Women's rights regressing since global conflicts and US elections, says exiled Cambodian politician

Record ID: 1983203

  • Title: Women's rights regressing since global conflicts and US elections, says exiled Cambodian politician
  • Date: 6th March 2025
  • Summary: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (FEBRUARY 25, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXILED CAMBODIAN POLITICIAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST, MU SOCHUA, SAYING: "So when I started with poverty, I started with lack of gender equality, equity, that tells you how it is easy for a family to sell their young children, their young girls. For women to be trapped in karaoke, in brothels. When t
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Cambodia Donald Trump Germany Hun Sen International Women's Day Mu Sochua Phnom Penh U.S. Ukraine United Nations domestic violence elections exiled opposition politician human rights activist human trafficking politics
  • Location: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA / PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • City: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA / PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA008538801032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ahead of International Women's Day, exiled Cambodian politician and human rights activist Mu Sochua said women's rights have regressed since global conflicts and recent elections in the U.S. and Germany.
    The Nobel Prize nominee and current president of the pro-democracy organisation Khmer Movement for Democracy was in Australia for the 7th Cambodian People's Congress, a platform where the Cambodian diaspora can express concerns about women's rights, human rights, and democracy in their homeland.
    "We have come so far, and then all of a sudden, like the elections in the United States, elections just recently in Germany, it’s kind of, it's a lot of consideration we have to make in terms of the next step as a women’s movement. Where do we go from here? How do we fight back?” Mu Sochua told Reuters in an interview from Melbourne.
    Exiled in 2017, Mu Sochua served as Cambodia's Minister of Women's Affairs from 1998 to 2004, and has become an advocate for human rights, working to stop human trafficking, worker exploitation, and domestic violence. She blames corruption for the human trafficking situation in Cambodia.
    "So when I started with poverty, I started with lack of gender equality, equity, that tells you how it is easy for a family to sell their young children, their young girls. For women to be trapped in karaoke, in brothels. When there is such a high level of corruption then human trafficking is no longer a priority," she said.
    The World Justice Project, which ranks countries on factors such as absence of corruption and open government among others, put Cambodia second last in 2024 ahead of Venezuela in its overall index score.
    International Women's Day in 2025 will have the theme: "For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.”
    Mu Sochua acknowledges the day's role in bringing global attention to women's issues, but asserts that more needs to be done to foster unity between men and women.
    “It has always meant to me a celebration," said Mu Sochua. "It is the only day where men can say ‘Ok, I can stay in the kitchen,’ but that’s not enough. It’s not about women or men staying in the kitchen, it’s about men and women together.”
    When she won her parliamentary seat in 1998, Mu Sochua was one of only two women in the cabinet and became the Minister of Women and Veterans’ Affairs. In 2002, she helped empower women in Cambodia to run for office and 12,000 female candidates ran in commune elections that year, with 900 elected.
    "I believe that we have to be more involved in political choice and then I think we have to, not only mobilise when it is time for elections, I think that we have, as women, have to again use our voices, our solidarity, our strength to hold the elected governments accountable. And we have to sit at the decision-making levels," she said.
    As she waits to be allowed back to her home country, Mu Sochua said the fight for women's rights and against corruption must continue.
    “We cannot stop our activism no matter which sector or what interest we have. We have to, as women, be clear that we cannot stop the fight. We have to fight even harder today.”
    United Nations International Women's Day will be marked on Saturday (March 8).
    (Production: Stefica Nicol Bikes, Chantha Lach)
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