Cambodia restructured its economy after many years of protracted war and instability. The economy grew strongly following the country’s transition to a free-market economy as it opened to trade and capital flows. Growth was supported by the flow of development assistance, access to the European ...

Chi Phat primary school, Koh Kong Province. Photo by ODC team, taken on 28 November 2017. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.Access to free, good quality education in Cambodia is a right set out in the country’s Constitution: Article 65: “The State shall protect and promote citizens’ ...

The United States of America (the US) is one of the biggest donors to Cambodia.100 101 The history of cooperation and relations between the two countries can be traced back to the early 1950s after Cambodia received full independence from France. In 1955, the first ...

A quality and effective healthcare system that provides equal access to services is critical to ensure the well-being of any population. Both developed and developing countries strive to bring improvements to their healthcare systems. Cambodia, in particular, has undergone significant transformations in terms of healthcare ...

Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG 1) seeks to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”, ensuring extreme poverty is eradicated and overall poverty is reduced by 50%.This goal provides a much more comprehensive approach than the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the issue of poverty. ...

Extractive industries include mining and mineral sectors, natural gas and oil exploration, petroleum refineries, and quarrying for construction resources such as sand, stone, and gravel. Cambodia’s extractive resources have gone largely untapped, while these resources are geographically identifiable. French and Chinese geologists have been indicated ...

Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all – focuses on education as a fundamental human right that is necessary for the achievement of all the SDGs.280 Education supports the achievement of gender equality by empowering women and is crucial to creating ...

Secretary-General António Guterres (right) meets with Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia in New York. Photo taken from the UN website on 22 September 2022.The United Nations (UN), founded in 1945 and guided by the UN ...

Cambodia has begun to integrate disaster and climate resilience goals into its national policies but implementation remains difficult. In the National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction 2014–2018, the government prioritizes the target to: “build a resilient nation and local communities to pursue sustainable development.” ...

USAID’s Harvest program is helping Cambodia’s farmers. Photo by USAID, taken on 09 December 2013. Under the license CC BY-ND 2.0.The country has achieved remarkable sustainable growth, however, poverty and food security remain the challenges. The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has acknowledged that to ...

Respect for strong values is the key to citizens’ trust in their courts.468 The international values recognized for judges are independence and impartiality, integrity, equality of treatment, diligence and competence. A judge cannot both decide a case and have a personal interest in its resolution. ...

Since 1993, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has been working to reform the country’s legal framework, and in particular the application of justice, to provide a clear and fixed procedural system to ensure respect for individual rights and equality before the courts.514 In theory, ...

Sustainable Development Goal 14 is primarily about the interactions of humans with the oceans. Specifically, it aims to conserve and manage the use of oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.550 A UN General Assembly call for action has been used to clearly articulate ...

Nearly all of the ministries were established in 1995. A few ministries were only recently created in the post-2013 national election by a separation of one ministry into two. There are 28 government ministries and secretariats, and many national bodies. ...

Overview of​ an industrial gold mine and refinery in Okvau. Photo taken from the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s Facebook Page, taken on 11 June 2021.Mineral resources are defined as “any substance, whether in solid, liquid or gaseous form, naturally originated by a geological process ...

Logging truck in Mondulkiri protected forest , Cambodia. Photo by Global Water Forum, taken on 23 February 2014. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Cambodia is deeply concerned about deforestation. While the country seeks fast economic development, forests represent a tremendous national treasure. In order to help ...

There are four major international donors to land rights development and reform in Cambodia: the World Bank, Germany, Finland and Canada. Their support spans multiple programs and several years with the overall objective of improving land tenure security and promoting stable land markets. ...

The Ministry of Environment is the main authority mandated to oversee environmental issues, including protected areas, environmental impact assessments, and management of natural resources. ...

The judiciary is one of the three powers, together with the executive (the Government) and legislative (the National Assembly and the Senate), that constitute the state. 694 Its role is to monitor the application of the law and punish its violation. This power is vested ...

There is no large industrial-scale extraction of minerals carried out in Cambodia yet, but many exploration licenses have been granted and some mining companies have reported promising finds of minerals such as gold. Today companies from China, Korea, Vietnam, Australia and elsewhere are exploring for ...