Population

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 ...

Ageing populations will hit Asia hard, but younger, poorer countries like Cambodia will buck the trend for several decades, the World Bank found in a massive demographic study released on 9 December. While working-age populations will shrink 10 per cent in countries like China, Thailand and ...

The Immigration Bureau plans to fine and blacklist foreigners who overstay their visas from March or April next year. Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn Prausoontorn said on 9 December that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had approved the bureau’s proposal on Nov 27 to fine and ban ...

A migrant rights network has appealed to the Myanmar and Thai governments to reach a solution on a worker registration standoff, and to take steps to alleviate the exploitation of workers by brokers. The call comes as the two sides prepare to meet in Thailand on ...

Bangladesh and Myanmar remain at odds over 28 people who were among more than 900 rescued at sea in May, after being abandoned by human traffickers. Following the repatriation of 48 Bangladeshi nationals on 2 December, the Bangladesh embassy in Yangon said in a statement that ...

Vietnamese migrant workers in Thailand are allowed to register for temporary work permits at the country’s provincial labour departments from 1-30 December, according to the Thai Ministry of Labour. The ministry said on 30 November that the 30-day expansion for Vietnamese guest workers (excluding their companies) aims ...

The government knew two Chinese men it detained were refugees awaiting resettlement in Canada, but still deported them to China, according to a United Nations letter seen by Reuters. The letter, sent by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ...

Migrants processing Thai chicken for its biggest export market, Europe, face widespread abuse by their employers, partly because foreign auditors have focused on food safety rather than workers’ conditions, researchers said on 25 November. Chicken is set to become the world’s most consumed meat, within the ...

Rapid drops in both birth and death rates, combined with a much longer life expectancy, have created a new set of challenges for Vietnam as its inadequate healthcare and welfare systems are failing to catch up with an aging population, officials said.    They warned at a ...

More Montagnard asylum seekers prepared to return to Vietnam on 23 November after giving up on obtaining refugee status in Phnom Penh, while five Rohingya refugees set off for resettlement in Canada. Wan-Hea Lee, country representative of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human ...