Sochua Mu
Sochua Mu, one of only two female cabinet ministers of the 2nd Royal Government of Cambodia from 1998-2004, is a social activist, elected representative, and nation-builder who has dedicated her life to the advocacy of the rights of women in Cambodia and around the world. She is considered the principal founder of the women's movement in Cambodia. She led the march with thousands of nuns and monks to call for peace and non-violence during the UN sponsored election in 1993. She was co-nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
Sochua Mu grew up in Phnom Penh but was forced to flee for her life as a refugee in the early 1970s as the Vietnam War spilled over into Cambodia. Her parents were trapped in the country as it fell under the command of the murderous Khmer Rouge in 1975, and they vanished during the genocide that would claim the lives of roughly one quarter of Cambodia's population. Sochua Mu remained in exile for the next 18 years. She earned degrees in Psychology and Social Work from Berkeley before returning to South-East Asia to help rebuild a society shattered by war.
In 2005, she received the Leadership Award in Washington, DC, from the Vital Voices Foundation, co-founded by Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton. In 2002 she mobilized 12,000 women candidates to run for commune elections, with over 900 women winning and still actively promoting the women's agenda at the grass-roots level. In that same year she helped create and pass the Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill, which imposes severe penalties on marital rape and abuse of minors. Her work in Cambodia also includes campaigns with men to end domestic violence and the spread of HIV/Aids; working for the rights of female entrepreneurs; working for labor laws that provide fair wages and safe working conditions for female workers; and working for the development of communities for squatters with schools, health centers, sanitation, and employment.
Ms. Mu is the former Minister of Veterans and Women's Affairs in Cambodia where she worked to curtail human trafficking in Southeast Asia and is currently working for her new foundation, The Soul of Cambodia. Since 1989 Sochua Mu has been an active and tireless participant in the rebirth of Cambodia. She began by assisting refugees in the camps in Thailand, and joined FUNCINPEC, the royalist party of the current coalition government. She was elected to Cambodia's National Assembly in 1998 with a seat in Battambang, in the North-West of Cambodia, one of the most war-torn provinces and where her parents lost their lives. When it became clear that retaining her high position in the government would require playing a part in corruption and exploitation of the poor, Sochua Mu renounced the leadership and joined the primary opposition party to focus on rebuilding Cambodia from the bottom up. She has served in many different capacities in the Sam Rainsy Party and the nation, currently acting as a leader in many different organizations. She received an honorary Ph.D. in Law from the University of Guelph in 2006. She played a large role in the forthcoming documentary film on trafficking, Virgin Harvest. |
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