A regional milestone on the promotion of LGBTIQ rights is being achieved this February 16 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. CamASEAN, with support from other LGBTIQ and human rights organizations such as UN Women, Asia Pacific Transgender Network, and ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, is holding a national dialogue to help make transgender rights visible in policies and local discourse.
CamASEAN seeks to hold a peaceful, educated dialogue between transgender communities and government institutions like the Ministry of Education, Youth, & Sports, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Women's Affairs, Ministry of Work and Vocational Training, Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of Health, as well as private, media, and academic sectors. The dialogue aims to recognize existing local efforts to promote LGBTIQ rights and welfare, as well as bring to the table other relevant concerns that still plague the community up to this day.
Cambodia has recently been recognized as one of the more progressive ASEAN countries when it comes to protection and support of the LGBTIQ sector. With the introduction of the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan, and the recognition of the constitutional fact that Cambodia has “no laws [that] discriminate against [the LGBTIQ]” (according to a representative of the Royal Government of Cambodia), a foundation for a welfare-based approach to human rights that is inclusive of this sector has been built. Aside from this, other gender-based policies have also been enacted in the country, providing a more stable political framework for women’s rights.
However, there’s still a lot of groundwork to be done-- both to educate civil society about the LGBTIQ and to compel the government to push for welfare-based policies. The government does have its duty to promote the rights of its people, but it’s also important to encourage a free, informed discourse from the bottom-up that creates a more participative approach to policy-making.
This dialogue does just that-- providing historical narratives and statistical information of transgender rights violations in the country to help relevant institutions understand the immediate need to create a safe, inclusive space for transgender people. Such issues include trans-specific health services, media representation, and discriminatory violence in the form of domestic and sexual abuse.
The ASEAN SOGIE Caucus (ASC) lends its support to this event, releasing its own statement with recommendations for the inclusion of LGBTIQ rights in government policies. ASC pushes forward suggestions for the government to help create a safer country for the LGBTIQ community, like enacting a law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of SOGIE and creating educational initiatives to help eradicate social stigma based on SOGIE in Cambodian Culture.
ASC also recommends for the Cambodian government to actively engage with international organizations in helping promote LGBTIQ rights and welfare in the ASEAN region. Such action would cement Cambodia as a visible player in the global campaign for human rights.
CamASEAN, along with other LGBTIQ communities and organizations in the region, looks forward to seeing Cambodia take a long overdue step toward setting an example for other ASEAN countries in terms of human rights protection and participative governance.
