The NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji has sharply criticised the Fiji government’s stance over Israel’s genocide in Gaza, saying it “starkly contrasts” with the United Nations and international community’s condemnation as a violation of international law and an impediment to peace.

In a statement today, the NGO Coalition said that the way the government was responding to the genocide and war crimes in Gaza would set a precedent for how it would deal with crises and conflict in future.

It would be a marker for human rights responses both at home and the rest of the world.

• READ MORE: Macron says France will recognise Palestinian state in September
• Saudi Arabia and France to lead UN push for recognising Palestinian statehood
• Al Jazeera live-tracker

“We are now seeing whether our country will be a force that works to uphold human rights and international law, or one that tramples on them whenever convenient,” the statement said.

“Fiji’s position on the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestinians starkly contrasts with the values of justice, freedom, and international law that the Fijian people hold dear.

“The genocide and colonial occupation have been widely recognised by the international community, including the United Nations, as a violation of international law and an impediment to peace and the self-determination of the Palestinian people.”

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would formally recognise the state of Palestine — the first of G7 countries to do so — at the UN general Assembly in September.

142 countries recognise Palestine
At least 142 countries out of the 193 members of the UN currently recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, including European Union members Norway, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia.

However, several powerful Western countries have refused to do so, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.

At the UN this week, Saudi Arabia and France opened a three-day conference with the goal of recognising Palestinian statehood as part of a peaceful settlement to end the war in Gaza.

Last year, Fiji’s coalition government submitted a written statement in support of the Israeli genocidal occupation of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, noted the NGO coalition.

Last month, Fiji’s coalition government again voted against a UN General Assembly resolution that demanded an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Also recently, the Fiji government approved the allocation of $1.12 million to establish an embassy “in the genocidal terror state of Israel as Fijians grapple with urgent issues, including poverty, violence against women and girls, deteriorating water and health infrastructure, drug use, high rates of HIV, poor educational outcomes, climate change, and unfair wages for workers”.

Met with ‘indifference’
The NGO coalition said that it had made repeated requests to the Fiji government to “do the bare minimum and enforce the basic tenets of international law on Israel”.

“We have been calling upon the Fiji government to uphold the principles of peace, justice, and human rights that our nation cherishes,” the statement said.

“We campaigned, we lobbied, we engaged, and we explained. We showed the evidence, pointed to the law, and asked our leaders to do the right thing.

“We’ve been met with nothing but indifference.”

Instead, said the NGO statement, Fiji leaders had met with Israeli government representatives and declared support for a country “committing the most heinous crimes” recognised in international law.

“Fijian leaders and the Fiji government should not be supporting Israel or setting up an embassy in Israel while Israel continues to bomb refugee tents, kill journalists and medics, and block the delivery of humanitarian aid to a population under relentless siege.

“No politician in Fiji can claim ignorance of what is happening.”

62,000 Palestinians killed
More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war on Gaza, most of them women and children.

“Many more have been maimed, traumatised, and displaced. Starvation is being used by Israel as weapon to kill babies and children.

“Hospitals, churches, mosques,, refugee camps, schools, universities, residential neighbourhoods, water and food facilities have been destroyed.

“History will judge how we respond as Fijians to this moment.

“Our rich cultural heritage and shared values teach us the importance of always standing up for what is right, even when it is not popular or convenient.”

Members of the Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights are Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (chair), Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, Citizens’ Constitutional Forum, femLINKpacific, Social Empowerment and Education Programme, and Diverse Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality Fiji.

Also, Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) is an observer.

The NGO coalition said it stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people out of a shared belief in humanity, justice, and the inalienable human rights of every individual.

“Silence is not an option,” it added.

Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network said it supported this NGO coalition statement.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji (NGOCHR) has called on Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka as the new chair of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to “uphold justice, stability and security” for Kanaky New Caledonia and West Papua.

In a statement today after last week’s MSG leaders’ summit in Suva, the coalition also warned over Indonesia’s “chequebook diplomacy” as an obstacle for the self-determination aspirations of Melanesian peoples not yet independent.

Indonesia is a controversial associate member of the MSG in what is widely seen in the region as a “complication” for the regional Melanesian body.

• READ MORE: ‘Don’t surrender’ to Indonesian pressure over West Papua, Bomanak warns MSG
• Other MSG reports

The statement said that with Rabuka’s “extensive experience as a seasoned statesman in the Pacific, we hope that this second chapter will chart a different course, one rooted in genuine commitment to uphold justice, stability and security for all our Melanesian brothers and sisters in Kanaky New Caledonia and West Papua”.

The coalition said the summit’s theme, “A peaceful and prosperous Melanesia”, served as a reminder that even after several decades of regional bilaterals, “our Melanesian leaders have made little to no progress in fulfilling its purpose in the region — to support the independence and sovereignty of all Melanesians”.

“Fiji, as incoming chair, inherits the unfinished work of the MSG. As rightly stated by the late great Father Walter Lini, ‘We will not be free until all of Melanesia is free”, the statement said.

“The challenges for Fiji’s chair to meet the goals of the MSG are complex and made more complicated by the inclusion of Indonesia as an associate member in 2015.

‘Indonesia active repression’
“Indonesia plays an active role in the ongoing repression of West Papuans in their desire for independence. Their associate member status provides a particular obstacle for Fiji as chair in furthering the self-determination goals of the MSG.”

Complicating matters further was the asymmetry in the relationship between Indonesia and the rest of the MSG members, the statement said.

“As a donor government and emerging economic power, Indonesia’s ‘chequebook and cultural diplomacy’ continues to wield significant influence across the region.

“Its status as an associate member of the MSG raises serious concerns about whether it is appropriate, as this pathway risks further marginalising the voices of our West Papuan sisters and brothers.”

This defeated the “whole purpose of the MSG: ‘Excelling together towards a progressive and prosperous Melanesia’.”

The coalition acknowledged Rabuka’s longstanding commitment to the people of Kanaky New Caledonia. A relationship and shared journey that had been forged since 1989.

‘Stark reminder’
The pro-independence riots of May 2024 served as a “stark reminder that much work remains to be done to realise the full aspirations of the Kanak people”.

As the Pacific awaited a “hopeful and favourable outcome” from the Troika Plus mission to Kanaky New Caledonia, the coalition said that it trusted Rabuka to “carry forward the voices, struggles, dreams and enduring aspirations of the people of Kanaky New Caledonia”.

The statement called on Rabuka as the new chair of MSG to:

• Ensure the core founding values, and mission of the MSG are upheld;
• Re-evaluate Indonesia’s appropriateness as an associate member of the MSG; and
• Elevate discussions on West Papua and Kanaky New Caledonia at the MSG level and through discussions at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders.

The Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) represents the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (chair), Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, Citizens’ Constitutional Forum, femLINKpacific, Social Empowerment and Education Program, and Diverse Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality Fiji. Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) is an observer.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji (NGOCHR) has called on Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka as the new chair of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to “uphold justice, stability and security” for Kanaky New Caledonia and West Papua.

In a statement today after last week’s MSG leaders’ summit in Suva, the coalition also warned over Indonesia’s “chequebook diplomacy” as an obstacle for the self-determination aspirations of Melanesian peoples not yet independent.

Indonesia is a controversial associate member of the MSG in what is widely seen in the region as a “complication” for the regional Melanesian body.

• READ MORE: ‘Don’t surrender’ to Indonesian pressure over West Papua, Bomanak warns MSG
• Other MSG reports

The statement said that with Rabuka’s “extensive experience as a seasoned statesman in the Pacific, we hope that this second chapter will chart a different course, one rooted in genuine commitment to uphold justice, stability and security for all our Melanesian brothers and sisters in Kanaky New Caledonia and West Papua”.

The coalition said the summit’s theme, “A peaceful and prosperous Melanesia”, served as a reminder that even after several decades of regional bilaterals, “our Melanesian leaders have made little to no progress in fulfilling its purpose in the region — to support the independence and sovereignty of all Melanesians”.

