Human rights

The Myanmar government is developing a plan to redistribute vacant or fallow plots of land to rural landless people willing to farm the land.The Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Dr. Aung Thu told The Irrawaddy on Monday the government had obtained US$4.19 million ...

In a rare rebuke, the United Nations Security Council has “expressed deep concern” about the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, where over 370,000 Rohingya Muslims have been forced to flee across the border to Bangladesh to escape increasing levels of violence.In a statement issued Wednesday, ...

Thai overseas investors have been urged to respect human rights wherever they are doing business and work closely with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Human rights were highlighted as a critical issue, as the NHRC has received 12 complaints about Thai investments in Myanmar, Laos, ...

[] At a meeting with AKP Deputy General Director Keo Chandara in Hanoi on September 12, the Deputy PM said that the two agencies should actively work together to provide people of both sides with accurate news of the two countries and their sound relations. Keep ...

Washington’s ambassador to Cambodia on Tuesday rejected government accusations of interference by the United States as “inaccurate, misleading and baseless” and called for the release of detained opposition leader Kem Sokha. Keep reading ...

Critics of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen have grown used to following upstart news service Fresh News to find out what the government’s next target might be.From treason accusations against detained opposition leader Kem Sokha to the tax demand against the now-shuttered Cambodia Daily to ...

Members of parliament from ASEAN countries have expressed grave concerns over the “worsening human rights situation in Cambodia” which has seen authorities continue to crack down on independent media outlets and civil society organizations.Keep reading ...

A lawyer has withdrawn a criminal defamation case against a British BBC journalist involving a report on foreigners being defrauded of property, the BBC reports. The case against Jonathan Head, BBC’s Southeast Asia correspondent, began Wednesday. “The plaintiff has withdrawn his case against BBC journalist ...

Following the recent intensification of his country’s crackdown on political dissent, Vietnamese president Tran Dai Quang has argued for the need to develop a more robust internet censorship regime in an article published to a state media website. Quang said enemies of the state had ...

Mega-dam construction is booming around the world, with promoters hyping hydropower as a green, renewable source of energy and a means of curbing climate change. But as these dams are built in the Amazon, Mekong and elsewhere, they’re doing great environmental and social damage and ...