Social development

Two weeks after five Montagnard asylum seekers crossed into Ratanakkiri province from Vietnam, the U.N. said Sunday that reports of the arrival of nine more—including three children—added to the situation’s “urgency.” Two ethnic Jarai villagers living in Ratanakkiri said the nine Montagnards—an indigenous group from Vietnam’s ...

A government delegation that traveled to the South Pacific island nation of Nauru last week to study the possibility of resettling in Cambodia some of the refugees Australia is currently holding there will return to Phnom Penh on Monday, a government official said. ...

A Cambodian delegation that arrived in Nauru on Tuesday for high-level meetings to progress a controversial refugee resettlement scheme has toured Australian-run detention centres on the island, according to a rights group. ...

The mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts—which has the second-largest population of Cambodian-Americans in the U.S.—on Friday visited 10 anti-eviction activists inside Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison, emerging to announce that he would lobby the government for their release. Wrapping up a five-day visit to Phnom Penh, Rodney ...

The Thai government yesterday broke its silence on charred remains found 10 days ago alleged to have been two Cambodians burned alive by Thai soldiers, saying no conclusion had been reached. Cambodia’s western neighbour has been slow to release investigative findings about what could prove to ...

As resentment continues to fester among villagers who have tested positive for HIV in Battambang province’s Roka commune, the family of the unlicensed doctor accused of spreading the virus has fled their home out of concern for their safety. Mr. Chrin’s daughter, Chrin Reaksa, said ...

The governor of Ratanakkiri province is not cooperating with efforts by the U.N. to negotiate safe passage for five Montagnard asylum seekers who crossed the border from Vietnam nearly two weeks ago, a U.N. official said Thursday. Wan-Hea Lee, the country representative for the U.N.’s Office ...

Human rights group Adhoc has demanded the release of a couple and their 9-month-old child jailed amid a land dispute in Preah Vihear, calling their arrest a “grave human rights abuse”. ...

The U.N. and an Australian refugee rights group say a delegation of Cambodian officials arrived Monday in the South Pacific island nation of Nauru, where Australia is holding hundreds of asylum seekers and hopes to convince at least some of them to volunteer to be ...

The trial of two Chinese men and three Cambodian women on charges of human trafficking began in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday after they were arrested in May for allegedly brokering marriages between Cambodian women and prospective grooms in China. ...

Eight ethnic minority Jarai villagers in Ratanakkiri province have been told to sign an agreement pledging not to provide aid to Montagnard asylum seekers or face possible arrest, villagers have said. ...

Thai soldiers admitted to burning alive two men last week who may have been undocumented Cambodians, Battambang military officials said yesterday. Cambodian officers said their Thai counterparts informed them that on the night of January 7, four Cambodians illegally crossed the border with intentions of evading ...

Despite outcry from medical students, the government is refusing to reduce the latest in a string of proposed fee hikes, this one nearly doubling the charge for the University of Health Science’s exit exam. In a letter sent to the university’s rector on Friday, the ...

Yet another Cambodian woman returned home from China yesterday after allegedly escaping her trafficker and the man she was forced to wed. ...

Minority Kuoy and Phnong community members from Preah Vihear and Mondulkiri provinces are demanding that the government cancel economic land concessions granted to two Chinese companies and a Vietnamese firm for allegedly violating land laws. In a press conference yesterday in Phnom Penh, representatives from the ...

About 50 students from the state-run University of Health Sciences protested outside the school Thursday to demand a decrease in the $125 fee they must pay to take their exit examination, which certifies them as medical doctors. The Health Ministry began making medical students sit the ...

Montagnards hiding in Ratanakkiri province, speculation grew that more would arrive in the coming weeks. Sev Lyn, chief of Pak Nhai commune’s Lom village, said police were searching the area for 18 Jarai Montagnards — indigenous villagers from Vietnam’s Central Highlands — and were under orders ...

A high level Indian delegation from the department of commerce and trade, government of India, is expected to visit Vietnam and Cambodia this month to discuss various issues pertaining to pharma trade and improve business ties with the two South East Asian countries. Rajeev Kher, secretary, ...

Cambodia spent around US$7 million on drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS every year, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reports citing Cambodian media. The drug costs between US$157 and US$500 per person. ...

Cambodia’s final exam results for 2014 were disastrous, with more than half of the 90,000 students failing. The reason? The authorities stamped out cheating – the first of a series of reforms designed to fix the impoverished country’s broken education sector. The new policy is ...

In a small village in Cambodia’s west, a tragic tale of  international significance has caught the local authorities off-guard. An unlicensed doctor has been charged with causing an outbreak of HIV and murder after lax practices resulted in at least 201 people contracting the potentially ...

An official said Wednesday that more than 160 villagers have now tested positive for HIV in Battambang province’s Roka commune in an outbreak that has baffled health officials and international experts, who are now conducting a survey to determine how the virus was spread. Soeum Chhom, ...

The Royal University of Phnom Penh plans to make its social work degree available to everyone next year, as young, locally trained graduates look to take the reins from foreign aid workers. RUPP Department of Social Work Faculty member Ung Kimkanika said the move would ...

Opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua said a group of 10 convicted anti-eviction activists on hunger strike at Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison were in a weak state during her visit to the facility Monday. ...