“Fiji, as incoming chair, inherits the unfinished work of the MSG. As rightly stated by the late great Father Walter Lini, ‘We will not be free until all of Melanesia is free”, the statement said.

“The challenges for Fiji’s chair to meet the goals of the MSG are complex and made more complicated by the inclusion of Indonesia as an associate member in 2015.

‘Indonesia active repression’
“Indonesia plays an active role in the ongoing repression of West Papuans in their desire for independence. Their associate member status provides a particular obstacle for Fiji as chair in furthering the self-determination goals of the MSG.”

Complicating matters further was the asymmetry in the relationship between Indonesia and the rest of the MSG members, the statement said.

“As a donor government and emerging economic power, Indonesia’s ‘chequebook and cultural diplomacy’ continues to wield significant influence across the region.

“Its status as an associate member of the MSG raises serious concerns about whether it is appropriate, as this pathway risks further marginalising the voices of our West Papuan sisters and brothers.”

This defeated the “whole purpose of the MSG: ‘Excelling together towards a progressive and prosperous Melanesia’.”

The coalition acknowledged Rabuka’s longstanding commitment to the people of Kanaky New Caledonia. A relationship and shared journey that had been forged since 1989.

‘Stark reminder’
The pro-independence riots of May 2024 served as a “stark reminder that much work remains to be done to realise the full aspirations of the Kanak people”.

As the Pacific awaited a “hopeful and favourable outcome” from the Troika Plus mission to Kanaky New Caledonia, the coalition said that it trusted Rabuka to “carry forward the voices, struggles, dreams and enduring aspirations of the people of Kanaky New Caledonia”.

The statement called on Rabuka as the new chair of MSG to:

• Ensure the core founding values, and mission of the MSG are upheld;
• Re-evaluate Indonesia’s appropriateness as an associate member of the MSG; and
• Elevate discussions on West Papua and Kanaky New Caledonia at the MSG level and through discussions at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders.

The Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) represents the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (chair), Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, Citizens’ Constitutional Forum, femLINKpacific, Social Empowerment and Education Program, and Diverse Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality Fiji. Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) is an observer.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

My first interest was in film and video. Early on, I was more interested in motion work—moving images—and this started when I was very young, maybe when I was seven years old. When I was in third grade, my dad gave me a digicam, and even before that, I had a little film camera.

And it was actually a Powerpuff Girls-branded one that I got for my birthday. It was maybe my seventh birthday, and then when I was eight, I got a digicam. My dad, who was a hobbyist photographer, and I would take that digicam around with me everywhere. And it’s funny, actually, because last night I went through one of my old hard drives dating back to 2004, when I first got this digicam—or it was a year after I got it, I think, maybe.

I just went through a bunch of my childhood videos that I took myself. So I think it’s very special that I got to take my own home videos, because I don’t know if your parents have old tapes or videos of you when you were a kid or whatever. My parents didn’t really take those kinds of videos, but I took them myself—and of my life—and I pulled some of these old videos. It was 20 years ago, off my hard drive last night, and I was just looking at them and I was like, “This is so weird.” I mean, I don’t really remember things that well from 20 years ago because I was a child.

So kind of watching these videos as being like, I took them—it felt so weird. That was me, and that was my life, but also this is what I saw. But yeah, I just did videos of everything. I took pictures of everything too, but I loved videos, and my little sisters and I did big mock music videos together. I was eight years old, and I would shoot fake music videos, and then I would put them into Windows Movie Maker and edit them and stuff. And that was an early hobby of mine. And then my brother and I sometimes would write little scripts or skits, and we would act them out and film them with our friends and our cousins.

I feel like for a lot of artists, we get into our work as kids, and there’s this real sense of childlike wonder. As an adult, do you ever feel like you’ve had to relearn that? It’s tricky when something that once felt therapeutic becomes your job, how do you hold onto that original spark? Or how do you tap back into it?

Yeah, I don’t think I have to tap back into it because it really never went away for me. Yeah, even though it’s work now, I do genuinely love doing it. Whenever I’m picking up money jobs or whatever, I also make sure that I have a lot of personal topics going on at the same time. That kind of keeps it going. I feel like a lot of photographers or other people get into this hole where they start doing what they like for money, and then it makes them miserable. And I think to combat misery, or to prevent yourself from falling into it, you have to also do it for fun. Otherwise, it’s purely work.

For me, it’s work, but it’s also what I do for fun and how I work my brain and whatever. So yeah, I definitely answered the last question because I went on this tangent about my childhood videos that I found last night, but it started with video, and then I got into photo because the older I got, the less time I had to make videos. I think just going through school, learning how to do basic math, learning how to, whatever, be a person—taking photos just felt quicker.

Until I got to adulthood and I didn’t really have the resources to make films or make videos or whatever. It’s hard—it requires so many resources and labor from so many different people. And so I just kept taking pictures as a way—I mean, I think that they’re related, especially for me. I see my pictures kind of as stills from a film or slices.

How do you know when a photo is done? How do you know when a music video is done? When do you know where it’s like, “Okay, this is it.”

I think just once it feels right. I don’t get overly tactical about it, and I don’t really overthink it. It’s just if it feels right to me, it’s done. If I’m on set shooting a video or filming, I’m not a person who does that many takes. I’ve got one or two takes, maybe three, but it’s like once I have it, I have it. I’m not going to try to do it again. It’s a gut feeling where I’m like, “This is good.” So because of that, I tend to shoot quickly.

What is it that gives you the gut feeling? Is it years of experience, trust in yourself, or both?

I actually think it’s kind of instinctual and surface level. It’s like if I’m looking at it and it makes me feel anything, especially if it has a strong composition, I’m like, “Yeah, this is good.”

So you have the Digicam project, and you shoot a lot on Digicam. I know you’ve had a connection to it since childhood—why the Digicam? What is it about it that draws you in? Tell me more about that.

I had one as a kid and I loved it. By the time I was 13, I kind of strayed away from it because when I was in eighth grade, I got a film camera, and I kind of became obsessed with film. I did shoot digital for a long time after that. I think for 10 years I only shot on film.

What made you pick it back up?

I was with a friend of mine, Sophie Lee. She always shot with Digicams, and she was into it way before it was cool again—like 2015, when it was peak uncool, she was doing it. And in 2017, she came to visit New York. She lives in the Netherlands now. She came to visit New York, and we were hanging out, and she had a Digicam on her, and I was like, “I had one as a kid, and I took it everywhere, and I was obsessed with it.”

And she was like, “We should go to this store and see if they have any.” That was a few years ago, but at the time I went, nobody wanted them, so they were having a sale, and I saw one in the display case that was the same kind that I had as a kid, or very close to it. The one I had as a kid was a Sony Cyber-shot T2, and the one that I found was a Sony Cyber-shot T10.

Very close—they look identical. They have the same design. It’s just the T10 was a newer version released three years after, but the design is the same, where there’s a cover on the front and you slide it down to turn the camera on and reveal the lens. Yeah, it looked identical to the one I had as a kid, except the one that I had as a kid was silver, and the one that I found was pink.

Also, that specific camera is so popular now.

It’s so popular now and you know what’s funny, I don’t want to take full credit, but early on, Sophie was like, “I think it’s taking off because of me.” Not directly because of my work, but because I run that Digicam page, and early on, people weren’t shooting with Digicams like that. So a lot of the early posts for the first year or two that we had the page up and running, it was just a lot of my work and Sophie’s work because we weren’t getting enough submissions. So anyone who clicked on that page and on a random post, they don’t care who took it. They don’t care that it was me.

No, it’s totally you because you’re one of the first if only people that really repopularized Digicam photos.

I think it got really popular again because celebrities were then taking them around and whatever. Everyone’s like, “Oh my god, Bella Hadid has one now, so I have to have one now.” But if you were someone who got back into it through this avenue of photography and not like, “Oh, celebrities are doing it, it seems cool,” then we would’ve run into the Digicam page at some point, because at the time we made that page, there wasn’t another one like it. Now there are a bunch of Digicam pages, but back in 2017, there weren’t.

