Trafficking

HANOI - Trafficked women and children would receive more help to return to Vietnam and integrate back into society with the release of ministry guidelines on effective use of the law, a press conference was told here on June 27.

VIENTIANE - A group of 837 illegal Lao migrants arrived in Vientiane on June 22 after spending years suffering in Thai detention camps.

BANGKOK, Apr 12 (IPS) - The death by suffocation of 54 Burmese migrant workers who were being transported in an enclosed container truck in southern Thailand was a shocking tragedy, but one that did not surprise labour rights activists.

BANGKOK, Sep 20 - Recently, Philipp Borgs, a student of mine at the South-east Asia Studies Masters’ Programme of Chulalongkorn University, submitted a term paper on drug smuggling in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS).

BANGKOK, Aug 19 (IPS Asia-pacific) - By going on a hunger strike, some 150 ethnic Hmong refugees in Thailand have turned the heat on the Thai government to respect their rights and treat them with compassion.

 

When the Poipet international gate finally opened, the bustling trade on both sides of the border between Cambodia and Thailand began for the day.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — The huge statues at the entrance of the Bayon temple in the Angkor complex here exude an air of strength, in contrast to other statues in the other temples and sites that have arms hacked off, or heads missing.

Bayon was the last state temple to be built in the 13^th century at Angkor Thom, on the banks of the Siem Reap river here in north-west Cambodia. The Bayon is home to 200 huge faces carved on more than 40 towers, among other images.

NONG KHAI, Thailand - For the most part, Ban Khok Suak in Tambon Phraphutthabaht in Sri Chiang Mai district is a typical farming village in the Thai north-east.

Most of its inhabitants grow cabbages, tomatoes and chili. But one thing sets it apart from the typical north-eastern farming village: it lies along the Mekong River. This is mostly a good thing since it allows villagers to fish and use the mighty river for transportation.

VIENTIANE - Laos and Thailand share both land and river borders. But they also share similar cultures, in terms of language and consumption habits.

Furthermore, transportation between the two countries is very convenient, so people from both are to cross easily between both countries, and it is not surprising that some inappropriate measures have been adopted in the past to deal with trading between the two countries. All of these factors have combined to accelerate goods smuggling between the two countries, particularly between Vientiane Capital in the Lao PDR and Thailand's province of Nongkhai.