As leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet at the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin this week, recent events on other Asian coastlines presents a challenge to the grouping. The plight of the ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority from Burma was revealed when several boats containing hundreds of exhausted men arrived on Thai, Indian, and Indonesian shores in January.
THAILAND made headlines last week as photographs emerged of its navy towing boats filled with hundreds of Rohingya people from Burma out to sea, leaving them to wash ashore elsewhere or perish. Unfortunately, such callous treatment of asylum seekers is nothing new.
The recently released report by the UN human rights rapporteur for Burma, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, detailed how the world has witnessed a regression in the already besieged safety and livelihood of Burma's 54 million people living under one of the world's most repressive military governments.
The Irrawaddy speaks with Sunai Phasuk, Thailand consultant for New York-based Human Rights Watch, on the prospects for peace in Thailand’s violence-racked southern provinces.
In an effort to forge friendship with the military regime in Rangoon, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has abandoned Thailand’s longstanding humanitarian stance towards Burmese refugees. As a result, the security of hundreds of thousands of exiled Burmese has been placed at serious risk.
A "climate of fear." Threats against government opponents. A war on drugs and "dark forces." Thousands of unexplained killings. Human rights in Thailand under severe threat. That was hardly the environment the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) envisioned when it decided to hold its 2003 meeting in Bangkok.
A "climate of fear." Threats against government opponents. A war on drugs and "dark forces." Thousands of
unexplained killings. Human rights in Thailand under severe threat. That was hardly the environment the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) envisioned when it decided to hold its 2003 meeting in Bangkok.
A violent 10-week-old state-sponsored "war on drugs" is rapidly undermining Thailand's long struggle to become one of Southeast Asia's leading democracies - and the civil rights of Thais. The United Nations and the United States should pressure Bangkok to end its shoot-to-kill policy.
BANGKOK A violent 10-week-old state-sponsored "war on drugs" is rapidly undermining Thailand's long struggle to become one of Southeast Asia's leading democracies - and the civil rights of Thais. The United Nations and the United States should pressure Bangkok to end its shoot-to-kill policy.
As leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet at the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin this week, recent events on other Asian coastlines presents a challenge to the grouping. The plight of the ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority from Burma was revealed when several boats containing hundreds of exhausted men arrived on Thai, Indian, and Indonesian shores in January.
THAILAND made headlines last week as photographs emerged of its navy towing boats filled with hundreds of Rohingya people from Burma out to sea, leaving them to wash ashore elsewhere or perish. Unfortunately, such callous treatment of asylum seekers is nothing new.
The recently released report by the UN human rights rapporteur for Burma, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, detailed how the world has witnessed a regression in the already besieged safety and livelihood of Burma's 54 million people living under one of the world's most repressive military governments.
The Irrawaddy speaks with Sunai Phasuk, Thailand consultant for New York-based Human Rights Watch, on the prospects for peace in Thailand’s violence-racked southern provinces.
In an effort to forge friendship with the military regime in Rangoon, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has abandoned Thailand’s longstanding humanitarian stance towards Burmese refugees. As a result, the security of hundreds of thousands of exiled Burmese has been placed at serious risk.
A "climate of fear." Threats against government opponents. A war on drugs and "dark forces." Thousands of unexplained killings. Human rights in Thailand under severe threat. That was hardly the environment the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) envisioned when it decided to hold its 2003 meeting in Bangkok.
A "climate of fear." Threats against government opponents. A war on drugs and "dark forces." Thousands of
unexplained killings. Human rights in Thailand under severe threat. That was hardly the environment the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) envisioned when it decided to hold its 2003 meeting in Bangkok.
A violent 10-week-old state-sponsored "war on drugs" is rapidly undermining Thailand's long struggle to become one of Southeast Asia's leading democracies - and the civil rights of Thais. The United Nations and the United States should pressure Bangkok to end its shoot-to-kill policy.
BANGKOK A violent 10-week-old state-sponsored "war on drugs" is rapidly undermining Thailand's long struggle to become one of Southeast Asia's leading democracies - and the civil rights of Thais. The United Nations and the United States should pressure Bangkok to end its shoot-to-kill policy.