· May, 2013

Stories about Youth from May, 2013

Leaving North Korea

Concerns over insufficient protection of North Korean refugees have grown ever stronger as news came out that nine young North Korean defectors have been forced to return to North Korea...

31 May 2013

35,000 Child Prostitutes in Bangladesh

Amader Kotha, a site dedicated to women's issues in Bangladesh reports that at least 35,000 children are being exploited sexually on a commercial basis in the country. More than half of...

29 May 2013

Little PSY and his Vietnamese Heritage

After learning that Korean child actor Hwang Min-woo or Little PSY of Gangnam Style fame has been receiving hate messages for being half-Vietnamese, James Bao wrote him a letter urging...

29 May 2013

13-year-old Girl Publicly Shamed in China

A 13-year-old girl was handcuffed and then paraded on the streets after “accidentally spilling water on a town government vehicle” in Guizhou province. Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated Chinese netizens’ reaction.

29 May 2013

Chinese Social Web Defends US Vice President Biden

United States Vice President Joe Biden has faced a firestorm of criticism from Chinese international students after he referred to China as a nation that cannot "think different" or "breathe freely" during his commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania. But mainland Chinese Web users have hit back, reproaching the students abroad for their behavior and defending Biden's speech as worthy of reflection.

26 May 2013

Peru: Is Junk Food Synonymous with Freedom?

The recent Law for the Promotion of Healthy Eating by Boys, Girls, and Adolescents, promulgated by Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, has generated debate about wether it restricts freedom of choice for parents in the way they raise their children. Others see threats to their freedom to advertise.

23 May 2013

Guinea-Bissau Youth Calls for Peace

The Guinean movement Ação Cidadã (Citizen Action) [pt] released an open letter [pdf] on May 8 “from a youth who wants to have their place in their own land in peace,...

22 May 2013

Moscow Soccer Fans Clash with Police

RuNet Echo

Following Saturday's scoreless soccer game that catapulted Moscow's CSKA club to its fourth Russian Premier League title, the team's fans clashed with riot troops in downtown Moscow. Police detained 140 people [ru], later releasing...

19 May 2013

Why Is China's Post-80’s Generation Dispirited?

China's state-run People’s Daily ran a piece titled “The Post-80′s Generation is Dispirited: Early Decline Cause for Alarm[zh],” arguing that China’s youth born after 1980 face “spiritual confusion and a loss of...

19 May 2013

Chinese Government Bans Seven ‘Speak-Not’ Subjects

A prominent Chinese law professor recently revealed in his microblog on popular Twitter-like site Sina Weibo that the Chinese government has imposed a policy on university professors instructing them not to teach seven subjects, including freedom of the press, past mistakes of the communist party, and human rights.

16 May 2013

Yemen: Focus on Education!

In a country where the illiteracy rate of both sexes (15 years and above) is almost 40 per cent, education and the empowerment of the women and youth is an imperative necessity for any concrete development in Yemen. Activists argue why education should be a right and not a privilege.

14 May 2013