People and government

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed support for a Southeast Asian diplomatic effort to end the political crisis in Myanmar. Speaking during a visit to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, Lavrov said the Five Point Consensus agreed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc ...

Migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar are being asked to sign contracts they cannot read in order to work in Thailand’s fishing fleet, a new study has found, undercutting efforts to expunge abuses from a sector worth billions of dollars to the Southeast Asian country. Thailand ...

Prominent Cambodian human rights organizations ignore discrimination and violations committed against ethnic Vietnamese communities in the country, fearful of backlash from nationalists and supporters of the now-dissolved opposition party, according to sources who spoke to The Diplomat. Since early June, for instance, Cambodian authorities have been evicting hundreds of ...

Human rights groups in and outside of Cambodia are calling for the immediate release of Mother Nature activists who were detained for filming a sewage flow near the Royal Palace. Mother Nature members Sun Ratha 26, and Yim Leanghy 32, were arrested on June 16 while documenting the ...

The President of the United States announced a plan to deliver 80 million safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to countries in need around the world. Thailand will receive a share of safe and effective vaccines from this world-wide donation. The United States is sharing these ...

On June 30, the military regime released over 2,000 people who had been detained over the past five months for their involvement in the anti-junta movement. Most of those freed were civilians detained in anti-regime protests, as well as 12 journalists. The Irrawaddy has interviewed some ...

Economic hardship in Lao villages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is driving a new surge in the trafficking to China of Lao women and girls desperate to find jobs, police and other sources in the Southeast Asian country say. “Right now, our police department is working ...

The government has drawn up a “Draft Law on Social Protection System” to ensure minimum standards of well-being and reduce economic and financial vulnerabilities. The draft law is designed to strengthen the income security of the people and promote social equality through the creation and management ...

Three years ago, American investigators produced a 15,000-page analysis of atrocities committed in 2017 against the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority group in Myanmar. The report documented survivors’ accounts of gang rapes, crucifixions, mutilations, of children being burned or drowned and of families locked inside their blazing ...

Following allegations of corruption over a local government’s exorbitant purchases on decorative street lamps, Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating and say procurements of the street lamps in a province just outside Bangkok were not in line with regulations. More than 20 people and ...