Media Statement: LICADHO highlights alarming increase in female
prisoner population to mark International Women’s Day
The number of women and girls in Cambodian prisons continues to soar
at an alarm-ing rate.
By mid-December 2012 there were 1,270 female inmates in the
Cambodian prison system, an increase of 39% since December 2010.
Women and girls represent 8% of prisoners in Cambodia but their
incarceration rate has been growing four times faster than the male
prison population.
This disturbing trend is almost certainly due to a continued
increase in drug-related arrests. At the end of 2012 there were 67
women living with their children in prison and 14 pregnant women,
more than one third of the total still await-ing trial. 61 of them
had been arrested on drug trafficking offences.
“The sad truth is that women tend to work at the lowest level, but
the sharpest end of the drug trade,” said LICADHO President Dr. Pung
Chhiv Kek. “As drug transporters and sellers – and of ten consumers
– they are easy targets for gov-ernment drug crackdowns whilst the
high level drug traffickers go unpunished.”
To mark International Women’s Day this year, LICADHO is calling on
Cambodian judicial authorities to reconsider the over use of
imprisonment of women and girls for petty non-violent offences such
as drug crimes and thef t. At sentenc-ing judges should take into
consideration the family impact, particularly the mother-child
relationship and the impact on the development of any children
inside or outside prison. Pregnant women and women with infants
should only be imprisoned in exceptional circumstances.
On 8 March, LICADHO and NGO partners will deliver food and supplies
to female prisoners in 15 prisons and hold special events, including
speeches, games and traditional dancing. LICADHO and partners will
also distribute toys to children living with their mothers in eight
prisons.
“In a prison system already massivelyoverburdened, the growth rate
of female prisoners is simply unsustainable,” said LICADHO’s Prison
Supervisor Nget Sokun. “Prisons lack the space and prison staff lack
the training and resources to deal with thespecial needs of
incarcerated women and children.”
LICADHO is also concerned at the overuse of pre-trial detention,
especially for pregnant women. Of the 14 pregnant women imprisoned
at the end of 2012, none had yet been tried and convicted. As it is,
pre-trial detention should be a measure of last resort. For pregnant
women there should be no question over the urgency to seek
alternative measures, except in exceptional circumstances.
Women are of ten the most vulnerable and isolated of prisoners and
their imprisonment can have a devastating im-pact on their families.
Those convicted of drug trafficking are of ten held far from their
families and are unlikely to be granted bail. On International
Women’s Day LICADHO seeks to raise awareness of their plight and to
campaign for posi-tive changes in policy and practice.
For more information, please contact:
• Dr. Pung Chhiv Kek, President of LICADHO Tel: (+855) 012-802-506
[English, French, Khmer]
• Ms. Nget Sokun, Prison Supervisor Tel: (+855) 016-797-305 [Khmer]
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