Social development

The Joining Force Alliance, a coalition of six large organisations focusing on children’s rights, issued a report yesterday praising Cambodia’s achievements in defending children’s rights over the past three decades. ...

The EU slammed the government for the dire human rights situation in the Southeast Asian country, giving it a one-month deadline to respond to a preliminary report on suspending trade preferences before deciding whether to go ahead with the plan. Brussels has warned Phnom Penh ...

The government of Japan, via its embassy in Cambodia, granted more than $190,000 on Tuesday to Nature Centre Risen, an NGO for environmental education at kindergarten and secondary schools in the Kingdom. The grant is for the project, “Realisation of Sustainable Life Environment through the ...

The Ministry of Health said the dengue epidemic had been relieved to a manageable level despite the fact that to date, the number of people who suffered from it this year is almost three times higher than in the same period last year. ...

Voice of America (VOA) has contacted Beehive Radio FM 105 and Radio FM 102 to discuss buying air-time to broadcast again, they said. VOA had recently received approval from the Minister of Information to go on air. ...

After the authorities on Friday and Saturday dismantled 49 of some 1,000 huts which had been built illegally on forest land in Siem Reap’s Phnom Kulen National Park, Banteay Srei district governor Khim Finan said on Sunday that a hunt was on for a group ...

Despite massive efforts to improve the English language skills of its people, Cambodia still lags behind much of the world. The annual English Proficiency Index, released this week, ranked the Kingdom 94th out of 100 countries included in the study. ...

A Ministry of Justice spokesman and Cambodia’s Permanent Mission to the UN Office at Geneva (Unog) have described demands for the treason charge against Kem Sokha to be dropped as tantamount to interference in the judiciary. Rhona Smith, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on Wednesday said the government was studying the EU Commission’s preliminary report on the human rights situation in the Kingdom that could lead to a suspension of access to its “Everything But Arms” (EBA) agreement.The EU launched ...

The United Nations has called on Cambodia to repeal its decision criminalizing surrogacy and asked the government to ensure that its draft law will not impose criminal liability on surrogate mothers. ...

The structural economic issues facing the Kingdom will need greater institutional collaboration, according to Vongsey Vissoth, Permanent Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, who sees a lack of economic diversification and competitiveness as key issues to overcome. ...

A UN women’s rights committee has praised the government’s efforts to promote gender equality and combat violence against women, but noted its concern that there are no provisions in the constitution that define direct or indirect discrimination against women. ...

Rhona Smith, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia on Friday issued a statement expressing “grave concerns” over the “heightened political crackdown across Cambodia”. ...

The government has prohibited the distribution and sale of rabies vaccines Abhayrab and Indirab, that are not registered with the Ministry of Health. ...

Cambodia has significantly benefited from its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) membership, Royal Academy of Cambodia (RAC) secretary-general Yang Peou said on Thursday during a conference to mark the 52nd anniversary of Asean’s establishment and the 20th anniversary of the Kingdom’s membership in the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday noted a decline in the number of mothers breastfeeding their children and appealed for help reversing the trend. The Planning Ministry previously said the number of breastfeeding mothers dropped from 73.5 percent in 2010 to 65 percent in 2014. ...

During a meeting on the revision of the Law on Non-Governmental Organisations yesterday, the Interior Ministry said it will address concerns raised by civil society groups, but it remains unclear how many articles will be revised. ...

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs invites all federations, associations and communities of women entrepreneur-driven micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Cambodia to join its planned Cambodian Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (CamWen) initiative, the ministry said. ...

The Union of Journalist Federations of Cambodia has established a working group tasked with promoting media freedom and evaluating content to foster quality journalism in the Kingdom. The UJFC in a statement on Tuesday said the working group is dubbed the Cambodian Committee for Media Assessment ...

The Interior Ministry will meet with NGO officials next week to listen to their requests for the government to amend the Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations. In a press statement issued on Monday, the ministry said the meeting will enable representatives of local and international ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has instructed the Education Ministry to step up its efforts in increasing the quality of education for all students in the Kingdom so they can land good careers later in life. Mr Hun Sen made the instruction in a recording released yesterday ...

At a workshop on Monday, government officials and civil society organisations expressed concern over the increase in the number of people suffering from blindness and visual impairments, with blindness being the most common form of disability in the Kingdom. The workshop on the “Marrakesh Treaty”, ...

Minister of Labour and Vocational Training Ith Sam Heng said the government is committed to eliminating violence in the workplace. Civil society, he said, supported the government’s action but wanted a specific mechanism introduced to help support female victims of such violence. ...

The government yesterday expressed its commitment to reduce gender-based violence, eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls and provide effective reproductive health services in line with the action plan of the International Conference on Population and Development. The commitment was made during the National ...