News and Analysis - 26 November 2006 - Conscription Law

Cambodia: This week the Cambodian Senate approved the draft law on military conscription that will allow the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) to conscript 18-30 year males for 18 month stints in the military. It is expected that now through the National Assembly and the Senate, the legislation is almost certain to become law. (Comment – Most reporters, NGO’s, and international organizations have condemned this move as unnecessary. However, a solution to the problem of manning Cambodia’s armed forces is badly needed. There has been no formal and legal recruitment into any of services since the early 1990’s.  This means that the average age of soldiers in the Army falls somewhere between the early to mid 40’s. Given that the life expectancy of a Cambodian male is only in the mid-50’s, the majority of Cambodian soldiers are not able to perform their required military tasks and represent a drain on the RCAF slim resources. With a defense budget in 2006 or approximately 75 million USD’s, the RCAF’s can ill afford to fund an all volunteer force, thus the only option remaining is conscription. On the books the RCAF stands at around 112,000 service members, but in fact, the true number of active soldiers is only around 60,000-80,000. Implementing a plan to maintain the force at this level and to assess new blood into the military is an absolute necessity.  The conscription law presents the RCAF with its first opportunity to rebuild in more than a decade, but sadly, with endemic corruption and an officer corps that lacks a sound professional training and education base, the conscription system will likely be abused and manipulated for private gain shortly after its introduction resulting in an entirely new problem set.) [slr]