Social development

The Court of Appeal on Monday denied bail to four rights workers and an election official imprisoned in connection with a sex scandal surrounding deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha, upholding the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision last month.    ...

A new report has ranked Cambodia 125 out of 163 countries in terms of its protection of children’s rights, even as the government works to finalise a sub-decree and code of conduct to better shield children from abuse, exploitation and neglect. ...

Cambodia received a new $130 million funding package from the World Bank last month that focuses on poverty reduction and bettering the lives of poor and vulnerable Cambodians in the country cooperation strategy set out in the new Cambodia -World Bank Group Country Engagement Note ...

Legal action will be taken against health institutes that offer a low quality of care, according to a directive issued by the Minister of Health last week, which also emphasized the importance of digital record keeping in the medical sector. ...

Activists behind the “Black Monday” protests said on Sunday they would demonstrate yet again today despite the threat of more arrests, this time in front of the Appeal Court, where four employees of rights group Adhoc and an election official will have their bail hearing ...

The Ministry of Health and the WHO on Friday signed a new five-year plan that will seek to address communicable and non-communicable diseases, advance universal health care, strengthen capability to respond to new emerging diseases and increase collaborations and partnerships, a ministry official said yesterday. ...

The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution accusing the Cambodian government of laying politically motivated charges against the opposition and calling for aid cuts if its respect for human rights fails to improve—a loud echo of a resolution it passed just six months ago. ...

Dengue cases, which can be highly lethal to children, rose phenomenally in the first five months this year and more than doubled compared with the same period last year. ...

Seven years after Cambodia put a stop to its own international adoption programs, the Catalan regional government in Spain signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Social Affairs on Tuesday that will allow its residents to adopt Cambodian children.   ...

The number of dengue fever cases reported during the first 21 weeks of 2016 was double the same period last year and is expected to continue to rise in the coming months.   ...

The Japanese government will continue providing scholarships to young Cambodian government officials wishing to study in Japan, continuing a tradition of bilateral scholarship that began in 2000, officials said yesterday. ...

Vietnamese police visited a group of Montagnards in Phnom Penh on Tuesday in an effort to persuade them to return to Vietnam, where the asylum-seekers claim to have fled systematic government persecution, a member of the group said on Wednesday. ...

A new set of security measures at Prey Sar prison, designed to stop rampant drug use at the facility, is instead being selectively applied to prisoners being held in a politically sensitive case related to an ongoing sex scandal involving opposition leader Kem Sokha.   ...

About 80 U.S. troops are in Cambodia for Pacific Angel 2016, an annual humanitarian-aid mission that runs through June 18. ...

An unlicensed medic was arrested in Tbong Khmum province on Monday after administering three injections to a patient who then died en route to a nearby clinic, a police official said on Tuesday. ...

Seven activists arrested in Phnom Penh on Monday morning for attempting to demonstrate against the recent arrests of four human rights workers and an election official were released by nightfall, a familiar conclusion to the latest “Black Monday” demonstration. ...

Cambodia’s minister of social affairs on Sunday departed for a visit to Spain, which will be followed by a trip to Malta, to discuss and sign adoption agreements with both countries, according to a statement released Sunday. ...

The Ministry of Culture released a book on Monday of about 68 Khmer sculptures that were stolen from museums in Battambang City during decades of war and conflict, and intends to use the publication in a global search to recover the artifacts. ...

More than 400 people in Prey Veng’s Peamro district came down with cold and flu-like symptoms on Saturday, prompting the Ministry of Health to launch an investigation into the cause of the sickness. ...

The Kingdom’s most recent case of measles involves a one-year-old child in Phnom Penh, marking the virus’ third appearance in the country this year. ...

A community of ethnic Phnong people in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district has accepted a settlement from a Vietnamese rubber firm ending a five-year land dispute. ...

Two days after Prime Minister Hun Sen told Phnom Penh municipal authorities to either improve the city’s notorious Prey Speu detention center or shut it down, a spokesman said on Thursday that officials had concluded that the “indispensable” facility would remain open. ...

Both Cambodian women engaging in sex work and their male clients engage in unhealthy alcohol use, according to the findings of a soon-to-be-published study.   ...

Children in Cambodia face a range of threats to their safety including violence, sexual abuse and economic exploitation, with the justice system failing to prosecute alleged offenders, according to a 68-page report by a host of children’s welfare NGOs. ...