Social development

Twelve NGOs have issued an open letter to the UN Human Rights Council urging it to adopt a strong resolution on what they term the grave deterioration of the human rights situation in Cambodia. ...

Hopes of Cambodia’s first-ever Olympic medal crumbled on Saturday evening as taekwondo star Sorn Seavmey was comfortably beaten by Reshmie Oogink of the Netherlands. ...

A new study has predicted that even if Cambodia manages to eradicate so-called “human” strains of malaria by 2025 – a key government goal – it will continue be at “high risk” of infections from a strain of the parasite more typically found in wild ...

In his first year as education minister, Hang Chuon Naron quickly overhauled the national high school completion exam, enforcing strict regulations to eliminate rampant bribery and cheating, and cutting the pass rate in half to 41 percent. ...

Twin brothers who were granted temporary asylum in Thailand by the U.N. last month said on Thursday that they planned to return to Cambodia, citing a cooler political climate and a desire to continue their environmental activism. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy is in talks with the Chinese government to build a research and training school, in order to boost the staffing capabilities of the country’s growing mining industry, according to a senior ministry official. Following recent news that gold deposits ...

Cham Muslims are not fully integrated into Cambodian society and many Cambodian people continue to think Chams are practitioners of “black magic,” according to a report on religious freedom released last week by the US State Department. ...

On Tuesday, the US government awarded Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Cambodia – the nation’s leading provider in the field of mental healthcare and psychosocial support – with an $894,057 grant that will facilitate mental health therapies and healing methods for the country’s many genocide survivors afflicted ...

The US Army Corp of Engineers is providing Cambodia with new tools to understand its growing groundwater shortage. Last week, the Ministry of Environment, US Army Corp of Engineers and National Council for Sustainable Development hosted a three-day technical exchange on groundwater modelling. ...

Cambodia’s justice system often fails to support children who are victims of and witnesses to crime, many of whom are so terrified to appear in court that they’re unable to give testimony, children’s rights experts said yesterday. ...

Efforts by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to restore the living standards of families evicted by its railway rehabilitation project continue to fall far short of expectations, and urgent action is needed if the bank is to comply with its own safeguard policies, according to ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs yesterday once again called on the Kingdom’s employers to hire the disabled, something mandated in a widely ignored 2010 sub-decree. ...

The NGO Forum on Cambodia yesterday demanded government funding for higher education for indigenous students to mark World Indigenous Peoples’ Day.   ...

The abuse of Cambodians employed in Thailand’s fishing industry was raised yesterday in a letter from the government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) to their Thai counterparts, calling for improved monitoring of the much criticized and troubled industry. ...

Two dollars from the sale of every ticket to the Angkor temple complex will go to the Kantha Bopha hospitals in February 2017, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance yesterday. A letter sent to Dr. Beat Richner, the founder for the Kantha Bopha Children’s ...

President Trần Đại Quang hosted a reception in Hà Nội yesterday for Cambodia’s Senior Minister and Minister of Cults and Religion, Him Chhem, during which he stressed the need for the two countries to boost religious cooperation in bilateral and multilateral frameworks. ...

An angry mob stormed a military police compound in Kratie province on Wednesday to retrieve two trucks loaded with wood that were confiscated for not having proper licenses, and two villagers were seriously injured, a rights worker claimed. ...

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said yesterday that about $4 million was being spent on the upcoming national exam and that strict rules will ensure a fair contest. “Each candidate costs an estimated 140,000 riel [$35] that the ministry will spend for whole process of the ...

The Ministry of Health (MoH) intends to discuss with Dr. Beat Richner the possibility of organizing a test for doctors in private clinics throughout the Kingdom about their professional knowledge, a spokesman confirmed yesterday. ...

Financial literacy, for students to make effective and informed money management decisions, will now be in the general education curriculum due to joint efforts by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS). ...

Forty-six-year-old Phon Chet, who lost his left leg to cluster bombs 14 years ago, sits with other impaired people at a rehabilitation center in Kampong Cham province during a media tour on Thursday. Due to unexploded ordnance left over from the civil war in the 1970s, ...

The international community should put “maximum pressure” on the Cambodian government to improve the country’s human rights situation, including possible sanctions on top officials, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said on Friday.   ...

The local arm of tobacco giant Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which makes Camel, Winston and Mevius cigarettes, has blasted the Association of the Tobacco Industry of Cambodia (ATIC) for failing to ensure its members adhere to new regulations mandating graphic health warnings on cigarette packages. ...

Families living next to Phnom Penh International Airport filed a petition with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Wednesday to find out why City Hall has not yet issued them land titles now that Prime Minister Hun Sen had promised to protect them from eviction.   ...