Social development

African swine fever has been detected for the first time in Cambodia with an outbreak in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district. Some 400 pigs have been killed, said a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries statement. ...

The government on Tuesday said it had “noted” 25 recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), saying they were part of a political agenda and linked to the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). It accepted the other 173 recommendations ...

Save the Children launched an EU-funded project on Wednesday – Responsive and Effective Child Welfare Systems Transformation (React) – which aims to ensure proper legal protection and quality services for children, the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic service said. The launch of ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the World Food Programme (WFP) have signed a $50 million aid plan aimed to reduce food security and nutrition. The Cambodia Country Strategic Plan 2019-2023 was approved by the WFP council on February 27 in Italy. ...

The provincial government on Tuesday ordered the creation of a forum in a bid to find a resolution in the 10-year land dispute between 12 ethnic minority communities in Ratanakkiri province and Vietnamese agribusiness giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) over 20 ancestral “spirit mountains”. ...

Four ethnic Kuoy villagers appeared in Preah Vihear provincial court on Wednesday for allegedly seizing two bulldozers from a Chinese-owned company in a December 2014 dispute that saw a group of locals attempt to prevent the firm from clearing their rice fields. The four were ...

ChildFund and Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) on Monday announced a new drive to improve primary education in rural Kratie province. “Koica has made $1.6 million in funding commitments over the next three years to expand the ‘Easy to Learn’ project in remote communities in ...

Some 400 youth and women from 12 civil society organisations gathered at a hotel in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Sunday to celebrate women’s rights, weeks after they were prevented by security forces from marching to mark International Women’s Day. At Sunday’s gathering, the group ...

The attendance rate at public and private primary schools stands at 98 per cent, a similar level to other countries in the region, Minister for Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron told a meeting to outline the achievements of the 2017-18 period on Monday. ...

The Women’s Affairs Ministry last week launched the Nokor Tep hospital in Dangkor district in a bid to provide female reproductive services to those less fortunate. Women’s Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi said the hospital’s first task is to secure equipment and human resources. ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Cambodian authorities to immediately reveal the whereabouts of a land activist who was “forcibly disappeared” in Preah Vihear province. It said it was the first time such a thing had occurred since the country was ruled by a single ...

A senior Ministry of Interior official on Tuesday instructed municipal, district and commune authorities to set aside a specific time to hold forums with NGOs twice a year to show the willingness and commitment of sub-national administrations to address their concerns. Secretary of state at ...

The Ministry of Health has issued advice on avoiding health problems as temperatures continue to rise this hot season, warning some conditions brought risks to life. The announcement comes as the weather heated up across Cambodia, with the dry season predicted to prolong into the ...

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has instructed Preah Sihanouk provincial governor Yun Min to accept input from the public and civil society organisations and create a working group to receive their requests and complaints. Speaking at the provincial hall on Monday, Sar Kheng said addressing ...

Cambodia’s first Civil Society Day was held on Tuesday, with at least 300 members of civil society groups in attendance at Phnom Penh’s Hotel Cambodiana for the event. Held under the theme Inclusive Partnership for Democratic and Sustainable Development, the day is intended to enable ...

Civil society groups and associations released a public statement on Tuesday expressing concern over the EU starting the process to withdraw Cambodia’s access to its preferential “Everything But Arms” (EBA) agreement, as a delegation from the bloc landed in Phnom Penh the same day. ...

Civil society organisations monitoring land disputes in Preah Sihanouk province continue to voice concerns over the environmental impact of developing public land after permission was granted to reclaim a site in the O’Touk area to build a boat terminal. Sok Sokhom, the director of the ...

Experts on Monday requested farmers to rethink the use of chemicals, particularly the mixing of them, a practice causing serious impacts on the health of both people and animals, and harming the natural environment. The issue was discussed at a workshop run by international development ...

African swine fever has spread to parts of Vietnam that border Cambodia’s Ratanakkiri and Kratie provinces, a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries official said on Friday. Tan Phannara, the General Directorate of Animal Health and Production director-general, told a Phnom Penh workshop that he ...

Ouk Chetana, a 39-year-old mother of two, sits on a bamboo bed in a temporary home after the house she had lived in since 2009 was destroyed by authorities, as the village she shared with some 200 other families was deemed to have encroached on ...

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said on Monday that Preah Sihanouk province will become a second Singapore, as authorities were warned that its development, fuelled largely by Chinese investment, was coming at a cost to locals. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Sunday that he was considering introducing the death penalty for people who rape children, but he said it would only happen after a nationwide referendum. He was speaking during a meeting in the capital’s Dangkor district with 44 staff ...

Some 400 women from various associations, unions and civil society organisation were blocked by Phnom Penh municipal security forces from marching from the Olympic Stadium to the Council of Ministers to deliver a joint petition on International Women’s Day which fell on Friday. ...

A Bunong ethnic community representative on Tuesday claimed Mondulkiri provincial officials have not begun measuring land for the Hill Tribes Cultural Centre in the Phnom Dos Kramom mountain area even though they had received an order to do so from Prime Minister Hun Sen late ...