UN: Women, children affected most by crisis in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Women and children of Cambodia bore the brunt of the current global financial crisis, as it cut down on the kingdom's exports and led to job loss, said the Office of UN Resident Coordinator on Wednesday.

"Women will be disproportionally affected by this crisis. They make up the bulk of the labor force, and they are the backbone of this economy. We know that when women's incomes are lost, the whole family suffers, especially the children," said UN Resident Coordinator Douglas Broderick in a press release.

To survive, more and more Cambodian women and children may find themselves in the informal economy for lower wages, poorer conditions, and greater risk of sexual exploitation and trafficking, he said.

Meanwhile, maternal mortality in Cambodia is already unacceptably high, with five pregnant women dying every day, he said.

With even less income to pay for food and health services, UN fears more women will forgo good nutrition and health care during pregnancy, exacerbating maternal and neo-natal mortality rates, he said.

To make things worse, "UN fears many poor families will adopt 'unhealthy' coping measures such as reducing their number of meals per day or eating less nutritious foods; cutting back on health services; removing children from school to work; and selling household assets or land," he added.

This concern is supported by the 2008 National Anthropometric Nutrition Survey, which showed an increase in acute malnutrition in poor urban children aged under five years in link with higher food prices and reduced earnings among the urban poor, according to the press release.

"The global economic crisis has a human face. In Cambodia, it's not just people's livelihoods are at risk, it's people's lives," said the coordinator.

Informal coping measures all have implications for long-term human development: stalling health, nutrition, and literacy, he said, adding that deterioration in these areas not only sets back the country today, but also long into the future, long after Wall Street has recovered.

"There is a human imperative to help Cambodia maintain growth and provide social welfare for all its people," he added.

As part of the response, the UN System in Cambodia is working closely with the government to design an effective social protection system aimed at safeguarding Cambodia's most vulnerablefrom economic and other shocks, said the release.

"Investing in women and children is the best way to ensure long-term prosperity. There is real opportunity in this crisis to transform ongoing vulnerability into sustainable futures for all Cambodians," said Douglas Broderick.

Social safety nets in health, education, food, and work can help break the poverty cycle and we must not lose sight of this focus, he added.

According to UN, after a decade of double-digit growth, driven by the manufacturing, construction, and tourism sectors, the Cambodian economy is predicted to contract significantly in 2009.

Shrinking demand from U.S. and EU markets has already forced 60,000 job losses in the garment sector, reduced foreign direct investment has seen a further 25,000 jobs lost in construction, hotel occupancies is well below last year, and economic migrants in neighboring Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia are facing increasing pressure to return home, it added.

Editor: Xiong Tong