Since the promulgation of Cambodia’s constitution in 1993, the country has made considerable strides in stimulating legal reforms to overcome the systematic weakness of its legal institutions. However, more work still needs to be done to safeguard the rule of law principle and to secure the effective and sustainable national justice system in the Kingdom, including the improvement of justice service delivery, strengthening the legal and policy framework, and ensuring comprehensive implementation and enforcement of the law in Cambodia.
Promoting the rule of law is one of the top priorities in the work of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) because we believe that sustainable development and security are not conceivable without stable democracies – and that stable democracies are not possible without the rule of law. Globally, KAS is committed to promoting rule of law structures and central institutions as well as the separation of powers and a strong independent judiciary through an open exchange between key players within the fields of rule of law, politics, and society.
The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Cambodia, in this context, has focused its rule of law-related activities on promoting pluralistic discussions around various legal topics. We aim to involve all relevant stakeholders, including both duty-bearers and rights-holders, in constructive and peaceful debates concerning the ongoing status of the rule of law in Cambodia in a broader sense. The programme meets this demand mostly through seminars, conferences, training workshops, and publications. This involves working with politicians specializing in law, judges and justice ministers, other judges at different levels, prosecutors, attorneys, lecturers in higher education, ministerial officials or representatives of NGOs, junior lawyers and students and interested parties in civil society. Learn more about our work in strengthening the Rule of Law in Cambodia:
Event and Publication
Law Talk
Law Talk is one of a few regular forums for legal discussions between academia, civil society, students, and the government in Cambodia. We initiated this academic conference with the goal to support legal discussion and analysis of various specialized legal themes in Cambodia. Participants are invited from different walks of life but common legal backgrounds, such as academicians, scholars, researchers, students, and sometimes politicians, public officers, NGO workers, embassies, and international organizations to meet and discuss particular legal matters.
The Law Talk enables the group to discuss legal topics freely in the form of paper presentations, open legal debates on a certain law, identifying knowledge gaps, and suggesting recommendations for further revision of the law. As a result, it is anticipated that those involved in the discussion return home with some lessons learned and spread the knowledge further, and most importantly, bring the recommendations for further discussion at their respective institutions. There have been various legal topics brought up and discussed in each Law Talk during the past years, including the topics of Constitutional Law, Labour Law, Human Rights, Environmental Law, Criminal Law, Law on Political Parties, and so forth.
The latest discussions include the topic of Data Protection and Privacy law, as well as Cybersecurity regulation which is among the increasingly relevant issues discussed locally and globally, especially in the context of digitalization. Partners we previously worked with were public institutions including the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Council of Cambodia, Ministry of Justice relevant ministries in Cambodia. We believe that participation from such institutions is essential for our program to have an inclusive and dynamic legal discussion and debate. They play an important role when it comes to the legal reform process in Cambodia.
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung -For Legal Youth training program (KAS-FLY)
Since 2018, KAS Cambodia, in the context of the annual ‘KAS-For Legal Youth’ project, has been promoting the continuing professional development of qualified junior legal practitioners, and law students with the potential to take a leading role in strengthening democracy and the Rule of Law and in establishing a transparent and ethically responsible judiciary.
This specific program is founded on the insight that working toward sustainable reform of the justice system mean ensuring new legal professionals develop an adequate awareness of the Rule of Law and democracy early on, are cognisant of their responsibility, and willing to champion their consistent application in the justice system as multipliers and to defend the position of the judiciary including against political pressures.
The programme is designed for a duration of six months alongside professional practices and consists of monthly one-to-two-day training and/or workshop locally in Phnom Penh, sometime in the provinces. Complementing these, there are regular educational trips to political and legal institutions for practical insight and exchange of experience from representatives of the judiciary and other law-related institutions in Cambodia.
Law Talk Publication on Consumer Protection in the Digital Age
Cambodia had only recently adopted its Consumer Protection Law in late 2019, making it one of the youngest consumer protection regimes compared to other countries in the region and the world. The national report on ASEAN Consumer Empowerment Index (ACEI) in Cambodia, released in September 2020, suggests that consumer protection knowledge and understanding are very limited among Cambodians. This is critical because even the strongest constitutions and laws can have little impact unless there is widespread awareness of the applicable law and its respective rights and obligations for the actors within the justice system and the population as a whole. Against this background and in order to contribute to Cambodia's limited legal literature, particularly in this specific field of consumer protection law, researchers and experts were invited to submit and present their research papers at the 19th Law Talk: ‘’Law in the digital age: Protection of consumer rights”. This publication is, therefore, a compilation of various academic perspectives from different young Cambodian researchers and experts in identifying the Status Quo of consumer protection law and policy, the challenges of implementing these, and formulating policy recommendations for a better consumer protection regime in Cambodia.
