Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
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United Nations CEDAW/C/SR.1730 Convention on the Elimination Distr.: General 5 November 2019 of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Original: English Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Seventy-fourth session Summary record of the 1730th meeting* Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Tuesday, 29 October 2019, at 10 a.m. Chair: Ms. Gbedemah Contents Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued) Sixth periodic report of Cambodia * No summary records were issued for the 1728th and 1729th meetings. This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be set forth in a memorandum and also incorporated in a copy of the record. They should be sent within one week of the date of the present record to the Documents Management Section ([email protected]). Any corrected records of the public meetings of the Committee at this session will be reissued for technical reasons after the end of the session. GE.19-18692 (E) 041119 051119 CEDAW/C/SR.1730 The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m. Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued) Sixth periodic report of Cambodia (CEDAW/C/KHM/6; CEDAW/C/KHM/Q/6 and CEDAW/C/KHM/Q/6/Add.1) 1. At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of Cambodia took places at the Committee table. 2. Ms. Ing (Cambodia), introducing her country’s sixth periodic report, said that the Government was strongly committed to the advancement of women and gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls as agents for change in the country’s socioeconomic development. Interministerial collaboration and cooperation with development partners and civil society were instrumental in strengthening the institutional gender equality architecture and in advancing the national development agenda. All line ministries and government institutions had adopted gender mainstreaming action plans to implement equality policy commitments and harmonize input from different stakeholders. The action plans had been completed and funds from the national budget and development partners had been allocated by the end of 2018. 3. Committees for women and children had been set up at the local level to assist with the empowerment and protection of women. The committees were also represented on working groups formed to address gender-based violence, which, since 2012, had grouped together law enforcement officials, social workers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In recent years, progress had been made within the legislative and policy frameworks regarding women’s rights in areas such as the justice system, labour, health care and education. 4. Over the previous 15 years, Cambodia had seen one of the highest rates of economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region. It had been classified as a lower-middle income country since 2015 and the poverty rate had fallen significantly since 2005. According to the most recent Human Development Report in 2018, there had been improvements in the health, education and living standards of women and girls. The Global Gender Gap Report of 2018 had found that the gender gap had decreased in respect of health and survival, educational attainment and economic participation and opportunity. 5. The Government had introduced budgetary reforms to increase transparency and shift towards programme budgeting, which was a prerequisite for gender responsive budgeting. In 2018, 39 ministries and government institutions had implemented programme budgeting, and 3 per cent of the national budget had been allocated to gender-related activities. That proportion was set to increase under future administrative and financial management reforms. In the long term, the Government was seeking to build an efficient and financially sustainable social protection system as a tool for reducing poverty and promoting equality. The National Social Protection Policy Framework for the period 2016– 2025 had been developed through a life-cycle approach and focused on social assistance and social security. The social assistance aspect of the Framework envisaged action in the areas of emergency response, human capital development, vocational training and welfare for vulnerable persons, with a focus on lifting vulnerable people, including children, women, persons with disabilities and older persons, out of poverty. The social security aspect of the Framework covered pensions and health, workplace injury, unemployment and disability insurance. 6. The Government continued to work tirelessly towards ending all forms of violence against women and girls through multisectoral mechanisms and plans, including the National Action Plan to Prevent Violence against Women, the Action Plan to Prevent and Respond to Violence against Children and its national plans of action to combat trafficking in persons. Significant progress had been made in developing and implementing gender responsive guidelines and systems, and in training law enforcement personnel, government officials and the general public on how to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. Data had shown that the number of women victims of violence had been declining and that increasing numbers of victims sought help. 2 GE.19-18692 CEDAW/C/SR.1730 7. Between 2014 and 2019, the Government had significantly increased the budget allocation for justice services, including legal aid for low-income women. In 2019, the Cambodian National Council for Women had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia to expand the provision of legal aid services for women on low incomes. Moreover, the Prime Minister had recently established a group of lawyers to provide pro bono services for women and girl victims of violence. A forthcoming legal aid policy, due to be adopted by the end of 2019, would include specific provisions to ensure adequate and specialized legal aid for women. 8. The literacy rate among women and girls between 17 and 24 years of age had reached 96 per cent in 2017. Gender parity had been achieved in primary and secondary education, and women accounted for almost half of all students on bachelor’s degree programmes. Completion rates at primary and secondary school levels were higher among girls than among boys. In order to address gender inequalities in education, scholarships for students from low-income backgrounds were mostly targeted at girls and the number of university dormitories had been increased. The vast majority of students staying in dormitories were women. In secondary schools, vocational training and life skill programmes had been enhanced to better prepare female students for the world of work. In 2015, a career counselling service had been introduced for secondary school students, and training was provided to teachers who worked as career counsellors. The Government was encouraging women and girls to enrol in subjects relating to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, particularly at the higher education level. Access to preschool education had been steadily increasing. One objective of the country’s education policy was to expand early childhood education services for children under 6 years of age, and particularly for children from low-income families and ethnic minority groups and for children with disabilities. 9. Cambodia had been one of only 10 countries worldwide that had achieved Millennium Development Goal 4 on reducing child mortality and Goal 5 on improving maternal health. The Government was committed to reaching the target set by the Sustainable Development Goals to reduce the maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births. That commitment was outlined in the Fast Track Initiative Road Map for Reducing Maternal and Newborn Mortality 2016–2020. Antenatal care was provided to the overwhelming majority of expectant mothers. Between 2016 and 2018, the provision of contraception had been expanded under Ministry of Health gender mainstreaming plans: short-term methods of contraception, including condoms and the contraceptive pill, were available from all health centres. 10. In 2017, the National Social Security Fund had been extended to cover workers in the informal sector, in which most women worked. Companies with as few as one employee were now allowed to register with the National Social Security Fund, whereas previously only companies employing a minimum of eight employees had been able do so. The Government had launched a cash support programme in 2019 for pregnant women and mothers with children under 2 years of age to improve health and nutrition. Women were entitled to up to US$ 190 under the programme. 11. Cambodia had a high level of women’s participation in the labour force and the percentage of women in paid work had increased by six percentage points in the period 2014–2017. In the garment industry, 90 per cent of employees were women. As a result of a tripartite dialogue between the Government, employers and workers, wages increased on a yearly basis, and the Government had made significant improvements to the rights and working conditions of female workers. They were entitled to benefits including free health care during and after pregnancy and paid maternity leave. 12. In 2018, women’s participation in the National Assembly and the Senate had reached 20 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, and women held senior positions in the National Assembly. At the local level, the number of women in leadership roles had increased. Women had accounted for over 40 per cent of all civil servants in 2018. There had also been a rise in the number of female teachers at all levels of schooling, and approximately one fifth of all school principals were women. In line with Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women and peace and security, 285 Cambodian women had GE.19-18692 3 CEDAW/C/SR.1730 participated in United Nations peacekeeping missions since 2006 and, in 2019, Cambodia ranked seventeenth out of 122 countries for the number of women sent on such missions.