Social development

The government has lashed out at the U.S. and E.U. over their criticism of the detention of five current and former rights workers in Cambodia for more than a year, adopting the language of its critics by calling their statements “politically motivated.” ...

Half of the residents of Mondulkiri’s Norng Buor village fell ill during a mass flu outbreak this weekend, prompting a rapid mobilisation of the province’s health authorities, who ascribed the flu’s rapid spread to poor hygiene. ...

Cambodia has been asked to more than double its yearly contribution toward the fight against HIV/AIDS to at least $3.2 million in each of the next three years, an official from the National AIDS Authority said yesterday. ...

About 130 villagers and more than 20 of their children demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Land Management from 8am to noon yesterday, demanding that the government exclude their villages from a proposed development plan and protect their homes by granting them land titles. ...

The Social Affairs Ministry has purchased $150,000 worth of musical instruments and sound equipment for Phnom Penh’s blind musicians in a bid to persuade them to perform in designated spaces, though many worry that restricted venues will limit their income. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen called for renewed effort to wipe out malaria in Cambodia by 2025 in a message to mark World Malaria Day on Tuesday. There were 23,627 cases of malaria in the country last year, a decrease of 54 percent compared with 2015, which ...

A group of NGOs from the education sector yesterday urged the government to boost education spending to at least 20 percent of the country’s budget – a benchmark the Ministry of Education had hoped, and failed, to hit last year under its strategic plan. ...

The Health Ministry has warned all Cambodians to drink lots of water and keep cool, as hot season temperatures near 40 0C. The ministry’s Communicable Disease Control department also advised the public to avoid alcohol and drink only boiled or filtered water to prevent food poisoning ...

A staggering 35,000 Cambodian children and young people continue to be housed in a range of residential care facilities, with many of them flying under the government’s radar, according to a new report released by the Ministry of Social Affairs yesterday. ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs has decided to reintegrate more than 3,000 children in orphanages back into families after discovering the abysmal conditions of many facilities, with some having reported sexual abuse. ...

Laillou was stunned to find that 90 percent of coarse salt and 40-50 percent of fine salt was now not iodized. And all of it was labeled as iodized. Online journal Nutrients said iodine deficiency in Cambodia had become “a serious public health problem” just ...

The recently constructed Kratie University, which was mostly funded by the Chinese government, was handed over to the Education Ministry yesterday. ...

As Cambodia goes through rapid development and economic growth, changes are being felt in the workplace as women look to make their mark in professions traditionally seen as male preserves. According to the Cambodia Inter-Censal Population Survey 2013, women are predominantly employed in agriculture and the ...

Greg Barron, an award-winning radio producer, was 32 when he reported the despair of Cambodian refugees fleeing across the Thai border to escape the Khmer Rouge genocide in late 1979. ...

On Tuesday, two more buildings in the series of buildings in the Morodok Techo National Sports Complex commenced construction at a groundbreaking ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts yesterday announced that they have submitted the Khmer martial art Bokator, as well as Lakhon Khol – the traditional masked dance theatre – to be considered for recognition on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. ...

The US government has pulled any future funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a group focused on reproductive rights for women and girls, over claims it has practiced coercive abortions and involuntary sterilizations in China.   ...

The Swiss government has vowed to help secure long-term financial sustainability for the Kantha Bopha children’s hospitals. Last week Beat Richner, the founder and head of the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital and a Health Ministry adviser, resigned from his position as managing director due to health ...

Doctor Beat Richner, the prominent Swiss-born doctor credited with resurrecting the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals – which have treated millions of patients free of charge since 1992 – stepped down from his more than two-decade role of managing the hospitals, citing a serious illness. ...

About $170,000 remains to be found for a coalition of watchdogs and civil society observers known as the “situation room” to successfully monitor all of Cambodia’s 2017 commune elections for irregularities. ...

In its first two months of regular operation Cambodia’s first civil aviation training centre has provided certificates to dozens of aviation officials and airport staff, helping to raise the skill level of personnel in the Kingdom’s fast-expanding aviation sector. ...

Chroy Changvar peninsula land disputants yesterday delivered a petition to the Ministry of Land Management rejecting City Hall’s proposal to take away 90 percent of their land for the development of a satellite city. ...

Beat Richner, the founder and head of the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital and a Health Ministry adviser, is seriously ill and has resigned from his position as managing director. ...

The government yesterday announced a total ban on the collection and export of human breast milk, after it emerged poor women had been earning cash through the trade. ...