To the extent that microcredit serves an ideological function—reinforcing the belief that an unrestrained market works to the advantage of even society’s least fortunate—it can prove tragically counterproductive, writes Mark Engler. Continue reading »
“Today’s world must respect human rights. No country can feel safe without respecting human rights and democracy” said Dr Mizanur Rahman, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh while inaugurating the fifth General Forum of the Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy (Sapa). Continue reading »
The Thai government should investigate reports that authorities forcibly pushed back to sea 91 ethnic Rohingyas seeking asylum, Human Rights Watch said, as a motorless vessel with 91 migrants turned up 700 kilometres away. Continue reading »
Thailand should immediately allow the United Nations refugee agency unhindered access to 211 detained ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers to determine whether they qualify for refugee status, Human Rights Watch said on 2 February 2011. Continue reading »
Next month thousands of young Burmese Muslims, persecuted in their own land, will attempt to voyage across the sea to a better life – but a sinister fate awaits them. John Carlin of the UK Independent investigates.
A string of civil society groups from across the region have expressed grave concern about the treatment of over a thousand Rohingyas from Burma and migrants from Bangladesh who were forcibly expelled and abandoned in international waters by the Thai security forces in recent weeks.
Among Burma’s ethnic minorities, the Rohingya, a stateless population, stand out for their particularly harsh treatment by Burmese authorities and their invisibility as a persecuted minority. Despite decades of severe repression, there has been minimal international response to the needs of this extremely vulnerable population compared to other Burmese refugees, observe Sean Garcia and Camilla Olson of Refugees International.
Workers in Tesco’s foreign stores are earning as little as eight pence an hour, they claim. An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has discovered that dozens of
people subcontracted to work up to 80 hours a week in Tesco’s
supermarkets in Malaysia found themselves employed in circumstances
that meet the United Nations’ definition of forced labour.