<p>The Nation Channel headlined a news report ‘<a href="http://breakingnews.nationchannel.com/read.php?lang=th&newsid=421897">Red Shirts in Lampang throw stones at a villager’s house</a>’, while the news was actually about an incident where red shirts surrounded a villager’s house after being stoned by the villager.</p>
<p>Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) is a network of activists campaigning against censorship since November 15, 2006.</p>
<p>Laid-off Triumph workers stood up and held banners in protest during a speech by PM Abhisit Vejjajiva on his government’s work on human rights. The workers complained that the government had ignored their problems and police had abused their human rights. </p>
<p>The construction of Thailand’s new 12-billion baht Parliament Building is scheduled to be completed in 2012. The design, which was chosen by a parliamentary committee from among 5 finalists, is said to represent the Thai identity. It focuses on the concept of Buddhist morality to govern mundane politics, according to the designers. However, Chatree Prakitnonthakarn, an architecture lecturer at Silpakorn University and expert on historical architecture during the post-1932 revolution era, questioned the relevance of the idea.</p>
<p>On 2 Dec, the Social Move group of activists visited Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul at Khlong Prem Prison. They found her still active in discussing political issues, despite the fact that inmates are supposed to be kept away from politics through the prison’s various means of censorship. She was very happy to have received letters from sympathizers in many countries. </p>
By Harrison George |
<p>Europe has one. The Americas have one. Even Africa has one. But Asia has long suffered the embarrassment of having no regional human rights body, despite having the bulk of the world’s population – and some of its worst human rights violators.</p>
<p>19 Thai workers were left stranded for 4 months after a year working on a tomato farm in Murcia, southern Spain. In July, they were sacked by their Spanish employer, despite the fact their broker in Thailand had promised them 5-year contracts. They returned to Thailand on 4 Dec, and are now trying to seek compensation from the Thai broker, as they had incurred huge debts to apply for the job.</p>
By CARAM |
<p>KUALA LUMPUR, 10 Dec 2009: As the world marks International Human Rights Day today, CARAM Asia launches an online petition campaign seeking crucial support and commitment from every employer of households to grant a weekly paid day off to their migrant domestic worker (MDW). From today onwards, the online campaign will be featured for 30 days on the major media online sites based in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Middle East:</p>
<p>Local people in Chana District, Songkhla, have put up billboards opposing government plans to build a deep sea port in their area as part of the <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/1510">Landbridge </a>scheme. They are also opposed to a planned petrochemical industry, as they do not want their home to become another Mab Ta Phut, the polluted Eastern Seaboard industrial area.</p>
<p>An ABAC opinion survey conducted on 5 Dec after the broadcast ceremony celebrating HM the King’s birthday found that among 1,147 respondents across the country, 81.9% said they were inspired to cope with their own problems in life. The level of happiness among Thais reached 9.86 on a 10-point scale, even higher than the level of 9.21 at the 60th anniversary of HM’s ascension to the throne in June 2006.</p>
By Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, Malaysian Trades Union Congress |
<p>Recently, it was reported that the retrenched workers of Nikko Electronics Bhd protested outside Penang State Assembly.(Star, 2/12/2009), seeking the State government's assistance to get their benefits and compensations. These were amongst the 1,000 odd workers that were retrenched suddenly without notice by their employer in July 2008. Apparently, their plea to the Minister, the Federal and State government have not been successful to date. If there was a National Retrenchment Scheme, as proposed by MTUC in 1998, in place, they could have resorted to this to get some compensation.</p>
By Ongart Decha |
<p>Residents of Mae Soi, Chom Thong district, Chiang Mai, are opposed to a Provincial Irrigation Office plan to build a weir across the Ping River, for fear of losing their homes and livelihoods as a result of the weir.</p>