Social development

EU must secure Lao pledge to improve rights record during dialogue: Rights groups

The European Union must pressure the Lao government to make “firm commitments” during bilateral human rights talks set for later this week in Vientiane, according to Paris-based rights group International Federation for Human Rights. The EU should demand assurances from Laos that it will improve its ...

Plans firm up for Lao education development

Senior education officials and development partners gathered in Vientiane for a meeting of the Education Sector Working Group to endorse the sub-sector plan of the education sector development plan for 2016-20 before submission to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Another key objective of the meeting ...

No vote, no candidates: Myanmar's Muslims barred from their own election

The upcoming poll on 8 November has been been touted as the freest and fairest in decades but, with religion an increasingly sensitive issue in Myanmar, many Muslims – from ordinary voters to experienced politicians – are coming up against barriers to participation. Dozens of Muslims ...

Don Sahong dam critical for development of southern Laos

The government regards the Don Sahong hydropower project as the key driver for socio-economic development and poverty reduction in southern Laos. Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Mr Viraphonh Viravong told Vientiane Times on 2 November that the power generated by the US$500-million dam will be used ...

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 ...

Burma’s Minorities Fear USDP Election Victory

During nearly seven decades the villages of the Karen have been torched, their men summarily executed and their women raped as the ethnic minority battled Burma’s military regime in the world’s longest-running insurgency. Their homeland has been called the “hidden Darfur,” where some 350,000 people ...

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 ...

Vietnam training classes lacking students

As of August, only 15,000 of the 330,000 people eligible for unemployment allowances had enrolled in vocational training programmes, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. The unemployed will receive a maximum monthly vocational training allowance of VND1 million (nearly US$45) per person ...

Ratanakkiri official defends disputed land

A Ministry of Interior immigration official at the centre of a long-running land dispute in a gem mining district of Ratanakkiri spoke out for the first time on 29 October, just days after 200 villagers protested what they termed their illegal eviction. The villagers from Bakeo ...

Lao Ministry to deploy teachers to wipe out illiteracy

The Ministry of Education and Sports is sending over 20 volunteer teachers to educate illiterate rural areas around the country early next year to replicate an earlier successful Saravan province pilot programme. The teachers will come from the Physical Education Teacher Training College, Dongkhamxang Teacher Training ...

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