Civil society
Non-government organizations
Cambodia: Access to Independent Media Blocked
(Bangkok) – The Cambodian government has issued an order to internet service providers to block access to online websites and social media accounts of three major independent media outlets, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should lift its orders to block access to the three outlets ...
Human Rights Watch
Vanished, shot, murdered: Laos activists spooked by spate of incidents
BANGKOK – An isolated murder, a brutal attempted killing and a murky disappearance: Laotian activists have been caught up in a series of alarming incidents recently that have spooked the reclusive communist state’s embattled dissident community. Landlocked, poor and deeply tied to China, Laos is one of ...
ROSE TROUP BUCHANAN/AFP-JIJI
Indigenous community mounts legal challenge to Thai coal mine development
Local opposition to a planned coal mine in northern Thailand escalated in April when plaintiffs representing more than 600 villagers filed a lawsuit requesting the revocation of an environmental impact assessment conducted and approved more than 10 years ago. Members of Kabeudin village, an Indigenous Karen ...
Carolyn Cowan
US lawmakers urge Thai govt to drop restrictive provisions in NGO bill
Two U.S. lawmakers are urging Thailand to drop provisions of a draft bill restricting NGOs, saying it would harm civil society and negatively impact the delivery of humanitarian assistance to neighboring Myanmar. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s government is seeking to pass a controversial bill regulating not-for-profit ...
Nontarat Phaicharoen and Subel Rai Bhandari
NGO’s want all Mekong countries to follow Cambodia’s lead on dams
Ten NGOs in Cambodia, working on water governance issue in Cambodia, have lauded the government’s commitment not to have any more hydropower dams on the Mekong mainstream which was recently made during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow, Scotland, the United ...
Son Minea
NGOs urge transparency for $52 mil US donation for Mekong region
After United States Secretary of State Antony J Blinken announced the US pledge to donate $52 million to Mekong countries for development, NGOs have come forward asking the government to utilise the donation with transparency. NGO Forum executive director Tek Vannara said that the donation will ...
Son Minea
Amnesty: Cambodia’s war on drugs led to systemic human rights abuses
Cambodia’s three-year-long “war on drugs” campaign has led to a litany of human rights abuses and the overcrowding of prisons and detention centres, human rights watchdog Amnesty International has announced in a new report. Released during the weekend, the report titled “Substance Abuses” documents the government’s ...
Deutsche Presse Agentur
Response from the Thai Mekong People's Network from Eight Provinces to the Chinese Embassy Spokesperson's Remarks on the Media Report on China's Impacts on the Mekong River
Pursuant to the Chinese Embassy Spokesperson’s Remarks on the Media Report on the Mekong, which alleges that the media is targeting China based on groundless and inaccurate information and insufficient attention has been paid to the effort of concerned parties, including China and Thailand, to ...
Mekong Delta needs various financial resources to tackle climate change
As State funding is insufficient, it is necessary to mobilise other resources, especially from the international community, businesses and non-governmental organisations, to help the Mekong Delta cope with climate change. Secretary General and Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Don Tuan Phong ...
VietnamNet Reporter
People’s forum to meet this month
Strengthening links between government and people, the Myanmar People’s Forum will meet at Yangon’s International Business Centre from 15-16 December, executive director U Kyaw Lin Oo has announced. The forum brings together MPs, representatives of government and local civil society to get people’s voices heard. Keep reading ...