Social development
More than 9,000 people in Singapore are ‘modern-day slaves’: study
Among nearly 46 million people living and working in slave-like conditions worldwide, an estimated 9,200 are in Singapore, according to a global index on 167 countries compiled by a human rights group. The lower the ranking, the less prevalence of “modern slavery” in a country. The ...
There is ‘no room’ for the gay community, Indonesia says
Indonesia said on August 10 there was “no room” for the gay community in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, as activists blasted officials for an unprecedented series of LGBT attacks. A wave of angry rhetoric directed at homosexuals earlier this year – including a call to ...
How La Niña could affect the spread of Zika
La Niña is characterized by the cooling of ocean surface waters in the equatorial Pacific and affects many of the same regions as El Niño. Based on previous years, this means above-average rainfall and potential flooding in southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and northern South America, ...
Thai regulator backs sim card plan to track tourists
Thailand’s telecommunications regulator has approved in principle a plan to issue special sim cards to foreign tourists so they can be tracked via their mobile phones. Officials at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said the plan would apply to tourists only, backtracking on an earlier ...
Cambodia standing up for migrant fishermen too late: experts
The government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee on August 9 sent a request to its counterpart in Thailand to help push the Thai government to implement safety measures to protect Cambodian fishermen working in Thailand in often slave-like conditions, a request advocates said yesterday should have been ...
Indian pills fuel drug boom in Myanmar
Five years ago, when cold pills first trickled across Myanmar’s untamed border with India, many local officials were baffled. Where was this medicine going, and why were smugglers so interested in it? Today, the cross-border trickle has become a torrent and everyone knows why the Indian-made ...
Lao government muted representatives to ASEAN people's forum
Laos’ representatives attending a meeting of civil society organizations that is held each year during the ASEAN summit said little about human rights issues inside their own authoritarian country because they were selected by the government in Vientiane, sources tell RFA. “Most Lao representatives are selected ...
Health ministry vows to improve after complaint
Cambodia’s Ministry of Health has said it will work to improve the qualifications of medical professionals and review the treatment and delivery of care for children in the country in response to a request in an open letter by Dr Beat Richner, founder of the ...
Vietnam doctors train Cambodians in hematopoietic stem cell transplant
The Ho Chi Minh City Blood Transfusion Hematology Hospital has begun a training course in hematopoietic stem cell transplant for Cambodia’s Calmette Hospital. Dr Sok Sothea of Calmette said a team of three doctors, two nurses and a technician would attend the five-month course that has ...
Major drug smuggling group smashed by Safe Mekong operation
One of the five major drug smuggling groups operating in the region has been crushed and its 26 networks destroyed by the Safe Mekong Joint Operation, Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya announced on Wednesday.Gen Paiboon was briefing the media on progress in the third phase of ...
