Social development

Australian national James Ricketson was arrested on Saturday, according to police officials, with local media claiming the independent journalist was detained for “stealing information”. ...

As Cambodians went to vote yesterday, more than 1,000 ethnic Vietnamese families living in floating houses in Kampong Chhnang province found themselves shunned by election officials on both sides of the border.   ...

As Cambodians go to the polls on Sunday to elect new local council representatives, in a contest dominated by men, two women are facing off for control of this Kampong Speu province commune. ...

Parties competing in the commune elections are pinning their hopes on young candidates winning the popular vote. Nhek Bun Chhay, president of the Khmer National United Party, said his party is focusing on youth candidates, with people aged between 25 and 32 making up 40 percent ...

Amnesty International today accused the ruling CPP of using its grip on the judiciary to systematically harass and intimidate civil society and urged the government to drop cases against opposition activists and human rights defenders. ...

Police in Svay Rieng province on Saturday shut down a training session for 16 observers registered to monitor this Sunday’s commune elections, saying it had not been sanctioned by authorities, according to an organizer. ...

The Garment Manufacturer Association of Cambodia (GMAC) will launch its new vocational training centre next month, providing courses aimed at upgrading the skills of Cambodian workers in a bid to replace the middle-management positions currently occupied predominantly by foreigners. ...

The Indian Embassy to Cambodia has given a $50,000 grant for a project to help stop the spread of tuberculosis in the kingdom. During a press conference at the National Centre for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control (CENAT) on Friday, Operation ASHA programme director Dr Narith ...

 In the lead up to June’s commune elections, Sguon Samean, a former Sam Rainsy Party commune chief, say that she is hopeful that people will vote for her again.“I believe in my people. I have hope in my people since they trust me and they ...

UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency, will question the government over its decision to deny asylum to the majority of Montagnards left in Cambodia, officials said, a month after the group was criticized for its role in repatriating some of the asylum-seekers to Vietnam. ...

The Ministry of Health yesterday denied a local media report that children in Cambodia under one year old have a 50 percent chance of catching whooping cough. ...

A group of women running as opposition candidates in the upcoming local council elections has vowed to prioritize development, improve administration and protect the price of agricultural products if elected. ...

A European Union election expert mission yesterday met with the government’s Cambodia Human Rights Committee in a closed-door meeting as part of its visit to the Kingdom, at the end of which it will submit recommendations to the Cambodian authorities. ...

Local residents in Battambang town took part in a political debate organized by U.S. Democracy promotion group, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) on Monday ahead of local elections early next month. Attendees asked prospective candidates questions related to citizen’s concerns over unemployment, migration, ...

Political campaigning in Cambodia’s local elections began on Saturday and has so far passed without incident. Cambodians in Phnom Penh on Monday said they hoped that the election could be conducted fairly and free of violence. Sim To, a second-year student at Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia, ...

The needs of disabled Cambodians have not been taken into account in the forthcoming local elections, a disabilities group has said. Ngin Saoroth, executive director of the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organization (CDPO), told reporters this week that politicians were not putting “the issue of the disabled ...

The trend of Cambodian workers flocking to Thailand can have a devastating ripple effect on children living on the margins in the border town of Poipet, where they face a litany of risks such as drug use, sexual abuse and physical violence, according to a ...

A study published in the Malaria Journal last week suggests that to combat malaria, the outmoded approach of mass anti-malarial drug administration may be effective, but only if local community leaders play a prominent role. ...

Officials from the government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) yesterday appeared to lay the blame for the delayed establishment of an independent rights body at the feet of civil society. ...

More than 86 percent of 3,151 sex workers surveyed across 18 provinces regularly use condoms with clients, according to research released yesterday by the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STDs. But only 27 percent consistently use condoms during sexual intercourse with their husbands, boyfriends ...

The CPP has filed a complaint to a commune election committee in Takeo province alleging that a group of CNRP supporters obstructed a ruling party parade of about 400 supporters on Saturday, officials said yesterday. ...

A report by the Global Fund’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has confirmed evidence of corruption and nepotism at Cambodia’s National Malaria Centre (CNM), first revealed by The Post last year, calling the centre’s oversight “dysfunctional and unauditable”. ...

The Cambodia National Rescue Party yesterday celebrated its top female candidates before the upcoming communal elections at an event under the slogan “Thousands of Lights for Women”, though women’s rights activists criticised the strategy as lacking teeth in fostering greater representation for women. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen used a news conference at Thursday’s World Economic Forum on Asean in Phnom Penh to warn that two foreign-owned news outlets, including The Cambodia Daily, were “against” the government and that journalists who did not report “properly” would be seen as ...