Human rights
Civil and political rights
Society urged to give former inmates a second chance, jobs after jail
For many former convicts, it is difficult to start a new life because they do not receive a second chance from society. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an elderly man lamented how his son was rejected at the last stage of recruitment after a government agency ...
Charter writers oppose press 'reform' attempt
A controversial bill to regulate the media industry proposed by the National Reform Steering Assembly media reform panel could breach the new constitution which supports media self-regulation and independence from state control, a Constitution Drafting Committee member says. Chartchai Na Chiangmai, who is also a CDC ...
Khmer Krom ethnic group denied many rights: report
While Cambodia in theory offers full citizenship to members of its Khmer Krom minority, in practise, many members of the community remain in a legal shadowland, unable to access a wide range of rights, a new report released yesterday shows. Despite a professed open-door policy ...
Cambodia's water people pushed out of Phnom Penh sewer for billion-dollar ING City
For decades, the vast lakes and wetlands fringing Cambodia’s capital have been home to thousands of people making a living from the water — fishing and harvesting vegetables for market. Now they face eviction, as politically well-connected land speculators push them out. “If they fill ...
Special rapporteur barred from Laiza, Hpakant
Just a few days into her fifth visit and the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar has already encountered a few bumps in the road, with the government blocking her from going to Laiza and Hpakant, in Kachin State. Yanghee Lee and her ...
Digital minister is willing to work with opponents of computer law
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is ready to clarify to all doubters and opponents of the computer crime law and to work with them as well as other parties concerned so that the law will be acceptable by the majority. Digital Economy and ...
Concerns aired ahead of information law meeting
With the Ministry of Information scheduled to meet to discuss a draft of the long-awaited Access to Information Law today, numerous journalists at a forum on Monday voiced concerns about vague wording they say could render the law ineffective or, worse, a cudgel against the ...
Facing the challenges of ensuring digital rights
Digital rights are human rights, participants in a nationwide forum were told this week. The Myanmar Digital Rights Forum discussed the issues raised by the increasing access, in recent years, of large numbers of Myanmar citizens to the internet, social media and mobile phones. The question ...
Commission probing Rakhine says ‘rule of law’ being observed
Myanmar’s military clearance operations in northern Rakhine State are being carried out “lawfully”, the investigation commission led by Vice President Myint Swe concluded after wrapping up a three-day field visit to Maundgaw. The announcement comes as Human Rights Watch released a report accusing the military ...
Attacks on journalists in Myanmar highlight complications, dangers for the media
The murder of a Myanmarese reporter investigating illegal logging and the roadside beating of another, both in Myanmar earlier this week, have raised new fears about media safety in the country. Soe Moe Tun, a 37 year-old Myanmarese reporter with Daily Eleven newspaper, was found “severely ...