Social development

Surrounded by low-hanging clouds, mud and chickens in a village deep in the northern hills, a young woman tells me, “We are not Thai and we try not to be Thai. Sometimes I find myself talking to my family in Thai and I think, ‘No, ...

All Lao people, including general workers and farmers, who are not government officials or private sector members of the National Social Security Fund will be eligible for benefits under a new scheme. The Fund has announced the establishment of the Voluntary Social Security Project For All ...

It is necessary to further promote public awareness of women’s empowerment, especially their political participation, although the percentage of women in Vietnam’s parliament is currently higher than the global average, said a minister. At a conference reviewing the 10-year implementation of the Law on Gender Equality held in Hanoi ...

From the outside, ASEAN has been testing the limits of its non-interference policy in ways never done before, being a diplomatic bridge to Myanmar while pressing it to address international criticism for its treatment of its Rohingya minority. But from inside Myanmar, ASEAN’s role in ...

The plight of thousands of women from Kachin and Shan states trafficked into forced marriages in China has attracted global attention, with numerous major news outlets and human rights groups covering the crisis. But one Myanmar language publication recently gave a different take on the ...

A Cambodian judge on Thursday ordered a reinvestigation of the espionage case against two former Radio Free Asia journalists, saying he could not rule on their guilt or innocence without enough evidence. The case has added to concerns about a crackdown on criticism and dissent by ...

Thailand will open its first fake news centre by Nov 1 to combat unverified news circulating on social media platforms, said Minister of Digital Economy and Society Buddhipongse Punnakanta on Wednesday (Sept 25). “These days anyone can be a reporter. Anything can be posted and shared. ...

Ian G. Baird, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on dams in Southeast Asia, tells of meeting a farmer  and his five-year-old son from a village in rural Laos in 2009. The two were sitting in a canoe as the sun rose ...

Lao state media reported Tuesday that a woman who was arrested in Laos last week for criticizing the government on Facebook has confessed to her crime. In a Facebook Live video last week, Houayheuang Xayabouly, known by her nickname Mouay, had slammed the Lao government’s slow ...

Local empowerment has become the best prevention measure against diseases and accidents in two Chiang Mai communities, who have learned firsthand how collective grassroots action can keep them safe. Dengue fever has terrorised the communities in tambon Ban Luang in Chom Thong district for years. Locals ...