Social development

Amid struggles by the Cambodian Veterans Association to live up to its pension obligations, Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the minister of social affairs and the minister of finance to provide roughly $1.5 million to alleviate the issue ahead of the Pchum Ben holiday. ...

Anti-human trafficking police arrested a man and a woman at Phnom Penh International Airport on Tuesday night, as they attempted to send two Cambodian women to be sold as brides in China. ...

Foreign diplomats this week have called for increased vigilance and caution on Cambodia’s coast, partcularly in places such as Sihanoukville, Koh Rong and Kampot, following a spike in serious crimes against foreigners. ...

Police in Koh Kong province on Wednesday arrested 17 people—including four rights workers—near the provincial courthouse as protesters continued to call for the release of three jailed environmental activists, according to officials. The group was released shortly after 6 p.m. ...

Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital will receive an additional $2 million this year from the government purse, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. ...

At least eight more people have died from dengue fever in less than a month, prompting health officials to warn people to be vigilant in preventing the disease. The total number of dengue infections has risen to nearly 7,000, up from around 2,000 last year, ...

Seventeen members of a Cambodian rights group and environmental NGO were briefly detained by authorities in Cambodia’s southeastern Koh Kong province Wednesday as they observed protests calling for the release of three activists held for interfering with sand-dredging operations, sources said. ...

Police in Koh Kong province on Wednesday detained at least 17 people, who had been protesting the detention of three environmental activists. ...

A family calling for what a rights group says is a long overdue investigation into the disappearance of their son during a violent demonstration in Phnom Penh some 19 months ago has been encouraged – if somewhat indirectly – to file a formal complaint with ...

Two days after four men were repatriated to Cambodia following their escape from a cargo ship docked in the Philippines, an official at the maritime school where the group studied questioned the veracity of the reports of mistreatment. ...

Interviews with dozens of the more than 10,000 teachers who gathered in Phnom Penh this week to grade exams taken by more than 85,000 Grade 12 students last month indicate that the results this year might not be as dismal as last year – when ...

Khemara Phoumint City deputy governor Pen Bunchhouy on Tuesday issued a letter to a group of protesters demanding that they vacate the area in front of the Koh Kong Provincial Court by Wednesday, threatening “action” if they refused. ...

The families of deceased Cambodian veterans are finding pensions hard to come by, the Cambodian Veteran Association admitted yesterday, as the organisation is scrambling for funds amid what appears to be higher-than-usual death rates among the Kingdom’s former military officers. ...

A group of protesters demanding the release of three jailed environmental activists in Koh Kong province clashed with authorities on Tuesday, as they attempted to file a petition to the residence of the provincial governor. ...

Operating from a modest tin shack he shares with his wife and children near the Mekong River in Kandal province, 34-year-old Seurn Sokheang treats his neighbors for a wide range of ailments. ...

The Education Ministry on Monday defended a pro-CPP speech delivered to some 1,500 students at a university in Phnom Penh on Sunday, reasoning that the school did not breach the ministry’s new directive against political activity at academic institutions because classes had finished for the ...

In a bid to raise more money from within the country, civil society organizations are planning to launch a platform in November that will use crowdfunding via mobile phone credit to fund projects ranging from IT development to the arts. ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Monday denied bail to three jailed activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature who were charged last mo nth with threatening to destroy barges operated by a sand dredging company, their lawyer said. ...

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is spearheading calls for a pregnant woman rushed out of this year’s national exam after going into labour to be allowed to re-sit the test amid strict reforms, which include no second chances for those who “fail”.Twenty-five-year-old Pich Sam Ath ...

Three people in Oddar Meanchey province will be questioned today over the alleged premeditated murder of a “gentle” 60-year-old woman accused by a local family of practising sorcery, police said yesterday. ...

Twenty-two Chinese nationals were arrested on Saturday in Svay Rieng province on suspicion of operating a phone-based fraud ring, according to police. ...

Teachers gathered at nine Phnom Penh high schools Friday to anonymize grade 12 national exam papers, replacing the section where candidates’ personal details were listed with a secret identification code prior to grading. ...

The Cambodian National Survey of Oral Muscoal Lesions, launched yesterday at the University of Puthisastra’s health faculty, found the prevalence of oral cancer and potentially malignant oral disorders among Cambodians was 5.6 per cent – about five times more than some other ASEAN countries. ...

The garbage-strewn, riverside area that contains Chrang Chamres commune may be unsightly, but the local Cham community fears that a future away from their niche in Phnom Penh’s far north would be far worse. It’s a common refrain. Over the years, numerous communities across Phnom ...