Social development

A UN spokesperson has rejected a government reading of a UN convention used to justify banning people with disabilities from performing in the streets. ...

Security forces including riot police were deployed to Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila neighborhood on Tuesday to keep a watchful eye over activists in the area, as rights groups, undeterred by arrests of eight protesters on “Black Monday,” began planning next week’s demonstration.   ...

Eight human rights officers and activists clad in black were arrested on Monday during “Black Monday” protests in Phnom Penh, the first in a campaign to free four fellow rights workers and an election official who were jailed late last month on charges widely believed ...

Cambodia is among 10 countries that achieved accelerated progress in maternal and child health – ahead of comparable countries – by meeting goals to reduce mortality among those population groups, according to a recent cross-country analysis by the WHO.   ...

As protesters were being arrested during peaceful demonstrations in Phnom Penh on Monday morning, the new chairman of the government’s human rights committee held a press conference to reassure the public that the country’s human rights situation was stable.   ...

More than 4,000 people in Cambodia cycled here on Saturday to celebrate Europe Day and to increase environmental awareness. The event was organized by the European Union (EU) in Cambodia in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, and the Phnom Penh Municipality. ...

Two farmers were arrested and charged yesterday after police found more than 100 liters of safrole oil in their Sala Kumrou village residence in Pursat City’s Phteash Prey commune, according to police chief Lieutenant Colonel Chhorn Rith. ...

The government on Sunday warned of a crackdown on activists and advocacy groups set to protest today against the recent arrests of four rights workers and an election official, calling the planned demonstration an act of “urban rebellion.” ...

Water contaminated by pesticides has been blamed for poisoning 31 people in Battambang’s Samlot district.   ...

Two Ratanakkiri Referral Hospital officials have been ousted from their posts following an audit that found that more than $13,000 from the hospital’s travel allowance account was mismanaged, causing the hospital to run out of money to pay staff. ...

As the temperature in Phnom Penh crested 39 degrees celcius on Tuesday, a young British couple stepped into the air-conditioned embrace of Burger King.   ...

Cambodian’s prison libraries are set to receive an extra $600,000 in funding from the French Agency for Development and literacy NGO Sipar, according to a statement released yesterday. ...

Activists organizing a protest march to the Phnom Penh headquarters of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) say they will continue with their plans despite City Hall’s decision on Thursday to reject their request.   ...

Although the number of dengue fever cases in Cambodia nearly tripled during the first 17 weeks of 2016 compared to the same period last year, a health official said a vaccine for the mosquito-borne virus still needs to be vetted by the WHO before local ...

Health Ministry officials said that 43 percent of deaths in the Kingdom in 2014 were caused by non-communicable diseases, a figure which is expected to rise. ...

Police forcibly removed a dozen of the city’s homeless – four of them children – from the streets of central Phnom Penh yesterday, carting them off to the notorious Prey Speu Social Affairs Centre, where two people died last November. ...

Land rights activists from 10 communities in the capital yesterday submitted a request to City Hall requesting permission to march to the Anti-Corruption Unit’s headquarters and deliver a petition in support of human rights activists jailed this week. ...

Backed by the U.N., Cambodia on Wednesday launched a national action plan to completely eliminate hunger in the country by 2025, the first step in an ambitious initiative that the government signed on to last year. ...

The Minister of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries has announced a ban on all imported low-grade meat from neighboring countries as part of a national reform of the Kingdom’s meat industry. ...

Sisowath Chakreynupol, a prince from one of Cambodia’s royal families, has taken over the reins of the Cambodian Liberty Party, a recently started micro-party. ...

Cambodian journalists will visit the U.S. to observe the presidential election in November to learn from their American colleagues’ experience of covering the polls, a media development group has said. ...

An American horticulturalist is in Cambodia providing training in a unique farming method that proponents believe can improve food security in some of the country’s remotest regions.      ...

A baby was born at sea on Monday afternoon in Koh Kong province after a mother went in labor on a boat on her way to hospital. ...

Foreign diplomatic missions in Phnom Penh say they are closely watching the handling of the cases of human rights monitors and a national election official charged and jailed on Monday in connection with a sex scandal being prosecuted against an opposition leader.    ...