Legal Aid in Cambodia: Practices, Perceptions and Needs - PRAJ

22Legal Aid in Cambodia: Practices, Perceptions and NeedsA Study based on a National Survey3.4. SERVICES REQUIRED OF LEGAL AIDWhen asked to identify the five principal problems in their communities, potential legal aidclients identified the following: poverty, youth gangs, land disputes, public health and drugs,with poverty being the problem most often identified, and drugs the least. Providers took anarguably more legalistic perspective, identifying land disputes, poverty, youth gangs, drugsand human rights abuses (meaning civil and political rights violations) as their communities’top five problems. Providers identified land disputes as the most pressing problem among thetop five, and human rights violations as the least pressing of the five. Figure 7 gives details.When asked to identify the top five problems for individuals rather than communities,potential clients identified poverty, ill health, land disputes, domestic violence, andcorruption, with poverty (90% of respondents) identified as overwhelmingly more importantthan other problems. By contrast, legal aid providers identified domestic violence as the mostimportant problem faced by individuals – followed by land disputes, poverty, youth gangs,and drugs. Figure 8 gives details.These responses suggest that legal aid professionals most need to be well equipped in thefields of land rights, civil and political rights and crime, as well as in the law relating to publichealth and housing.Figure 7: Top five community problemsPovertyYouth gangsLand disputesPublic healthDrugs26%23%32%48%47%57%60%68%90%81%Potential (N=513)Providers (N=152)DebtHuman rights abusesHousingCorruptionCrimeDomestic ViolentLand grabs2%20%14%16%14%10%11%13%8%22%7%26%12%43%