Social development
Human rights
Compensation for mining company’s ‘poisoning’ not enough: plaintiffs
People in Tak province say nothing has been done about removing cadmium contamination from their water source, while the Appeals Court on 12 July upheld the Civil Court’s earlier ruling against zinc-mining companies on the leakage of toxins into the Mae Tao River Basin. The Southern ...
Protest leader arrested in Mondolkiri after reoccupation attempt
An anti-eviction protester who police claim orchestrated several large-scale reoccupation attempts on a planned rubber plantation in Mondolkiri province was arrested on 11 July, police and a rights monitor said. About 500 families living on the land were evicted in 2012, three years after the Pacific ...
Lake waters, hope at low ebb in Battambang
For generations, Sokha’s family has lived in Bak Preah village on the Sangkae River – which passes through Battambang province and connects to the Tonle Sap lake about 70 kilometres away – depending almost solely on catching fish for their food and income. But with the ...
Govt to release census data on religion
Data from Myanmar’s 2014 census on the populations of the country’s religious groups will be released this month, a ministry spokesperson has announced. Myint Kyaing, the permanent secretary within the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population, told The Irrawaddy on 12 July that the religious data will ...
For civil society, defiance in wake of Kem Ley's murder
Civil society on 11 July refused to be cowed by the Sunday morning murder of leading political commentator Kem Ley, with many saying that concerns for their own safety are now secondary to their determination not to be silenced. Seventy NGOs endorsed a statement condemning the ...
Three NDM members and Prachathai reporter held in Ratchaburi over ‘anti-charter’ leaflets
Four citizens including a reporter for Prachathai have been detained on charges of breaching a ban on campaigning against the charter draft after police searched their car and found leaflets with information against the draft. When the four were about to leave, police searched their ...
Media groups say charges against ‘Prachatai’ reporter should be dropped
Two media organisations on 11 July called on authorities to drop charges against a reporter accused of violating the ban on campaigning against the charter draft, insisting the reporter was merely performing his job and did nothing wrong. However, a National Council for Peace and ...
As war of words drags on, government in Rakhine State opts for term ‘Rakhine ethnics’
A day after thousands of Buddhist nationalists staged protests across Rakhine State, the regional government issued a statement saying it would call the state’s Buddhist majority “Rakhine ethnics”, as controversy over terminology continues to simmer. The announcement yesterday said the state government would drop the phrase ...
Japan gives boost to human resource development in Laos
The government of Japan is providing grant assistance of 308 million yen for the continuation of the Human Resource Development Scholarship Project in Laos. An agreement was signed on 4 July in Vientiane by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms Khamphao Eunthavanh and Japanese Ambassador to Laos ...
Caritas Luxembourg funds livelihood improvement in Xieng Khuang
Caritas Luxembourg has provided a grant of over 1 million euros (more than 9 billion kip) to improve the Strengthening Livelihood Systems Project in Mok district, Xieng Khuang province. The project agreement was signed recently by the Director of the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr ...
