Social development
Human rights
Myanmar Citizens Voice Support For Uprising Against Junta Despite Risks
Many people in Myanmar support the National Unity Government’s (NUG) declaration of war against the military junta despite the threat of added instability and inflation, sources in the country said Wednesday, a day after the shadow government leadership announced the move. The call to arms and ...
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Vietnamese Facebook User Fined for ‘Fake News’ as Criticism Grows of Government’s Handling of Pandemic
Police in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have fined a local Facebook user for saying that local government has neglected city residents and let them go hungry amid lockdowns aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19, sources said. Nguyen Thuy Duong was fined VND 5 million ...
RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Richard Finney
Editor Than Htike Aung detained for more than 160 days
It is now the 165th day that Than Htike Aung, a former editor of Mizzima was arrested by the military council. Than Htike Aung and BBC journalist Aung Thura were arrested by military intelligence while attending the trial of NLD Patron Win Htein in Naypyidaw’s Dakkhin ...
Mizzima
‘Low point’ in world heritage committee history as politics ‘tramples’ human rights of the Karen people
Along Thailand’s border with Myanmar, in rich forests filled with rare plants and animals, the indigenous Karen people are fighting for the right to live on their traditional land. Last month, the UN’s human rights agency said the Karen continued to be forcibly evicted from the Kaeng Krachan ...
Graham Readfearn
In Vietnam, Harris must not ignore human rights for geopolitics
On Monday, August 23, US Vice President Kamala Harris started her diplomatic trip to Southeast Asia on a colourful note thanks to a bouquet of hybrid orchids presented as a gift from Singaporean dignitaries. The new variety of purple flowers was even named after the vice president, ...
CAROLYN NASH
Journalists Htet Htet Khine and Sithu Aung Myint arrested in Myanmar
Myanmar authorities should immediately release journalists Htet Htet Khine and Sithu Aung Myint and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 15, military authorities in Yangon arrested Htet Htet Khine, a freelance producer for BBC Media Action, and Sithu ...
Myanmar military arrests more journalists
Myanmar’s military government has arrested two more local journalists, army-owned television reported on Saturday, the latest among dozens of detentions in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a Feb. 1 coup. Sithu Aung Myint, a columnist for news site Frontier Myanmar and commentator with Voice ...
Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Mike Harrison and William Mallard
Cambodian dam a ‘disaster’ for local communities, rights group says
The Lower Sesan 2 hydroelectric scheme was completed in northeast Cambodia in 2018. The reservoir flooded 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) upstream of the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers, two tributaries of the Mekong. Villages, places of worship, ancestral burial grounds and ...
Carolyn Cowan
Vietnam Punishes Critics of Government’s COVID-19 Response
Authorities in Vietnam have arrested a Facebook user for posting mild criticism of government COVID-19 policies, while a university fired a lecturer after a student shared on her comments faulting Hanoi’s pandemic response on the social media platform. The Tien Giang People’s Procuracy announced Tuesday that ...
RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Heavy Job Losses in Myanmar Since Coup: ILO Report
Myanmar lost an estimated 1.2 million jobs in the second quarter following the February military coup that crippled an economy already weakened by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). “Myanmar was already facing economic stress with jobs and livelihoods under threat as ...
THE IRRAWADDY