Economic, social and cultural rights

Myanmar Army Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing thanked ethnic armed groups that signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement last year for their “constructive cooperation,” while indirectly criticizing other groups. The armed forces chief alluded to NCA non-signatory groups “expanding their forces.” He urged them to eschew “dogmatism” and ...

Suicide rates and poverty are on the rise among rice farmers displaced by Myanmar’s Paunglaung Dam. The change of government is expected to spur foreign investment into the country, contributing to its rapid development. But among the myriad issues facing the country, including  decades-long civil wars, the ...

According to a statement released by the US embassy in Bangkok, the Tier 2 Watch List ranking indicates that the Thai government made significant efforts to eliminate trafficking during the rating period, but still does not fully meet the minimum standards for doing so. The State ...

The NGO Forum on 28 June released an extensive and updated accounting of economic land concessions in Cambodia, suggesting that in a 20-year period, 267 ELCs totalling 1,532,783 hectares were granted. The data collection, from 1995 to the end of 2015, was conducted by the Research Advocacy ...

Thailand’s economy will continue growing and the pace could pick up if the country properly addresses future challenges including its rapidly greying population, according to the World Bank. The Bank’s 2016 economic forecast for Thailand was raised from the 2.2-per-cent growth estimated six months ago to ...

Three great rivers rush through parallel canyons in the mountains of southwest China on their way to the coastal plains of Asia. At least 10 dams have been built on two of them, the Mekong and the Yangtze. The third remains wild: the remote, raging ...

Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has suspended the titan exploitation at Nam Suui Nhum mine for three months due to a reservoir collapse. The 3,000-cubic-metre reservoir of Tan Quang Cuong Ltd. in the Ham Thuan Nam District of Binh Thuan collapsed on June 16, ...

The repatriation of more than 100,000 Myanmar refugees, who have been sheltered in nine camps in four border provinces from Mae Hong Son in the North to Ratchaburi province for decades, will be discussed when Aung San Suu Kyi meets Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on ...

Myanmar will soon be ready to take back over 100,000 refugees from nine shelters in Thailand, as the country moves towards democracy, an informed source claimed on 20 June. Details were revealed during the launch of a “World Refugee Day” event at Ban Umpiem Mai shelter ...

The Nam Tha, or Tha River, begins in northern Laos near the Lao-China border and runs southwest to join the Mekong just south of Huay Xay on the Lao-Thai border. In October 2014, I traveled by motorcycle and longtail boat up the Nam Tha, starting ...