So I saw this one that looked identical to one I had as a kid, but it was pink and they were having a sale. I bought it for $20—with a charger, battery, memory stick. And from that point on, I just started using that again for ease of use, I guess. I can carry it everywhere with me in a way that I wouldn’t carry a mirrorless camera all the time.

What is it about the fidelity of the pictures that you would rather take it on that than your phone?

The phone is too sharp. It’s scary. Anyone who’s ever taken a picture with an iPhone knows this. It’s just too sharp, it’s too real. It also feels kind of fake. Even though a Digicam is the same size as my phone, it makes me think more about the composition. It’s just more thoughtful.

What’s your relationship with criticism?

I actually feel like criticism—or external criticism—is the one thing that is missing from my life and my practice, and I know a lot of other photographers feel this way. My boyfriend’s a type designer. He makes fonts, and his friends get together and give each other feedback, and they can rework their fonts and improve on that. Your font—you’re drawing it for X amount of time, sometimes for years—you can go back and redraw the characters.

But I think with photography, you’ve already taken the photo. Unless you’re going to go back and take it again, it’s harder to very directly implement that criticism. You can keep those things in mind for the future. I criticize myself enough, and once I’ve taken a picture and I see the things that are wrong with it, then I’m like, “Okay, I’ll just do better next time.”

I would say all of my photographer friends are pretty self-critical. I think criticism is good, and I went to art school, so I used to sit there and receive critiques day after day, so I’m used to it. Some people never experienced that, and then they can’t handle any sort of criticism. But I think criticism is a good thing, and I wish there were more avenues for photographers to give and receive constructive criticism when asked.

I hate unsolicited advice and unsolicited criticism. I do think there needs to be more space specifically for work criticism, though.

How easy is it for you to give up on a piece of art or quit, be like, “You know what, I’m going to scrap this and move on.”?

I don’t scrap anything. I just have to finish things. Even if it’s not good. I can’t not finish something. If I don’t want to finish something, I have to look at why I don’t want to finish it and if I have this feeling that I don’t want to finish, it’s likely because I’m not happy with it in some way or I don’t like it enough, and then I have to sit there and think about why I’m not happy with it, what went wrong. That’s part of the self-criticism, and then I just finish it because I think every project deserves to be finished, even if it’s not good.

That’s so evolved. That’s really impressive.

I actually was talking to a friend about this last week because I have a friend who is a producer and photographer that’s starting to get into directing. She directed her first film ever, a two-minute-long fashion film. She shot it a year ago now, and I’m editing it for her and we sat down for an editing session last week, and I actually really had to push her to finish it because she was like, “Mentally, I’m over it. Emotionally, I’m over it. I feel like I’ve moved on past this project. I don’t even want to read it. I didn’t want to finish editing it.” But it would be a disservice to not finish it.

Is that frustrating for you as a collaborator?

Not really because she’s so new to it, but when she was like, “I don’t even want to finish it.” I gave her this pep talk where I was like, “You have to.” Because I asked her, “Why do you not want to finish it?” And she was like, “I don’t know, sitting down and editing it with you, I see all the things that went wrong.” And I was like, “But that’s why you have to finish it.” You can’t evaluate everything that went wrong, and in the moment it’s daunting to figure out what went wrong, but that’s part of the learning process. You just have to figure out what you didn’t like, what you didn’t want to finish, what made you not want to finish it.

Sometimes it’ll take me a long time to finish something, but I won’t not finish things and I always encourage other people to finish everything. I encourage people to finish everything because I don’t always think it’s about the final product or the end result. It’s not about if this is good enough to share or not. I see value in the process of doing things.

Do you listen to music while editing or do you edit in silence?

I am kind of a silenced person. I’m not a passive listener of music. I want to sit down and listen to something and think about it. I’m not a “lo-fi beats to listen to while studying” person. I need to be involved, listen to music, which is kind of annoying. So when I work, it’s mostly silence and then I can’t have distractions around me. Working at home is really hard for me to do because my bed is right there. I want to crawl back into bed. I want to lay down or my cat is there and I’m like, “I want to hang out with my cat.” There are too many distractions at home. I do really well taking my computer to the library.

What inspires you?

Films, movies, that’s number one because I see my photos as a part of a story, part of the narrative. Whenever I’m on set with a model, I’m like, “This is the kind of character we’re playing.” I also really love architecture, paintings. I like looking at other mediums. Sometimes if I find an artist whose work I like, I’ll just look them up and try to find as much as their work on the internet as I possibly can, but I do think in general it’s good to go out and see what’s out there, what’s the world. I try to do that frequently. I go to the movies multiple times a week also. I love going for walks and just looking at buildings. So I like architecture as well. I kind of take inspiration from a lot of different mediums.

This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Rona Akbari.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Fiji’s coalition government are “detached from the values that Fijians hold dear”, says the NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji (NGOCHR).

The rights coalition has expressed deep concern over Rabuka’s ongoing engagements with Indonesia.

“History will judge how we respond as Fijians to this moment. We must not stay silent when Pacific people are being occupied and killed,” said NGOCHR chair Shamima Ali.

• READ MORE: Indonesia’s Pacific manoeuvres – money, military and silencing West Papua
• AWPA calls on Albanese to raise West Papuan human rights with Prabowo
• Other West Papua reports

She said Rabuka was extended a grant of $12 million by Indonesia recently and received proposals for joint military training.

“Is Fiji’s continuing silence on West Papua yet another example of being muzzled by purse strings?”

“As members of the Melanesian and Pacific family, bound by shared ancestry and identity, the acceptance of financial and any other benefit from Indonesia—while remaining silent on the plight of West Papua—is a betrayal of our family member and of regional solidarity.”

“True leadership must be rooted in solidarity, justice, and accountability,” Ali said.

“It is imperative that Pacific leaders not only advocate for peace and cooperation in the region but also continue to hold Indonesia to account on ongoing human rights violations in West Papua.”

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The rising trend has also been spotted in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, a gambling and tourism hub catering to Chinese visitors in northern Bokeo province that has earned a reputation as a haven for criminal activities, including prostitution.

“Their customers are Chinese guys who seem to not like to use condoms,” the director of the Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, or APLPlusLaos, told RFA on Tuesday.

In some instances, a man will pay a Lao woman for sexual services, and then arrange for his co-workers to also have sex with the woman, she said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

“They share the girl with 10 men,” the director said. “They take turns.”

Additionally, a large potash mine in central Khammouane province that employs several thousand Chinese laborers has drawn impoverished young women looking to sell sex, sources told RFA last year.

Risk of expanded epidemic

The number of people testing positive for HIV has ticked up every year since 2022, according to Laos’ Center for HIV/AIDS.

According to the World Bank, just 0.42 percent of adults in Laos tested positive for HIV in 2024.

But unsafe sexual practices and the use of injected narcotics have put the country in danger of an expanded epidemic, health officials said.

The trend was discussed at a National AIDS Committee meeting held in December in Vientiane, where officials acknowledged that a lack of proper sexual education in remote areas has also been a factor.

“They have forgotten that HIV/AIDS still exists,” the APLPlusLaos director said. “The government doesn’t have the budget to produce sexual education programs or introduce projection awareness among young Laotians.”

Some information about how to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission is shared on social media, but not all young Laotians in rural areas can access social media – and the rural areas are where the mines and hydroelectric dams are being built, she said.

Public disdain toward those with HIV/AIDS has also kept many people from seeking out testing, a Ministry of Health official told RFA.

Translated by Khamsao Civilize. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Lao.

A Fiji community human rights coalition has called on Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka to halt his “reckless expansion” of government and refocus on addressing Fiji’s pressing challenges.

The NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) said it was outraged by the abrupt and arbitrary reshuffling of government ministerial portfolios and the appointment of ministers and assistant ministers.

“This move raises serious questions about transparency, accountability, and the stability of governance in Fiji,” the NGOCHR said in a statement.

