By Abby Seiff After months of silence, Australia and Cambodia have begun to push ahead in earnest on a plan to relocate hundreds of refugees to the developing nation. A special diplomat, former immigration department official Greg Kelly, has been…
Who is she? Pung Chhiv Kek, 71, is the founder and current president of the Cambodia League for Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Licadho). A medical doctor, she comes from a family of prominent public figures. Her father served…
By Abby Seiff It’s been a strange few weeks in Cambodia. On July 15, opposition lawmakers-elect staged a protest calling for the restoration of freedom of assembly, a constitutional right that the government abruptly canceled in January during a heavy-handed…
By Rasika Gynedi Speculation has been rife over the possibility of a clampdown on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by the government of India. Several foreign-funded NGOs have recently been highlighted by the government for their alleged role in “negatively impacting” economic…
By Nigel Cory The revived proposal to introduce hudud, or Islamic penal code, in Malaysia’s northeastern state of Kelantan by opposition party, Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), has touched off another round of heated debate about the role of religion…
By Michael Montesano The operations of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) junta since its seizure of power in Thailand on May 22 have taken both foreign observers and many Thais aback, in both their tone and their…
By Benjamin Schaare Australia has tried many solutions to stop asylum seekers from entering its territory illegally. In the past few months, the Australian and Cambodian governments have been in talks to resettle a number of asylum seekers currently held…
By Courtney Weatherby President Thein Sein’s failure to fulfill his promise in July 2013 to release all remaining political prisoners by the end of the year attracted criticism from a number of international observers and human rights groups. However, there…
By Kendrick Kuo & Kyle Springer The movement of the Uighur population from their home province of Xinjiang in western China to Central Asia has long been a problem for Beijing. Strict security policies in Xinjiang motivate Uighurs to resettle…
Who is he? Nay Phone Latt is a Myanmar poet, blogger, and activist best known for his role in helping bring the 2007 monk-led Saffron Revolution and subsequent government crackdown to international attention. In 2008, he was arrested and sentenced…