The Implications of Closing Civic Space for Sustainable Development in Cambodia

This report is one of a set of 4 country case studies designed to study the implications of closing civic space for the achievement of the SDGs

Abstract

This report on Cambodia is one of a set of 4 country case studies designed to study the implications of closing civic space for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The case study was commissioned in response to the wave of legal, administrative, political and informal means to restrict civic space and the activities of civil society actors in countries around the world in the past decade. Based on a literature review and conceptual framework developed for the study (see also Hossain et al 2018), the report documents changing civic space in Cambodia.

The country is characterized by a centralised political system where power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the dominant ruling class. Development policy has prioritized high-growth goals, with documented violations of land, labour and freedom of speech rights in the process. The case study documents the impacts on specific Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) objectives, including no poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), decent work (SDG 8), gender and economic equality (SDGs 5 and 10) inclusive communities (SDG 11), life on the land (SDG 15).

This work is part of the Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) programme

Citation

Schröder, P. and Young, S. (2019) ‘The Implications of Closing Civic Space for Sustainable Development in Cambodia’, mimeo, IDS

The Implications of Closing Civic Space for Sustainable Development in Cambodia

Updates to this page

Published 30 April 2019