Newsletter "Youth and Democracy"
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We have been publishing our monthly newsletter since 1994. It represents the ideas, opinions and points of view of the young people in Cambodia. Without this newsletter no voice from the young generation could be heard and no new ideas for the national development could be contributed. Thus it's a channel for the youth to change society. The newsletter plays an important role for all the projects of KYA in order to intervene, inform and put pressure on government activities. In addition, the newsletter is a main part of our success in advocacy work. The main contents of our publishing are comments, human rights and democracy, the women column, public opinions, poems, comics, research and youth actvities both inside and outside the country. Each month we print 1500 copies which we distribute to NGOs, donors, embassies, government institutions, local authorities, faculties, universities, schools etc.
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Being aware of Democracy and Human Rights |
Despite of the Cambodian constitution's stress on the protection of human rights and democracy, many authorities don't respect it. We can see this clearly when we go to the provinces to provide trainings about human rights and democracy. Many times, authorities hesitate to give us permission to conduct the trainings. |
Impunity |
Due to the weak judiciary system in Cambodia, mob killing still exists and the government has not taken any reliable action against that. Moreover, crimes have been committed by high ranking officials and their relatives themselves, therefore, measures against them are a vicious circle. |
Peace |
The civil war in Cambodia has ended and we now have peace throughout the country but the peace in our minds is still a big problem because of the moral crisis of the people. We can see it everyday on the frontpages of our newspapers: a father rapes his daughter, a husband kills his wife, a son kidnaps his parents and so on. These are the problems of peace in our minds. |
Drugs and HIV/AIDS |
The young people in Cambodia are being destroyed by drugs and HIV/AIDS. These are widespreading problems throughout the country. We can see people dying on drug overdose and AIDS everyday. The question is why these problems are spreading quickly in Cambodia? We believe it's the lack of information about it and that radios and TV's spend too much time on advertising beer or cigarettes rather than showing the dangers of it. |
Poverty |
In Cambodia around 40% of the population live under the poverty line which states that they earn less than a Dollar per day. 20% of the people are landless and 25% own less than half a hectar of land. People who need medical treatment often lack the money to pay the hospital fee which leads to the fact that they sell their land. The impact of poverty causes children not to go to school and this especially affects the young girls. |
Gap between urban and rural |
The people in town seem to have more opportunities than those who live in rural areas. This gap has made many people move into the cities to find work. |
The effects of our newsletter - two examples |
- The corruption in public schools has been reduced. For example in the Cham Bak, Vat Svay and Preah Sihanouk primary schools in Svay Rieng province: After we had published an article about corruption in those primary schools, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport took action against the school principal of Cham Bak by ordering him to pay back all the money he had taken. As for the Vat Svay and Preah Sihanouk primary schools the Provincial Education Officer ordered the school principals to stop the actions.
- The land dispute in Toek Cha in Kampong Cham province: we helped the people to set up an advocacy strategy. We taught children in the village to show the provincial authorities the articles about land law. Up to now, the people are still remaining in Toek Cha and we did not see any measures against them anymore.
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