Shortly after the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won the July elections by a landslide, a 51-year-old farmer named Cheam Ny stood in protest at the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) Headquarters. His goal: the end of corruption in Cambodia.

Like many Cambodians that day, he complained that the SRP lost seats in the National Assembly because of rampant election fraud. He cited anecdotal evidence consisting of the names of voters that had allegedly been deleted from rolls, and the falsification of documents allowing unregistered CPP supporters to vote.

To Cheam Ny, the election fraud was part and parcel of a much larger and endemic culture of corruption — a culture that seems unlikely to change without a change in the government itself. “The CPP officials have committed corruption so they can’t eliminate corruption,” argues Ny, who is calling for a reelection to right the wrongs of the past.

Public services are crucial for the Government to implement its strategies and to provide the appropriate services to its citizens. Providing for the basic needs of local communities, the local public service mechanism needs to be enforced to enhance local governance and promote social and economic welfare for the population. In the context of promoting good governance, corruption and systemic bribery in public services have been repeatedly identified as major constraints on Cambodia’s development process. Government, donors and civil society have made concerted efforts to search for optimal strategies to improve Cambodia’s current situation. As a result, some Government institutional reforms have been noticeably successful, especially the decentralization and deconcentration reforms.

This exploratory study was conducted by the Economic Institute of Cambodia (EIC) under the auspices of DANIDA and PACT Cambodia with the objective of finding out where commune level service provision directly affects households’ livelihoods and the current reality of unofficial fees in order to find the best opportunities for institutional reforms.

The rights of all citizens in Cambodia are determined by the constitution. All citizens have the equal right to access government services such as education, healthcare, and social security. It is the duty of the government and all public servants to serve the people of Cambodia and treat them in a fair and equal way. Corruption undermines the rights of every Cambodian by preventing the government and public servants from serving the people equally. Corruption destroys the trust of Cambodian citizens in the government and public servants, and in each other. Corruption is a widespread problem, but this does not mean that it is viewed as morally or socially acceptable. There is nothing in our culture that makes corruption a fact of life that we cannot change.  This handbook looks at different types of corruption and how it affects our families and communities, as well as the steps that we as public servants can take to reduce corruption.

The human rights situation in Cambodia began 2012 teetering on the edge of a precipice, and by the end of the year had fallen off the cliff.

The sheer volume of shocking turns makes it difficult to choose where to begin a summary of 2012: Independent radio station owner Mam Sonando was sentenced to 20 years in prison on politically-motivated charges. The country’s most prominent environmental activist was shot dead in the for- est while investigating illegal logging. A journalist working on logging is- sues was murdered in Ratanakiri province. A town governor opened fire on protesting garment workers and has yet to spend a day in prison. And 17 leaders from Phnom Penh communities facing eviction spent time in prison.