Social development
Human rights
US demands answers over missing Lao activist Sombath
The United States called for Laos to immediately resolve the case of prominent activist whose abduction three years ago sent a “chilling message” to civil society. The State Department statement came as the top US envoy for East Asia prepares to travel to communist-governed Laos, which ...
Local printer pulls another NYT article
The local printer of the International New York Times Thailand edition left a blank space on an inside page on 15 December, the fourth time content has been removed from the internationally respected newspaper in three months. The 618-word article, written by its Bangkok correspondent Thomas Fuller, talked ...
Court rejects plea to free detained student activist
The Criminal Court on 15 December dismissed a petition filed by the head of a student activist group seeking to have the arrest of Thammasat University student Thanet Anantawong ruled unlawful. Keep reading ...
More Montagnards opt to return home
More Montagnard asylum seekers are planning to return to home amid cuts in United Nations-provided food rations. Vivian Tan, regional spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said more than 10 indigenous Christian Montagnards had requested assistance in returning to Vietnam. She said the group had decided ...
Family of missing Laos activist Sombath Somphone reveal new evidence three years after disappearance
Fresh footage of an abducted activist’s classic American Jeep could crack open a three-year-old mystery in Laos, campaigners say. On 15 December 2012, Sombath Somphone was driving home when he was pulled over just metres from the Australian Embassy Recreation Club in the capital, Vientiane. Mr Sombath ...
Police mull defamation suit against asylum-seeking officer
Police on 11 December said they were considering suing a former officer investigating human trafficking for defamation over comments he made implicating senior officials in the trade. Pol Maj Gen Paween Pongsirin arrived in Melbourne a few days ago and told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on 10 ...
Activist groups look to next government to solve human rights abuses
Activists marked International Human Rights Day on 10 December by setting an agenda for the next government. Land rights topped the list in an online poll for rights and business priority issues conducted by the Institute for Human Rights and Business, a co-founder of the Myanmar Centre ...
Human Rights Day protest stays peaceful
Close to 2,000 people, including monks, NGO workers and citizens, marched peacefully to the Ministry of Justice on 10 December morning, defying City Hall’s ban on the Human Rights Day protest. Demonstrators from 16 different provinces marched from three separate locations – the Senate, Chenla Cinema and ...
Human Rights Day marches gathering steam despite gov't obstacles
Authorities in Siem Reap on 9 December blocked a march celebrating International Human Rights Day (IHRD), as officials in Phnom Penh reiterated their threat to shut down a planned mass rally in the capital on 10 December. As IHRD, officially on 10 December, approaches, associated demonstrations across ...
Myanmar comes under renewed pressure to ratify key human rights treaties
Myanmar has come under renewed pressure to lift itself from the bottom rung of countries to have ratified key international human rights treaties. Speaking at an event in Yangon yesterday to mark International Human Rights Day, Andrew MacGregor, a senior official from the Office of the ...
