United Nations

One in every four children in Cambodia under the age of 5 has not had their birth registered, but a new program aims to tackle the problem at the commune level using mobile phone technology, according to UNICEF. ...

As Cambodia continues its battle against raging thunderstorms and stifling droughts, officials from a variety of ministries attended a three-day workshop last week on how to incorporate the wide-ranging effects of climate change into the national and provincial budgeting process.   ...

A UN spokesperson has rejected a government reading of a UN convention used to justify banning people with disabilities from performing in the streets. ...

The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide $36 million to the Commerce Ministry to help improve market access for poor farmers and small entrepreneurs. ...

The judiciary is perceived as the most corrupt government institution in the Kingdom, according to a United Nations Development Programme global survey of corruption in the judiciary released on Friday.   ...

The United Nations is ready to cooperate with and support the National Election Committee (NEC) with additional aid, providing it submits a written letter of intent to the UN’s office in the country. ...

The government’s suppression of human rights poses a serious threat to Cambodia’s democratic progress, visiting members of the European Parliament’s human rights subcommittee warned on Friday.   ...

The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia said the political climate had clearly deteriorated in the six months since her first fact-finding mission and that the country remained at a “dangerous tipping point” ahead of commune and national elections. ...

The United Nations Human Rights Commission in Cambodia (OHCHR) yesterday released an analysis of the contentious draft trade union law finding key clauses to be in violation of existing Cambodian law, human rights norms and the ILO’s conventions.   ...

After police in Preah Vihear province blocked the U.N.’s human rights envoy from meeting with indigenous villagers earlier this week, Rhona Smith sat down with Interior Minister Sar Kheng in Phnom Penh on Wednesday and called for better communication between national and local government officials. ...

The independence of the country’s judiciary was among the issues that UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Rhona Smith raised yesterday during a meeting with the minister of justice as part of her 10-day visit. ...

In an effort to identify and address “key barriers that impede the realization of children’s rights in Cambodia,” the Cambodian government and UNICEF Cambodia officially signed a new Country Program Action Plan yesterday, entering a three-year partnership that will cost an estimated $65 million, according ...

The advent of Cambodia’s much-criticized NGO law was among the top “troubling” developments to take place across the globe last year, the U.N. special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association said in a report released Friday.   ...

Cambodia ranked 143rd out of 188 countries in the U.N.’s latest Human Development Index (HDI), a composite measure of development incorporating health, education and living standards, according to new figures released on Monday. ...

The United Nations and the Cambodian Ministry of Women’s Affairs will organize four major events across the country to raise awareness of the need to end violence against women and girls, according to a UN Women’s statement on Wednesday. ...

Despite failing to meet many of the expectations of its foreign donors over the past two decades, Cambodia’s government has never struggled to secure aid from abroad. ...

In an effort to address speech and communication disorders, which affect about one in 25 people countrywide, Unicef Cam­bo­dia awarded the organization OIC: The Cambodia Project a $42,000 grant on Wednesday to provide informal speech therapy training to Cambodians. ...

Rhona Smith, the U.N.’s new special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, on Tuesday addressed the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva for the first time, telling the body that she planned to focus on marginalized people in the country. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen flew to New York yesterday for talks where he will raise the scourge of landmines which still affect Cambodia. ...

As Rhona Smith, the U.N.’s new special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, began her first official visit to the country Wednesday, leading human rights activists were at odds over how much her position could influence the situation on the ground. ...

A Cambodian soldier serving as a U.N. peacekeeper in the West African nation of Mali died on Monday after contracting malaria, an official said Tuesday. ...

The new Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for the United Nations in Cambodia, Rhona Smith, will touch down in Cambodia for the first time today and will stay until the 24th. Ms. Smith will examine the human rights situation in here and report her findings ...

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has asked UNICEF for more help for the poor and street children, on top of the $10 million it already gives for education and health. ...

More than five months after being appointed as the U.N.’s new special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, Rhona Smith will make her first official visit to the country later this month, according to the government’s Human Rights Committee. ...