What’s in a name? In 1989, the ruling military junta changed the name of Burma to Myanmar, one year after thousands were killed in the suppression of a popular uprising. The change was recognised by the United Nations and by countries such as...
The media in Burma are freer now than at any point in the last decade, yet significant challenges remain and there are troubling signs on the horizon. The abolition of the pre-censorship of the printed press, the return of daily newspapers and of...
For 25 years, the international NGO Reporters Without Borders that monitors attacks on freedom of information worldwide was banned from visiting Burma. Inside the country, all freely-reported news and information was forbidden and the country’s leading journalists were detained in its 43 jails....
Freedom of religion in Burma has become a controversial political issue after the Burmese government published a religious conversion bill in state-owned newspapers in May 2014 inviting input from citizens. The publication followed a pro-bill campaign spearheaded by a group of Buddhist monks...
Former political prisoner Nay Phone Latt, 34, is the secretary of PEN Myanmar and executive director of the advocacy group, Myanmar ICT Development Organization (MIDO). In April 2014 he launched the anti-hate speech movement panzagar (“flower speech”), which has campaigned on social media...
A few months before the 2013 elections, many Cambodians began to break out of their culture of fear, silence and political ignorance and embrace civic engagement. They participated in opposition campaigns, demonstrations, and the elections themselves. The public domain has become a place...
Freedom of expression is supposedly guaranteed in Cambodia. Both domestic laws and international instruments that Cambodia is bound by protect this fundamental right.1 Yet, restrictive legislation, media censorship and judicial harassment of civil society actors have created a culture of silence and impeded full...
The increase of political conflict in Thailand from late 2013 to 2014 contributed to the downfall of freedom of expression and freedom of information both on the public and personal levels. In 2015, Thailand is going forward with a coup d’état government that...
In February 1990, the same month that Nelson Mandela (known as Madiba) walked free after 27 years behind bars, South Africa’s then-President, Frederik Willem de Klerk, issued written instructions to dismantle the nation’s atomic arsenal....
At the 44th Kyiv International Film Festival (25 October to 2 November 2, 2014) the Ecumenical Jury, appointed by INTERFILM and SIGNIS, awarded its Prize in the International Competition for full-length films to Difret (Oblivion) directed by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, Ethiopia...
