Social development
Human rights
Australia praises Cambodia on refugees
An Australian government minister on March 16 praised Cambodia for taking in refugees from the island nation of Nauru, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry. Mr. Sounry spoke to the media after private talks between Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn and Australia’s International Development Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. He ...
NUSU holds protest over unlicensed nurses ban
Some 500 student nurses marched on the streets of Yangon on March 15 in protest over the Ministry of Health and Sports’ directive to bar nurses who do not complete the required three years’ service in government hospitals from working at private hospitals. The protest march ...
Home-stay tourism in Vietnam aims to tap huge foreign potential
Home-stay services are becoming popular across Vietnam, with many people turning their houses into tourist dwellings to welcome foreign visitors. Tran Thanh Hung, 45, of the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, has spent 800 million dong (Bt1.24 million) to upgrade and expand his house. Located ...
Critics skeptical of new privacy legislation
Myanmar’s newly enacted privacy and security protection law received skepticism from several civil society groups that said the legislation was “incomplete” and failed to fully ensure the protection of individuals’ privacy and freedom of expression as it was adopted hastily and without public consultation. The ...
Call for ban on Mekong dams
A group of 50 youth, community and civil society representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand gathered to celebrate the International Day of Action for Rivers in Kratie province on March 14. They used the event in Sambo district to urge the government and the ...
Big team to defend human rights policies at UN
Thailand has 46 officials in Geneva, more than any other country, for its second review at UN rights body. After years of international criticism over its human rights policies, a 46-member delegation is strong enough to defend Thailand’s position before the Human Rights Committee on ...
Approach to disability questioned
Well-intentioned donor organisations working to assist the disabled often adopt an approach that is ineffectual in Cambodia, according to the doctoral research of Cambodian scholar Monyrath Nuth. Based at RMIT University in Australia, Nuth authored an extensive case study examining whether the “rights-based” approach to ...
Lat Phrao Canal project faces delay as residents refuse to budge
The bright new face of Lat Phrao Canal is likely to be unveiled later than planned because many homeowners have refused to move from the area, even after the National Council for Peace and Order used special powers to expedite the project to create a beauty ...
Villagers affected by dam meet with government officials
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 on March 9, in hopes of establishing a dialogue towards a ...
Floating villages to be grounded
A government minister has sounded the death knell for Tonle Sap picturesque floating villages after outlining a long-term plan to rehome all those living on the lake. Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon on March 9 told Khmer Times he wants to relocate thousands of families living on ...
