To mark the global campaign 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, running from November 25 to December 10, LICADHO is publishing a new report No Punishment, No Protection: Cambodia’s Response to Domestic Violence. It presents evidence of the failure of the Cambodian justice system to properly protect victims of domestic violence or to punish the perpetrators.

It is based on a review of 237 closed domestic violence cases, investigated by LICADHO between the beginning of 2014 and the end of 2016. More than 40 percent of the cases ended with the victim of violence remaining in the violent relationship. Only one fifth led to criminal proceedings being brought against the perpetrator. The remaining cases ended in separation or divorce but no criminal proceedings.

The report explores why so many cases end with victims and abusers remaining together. It finds that family pressure, religious beliefs, poverty and an under-resourced and corrupt justice system all play a part. It also finds that authority figures, such as commune chiefs and police, commonly play a role in bringing about reconciliation between partners.

“More needs to be done to protect women and children in Cambodian society,” said Nap Somaly. “We would like to see some practical measures to assist and rehabilitate survivors – such as resources for social workers, medical professionals and women’s centres where families can turn to for help.”

In more than two thirds of the cases in which the victim of violence remained with her partner, authority figures were involved in encouraging them to do so. These reconciliations follow a similar pattern, with men being chastised for using violence and women often being blamed for bringing the violence on themselves by nagging or not taking sufficient care of their partners. The reconciliation process often ends with both parties agreeing to sign an informal contract stating that they will change their behaviour. Whilst in some cases, this may reduce the violence for a while, it is never effective in the long term. Despite this, LICADHO has seen many cases in which couples have signed multiple contracts with no further action being taken against the violent partner.

The report analyses the sentences passed in the small number of cases in which there was a criminal trial and finds that many are below the legal minimum. According to the Criminal Code, violence committed by a spouse or partner shall be punished with imprisonment from two to five years. However, among the cases examined, about a third of the perpetrators received a sentence of less than two years. More than a quarter of the cases were partly suspended so that the time served was one year or less. Only a tiny minority of cases involved a sentence higher than the legal minimum.

These findings show that in too many cases, authorities are not recognising or treating domestic violence as a criminal offence and in fact are often responsible for encouraging it to continue.

“It’s time domestic violence was taken seriously by the Cambodian criminal justice system. Far too few cases go to trial and that just sends the wrong signal to perpetrators,” said LICADHO Deputy Director of Advocacy Naly Pilorge. “There are laws in place to deal with this and they need to be properly applied.”

The report concludes that Cambodia’s current response to domestic violence is ineffective, giving women little option but to remain in violent situations. It calls on the government to be clear in its condemnation of domestic violence as a criminal offence and to put greater effort and resources into implementation of the law and provision of services for victims.

For more information, please contact:
▪ Naly Pilorge, LICADHO Deputy Director of Advocacy. WhatsApp or Signal: +85512214454
▪ Am Sam Ath, LICADHO Monitoring Manager. WhatsApp or Signal: +85510327770

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