Population and censuses

Less than a month after the government announced that more than 170 Montagnard asylum seek­ers would have their refugee applications processed, an Interior Min­istry spokesman said on 10 February that the group had not met the criteria for refugee status and would be returned to Vietnam. However, ...

Thailand’s Labour Ministry is preparing to document illegal migrant workers nationwide as part of the government’s attempt to crack down on illegal worker numbers and upgrade its records, says Department of Employment head Arak Phrommanee.  The plan will target specific geographic areas where illegal migrants are ...

Over 100 Cambodian vendors attacked and besieged some 10 Department of Special Investigation officials and representatives of major brands at Thailand’s Rongklua Market in Sakaew on 3 February, injuring several officials. The DSI officials tried to arrest a Cambodian female vendor for allegedly selling imitated goods at ...

Thailand’s Department of Employment is aiming to tackle the growing problem of Thais travelling abroad to work illegally, especially in South Korea. Arak Phrommanee, the department’s director-general, said there had been an increasing incidence of Thais travelling to South Korea as tourists and then picking up jobs without ...

Thousands of Myanmar migrant workers are spending months or even years in detention camps in Malaysia waiting for the government to confirm their citizenship status, migrant rights groups say. The delay has caused a backlog in the 11 detention camps throughout Malaysia, recently returned workers say. ...

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan to support free migration for Vietnamese returning from Laos to settle in Vietnam. The plan will be carried out in 10 provinces that border Laos including Dien Bien, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, ...

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on 21 January said that it would divide between itself and the Cambodian government the duties of processing and potentially relocating the scores of Montagnard asylum seekers whose claims the government finally agreed to hear on 20 January. Keep reading ...

In a seeming about-face, the Cambodian government has backed away from its looming deadline to deport more than 100 Montagnards currently seeking asylum in Cambodia, instead pledging to “expedite” the process of assessing their refugee status. Following a meeting on 20 January in Phnom Penh between Interior ...

Asian leaders must address rising inequality in all aspects, aid agency Oxfam warned on 19 January, saying ignoring the issue would leave almost 500 million people trapped in poverty and threaten economic growth.   “Asia is now at a crossroads. It could continue with the existing policies ...

Overseas employment agencies, angry at “bullying” from the Malaysian government, have resolved to boycott the country. Agency chiefs say they will no longer send Myanmar migrant workers to Malaysia, as the recruitment industry has been monopolised by a newly instituted system that has changed the ...