Cambodia Activities

Since November 2001, the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention (JCCP) has worked to provide rehabilitation, reconstruction and development support to Cambodia. JCCP efforts focus on providing education and livelihood support to the poorest communities in rural and remote areas. Until 2005, the JCCP also worked closely with other organizations as part of Cambodia's DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration) program. DDR involves disarming combatants of weapons and ammunition, demobilizing armed groups and reintegrating ex-combatants into society. JCCP collected weapons, often from rural villages, and in exchange provided basic infrastructure such as wells and school buildings. Thankfully, the immediate need for intensive DDR work has lessened, and so the JCCP now focuses on providing peace education and long term development work to reflect this progress.

The JCCP currently operates through an office in Phnom Penh and the Ban Lung office in Ratanakiri Province. A team of ten staff include Japanese nationals, local Khmer staff and a Kreung minority staff member working from the Ban Lung office.

The Kingdom of Cambodia has suffered greatly from years of civil conflict since the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot assumed power in 1975. An estimated 1 to 2 million people, or up to one quarter of Cambodia`s total population, were killed by the regime. In particular, professionals, scholars and political and religious leaders were targeted. Many others were tortured, forced into labor or died of hunger and illness. The country suffered almost total destruction of its societal, institutional and physical infrastructures. Pol Pot`s regime was expelled in 1979 by the neighboring Vietnamese Army who installed a pro-Vietnamese Government. Factional fighting continued until efforts for peace were finally realized through the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991. UN organized elections in 1993 resulted in a fragile coalition co-led by Cambodian People`s Party strongman Hun Sen who remains Prime Minister till this day. The Khmer Rouge officially surrendered in 1998 and remaining leaders will be tried under the Cambodian War Crimes Tribunal to be held in 2008 after years of drawn out negotiations between the UN and the Cambodian Government.

Cambodia has been the focus of concentrated conflict prevention efforts, initially under the auspices of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) from 1992-93, and through the international community and NGOs since. The UN had early success in establishing peace and security, holding elections and repatriating refugees. Despite large donor investments, considerable conflict prevention challenges remain in the areas of de-mining, justice, structural violence and post-conflict trauma. These overlap with the considerable development challenges faced by a country where the majority of the population live in rural areas and lack basic health, education and water services. Today there are more than 450 NGOs working on reconstruction and development projects in Cambodia.