Due to the sensitive political nature of working with and alongside domestic elephants in SouthEast Asia -particularly in Cambodia- and also due to the weak legal stance of NGO's operating in Cambodia, ELIE has given itself a strict set of guidelines with which to work by.

This is separate to ELIE's constitution and governs its activity but not directly its management. Below is the Policy and Ethics document, it is divided into two halves: Internal Key issues, and External Key issues.

1. Internal Key Issues

1.1 E.L.I.E is an equal opportunity employer and will provide employment for Khmer, Phnong and foreign workers as well as ensuring an appropriate balance of Male and Female employees.

1.2 E.L.I.E shall remain a local NGO, operating solely in Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia with no intention of moving operations to a location outside of Mondulkiri Province, at any date.

1.3.1 E.L.I.E's primary objective is to work with the domestic elephant (DE) population of Mondulkiri Province, providing veterinarian assistance for those elephants in need of care.

1.3.2 Elements of this work will involve the monitoring and improvement of the living conditions of Mondulkiri’s DE population while ensuring that elephants are given appropriate workloads, rest time, and daily access to suitable forest.

1.3.3 Secondary to this E.L.I.E will address the issues that affect those people who work with, rely on, or own elephants, these issues may include matters of education regarding welfare of elephants, helping to provide people with access to clean water for the domestic elephants, and helping the people resist land-grabbing of traditional forest area used by domestic elephants.

1.4 E.L.I.E's ultimate goal is to hand-over the management of the NGO to local Cambodian management who will maintain the standards and policies instigated by the current management team.

1.5.1 E.L.I.E currently relies on foreign donors to cover the running costs of the NGO including rental of office space, maintenance of vehicles, and the provision of veterinary attention to the elephants of Mondulkiri Province.

1.5.2 E.L.I.E aims to be self-sufficient and sustainable through the construction of a new domestic elephant orientated Eco-Tourism Project (ETP) which will use funds gained from such a venture to cover the future costs of the NGO as well as providing income for those local people who work on the ETP.

1.7 E.L.I.E will at all times abide with the laws of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), and work in the best interests of the Cambodian people who work with, rely on, or own domestic elephants in Mondulkiri Province.

1.8 E.L.I.E shall carry relevant employee, volunteer, and public insurance with necessary medical coverage for these parties.

1.9 E.L.I.E shall provide an annual publicly accessible, independently written report on its yearly activities.

2. External Key Issues

2 Treatment of Domestic Elephants

2.1 E.L.I.E will endeavor to encourage those working with DE understand that it is imperative that elephants have access to a good supply of food and water for an appropriate period of time, on a daily basis.

2.3.1 E.L.I.E will not condone any conduct or action that at any point may cause any physical harm to a DE.

2.32. Point 2.3.1 especially applies to any conduct or action that may cause undue fear or stress to a DE, hindering its welfare.

2.4 E.L.I.E will advise those owning or working alongside DE that at no time should the elephants be encouraged to undertake any activity that might exceed the capacity of the individual elephant with relevance to its age, physical strength, and/or medical condition.

2.5 E.L.I.E will at no point approve of the involvement of DE of Mondulkiri Province in activities which may be considered illegal by RGC laws and legislation eg. Illegal logging, illegal hunting or the shipment of illegal goods.

2.6 E.L.I.E will address the issue of harvesting of elephants hair, and advise and educate those who work with elephants as to the legal status of trading in elephant products.

2.7 E.L.I.E will at no point encourage the use of elephants for any activity if there is not a sufficient supply of food, water and shelter for the elephant present.

3. Livelihood of people

3.1 E.L.I.E acknowledges that the use of domestic elephants is an integral part of the traditional life of the Phnong people, however the NGO will discourage further domestication of wild elephants.

3.2 E.L.I.E aims to assist the elephant owning Phnong people through increasing the worth of existing domesticated elephants to the Mahouts and their co-dependents by supplementing the Mahouts' wage through increased suitable employment as part-time employees of ELIE's ETP.

4. Habitat of Domestic Elephant

4.1 E.L.I.E will support efforts that preserve forest adjacent to villages that are inhabited by people who own, rely on or use domestic elephants.

4.2 E.L.I.E intends to promote the development of a new legal classification of forest - "Elephant Forest" Forest that is primarily for the use of a village’s domestic elephant(s).
These managed forests will be of a suitable area, contain enough foodstuffs, forest cover and sufficient water to cope with the needs of a village's domestic elephant population and give a DE daily time away from human activity.

5 Domestic Elephant population

5.1 E.L.I.E will not promote, support, encourage or participate in the capture of wild elephants in order to maintain the numbers of DE in Mondulkiri Province.

5.2 E.L.I.E will not promote, support, encourage or participate in the sale of elephants.

5.3 E.L.I.E will, in the event of any sale of domestic elephants in Mondulkiri Province, attempt to document the sale, and gain information on the new owner in order to alert the relevant government authorities, NGO's to such a transaction.

5.4 E.L.I.E will encourage local government departments to comply with the RGC's acceptance of the CITES treaty.

5.5 E.L.I.E will comply with all existing and new FA legislation and bylaws.

5.6 E.L.I.E will discourage the transfer of ownership of domestic elephants from Phnong to any persons outside of their tribal communities.

5.7.1 E.L.I.E acknowledges that with the population of domestic elephants in Mondulkiri Province likely to decrease over the next few years and as a result some Phnong or Khmer may wish to breed elephants to maintain their way of life.

5.7.2 E.L.I.E will not offer any financial incentive to promote breeding. However, should any elephants breed successfully and the owner approach E.L.I.E, the NGO will offer veterinary support through the gestation period.

5.7.3 E.L.I.E will also assist with the registration of a newborn elephant to ensure that accurate and relevant documentation of the elephant is available.

5.8 E.L.I.E will at all times operate in such a way that is compatible with and sensitive to Phnong culture and taboos about the breeding of elephants.

5.9 E.L.I.E will offer full support and cooperation to any established DE based NGO which may, in the future, start operating in Mondulkiri Province in order to continue working in the best interests of the DE population of Mondulkiri.