News

A domestic violence law long criticized by human rights and gender advocacy NGOs for inadequately protecting abuse victims is being reviewed by the government in a renewed effort to reduce violence against women. ...

The government will meet this month to begin addressing concerns that the lack of regulation for the surrogacy trade could lead to a proliferation of brokers working in Cambodia and foreign couples traveling to the country to take advantage of their services. The Ministry of ...

New targets have been set to boost the number of women in positions of influence, according to an initiative launched yesterday by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. ...

Government ministries bound by sexist traditions and a lack of support are keeping women officials across Asia from implementing their ideas, female leaders gathered for a four-day seminar in Phnom Penh said yesterday. ...

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is spearheading calls for a pregnant woman rushed out of this year’s national exam after going into labour to be allowed to re-sit the test amid strict reforms, which include no second chances for those who “fail”.Twenty-five-year-old Pich Sam Ath ...

In its latest plan to tackle gender disparities, the government applauded its own progress, while still acknowledging persistent challenges, such as a lack of women in leadership roles, and new ones, such as women’s vulnerability to climate change. “The situation of women has improved remarkably over ...

Due to discrimination, sexual minorities in the country face high poverty, bullying and elevated dropout rates, with the government’s ambiguous stance on LGBT issues worsening the situation, a UN report says. “Laws and policies in Cambodia are silent on LGBT people and rights,” states Being LGBT ...

A 100-page set of guidelines for the legal protection of the rights of women and children was launched by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Phnom Penh on Thursday in a bid to address shortfalls in how the judicial system handles cases such as rape, ...

In yet another land swap deal that will see lucrative state-owned land handed to a private business in exchange for a new building on cheaper land, the Try Pheap Group has built a new headquarters for the Women’s Affairs Ministry in Stung Meanchey commune. In return, ...

Freedom Park was placed under lockdown and a march by land rights activists was blocked Saturday morning as Phnom Penh’s security officials were out in force to ensure that peaceful rallies on International Women’s Day could not go as planned. Prime Minister Hun Sen on February ...

The Ministry of Labor said Wednesday that the government has agreed on a final draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia regarding sending Cambodian maids to work there, but that no timeframe for the signing of the agreement has been set. Following reports of ...

The United States and Cambodian governments on Tuesday released an educational guide that will help Cambodian schools improve the way their students learn, according to a media statement from the U.S. Embassy. The Life Skills Curriculum is the culmination of an extensive collaboration between the Cambodian Ministry of ...

Finding out why women’s voices are not being listened to is imperative to increasing the proportion of female political representation in Cambodia, a meeting heard yesterday. The Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP) – which is made up of 12 organisations – hosted discussions in ...

CPP lawmakers including Prime Minister Hun Sen unanimously voted Friday for their party members, Suy Sem and Cham Prasidh, to become heads of the newly created Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts, respectively. The 67 ruling-party parliamentarians present also approved ...

A financial review by USAID, the U.S. government’s development arm, into local health NGO Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA) has found financial mismanagement coupled with a lack of transparency and oversight within the organization that may point to evidence of fraudulent activity. Well-known for its ...

Less than a week after she was released from prison pending a retrial on controversial criminal charges laid down last year, housing rights activist Yorm Bopha on Thursday led a march of about 500 people to deliver a petition calling on the government to end ...

Teenage pregnancies are hindering Cambodia’s development as young mothers are unlikely to finish school and therefore lack job opportunities, government and U.N. officials said at the launch of a global report on adolescent pregnancies on Wednesday. “The Ministry of Women’s Affairs acknowledges that adolescent pregnancies have ...

Women’s Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi on Tuesday defended the government’s policies on promoting gender equality and preventing discrimination against women, but conceded that challenges remain in achieving principles set out in the U.N.’s convention to stop discrimination against women. Speaking in Geneva to the U.N. ...

Rights groups on Monday shared their concerns about the treatment of women in Cambodia with member states of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva. Cambodia last updated the committee—which meets three times a year to assess how member states ...

A Malaysian Court yesterday sentenced a couple to 24 years in jail for culpable homicide after their Cambodian maid starved to death while working for them in their home on the northwest coast of Penag, Agence France Press (AFP) reported. Cambodian opposition lawmaker and former ...

Access to finance could reduce violence, empower the most vulnerable in society and improve the livelihoods of Cambodia’s poorest people, a conference on community-led funding heard on Wednesday. Sarah Sitts, country manager of the international NGO Pact, introduced the funding model of savings-led micro-finance (SLMF). In ...

A lack of legal protections, insufficient commitment from the Malaysian government and an overworked, understaffed embassy are among the major obstacles to lifting the maid ban, according to an internal government report obtained yesterday. Penned by the Ministry of Interior, the 12-page brief details a ...

The abuse of Cambodian maids overseas has become one of the most documented human rights violation here. But as the Government, media, NGOs and aid agencies focus their energies on domestic laborer living abroad, advocates have begun to urge that closer attention be paid to ...

Government spending next year will total more than $3 billion, a 16.2 percent increase from the $2.6 billion set aside for 2012, according to a draft of the national budget obtained Friday. The budget states that the government will allocate some $400 million, or 13.32 ...