Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Future of rivers in PM's hands
News, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 25/09/2023
» In a speech to parliament on Sept 11, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin outlined policies, action plans and commitments that his government will take over the next four years for the "benefit and happiness of all Thai people".
Free-flowing Salween River needs protection
Oped, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 14/03/2023
» This morning at Sob Moei -- the confluence of the Moei and the Salween rivers on the Thailand-Myanmar border -- indigenous peoples and their supporters are attending a spiritual ceremony to express their collective stance to protect the Salween River from destructive dam projects.
Today is a 'Day of Action for Rivers'
News, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 14/03/2022
» On a sandy beach by the Salween River on the Thai-Myanmar border in March 2006, boats carrying Karen villagers and other ethnic groups such as Karenni, Yintalai and Shan from various areas in the Salween Basin are arriving to join an important yet simple ceremony.
Women bear highest cost of injustice
News, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 08/03/2021
» Soithip, an ethnic Karen-Thai woman from Bang Kloi in the Kaeng Krachan Forest, was among 22 villagers who were rounded up last Friday by state authorities and put behind bars at the Phetchaburi Provincial Prison. Returning to their ancestral land in the forest is a crime in the eye of the state.
Karen fear ravages from river diversion schemes
News, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 14/03/2020
» Muesaw Chokedilok, an ethnic Karen woman from Thailand's Kaburdin Village in Chiang Mai's Omkoi district, hops aboard an old pickup truck for a rugged ride up the mountain. With her are a group of housewives from the same village, all clad in cotton handwoven clothes with beaded lace and colourful headscarves. They are on the way to meet a group of journalists from Bangkok. Their village is at least four hours by car to Muang Chiang Mai.
Investments should recognise local rights
News, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 22/05/2017
» A year ago, the cabinet issued a resolution recognising an obligation to protect human rights in Thai outbound investments. With Thai companies increasing their operations in neighbouring countries in sectors that carry significant risks for human rights and the environment, further action to put this important commitment into practice is now overdue.
Salween dams threaten river communities
News, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 29/09/2016
» The Thai government's recent push to speed up its energy investment in Myanmar's Salween River contradicts its own efforts to warn Thai investors from operating overseas projects that violate human rights.
Visit is chance to rethink investments
News, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 23/06/2016
» This week's visit by Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's state counsellor, to Thailand appears to hold out hope for Thai state and private investors to revitalise their plans for key investments in Myanmar. Among these projects, the most prominent are the Dawei Special Economic Zone and a cascade of hydroelectric dams on the Salween River.
New dams could drown hopes of returning home for refugees
News, Pianporn Deetes, Published on 10/07/2015
» In mid-June, the Thai military government and its Myanmar counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding on energy, with an eye to expanding Thailand's import of electricity from Myanmar, by up to 10,000 megawatts. The initial agreement also promotes overseas investment by Thai state-owned and public companies in numerous coal and hydropower projects in Myanmar, including the Hat Gyi, Ywathit, and Mong Ton dams on the Salween River. Significantly, these projects are all situated in ethnic states, namely the Shan, Kayah, Karen, and the Tanesserim divisions, which make up some of the country's most vulnerable areas and populations.