News
Over 35,000 kids still in care
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 on April 20. The report ...
Ministry cracks down in orphans scandal
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. The announcement, which was made during the launch of the Mapping of Residential ...
Cambodia’s cycle of abuse
Childhood trauma remains stubbornly high in Cambodia, leading to perpetration and experience of violence against women, which in turn leads to further maltreatment of children, completing a cycle of abuse, a new UN-supported study suggests. The study – supported by UN Women in Cambodia and ...
Hun Sen makes a plea for more child welfare
Prime Minister Hun Sen on March 1 called on everyone whose work related to children to be conscientious and passionate about their job. He spoke at the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Regional Early Childhood Development Conference, which is being held over three days in Siem ...
Connecting former addicts to the users in need of help
Down a back alley in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov neighbourhood, a handful of men and women are ushered into a non-descript house filled with a row of wooden beds. Many appear nervous. A mother and child are asleep on one of the beds, where they ...
Posing for ‘poverty porn’: The murky ethics of NGO fundraising ‘hero shots’
The young girl in Sunrise Cambodia’s recent fundraising campaign has been labelled a “sex worker” in glossy typeface. Her face is smeared with dirt. She is accompanied by a “trafficked kid” and a “homeless teen” on the page. “Just because it raises money, it doesn’t ...
Government must help homeless: UN
The United Nations on 15 December 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. “Cambodia is growing fast economically, and the signs ...
Horrific state of Prey Speu revealed
Phnom Penh’s remote Prey Speu Social Affairs Centre – a de facto prison used to indefinitely incarcerate some of the capital’s most vulnerable citizens – has granted unusual access to the media, coinciding with a visit from Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker Ke Sovannaroth. Eighty-nine men, ...
