Social development
Ho Chi Minh City adopts poverty measures
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council has recently approved adoption of a multi-dimensional poverty measure in the city’s 2016-20 poverty reduction programme. It measures, besides income, also deprivation in terms of five basic needs — education, health care, employment and social insurance, living conditions, and ...
US demands answers over missing Lao activist Sombath
The United States called for Laos to immediately resolve the case of prominent activist whose abduction three years ago sent a “chilling message” to civil society. The State Department statement came as the top US envoy for East Asia prepares to travel to communist-governed Laos, which ...
Domestic violence dips as couples share work
A program aimed at relaxing rigid gender norms has cut domestic violence in six communities, a gender equity NGO said on 16 December as it wrapped up its three-year run. Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC) set out to improve community life by relaxing gender restrictions on ...
New teacher guides target student safety
Education and disaster management leaders from eight Southeast Asian countries gathered in Phnom Penh on 16 December in a bid to encourage schools in areas prone to natural catastrophes to make children safer. The two-day ASEAN regional conference on school safety gave officials and educators the chance ...
Another jade mine disaster hits Hpakant
Another deadly landslide struck the jade mines in Kachin State on 14 December. At least one death has been confirmed, while up to 20 others are feared dead in the slag-heap collapse. The latest spill occurred near Lamaungkone village in Hpakant township, according to locals. Freelance, itinerate ...
In Pa-O zone, no end to opium cultivation
A genuine ceasefire agreement between the government and armed groups is needed to tackle poppy cultivation in the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone, local groups say. Research conducted by the Pa-O Youth Organisation (PYO) has found that opium eradication projects continue to fail because of the taxation of ...
Local printer pulls another NYT article
The local printer of the International New York Times Thailand edition left a blank space on an inside page on 15 December, the fourth time content has been removed from the internationally respected newspaper in three months. The 618-word article, written by its Bangkok correspondent Thomas Fuller, talked ...
Rate of water accidents still high
Domestic waterways play a critical role in passenger and cargo transport in the Mekong Delta, but the rate of accidents remains at a high level due to lack of attention from local and related authorities. Speaking at a seminar on waterway safety held in the Delta ...
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 ...
Land tensions rise after talks snub
Already tired of lengthy delays on the promised return of confiscated land, farmers in Pyin Oo Lwin district are now furious officials stood them up at a negotiation meeting. The farmers said they were summoned by the Township Farmland Management and Statistics Department to discuss a ...
