Civil Society, Rights and Welfare: Exploring the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Cambodia

This study examines Cambodia’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Corpus analysis of civil society organisations’ submissions to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review reveals a raft of CRC violations, including sexual abuse, trafficking and child labour. This is due to political and bureaucratic failings. The wider significance of this lies in underlining how the disjuncture between state and civil society underpins ongoing violations. Future progress depends on strengthened mobilisation yet increasing repression of civil society makes this unlikely. Accordingly, the prospects are bleak with children in Cambodia continuing to suffer widespread rights violations.