Civil and political rights

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen seems to have forgotten who he is. Praising journalism and defending reporters? That is not the Hun Sen of yore. Yet this month, amid a trial of two Radio Free Asia reporters on “baseless espionage charges,” according to Human Rights Watch, the ...

Thailand has received a score of 6 out of 10 in internet censorship, on a par with various regional peers, according to UK-based tech research firm Comparitech. A score of 6 was given to 17 countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam, out of 150 ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday commended three ministers for being open to journalists. Addressing some 6,000 attendees during the 4th media correspondents’ gala at the capital’s Koh Pich Convention and Exhibition Centre, he said Minister of National Defence Tea Banh, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng ...

A Thai journalist sentenced to two years in prison for defaming the owner of a poultry farm via a tweet said Thursday the kingdom’s criminal libel laws are eviscerating media freedom. A court convicted Suchanee Cloitre in December for a tweet referencing a dispute over working ...

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 ...

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 ...

Vietnamese courts on Thursday sentenced six dissident bloggers and activists to long terms in prison amid a continuing crackdown on online expressions of dissent in the one-party communist state that has seen dozens of people jailed this year, sources said. In southeastern Vietnam’s Dong Nai province, ...

Huy Vannak, president of the Union of Journalists Federations of Cambodia, on Tuesday during the Asia-Pacific Summit in Phnom Penh called on all journalists across the world to take part in curbing fake news and learn about the value of peace. Mr Vannak, who is also ...