• READ MORE: Pio Tikoduadua biggest loser in latest Fiji Cabinet appointments
• Fiji PM’s major cabinet reshuffle is costly attempt to rebrand – Ratuva
• Other Fiji politics reports

The NGOCHR believes that the creation of new ministerial and assistant ministerial roles potentially imposes a heavy financial burden on an already strained public purse.

The coalition said it was also concerned with the fact that the Prime Minister had not been transparent with the public to clarify where the funding for these additional posts was being sourced.

“With the country’s national debt already exceeding $10 billion, this reshuffle is not just ill timed — it is financially irresponsible,” the statement said.

“Increasing operational costs in the face of economic fragility is a slap in the face to the hardworking people of Fiji and as such, a betrayal of public trust, with potential long-term consequences for our nation’s future.

“We demand accountability to the Fijian people and transparency.

“Is this a desperate attempt to consolidate power in preparation for the 2026 elections?

“This government cannot continue to use public resources to fund unnecessary political manoeuvres disguised as governance, while critical sectors and Fijians are left struggling.”

The NGOCHR called on Prime Minister Rabuka to halt “this reckless expansion of government and refocus on addressing Fiji’s pressing challenges.”

“Enough is enough! The Fijian people deserve leadership that serves their interests — not one that prioritises self-interest and political survival.

RNZ Pacific reports that Rabuka has lured six out of nine opposition members — who form the Group of 9 or G9 — to join his People’s Association (PA) ranks, a “rebranding” alliance that could potentially make his two coalition partners dispensable SODELPA and the National Federation Party (NFP).

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

A global civil society watchdog has condemned Fiji for blocking protest marches over the Palestine genocide by Israel and clamping down on a regional Pacific university demonstration with threats.

However, while the Civicus Monitor rates the state of civic space in Fiji as “obstructed” it has acknowledged the country for making some progress over human rights.

“While the government took steps in 2023 to repeal a restrictive media law and reversed travel bans on critics, the Public Order (Amendment) Act, which has been used to restrict peaceful assembly and expression and sedition provisions in the Crimes Act, remains in place,” said the Civicus Monitor in a statement on its website.

• READ MORE: Other reports on Fiji human rights

“The police have also restricted pro-Palestinian marches” — planned protests against Israel’s genocide against Gaza in which more than 44,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children.

The monitor said the Fiji government had “continued to take steps to address human rights issues in Fiji”.

In July 2024, it was reported that the Fiji Corrections Service had signed an agreement with the Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission to provide them access to monitor inmates in prison facilities.

In August 2024, a task force known as Fiji’s National Mechanism for Implementation, Reporting, and Follow-up (NMIRF) was launched by the Attorney-General Graham Leung.

The establishment of the human rights task force is to coordinate Fiji’s engagement with international human rights bodies, including the UN human tights treaty bodies, the Universal Periodic Review and the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.

In September 2024, it was announced that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) would be established to investigate and address human rights violations since 1987.

TRC steering committee chair and Assistant Minister for Women Sashi Kiran said that they were working on drafting a piece of legislation on this and that the commission would operate independently from the government.

“In recent months, the police once again blocked an application by civil society groups to hold a march for Palestine, while university unions were threatened with a pay dock for their involvement in a strike,” the Civicus Monitor said.

Police deny Palestine solidarity march
“The authorities have continued to restrict the right to peaceful assembly, particularly around Palestine.”

On 7 October 2024, the police denied permission for a march in the capital Suva by the NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji.

“The march was intended to express solidarity with the Palestinian people amidst the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The coalition’s application to hold the march was met with repeated delays and questioning by government authorities,” said the Civicus Monitor.

“The coalition said that this was ‘reminiscent of a dictatorial system of the past’.

The coalition added: “It is shameful that the Fiji Coalition Government which has lauded itself internationally and regionally as being a promoter of human rights and peace has continued to curtail the rights of its citizens by denying permit applications calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

Activists also pointed out the double standards by the police, as permits were provided to a group in support of Israel to march through Suva and wave the Israeli flag, said the Civicus Monitor.

Today, a group was given a permit to march through Suva in support of Israel + wave Israeli flag but Fijians calling for an end to #GazaGenocide for 1 year gathered @ the FWCC compound due to ongoing arbitrary restrictions on marches on #GazaGenocide & the use of Palestine flags pic.twitter.com/hOvG5y8Bwj

— Fiji Women (@CommsFWCC) October 17, 2024

“The restriction around protests on Palestine and waving the Palestinian flag has persisted for over a year.

“As previously documented, the activists have had to hold their solidarity gatherings in the premises of the FWCC office as the police have restricted solidarity marches, under the Public Order (Amendment) Act 2014.

“The law allows the government to refuse permits for any public meeting or march deemed to prejudice the maintenance of peace or good order.

“It has often been misused by the authorities to restrict or block peaceful gatherings and demonstrations, restricting the right to peaceful assembly and association.

“Protest gatherings at FWCC have also faced intimidation.”

The UN Human Rights Council and human rights groups have called for the repeal of restrictive provisions in the law, including the requirement for a police permit for protests, which is inconsistent with international standards.

These restrictions on solidarity marches for Palestine are inconsistent with Fiji’s international human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which guarantees freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

These actions also contravene Fiji’s constitution that guarantees these rights.

University threatens union members
In October 2024, members of the Association of the University of the South Pacific (USP) and the University of the South Pacific Staff Union who went on strike were reportedly threatened by the university, reported the Civicus Monitor.

The human resource office said they would not be paid if they were not in office during the strike.

The unions commenced strike action on 18 October 2024 in protest against the alleged poor governance and leadership at the university by vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia and the termination of former staff union (AUSPS) president Dr Tamara Osborne Naikatini, calling for her to be reinstated.

“The unions expressed dissatisfaction following the recent release of the Special Council meeting outcome, which they say misleadingly framed serious grievances as mere human resource issues to be investigated rather than investigating [Professor] Ahluwalia.

“The unions say they have been raising concerns for months and called for Ahluwalia to be suspended and for a timely investigation.”

Alongside the staff members currently standing in protest were also several groups of students.

On 24 October 2024, the students led a march at the University of the South Pacific Laucala campus that ended in front of the vice-chancellor’s residence. The students claimed that Professor Ahluwalia did not consider the best interests of the students and called for his replacement.

The USP is owned by 12 Pacific nations, which contribute a total 20 percent of its annual income, and with campuses in all the member island states.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Award-winning journalist Arwa Damon has just returned from a humanitarian trip to Gaza in her capacity as the founder of INARA, the International Network for Aid Relief and Assistance, a nonprofit currently providing medical and mental healthcare to children. Damon describes the overwhelming need for aid under Israel’s siege of the territory. “Nothing goes in and out of Gaza without Israel’s approval. That includes aid, and that includes people,” she says, calling the Israeli military’s rules for what is allowed in “illogical” and arbitrary. “The zone needs to be flooded, not only with aid … but also with humanitarian workers,” concludes Damon. We also discuss the mental health crisis gripping the population, U.S. military assistance to Israel and how anti-Arab racism and fearmongering in Western media coverage has and hasn’t changed in the post-9/11 era.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

A Fiji human rights advocacy coalition has condemned Fiji’s “profoundly troubling” stance as being one of only two countries supporting continued illegal occupation by Israel of the Palestinian territories.

The Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) said the occupation had been widely recognised by the international community — including the United Nations — as a “violation of international law” and an impediment to peace and self-determination of the Palestinian people”.

It called on Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s coalition government to withdraw support for Israel and back a “just and lasting peace in Palestine” in its oral submissions before the International Court of Justice hearings in The Hague next Monday.

• READ MORE: Palestinian foreign minister tells ICJ of ‘besieged, bombed and killed’ Gazans
• What’s the ICJ case against Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine?
• Other War on Gaza reports

Fiji is the only country apart, from the United States, backing Israel after its genocidal war against the Palestinians over the past four months. Fifty countries and three international organisations are supporting Palestine.

