Veasna Chea Leth

{{Short description|Cambodian lawyer}}

{{fnh|Chea|Veasna|lang=Cambodian}}

{{western name order|Chea Veasna}}{{Infobox person

| name = Veasna Chea Leth

| birth_date = 1944

| birth_place = Cambodia

| citizenship = Cambodia

| awards = BBC 100 Women

}}

Veasna Chea Leth (born 1944) is a lawyer from Cambodia, who was the first female law student at the Royal University of Law and Economics. During her studies in the 1990s she lived in an underground space under the university due to the lack of female dormitories.{{Cite web |last=elkarequinta |date=2018-11-21 |title=15 inspiring women from Asia-Pacific named on BBC's 100 Women list |url=https://smile.cebupacificair.com/bbc-100women-2018/ |access-date=2022-03-31 |website=Smile Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=BellaNaija.com |date=2018-11-20 |title=Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, Amina Mohammed, Bola Tinubu named in BBC 100 Women for 2018 {{!}} See Full List |url=https://www.bellanaija.com/2018/11/abisoye-ajayi-akinfolarin-amina-mohammed-bola-tinubu-named-in-bbc-100-women-for-2018-see-full-list/ |access-date=2022-03-31 |website=BellaNaija |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Educating young women, rebuilding Cambodia |url=https://news.mit.edu/2011/lightman-lecture-1107 |access-date=2022-03-31 |website=MIT News {{!}} Massachusetts Institute of Technology |language=en}} During her work as a lawyer she raised awareness of the issues that Cambodian women face in accessing university education, due to a lack of appropriate accommodation. This led to the author Alan Lightman establishing the Harpswell Foundation to support women,{{Cite news |date=2007-11-19 |title=MIT physicist empowers young Cambodian women by building them a dormitory |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/world/asia/19iht-19lightman.8389218.html |access-date=2022-03-31 |issn=0362-4331}} of which she is an Honorary Board Member.{{Cite web |date=2018-09-18 |title=Meeting with honorary Board Member Chea Veasna |url=https://www.harpswellfoundation.org/meeting-with-honorary-board-member-chea-veasna/ |access-date=2022-03-31 |website=Harpswell Foundation |language=en-US}}

In 2018 she was nominated as one of the BBC's 100 Women.{{Cite news |date=2018-11-19 |title=BBC 100 Women 2018: Who is on the list? |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46225037 |access-date=2022-03-31}}