CDC - Statement by Sweden

Cambodia CG Meeting Phnom Penh, June 19-2 1, 2002 Statement by Sweden

1. Assessment of progress Sweden welcomes the overall development in Cambodia during the last year in terms of political stability, macro-economic growth and fiscal performance. We would like to take this opportunity to emphasis our appreciation, concerns and some of our main priorities in the co-operation with Cambodia. We endorse the joint donor assessment of the achievements by the RGC against the reform benchmarks agreed on during the CG in Tokyo 2001. We thus commend the Government for achievements made with regard to the new Land Law, the demobilization programme, the law on foreign investment s and the establishment and initial functioning of the National Audit Authority. Considerable progress is also been made to increase budget allocations for the social sectors although actual disbursements and timely availability of funds remain serious concerns. We are particularly impressed by the overall development and progress made within the educational sector, with a coherent national sector strategy and programme in place and impact in terms of increased enrolment rates and marginally diminishing gender gaps already visible. We strongly urge the RGC to keep up the pace, with even stronger attention to gender inequalities. We are also greatly satisfied with the achievements made with regard to the decentralization and the commune reform. The reform will require long-term and consistent support and resources but presents vast potentials to consolidate and enhance democracy and local sustainable development. Women’s representation on the new commune councils however remains a disappointment. The communal elections held in early 2002, although marking an improvement compared to previous elections, fell short of international standards. The lessons learnt from these elections including serious shortcomings in terms of violence and other election violations should urgently be carried forward into the preparations for next years general elections and a needed revision of the law on elections. We however share the strong concerns with regard to the modest procuress made during the last year with regard to the urgent need to improve governance and the rule of law in Cambodia, in spite of very concrete plans and undertakings by the Government. The rule of law based on a transparent legislation and a competent and independent judiciary remains the highest priority to overcome impunity, safeguard human rights, and provide a firm basis for sustainable economic development. With regard to legal and judicial reform, we look forward to a firm strategy, a realistic action plan and a convincing reform structure for a comprehensive legal and judicial reform. We welcome the recent establishment of the School of Magistrates and the plans to establish a joint Council for Legal and Judicial Reform with representation from all concerned RGC agencies. The need to ensure transparency and broad consultation in the reform process should be acknowledged. The Law on Magistrates and a reform of’ the Supreme Council of Magistrates are crucial and urgently needed steps on the reform agenda. We strongly regret the current impasse in the negotiations between the RGC and the United Nations with regard to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. We appreciate the reiterated preference by the RGC to co-operate with the UN on a formula to ensure that international standards of justice, fairness and due process are met in setting up the Tribunal and to guarantee the establishment of an internationally credible tribunal. We acknowledge the strains that the influx of highland refugees from Vietnam have created over the past year. We welcome the assurances by the RGC that the 1951 International Convention on Refugees will be frilly applied in possible future refugee cases. Corruption remains rampant and transparency and accountability are key words in our co-operation. Corruption not -only squanders national financial and natural resources. It also contributes to poverty and may seriously undermine human rights. Corruption and the lack of the rule of law have undoubtedly contributed to the drastic decrease in foreign investments over the past years. We fully appreciate that corruption is multifaceted and depends on many different factors, which are not quickly and easily tackled. However, we are deeply disappointed that the long awaited Anti-Corruption Law still has not been adopted. While the establishment of the NAA is a positive step, concrete results and follow-up of its audits and investigations will be the proof of its operational effectiveness. Equally important is full national application of the 1995 Procurement Decree. We are sure that RGC would find all needed external support to establish the necessary national capacity to fulfill this minimum international requirement for transparent and efficient use of scarce resources. We do see the ambitions of the RGC to accede to the WTO as a special justification and impetus for urgent and strong action in these key areas of democratic governance. Closely related is the growing problem of trafficking trafficking human beings. Among other actions, we would urge the RGC to proceed to ratify the relevant international instruments such as the UN Convention Against Trans-national Organized Crime and its supplementary protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. We would also like to urge the RGC to sign and ratify the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Adoption and to finalise and adopt the draft national adoption law in compliance with the convention. The absence of rule of law and prevalence of corruption as especially obvious and destructive the forestry sector. It is clear that the current Forestry Crime Monitoring system does not function and illegal logging continues. Sustainable forest