The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) provide the foundation for the protection of women’s rights, including women from vulnerable groups or with specific needs. Cambodia ratified CEDAW in 1992 and its Optional Protocol in 2010. The CEDAW Committee has identified specific vulnerable groups of women that require further research and consideration in Government policies, such as: 1) women with disabilities; 2) ethnic minority women; 3) lesbian and bisexual women, and transgender people; 4) women in detention and in prison; 5) women from rural and remote areas; 6) women engaged in prostitution; 7) women who suff ered from sexual violence during the Khmer Rouge regime; 8) women victims of traff icking; 9) garment, domestic and migrant workers; and 10) women with HIV. The Cambodian Constitution, adopted in 1993, establishes equal rights for all Cambodians: “Every Khmer citizen shall be equal before the law, enjoying the same rights, freedom and fulfilling the same obligations regardless of race, color, sex, language, religious belief, political tendency, birth origin, social status, wealth or other status” (Art. 31). The National Social Protection Strategy for the Poor and Vulnerable (2011-2015) aims to ensure that all Cambodians benefit from improved social safety nets and social security as an integral part of an eff ective national social protection system. Its main goal is to protect poor and vulnerable Cambodians from chronic poverty and hunger, shocks and social exclusion, as well as to maximize their benefits from investment in their human capital.

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