Social development

Every Saturday afternoon, in a room in the Phnom Penh offices of a German political foundation, chairs are arranged in a u-shape. About 50 people, from a range of backgrounds, gather and chit-chat. ...

Cambodia launched a health strategic plan in 2002, in an effort to improve services to areas that lack medical personnel and resources. But in many rural areas, there has been little progress, and even an awareness of basic hygiene and disease prevention remains considerably low. ...

Eight young girls were placed in the care of the Social Affairs Ministry on Thursday after Thai authorities found them begging and selling flowers in Thailand and sent them back to Cambodia, according to the ministry. ...

King Norodom Sihamoni signed the NGO law on Wednesday, according to a government official, bringing into effect a piece of legislation that has been internationally rebuked as a serious threat to free speech and association. ...

The backlash began Wednesday against a new Education Ministry directive that bans political activities and unauthorized associations at academic institutions, with the country’s largest teachers’ union and various youth groups accusing the government of hypocrisy. ...

Authorities in Kampong Speu province have ordered a chicken farmer to clean up his coop, the source of a local fly infestation that has caused uproar in the community. ...

As about 100 fishermen in Koh Kong province on Wednesday resumed their monthslong campaign against a company they accuse of illegal sand dredging, an environmental NGO claimed the firm was now hiring locals as security guards in an attempt to divide the community. ...

Dengue fever has killed at least 16 people so far this year, an uptick from the same period last year, health officials say. The deaths are the result of nearly 4,700 infections. ...

The Constitutional Council has officially accepted the contentious Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations, which would tighten regulations on thousands of organizations in the country in what critics fear could mean a major crackdown on basic freedoms and government criticism. ...

The infection rate of HIV has fallen sharply in Cambodia over the last five years, new statistics show, though the rate for men who have sex with men in the sex industry remains high. ...

The Ministry of Education has issued a directive banning political activism or association at academic institutions, saying it will fine or shut down universities, post-secondary schools and student organizations that have engaged in or promoted political activity. ...

The Child Protection Unit (CPU) has seen a surge in cases of serious crimes against children in recent weeks, though the NGO says that partly reflects their expanded presence in Cambodia and improved reporting practices. ...

Problems with employment, security and education continue to plague young people in Cambodia, the Youth Coalition for Unity and Development, along with Oxfam Cambodia, said on Sunday at an event commemorating the 16th International Youth Day. ...

Rights group Licadho has welcomed an announcement from the Interior Ministry that conditions at prisons, social rehabilitation centers and drug rehabs will be improved to ensure that the rights of inmates, patients and others housed or confined at the centers will be respected. ...

The Constitutional Council will meet with a group of opposition lawmakers on Wednesday over a controversial draft law to regulate NGOs, as it prepares to review the bill and send it to the king to be signed into law. ...

Cambodia’s National Election Committee (NEC) will make the disabled a top priority in political participation and include related policy in the country’s new election law to ensure them equality in the next nationwide elections, an agency official said. ...

Cambodia has failed to meet a number of UN Millennium Development Goals, which were set out years ago and aimed at halving global poverty. Ros Sopheap, executive director for Gender and Development for Cambodia, said gender equality and the empowerment of women have not been ...

Police in Battambang have released a man who grew more than 200 marijuana plants in the jungle for “personal use” after he promised not to do it again. ...

With the Grade 12 national high school exam about two weeks away, a group of five NGOs sent a letter to the Ministry of Education on Monday asking the government to prevent guesthouses from hiking their prices for students who have to stay overnight in ...

About 200 people gathered in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district on Sunday demanding the release of two women who were arrested last week for allegedly chaining up their 13-year-old niece and selling her for sex. ...

The relatives and neighbors of two sisters who were arrested in Phnom Penh last week over the alleged sexual enslavement of their 13-year-old niece are angry. Members of the mostly Cham Muslim community living along the Tonle Sap river in Russei Keo district’s Chraing Chamreh ...

The sidewalk near Wat Phnom resembles the line outside a popular amusement park. Toy sellers walk by hawking plastic helicopters and rattles, as a line of more than a hundred parents and children sit and wait for the gates to open, cooling themselves with plastic ...

Almost half of Cambodia’s youth named future employment as their biggest worry, a new study by a local coalition of youth groups shows.Asked about their major worry in life, 49 percent of respondents aged between 15 and 35 said that not being able to find ...

Despite differing political situations, citizens of Myanmar and Cambodia face many of the same issues and can learn from each other, activists from the two countries told a conference here on Saturday. ...