Cambodian youth volunteer to end violence against women
Date:
Author: Mariken B. Harbitz
Prey Veng, a Cambodian province east of the capital Phnom Penh was visited by more than 60 young people, interested in learning about gender-based violence and how to prevent it.
For the first time, UN Women joined the Volunteerism Caravan, an initiative implemented by UN Volunteers in Cambodia. Since its’ launch in June 2014 the Caravan has been on the road educating youth on the programmes’ achievements and the opportunities that exist for volunteers in the country. In Prey Veng, one of the sessions was focused on how volunteers can contribute to ending gender-based violence in Cambodia.
“This initiative gathers various segments of society ranging from government officials to youth volunteers” explains Dorota Ciompova (25), youth coordinator at UN Volunteers in Cambodia. Ciompova has been part of the caravan project from the very beginning, and enthusiastically shares the purpose of the discussion: ““With the increasing number of young people in the country, there is a fundamental need for youth engagement to end violence against women”, she continues.
Kayo Takahashi, Coordinator of Partners for Prevention, a regional UN joint programme for the prevention of violence against women and girls in Asia and the Pacific,engaged the young crowd by emphasizing that violence may occur only once, or can happen frequently while escalating over years. The UN Women-conducted session also focused on the different forms of violence, and how young women and men can help in preventing abuse.
“Even in my own family I have seen that gender equality is not always present” said Channak Eam, a volunteer that lives together with his parents and siblings. “My father is the leader in the family. Before, he did not understand the essence of gender equality, or what it meant to empower women”, he said. “At one point the whole family had to sit down to discuss the situation. We had a good dialogue on how we should communicate together, and that my father should not raise his voice to my mother” said Eam, who points out that the family today is in a much happier state today as a result of this.
Sroun Sreyka (22) a girl from Prey Veng elaborated on the different forms of violence that are present in Cambodia. “I think it is important to look beyond physical violence. If a woman is forced to stay at home to do domestic work, this is locking her up. This is violence”, she said. The 22 year old volunteer is passionate in making gender equality an issue that concerns both women and men. “We need to advocate for equal rights for everyone” said Sreyka.
In Cambodia, volunteers are an invaluable asset of UN Women’s work to prevent violence against women. In March 2015 the report Ending Violence against Women – a guide to working with volunteers was re-launched by UN Women together with UN Volunteers. This report emphasizes that working with volunteers to prevent gender-based violence can have a huge impact. Research additionally shows that volunteers allow for projects on gender-based violence to reach more remote fields such as university campuses and other project areas.