The Heinrich Böll Foundation established cooperation with partner organizations in Cambodia as early as 1993. Since then the office in Phnom Penh has served as a link among stakeholders in order to facilitate dialogue, joint learning and collaborative action on issues related to ecology and sustainable development, democracy, human rights and gender. Since the beginning of 2010, the office in Phnom Penh has become a Country Office. We work together closely with the Asia Desk of the head office in Berlin, as well as the HBF country offices in Bangkok/Thailand, Kabul/Afghanistan, Lahore/Pakistan, New Delhi/India and Beijing/China.

One of the great challenges of the 21st century is to bring about global equity without further overstepping the planet’s ecological limits or overusing the earth’s finite resources.

In the recent elections Premier Hun Sen of Cambodia has learned that a large part of the Cambodians want a new political leadership. But even though his party has lost many votes, a change in the repressive political system is currently very unlikely.

Our Cambodia office director Manfred Hornung has registered with Cambodia's National Election Committee (NEC) as an independent observer for the parliamentary elections. In his articles he reports about worried citizens and protests on the election day.

Cambodia’s elections did not produce a clear winner – this alone is notable news for a country that has been governed by the same person for almost 29 years. However Prime Minister Hun Sen continues to sit tight at the reigns. What does this mean for the German development cooperation with Cambodia?

Decades after the Khmer Rouge’s reign and after the end of the civil war in the 1990s, Cambodia is governed today by political elite that is criticized by international observers as being authoritarian and corrupt.

  The “Everything but Arms” trade initiative should bring benefit to the poeple of Cambodia, but the opposite is the case. Illegal methods were established to make profits out of the duty-free export of sugar. Even though there is a EU resolution emphasizing the critical escalation of human rights abuses and land grabbing due to the export of agricultural products, the resulting efforts of the EU are poor.

Women´s political role in Cambodia is hampered by gender based discrimination, but woman have much to say about local political issues. This video explores the political problems faced by women in Cambodia, indigenous or Khmer, their visions about change and strategies that can allow them to gain a better share in governance.

With the adoption of a new Land Law in 2001, the Royal Government of Cambodia initiated a comprehensive land reform process. By giving voice to these women, The Heinrich Böll Foundation hopes to contribute to improvements in the recognition and registration of women´s land rights in Cambodia.