Social development

Thirty-eight civil society groups have formed a situation room to monitor the upcoming commune elections in a bid to ensure a free and fair electoral process. During a press conference in Phnom Penh yesterday, members of the situation room explained that despite having insufficient observers ...

A civil society group yesterday rebuked a recent report by the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), claiming the scathing report on the country’s legislative practices violated Asean principles. ...

The Commerce Ministry has banned imports of several food products over a health scare and warned the public to avoid them. The Camcontrol directorate-general took action over I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butter and I.M. Healthy Granola products after the US Food and Drug Administration linked them to ...

Cambodia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is coming out with an assertion of unprecedented pride, in stark contrast to just five years ago when discrimination and bullying were usually endured in private. ...

Almost one in every 100 children in Cambodia is living in a residential care institution, a number far higher than previous estimates, according to a new report in the British Medical Journal. ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation will start dispensing pensions for former civil servants and veterans at select ATMs starting in April. Minister Vong Soth issued a notice yesterday stating that pensioners will be able to withdraw their monthly allocations from Canadia Bank ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday released a strongly worded, albeit vague, rebuttal to a harsh report released by ASEAN parliamentarians on Monday, which chided the government for its legal onslaught against the opposition and alleged the “systematic dismantling [of] democracy” in the Kingdom. ...

Civil society groups in Cambodia have expressed concerns over increasing restrictions placed on them since the passage of laws governing NGOs and unions. ...

Cambodia’s improvements on human development are the biggest in the region, but standards of living still lag behind neighboring nations, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) figures have shown.   ...

A senior government official has urged the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to help children – both those who have never attended school as well as dropouts – get an education or receive training to improve their job prospects and income. ...

Significantly fewer upper secondary students dropped out of school in 2016 compared to the previous year, but Cambodian education authorities say they still want to halve the rate to improve graduation rates and students’ chances of success in life. ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry expects to complete construction on its first training institute for local diplomats in the next 18 months, officials said Monday. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokes-man Chum Sounry said work on the National Institute for Diplomatic and Relations of International Study began in December. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng has warned the number of drug users in the country has reached 20,000, as he urged authorities to do more to tackle the problem.   ...

Every Cambodian will be assigned a 10-digit identification number under which information from various government departments, as well as the private sector, will be collected in a central database, Interior Minister Sar Kheng announced on Thursday.   ...

Leading mobile phone operator Smart Axiata has formed a partnership with The Asia Foundation, an international development NGO, to foster innovation and creativity among Cambodian tech startups.   ...

Many of the news media’s favorite political analysts aren’t picking up their telephones. They say they are busy with work, traveling abroad or focusing on their studies. ...

The Ministry of Health acknowledged yesterday in its annual report that the quality of health care services in the Kingdom remains poor, with experts concluding that the slow improvement is due to a lack of government commitment.   ...

Four senior officials for rights group Adhoc will remain behind bars after the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Court of Appeal’s ruling that they should be held in detention while awaiting trial, but gave no reason for the decision. ...

Retired civil servants and military veterans are to get a pension rise next month, along with the same 50,000 riel Khmer New Year allowance as serving civil servants and armed forces members. ...

Officials broke ground on Saturday on a new mental health center in Kandal province that will house detainees from the notorious Prey Speu detention center in Phnom Penh, among others, government and city officials said on Sunday. ...

A lack of diagnostic equipment in Cambodia is causing cases of tuberculosis to be both over- and under-reported in children, a new study finds.   ...

A quarter of Cambodian students want more access to books and other reading materials, a study by World Vision revealed yesterday. Of the 4,000 students surveyed by the global NGO, 25 percent said they sought “more amount and variety” of books, while 12 percent wanted “better ...

Villagers from Stung Treng whose homes stand to be flooded by the Lower Sesan II dam met with representatives of the Ministry of Mines and Energy at an NGO Forum-sponsored meeting in Phnom Penh yesterday, in hopes of establishing a dialogue towards a long-awaited compromise. ...

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy has denounced current world governments’ surveillance legislation, calling for respect for citizens’ rights to privacy.   ...