Report Finds Poor Implementation of Domestic Violence Law

Preliminary research in two provinces has found that a lack of implementation of the domestic violence law means that women continue to suffer abuse and more needs to be done to ensure that attitudes change and perpetrators are held accountable. Katherine Brickell, senior lecturer in Human Geography at Royal Holloway at the University of London, spent two years surveying 1,177 men and women over the age of 18 in a bid to see how the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of the Victims’ in Cambodia, which was passed in 2005, is preventing violence against women. The preliminary findings, which were compiled in collaboration with Gender and Development for Cambodia and Dr. Bunnak Poch, found that 8 percent of women surveyed in Siem Reap province had been the victims of domestic violence, compared to 16 percent of women in Pursat province. … While the research found that 92 percent of men and 90 percent of women indicated some knowledge of the domestic violence law, “there is confusion over women’s rights and the translation of [the law] into concrete outcome.” Only 6 percent of men said they knew about women’s rights to a life free from domestic violence, while just 18 percent were aware that women have the right to equal justice and protection under the law. …

 Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/report-finds-poor-implementation-of-domestic-violence-law-50906/