The Lessons of the UNTAC Experience and the Ongoing Responsibilities of the International Community for Peacebuilding and Development in Cambodia

In: Pacifica review: peace, security and global change, Band 7, Heft 2, S. 129-133

Abstract

Assesses the development activities of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) in terms of the well-being of women. The UN peacekeeping effort is praised for resisting a combat role & laying the groundwork for democratic change, but it is argued that its approach to development has directly contributed to the deterioration of the security of women & the poor. The nature of foreign investment, which has favored urban areas & the foreign-oriented tertiary sector, has resulted in food inflation, the diversion of skilled labor away from the production of social goods, the economic exploitation of vulnerable population segments, & increased urban migration, unemployment, poverty, & crime. These impacts have disproportionately affected the poor & women, particularly the large number of female-headed households. Women have also suffered from the UN presence in the form of sexual abuse, exploitation, & harrassment by soldiers. The international community is called on to recognize these problems & work cooperatively with the Cambodian people to alleviate them. E. Blackwell