Mong Palatino · June, 2014

Latest posts by Mong Palatino from June, 2014

Ending Illegal Wildlife Trade in Southeast Asia

  21 June 2014

Daniel Besant of Southeast Asia Globe has interviewed photojournalist and activist Karl Ammann about the efforts to end the illegal wildlife trading in Southeast Asia: At the moment, I’m convinced that 90% of what’s being done in Southeast Asia is window dressing and lip service. Making pronouncements, signing MOUs [Memoranda...

Laos Development NGOs Silent on Human Rights

  16 June 2014

Writing for The New Mandala, Randall Arnst bemoaned the silence of Laos devleopment NGOs over the disappearance of prominent NGO worker Sombath Somphone: …while UN rights bodies have repeatedly raised concerns, their sister agencies working in development have said virtually nothing. At the bi-lateral level, while diplomats have spoken up,...

What the Thai Junta Should Learn from the Burmese Junta

  16 June 2014

Aung Zaw of The Irrawaddy compares and contrasts the Thai junta and the military-backed govenrment of Myanmar: The Thai army has carried out more than a dozen coups in past decades, but always relinquished power to a civilian government after a number of years. The Burma Army staged two coups,...

Sharia Law and Free Speech in Brunei

  9 June 2014

The Sharia Law has created more difficulties in enhancing free speech and media freedom in Brunei. Dissenting voices were stifled after the Sultan threatened legal action against critics.

Human Rights Situation in Laos

  8 June 2014

The International Service for Human Rights has prepared a briefing paper on the human rights situation in Laos: Human rights defenders prefer to be known as ‘community workers’ and are afraid of reprisals if they are associated with regional and international human rights organisations. As Laos is scheduled to undergo...

Free Speech Remains Under Threat in Myanmar

  2 June 2014

Deji Olukotun observes how Myanmar's so-called transition to democracy has not yet made a lasting impact on the state of free expression in the country: …in many ways Myanmar’s relatively open society could close at a moment’s notice. Writers are able to write and to criticize the government not because...

Campaigning for Safe Sidewalks in Jakarta

  2 June 2014

Olga Amato and Divya Pridhnani explain the goals of Safe Steps, a campaign for a ‘walkable Jakarta’ in Indonesia: One of the main goals of Safe Steps is to make people understand that beside the health benefits people can derive from walking, better sidewalks can also result in a reduction...

Why Human Rights Advocates are Opposed to East Timor's Draft Media Law

  2 June 2014

Various human rights groups, journalists, and scholars have signed a letter opposing East Timor's proposed media law which was recently approved by the Parliament. One of the issues they cited is the broad powers given to the Press Council: …we are concerned that the Press Council with legal authority, funding...