Summary a Land Ravaged By

USAID EVALUATION HIGHLIGHTS NO. 67 September 2000 Aftermath: Women and Women’s Organizations In Postconflict Cambodia Center for Development Information and Evaluation U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington Summary ence the political landscape through voter education and advocacy programs. As one midlevel trainee told the team: “Men cannot abuse women if women know HE EFFECTS OF TWO DECADES of conflict and their rights. Now we understand how to work together genocide in Cambodia on women and gender for justice.” Trelations have been all-pervasive. The war—in particular, the four-year rule of terror of the murder- But women’s organizations continue to face many ous Khmer Rouge—largely demolished women’s psy- obstacles. The country has no tradition for civil soci- chological well-being, family roles, interpersonal ety organizations. Nor is the government always sup- relationships, economic activities, and participation in portive of women’s organizations. The organizations the political arena. depend upon external assistance for their programs and survival, which limits their autonomy and the capacity In the wake of the carnage, the international com- to fashion new programs. The leadership of these munity mobilized to help create and nurture a variety organizations is dominated by one charismatic figure of indigenous women’s organizations aimed at improv- reluctant to delegate authority. Most of the women’s ing the lot of Cambodian women. This was a new phe- organizations have yet to develop an open manage- nomenon for Cambodia: before the postconflict era, ment system in which the staff can discuss issues and independent women’s groups were unknown. problems freely. In January 1999, USAID’s Center for Development Women’s organizations will require continual Information and Evaluation fielded a team to Cambo- international support to survive and play an important dia to explore the role of women’s organizations in role in improving the social and economic conditions that country. The mission was part of a broader study of women and promoting gender equality. Thus the of women in postconflict societies that included as well international community can help by taking a long- Bosnia, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, and Rwanda. term perspective and providing technical and economic assistance. Despite their small number (18), the team found that women’s organizations have been contributing to the empowerment of women in various ways. They A Land Ravaged by War are helping women through vocational training and microcredit programs. They are assisting victims of A country of 11 million people, Cambodia, has been HIV/AIDS, of domestic violence, and of trafficking and a victim of the Vietnam War and the genocidal regime forced prostitution. They are also beginning to influ- of the Khmer Rouge under dictator Pol Pot. Few other PN–ACG–602 1 countries in recent history have experienced such domly selected for marriage. Cumulatively, these poli- agony, wholesale destruction of their social fabric, and cies resulted in a disintegration of the institution of the utter devastation of their economic and political sys- family. tems. Between 1969 and 1993, the country suffered clandestine military operations by the North Vietnam- While Cambodian society endured horrific suffer- ese and the Viet Cong, carpet-bombing on a massive ing on the domestic front, the Khmer Rouge’s scale by the United States, genocide under the Maoist irredentist designs on Vietnam would soon lead to tur- Khmer Rouge, large-scale internal migration, invasion moil on an international level. Combined with the per- by Vietnam, and recurring guerrilla attacks by the de- secution of indigenous Vietnamese, the Khmer feated Khmer Rouge and their allies. Only after 1993 Rouge’s claims on various parts of southern Vietnam did Cambodians begin to live in relative peace. That led to heated border clashes in which hundreds of Viet- the country has survived and has begun reconstruc- namese civilians were killed. Cambodia’s eastern tion is a tribute to both the resilience of its people and neighbor retaliated by invading Cambodia. It toppled the generosity of the international community. the Pol Pot regime on 7 January 1979. Vietnam then installed a new, essentially totalitarian government Unquestionably the worst of the more than two friendly to its interests. decades of conflict came with the Khmer Rouge dys- topia of 1975–79. In its first major act, the Khmer Establishment of a new regime failed to bring peace, Rouge ordered the evacuation of the capital (Phnom however. Guerrilla warfare soon erupted, as the Khmer Penh) and all provincial towns. They forced all resi- Rouge, supported by China, launched operations in the dents—even hospital patients—to move to the coun- north. Thus fueled, the warfare continued for another tryside. The Khmer Rouge summarily executed those nine years, draining the country’s capital and human who resisted or were unable to move. Thousands