Social development

Kantha Bopha Jayavarman VII hospital here sees about 75 new babies born every night – not quite the falling birth rate it had been expecting just two years ago. ...

With the deadline looming for hundreds of Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia to return “voluntarily” to the site of their alleged persecution or be forced back across the border, a group who have spent months living in the shadows this week spoke out about their ...

Villagers from the former Boeung Kak lake, Borei Keila and Thma Kul communities are to hold a month-long protest in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park to pressure City Hall to resolve a long running land dispute. ...

The government yesterday announced that it has extended deadlines for all Montagnard refugees and unregistered asylum seekers to leave Cambodia. ...

Australia’s refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia has come under renewed fire following the reported return to Myanmar this month of one of the first four men transferred from Nauru in June.According to Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak, the Rohingya man was scheduled to fly back ...

An unlicensed doctor allegedly at the centre of a medical scandal that has seen almost 300 residents of Battambang province’s Roka village infected with HIV proclaimed his innocence during the first day of his highly anticipated trial yesterday. After the judge read the charges to ...

A leading Cambodian rights worker has been summoned to appear at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, in what colleagues say is an effort to intimidate rights advocates. ...

Cambodia’s fight against malaria is at risk of being derailed because of a dispute over expenses payments between the Cambodian government and the Global Fund, the biggest donor to the country’s malaria programme. ...

High-ranking officials from Cambodia’s Interior Ministry were among 140 delegates from Asia-Pacific nations meeting in Bangkok yesterday, as a three-day conference on the region’s growing problem of drug production and trafficking got under way. ...

The King and Queen Mother have awarded a royal residence in Koh Kong province to the director of the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals in a bid to relieve the financial burden on the facilities, which offer free treatment to all patients. ...

LGBT Cambodians driven into poverty by discrimination, and sometimes forced to sell sex to survive, may soon enjoy the benefits of a new online campaign designed to raise money to help them rebuild their lives. ...

Cambodia will continue to see reductions in poverty, hunger and malnutrition as it continues to prioritize development of the agricultural industry, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ouk Rabun said on Friday at an event to mark World Food Day in Kandal Province.  ...

The first group of refugees to arrive in Cambodia as part of a controversial deal the government signed with Australia last year are now renting their own apartments and searching for jobs, having left their temporary accommodations in Phnom Penh, the International Organization for Migration ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has outlined Cambodia’s strategy for tackling poverty in a keynote speech to a United Nations forum in Beijing marking the 2015 International Day for Eradication of Poverty.Addressing the gathering of leaders on Friday, the premier lauded the 1 billion people brought ...

Police in Ratanakkiri province on Saturday returned eight kidnapped boys to their families and arrested the man suspected of taking them away.According to police, the children were playing outside when Thai Phum, 63, allegedly asked them to come with him, leading them into a truck ...

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. ...

Cambodia has experienced the largest decrease in hunger since 2000 among countries with severe levels of hunger, according to a new report released by three international NGOs, and is close to qualifying as a nation of “moderate” concern. ...

Cambodia celebrated World Food Day here on Friday, stressing the importance of social protection and agriculture in eradicating hunger and poverty, according to a joint press statement. Gianpietro Bordignon, WFP Representative to Cambodia, said Cambodia has achieved an impressive economic development in the past decades, ...

Cambodia’s Noun Phymean has won this year’s World’s Children’s Prize, chosen by children from around the globe, and the accompanying $50,000 award for her work offering free schooling and vocational training to some of Phnom Penh’s poorest young people. ...

An unlicensed health worker charged in Cambodia with murder and other crimes after allegedly causing a mass HIV infection by treating patients with reused needles will be brought to trial next week, sources said. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called for more collaboration and integration of financial markets at the regional level, especially with China – the world’s second-largest economy – to offset the effects of a slowing global economy. ...

One slickly produced television ad tells students “to join the community of minds that craves to learn,” as three teenagers assemble an electrical circuit board. “Better Skills! Better income!” a group of students shout in unison, fists raised. ...

When Meas Sophanuth started to transition in high school, his mother — afraid that her child would bring shame to the family — tried to stop what she saw as his “unnatural” behavior. The government, for instance, has recently shown support for programs combating LGBT-based ...

The Geneva-based Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has appealed to the public to urge Cambodian authorities to end their “judicial harassment” of prominent human rights advocate Ny Chakrya, who stands charged with public defamation and attempting to coerce court officials. ...