Human rights
Civil and political rights
Dramatic Drop Evident in Internet Rights for Myanmar, Belarus
Belarus and Myanmar registered a significant decline in global internet freedom ratings following political turmoil in which authorities in the two countries arrested journalists and blocked access to the internet. In its annual Freedom on the Net report, the global nonprofit Freedom House found digital rights had declined globally for ...
VOA News
Myanmar Junta Arrests Two More Journalists
Two more Myanmar journalists have been arrested by junta forces, raising the number of journalists being held by the military regime to 53 as of September 16, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Since the military’s February 1 coup, Myanmar has become the world’s second-biggest jailer ...
THE IRRAWADDY
Myanmar Citizens Voice Support For Uprising Against Junta Despite Risks
Many people in Myanmar support the National Unity Government’s (NUG) declaration of war against the military junta despite the threat of added instability and inflation, sources in the country said Wednesday, a day after the shadow government leadership announced the move. The call to arms and ...
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Vietnamese Facebook User Fined for ‘Fake News’ as Criticism Grows of Government’s Handling of Pandemic
Police in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have fined a local Facebook user for saying that local government has neglected city residents and let them go hungry amid lockdowns aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19, sources said. Nguyen Thuy Duong was fined VND 5 million ...
RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Richard Finney
Editor Than Htike Aung detained for more than 160 days
It is now the 165th day that Than Htike Aung, a former editor of Mizzima was arrested by the military council. Than Htike Aung and BBC journalist Aung Thura were arrested by military intelligence while attending the trial of NLD Patron Win Htein in Naypyidaw’s Dakkhin ...
Mizzima
Journalists Htet Htet Khine and Sithu Aung Myint arrested in Myanmar
Myanmar authorities should immediately release journalists Htet Htet Khine and Sithu Aung Myint and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 15, military authorities in Yangon arrested Htet Htet Khine, a freelance producer for BBC Media Action, and Sithu ...
Myanmar military arrests more journalists
Myanmar’s military government has arrested two more local journalists, army-owned television reported on Saturday, the latest among dozens of detentions in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a Feb. 1 coup. Sithu Aung Myint, a columnist for news site Frontier Myanmar and commentator with Voice ...
Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Mike Harrison and William Mallard
Vietnam Punishes Critics of Government’s COVID-19 Response
Authorities in Vietnam have arrested a Facebook user for posting mild criticism of government COVID-19 policies, while a university fired a lecturer after a student shared on her comments faulting Hanoi’s pandemic response on the social media platform. The Tien Giang People’s Procuracy announced Tuesday that ...
RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Press freedom more important than ever in the Asia–Pacific
The current Covid-19 pandemic has had an alarming impact on press freedom. Over the past 18 months, governments across the Asia–Pacific have – knowingly or not – used the health crisis to restrict the flow of information, stifling the press freedom that underpins societies and ...
OLIVIA PIRIE-GRIFFITHS
Groups call for the release of Mother Nature environmental activists in Cambodia
Human rights groups in and outside of Cambodia are calling for the immediate release of Mother Nature activists who were detained for filming a sewage flow near the Royal Palace. Mother Nature members Sun Ratha 26, and Yim Leanghy 32, were arrested on June 16 while documenting the ...
Mong Palatino