Social development

When the coterie of top generals that toppled Thailand’s government in 2014 announced the long-awaited elections that were held in March, they promised a speedy return to democracy after five years of military rule. Nine months on, the election those army men had sold as a ...

Meet Heng Kim Seng, Cambodia’s bat man. In a few years, he went from rice to riches all because of bats. Under the Khmer Rouge, he hauled human waste to make the rice grow, and now he sells bat feces or “guano” as a natural fertilizer, ...

The Japanese government announced in late December that it will launch an aid program to help internally displaced people in a conflict zone in Myanmar’s northern state of Kachin to return home. China has strong influence in northern Myanmar, including Kachin. Countrywide, Japan and China are ...

The opposition Future Forward party will, next year, press for state recognition of the basic rights of Thailand’s ethnic minorities, which include rights of access to state welfare and ancestral land rights, says Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. The embattled party leader, party spokeswoman Pannika ...

Nguyen Thi Van (not her real name) from the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai was lured across the border to China and sold off as a wife when she was 16 years old. Three months later, she escaped from her husband and returned to Vietnam, but it ...

The Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA) will issue practice guidelines for commercial banks in handling clients’ personal data, following the enforcement of the personal data protection law in May next year. The Personal Data Protection Act, B.E. 2562 (2019) regarding the collection, use, or disclosure of personal ...

A court in Thailand on Tuesday sentenced a reporter to two years in prison for criminal libel for a comment she tweeted about a labor abuse grievance at a poultry farm. The case against Suchanee Cloitre, then working for Voice TV, is one of 20 lawsuits ...

Rohingya activists have accused the Myanmar Press Council, a quasi-government media adjudication and ethics body,  of defending the practice of using the word “Bengali” to refer to the Rohingya. Rights groups and Rohingya advocates argue that the term amounts to “hate speech” and that it is ...

More than 80 experts from governmental agencies, domestic and international organizations, and academia attended “The launching workshop on the review of the National Strategy on Gender Equality and the development of the new National Strategy on Gender Equality 2021-2030” in Hanoi on December 6. The workshop ...

The Cambodian Human Rights Committee president spoke during a pro-LGBT event in Phnom Penh on Saturday and called on the public to end discrimination and prevent violence against the community. The event, organised by Rainbow Community Kampuchea, was held during International Human Rights Day. CHRC president Keo ...