AFEC to march from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat from February 28th, 2007

1. Project Title: March for Freedom of Expression, Political Tolerance and Non-violence from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat

2. Background

The Alliance for Freedom of Expression in Cambodia (AFEC) is a network of 28 Cambodian human rights organizations, independent labor unions and other institutions that engage in all kind of lawful activities for the realization of the human right to Freedom of Expression (FoE). The AFEC was founded on November 28, 2005, after the Cambodian government had started a series of criminal defamation lawsuits against leading human and civil rights activists of the country. The AFEC made a significant contribution to the efforts that lead to the release of all arrested activists in January 2006: The network distributed up to 100.000 Yellow Ribbons as a symbol for the need and the support for FoE in Cambodia and collected more than 125,000 thumbprints to a petition that was handed over to the King of Cambodia. In February 2006, thousands of Cambodians participated in a peaceful March for FoE fom Wat Phnom to Phnom Oudong organized by the AFEC. Throughout 2006, the AFEC demanded the decriminalization of defamation and the distribution of untrue news (“disinformation”) in the Cambodian legislation. During the same period, the AFEC organized public events in favor of local human rights defenders that were accused and arrested arbitrarily for having made use of their FoE. Most of these activities, particularly the suppressed attempt to fly “Kites for Freedom of Expression” in front of the National Assembly, got a high media attention. On the annual General Meeting of the AFEC members on December 20, 2006, which was funded by the German Development Service (DED), it was decided that the network will organize another “March for FoE and Non-Violence” in the first quarter of 2006.

As a network, the AFEC is not (or not yet) registered, but all its member organizations are. At the annual general meeting of the AFEC, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) was elected Chairman of the AFEC Steering Committee until December 2007. The Director of CCHR's advocacy program was appointed General Secretary of the network. Since then, the office of CCHR is hosting the AFEC Secretariat.

3. Idea, objectives and expected outcomes of the March

The March for FoE and Non-violence in Cambodia shall lead from Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat (about 330 km) and take place from February 28^th to March 15^th, 2007. Therefore, it will end just one day before the countrywide start of the Commune Election Campaigns that very likely will be accompanied by a higher occurrence of political violence and intimidation. Along the way, AFEC member organizations will organize public events on issues of FoE, non-violence and political tolerance.

The objectives of the March are as follows:

· To promote political tolerance, non-violence and the right to FoE in the run-up to the Commune Elections.

· To involve many Cambodians as marchers, spectators or as participants in events organized along the itinerary.

· To provide many AFEC member organizations with opportunities to give the Cambodian public messages on their specific need support for FoE.

The expected outcomes of the March are the following:

· A core group of 600 people will have participated in the March; thousands of people will have accompanied the marchers for a shorter distance; ten thousands of Cambodian will have cheered for the marchers along the way and/or participated in the events organized by the AFEC members; many hundred thousands of Cambodians will have received reports from the March from radio and newspapers.

· The awareness for the right to FoE, non-violence and political tolerance amongst Cambodian citizens will have been raised significantly.

· A strong message for non-violence during the upcoming election campaign for the Commune Councils will have been given.

4. Activities in detail

The participants for the March will be recruited by the member organizations of the AFEC which include youth and students organizations, labor unions and other institutions with a bigger number of members, volunteers etc.

The start of the March at Wat Phnom and its end at Angkor Wat shall be celebrated in public events organized by the AFEC to which all 600 core participants, the media, representatives of the civil society and the international community shall be invited. Buddhist prayers for peace and speeches shall be part of the celebrations. The distance between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap will be divided into three sections of a little bit more than 100 km each. The first section ends at Tangkaor in Kampong Thom Province and the second at Stoong in the same province. The core group will be divided into three groups 200 participants. Each group shall march in one section only. For each section, five days for the marching are scheduled so that the participants have to march only 20 km a day and have enough time for recreation and participation in the public events set up by the AFEC members. The itinerary mainly follows the national roads from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap for ensuring visibility of the activity and supportive participation of large numbers of people. The participants of the three groups shall be transported to and from the start/end point of their section by tourist bus, organized in the cheapest way. For the budgeting, it was presumed that all buses start or end in Phnom Penh, but if there are at least 50 participants from another bigger province (Siem Reap, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang) one of the buses can start/end at the capital of that province.

A truck (2,5 tons) will be hired for transporting food and bags with personal belongings of the participants from station to station. A small bus and a nurse will be hired for participants that face problems in marching and need medical treatment.

During the March, different member organizations take the lead role for one day by organizing an event on which the present their perspective on the need and support for FoE in Cambodia. The labor unions, for example, will bring up other topics than the child rights organizations or the NGOs that monitor elections or the ones that combat corruption. Each of these events will be announced by press release and aired by CCHR’s radio program “Voice of Democracy” (VOD).

Radio will play a key role in drumming up support for the March, particularly for raising funds. Radio Station Beehive 105 which is a member of the AFEC will continuously ask its Cambodian listeners to contribute in cash or in kind. Buddhist monks that will participate in the organization and implementation of the March will also contribute significantly to this method of fundraising.

The member organizations of the AFEC are responsible for recruiting 600 participants for the core group. As the host of the AFEC Secretariat, CCHR will be the main responsible for the organization of the March, particularly the media work. But other members already agreed to contribute to the logistics (information of local authorities along the way, human rights monitoring, parts of the medical medical service).

The visibility of the March shall be reinforced big foam models of the yellow “f” for FoE and yellow caps for the participants. AFEC will hire oxcarts that will accompany the marchers and display banners. At the same time the oxcarts have the function to slow down the traffic. They also will carry water and other supplies.

The conflict that will arise when the authorities probably will not allow the final celebration to be hold at Angkor Wat is a part of the project. The AFEC will insist to get access to that area but avoid a violent confrontation with the police.

The costs for the March shall be kept relatively low because a considerable part of food and water for the participants will be offered by the population along the road. Pagodas will be asked to offer free accommodation.

5. Project Supervision and Implementation

The implementation of the project is supervised by CCHR's Director for Advocacy, Ou Virak, the direct counterpart of the DED expert advisor who closely accompanied the foundation and the activities of the AFEC. For assisting in the organization of the march, one person shall be hired for six weeks on a contractual basis. This project assistant will be also responsible for the coordination with the AFEC members and the media work. Therefore, a person with journalistic skills will be selected for this job.