Sunday, December 1, 2013

Assessment of the Enabling Environment for Civil Society Country Report – Cambodia

Assessment of the Enabling Environment for Civil Society

Country Report – Cambodia

Prepared for the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia by Cord Cambodia.

December 2013

Section I: Introduction

This report focuses on the legal, regulatory, and policy environment in which Cambodian civil society organizations (CSOs) operate. The laws and regulations that govern CSOs shape their ability to communicate and associate with others, to engage in peaceful assembly, to seek tax exemptions, to engage in philanthropy, and to access information. These factors, as well as the relationship with government, help to define the nature of civil society’s enabling environment.

The report is part of the Civic Space Initiative program initiated by CIVICUS and the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), in partnership with ARTICLE19, and the World Movement for Democracy, and with support from the Swedish International Development Agency

The Enabling Environment National Assessment for Cambodia

CCC selected seven dimensions of the enabling environment for this assessment: (1) formation, (2) operation, (3) access to resources, (4) expression, (5) peaceful assembly, (6) government-civil society relations, and (7) CSO cooperation. The research was intended to identify:

1. Laws, regulations and the policy environment affect the ability of CSO to function

2. Key problems, weaknesses and challenges arising from laws and policies

3. How best to overcome challenges and promote increased democratic space.

Definitions

A fully enabling environment for civil society would guarantee fundamental human rights that allow people to organise and participate in development, including: Freedom of association and assembly and expression; Legal recognition facilitating the work of CSOs; Freedom of movement, mobility rights and the right to travel: The right to operate free of unwarranted state interference; and a legal framework in which to obtain necessary resources

This report is focused on concerns of Local NGOs (LNGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) administered by the Ministry of Interior or the Council of Ministers. (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation administers international NGOs.)

Section ll: Methodology.

The research team worked in collaboration with CCC and indirectly with CCC’s research advisory panel, to determine appropriate methods for gathering and analysing the required information. The method consisted of a review of documents and interviews with 24 key stakeholders.

Section III: Formation of Civil Society Organisations

The right to form and register a civil society organisation is guaranteed in the Constitution of Cambodia and currently here are around 1,350 active NGOs and associations. The government has power to deny registration. A proposed new law on NGOs and associations (LANGO) may simplify the legal provisions for registration. But many CSOs fear changes may be used to shrink democratic space.

Key challenges to the formation of civil society organisations in Cambodia are:

Lack of clarity in the Civil Code for Cambodia and complicated registration requirements
Excessive government discretion in determining eligibility for registration
Requirement to pay ‘facilitation fees’, that is, bribes to government officials in order to secure assistance for the registration process
Apparent absence of a mechanism of appeal for failed attempts at registration
Uncertainty and suspicion from civil society actors regarding pending changes to legal provisions determining formation requirements, and especially regarding the possibility that new legal provisions will be used to restrict freedoms

Section IV: Operation of Civil Society Organisations

Laws governing CSOs include the Civil Code on Cambodia 2007, the Law on Taxation 2004, the Penal Code 2009, the Peaceful Demonstrations Law 2009, and the Anti-corruption Law 2010. CSOs that promote human rights have been threatened and suspended by government. Many worry the proposed new LANGO law will increase the government interference and control of CSOs

Key challenges in relation to the operation of civil society organisations in Cambodia are:

Low compliance with existing legal provisions by civil society organisations
Onerous and confusing reporting obligations
Poor understanding and/or improper implementation of existing legal provisions by government officials
Requirement to make unofficial payments to government staff to facilitate operations
Absence of, and inconsistent, repercussions for failure to comply with legal obligations
Occasional harassment of some CSOs involved in human rights work
Absence of an appeal mechanism in the event of deregistration, suspension or dissolution
Fear in relation to the potential misuse of the proposed new law on NGOs and associations

Section V: Access to Resources

RGC seems not to acknowledge CSOs as important strategic partners.

Key challenges for Cambodian civil society organisations to access resources are:

• Increasing competition to access foreign funds

• Increasing donor concern with the financial sustainability of projects and shifting donor priorities (away from Cambodia)

• Low organisational capacity in fundraising

• Perceived pressure to generate independent income

• Potential for some social enterprise development to displace the core work of civil society

• Absence of a partnership agreement between government and civil society

• Near absence of local philanthropy, except in relation to religious and political donations

Section VI: Expression

The press in Cambodia has been deemed ‘not free’ and crackdowns on free speech have been increasing since 2012.

Key challenges in relation to expression in Cambodia are:

Lack of independence of most local media, especially TV and Khmer-language newspapers
The adoption of a new draft anti-cyber law may restrict freedom of speech/ expression
Intimidation of some individuals who express opinions contrary to the government
Potential for a new law on NGOs and associations to restrict freedom of expression

Section VII: Peaceful Assembly

Article 41 of the Constitution of Cambodia states that citizens shall have freedom of expression, press, publication and assembly but in some instances, government has arbitrarily restricted freedom of movement and assembly, refused to give permission for peaceful protests, and police have disrupted meetings, and threatened communities that engage with NGOs.

Key challenges in relation to peaceful assembly in Cambodia are:

Apparently arbitrary denials of requests to assemble/demonstrate
Fear of repercussion against organisers and participants in peaceful assemblies
Disturbance of peaceful assemblies by authorities
Occasional escalation to violence of otherwise peaceful demonstrations
Lack of transparency in investigative processes into police or other authorities implicated in perpetrating violence against participants in peaceful assembly
Absence of repercussions towards those who perpetrate violence against participants, despite photographic and video evidence of such.

Section VIII: Government and Civil Society Relations

The role of civil society in Cambodia’s development is substantially overlooked. One interviewee says “It is rare that national governments are as uncommitted to partnership with CSOs as is the case in Cambodia”.

Key challenges for the relationship between government and civil society include:

• Ongoing lack of trust, especially between the government and those civil society organisations that are active in promoting democracy and human rights

• Insufficient opportunities for dialogue and for government and civil society to provide meaningful input and feedback to each other, especially at national level

• Failure to provide adequate space and time for civil society contributions to Technical Working Groups and other comparable consultative mechanisms

• Lack of clarity about a proposed annual forum between government and civil society

• Failure to ascribe a clear role to civil society in Cambodia’s Rectangular Strategy

• Limited capacity for cooperation on the part of both government and civil society

• Lack of interest in cooperation