Social development

Nearly a week after Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report detailing systemic labour rights abuse in Cambodia’s garment sector, the country’s garment manufacturers association fired back, criticising the study’s methodology and alleged omissions. ...

Sitting in Geneva before a panel of international experts chosen by the UN, Cambodian delegates yesterday did their best to dodge a series of pointed questions regarding the Kingdom’s adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Phrases such as “I don’t know ...

About 100 villagers from Boeng Chhouk village in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district blocked officials and workers on Tuesday from bringing in heavy machinery to begin work on a road expansion that would destroy some of their homes.   ...

National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun on Tuesday called on Phnom Penh’s police forces to increase arrest rates in the city to 75 percent of reported crimes and also asked municipal judges to grant bail less frequently.​ . ...

First Lady Michelle Obama embarks on a five-day Asia trip Wednesday to launch the Obama Administration’s initiative “Let Girls Learn,” promoting the education of millions of girls worldwide. Ahead of her stops in Japan and Cambodia, Obama and her husband said the inability of an ...

Capital police yesterday revealed the identities of five men who had allegedly been posing as Flying Tigers – an elite Ministry of Interior rapid-response unit – and extorting money from victims who believed they were in danger of being jailed. ...

The son of a high-ranking customs official suspected in a nightclub shooting that left one man injured was questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday but has yet to be charged, officials said. ...

Five men who regularly masqueraded as members of the state security services to extort cash and belongings from civilians were arrested in Phnom Penh on Friday and Saturday, a police official said Monday. ...

Defense ministers from the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) agreed here Monday to cooperate in tackling the grave security threat from the Islamic State (IS). At the end of the two-day 9th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting, the ministers signed a joint declaration ...

With petty crime on the rise in Cambodia, the National Police on Friday drafted a plan to protect foreign nationals and investors throughout the country, a police spokesman said Sunday. ...

Cambodia’s National Police chief Neth Savoeun has told foreign embassies that it won’t tolerate “foreign mafia” in the Kingdom, in what appears to be a thinly veiled message to Russia concerning recent conflict between Russian nationals in Sihanoukville. According to the statement, Savoeun has been ...

A major in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) was arrested in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district on Saturday night after he accidentally shot a 12-year-old boy in a drunken attempt to “clean the barrel of his gun” with a live round, officials said Sunday. ...

The son of a high-ranking customs official was involved in a shooting incident at the Rock nightclub in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district early Sunday morning that left one man injured, according to police. ...

Two Vietnamese nationals were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for concealing nearly 40 kilograms of powdered ketamine in a Phnom Penh condo last year. ...

The Siem Reap Provincial Court on Friday charged a Swiss national with having sex with three underage boys in Siem Reap City earlier this year, according to police and anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE). ...

Following talks with indigenous villagers over the weekend, which saw promises of jobs and English language lessons, there are high hopes that a foreign company looking to extract gold in Ratanakkiri will be awarded the first-ever mining licence in the province. Representatives of Mesco Gold met ...

The impending visit of First Lady Michelle Obama to Cambodia will serve as an opportunity for people and officials to revisit their attitude towards girls’ education, a lawmaker says. ...

Survivors of human trafficking in South-East Asia require better access to health services, especially related to mental health, a study says. ...

Keo Chkriya was pregnant when she was sentenced to prison, on charges of drug distribution. By the time she left, she had been caring for her son in a cell for nearly two years. ...

A senior refugee department official has said that ethnic Jarai Montagnards fleeing alleged persecution in neighbouring Vietnam need to enter Cambodia via official checkpoints in order to register as asylum seekers on arrival. ...

A United Nations human rights expert has called for a speedy solution to the situation of the Montagnards from Vietnam still hiding in the forests of northeastern Cambodia, after crossing the border to escape alleged persecution. About 13 of the 50 Montagnards—Christian indigenous people from ...

Four of the 36 Jarai Montagnards deported last month have “disappeared” from their village in Vietnam’s central highlands, prompting fears among villagers that they may have been detained by the authorities. The group of 36 Montagnards was deported on the night of February 24 after attempting ...

The number of abortions performed in 2014 increased nearly 51 per cent from the year before, according to the Ministry of Health. A report released March 9 showed that the total number of miscarriages and abortions for the year were up by more than 4,000 cases ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court has agreed to a request to delay the questioning of an anti-dam activist accused of illegally felling trees to build a community center in the Areng Valley. Ven Vorn—an ethnic Chong who has joined local protests organized by the NGO Mother ...