A report to improve the situation of Cambodia’s indigenous people has been officially launched.
The launching ceremony took place on Nov. 4 under the auspices of H.E. Chhay Than, Senior Minister and Minister of Planning, also with the presence of H.E. Ouk Rabun, Minister of Rural Development.
About 450 officials from the Ministries of Planning and Rural Development as well as representatives from Cambodia Ethnic Minority Coalition (SIPA), foreign embassies in Cambodia, development partners, Civil Society Organisations, concerned national and subnational authorities, as well as university students and indigenous people in the event both online and in-person.
Speaking on the occasion, H.E. Chhay Thorn underlined the importance of the historic report detailing the demography, socio-economy and living conditions of indigenous people in Cambodia.
Considering it as a big achievement through the collaboration between the government, development partners and SIPA, the senior minister said the report will serve as a basic data for necessary support, and future development plans, and researches about the population groups.
He also called for a systematic intervention by concerned institutions to promote the living conditions of the ingenious people in Cambodia through provision of education, employment, health care, gender equality, rights to protection and benefits from socio-economic development.
According to H.E. Chhay Than, there are at least 22 groups of indigenous people in Cambodia, and only six of them (Tum Poun, Phnong, Kreung, Kouy, Jaray and Prov) have the population of over 100,000 each.
The total number of Cambodia indigenous peoples was estimated at 179,193 – about 1.34 percent of Cambodia’s 2008 total population and 1.25 percent or 183,831 of the 2013 total population.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press