Ethnic minorities and indigenous people policy and rights

Myanmar and Bangladesh said Thursday that they had moved one step closer to the possible repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh over the past three months.More than 620,000 Rohingya, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar, have flooded ...

The Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting between the government and signatory groups, participants agreed to hold the Second 21st Century Panglong Conference beginning on May 24. The agreement was reached during a meeting in Nay Pyi Taw on April 24 between the government, Tatmadaw officials and armed ...

The asylum applications of all but three Montagnards in Phnom Penh have been rejected, though an appeal window remains open for the group, an official said yesterday, as the government prepares to repatriate at least four members of the ethnic minority back to Vietnam. Yesterday’s ...

Fearing repatriation to Vietnam, almost 50 Montagnards fled Cambodia for Thailand after the Interior Ministry began rejecting some of their asylum claims last month, The Post has learned. Meanwhile, the head of the ministry’s refugee department Tan Sovichea on April 2 revealed only three of nearly ...

Pledging to maintain peace, the Karen National Union has called on the Myanmar government and international organisations to work together to help internal displaced persons in the Kayin State. KNU chairman General Mutu Say Poe said IDPs, who fled to Thailand during the conflict with the ...

The long-awaited and final section of the 2014 census will be revealed within four months, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, adding that preparations for the release of the ethnicity data are underway now. U Myint Kyaing, permanent secretary of the ministry, told The ...

Skyrocketing transport costs and road blockages due to conflict have forced a number of villagers in northern Kachin State’s Hsawlaw township to begin foraging for food in order to survive, according to Kachin MPs. ​“If we buy a bag of rice from Chipwe or Myitkyina, ...

Palm oil production in Indonesia often comes at the expense of traditionally managed lands as well as the livelihoods of indigenous communities, causing widespread conflict in the archipelago country. With oil palm cultivation set to double in Indonesia over the next 10 years, methods for understanding ...

An unprecedented meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers called to discuss the ongoing military campaign in Rakhine State ended on December 19 with Myanmar expressing its appreciation for the other member states’ understanding. This was the first such meeting Myanmar has initiated on the subject, having previously ...

After a decades-long blanket ban on tourists, Kayah State in eastern Myanmar has opened up to the outside world. Travellers are pouring in to get a glimpse of its untouched beauty. As Pichayada Promchertchoo reports, the remote state is hoping to develop a tourist industry without losing ...