Social development
Myanmar: EU mission assesses human rights and labour rights situation
A monitoring mission of experts from the European Commission and the European External Action Service visited Myanmar from 28 to 31 October. This follows deeply worrying developments highlighted in various United Nations reports, in particular as regards human rights violations in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan ...
Thailand wants to be the first Asian nation to legalize medical marijuana
“Thailand has the best marijuana in the world.” So claims Jet Sirathraanon, chairman of the country’s National Legislative Assembly’s standing committee of public health, who is pushing to legalize cannabis for medical use. A draft bill to permit medical marijuana had been sent to the ...
Malaria Cases in Myanmar See Huge Drop, Thanks to Efforts by Community Health Workers
Instances of malaria in remote and rural locations in Myanmar have fallen dramatically during a six-year period as a result of trained community health care workers providing a wider package of services along with screenings for the disease transmitted by mosquitoes in tropical regions, a ...
Why Cambodia's Poverty Statistics Dispute Matters
How many Cambodians are living in poverty? According to the government’s figures, using income as the only indicator, poverty stands at 13.5 percent, a considerable feat given that it was in the realm of 40 percent only two decades ago. It is also something the ...
Vietnam cyber law set for tough enforcement despite Google, Facebook pleas
Vietnam is preparing to strictly enforce a new cybersecurity law requiring global technology companies to set up local offices and store data locally despite pleas from Facebook, Google and other firms, a government document showed. Keep reading ...
ASEAN youngsters seek ways to end gender violence, promote equality
Youth representatives from 10 ASEAN countries, including over 100 Vietnamese youngsters, discussed challenges and solutions to achieving gender equality in ASEAN by 2030 during a dialogue in Hanoi on October 10. The wider dialogue closed a five-day training course on the role of youth in ensuring ...
Atrocities against Rohingyas: Asean ministers for prosecuting the culprits
Southeast Asian foreign ministers have urged Myanmar to prosecute those responsible for the brutal military crackdown on Rohingyas and give full mandate to an inquiry commission to hold accountable those responsible for the violence in Rakhine. Keep reading ...
New Initiative To Advance Women’s Entrepreneurship In Asia-Pacific Launched
A new initiative to advance women’s entrepreneurship in Asia-Pacific was launched on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York, by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), with financial support from Global ...
Can Tho University to train 150 doctors in unpopular fields for Mekong Delta
The Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy (CTUMP) aims to train 150 doctors in uncommon medical fields, including tuberculosis, leprosy, psychiatry, forensic science and surgery, for the Mekong Delta in this academic year, according to the university’s rector Nguyen Trung Kien. Keep reading ...
UNDP report finds 35% of Cambodians still mired in poverty
Thirty-five per cent of Cambodians are still living in poverty, with the rural population making up the majority, according to estimates from the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative ...