Social development
Human rights
Myanmar Press Council Members Resign Over Military Directives
Half of Myanmar Press Council’s members resigned last week, saying they are unable to protect press freedom, uphold media ethics, or protect the safety of fellow journalists. The 15 resignations on the press council come in response to directives issued by Myanmar’s military to news outlets ...
Nyan Win Aung
Decree on Internet Controls in Cambodia Threat to Freedom of Expression: Journalists
A decree establishing a national internet gateway that can control and monitor online activity in Cambodia is likely to seriously restrict freedom of expression in the country, journalists said Wednesday. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen signed an order to launch a National Internet Gateway—similar to ...
RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Concern rises after Karen indigenous community returns to ancestral land
Concern continues to rise among civil society for the safety of members of the Bang Kloi Karen indigenous community who returned to their ancestral land at Chai Phaen Din in the Kaeng Krachan forest, after reports of a possible military operation to evacuate them from ...
Prachatai
National Human Rights Commission to remain Grade B for next 18 months
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) will remain in Grade B for the next 18 months because the current constitution deprives them of independence and obliges them to speak in defence of the government, says the Sub-Committee on Accredition (SCA). Its rank was lowered ...
Prachatai
Karen People Cut Off From Help in Myanmar After Fighting Drives Them From Their Homes
Around 1,000 ethnic Karen villagers have been cut off from help in Myanmar’s Kayin state by renewed fighting between government troops and rebel forces, with relief groups now unable to reach them with badly needed food, blankets, and medical supplies, sources say. Fighting between the Myanmar ...
Reported by Saw Nyunt Thaung for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Vietnam jails environmental activist for seven years
Vietnam has clamped down on freedom of expression ahead of a Communist Party congress by imposing a harsh jail sentence on an environmental activist and blogger for an anti-state campaign. On Jan. 20, the People’s Court of Hau Giang province in the southern Mekong Delta sentenced Dinh ...
UCA News reporter, Ho Chi Minh City
Pressing the mute button
The fast-approaching Christmas and New Year celebrations are supposed to ignite a sense of joy among the public, but such enthusiasm has long been curbed by the pandemic crisis that has sunk economies and hopes around the globe. With a feeling of unease in the air ...
WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI, PATHOM SANGWONGWANICH AND SUCHIT LEESA-NGUANSUK
Myanmar must listen to those protesting internet shutdowns, not persecute them
Access Now, Article 19, Fortify Rights, and seven others are calling on authorities in Myanmar to immediately end criminal proceedings against, and release from detention, all those charged in relation to recent protests shining a spotlight on human rights violations and internet shutdowns in Rakhine and Chin ...
Thailand: Police Violence Against Democracy Demonstrators
Thai police unnecessarily used water cannons and teargas against peaceful democracy demonstrators outside the parliament in Bangkok on November 17, 2020, in violation of international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said today. At about 2:25 p.m., police attempted to prevent a demonstration organized by the People’s ...
HRW
Vietnam Threatens to Shut Down Facebook Over Content: Reuters
Vietnam has threatened to shut down Facebook in the country if it does not bow to government pressure to censor more local political content on its platform, a senior official at the US social media giant told Reuters Facebook complied with a government request in April ...
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