What does corruption in Cambodia look like?

Education, poverty and development – these were the recurring themes among the top entries received in a Cambodia-wide competition that invited photographers to illustrate how corruption negatively affects their world.
From photographs of citizens living in poverty to poorly regulated industrial development, the entries to Transparency International Cambodia’s competition show the range of ways corruption is directly affecting people in the country, which was ranked 160 out of 177 countries in our Corruption Perceptions Index 2013.
The winning entry will be used on the cover of our Cambodian chapter’s upcoming report on the country’s corruption risks, and submissions have been exhibited in the capital city, Phnom Penh.
Here is a selection of some of the images:
The winning entry was taken by Phim Kanika, 24, whose iPhone photo shows the trickle-down effect of corruption on education. It shows a young boy peering into a classroom in a primary school. Kanika said it illustrates how children miss out on education when corruption stands in their way. Speaking about the unofficial “fees” demanded by some teachers to supplement meagre wages, she told The Phnom Penh Post, “The schools, they say they are free of charge, but in reality they are not.”
Runner-up Sun Vanndy captures petty corruption in Phnom Penh. When transport authorities do not take action, the public road turns into a site for private business. According to Vanndy, it’s not enough that private parking is congesting the public road around Orussey Market, informal fees of up to 300 per cent of official parking fees are being charged.
Second runner-up Seang Muoylay shows the impact of inadequate regulation on the part of authorities in their development programmes. Poor sewage systems have not kept up with the construction of modern housing complexes, meaning this village floods every time it rains. As a result, a little girl has to wade through a flood simply to get home after school.
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