management based on commercial concessions remains highly doubtful. Land grabbing and conversion of both forest and farm lands for large scale commercial production undermines rural livelihoods and increases poverty. The new land Law must now firmly be implemented and the stated objectives to redistribute land needs clear attention. With regard to poverty alleviation, we welcome the work carried out during the past year in preparing a poverty focused Second Socio-Economic Development Plan and a national Poverty Reduction Strategy under increasing national ownership and consultations. We share the strong concern that recent economic growth does not appear to have reduced poverty. On the contrary, there is some evidence that poverty, particularly in rural areas is both spreading and deepening. Neither garment factories nor tourism will create enough employment and incomes for the growing population. More trade and membership of the WTO will not automatically benefit the majority of the rural poor. Growth must be much distributed better, and a comprehensive strategy for agricultural and rural development needs urgent attention. Social services and delivery systems need strengthening and clearer poverty focus. And finally - but not least - the agreed strategies and priorities for poverty alleviation must be firmly and consistently reflected in national resource allocations. Hiv/Aids remains a ticking bomb. We commend the RGC for considerable initiatives and action especially during the last two years, including the national legislation currently under final approval by the National Assembly. However, consistent and sustained attention and efforts are needed over many years to come. We welcome the reforms and re-organizations carried out in the past year with regard to humanitarian de-mining. The enhanced efficiency and closer links to rural development is in our view a major contribution to national efforts to combat rural poverty We acknowledge the progress made in terms of moving towards more open partnership relations, national leadership and co-ordination of external support. Impressive examples have been set by the education sector and the Seila programme. While national co-ordination mechanisms and capacity needs strengthening, much homework and responsibility now lie on the donor side. Sweden will continue to do its best to be a flexible, concerned and sensitive development partner, retaining the notions of clear roles and principles of national ownership, in order to provide relevant and efficient resources for the development of Cambodia. 2. Financial requirements and Swedish Development Co-operation Overall Swedish development assistance to Cambodia in 2001 amounted to some 178,5 MSEK (around 17,1 MUSD) including support through NGO:s international training courses, emergency assistance and a special balance of payment support. In March 2002, the Government of Sweden and the Royal Government of Cambodia signed a new bilateral agreement on development co-operation for the three-year period 2002-2004. The total amount pledged and kept available under this agreement is 330 MSEK (around 33,0 MUSD) with additional funds foreseen outside the bilateral agreement. Under the new agreement, the objectives of the co-operation are to: - promote opportunities for poor men, women and children in rural areas to influence and improve their living conditions; - create preconditions for good governance with emphasis on development of democracy and respect for human rights. Our assistance continues to be channeled mainly through UN agencies and other international bodies, and retains a strong emphasis on institutional capacity building and national ownership of the development process. The Seila programme, basic education and humanitarian de-mining and support to the decentralization process are major programmes funded or under preparation. In addition, promotion of democracy and human rights is funded though Swedish NGO:s and the Cambodia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Our current bilateral co-operation is based on an assessment of performance and achievements of the RGC in the past and policies and plans for the future, taking into fair and realistic account currant conditions and capacities. It is based on the strong expectation that RGC will pursue an energetic path towards consolidation of democratic institutions, the rule of law and equitable social and economic development with poverty alleviation in focus. Swedish development cooperation are based on medium-term agreements and country strategies, which provide a stable framework and basis for co-operation. The extent to which a partner country pursues policies and practices that effectively promote poverty alleviation and democratic governance is therefore normally analyzed and reflected more in depth when the shape, content and volume of continued development assistance is under consideration. In that sense, and in a medium-term perspective, Swedish development assistance is “performance based”. While the overall development and reforms in Cambodia are moving in the right direction, and commendable achievements have been made in several areas, progress on key reform areas is seriously lagging. Priority areas in which Sweden would expect much stronger and effective action include anti-corruption, judicial and legal reform, forestry and gender equality, for which clear-cut performance benchmarks for the period up to the next C-G-meeting should be agreed upon. In the short-term perspective, consideration of additional resources such as general budget support would include an assessment of the performance in these regards. All in all, total disbursements of Swedish development resources of all types for 2002 are estimated at around 150,0 MSEK (around 15,0 MUSD), out of which some MUSD 2,0 from additional funds (NGO:s, human rights, training etc) outside the bilateral agreement.