Cambodia marks Children's Day, focusing on child nutrition, anti-child labor

Cambodia marked the 66th anniversary of the International Children's Day on Monday, focusing on the improvement of nutrition quality for child development and anti-child labor.

The celebration, held at the Diamond Island Grand Theater, brought together some 2,000 participants, including officials, diplomats, development partners, child-related organization representatives, teachers, students and children.

According to the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey in 2014, one-third of Cambodian children under the age of 5 are still undernourished.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An said child malnutrition varied from region to region and from family to family.

"For children of rural poor families who lack education, their problem of malnutrition is more severe than those of the better off families in the urban areas who have higher education," she said.

She added that Cambodia has been promoting nutritional status of all children through the implementation of the reproductive health program for mother, infants and children.

"The government has been committed to making sure that children will not die from malnutrition and preventable and curable diseases," she said.

Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister said the government has been working actively with all concerned parties to remove children from the worst forms of child labor so as to integrate them into schools or vocational training centers.

The Southeast Asian country has approximately 5.48 million children below 18 years old, which represent around 41 percent of the total population, according to the government figures.

A 2012 Child Labor Survey Report conducted by the National Institute of Statistics found that the country has 755,245 child workers. Of the number, about 236,498, or 31.3 percent of them, were children in hazardous labor.

Rana Flowers, representative of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Cambodia, said the celebration of Children's Day was to reiterate commitments to protect children rights and improve their quality of lives.

"Here in Cambodia, rapid economic growth, increased government investment, and active support from development partners have seen more children lives saved and the quality of lives improved as children have access to better health, education, nutrition, and social protection," she said. Endi