The Institute has a substantial collection of books in English on law, business, accounting and finance, English teaching, human rights, democracy and area studies, including Cambodia. At our Phnom Penh library a collection of over 100 videos focusing on human rights and democracy is at the disposal of visitors, and a VCR is available for in-house use. In 1998, CIHR gained access to the internet and obtained its own web-site. These facilities are now available for research by CIHR staff and the general public. They also provide much faster access to developments worldwide in the human rights field.
Interest is shown from all around the world.
In countries which have suffered long years of war and conflict, such as Cambodia, people have become desensitized to violence. There is a marked tendency to resort to violence in order to deal with conflict of any kind, be it personal or political. The Culture of Peace philosophy proposes that just as individuals can internalize the ways of war, violence and killing, so they can learn ways of peace, justice and tolerance. This is what it means to build a Culture of Peace. Preparatory seminars were held in provinces of Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu, Battambang and Kampot in order to introduce senior Buddhist monks and religious followers of each province to the concept of the Culture of Peace and how it could be integrated into their communities.