About Us

LICADHO Monitor and Medical staff on the fieldSince 1992, LICADHO has been at the forefront of efforts to protect human rights in Cambodia and to promote respect for civil and political rights by the Cambodian government and institutions. Building on its past achievements, LICADHO continues to be an advocate for the people and a monitor of the government through wide-ranging human rights programs from its main office in Phnom Penh and 12 provincial offices.

LICADHO pursues its mandate through its 7 program offices:

• The Advocacy, Documentation and Resources Office compiles case files into a central electronic database, so that accurate information can be easily accessed and analyzed.
• The Human Rights Education Office provides training courses to target groups such as government officials, police, students and monks, as well as conducting dissemination sessions to the general public.
• The Monitoring Office investigates human rights violations and assists victims with the legal process. Specially-trained staff also monitor 18 prisons to assess conditions and ensure that pre-trial detainees have access to legal representation.
• The Medical Office provides medical assistance to prisoners and prison officials in 18 prisons, as well as providing medical care and referrals for victims of human rights violations.
• Project Against Torture provides comprehensive rehabilitation services to victims of torture and conducts advocacy against torture.
• The Children's Rights Office educates the public on children's rights, creates child protection networks at the grassroots level and investigates violations of children's rights.
• The Women's Rights Office educates the public about women's rights, investigates women's rights violations, and advocates for social and legal changes.

In addition, LICADHO conducts advocacy at the national level to bring about reforms, and works with other local and international NGOs to influence the government. LICADHO regularly produces comprehensive reports and briefing papers, and is one of the main sources of information on human rights in Cambodia.

In all of its activities LICADHO seeks to have maximum impact based on these principles:

• LICADHO's work should have a direct effect on the victims of human rights violations;
• LICADHO seeks to empower people to exercise their rights and protect themselves against abuses; and finally
• LICADHO aims to reduce the climate of violence and impunity by influencing and educating key players and policy makers.

The end result of these measures is a tangible improvement in the human rights situation.


Children's Right training sessionWith an annual budget of more than $950,000 in 2004, LICADHO is funded by a wide range of donors, including Operation a Day's Work (Finland), Danchurch Aid, Diakonia, ICCO, Danida, German Agro Action, USAID/EWMI, the Embassies of Finland, Australia, Order of Malta and the Netherlands, and private donors. With such strong donor support, and approximately 130 staff members, including four in each of the 12 provincial offices, LICADHO is well positioned to improve the human rights environment in Cambodia and help victims of violence and abuse.

LICADHO History

While Cambodia's civil war was raging in the 1980s, Dr. Kek Galabru (Pung Chhiv Kek), a Cambodian living abroad, arranged negotiations between Prime Minister Hun Sen and then-deposed King Norodom Sihanouk. The negotiations eventually led to the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1991, which mandated a United Nations mission to Cambodia to supervise elections and resolve the long-standing conflict.

In the wake of the peace agreement, Dr. Galabru and other Cambodians living overseas returned to Cambodia and contemplated how they could help alleviate the suffering Cambodians faced due to years of war and poverty. The result was the founding of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (known by its French acronym LICADHO) in 1992. LICADHO was one of the first human rights organizations established in the new civil society made possible by the UN mission - the former socialist regime did not allow such independent non-government organizations (NGOs) at the national level.


LICADHO President Dr. Kek Galabru (Pung Chhiv Kek)LICADHO started out by conducting voter education campaigns for the elections held in 1993 and monitoring the pre-election environment. Subsequently, it began to address serious human rights abuses occurring in the country, with initial activities focused on monitoring rights violations, providing human rights training, and providing medical care to prisoners and victims of human rights violations. The NGO expanded in 1994 with the addition of the Women's Rights and Children's Rights offices.

In the early years, the number of human rights violations reported to LICADHO was relatively low. People were unaware they had rights and that they could report abuses or seek redress. As human rights education efforts led by LICADHO and other NGOs progressed, more victims were willing to come forward to seek assistance.

LICADHO continued to develop and refine its human rights programs, with the benefit of greater experience and resources. By 1998, LICADHO had expanded to its current staffing level - 130 people in Phnom Penh and 12 provincial offices. In 2000, LICADHO initiated the Project Against Torture, the only program of its kind to offer rehabilitation services to victims of torture in Cambodia.

During the 1998 national elections, LICADHO provided voter education and monitored political violence and other abuses. LICADHO worked as a member of the election monitoring organization NICFEC to monitor the 2002 commune elections as well as the 2003 national elections.

LICADHO's work has continued through times of chaos and instability - the organization stayed open during the intra-government fighting in 1997 and the post-election public demonstrations in 1998, assisting victims who were wounded and monitoring events as they unfolded.

LICADHO staff have faced threats, intimidation or legal persecution by those attempting to prevent or punish them for their work. In 1998, two staff members in Sihanoukville were arrested, charged and imprisoned for one month after they monitored public demonstrations against the illegal dumping of toxic waste. Similarly, staff members who assisted trafficked garment workers from Vietnam were threatened with arrest in 2000. In 2001 LICADHO's director was charged with illegal confinement in connection with the rescue of a young girl from a child abuser. The charges were eventually dropped in all cases, but they illustrate the pressure that LICADHO staff, along with other human rights defenders and NGOs in Cambodia, faces from powerful interests.