Social development
Thailand believed to have deported 2 Chinese activists
The UN refugee agency criticised Thailand on 17 November for deporting two refugees who were about to be resettled in a third country. Rights groups identified the two as Chinese pro-democracy activists, although the Bangkok office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees did not give their ...
Thailand's 'train-the-trainer' English course kicks off in March
Thailand’s Education Ministry plans to kick off its six-week “train-the-trainer” programme for the first group of 500 Thai teachers to teach English in state-run schools in March next year. Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, who oversees the programme, said on 17 November the teachers will be trained ...
UN criticises Cambodia, China rights violations
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on 17 November that an arrest warrant issued against Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy was a worrisome development and called for dialogue. Meanwhile, in Geneva, a UN watchdog questioned Chinese officials over alleged widespread use of torture in the country’s prisons, deaths ...
Two girls dead after landmine blast in Shan State village
Two young girls, aged 13 and 8, have died after accidentally detonating a landmine near a small village in central Shan State. The victims died at the bank of the Tein Creek, on the outskirts of Mat Lan village in Laihka Township. According to a third child, ...
Ethnic parties concerned over limited voice in 2016 parliament
Ethnic political leaders are concerned over their marginal collective role in Myanmar’s next Parliament, with the majority of ethnic parties enjoying few gains in 8 November’s general election. “It’s like we have been hit by a tsunami,” said Sai Aung Myint Khaing, a central committee member of ...
Lao authorities plan future UXO operations
Laos’ National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the UXO/Mine Action sector in Laos has set a target to reduce the number of UXO casualties to less than 40 per year and provide assistance to at least 1,500 UXO victims in the period from 2016-2020. The target was set ...
ASEAN integration concerns aired at grassroots event
Hundreds gathered on 16 November in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park for the fifth Cambodian Grassroots People’s Assembly, where they called for issues ranging from deforestation to democracy to be addressed ahead of ASEAN integration. About 700 people from the Cambodian Cross Sector Network, a group made up ...
Mekong locals seek a voice on Don Sahong
More than 6,400 residents of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia have signed and thumb-printed a statement on the Don Sahong Dam project, airing concerns ranging from the river’s diminishing fish stocks to the lack of transparency of the Mekong River Commission. The statement, presented last week at ...
Women in central Vietnam work hard at sea to keep families afloat
In the coastal Hoang Hoa District in the central province of Thanh Hoa, fishing is no longer a male preserve like it is in most places. Hundreds of women, many of whom suffered from severe seasickness once, accompany their husbands out to sea to make their ...
Vietnam sees 44,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease
The Ministry of Health has reported 44,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease nationwide this year, including five fatalities, all in the south. “The number of cases is down 30 percent from last year,” Tran Dac Phu, director of the ministry’s Centre for Preventive Health, said. Keep reading ...
