Women

Being placed on consecutive short-term contracts in Cambodia’s predominantly female-staffed garment sector is forcing many women to choose between a family and a factory job, unionists and rights groups said yesterday. Ken Chenglang, acting president of the National Independent Federation Textile Union of Cambodia, said many ...

Housing rights activist Yorm Bopha, who spent nearly a year in jail for leading demonstrations, will receive a reward and recognition for her work. The James Lawson Award, named for an American activist and given for nonviolent achievements, will grant her $6,000 in Boston later ...

Mam Somaly, one of the world’s renowned anti-sex slavery activists, has resigned from her name- bearing foundation after a private investigation into allegations concerning her fabrications of sex slavery tales to raise public awareness and millions of U.S. dollars in funds. The Somaly Mam Foundation said ...

The U.N.’s special rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, has sent his third thematic report to the U.N. Human Rights Council following trips to various countries, including a three-day visit to Cambodia in February. The report focuses on groups that Mr. Kiai, a ...

Sexual assault and the annihilation of sacred graveyards are among the many claims levelled at Vietnamese Rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) by villagers in Ratanakkiri province, a report by the World Bank’s investment arm reveals. In February, 17 indigenous communities that accused HAGL of ...

The well-being of women and children in Cambodia has improved vastly in the past 15 years but still lags internationally, according to a report released by the nonprofit organisation Save the Children this week. ...

Opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua protested for her “right to freedom” for the third day running at Freedom Park yesterday and was once again forcibly ejected from the area by security forces. But the now-familiar encounter departed from the script when she left the area and went ...

Freedom Park was placed under lockdown and a march by land rights activists was blocked Saturday morning as Phnom Penh’s security officials were out in force to ensure that peaceful rallies on International Women’s Day could not go as planned. Prime Minister Hun Sen on February ...

VisionFund Cambodia, which took root in the Kingdom in 2003 as the result of a partnership with global NGO World Vision, aims to empower women and their families with small loans and other financial services, in additional to bolstering the education available for poor children ...

Phnom Penh’s Panha Chiet University has informed the local NGO Silaka that it cannot hold a meeting on women’s rights planned for today because the event might deal with political issues. Silaka had rented a conference room at the university for the meeting, intended to mark ...

Cambodian women are bumping up against a steadfast glass ceiling, according to an annual report by the Cambodian National Council for Women. The report, released yesterday, tracks what the government has done to execute the prime minister’s 16 recommendations regarding women’s access to and engagement in ...

At least 11 people were murdered during domestic disputes or committed suicide after suffering domestic violence in the past two months, local rights group Adhoc said in a statement Monday. Only two perpetrators were charged in these crimes, Adhoc said, highlighting the lack of law enforcement. “Adhoc ...

The Japanese and U.S. governments are set to launch a joint project to help empower women in developing countries in Asia, including Cambodia and Myanmar, as well as Africa, officials of both governments said Saturday. The two governments came up with the project as both Prime ...

Discussions about salaries on the factory floor led worker Channa, 22, to begin feeling jealous of her male counterparts. She learned, through talking with a number of co-workers, that the men working around her were doing the same amount of work as she was, but being ...

More than 50 per cent of candidates nominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in the upcoming provincial and district council elections should be women, a coalition of 12 civil society groups said in a letter on Thursday. ...

When talking about fine clay pottery in Cambodia, one always thinks of pottery products made in Kampong Chhnang province. The province, located some 91 kilometers north of the country’s capital Phnom Penh, is well known for its clay pottery. The name of the province “Kampong Chhnang” ...

Preliminary research in two provinces has found that a lack of implementation of the domestic violence law means that women continue to suffer abuse and more needs to be done to ensure that attitudes change and perpetrators are held accountable. Katherine Brickell, senior lecturer in Human ...

As Cambodia nears its second district and municipal council elections in May, about 200 women councilors from the sub-national level attended a workshop Friday to call for political parties to increase the number of women candidates in the upcoming election. Currently, 12 percent of councilors at ...

Finding out why women’s voices are not being listened to is imperative to increasing the proportion of female political representation in Cambodia, a meeting heard yesterday. The Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP) – which is made up of 12 organisations – hosted discussions in ...

A new program launched yesterday has its sights set on ending the endemic problem of sexual harassment against women in the workplace. A ceremony at the Hotel Cambodiana marked the start of Safe Workplaces, Safer Communities, a project run by CARE Cambodia. The three-year program, which will ...

Less than a week after she was released from prison pending a retrial on controversial criminal charges laid down last year, housing rights activist Yorm Bopha on Thursday led a march of about 500 people to deliver a petition calling on the government to end ...

Despite making some gains, Cambodian women continue to fall well short of their male counterparts when it comes to education and position in the labour market, a study released yesterday by the International Labor Organization reports. Men account for just five per cent more of Cambodia’s ...

nternational Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde will visit Cambodia next week as part of an Asia tour that will also include stops in South Korea and Burma, according to an IMF spokesman. Ms. Lagarde will meet with Cambodian government officials, university students, investors and ...

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, NGOs and several U.N. agencies Monday launched the 13th annual campaign against gender-based violence, which this year is focused on rape, organizers said Monday. Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign celebrated in countries around the globe ...