Economic, social and cultural rights

The World Wide Fund for Nature reported that suspended sediment load in the Mekong Delta declined from 160 million tons in 1992 to 75 million tons in 2014 due to the construction of hydropower dams and reservoirs on the mainstream and branches of Mekong River. It noted that sand ...

Officials in Cambodia’s Kompong Speu province have had to suspend their efforts to grant private land titles over part of a 40-hectare reservoir dating back to the Khmer Rouge in the face of a protest mounted by more than 100 locals afraid of losing their ...

In response to protests outside the site of a controversial, re-launched copper mine, the company behind the project released a statement ridiculing the demonstration as representing a reckless minority. Residents are calling on the government to intervene, and have said the mine should not be allowed ...

Freedom of religion and the building of a law on belief and religion in Vietnam were discussed during a meeting between Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Le Ba Trinh and visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Tom ...

Authorities on 20 April demolished 36 shops illegally occupying parts of popular Surin beach as part of a campaign to regulate businesses on 50 beaches in this island province. Most proprietors had cooperated before officers moved in, but not all.  Keep reading ...

Hlaing Tharyar residents who were considered unlawful squatters by the former government are appealing to the new administration to end the policy of violent evictions. Union Minister for Commerce U Than Myint said the government has no plan to evict squatters and illegal residents are citizens and ...

Vietnam has predicted “very high adverse effects” on the Mekong River environment and economy if 11 proposed dams are built on its lower mainstream. Mekong River Commission said it considers the report an internal document and is not yet releasing it. Vietnam has not released ...

Many local farmers in Laos’s Phongsaly province are shifting to plant cardamom, after earning lucrative income from growing this crop and selling it to Chinese traders. Some families earned as much as 40 million kip per year from growing cardamom, which enabled them to send their ...

Ethnic Shan communities in northern Shan State have called for an end to four planned hydropower dams on the Namtu River, an Irrawaddy tributary, citing irreparable damage to the environment. More than 100 people gathered in Hsipaw Township to hold a prayer service on the bank ...

The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia on 27 March promised villagers in Stung Treng province who are set to be displaced by the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 hydropower dam for the massive energy project that she would raise their plight with the ...