COSECAM News

In an effort to improve effective implementation of a system to assist victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuses, COSECAM Coalition has hold a one-day workshop at the end of December to review the project implementation, outputs, constraints or obstacles and to collect feedbacks and recommendations from all stakeholders.

The Coordinated Case Management Project, CCM, launched in 2008, has been implemented in Battambang, Pursat, Banteay Meanchey, Sihanouk, Svay Rieng provinces and Phnom Penh capital, with funding from ANESVAD and INTERVIDA. The project helps build capacity of the Social Affairs Departments to find better solutions to assist the victims.

The workshop brought together key stakeholders, including directors and senior officials from Social Affairs Departments from Phnom Penh capital, Sihanouk, Svay Rieng, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces and project staff from COSECAM.

In his opening remarks, COSECAM Coalition Director, Mr. Tuon Vicheth, said COSECAM needs ideas and comments from all stakeholders to improve current implementation of the project.

“Our main objective is that we want all stakeholders to share their experience and lessons learnt from provinces where CCM is being implemented. CCM is relatively new to almost everyone. Sometimes, people would ask what CCM is,” said Mr. Tuon Vicheth.

“In CCM implementation, the main actor is the officials at the Social Affairs Departments, not staff from the organization,” he added.

The CCM project staff from Battambang, Svay Rieng, Sihanouk and Phnom Penh presented the project outputs, obstacles/constraints, lessons-learnt and recommendations to the participants.

The participants, divided into three groups, discussed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threats of capacity building of local CCM Team, resources mobilization, management and coordination, and reporting by the team.

The discussions found out that sharing information amongst concerned departments and institutions remains very limited, and that some government officials have little knowledge about the project. Furthermore, the project itself hasn't been widely disseminated amongst all key stakeholders.

The workshop also discussed how CCM is necessary for victim assistance, the capacity of CCM team members at the local level, the effect of the system upon the beneficiaries, the impact on the department of social affairs in terms of their work to assist the victims, and project sustainability.

According to the presentation about CCM project implementation in Phnom Penh, between September and November, the project received 165 victims, 104 of whom were women. 107 or nearly 65% of the victims aged between 19 and 29 and over 41% are victims of sexual exploitation.

Mr. Khieu Saluoth, Field Case Manager in Phnom Penh, said those victims were referred to eight non-governmental organizations and two state-run centers.

Mr. Saluoth said in Phnom Penh, the number of victims is very high, adding that many victims, mostly sex workers, didn’t even accept assistance.

Battambang project staff presented that in 2010, 178 victims, mostly of rapes, were recorded, while in 2009, there were only 38 victims recorded.

“Key relevant departments shall consider CCM as key approach for case management and get fully involved the implementation of CCM, with COSECAM providing financial and technical assistance,” Mr. Chea Ravy, CCM field clerk in Battambang, said.

According to the presentation by Mr. Ban Sambath, field case manger in Sihanouk province, between August and December, 2010, twenty-two cases which involved 72 victims were recorded. Nearly 60% of victims were between 18 and 25 years of age. Meanwhile 25 perpetrators were identified—15 got arrested, 4 escaped, one released on bail, three married the victims, and one educated by police and returned home and one transferred to a local NGO for rehabilitation. CCM in Sihanouk has been cooperating with various NGOs for victim assistance, including HAGAR, New Family, AFESIP, M’lop Tapang, IJM and WHI.

“We have some difficulties because we don’t have a transit center for victims. Other constraints are funding resources for transferring victims to other NGOs or shelters. Meanwhile, the DOSAVY hasn’t received sufficient information and documents about the victims and perpetrators,” Mr. Ban Sambath said.

Mr. Yi Chandara, field case manager in Svay Rieng province, said in the presentation that the project assisted 37 victims, most of whom were underage, and transferred them to the project partners, including CCPCR, HAGAR Phnom Penh, REDA and Prison Fellowship Cambodia.

Meanwhile 546 Cambodians, mostly are women and children, were returned from Vietnam in 2010.

“The number of people migrating to Vietnam especially for begging purpose remains very high,” he said.

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COSECAM Address: Room 594, 5th Floor, Building F, Phnom Penh Center, corner Sihanouk & Sothearos Blvd., P.O. Box: 574, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Phone: (855) 23 224 801 / 993 675 | E-mail: office@cosecam.org | Website: www.cosecam.org