Human rights

After more than 40 men broke out of a Phnom Penh drug rehabilitation cen­ter on 5 February, officials said this week that they have called off efforts to arrest 18 es­capees who remain at large, in­stead asking for their families to re­turn them voluntarily. A total ...

Journalists in Magwe blocked from parliament for the past five years have had their hopes of entering the chamber dashed. The previous hluttaw, dominated by Union Solidarity and Development Party representatives, refused to grant them access. But at the opening of the Magwe Region Hluttaw on ...

The sight of bulldozers smashing shanty towns as police drive out squatters from their flimsy homes could be a thing of the past, as National League for Democracy MPs take the helm in Yangon and Mandalay regions, as well as in Nay Pyi Taw. NLD MP U ...

Mandalay witnessed a distinct changing of guard on 8 February as its new hluttaw took office, with the newly appointed Speaker stressing the importance of being accountable to the public. He added that human rights and economic and social development will be priorities, and promised to ...

Resident from Nyaung Ni village tract, who were forcefully evicted from purported military-owned land, are concerned for their safety as they have been warned not to leave the village, or they will face arrest starting 1 February. “This morning, when the children went to school, they ...

Thousands of Myanmar families evicted from military-owned land have been promised new plots in exchange for the 560 acres they were allegedly squatting on. The minister for security and border affairs in Yangon said the government has a compensation plan, but was light on the ...

In what has become a yearly tradition, Human Rights Watch levelled a broadside of criticisms at the Cambodian government on 27 January, accusing it in its annual report of enacting “draconian” legislation and granting itself broad “arbitrary powers” to suppress dissent. The global report’s Cambodia section ...

Heavy machinery reduced the homes of several hundred families to rubble in Yangon’s Mingalardon township early on 26 January, leaving residents in the rain with their meager possessions. The families were designated as squatters on the 560 acres of land leased to military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings ...

Five rights groups on 24 January called for United States Secretary of State John Kerry to use a visit to Phnom Penh this week to demand the Cambodian government stop persecuting political opponents and rights, environmental and trade union activists. Keep reading ...

Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has agreed to fund an extension of the Right Based Empowerment Project (RBEP) in Luang Namtha province, with funding of US$3 million (about 24 billion kip). The project will be implemented in Viengphoukha and Nalae districts of Luang Namtha province, running from ...