News

The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation and several partner organisations held a February 15 workshop to share details of a circular which described procedures for dealing with the victims of human trafficking. ...

The United Nations yesterday called on the government to do more to protect its homeless after years of so-called street sweeps and a lack of social care have left destitute Cambodians vulnerable to health risks and violence. ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs yesterday issued a new sub-decree ordering all orphanages to get a permit, submit to inspections and limit the conditions under which children can be admitted.According to many experts, including Social Affairs Minister Vong Soth, orphanage care does more harm than ...

Disabled people in Cambodia may frequently be excluded from the election process, according to a new study that is to be released next week that indicates local authorities consistently refuse to issue identity cards to the physically and developmentally disabled. ...

Four children were removed yesterday from Bethel Children’s Home of Cambodia and the centre’s director was arrested in Chhbar Ampov following a complaint alleging child abuse and neglect, including forced labour and sexually inappropriate conduct.​ ...

A Ministry of Social Affairs official yesterday announced that, starting next year, the government would offer regular payments of 20,000 riel (about $5) to all disabled Cambodians, a benefit that so far has only been available to retired disabled soldiers. In an announcement that coincided with ...

Social worker Nong Socheat is well-acquainted with the ugly scope of child abuse. As a counsellor for First Step Cambodia (FSC), a local NGO that focuses on supporting male survivors of sexual assault, she regularly provides support for boys dealing with the aftermath of molestation. ...

Ol Sok Hour, a keen and promising student, had his life turned upside down two years ago when his parents died of AIDS. Yesterday, the NGO celebrated the launch of its Graduation House, a facility that will offer accommodation and support for orphaned tertiary students. ...

The government is upping the payments made to retired and disabled civil servants, according to a July 31 subdecree by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Mut Khiev, secretary of state at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said the payments stand between 200,000 and 300,000 riel per month ...

A day after Prime Minister Hun Sen pointed out the need for more effective child protection in Cambodia, police in Koh Kong arrested and released a woman who admitted to chaining her 4-year-old “adopted daughter” inside their house eight hours a day for the past ...

For Cambodians with disabilities, the launch of two major initiatives in the past two days designed to improve their lives has brought some optimism about the future—tempered by a note of caution. At Koh Pich island on Thursday, in front of a crowd of more than ...

In a government directive signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday, provincial staff were ordered to submit their lists of military and civil service pensioners to the ministries of Finance and Social Affairs by the second week of each month to ensure timely delivery ...

The government has approved a second phase of a pilot project in Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces that will this time see professional caregivers rather than volunteers visit the homes of the elderly to assist with domestic work, hygiene needs and general companionship. “Families are the ...

With acid attacks in steep decline – not a single attack has been recorded so far this year – the only organisation working directly with acid survivors on the ground is scaling back its services by 75 per cent. Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) is no ...

Marking the next step to the Kingdom’s resumption of international adoptions, the Ministry of Social Affairs distributed for the first time copies of all adoption-related prakases, or edicts, to international representatives and adoption agencies in the capital yesterday. ...

Officials from the ministries of interior, social affairs, and justice met with NGOs on Friday to discuss the latest draft of a juvenile justice law that has been in the works for more than a decade and which would mean young offenders’ rights would be ...

Cambodia’s long-awaited resumption of international adoptions will soon take another tenuous step forward with a US State Department program that will see local adoption officials flown to the United States for training. The initiative, pegged an “informational visitor’s program”, follows on the heels of a January ...

The government plans to raise $3.51 billion in state revenue in 2014 in order to finance a $3.4 billion draft budget, an increase of about 14.5 percent compared to the previous year, when the government raised $2.98 billion in revenue, according to a draft of ...

Civil servants living in Phnom Penh will have wages paid into Canadia Bank accounts starting this week, Moth Kiev, secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs, said on Friday. The children of retired and disabled civil servants who have died will receive payments directly from ...

A day after its opening session and still devoid of the 55 lawmakers-elect of the opposition CNRP, the country’s new, one-party National Assembly voted Prime Minister Hun Sen in for yet another five-year term Tuesday and approved an extensive re­shuffle of his Cabinet. In a ...

More than 100 military police officers stood guard outside a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Monday and prevented workers from returning to work, employees and local officials said. Workers from Singaporean-owned SL Garment Factory—which makes clothing for U.S. brands Levi’s and Gap—have been ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs on Friday established four sub-committees tasked with finding a new minimum wage for the country’s 300,000-plus garment factory workers, Minister Ith Sam Heng said on Friday. “The sub-committees have a limited time of five weeks for research before they have to ...

Four subcommittees formed by the Ministry of Social Affairs met on Friday to begin establishing a new minimum wage for garment workers that will go into effect next year. Following the meeting, Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng told reporters that factory production rates, garment worker ...

A joint committee designed to bring about wage increases in the garment sector will meet for the first time on Friday, a Ministry of Social Affairs letter obtained yesterday states. Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said he believed ...