User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Cambodia

Public toilets in Cambodia are rare, are mostly the squat toilet style, may have a charge to use and rarely provide toilet paper. Open defecation is practiced in Cambodia, though people need to be careful when doing so because parts of the country still have issues with land mines. Non-profits and foundations have been investing in projects in Cambodia to improve toilet access and sanitation.

Public toilets
The local word for public toilet is bong-ku.

There are few public toilets in Cambodia. A 2021 study found there was one public toilet per 100,000 people. Squat toilets are the most common style found in public toilets. The public toilets that do exist often charge a few hundred riel. Toilet paper is only supplied sometimes in public toilets. There are some privately run public toilets, which charge a few hundred riel to access. Public toilets can be found at some restaurants, and do not require people be customers to access them. These toilets though are often squat toilets and not very clean. Hotels that have en suite bathing and toilet facilities are the ones most likely to provide clients with toilet paper. Outside of Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, tampons are not widely available in the country. When they are available, they are not sold in public toilets but in supermarkets and mini-markets.

Open defecation and sanitation
Open defecation is practiced in Cambodia, though people need to be careful when doing so because parts of the country still have issues with land mines. In 2001, 86% of affluent families in Cambodia had access to sanitary toilets while 13% of poor families did not.

History
SaniShop is a program created by the World Toilet Organization to empower local entrepreneurs and improve local toilet access by encouraging them to sell household latrines. Local masons are trained by SaniShop and provided with supplies to install the latrines in countries like Cambodia, India and Mozambique. Since 2012, the program has trained 550 local masons and resulted in the creation of 20,000 household latrine toilets.

The Asian Development Bank started working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013 on improving fecal sludge management, including investing in non-sewered sanitation projects, in a number of countries including Cambodia.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in Cambodia
Around 2.5 billion people around the world in 2018 did not have access to adequate toilet facilities. Around 4.5 billion people lacked access to proper sanitation. Public toilet access around the world is most acute in the Global South, with around 3.6 billion people, 40% of the world's total population, lacking access to any toilet facilities. 2.3 people in the the Global South do not have toilet facilities in their residence. Despite the fact that the United Nation made a declaration in 2010 that clean water and sanitation is a human right, little has been done in many places towards addressing this on a wider level.

Around 675 million people in South Asia practiced open defecation in 2016. This was more than any other region in the world. An issue in developing countries is toilet access in schools. Only 46% of schools in developing countries have them. Many schools around the world in 2018 did not have toilets, with the problem particularly acute in parts of Africa and Asia. Only one in five primary schools on earth had a toilet and only one in eight secondary schools had public toilets. Public toilet access has been used intentionally in South Asia to exclude certain segments of the population from participating in public life. The lack of single-sex women's toilets in developing countries makes it harder for women to participate in public life, in education and in the workplace. Western public toilet standards including privatization and limited opening hours disadvantage women when implemented in countries in the Far East. In many places in rural Asia, having toilets in a house is considered unclean. As a result, toilets are often located outside the main building for a residence or people practice open defecation because of a lack of toilet access in their homes.

Western style sit toilets are more popular among the emerging middle and upper class around the world. Toilet paper and flush toilets were introduced relatively recently in many parts of Asia. They often are not found in public toilets, and may only be found in hotels catering to international guests and wealth clients. Across Southeast Asia in places where Western style flush toilets are found, many do not have toilet seats. These toilets may also not automatically flush, requiring manual flushing.

Toilets can often be found on more modern long distance buses in Asia. For shorter trips or on older buses, they are much less common. Where toilets are not available on long distance buses, buses often make stops for toilet breaks. Sometimes the stops are in open fields. Many youth hostels and hotels catering to backpackers in Asia do not provide toilet paper.

ASEAN developed a plan in 2002 that they asked to be implemented in member countries to expand public toilet access across the countries it represents. The goal was in part to help expand tourist infrastructure and improve regional economics.