Population and censuses
ILO launches global media competition on labour migration
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched its fifth annual Global Media Competition, themed “fair recruitment and the future of labour migration”, aiming to recognise exemplary media coverage of the issue. For the first time, the competition has a student prize category with a fellowship, according to the ILO ...
TM30: The form getting expats in Thailand into a bureaucratic tangle
Thailand has long been an attractive destination for Western expats – where money goes further and can buy a good quality of life. But the revival of an arcane immigration law has angered the expat community and got them questioning their freedoms in Thailand, as ...
New rules, new debts: slavery fears rise for migrant workers in Thailand
When Leng Lyda swapped Cambodia for a fishing town in Thailand hoping to find a job in the seafood industry, he was ready for hard work. But he wasn’t prepared for the delay, or the debt. The 22-year-old landed a job as soon as he arrived ...
Matt Blomberg and Nanchanok Wongsamuth
Lao Migrants Fleeing Poverty Defy Dangers to Work in Thailand
Lao workers, many of them young and some still in their teens, have poured in growing numbers this year into neighboring Thailand, braving exploitation and unsafe work conditions in search of employment to help support families back home, sources in the Southeast Asian nation say. Many ...
NGO Urges Tightened Restrictions on Influx of Chinese Nationals to Cambodia
Cambodia should tighten restrictions on the influx of Chinese nationals to the country, according to a local rights group, which says the community is responsible for rampant violent crime and loose ethics that are contributing to the downfall of society. Many Chinese nationals living in Cambodia ...
UNHCR Statement on Voluntary Repatriation to Myanmar
Through their bilateral Joint Working Group on repatriation, the Government of Myanmar conveyed to the Government of Bangladesh the names of 3,450 Rohingya refugees who have been cleared for return to Rakhine State, Myanmar. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, sees Myanmar’s engagement in this process ...
Mekong SEZs commit to promoting ‘decent work’ for women migrant workers
During the Mekong Migration Network (MMN) and Asian Institute of Technology’s (AIT) workshop, Jobs in SEZs: Promoting Gender-Sensitive Policies in the Mekong Region, representatives of governments, special economic zone (SEZ) management bodies, and civil society from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Thailand, committed to promoting decent work ...
Bagan deserves better
Foreign investors should distance themselves from hotel projects being developed around the ancient temples of Bagan in apparent violation of planning rules. It now seems likely that the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will approve Myanmar’s application to have Bagan ...
Burma, Hungary see migration as ‘greatest challenge’
Burma’s (Myanmar) civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban both view migration as “one of the greatest challenges” currently facing their countries and Europe and South East Asia in general, the government in Budapest said on Wednesday. In a rare trip ...
ASEAN, Myanmar to implement practical measures on Rakhine situation
ASEAN and the Myanmar government agreed to immediately commence practical measures to alleviate the situation in Rakhine State following a high-level coordination meeting today in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Executive Director of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance ...