The Centre for Study of Humanitarian Law (CSHL) recently held their fourth academic conference on human rights at the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phenom Penh.
Director of RWI’s Phenom Penh office, Hanna Johnsson, who presented some welcoming remarks, said the event was an important way to strengthen the focus on human rights within the Cambodian academic community.
Generally academic events are focused on presenting specific findings or advocating for a specific cause, so it is quite unique to focus on human rights research in a more general way.
With over 100 students in attendance, the conference provided a platform for academics to discuss human rights and encourage universities to increase the knowledge production and sharing on important human rights topics.
The CSHL conference aimed to increase students’ and academics’ awareness of what academic research is about and how it can be used.
There is a lot of research about Cambodia but most of this is written by others. Often if Cambodian researchers are involved, it is as a part of the data collection while the analysis is still done overseas. This conference and RWI are attempting to change that, says Johnsson.
CSHL has been supported by RWI since its establishment and the majority of the academics presenting are directly engaged with RWI programmes. There are now plans to turn the conference into an annual event.