Social development

As Latin American countries reel from a spike in the number of microcephaly cases, believed to be linked to the mosquito-borne virus Zika, the Cambodian Ministry of Health has urged citizens to take precautions against the spread of the disease here. ...

The sexual abuse case involving a 57-year-old German national and at least five underage boys continued in Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. Udo Sabiniewicz, owner of FX Animation Studio in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district, could be sentenced to one to three years in prison ...

Pailin province will be ground zero for a Ministry of Social Affairs’ pilot project that will offer 20,000 riel stipends monthly to poor, disabled citizens, according to ministry officials. The funds will be distributed to citizens for set amounts of time based on their level ...

The Ministry of Information says it is working with LGBT rights groups to create a regular radio program that discusses LGBT issues, with the aim of making society more welcoming. ...

This week, 25 years after a Frenchmen created the first of five specialized schools for blind and deaf students, it is handing over the schools—plus the tools and expertise its staff developed over decades—to the Cambodian government. ...

A delegation from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) – a transnational organisation of lawmakers – met with lawmakers, several ministries and the UNHCR over the past two days to discuss concerns about the beating of two opposition lawmakers last October as well as the jailing of ...

A grinning Prime Minister Hun Sen walked up to US President Barack Obama and shook his hand in California yesterday, lending the premier his long-sought aura of legitimacy even as hundreds of angry Cambodians protested his 31-year rule less than half of a kilometre away. ...

In a wide-ranging speech to ruling Cambodian People’s Party supporters in California yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen slammed the US government as well as the opposition, and said his presence at the US-ASEAN Summit at Rancho Mirage was no different than that of US President ...

More than 100 Southeast Asian parliamentarians are urging President Barack Obama to address regional human rights issues during his meetings with ASEAN leaders next week, according to an open letter posted online Thursday. ...

A report released today by glo­bal advocacy group Child Rights In­­­­ternational Network (CRIN) ranked Cambodia 166 out of 197 coun­tries for the effectiveness of its courts in protecting children. ...

As parties prepare for Case 002/01 appeal hearings, set to resume on Tuesday, a new report by the Open Society Justice Initiative examines the legacy of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, identifying political interference and insufficient outreach as the court’s primary shortcomings. ...

The Child Rights International Network (CRIN) has released its worldwide rankings of countries’ protection of children’s legal rights, with Cambodia coming in at a lowly 166th place out of 197, just ahead of Libya and just behind Tongo. ...

Australian scientists have made a significant breakthrough in tackling malaria, one of the world’s deadliest diseases.Research led by the University of Melbourne, in conjunction with Stanford University and the University of Cambridge, has discovered compounds which can target the parasite present in the mosquito-borne virus. ...

Responding yesterday to criticism calling the Cambodian government a “Government of Facebook,” in which its officials are paid to play on the popular social media site, Prime Minister Hun Sen said that his was in fact an E-government. ...

Speaking at the inauguration of the Heng Samrin Tbong Khmum University yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen called for a program to establish universities in all provinces, saying that the creation of more institutions of higher learning would improve access to education outside of the capital. ...

The collective land of indigenous communities in Cambodia will continue to face encroachment from economic land concessions and the actions of private companies in the future despite the Cambodian Government’s moratorium on granting ELC licenses, according to a Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) report ...

In a sub-decree released Wednesday, the Cambodian government said they need an additional 4,500 police officers to assist the Interior Ministry with “public order and national security” throughout the Kingdom. ...

In an effort to identify and address “key barriers that impede the realization of children’s rights in Cambodia,” the Cambodian government and UNICEF Cambodia officially signed a new Country Program Action Plan yesterday, entering a three-year partnership that will cost an estimated $65 million, according ...

After more than 40 men broke out of a Phnom Penh drug rehabilitation cen­ter on Friday, officials said this week that they have called off efforts to arrest 18 es­capees who remain at large, in­stead asking for their families to re­turn them voluntarily.   ...

Amid fears of a potential reprise of anti-opposition violence that flared in October, a US Embassy spokesman yesterday called on the government “to ensure that no one is threatened, punished, or harmed in Cambodia” if a planned anti-Hun Sen rally takes place as scheduled next ...

Twelve civil society organizations submitted a joint statement asking the US government and heads of democratic ASEAN members to raise issues of human rights violations in Cambodia and the misuse of courts to stifle the opposition at next week’s US-ASEAN Summit in California, in order ...

The Cambodia Confederation Development Association (CCDA), a well-known tuk-tuk and moto-taxi association, plans to lodge complaints against local rights group Licadho next week over a statement the NGO co-signed with 33 other civil society groups regarding the association’s involvement in a Saturday protest at the ...

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights released a public notice on Monday noting a “substantial increase” in the number of people being charged for making anti-government or anti-Hun Sen comments in social media. ...

The two pharmacies caught selling illegal MAZETA Slim diet pills, which were outlawed in Cambodia in December, have been identified, according to Health Ministry officials. The ministry began investigating the pharmacies after an anonymous tip was filed with the ACU earlier this month.   ...