Showing 1 - 10 of 19
Thailand's contributions to UN at 80
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 23/09/2025
» The United Nations turns 80 years old this year. Thailand is a strong supporter of the UN's agenda and its multilateral efforts. It has never run against the UN decisions.
Forgetting what democracy is for and all about
Oped, Antara Haldar, Published on 10/07/2025
» On June 2, I got a sense of history coming full circle in the Polish town of Sopot, on the Baltic Sea just a few kilometres from the Gdańsk Shipyard. Sharing a stage at the Plenary Session of the European Financial Congress with Lech Wałęsa, the legendary trade unionist who led the 1980 Solidarity strike at the Lenin Shipyard and later became Poland's first post-communist president, I felt I was witnessing the end of an era.
Streamlining Myanmar refugee policy
Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 13/02/2025
» Thailand's record on sheltering a multitude of refugees has generally been commendable throughout the years. Yet at times there are paradoxes, exemplified by the push-back of Cambodian refugees recently, the current threat to send back a Vietnamese Montagnard refugee, and the ominous clouds pressing insidiously for the forced return of Uyghur refugees.
Handle Myanmar influxes with care
Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 19/04/2024
» 'Preparedness" and "humane response" offer keywords for handling the various mass influxes from Myanmar. Those influxes might range from civilians in search of refuge to fighters ("combatants") in flight, all the more poignant today because of the armed conflagration in that country and the precarious border situation.
Overcoming statelessness in Thailand
News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 05/06/2023
» There are about 500,000 stateless people in Thailand, of whom over 100,000 are children. Recently, various national agencies, supported by UNHCR and Unicef, hosted a national consultation on statelessness. It was a timely opportunity to identify preferred directions.
Rohingya refugees cannot be forgotten
Oped, Paul McPhun, Published on 24/08/2022
» I have spent nearly 30 years exposed to emergencies and humanitarian crises. Yet, standing at our "hospital on the hill" in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, now the world's largest refugee camp, I was taken by the sheer scale of this makeshift setting. A jumble of humanity packed together in precarious bamboo and plastic shelters, all contained within kilometres of razor wire fencing.
The varieties of climate-driven medical risk
Oped, Aditi Hazra, Published on 04/08/2022
» When natural disasters force people to pack a bag and flee to safety, important items are often forgotten. Following California's 2007 wildfire season, estimates were that for every household at least one person left behind prescription medication during evacuation. Likewise, when Hurricane Harvey threatened to flood my own mother's Texas home in 2017, she forgot to grab her medication in her rush to escape the storm's path -- even though she was normally meticulous when packing for a trip.
Boost Asean growth by promoting universal access
News, Ichiro Miyazawa & Brett Rapley, Published on 29/12/2020
» In recent decades, the Asean Economic Community (AEC), which represents more than 620 million people across 10 member states, has experienced rapid socio-economic growth. The distribution of this prosperity though has not been uniform. Inequities abound, with no better example than the 3-4 million children in the region who still do not have access to basic primary level education.
How to help the elderly and stateless
Oped, Tuenjai Deetes, Published on 01/10/2020
» At 82, Alae Ngua, an ethnic Lisu hilltribe villager who lives in Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district, has for the first time in his life received an identity card that certifies he is a Thai citizen.
Rohingya still a 'throwaway people'
News, Johanna Son, Published on 17/09/2019
» The second anniversary of the Rohingyas' exodus from Myanmar has come and gone, exposing how Southeast Asia's biggest humanitarian disaster in recent times has become a festering wound that all see but cannot or will not salve, much less heal.