Social development

Leaders of some 20 ethnic armed groups from Myanmar are due to meet in Chiang Mai today amid divisions over whether to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement with the government.  Pu Zing Cung, general secretary of the Chin National Front and a member of the groups’ ...

Drugmaker Novartis AG has begun a programme in Kenya, Ethiopia and Vietnam to supply 15 low-cost medicines to fight chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure.   The Swiss-based pharmaceuticals group said on 24 September its scheme would supply drugs for just $1 per treatment per month to ...

Despite its being a tiny landlocked nation, Laos has made some inroads in its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in providing primary healthcare to Laotian mothers and children in the country’s hinterlands. This will be the message that Laos President Choummaly Sayasone will bring to New ...

Eleven Muslim politicians have successfully challenged their controversial disqualification from contesting the November elections following a surprise reversal by the Union Election Commission. Their reinstatement after appeal followed concerted pressure from the United States and eight other governments, which had urged Myanmar to hold “a credible, ...

Forty-three families from Poipet town and the nearby village of Kbal Spean 1 say they will ignore the 28 September deadline of an eviction notice from the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court. Resident Ith Sim said the families have lived on the land for over a decade. Keep ...

As the United Nations meets this week to draw up a new set of sustainable development benchmarks, the era of the body’s landmark Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is coming to a close, with some wondering – in spite of gains – what efficacy such targets ...

A man from Laos who was jailed for praying has died after he was refused vital treatment in prison. According to the Human Rights Watcher for Lao Religious Freedom group, Tiang Kwentianthong was imprisoned with four others last year, when he prayed for an elderly woman ...

Tuan Cer Sung, better known as Cheery Zahau, is aiming for a Lower House seat in Falam Township, where her parents were born. She is one of five women candidates from the Chin Progressive Party (CPP) to run in the 8 November polls in Myanmar. In an interview with ...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed to advise the government on environmental and social risk management for hydropower projects nationwide.  This is the first time anything like this will be done in Myanmar. Commentators say they hope it will serve as the basis for transparent ...

Farmers’ leaders have called for an interest-free debt moratorium of 5-10 years if the government bans the planting of a second rice crop for the third time this year. Thai Farmers Association chairman Wichian Puanglamjiak on 22 September said if the the government asks  farmers to not to plant second-crop ...