19 year-old Ling Ya, resident of AFESIP’s Somaly House center in Kampong Cham and Grade 12 student, was recently selected as one of two activists to represent Cambodia at the first “UNiTE Global Youth Forum” in Thailand from 21 to 25 May, 2012. UNiTE is the United Nations Secretary-General's Campaign to End Violence Against Women, and the Global Youth Forum brought together young activists aged between 18 and 30 from all over the world to build partnerships and strengthen the movement of young people working to end persistent gender inequality and violence against women and girls. They were invited to exchange relevant knowledge and experience and share the successes and challenges in their work.

Here, Ling Ya shares with us what she learned from this great experience, how she intends to implement this in her own community in Cambodia, and what she thinks is key to ending all violence against women and girls. We couldn’t be more proud of her!

“The UNiTE Global Youth Forum was so important for me and others as I could gain more knowledge through sharing, and discussions about certain topics related to ending violence against women.

I have learnt more about the factors leading to violence against women such as lack of knowledge, poverty, violent/pornographic film/culture entering the country, patriarchal customs in some countries and so on. Another thing I have learnt is that increasing public awareness is one of the solutions to ending violence. That can be done through the creation of education, drawings, song, short stories. During my attendance, I also joined a group discussion about how to make the public aware of the root and consequences of violence against women. I also learnt about youth networking, and we are encouraged to create our own Facebook profile and join the group for further sharing of information and comments.

I was so excited to meet the other participants. Our connection does not end after the forum because we can continue to share and comment on issues relevant to the topic of ‘end violence against women’ and others through our group on Facebook.

English language was my obstacle during the forum though, and I found it difficult to communicate and provide full ideas during my group discussion and other activities.

Now that I’m back in Cambodia, first of all, I will share what I have learnt to end violence against women with all the residents in Somaly House and my school mates. On 30 May, 2012 when AFESIP held a community event for International Children’s Day, where around 1000 participants attended – the majority students - it was a good chance for me to share with them.

I also think that Cambodia should arrange a similar forum so that Cambodian youth have a chance to learn more about the issue of violence against women and can contribute their resources to prevent and stop it.It is so important to me as well as other Cambodian youth to realize what happens to women and girls in Cambodia and in the world.

Through my knowledge and experience, I plan to focus on two points to stop this violence. One is to find out the causes of the violence and then introduce the right solutions to the causes. The other is to create the plan to prevent and stop such violence. During my participation in the forum, we worked in groups to discuss about how to make people around us realize the causes, consequences, and solutions are part of our day-to-day lives.

I was so proud but also nervous to participate in this forum. People around me said I am brave. Indeed, this forum gives me more strength and bravery in my schooling, my speaking, my daily activities. So it was a good experience for me. And I hope I will have the opportunity for this experience again another time!”

Ling Ya