“By supporting the Israeli occupation, the Fijian government not only isolates itself from the international community but also from the very principles of justice and human dignity it purports to uphold,” said NGOCHR chair Shamima Ali.

“Such a position undermines Fiji’s reputation and casts a shadow over its commitment to the values enshrined in international law.

“The decision to support the genocidal, violent occupation raises serious questions about the processes and considerations behind Fiji’s foreign policy choices. It is imperative that the Fijian government demonstrates accountability and transparency in its decision-making.”

Transparency demanded
The coalition demanded that Prime Minister Rabuka, a former military officer who led Fiji’s first two military coups in 1987 and who is also Foreign Minister, publicly reveals who had drafted the submissions on Fiji and why the country was taking such a position.

In a statement, the coalition said that NGOCHR “and our allies, as staunch advocates for human rights and justice, expresses its profound dismay and unequivocal condemnation of the Fijian government’s decision to submit a written statement in support of the Israeli genocidal occupation of Palestine, including East Jerusalem.”

“This submission, made to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the context of hearings on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territor[ies], places Fiji alongside the United States as one of the only two countries endorsing such a stance.”

In September 2023, said the statement, the Israeli occupation, which had been enduring and marked by efforts to annex Palestinian land both legally and in practice, had been unequivocally deemed unlawful by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel.

In October 2023, the commission concluded that the permanence of the occupation and Israel’s annexation measures rendered it unlawful — a stance echoed by leading human rights organisations worldwide, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

“The global consensus on this matter, formed by UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing and a host of international human rights NGOs, underscores the severity of the occupation’s impact on the Palestinian people,” Ali’s statement said.

“These reports detail egregious violations of human rights and international law, painting a stark picture of the suffering endured by countless individuals under the occupation.

Serious questions raised
“The decision to support the genocidal, violent occupation raises serious questions about the processes and considerations behind Fiji’s foreign policy choices.

“It is imperative that the Fijian government demonstrates accountability and transparency in its decision-making.

“The public has a right to understand how such positions, which significantly impact [on] Fiji’s standing on the global stage and its moral compass, are determined. We call upon the government to disclose the rationale and any consultations or analyses that led to this stance.

“This call for clarity is not just about ensuring governmental transparency; it’s about reaffirming Fiji’s dedication to principles that respect human dignity and international law.

“Without this openness, the trust between the Fijian people and their government risks being eroded, especially on matters of international significance that reflect on the entire nation.”

The coalition called on the Fiji government to reconsider its position and to align its international engagements with the “principles of human dignity, justice, and respect for international law”.

‘Advocate for justice, rights’
“We urge the Fijian government to demonstrate its commitment to human rights and justice by advocating for the rights of all people, including the Palestinian people, to live in peace, security, and dignity.

“We stand in solidarity with those advocating for peaceful resolution of conflicts and upholding human rights worldwide. The NGOCHR will continue to monitor this situation closely and support Fiji in adopting a foreign policy that reflects the values of its people and the principles of international law.”

The Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights represents the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC), Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM), Citizens Constitutional Forum (CCF), femLINKPacific, Social Empowerment and Education Programme (SEEP) and DIVA for Equality Fiji (DIVA).

The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) is also an observer (PANG).

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

CHISINAU -- Moldova has paused a recruitment effort to funnel construction workers to Israel, alleging that Israelis have put Moldovans in "high-risk conflict zones," withheld passports, and committed other abuses while plugging gaps in their workforce brought on by the current war in the Gaza Strip.

The Labor Ministry confirmed to RFE/RL's Moldovan Service this week that Chisinau had "temporarily postponed" the latest round of recruitment under the bilateral agreement following the accusations by Moldovan citizens, but said it could resume once Israel confirmed the practices were stopped and "security and respect" for Moldovan nationals were ensured.

Israel has faced an acute labor squeeze since hundreds of thousands of reservists and other Israelis were called up to fight and thousands of Palestinians were denied access to jobs in Israel after gunmen from the EU- and U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas carried out a massive cross-border attack that killed just over 1,100 people, most of them Israeli civilians, on October 7.

"As a result of the deterioration of the security situation in the state of Israel, workers from the Republic of Moldova were employed to work in high-risk conflict zones, some citizens had their passports withheld by employers, complaints were registered about the confiscation of workers' luggage, as well as Israeli authorities carried out activities of direct recruitment of Moldovan workers, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, which is contrary to the provisions of the agreement," the ministry said in a January 17 response to an RFE/RL access-to-information request.

The ministry did not accuse the Israeli state of perpetrating the abuses. It said Moldovan officials have reported the "violations" to Israel and asked it to put a stop to them and "ensure the security and respect of the rights of workers coming from the Republic of Moldova," one of Europe's poorest countries with a population of some 3.4 million.

The Moldovan Embassy in Tel Aviv said some 13,000 Moldovans were in Israel before the current war broke out. Many work at construction sites or provide care for the elderly, inside or outside the auspices of the recruitment agreement.

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to RFE/RL's request for comment on the Labor Ministry's accusations.

Since the war erupted in early October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has sought to extend worker visas and attract more foreign labor from around the world, including by raising its quota on foreign construction workers by roughly half, to 65,000 individuals.

It appealed publicly for 1,200 new Moldovan workers for the construction sector, including blacksmiths, painters, and carpenters.

Speaking in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, the director of the Foreign Workers Administration, Inbal Mashash, named Moldova, along with Thailand and Sri Lanka, as countries where Israeli hopes were highest for more guest workers.

The bilateral Moldovan-Israeli agreement on temporary employment in "certain sectors" including construction in Israel was signed in 2012 and has been amended on multiple occasions, including in December.

In addition to setting up training and procedures to regulate and steer labor flows, it imposes restrictions that include a ban on Israeli companies recruiting on Moldovan territory.

In its decade-long existence, some 17,000 Moldovans have worked in Israel under the auspices of the agreement through 28 rounds of recruitment. At the last available official count, in 2022, there were about 4,000 participating Moldovans.

"The [29th] recruitment round will resume once the above-mentioned irregularities are eliminated and we receive confirmation from the Israeli side of the necessary measures being taken to ensure security and respect for the rights of employed [Moldovan] citizens on the territory of the state of Israel," the Moldovan Labor Ministry said.

From the early days of the current war, Moldovans have spoken out about family concerns and the pressures to pack up and leave Israel, but most appear to have stayed.

As rumors spread of pressure on Moldovan construction workers to stay in Israel after a January 5 pause announcement, Labor Minister Alexei Buzu confirmed there were problems but focused on the accusation that Israeli firms were improperly recruiting Moldovans outside the program or for repeat stints.

A failure to comply with some provisions brings "a risk that other commitments will be ignored [or] will not be delivered at the time or according to the expectations described in the agreement," he said.

Buzu stopped short of leveling some of the most serious accusations involving Moldovan workers being sent to work in 'high-risk conflict zones" or having their passports or belongings taken from them.

Reuters has reported that the worker shortage is costing Israel's construction sector around $37 million per day.

Moldova's National Employment Agency (ANOFM) is responsible for implementing the Israeli-Moldovan recruitment agreement. The Labor Ministry said the agency had already lined up construction recruits and scheduled professional exams for the end of December before the postponement.

The ministry said a similar agreement on the home-caregiver sector between Moldova and Israel -- the subject of negotiations in December -- had “not yet been signed."

The Hamas-led surprise attack on October 7 sparked a massive response from Israel including devastating aerial bombardments and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which was home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the latest fighting displaced most of them.

The Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza say 24,700 people have been killed in the subsequent fighting and 62,000 more injured.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Fiji human rights activists have paid tribute in a Suva vigil this week to the more than 100 journalists — most of them Palestinian — killed in Israel’s War on Gaza.

The NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) staged a #ThursdaysInBlack vigil to remember the dead journalists, but only one local Fiji reporter turned up (from The Fiji Times).

