Civil and political rights

The Lao government’s changes to regulations on domestic nonprofit associations will hinder the work of the groups and slow down development projects in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, an NGO official said 11 September. Keep reading ...

Local authorities in two villages in a central Lao province have violated the rights of Christians by threatening to jail those who continue to practice their religion after banning their activities last month, a source inside the country said.   Authorities from the villages of Nhang ...

Two Christians were arrested by the police in the province of Khammouan, in the east of Laos, on charges of alleged proselytizing. The police broke into the house of a Christian in the village of Nong-hang, and arrested Bountheung Phetsomphone, 43, a Christian leader from another ...

A UK academic has spent the last four days in detention at an airport in Thailand over a dispute arising from a UN report he wrote nine years ago. Agricultural consultant Wyn Ellis was stopped at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport and told he had been reported as ...

Newspapers should be exempt from possible media curbs under the media reform bill drafted by the National Reform Council and submitted to the cabinet on 1 September, a forum was told on 2 September.  Keep reading ...

Seventeen human rights monitors, journalists and protesters were arrested in Koh Kong province on 2 September when police and alleged “instigators” cracked down on a peaceful demonstration calling for the release of three imprisoned environmental activists. The group was held at the provincial police station for about ...

An Australian editor and his Thai reporter colleague were found not guilty on 1 September of criminal defamation for reporting on the alleged involvement of Thai naval officers in the trafficking of Burmese Rohingya refugees. “We’re delighted. It’s such a wonderful day for media freedom and Thai ...

Two journalists, including an Australian editor, face jail 1 September as a Thai court is to decide whether they are guilty of defamation over a report implicating the kingdom’s navy in human trafficking. The trial has sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups and the UN. It comes ...

Human rights groups and the wife of a prominent civil rights leader who disappeared nearly three years ago have called on the Lao government to adequately investigate the incident and provide information about the case’s progress. Sombath Somphone went missing on 15 December 2012, when police ...

Environment and agriculture ministry officials 26 August warned the authors of a new report accusing the government of colluding with timber magnate Try Pheap to illegally log the protected forests of northeastern Cambodia that they could be sued unless they made changes to the text. Keep reading   ...