Meanwhile, in a cunning plan to divert attention away from protesting street women with parasols, there's a concert tonight with plenty of woman singers - partly sponsored by the UN.

Cambodia's top performers to promote gender equality on Int'l Women's Day
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-07 20:30:03|Editor: xuxin

PHNOM PENH, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Some of Cambodia's top female singers, including Meas Soksophea, Sok Pisey and Laura Mam, will perform at the Factory Phnom Penh here on Friday to promote gender equality on the International Women's Day, said a joint press release on Thursday.

"This is a very special event," Laura Mam, singer and CEO of Baramey Production, which organizes the concert, said in the release.

"This is a celebration of the strength and power of women," she said.

The event will include a large marketplace with over 40 businesses, more than half of which are owned by Khmer women, the release said, adding that the space will also feature live art, art exhibitions, family activities, food and more, starting from 4:00 pm.

The United Nations in Cambodia is one of the main sponsors of the event.

"This concert is the spark needed to ignite change and insure the rights and voices of women and girls across Cambodia are fully recognized," Pauline Tamesis, UN resident coordinator in Cambodia, said in the release.

55 mins ago - BREAKING NEWS
Women detained in stadium on Int’l Women’s Day

Around 400 persons, mostly women, gathered at the Olympic Stadium on Friday (March to celebrate International Women’s Day that is themed “Promotion of Gender Equity and Social Protection for Human Resource Development.” They planned to file petitions at various government bureaus, but were contained in the stadium by security personnel.

The women from over ten organizations and unions attempted to leave the stadium to go to the Council of Ministers, the ministries of Women’s Affairs, of Labour, of Justice, of the Interior, of Foreign Affairs, and the National Committee for Counter Trafficking and file their petitions requesting the resolve of certain issues. Security guards shut the gates, locking them in. This caused a bit of a commotion, but no violence.

Ms Chak Sopheap, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, asked for their release, but a guard said they must stay inside, “I have orders from a higher level not to allow you to celebrate outside. Our higher level is the city governor.”

After an hour the gate was opened through the intervention of Mean Chanyada and Kert Chhae, both are city deputy governors and acted on behalf of the ministries.

The petitions requested the creation of preschool and child care centres at workplaces; safe havens for women facing domestic violence; an end to sexual harassment and abuse at the workplace; a stop to violence toward women’s rights defenders; reform of transportation means for garment-, textile-, and shoe-factory workers; better working conditions; stronger defences against the exploitation of domestic workers and migratory workers; and the termination of human trafficking and wage slavery.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50585230/w ... omens-day/