Population and censuses

The detention centre was sweltering as Bangkok’s heat oppressed the crowded room.  Dark steel bars lined the cells while scores of imprisoned migrants counted down the hours of the day. Crammed together in a tight space, the refugees were in a constantly agitated state. The watchful ...

Abortion is a global health issue, impacting individuals and families regardless of ethnicity, income, social status or nationality. Yet there is no worldwide legal standard for the practice of terminating a pregnancy. Lawmakers and governments hold sway over access to abortion, or its abolition. In the ...

Laos is hoping to unlock the potential of regional connectivity by not only focusing on infrastructure development but also boosting economic activity along key economic corridors. The government is developing key road and rail networks to connect Laos with its neighbours, particularly China, Vietnam and Thailand, ...

Starting in June 2021, hundreds of ethnic Vietnamese families living in floating villages on the Tonle Sap river have been evicted from Phnom Penh and told to relocate upstream and downstream — a move that families say has caused difficulties for their livelihood.  Speaking at a press ...

Vietnamese refugees in Thailand are facing delays in renewing identity cards issued by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Bangkok, and the pandemic-related suspension of processing has exposed many to the possibility of arrest by Thai authorities. Tran Van Long, 64, originally from ...

Border patrols on Sunday arrested a total of 126 Myanmar people who illegally crossed the border into Kanchanaburi and Chiang Mai provinces. In Kanchanaburi, 38 men and 38 women were found by a patrol of the Surasee Task Force hiding in bushes beside a pineapple plantation ...

Over 4,400 people from Myanmar have fled into the country since Thursday last week to escape clashes between government soldiers and an armed ethnic minority group, the Thai military said Wednesday. As the fighting between Myanmar’s ruling military and the Karen National Union intensifies in south-eastern ...

It has been ten years since Cambodia first imposed a ban on sending Khmer domestic workers to Malaysia following dozens of reports of abuse by Malaysian employers, including overwork, sexual harassment and verbal and physical assault.  Since then, the Cambodian government has taken several steps to ...

Thailand plans to reopen its borders to workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a government official said on Tuesday (Nov 9), in a bid to ease a labour shortage that is hurting its export and tourism-dependent economy. Pairote Chotikasathien, from the Ministry of Labor, said ...

With the Mekong Delta laboring under large quarantining burdens as migrants return from the southeast region in the thousands, officials fear outbreaks if the localities’ capabilities are stretched. An Giang Province, for instance, had more than 15,000 migrant workers return on motorbikes over the past three ...