Social development
Cambodia, Thailand sign human trafficking MoU
Cambodia and Thailand yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on strengthening the management of the repatriation and reintegration of human trafficking victims. The MoU was signed on behalf of the Cambodian government by Nhek Vannara, a Social Affairs Ministry secretary of state, who led a delegation ...
Is China meeting its international environmental and human rights obligations on BRI?
On Thursday, April 25, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation in Beijing. Heads of state and other senior government officials from 37 governments will attend, including representatives from ...
Oliver Ward
The Thai children putting a brave face on the horror of sexual abuse
When photographer Marieke van der Velden was asked by the Dutch charity Down to Zero to do an awareness-raising project on Thai children who had been victims of commercial sexual exploitation, she was uncertain how to proceed. For obvious reasons, her subjects’ faces could not be shown. In Thailand, Van der ...
'We're broken': Rohingya on hunger strike in Saudi detention
Scores of Rohingya detainees inside a Saudi detention centre have gone on a hunger strike for the third time in recent months, activists told Al Jazeera. Almost 650 men, most of whom have been kept at the Shumaisi detention centre in Jeddah since 2012 for not having valid ...
Saba Aziz
Villagers In Pursat Risk Losing Everything to Dam Development
The Cambodian government last week announced an 80-megawatt hydropower dam on the Anlong Krouch river, which flows to the town of Pursat. ANLONG KROUCH VILLAGE, PURSAT PROVINCE — For Khieu Him and Bun Kim Eng, orange trees provide hope. The ethnic Chorng and Por indigenous minority villagers ...
Fungus is the next 'superbug' to threaten human health
Humans and fungi have always coexisted. In fact, among microbes, fungi are our closest relatives, with far fewer genetic differences than there are for bacteria or viruses. So why are we now hearing so much about “mysterious” infections and “killer superbugs” emerging from the fungal world? When ...
Justin Beardsley
Heritage site or home? Indigenous Thais fight for right to forest
Hundreds of indigenous Karen people in Thailand face evictions from a national park that authorities wish to turn into a World Heritage Site, joining millions in a similarly precarious situation as authorities worldwide push tough conservation laws. The Kaeng Krachan is Thailand’s biggest national park, sprawled ...
Jailed Reuters Reporters, U.S. Border Photographers Win Pulitzer Prizes
Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, and another for photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The awards marked the second year in a ...
Daniel Trotta
Policies aim to better lives of ethnic minority people in Mekong Delta
Around 100 policies and documents related to ethnic minority groups in the Mekong Delta have been implemented to develop essential infrastructure and production, reduce poverty and improve the living standards of local residents. According to Hung Thi Somaly, an official from the Government’s Committee for Ethnic ...
Commentary: Myanmar on the cusp of opening up to mediation on Rakhine crisis
Myanmar has recognised ASEAN’s role in assisting with the displaced communities’ humanitarian needs. It has also indicated willingness to address this via the good offices of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management (AHA Centre). To this end, the ASEAN Emergency Response ...