BY SETSUKO YAMAZAKI
The world of work has been changing. To sustain progress, countries must invest in and value various forms of work through policies and national strategies that create job opportunities, ensure workers’ rights and well-being and develop targeted actions. This is the proposition in the 2015 Human Development Report, launched on December 14 in Ethiopia.
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By: Napoleon Navarro
As COP21 comes to a close, it would be best to remember that tackling climate change won’t happen overnight. It will be a long road ahead and the Paris conference should serve as a roadmap for longer term climate action. It will not be an easy road. Dealing with the consequences of climate change and contributing towards a global solution poses a challenge to a developing country like Cambodia. Poised to cross the threshold to middle income country (MIC) status and aiming to become an upper MIC by 2030, Cambodia is still among the most vulnerable countries in the world to the consequences of climate change. By: Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuca
Across the world, violence against women and girls remains one of the most serious – and the most tolerated – human rights violations, both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality and discrimination. Its continued presence is one of the clearest markers of societies out of balance and we are determined to change that. On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women we say again: It is not acceptable. It is not inevitable. It can be prevented. Although there is no single solution to such a complex problem, there is growing evidence of the range of actions that can stop violence before it happens, especially if they are implemented in parallel. In January 2014, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that he would oversee a wide-ranging review of reforms, particularly in the economic and social arenas. Since then public debate has instead been dominated by the possible impact of new legislation, some of it controversial. There has been far less attention to the fruits of the government’s reform efforts.
For that reason the Asia Foundation (TAF) earlier this year launched the Reform Inventory Initiative (RII) – an annual ministry-by-ministry review of reforms initiated or reinforced since the 2013 election. Rather than critiquing the government’s approach, RII, guided by an advisory group, seeks to highlight progress on reform. By: Sonali Jain-Chandra and Yong Sarah Zhou
Cambodia’s robust economic performance over the past two decades has resulted in a substantial reduction in poverty and led to its imminent transition to a lower middle-income country. Looking ahead, further regional integration through the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and Cambodia’s strategic location close to fast-growing major economies can provide tailwinds as Asia rebalances and production networks further integrate. However, to capitalise on these opportunities and achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, many obstacles must be overcome and vulnerabilities addressed. By: Axel van Trotsenburg
Before I set foot in this beautiful country, I was told the story of Siv Mao and her newborn baby. Last year, Siv Mao, a young woman from a village in northern Cambodia gave birth to a boy after an emergency Caesarean section at a new hospital in her province’s capital. The boy was named Rith Samnang “Lucky” for a good reason: without the doctors and modern equipment in the new 16 Makara Hospital in Preah Vihear, he wouldn’t have been able to survive. The traditional midwife had difficulty assisting the birth at her home, and other hospitals were far away. By: Setsuko Yamazaki
Cambodia has made great progress in economic growth, poverty reduction and human development. However, a significant proportion of the population remains vulnerable to slipping back to poverty. We observed the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Saturday, making this a fitting time to look into the challenges and how Cambodia can promote more inclusive growth and sustainability, particularly in light of Cambodia’s goal to become an Upper Middle-Income Country (MIC) by 2030, and the global launch of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in New York last month. By: Heng Pheakdey
Energy is a basic human need that must be fulfilled to achieve sustainable development. This kind of development is not possible without energy and policies to meet energy demand. In Cambodia, energy is a critical development challenge. Today, only 35 percent of the total population has access to grid electricity, leaving millions of rural population in the dark. Imported diesel fuel accounts for 90 percent for domestic electricity production. Electricity prices are among the highest in the world. By: Heng Pheakdey
In recent weeks, we witnessed a revived discussion of the controversial draft law on NGOs and associations after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that this piece of legislation would be passed in the near future. The draft law, which was first introduced in 2010, went through four revisions and was subsequently put on hold for two years following the successful advocacy effort of the civil society groups calling for more comprehensive consultations. By: Chak Sopheap
Over the past few weeks, the government has repeatedly asserted its intention to introduce a state secrets law in Cambodia. In a country that has not yet adopted a solid access to information law and has showed no hesitancy in restricting freedom of expression, such declarations are a cause for serious concern. In fact, the public right of access to information is not only the other side to freedom of expression, it is the backbone of democracy. |
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Disclaimer: All views expressed here belong to their respective author and do not represent the views of Enrich Institute
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