Population

Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali has expressed hope that the first batch of eight thousand Rohingya people would be able to return to their original villages in Rakhine State of Myanmar soon. Citing the issue of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals who took shelter in ...

Southeast Asian foreign ministers have urged Myanmar to prosecute those responsible for the brutal military crackdown on Rohingyas and give full mandate to an inquiry commission to hold accountable those responsible for the violence in Rakhine. Keep reading ...

Even after taking part in past United Nations human rights investigations in Sri Lanka and North Korea, nothing quite prepared former Indonesian attorney general Marzuki Darusman for the harrowing stories of the Myanmar Army’s bloody 2017 rampage that killed more than 10,000 Rohingya Muslims and ...

Despite the many high-profile international campaigns that tout the welcoming people, exotic food and attractions of the Land of Smiles, Thailand placed fourth after Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia in this year’s survey . []The Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar were ranked below Thailand. The positions remained unchanged ...

As Thailand prepares to extend work permits for 11,000 foreign migrant workers, including many in the fishing industry, a Human Rights Watch official called on the government Tuesday to outlaw forced labor. Phil Robertson, a deputy Asia director for the global rights watchdog, praised the ...

The government’s Department of Employment has started rounding up illegal foreign workers following last year’s amnesty.  Checks on nearly 50,000 foreign workers at establishments in the past month had led to the arrest of 1,162 illegal workers and the prosecution of 204 law-breaking employers. Keep reading ...

Southeast Asian migrant workers are no longer just emigrating to developed countries, increasingly they’re moving within the region. With cross-border labour migration increasing, the question for governments has been how to ensure their citizens enjoy social security benefits abroad. []In light of this, labour authorities from ...

All Lao workers who return home to register with the authorities will need to get work permits and passports from labour officials so they can legally work in Thailand. The Ministry of Labour and Social welfare recently ordered all its provincial departments to provide free ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the European Union (EU) to renew efforts to eliminate forced labour and other abusive treatment within the Thai fishing industry, noting that a large number of workers were from Cambodia and Myanmar. Keep reading ...

ASEAN has been criticised for its response to the Rohingya refugee crisis. The grouping’s institutional design and existing conventions restrict opportunities for robust action. Myanmar’s military (known as the ‘Tatmadaw’) is the key element to finding a durable solution to the crisis, yet most Western ...