died resources. in this forced migration. With the end of the Cold War, the major powers The Khmer Rouge obsessively distrusted anyone finally initiated diplomatic efforts to bring peace to who could think and reflect. The regime demanded Cambodia. Those efforts culminated in the formula- nothing less than complete control of its citizens’ tion of a peace plan in 1989. The plan called on the thoughts, achieved through fear, repression, and in- different factions to disarm and form an interim coali- doctrination. They severed links with the outside world tion government under Cambodia’s prewar leader, by denying people access to mail, radio, telephone, Prince Norodom Sihanouk. It also stipulated that the and other forms of mass communication. They abol- United Nations would establish a body, the UN Tran- ished money. They closed schools and universities. sitional Authority in Cambodia, to supervise the gov- Those suspected of working with the previous regime ernment and to organize free and fair elections. De- suddenly disappeared. Perceived as enemies of the spite many problems, the plan was implemented in state, the educated—teachers, doctors, and other pro- 1993, with UNTAC succeeding in holding national elec- fessionals—met the same fate. The Khmer Rouge car- tions. Voter turnout was remarkably high—90 percent. ried out systematic ethnic cleansing (against ethnic A constitutional monarchy was formed, with Sihanouk Vietnamese and Chinese) and what has been termed named as king. autogenocide. Estimates of the dead during the Khmer Rouge’s sanguinary 42-month reign range from 1 to 3 Conflict and million, out of a 1975 population of 7.3 million. Cambodian Women The Khmer Rouge attempted to wipe out religion. They also sought to undermine the institution of the It is evident that the effect of the attenuated con- family. Children were often separated from their fami- flict on the lives of Cambodians was all-pervasive. Here lies. When not separated, they were encouraged to spy we look at the effect on Cambodian women in four on their parents. The Khmer Rouge also promoted mass particular contexts. weddings in which young men and women were ran- 2 Status and Role in the Family Social Contract and Interpersonal Trust The conflict affected the institution of the family During CDIE’s fieldwork in Cambodia, many in at least three profound ways. First, the Khmer Rouge women focus-group participants complained about a sought to undermine family cohesion and redefine the lack of trust and unwillingness to help in time of need. roles of family members. They assigned men and Some recalled with nostalgia preconflict days, when women the same tasks in agriculture, irrigation, and people shared with and assisted friends and neighbors. other activities. They encouraged family members to Poverty seems to be a driving force behind this issue: spy on one another. They organized marriages between where there is no surplus, sharing may mean hunger. randomly selected people without the consent of their families. The cumulative effects of Khmer Rouge poli- This problem has had a profound effect on cies on the family have been devastating. microcredit programs in Cambodia. It is noteworthy that the average size of self-help groups for credit Second, the large-scale movements of people re- ranges from three to five—low, compared with other sulting from carpet-bombing, developing countries. A forced evacuation of cities by number of women indi- the Khmer Rouge, and a Men have found themselves in a cated they would join only guerrilla war on the Thai bor- ‘ immediate family mem- der contributed to family dis- better bargaining position for bers for group credit pro- integration. Often, husbands wives. They have been able to grams. Because of the dif- drifted away under physical ficulty of persuading un- and psychological stress, offer lower bride prices and easily related individuals to abandoning their families. divorce their spouses and find work together, credit groups have established And third, the high num- new wives.’ new requirements. Rela- ber of casualties of young tives may be members of men in combat resulted in a the same economic group, demographic imbalance. but they must physically Those casualties created a surplus of women of mar- live in separate households. riageable age during the 1980s and early 1990s. Economic Burdens and Opportunities The upshot of these factors is, in general, a dimi- nution in the traditional status of women. Men have The conflict imposed economic hardships on found themselves in a better bargaining position for women, but it also opened new opportunities to par- wives. They have been able to offer lower bride prices ticipate in the economic sphere. Because of the mass and easily divorce their spouses and find new wives. mobilization of men into the military, mass killing, and The decline in status has also led to a high incidence increased labor demand for war and rehabilitation of domestic violence.

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