Community Meetings | Media Coverage | Posters/Stickers | Signboards | Handouts | Books | Public Performances

EU ASAC Programme Manager David de Beer addresses a community meeting held in a pagoda in Barset district, Kompong Spue province in 2002.

Since 2000, EU ASAC, often in partnership with over Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), has organised provincial, district, commune and village level public awareness meetings. These meetings have four distinct aims:

1. To gain the commitment and cooperation of the local authorities on issues relating to collecting weapons from the civil population, identifying priority target areas and groups and raising public awareness
2. To raise awareness amongst local communities on the destabilising effects of small arms on society
3. To encourage the voluntary hand in of illegally held weapons by the civil population
4. To encourage dialogue and cooperation between the local civil population, civil authorities, security authorities and civil society organisations on the issues of security and small arms.

WGWR with EU ASAC support recently ran a campaign to reduce weapons-related violence before the Cambodian national parliamentary elections that were held on 27 July 2003. This campaign included a large national seminar during which debates were held on how to tackle the issue of politically motivated armed violence.