Social development
Southern Myanmar’s indigenous groups say the UN should scrap $21 million conservation plan
Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region is among the most vibrantly biodiverse places in Asia. The southern tail of kite-shaped Myanmar, Tanintharyi encompasses hundreds of islands in the Myeik Archipelago, mangrove-lined coast, evergreen forests and the mountainous spine that forms the Thai-Myanmar border. The region holds some of Southeast ...
Skylar Lindsay
CSOs express concerns on Lao’s Mekong hydro project
Five civil society organisations (CSOs) in Cambodia working on the Luang Prabang hydropower project in Laos said in a press statement on Tuesday that it should be delayed because Lao authorities have insufficient details concerning the transboundary impact assessment and don’t have concrete measures to ...
Soth Koemsoeun
Govt officials urged to expedite aid to the unemployed
Local labour authorities around the country need to quickly implement government measures to assist the unemployed and help cushion inevitable job losses in the months to come, according to a leading official. Director-General of the Department of Labour Skill Development at the Ministry of Labour and ...
Phetphoxay Sengpaseuth
Dengue Fever Infections on the Rise Nationwide
149 cases of dengue fever have been reported in the last nine days, with two deaths attributed to the disease. According to a report by Lao Post, more than 1,000 cases of dengue fever have been confirmed in Laos this year. The Centre of Information and Education for Health, ...
Latsamy Phonevilay
UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund Supports Laos
The United Nations will support the Lao Government’s preparedness and response to Covid-19 under the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund with two UN projects approved under the Fund last week. The Fund was launched by the UN Secretary-General to support low- and middle-income countries overcome the ...
Laotian Times
Job losses, pay cuts, force Cambodians into bad debts
In the mid-1970s, when the city crashed and burned in a warped socialist uprising led by Communist Party of Kampuchea leader Pol Pot, untold fear gripped the people. Today, although less menacing, the fear is surreal as Covid-19 does a number on the economy. It has resulted ...
Sangeetha Amarthalingam
Vietnam, Laos Arrest Facebookers on COVID-19-Related Charges
Authorities in Vietnam and Laos have arrested several Facebook users on charges related to the coronavirus, with Hanoi punishing posts that challenge official reporting on the pandemic and Vientiane acting against a lockdown violation streamed live. The two arrests in Vietnam come as the Communist Party ...
RFA’s Vietnamese and Lao Services. Translated by Huy Le and Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Amnesty: Cambodia’s war on drugs led to systemic human rights abuses
Cambodia’s three-year-long “war on drugs” campaign has led to a litany of human rights abuses and the overcrowding of prisons and detention centres, human rights watchdog Amnesty International has announced in a new report. Released during the weekend, the report titled “Substance Abuses” documents the government’s ...
Deutsche Presse Agentur
All coronavirus patients recover in Cambodia, no cases for weeks
Cambodia’s last patient who was being treated for the new coronavirus has been discharged from hospital, in a recovery that left the country with zero active cases, according to the health ministry. The 36-year-old woman from Cambodia’s northwest Banteay Meanchey province was on Saturday released from ...
Vietnam’s low-cost COVID-19 battle shows the world what can be done
Daily, a staggering quarter of a million people use the public bus network in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest metropolis. This week, just a month after services were suspended, the distinctive green vehicles are back on the roads. That’s good news for the millions ...
Misha Coleman, Margaret Sheehan