Social development
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 ...
Cambodia ranks low on gender equality
In spite of gains, gender inequality in Cambodia remains significant, particularly in education and political empowerment, according to the World Economic Forum’s recently released 2015 Global Gender Gap Report. While the Kingdom is ranked 109 out of 145 countries in the world, slipping one place compared with ...
Minister encourages food, drink safety following deaths
Minister of Health Mam Bunheng on 13 December asked the public to stop drinking rice wine and eating sick animals after 19 people died and 170 fell ill in Kratie province over the past month. Improperly fermented booze can contain methyl alcohol or methanol, which is harmful ...
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 ...
Northwest residents struggle to escape from prolonged poverty
The level of poverty in the northwest region of Vietnam is 2.7 times higher than in the rest of the country. This was announced at a conference on 10 December to discuss rapid and sustainable poverty reduction measures in the six northwest provinces of Ha Giang, Cao ...
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 ...
In light or dark, operations must go on
A photo that was widely circulated on social media this week cast a light onto the sometimes extreme measures taken in Myanmar’s public health sector. In the midst of an electrical blackout, doctors were seen performing an operation at the Mandalay Central Women’s Hospital by ...
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 ...
Malaysia maid pipeline resumes
Cambodia has signed a long-anticipated agreement to resume the legal flow of domestic workers to Malaysia, putting an end to a ban introduced more than four years ago amid reports of serious migrant abuses, which had led to multiple deaths. A statement released on 10 December evening ...
Orange Line plans hit giant bump
The Transport Ministry is planning to review the western section of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority’s (MRTA) Orange Line — from the Thailand Cultural Centre to Taling Chan — after residents refused to relocate. News of the review comes a day after the cabinet approved the construction ...
