Social development

Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong said that authorities will not use forces to crack down on protesters. The governor met with Phnom Penh officials to clarify the government’s position on how to deal with protests led by Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). Pa Socheatvong added the ...

Both dengue fever and malaria deaths have plummeted this year compared to the same period in 2012, which was a peak year for the cyclical dengue, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health. Dengue fever killed 59 people and infected 17,491 during the ...

Tens of thousands of workers protested in front of the Ministry of Labor on Monday, after negotiations between labor leaders and the government failed to find a resolution to demands of higher wages in the face of a rising cost of living. Labor Minister Ith ...

Indigenous Jarai people from Ratanakkiri province who attended the opposition’s mass protests in the capital in recent weeks have had their names taken by provincial police, raising concerns that they could face threats and intimidation. The names of 81 pro-Cambodia National Rescue Party Jarai from O’Yadav, ...

As mass demonstrations by garment factory workers continued Monday, the government laid out plans to bring an end to the labor unrest within the next three days, including suing union leaders in the courts and mobilizing security forces to take unspecified action. Signed by Council ...

International donors along with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Planning kick-started the Kingdom’s fourth Demographic and Health Survey in the capital yesterday. ...

The Education Ministry and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday that they had begun a joint investigation into the misappropriation of textbooks intended for secondary school students under an ADB-funded scheme. Two NGOs on Thursday released results of an investigation into 33 secondary schools, which ...

The Cambodian government said Monday that a law on access to information will be adopted in three years. Cambodia has spent more than a decade working on this draft law. The formation of a new government in July committed to reforming all the government’s bodies ...

Tuk-tuk, motorbike and taxi drivers were among hundreds of workers from Cambodia’s “informal economy” who called on the government yesterday to cap fuel prices at 4,000 riel ($1) per litre, amid claims that the current 5,000 riel price leaves them unable to cover any more ...

Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando said yesterday that he was forced to postpone a planned demonstration in support of his bid for a television license as he had given authorities insufficient notice of what he hoped would be an ongoing protest. On Friday, Sonando – whose ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday said all of the country’s 400-plus garment factories will remain closed until the government and striking trade unions can guarantee the safety of the factories and all employees who want to work. The decision, outlined in an ...

Tens of thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters, backed by striking garment-factory workers, rallied on Sunday to demand long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen step down and call an election. The garment workers have in recent days joined the opposition protests to press their demand that the government ...

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia—In this quiet beach town, Lim Loeung says she spends up to 80 hours a week gluing soles onto shoes at a factory that does work for companies including Japanese sneaker-maker Asics Corp. 7936.TO +0.95% The factory believes Ms. Lim is at least 18 ...

An increasing number of Cambodians see themselves faring worse, a Gallup polls suggests. In a global survey released earlier this month, the US-based firm ranked Cambodia near the very bottom in terms of life satisfaction, and it found that 34 percent of surveyed Cambodians consider themselves ...

As Cambodia nears its second district and municipal council elections in May, about 200 women councilors from the sub-national level attended a workshop Friday to call for political parties to increase the number of women candidates in the upcoming election. Currently, 12 percent of councilors at ...

Striking garment factory workers and protesting CNRP supporters should respect people of other nationalities and make sure they act within the boundaries of the law, Defense Minister Tea Banh said Thursday. Speaking at an opening ceremony for three new Royal Cambodian Armed Force science laboratory buildings, ...

Cambodian Minister of Labor Ith Samheng on Friday afternoon held an urgent talk with the representatives of six pro-opposition trade unions after they have led tens of thousands of workers off work in protest against low wage increase for 2014. As the meeting was going on, ...

American lobby group Human Rights Watch has lashed out at Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, for her trip to Cambodia earlier this month. In a commentary posted Thursday, it noted that the IMF recognized that corruption threatened market integrity, distorted competition, ...

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Surya P. Subedi, on Friday reiterated his call for calm and restraint as demonstrations are now taking place daily in Phnom Penh. “Demonstrations such as those of recent days and weeks are a ...

Police clashed Friday with a group of striking garment workers on the outskirts of Cambodia’s capital, leaving about 20 people injured, police and workers said. The incident occurred when thousands of striking workers-marching from a province bordering the capital-tried to get into the Phnom Penh Special ...

A combined group of protesters from the capital’s Boeung Kak lake community yesterday ended their blockade of Monivong Boulevard with some disappointment after Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy broke a promise to meet them at City Hall. Protesters have been blocking the road outside ...

School textbooks paid for by the Asian Development Bank have been routed to district education offices, some of which are charging schools for books that are supposed to be free, an NGO investigation has found. The textbooks on Khmer literature, maths, geography, morality and science were ...

Ethnic minority groups in Ratanakkiri province are facing widespread human rights violations, land loss and the exploitation of their natural resources, an indigenous peoples conference was told yesterday. More than 300 villagers from the province’s Tum Poun, Kreng, Prov, Kavet, Jarai, Kachok and Lun communities hosted ...

Two disabled former soldiers convicted of razing the homes and grabbing the land of 30 rice farmers in Kampot province last year denied the charges during their hearing at the Appeal Court on Thursday. Touch Soeuly, 57, and 11 other members of his Cambodian Disabled Rescue ...