Social development

The Ministry of Education is to expand literacy classes for garment workers to more than 12 provinces where factories are located this year, with more classes planed for the whole nation by 2020. ...

Borei Keila residents have continued to reject compensation in exchange for leaving their land, claiming the latest offer was inadequate. Two of the remaining 11 families met with the 7 Makara district governor in Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss compensation. ...

Foreign-based members of Cambodia’s dissolved opposition party have launched a movement to demand the release of its detained leader and to call for free and fair elections and possibly protests. ...

The government has created a new interministerial committee to manage the activities of international NGOs, with an Interior Ministry official yesterday saying the body was intended to monitor organisations’ compliance with the controversial NGO Law. ...

Nearly 300 chickens and ducks were culled after a new case of H5N1, or bird flu, was found in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district last week, officials said. Seang Borin, director of the municipal agriculture department, said yesterday that 292 chickens and ducks were killed in ...

Authorities are to force about 40 families in Koh Kong province to relocate from their homes in Botum Sakor National Park. The villagers asked authorities to provide them with social land concessions, because they have no other place to live. ...

The Interior Ministry yesterday created a working group to review possible loopholes in a royal decree establishing a social security healthcare fund for public officials, civil servants and veterans. ...

The Education Ministry has produced a short video and posted it to its YouTube channel to help teachers educate students in grades one to three. The video, which runs less than 20 minutes, shows methods of teaching Khmer literature, mathematics and other subjects. ...

The United Nations Development Programme yesterday released a report analysing different methods of lifting Cambodia’s rural poor out of poverty. ...

Arriving in Phnom Penh in the midst of a political crackdown on dissent, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang showed no qualms about signing 19 major development deals yesterday with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, making it clear that Chinese aid to the Kingdom remains unaffected by ...

Outspoken government critic Kim Sok was rejected bail at the Supreme Court this morning, with the prosecutor arguing that to grant Sok early release from an 18-month prison sentence would cause “chaos” in society. ...

Kem Monovithya, the daughter of jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha and a CNRP official, met with United States officials yesterday to discuss the possibility of further sanctions on the Cambodian government if measures taken in an ongoing political crackdown are not reversed. ...

Koh Kong provincial authorities on Monday ordered 40 families living in Botum Sakor district to vacate their land and homes after it was determined they were illegally occupying a national park.​ On Friday, authorities went to inspect Botum Sakor National Park and found 40 families ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday signed a $180 million package of loans and grants to Cambodia that are meant to improve the country’s roads, water supply and small-scale farms. One $70 million loan will go towards improving 147-kilometres’ worth of flood-prone stretches of National Road ...

The Information Ministry will use a new form of media pass for journalists working in Cambodia by the end of January in order to easily manage and collect data from journalists. ...

After joining the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) family in 2016, Cambodia has been an active supporter and enthusiastic participant of the mechanism. On Dec. 21, China provided 7.3 million U.S. dollars from the LMC Special Fund to Cambodia for carrying out 16 projects in the kingdom, ...

An ethnic Phnong community in Kratie province’s Snuol district has accused local officials and soldiers of grabbing over 1,000 hectares of community forest and threatening the lives of local villagers for years, with the rights group Adhoc yesterday saying they would take the case to ...

The Ministry of Education plans to incorporate an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 community-based kindergartens – currently run by commune councils with support from NGOs – into the state public school system to ensure their sustainability, according to a new sub-decree. ...

Repairs on an ancient sandstone statue discovered in Siem Reap province in July are 50 percent complete, according to a report. The Angkor-era statue was found at the Tonle Sgnout temple by a group of Apsara Authority archaeologists working with colleagues from the Singapore-based Institute ...

A national network of people living with HIV, which has been key in helping coordinate anti-HIV services at the grassroots level, is now being excluded from a new Global Fund grant, raising “deep” concerns, according to NGOs and a leaked internal email sent to government ...

The prime minister lashed out at journalists and analysts today for questioning the current government’s reform record, a seeming reference to a Post article from December about a speech in which he touted his administration’s progress. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen today announced plans to offer free health care to cyclo drivers and to form a foundation to help preserve them as a tourist attraction. ...

The Health Minister has ordered civil servants to prioritise the implementation of new social security services for public officials, former government workers and veterans, which came into force at the start of this year. ...

Officials from the Ministry of Health said the numbers of malaria cases was roughly similar in 2017 as it was in 2016.​Authorities only reported one death from malaria this year, but sill called for people to take every possible measure to prevent the disease.​ ...