Population and censuses

In southeast Asian region, Chinese human trafficking syndicates operate in nexus with local authorities in countries for luring away hundreds of people on the pretext of providing them decent jobs but are forced to work in the illegal cryptocurrency business, brothels, and massage parlours, Mekong ...

Forced to flee her Magway village in southeast Myanmar during a junta attack, Theingi Soe spent a “terrible” month living in makeshift shelters in the jungle during the rainy season. In her misery, she began to plot another escape – to a life in a ...

Thai-Cambodian discussions at the recent ASEAN summit put labour issues on the table. Despite the pleasant chat, migrant workers in Thailand have yet to see what, if any, measures the authorities will adopt to help address their problems. In a bilateral meeting on the sideline of ...

At 63, Nguyen Thi Ngoc got her first full-time ‘company’ job as a security guard in Ho Chi Minh City. She’d never been to a city before taking the job in early 2021, but the former farmer, originally from the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam, ...

Rights groups say the long-awaited rules Thailand’s government approved this month for screening foreigners seeking refuge from persecution in their home countries are likely to leave many worthy applicants in the lurch. The United Nations refugee agency says Thailand currently hosts about 5,000 “urban refugees and ...

Thailand took a momentous step on 24 August  —not only because of a shock decision by the Constitutional Court to suspend Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha from his duties, but also because parliament finally passed a historic anti-torture bill. Once fully enacted, the Bill, formally known as ...

Thailand, called the “Land of Smiles,” is rolling out the red carpet for foreign workers, joining a bevy of countries looking to use the immigration route to boost their economies. Top professionals, eligible high-net-worth individuals and retirees can start applying online from Thursday to stay for ...

The detention centre was sweltering as Bangkok’s heat oppressed the crowded room.  Dark steel bars lined the cells while scores of imprisoned migrants counted down the hours of the day. Crammed together in a tight space, the refugees were in a constantly agitated state. The watchful ...

Abortion is a global health issue, impacting individuals and families regardless of ethnicity, income, social status or nationality. Yet there is no worldwide legal standard for the practice of terminating a pregnancy. Lawmakers and governments hold sway over access to abortion, or its abolition. In the ...

Laos is hoping to unlock the potential of regional connectivity by not only focusing on infrastructure development but also boosting economic activity along key economic corridors. The government is developing key road and rail networks to connect Laos with its neighbours, particularly China, Vietnam and Thailand, ...