Radio Free Asia
New Report Pleads for Accountablility on First Anniversary of Laos Dam Collapse
On the first anniversary Tuesday of Laos’ Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy (PNPC) dam disaster, a new report from two NGOs found that nobody has been held accountable for the catastrophe that caused what has been described as Laos’ worst flooding in decades. In Reckless Endangerment: Assessing Responsibility for ...
Survivors of Dam Collapse in Laos to Receive Half Compensation on Anniversary of Disaster
On the night of July 23, 2018, water poured over a saddle dam at the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy (PNPC) hydropower project in Champassak, Laos, sweeping away homes and causing severe flooding in up to 12 villages downstream in Champassak and neighboring Attapeu province. The disaster, ...
Nearly 500 Families to be Displaced This Month for Laos’ Fifth Mekong River Dam
A new Mekong river dam in Laos’ Luang Prabang province will displace up to 465 families this month, the latest in the continuing trend of hydropower projects forcing villagers to relocate all over the country. Residents of 10 villages in Luang Prabang’s Chomphet district must be ...
Eugene Whong
Family Members Welcome Expected Release of Jailed Vietnamese Journalist
Family members hailed the anticipated release in August of jailed Vietnamese photojournalist Nguyen Dang Minh Man during a visit this week to her prison in northern Vietnam’s Than Hoa province, praising her courage behind bars during the last eight years. Meanwhile, two political prisoners held in ...
Lao Government Begins Plan to Inspect 55 Dams One Year After PNPC Disaster
The Lao government is embarking on an plan to inspect all 55 dams in the country nearly one year after the collapse of a saddle dam that caused a disaster described as Laos’ worst flooding in decades. The disaster occurred on July 23, 2018, when a ...
Vietnamese Environmental Activist Gets 6 Years for Facebook Posts
A detained Vietnamese shrimp farmer and environmental activist was sentenced to six years in prison and five years’ probation Wednesday for writing politically charged posts on Facebook. Nguyen Ngoc Anh had been arrested on August 30, 2018 in Ben Tre province on charges of making, storing, ...
EU Kicks Off Fact-Finding Mission to Determine Cambodia’s Eligibility For Preferential Trade Status
The European Union kicked off a five-day fact-finding mission in Cambodia on Monday to determine whether it should continue to benefit from a tax-free EU trade scheme, based on the state of human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian nation. In February, the EU announced ...
Lao Authorities Allow Chinese Firm to Plant on Land Promised to Dam Collapse Survivors
A Chinese-backed firm is growing bananas on land promised by the government of Laos as compensation to survivors of a 2018 dam collapse that that has been described as the country’s worst flooding in decades, RFA’s Lao Service has learned. The disaster occurred last July, when ...
Timber Company in Cambodia Continues to Collect Wood From Protected Forest Areas
A timber company in Cambodia is ignoring environmental protection laws by transporting felled trees by night from protected forests in the country, activists said on Monday. The Oeun Sovann Company, operating out of Kampong Thom province, has not been punished or stopped from ignoring conservation laws, ...
Interview: China’s Mekong Dam-building Mindset ‘Exported Downstream’ to Cambodia and Laos
The Mekong River extends for thousands of miles through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, supporting more than 65 million people who depend on it for food, transportation, and commerce. But development, mostly led by China, threatens to upset the delicate balance between local ...
