Social development

The Australian government ignored allegations of physical and sexual abuse of asylum seekers held on the Pacific island of Nauru for more than a year without taking action, staff at the detention centre have alleged. ...

According to a new survey, land disputes in Cambodia lead to employment insecurity, causing poverty, food insecurity, and increasing physical and psychological insecurity. The survey found that most expressed a desire for the government to eliminate land disputes and set a clear policy to address ...

Cambodia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region, and despite UN goals set up for the end of 2015, that number has remained high. There, only 75 percent of women giving birth were attended by trained health workers in 2012, according ...

Working with Unicef, Cambodia will develop a 10-year national strategy to boost birth-registration rates and build an integrated database encompassing identity records for the entire population, recently released tender documents reveal. Among the challenges to improving the birth-registration system, according to Kosalvathanak, is a lack ...

Eight Cambodian nationals studying in Yemen remained trapped in the capital of Sanaa on Monday as sectarian violence continued to consume the country, officials said. ...

A deputy commune chief in Battambang province’s Roka commune, where an outbreak of HIV has infected nearly 250 villagers, died Monday. ...

The new chief of the Preah Sihanouk provincial police force Monday vowed to carry out orders to protect and monitor foreigners in the seaside city of Sihanoukville after being officially appointed to the position in a ceremony earlier in the day. ...

After 11 more Montagnard asylum seekers from Vietnam reportedly arrived in Ratanakkiri province late on Sunday evening, the United Nations yesterday said it was looking into unconfirmed reports from local villagers that eight others had been found dead in the province. While it was impossible ...

More than 100 slot machines worth over $1 million in total were seized in a police raid on a warehouse in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district on Monday, an Interior Ministry official said. ...

Workers from Myanmar, laos, Cambodia and Vietnam now get better coverage. Migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam can now buy healthcare insurance and enjoy healthcare benefits that are on par with what Thais get via the country’s universal healthcare scheme. ...

How can one push for greater political participation of women in a patriarchal state that believes government is a fraternity? The Cambodian Committee to Promote Women in Politics faced this exact problem when it first started its work to encourage women to get more politically involved ...

Workers from Myanmar, laos, Cambodia and Vietnam now get better coverage. Migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam can now buy healthcare insurance and enjoy healthcare benefits that are on par with what Thais get via the country’s universal healthcare scheme. ...

A global risk-analysis firm has released a grim – albeit partial – snapshot of Cambodia, noting that the Kingdom’s overreliance on essential resources from other countries leaves it vulnerable to instability, and that it is at “extreme risk” of a communicable-disease pandemic. The Global Risks and ...

As Yemen slides further into violence and chaos, officials are attempting to extricate eight Cambodian students studying there and send them back home, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Sunday. ...

Three imprisoned land activists intentionally injured themselves on Friday in an alleged suicide attempt after being confined in their cell for two days, according to their families and a fellow inmate. Tep Vanny, Kong Chantha, and Bor Chorvy – all from Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak community ...

Child protection NGO Friends International said this week it will contest being officially cited as the originator of allegations of sexual misconduct at Our Home orphanage that led to the center’s closure last month and to the imprisonment of its director, Hang Vibol, on suspicion ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Friday questioned an Areng Valley villager opposed to a government-backed hydropower dam over allegations of illegal logging but has yet to lay charges. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday said that draft Law on Non-Government Organizations will be discussed and adopted at Cabinet in May 2015, and the law will be adopted by 50 percent plus one majority vote at the National Assembly. According to the figures of ...

In an internal report released this week, the Ministry of Education gave itself high marks for the access to education it offers disabled children, offering a rundown of successes in the field dotted with green checkmarks, not unlike a school report card. However, though the ministry ...

The government will provide scholarships to poor public school students in grades 1 through 12 in an effort to curb drop-out rates.​ ...

A UN rights panel that grilled government delegates in Geneva last month yesterday handed down its concluding observations on how Cambodia has implemented the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it acceded to more than two decades ago. The only positive aspects outlined by ...

A spike in violent crime over the past year has seen Cambodia receive a “critical” rating in a report outlining the potential dangers for U.S. Embassy staff operating in the country. The Cambodia 2015 Crime and Safety Report, which was compiled by the U.S. Bureau of ...

A two-day drug crackdown in Kampong Thom province on Tuesday and Wednesday led to the arrests of 30 alleged drug users and dealers – including two police officers who were later released. ...

Oxfam said it will expand its savings-led community-lending model in Cambodia as an alternative to traditional credit-based microfinance services, which it says are ineffective in reaching the Kingdom’s poorest. Oxfam’s Saving for Change project, which trains rural communities to form savings groups, now has $5 million ...