Social development

The trial of 11 opposition officials and activists, who face up to 30 years in prison on charges related to a July protest that turned violent, is finally due to get under way today, amid widespread censure from human rights groups and campaigners. In a strongly ...

Poor governance and uneven distribution of wealth to rural communities are both behind Cambodia’s poor record of girls’ education, an expert says. Despite the country’s high economic growth rate in recent years, few opportunities are available in rural areas, which leads to girls dropping out of ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen took aim at Michelle Obama yesterday, accusing the US first lady of making false promises, while suggesting her visit last weekend was more about hopeful rhetoric rather than implementing concrete improvements in the country’s education sector. ...

The only police officer recognized by a trucker who was allegedly beaten by police and military police along with his assistant last week in Prey Veng province denied Wednesday he was involved in the attack. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen took aim at Michelle Obama yesterday, accusing the US first lady of making false promises, while suggesting her visit last weekend was more about hopeful rhetoric rather than implementing concrete improvements in the country’s education sector. ...

Cambodia presented its human rights report before the United Nations Office in Geneva amid growing allegations that abuses are being systematically committed by state forces. The UN committee acknowledged that Cambodia has introduced some reforms in recent years, in particular land reform and registration of ...

Impoverished girls in Siem Reap say they hope for a better education, in the wake of First Lady Michelle Obama’s visit. Girls in Siem Reap province say they are aware of the importance of education, especially higher education, to escape poverty. ...

Following the fanfare surrounding the visit of First Lady Michelle Obama over the weekend, life in Siem Reap returned to normal this week. Many here say they were not aware of the first lady’s visit, and some said even though they were, they aren’t sure ...

A Cambodian-American man was convicted by a U.S. federal jury in Alaska on Monday of attempting to travel to Cambodia to have sex with underage girls, U.S. media reported. ...

A Ukrainian lawmaker accused of raping a minor in Phnom Penh in 2011 had escaped the country before the courts could catch up with him, the head of the Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department said Tuesday. ...

Four Cambodian men were charged by the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court on Tuesday over the brutal beating and robbery of two expatriates on the holiday island of Koh Rong last week, a court official said. ...

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An requested yesterday that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports collaborate with the Ministry of Labour to create a vocational “bridge” program to enable students without high school degrees to have access to trade-based, university-level coursework. ...

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An requested yesterday that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports collaborate with the Ministry of Labour to create a vocational “bridge” program to enable students without high school degrees to have access to trade-based, university-level coursework. ...

Botum Sakor national park is one of Cambodia’s biodiversity hotspots, where indigenous tribes have long lived in harmony with the forest and its wildlife, writes Rod Harbinson. But now they are being violently evicted as the park is being sold off piecemeal to developers for ...

Villagers in a remote district of northeast Cambodia’s Kratie province say obtaining medical treatment has become extremely difficult since the government reinforced a ban on unlicensed health workers and clinics earlier this month in the wake of a mass HIV infection last year. ...

Officials in Battambang and Pailin provinces yesterday pointed to local cassava producers as the cause of water pollution there, which has killed fish and induced illness in families living along tainted streams. Nine of the businesses in Pailin’s O’Tavao commune that produce the root vegetable are ...

National Police chief Neth Savoeun has issued an order to police to begin 24-hour monitoring of market jewelry shops and money exchanges, and warned officers they could be fired if they allow armed robberies to occur, according to a notice posted on the police’s website ...

Four Cambodian men have now been arrested over a violent robbery at a guesthouse on Koh Rong island off the coast of Sihanoukville last week that left a Canadian expatriate with serious head injuries, police said Monday. ...

National military police commander Sao Sokha has set up an ad hoc commission to investigate a group of officers who allegedly shot at a truck that drove through a pair of checkpoints in Thbong Khmum province on Thursday night, then beat up the driver and ...

Phorn Chan Bonavy is a 6th grader at Kesaraream Elementary School in Siem Reap, where First Lady Michelle Obama just completed a three-day visit—the first sitting first lady to do so. However, she seems determined to complete school, even though that will require she help ...

Following First Lady Michelle Obama’s three-day visit to Cambodia to promote her “Let Girl Learn” initiative, Cambodian officials say they hope for positive changes in girls’ education. Cambodia has nearly 1.5 million female students studying at primary and high schools, he said. But only 42 ...

A Russian woman accused of smuggling five kilograms of liquid cocaine from Brazil to Cambodia was tried on Friday morning at Phnom Penh Municipal Court. ...

Figures showing a promising decline in the number of school dropouts discussed at a meeting yesterday may augur the possible expansion of a pilot project aimed at keeping kids in school, a program officer said. ...

A 20-year-old woman who suffered serious burns earlier this month after being doused with acid passed away on Saturday, marking the first reported acid-attack fatality in Cambodia since 2012. On March 6, security guard Meas Vanny was walking from her rented room to begin a shift ...