Population

Administrators in northern Rakhine State say it would be “impossible” for the government to agree to Rohingya refugees’ citizenship demands, in a further sign that Rohingya repatriation is likely to proceed slowly – if at all. Repatriation of up to 2,200 verified refugees from Bangladesh ...

Discriminatory practices are holding Burmese migrant women back. “The Burma government doesn’t care that people come to Thailand for work. Sometimes I feel like I want to go home but it’s not any better in Burma. It’s difficult in Thailand, but in Burma there is ...

A “mafia” of recruitment agents is trapping Myanmar migrants to Thailand in debt bondage despite a 2017 law meant to fight exploitation in the kingdom’s notoriously shadowy job market, activists and workers say. Keep reading ...

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 ...