ADHOC’s Background

The Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) was founded by a group of former political prisoners in December 1991 after the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements on October 23, 1991. ADHOC is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit and non-governmental organization. It has different levels of governance: a General Assembly which is convened every three years to elect a President and Secretary General, and a Board of Advisors which meet annually.

ADHOC is tasked to address the absence of basic rights, freedoms and liberties in Cambodia by providing people with knowledge and understanding of human rights, law and democracy and of how to defend these rights and freedoms themselves.

ADHOC is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, non-governmental organization. The General Assembly which meets every three years, is the highest policy-making body of the organization. The General Assembly elects a President and a Secretary General to supervise the overall management, administration, finance and implementation of program activities implementation. The Annual Assembly, in which all ADHOC ​staff participate, is held each year to review past program implementation and to make necessary recommendations for the next year’s plan of activity and budget. The Donors Meeting is convened annually to provide all ADHOC funding agencies with an opportunity to review and improve the past year’s program activities implementation and to contribute to the planning of next year’s program.

The Advisory Board meets every year at a date set by the Management Committee in order to discuss ways to improve the implementation of program activities. The Monthly Meeting is a give-and-get advice session; participants include provincial staff who rotate, heads of the Advocacy and Monitoring sections and Program Officers. The Management Committee conducts weekly meeting to review the implementation of the program activities, to assess the central and provincial staff’s performance and service delivery, and to take action or to make decisions on on-going matters. The Management Committee also conducts weekly consultations with staff to share information in regards to program implementation, to formulate annual plans of activity and budgets, to make decisions on the program operation and to approve all office and personnel policies.

ADHOC is comprised of Human Rights Program, Land and Natural Resources Rights Program and Women’s and Children’s Rights Program. The Association has its headquarters in Phnom Penh and provincial offices throughout the country in 23 provinces/cities.

The Human Rights Program responds, in all of Cambodia’s 23 provinces, to violations and threats of violations to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It responds by mediating solutions, preventing threatened violations, investigating actual violations and supporting the victims and their families. Within its mandate, ADHOC investigates every cases of suspected violation of civil and political rights by State agents involving extra-judicial killings (mob killings, political killing), physical assaults, torture (inside or outside prison), illegal arrests and detention, crackdown on peaceful demonstrations, extortion and impunity. The Human Rights Monitoring Program also investigates and intervenes in cases of economic, social and cultural rights violations, especially the right to education and the right to health.

The Human Rights Program conducts campaigns to advocate for laws such as the Anti-Corruption Law or amendments in the Demonstration Law or the new Criminal Code (Penal Code).

ADHOC undertake researches in order to:

Find the best campaign to advocate for each law

Fully understand Cambodia’s needs for these laws and legitimate ADHOC’s campaigns

Prepare and find solutions for laws implementation

ADHOC cooperates with the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee and its Sub-Committee at the provincial level, Committee for Free and Fair Election in Cambodia (COMFREL) and the UNOHCHR at the national level. At the regional and international level, ADHOC cooperates with Forum Asia, the Asian Human Rights Committee (AHRC), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI).

The Human Rights Program strengthens provincial NGOs networks in order to have updated information and a permanent dialogue with the grassroots level. At the local level, ADHOC works with about 20 partners in 13 provinces (Preah Vihear, Kampong Speu, Takeo, Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Banteay Meanchey, Mondulkiri, Koh Kong, Battambang, Siem Reap, Kratie, Kampong Thom, Kampong Cham) in order to strengthen solidarity among civil society organizations, both NGOs and Community representatives, through intensifying coordination.

The Human Rights Program campaigns for protection of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR): ADHOC collects information about and analyzes the problems of the frustrating access to social services of most vulnerable and disadvantageous groups.

The Land and Natural Resources Rights Program’s activities aim at: investigating on a case-by-case basis, and following up land disputes, advocating State agencies for action, providing assistance to victims.

Every case of suspected land grabbing by rich and powerful people, illegal sale of fishery lots and illegal logging reported to ADHOC, will be investigated and remanded to the local or national authority involved.

Less serious violations are investigated by provincial staff – usually the monitor, or an activist. For more serious violations, investigations are conducted by provincial coordinators. For the most serious and sensitive violations, provincial staff are supported by an investigator from central office and sometimes by investigators whose organizations are members of CHRAC.

In very serious case of land grabbing or mass eviction, ADHOC helps to create or joins informal coalitions of organizations to support landowners to get land back or receive fair compensation through advocacy, legal action (provide lawyer free), press conference, workshops, public forums and network at community level.

Those activities aim at:

–          providing general knowledge about land and natural resources rights, indigenous rights and other related laws (Land law, Forestry Law, Fisheries Law, and Economic Land Concession sub-decree), and on Advocacy skills and alternative conflict resolution skills

–          encouraging affected people and stakeholders (including economic land concessionaires) to discuss together to find fair and peaceful solutions

–          building solidarity network within the communities, particularly those affected by land conflicts

–          assisting victims in their quest for justice, through investigation and legal assistance

Training courses are provided to affected community members to improve their knowledge on land & natural resources rights.

o        how to build a network to protect community land and natural resources

o        legal documents and procedures the government should respect

o        practical skills to advocate and lobby

Through regular meetings, ADHOC offers opportunity to community representatives to meet each others, first to understand laws better and second, to resolve different problems that occur in the community. ADHOC, in cooperation with local authorities, organizes seminars at the provincial level to provide opportunity for participants and key speakers to raise their concerns relating to land natural resources rights violations in their communities.

The Women’s and Children’s Rights program focuses on monitoring, investigation and intervention in case of gender-based violence by providing victims with legal aid, emergency assistance, counseling and legal representation, and by defending victims at court. It is also seeking close cooperation with other Human Rights NGOs, stakeholders, interested groups and local authorities in order to bring offenders to face justice, to follow up the victims’ reintegration, to render justice to victims and to reduce the culture of the impunity that will continue to prevail throughout the country if no strict measure is taken.

These activities include:

Training is provided to community members and local authorities to raise awareness and understanding on the protection and prevention of discrimination against victims of domestic violence, trafficking and rape.

The training provides broad and deep knowledge and understanding of gender, women’s human rights and CEDAW convention. The most important is to encourage victims to take floor to voice their concerns and issues, in order to draw the attention of people in government to take appropriate measures to prevent and to deal with conflicts effectively.

The Women’s and Children’s Rights program conducts follow-up of ex-victims of domestic violence, rape, or trafficking who left shelters and returned home, cases where perpetrators had already been prosecuted and cases that had been mediated by local authorities.