The coalition had invited local journalists to attend and share their views. However, according to coalition coordinator Shamima Ali (of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre), Fiji media is reluctant to engage with the global crisis over the war.

• READ MORE: Journalists need to ‘take a stand’ over the Gaza carnage after latest killings
• Israeli military accused of targeting journalists and their families in Gaza
• South Africa’s genocide case against Israel over Gaza ‘chilling’ in detail

“Within the media outlets, we have Zionists themselves, so there is reluctance to report (on the Gaza conflict),” she said.

In Australia and New Zealand, there is an ongoing controversy over some journalists and editors having been on junkets to Israel and then attempting to “silence” fair and balanced reporting on the war enabling a Palestinian voice.

South Africa has taken Israel before the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, alleging breaches of the Genocide Convention

One media outlet, Crikey, has been publishing a public list “outing” the names of journalists “influenced” by Israeli media or government management — more than 77 names so far.  No similar list so far exists in New Zealand although there have been calls for one.

Part of the Fiji vigil featured Australian journalist Alex McKinnon, who shared insights into his life as a reporter covering the conflict and the censorship involved in silencing the Palestinian voice.

Heavy death toll
The coalition said more than 100 journalists, videographers and media workers had been killed in Gaza since the current war broke out last October 7, adding more journalists had been killed in three months of Israel’s War on Gaza than in all of World War Two (69) or the Vietnam War (63).

New investigations on U.S. and UK media bias have exposed chilling double standards by Western media when it comes to reporting on killings of Israelis compared to killings of Palestinians in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/uQ0I7cT340

— AJ+ (@ajplus) January 10, 2024

The high death toll in Gaza comes despite journalists being protected under international law — making attacks on them a war crime.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says that an unprecedented number of reporters were killed in the first 10 weeks of the genocide. It currently lists 82 confirmed killed, but it is verifying additional numbers.

Gaza’s media office has documented the killing of at least at least 110 media workers since the genocide started.

Last May, the CPJ published “Deadly Pattern,” a report that found members of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had killed at least 20 journalists over the previous 22 years and that no one had ever been charged or held accountable for their deaths.

The Israeli government has prevented independent entry to foreign journalists seeking to cover the genocide from within the Gaza Strip.

On December 22, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders watchdog filed a second complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) alleging probable war crimes by Israel soldiers in the deaths of seven Palestinian reporters during the eight weeks ending December 15.

It has since been advised that the ICC would include the killings of journalists in its investigation of alleged war crimes by Israel.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

Fiji human rights activists have paid tribute in a Suva vigil this week to the more than 100 journalists — most of them Palestinian — killed in Israel’s War on Gaza.

The NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) staged a #ThursdaysInBlack vigil to remember the dead journalists, but only one local Fiji reporter turned up (from The Fiji Times).

The coalition had invited local journalists to attend and share their views. However, according to coalition coordinator Shamima Ali (of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre), Fiji media is reluctant to engage with the global crisis over the war.

• READ MORE: Journalists need to ‘take a stand’ over the Gaza carnage after latest killings
• Israeli military accused of targeting journalists and their families in Gaza
• South Africa’s genocide case against Israel over Gaza ‘chilling’ in detail

“Within the media outlets, we have Zionists themselves, so there is reluctance to report (on the Gaza conflict),” she said.

In Australia and New Zealand, there is an ongoing controversy over some journalists and editors having been on junkets to Israel and then attempting to “silence” fair and balanced reporting on the war enabling a Palestinian voice.

South Africa has taken Israel before the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, alleging breaches of the Genocide Convention

One media outlet, Crikey, has been publishing a public list “outing” the names of journalists “influenced” by Israeli media or government management — more than 77 names so far.  No similar list so far exists in New Zealand although there have been calls for one.

Part of the Fiji vigil featured Australian journalist Alex McKinnon, who shared insights into his life as a reporter covering the conflict and the censorship involved in silencing the Palestinian voice.

Heavy death toll
The coalition said more than 100 journalists, videographers and media workers had been killed in Gaza since the current war broke out last October 7, adding more journalists had been killed in three months of Israel’s War on Gaza than in all of World War Two (69) or the Vietnam War (63).

New investigations on U.S. and UK media bias have exposed chilling double standards by Western media when it comes to reporting on killings of Israelis compared to killings of Palestinians in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/uQ0I7cT340

— AJ+ (@ajplus) January 10, 2024

The high death toll in Gaza comes despite journalists being protected under international law — making attacks on them a war crime.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says that an unprecedented number of reporters were killed in the first 10 weeks of the genocide. It currently lists 82 confirmed killed, but it is verifying additional numbers.

Gaza’s media office has documented the killing of at least at least 110 media workers since the genocide started.

Last May, the CPJ published “Deadly Pattern,” a report that found members of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had killed at least 20 journalists over the previous 22 years and that no one had ever been charged or held accountable for their deaths.

The Israeli government has prevented independent entry to foreign journalists seeking to cover the genocide from within the Gaza Strip.

On December 22, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders watchdog filed a second complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) alleging probable war crimes by Israel soldiers in the deaths of seven Palestinian reporters during the eight weeks ending December 15.

It has since been advised that the ICC would include the killings of journalists in its investigation of alleged war crimes by Israel.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

Belgium accounts globally for 17% of Russia’s exports, behind only China and Spain.

Later in an interview with the Financial Times, Van der Straeten said she was “not happy” about the fact that Russian gas kept flowing into Europe. She then understated Belgium’s share of Russian gas, indicating it was merely 2.8% of Europe’s imports that remained in Belgium, the rest was “in transit”. How wrong or misleading her statement was is revealed by the Global Witness NGO.

She admitted, though Belgium supports sanctions on Russian fuel, it was unlikely to happen. It would require the unanimous support of all EU members.

Earlier this week, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer admitted that Russian LNG was difficult to replace, pointing out that while it was “not cheaper than any other” gas, the way the pipeline system is arranged in Europe makes it difficult to substitute.

There is no end to excuses and pretexts in explaining why Europe must continue to import Russian hydrocarbons. Amazing. No word about the European economy which is at the brink of total collapse. Maybe Germany has already passed the point of no return.

And no word, of course, that this suicidal path to follow the Washington Masters and their overlords dictate is due to an utterly corrupt European leadership, combined with the equally corrupt strongest economy’s leadership, Germany – something that has hardly been seen in recent history.

How vassalic must you be to commit suicide on the orders of Washington and the corporate financial overlords who pulls the strings on Washington, pretending to run the world.

And they may if we just stand by and watch.

See also this by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts about the west’s lost integrity – “The Disappearance of Integrity: Organized Suppression of the Facts, Only Writers Who Support ‘Official Narratives’ Are Tolerated.”

This is just the beginning. The EU Russian energy apologists start talking about energy imports from Russia – and how it is necessary for now – but also how to wean themselves off Russian energy dependence very, very soon.

The Guardian puts it this way: “EU countries bought 22m cubic meters of Russian LNG between January and July 2023, compared with 15m during the same period in 2021, Global Witness said. “Buying Russian gas has the same impact as buying Russian oil. Both fund the war in Ukraine, and every euro means more bloodshed.”

This is, of course, a mainstream media blow on Russia. Never a reason or history on how NATO provoked the war in Ukraine.

This is just part of the story. What the holy west and particularly the vassal-EU does not mention are the other more than 100 essential products they keep importing from Russia at ever larger quantities, and – yes – despite the sanctions.

These table speak for themselves:

And the list goes on – another 82 lines of imports.
2022 EU Imports from Russia are the 3 largest since 2013, despite sanctions.

People are fooled.
Europe cannot live without imports from Russia.
So, what are the sanctions for?
Propaganda?
Russia bashing?
Your mind control?

Another legitimate question one may ask: why does Russia sell to the sanctioning countries? Russia does not really need Europe and the US for trade and for economic survival.

President Putin’s Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, recently said that Russia is doing well and growing, despite western sanctions. See this.

