Social development
Human rights
UN chief hits out at Myanmar election ‘hate speech’
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hit out on Monday at “extreme elements” in Myanmar who are sowing hate speech and bigotry towards religious minorities, days before the country votes in landmark elections. Myanmar heads to the polls on 8 November in what observers are hoping will ...
Released documents detail Rakhine State persecution
Broadcaster Al Jazeera on 29 October released a cache of documents detailing the persecution of Muslims in Rakhine State, including an internal UN memo and confidential military training manuals. Keep reading ...
UN investigator questions if Myanmar poll can be free and fair
A United Nations rights investigator raised concern on 28 October about whether Myanmar’s election next month could be considered free and fair because dozens of candidates had been disqualified and hundreds of thousands of people denied the right to vote. Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on rights in ...
Cambodia uses terror as pretext: report
Cambodia has been named among states accused of using counter-terrorism measures to clamp down on human rights and civil society in a report released this week by the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism. Speaking in New York on 26 October, the British ...
Letpadan students set to expand hunger strikes
Legal proceedings at Tharyarwady District Court against students arrested last March have been at a standstill for the past several weeks, but that did not stop a crowd from appearing there on 27 October. Most had come to show their support for Ko Aung Hmine San, ...
Ratanakkiri minorities say land stolen
Ethnic minorities in Ratanakkiri province have accused local authorities of selling community forest land to a provincial court official and threatening to put them in jail, according to a complaint filed on 27 October. The complaint was filed to the provincial office of rights group Adhoc ...
A dreaded homecoming for Montagnards
With the deadline looming for hundreds of Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia to return “voluntarily” to the site of their alleged persecution or be forced back across the border, a group who have spent months living in the shadows this week spoke out about their ...
Deportation delayed for Vietnam asylum seekers
The Cambodian government on 20 October announced that it has extended deadlines for all Montagnard refugees and unregistered asylum seekers to leave Cambodia. Keep reading ...
Media calls on drafting panel to ensure freedom from interference
Four media organisations have called for the media to be free from political interference, in an open letter to the Constitution Drafting Commission. In the letter submitted on 19 October, the organisations called for an assurance of limitless freedom of expression for the media including speech, ...
Thailand scraps unpopular Internet 'Great Firewall' plan
Thailand’s military government has scrapped a plan to create a single Internet gateway, a deputy prime minister said on 15 October, putting paid to a system aimed at allowing authorities to monitor content. Keep reading ...
