) a well-known Kampuchean women's NGO, affirmed that "We have seen that there have been many achievements for women in different areas. The women's legislative mandate is a huge move forward for women in Kampuchea We commit ourselves to forever fight for the women's position in the Women's Affairs Ministry."
*The Women's Media Team for the ESCAP High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review the Beijing Platform for Action is composed of Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Lorna Israel, Isis International-Manila; Suchita Vemuri, Women's Features Service; Babita Basnet, Sancharika Samuha-Nepal ; Adelle Khan, Fiji Women's Crisis Centre; Ung Vanna, Khmer Women's Voice Centre; Lim Siu Ching, All Women's Action Society-Malaysia; Fatmawati Salapuddin, Bangsa Moro Women and Development Foundation-Philippines; Rina Jimenez-David, Philippines; Chitraporn Vanaspong, Thailand. The Women's Media Team is co-ordinated by Isis International-Manila and is supported by UNIFEM.