Russia is well integrated into the Asian complex.  It is a co-founder of the original BRICS and now the new BRICS-11. Russia is also a key player in the Global South which becomes ever more important on the global stage.

Uranium imports by the US and Europe from Russia is another unwritten sheet and rarely published news. Russia sold about $1.7 billion in nuclear products to firms in the U.S. and Europe, and this despite the western stiff sanctions, due to the western provoked war in Ukraine. The West calls it a Russian invasion. In reality, it was a NATO-triggered move for preserving Russian sovereignty – and against some 20 to 30 war-grade biolabs in the Ukraine, built and funded by the US. See this.

The United States’ uranium purchases from Russia have doubled since last year. The U.S. bought 416 tons of uranium from Russia in the first half of the year, more than double the amount for the same period in 2022 and the highest level since 2005.

One may question the seriousness of the US Russia bashing, especially since according to a report by RT, Russia is supplying the U.S. only with enriched uranium, a critical component for civil nuclear power generation, but also for nuclear weapons – according to a report by RT.  How come Russia is selling Washington Weapon-grade enriched uranium?

See full report.

Given the foregoing inconsistencies with “sanctions” – mind you, highly publicized sanctions – how serious can the West be taken?

The world must wake up. People of western countries, whose democracy has long been abolished, trampled by the tyrannical western powers “rules-based order”, must stand up against these rulers, invent alternatives to their corporate financial empires and build a world of peace and harmony outside the dictatorial matrix.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Peter Koenig.

The Lutheran World Federation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has operated in Myanmar since 2008 and provides humanitarian and educational assistance to Rohingya refugees and others affected by armed conflict in Rakhine.  

The laid-off employees said the group emailed them termination letters on Sept. 4, saying they were let go because they had violated the rules of its branch in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state. 

All the workers went on strike on Aug. 14, but the organization did not address their grievance about the exchange rate, said one of the affected employees who declined to be identified so as not to not risk any retribution for speaking to the press about the incident.  

“We have been asking to be paid at the current exchange rate for years, but they haven’t done anything about it,” he said.

The employees had contracts stating that they would be paid in euro equivalent. Instead, they were paid at a fixed exchange rate of 2,100 kyats (US$1) to the euro. 

“Our salaries are usually transferred to us by a private bank, but we do not receive our pay according to that bank’s euro exchange rate,” the affected employee said. 

Employees have one-year to three-year labor contracts, he said.

Those fired, including married and pregnant women, have not received their salaries for the past month, nor have they received any compensation for their termination, he added.

Radio Free Asia emailed David Mueller, the Lutheran group’s country representative in Myanmar, and Ruth Ait Bah, regional finance and administration manager, for comment on the staff dismissals, but did not receive responses.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

The Central Committee for the Rakhine state government on Wednesday approved transportation access to domestic and international aid groups assisting in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall on May 14 with sustained winds reaching over 220 kilometers per hour (137 mph), killing more than 400 people and decimating much of the state.

On Thursday, Rakhine State Minister of Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura issued a letter saying that the junta had suspended the order. No explanation was provided.

Aid workers have told RFA that In northern Rakhine, more than 90% of houses and buildings were damaged by the storm, but more than two weeks later, many people have yet to receive aid. The situation prompted several Rakhine humanitarian organizations to issue a joint statement last week urging junta authorities to speed up relief efforts and not to restrict the work of civil society groups.

An official with an international aid group, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA that the flip-flop had delayed urgently needed supplies from reaching at-risk populations.

“Aid groups such as the U.N., INGOs [international NGOs] and NGOs had applied for access to help the cyclone victims and the state government approved it yesterday, but the junta overrode it,” he said. “I’ve heard that the ban was imposed by the union-level junta in Naypyidaw.”

A domestic NGO official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, called the junta’s rescinding of access to cyclone victims “unacceptable.”

“People are starving and some have to live out in the open without a roof or walls,” he said. “The military’s ban of international humanitarian assistance at such a critical moment when the victims are facing various hardships proves that we are living under an inhumane government.”

The official noted that with the disaster so recent, it is too early to focus on rebuilding Rakhine state.

“It’s still an emergency situation when urgent help and rescue are of vital importance,” he said, calling for an immediate lift to the ban.

‘Not a political issue’

Pe Than, an ethnic Rakhine politician and former lawmaker in Naypyidaw’s Lower House, went further, saying the junta’s ban is the same as inflicting harm on cyclone victims.

"At a time when we are in need of a lot of domestic and foreign aid … I can't understand [the junta] closing off access like this,” he said. “This issue is not a political one, nor is it related to the military. It is humanitarian, which is simply a matter of welcoming those who will help. I was shocked to see that what is happening is the reverse.”

Attempts by RFA to contact Hla Thein, the junta’s spokesman and attorney general for Rakhine state, by telephone regarding the ban rang unanswered Thursday.

The junta announced on May 21 that a total of 148 Rakhine and Rohingya people died in Sittwe, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun and Myebon townships due to Cyclone Mocha. 

Emergency assistance is needed in cyclone-affected townships of Sittwe, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Pauktaw, Myebon and Mrauk-U, where many residential homes have been damaged and food and drinking water are in short supply.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

A Department of Homeland Security agency’s intelligence report about the Atlanta protest movement “Stop Cop City” lifted a sentence nearly verbatim from an article published on a far-right news website published a day earlier.

The December 16, 2022, report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Office for Bombing Prevention describes protesters opposed to razing a forest for a massive new police facility as “militants” comprising a “violent far-left occupation” — phrasings identical to an article written by right-wing provocateur Andy Ngo.

“Five militants, part of the violent far-left occupation, were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism and other felony charges,” said the CISA report, referring to protests against the construction of the police facility, dubbed “Cop City” by its opponents.

A day earlier, the Post Millennial, a conservative news outlet founded by Ngo that has faced criticism for its partisan bent and misleading stories on subjects like Covid-19, ran a story with the same sentence, with small cosmetic changes. “Five militants part of a violent far-left occupation in south Atlanta were arrested on Tuesday and charged with domestic terrorism and other felony charges,” Ngo’s original reads. (Neither CISA nor Ngo immediately responded to a request for comment.)

The DHS report came a month before one protester encamped at the proposed Cop City site was killed in a hail of police gunfire — a massive escalation in what has become an ongoing crackdown against the movement.

The term “militants” used by federal agents in December reflects the escalation: a catchall for targets of the U.S.’s so-called global war on terror, the buzzword not typically used to describe domestic actors. That it has filtered into DHS reporting on protest movements is reflective of the new focus on domestic terrorism, particularly after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In March, prosecutors began hitting anti-Cop City protesters with domestic terrorism charges for alleged attacks with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Since then, the trend of terror allegations has continued, ensnaring a growing group of actors in the movement, with more than 40 now facing terror charges. When administrators of a bail fund for protesters were charged with money laundering last week, Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said they had “facilitated and encouraged domestic terrorism.”

“The nature of the law enforcement response to the Stop Cop City protests, and the prosecutions of protesters and their supporters highlights how broad domestic terrorism laws are used as a political cudgel rather than a mechanism to improve public safety,” Mike German, a former FBI special agent and fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice, told The Intercept.

The CISA report was posted to the Technical Resource for Incident Prevention, or TRIPwire, a resource sharing portal for “expert intelligence analysis” in order to raise “awareness of evolving Improvised Explosive Device (IED) tactics,” according to its website. In March, activists involved in the movement were accused of using Molotov cocktails — which are not listed in a DHS document defining the term — but there does not appear to be any record of IED allegations before the December CISA report.

On Monday, Atlanta City Council will vote on the budget for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, the law enforcement training facility at the center of the controversy. The facility is expected to take up over 85 acres, replete with a mock city for “urban police training.” Cop City, expected to cost $90 million, was announced in 2021 by then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Since then, protesters have taken up camp in the forest where the facility would be built, in an effort to block its construction.

On March 5, following the alleged Molotov attack against police, Georgia authorities charged 23 protesters with domestic terrorism. The terror enhancement of the charges have prompted criticism from civil liberties groups.

