Peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007 were crushed with extreme violence. The 2008 constitutional referendum was rigged. More than 2,100 political prisoners languish in horrific prisons. The junta has refused to engage in serious dialogue with the opposition. And without concerted international pressure, particularly from China, there will be no meaningful change.
Amid concerns that a Feb. 28 deadline for Thailand's Nationality Verification process could lead to mass deportations of Burmese and other migrant workers, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a new report looking at the plight of migrant workers in Thailand. Simon Roughneen talks with Sunai Phasuk, the senior researcher for HRW in Thailand.
BEATEN, burned, drowned, suffocated, sexually abused, trafficked, ripped-off, and always, eventually, rounded-up and pushed out - violence against migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos makes the headlines daily in the Thai media. But when the storyline turns to those responsible, a curtain of silence descends over the issue of those who perpetrate these abuses.
In his book "Dreams From My Father," Barack Obama explains that Lolo Soetoro, his stepfather, asked him if he would rather be strong or weak. Lolo remarked, "Better to be strong." As Obama prepares to visit Indonesia in March, he should view the Papuan question from the point of view of the "weak man," and if he acts on Papua, maybe then in Indonesia there will be a recognition that a strong man is one who assists the weak.
"At the State Department...every week is Human Rights Week." That's what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience at Georgetown University in Washington in December. But when it came to China, the speech spotlighted the Obama administration's flawed approach.
I met Purna Bahadur Sunuwar in early March 2004. It was two weeks after his 15-year-old daughter Maina had been abducted by soldiers from their home in the Kavre district of Nepal, east of the capital Kathmandu. As we sat in his mud house and he told his story, Purna could not hold back tears. He was clear that the army had acted out of vengeance.
While tourists flock to Fiji's white beaches in search of underwater paradise, the country's military officers threaten human rights defenders with a different underwater experience.
Western colonialism collapsed after the Second World War, leaving much of the world in shambles, resources looted, and people suppressed and impoverished. As Indians know all too well, borders of newly independent states were often carelessly drawn, leading to violence that plagues us generations later. Those most affected by these decisions never had a voice at the high table.
They had been beaten, whipped, shocked with electric batons and even raped. Food was scarce and forced labor common. Cambodians who have spent time in the country's drug detention centers described these outrageous abuses and horrible conditions, and more.
The decisive re-election of Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday presents the president with a momentous choice. He can continue the Sinhalese nationalist policies that defined his first term, or he can address the serious grievances of the minority Tamil population that lay behind the country's 26-year-long civil war. That turnout in the predominantly Tamil north-east was only 30 percent, compared to 70 percent of eligible voters generally, reflects those grievances.
Peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007 were crushed with extreme violence. The 2008 constitutional referendum was rigged. More than 2,100 political prisoners languish in horrific prisons. The junta has refused to engage in serious dialogue with the opposition. And without concerted international pressure, particularly from China, there will be no meaningful change.
Amid concerns that a Feb. 28 deadline for Thailand's Nationality Verification process could lead to mass deportations of Burmese and other migrant workers, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a new report looking at the plight of migrant workers in Thailand. Simon Roughneen talks with Sunai Phasuk, the senior researcher for HRW in Thailand.
BEATEN, burned, drowned, suffocated, sexually abused, trafficked, ripped-off, and always, eventually, rounded-up and pushed out - violence against migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos makes the headlines daily in the Thai media. But when the storyline turns to those responsible, a curtain of silence descends over the issue of those who perpetrate these abuses.
In his book "Dreams From My Father," Barack Obama explains that Lolo Soetoro, his stepfather, asked him if he would rather be strong or weak. Lolo remarked, "Better to be strong." As Obama prepares to visit Indonesia in March, he should view the Papuan question from the point of view of the "weak man," and if he acts on Papua, maybe then in Indonesia there will be a recognition that a strong man is one who assists the weak.
"At the State Department...every week is Human Rights Week." That's what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience at Georgetown University in Washington in December. But when it came to China, the speech spotlighted the Obama administration's flawed approach.
I met Purna Bahadur Sunuwar in early March 2004. It was two weeks after his 15-year-old daughter Maina had been abducted by soldiers from their home in the Kavre district of Nepal, east of the capital Kathmandu. As we sat in his mud house and he told his story, Purna could not hold back tears. He was clear that the army had acted out of vengeance.
While tourists flock to Fiji's white beaches in search of underwater paradise, the country's military officers threaten human rights defenders with a different underwater experience.
Western colonialism collapsed after the Second World War, leaving much of the world in shambles, resources looted, and people suppressed and impoverished. As Indians know all too well, borders of newly independent states were often carelessly drawn, leading to violence that plagues us generations later. Those most affected by these decisions never had a voice at the high table.
They had been beaten, whipped, shocked with electric batons and even raped. Food was scarce and forced labor common. Cambodians who have spent time in the country's drug detention centers described these outrageous abuses and horrible conditions, and more.
The decisive re-election of Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday presents the president with a momentous choice. He can continue the Sinhalese nationalist policies that defined his first term, or he can address the serious grievances of the minority Tamil population that lay behind the country's 26-year-long civil war. That turnout in the predominantly Tamil north-east was only 30 percent, compared to 70 percent of eligible voters generally, reflects those grievances.