“Unfortunately, we have seen law enforcement across the country treating environmental activists and racial justice protesters as terrorists, despite the lack of deadly violence associated with this activism,” said German.

The focus on domestic terrorism has been shared by leaders of both parties. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump vowed to designate “antifa” as a terrorist organization. President Joe Biden, in his first full day in office, directed his national security team to conduct a 100-day, comprehensive review of U.S. government efforts to address domestic terrorism — described by the White House as “the most urgent terrorism threat the United States faces today.”

“Unfortunately, we have seen law enforcement across the country treating environmental activists and racial justice protesters as terrorists, despite the lack of deadly violence associated with this activism.”

Since then, charges against participants in the January 6 attack have caused domestic terror prosecutions to increase sharply.

In 2022, House Democrats passed a bill, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which would have created new offices designed to focus on domestic terrorism specifically, in DHS, the FBI, and the Justice Department. By a vote of 47-47, Senate Republicans blocked the legislation.

The Atlanta protesters are being prosecuted under the same domestic terrorism law that was expanded after Dylann Roof murdered nine Black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. While the law originally only applied to criminal acts intended to kill at least 10 people, the Georgia legislature expanded the law to include property crimes intending to intimidate or coerce the government — of which the Atlanta protesters stand accused.

As for the CISA report, though it cribbed Any Ngo, German said it made for a limited resource because of the complete lack of citations.

“This type of intelligence reporting is of dubious utility because it doesn’t contain enough detail for law enforcement to assess the credibility of the information provided so they can develop a proper response,” German told The Intercept. “It includes no citations so it doesn’t even provide an avenue for law enforcement to follow up for more information or link events to understand a larger pattern.”

German added, “There doesn’t appear to be any attempt to put these three events in context so police officials could determine whether the events are part of some larger issue of law enforcement concern.”

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Ken Klippenstein.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has spent the last four years locked up at the Belmarsh high-security prison in London, where he has been fighting extradition to the United States on espionage charges. He faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted. This week, amid growing concerns about Assange’s health, Reporters Without Borders attempted to become the first NGO to visit with Assange since his arrest four years ago. Despite being given approval, RSF representatives, including our guest, RSF secretary-general and executive director Christophe Deloire, were denied entry.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

An anti-corruption NGO in Papua New Guinea has criticised the haste with which the government is conducting consultation on a draft National Media Development Policy that could undermine media freedom.

The Community Coalition Against Corruption (CCAC) has called on the Department of Information and Communication Technologies to extend the time and breadth of consultation on this proposed national policy.

“Extended and broader consultation is required for this as media freedoms are vital to our democracy,” the coalition said in a statement.

• READ MORE: Other PNG media freedom reports

Minister for Information and Communication Technology Timothy Masiu responded quickly and extended the deadline by one week from February 20.

In his capacity as co-chair of the Community Coalition Against Corruption, Transparency International PNG chair Peter Aitsi said: “The two weeks given for consultation is not sufficient to consider the national and societal impact of this media policy and whether it is actually required.

“For instance, while the abuse of social media platforms is a new issue that is given as justification for the media policy, there are already existing laws that address the issue without undermining media freedom.

“This month, when we commemorate the legacy of the Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare, we recall his personal stance when Prime Minister opposing the regulation of PNG’s media when a similar bill was proposed in 2003.”

Editorial independence ‘cornerstone’
Another senior media spokesperson also said the government had failed to provide adequate time and conduct meaningful consultation.

Media Council PNG president Neville Choi said in his capacity as co-chair of the coalition: “The editorial independence of newsrooms is a cornerstone of a functional democracy.

“Undermining media freedom, diminishes the role of the media as the mouthpiece of the people, holding those in power to account.

“Failure by the government to provide adequate time and conduct meaningful consultation, will ultimately undermine confidence in the government and the country, both domestically and abroad.

“If the concern is poor journalism, then the solution is more investment in schools of journalism at tertiary institutions, this will also increase diversity and pluralism in the quality of journalism.

“We need newsrooms with access to trainings on media ethics and legal protection from harassment.”

The media policy was initially released by the Department of ICT on February 5 and the public was only given 12 days to comment on the document, with the original deadline for feedback being February 17.

The policy includes provisions for the regulation of media and establishment of a Government Information Risk Management (GIRM) Division within the Department of ICT to implement measures to prevent the unauthorised access to “sensitive information”.

The coalition is a network of organisations that come together to discuss and make recommendations on national governance issues. It is currently co-chaired by Transparency International PNG and the Media Council.

Republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

We go to Kabul to speak with Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council about the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, where at least five people died Wednesday in a suicide bombing near the Foreign Ministry. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, pressure is growing on the ruling Taliban to reverse bans on women attending university or working with nongovernmental organizations. In recent weeks a number of major international aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have suspended operations in Afghanistan due to the ban, potentially worsening the humanitarian crisis in the country, where the United Nations estimates more than 28 million Afghans, or over 70% of the population, require humanitarian assistance. “We need to help the same 28 million people in need that the NATO countries left behind,” says Egeland, who recently met with Taliban leaders to urge them to lift restrictions on women’s rights.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) worker Vikash Ahir shared a screenshot of the tweet with #BoycottBollywood. (Archive)

क्या यह सच है ??#BoycottBollywood pic.twitter.com/GqJk81klyX

— Vikash Ahir (@team_hyv) December 18, 2022

The screenshot is also viral on Facebook.

Fact Check

Upon a closer look at the viral screenshots, we noticed the text ‘Twitter for OKSatire’ written at the bottom. It has been cropped out in some of the images. We have highlighted the text for the benefit of the reader.

Upon probing further, we found that OK Satire is a Facebook page labelled Satire/parody. The description of the page reads, ‘Parody Tweets That seems Real’.

We further found that OK Satire had uploaded the viral screenshot on their page on December 15. This is the earliest instance of this image on social media.

We also searched BBC Hindi’s official Twitter account for the viral tweet, but couldn’t find any instance of them claiming this information. Moreover, there’s no information on Khan donating Pathaan’s first-day earnings to a Pakistani NGO.

Hence, a screenshot of a tweet by BBC Hindi claiming that Shah Rukh Khan would donate his movie Pathaan’s first-day earnings to a Pakistani NGO has been making the rounds on social media. Many users have shared the screenshot with #BoycottBollywood. In reality, the ‘parody tweet’ was originally uploaded on a satirical page on Facebook named ‘Ok Satire’.

The post SRK didn’t pledge ‘Pathaan’ earnings to Pak NGO; viral post is from parody page appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

Mai Phan Loi, chairman of the Committee for Scientific Affairs of the Center for Media in Educating Community (MEC), will now serve 45 of the 48 months of his original sentence, while MEC director Bach Hung Duong will serve 27 months of a 30-month term, according to state media reports.

In a story Thursday, the Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper said that Loi’s sentence was reduced because his family had returned part of the money claimed in taxes, while Loi himself had cooperated with authorities investigating the case against him.

Duong will now serve a shorter term because he had received no benefit from the tax evasion and is suffering from an unspecified illness, the newspaper added.

Speaking to RFA after the hearing, defense attorney Huynh Phuong Nam declined to comment on the trial, saying only that Loi’s family had given back VND 1.2 billion ($50,000) out of the VND 1.97 billion ($82,100) claimed by the government in taxes.

The indictment filed against the men by the Hanoi People’s Procuracy said that MEC had received nearly VND 20 billion in support from domestic and international organizations, but had failed to create financial reports or submit tax declaration forms.

Though nonprofit organizations are exempt from paying corporate taxes in Vietnam, the tax laws pertaining to NGOs receiving funds from international donors are particularly vague and restrictive, sources say.

Jail term upheld

In a separate hearing, the Hanoi High-Level People’s Court on Thursday upheld the 5-year prison sentence imposed in January on Dang Dinh Bach, director of the Research Center for Law and Policy for Sustainable Development (LPSD), saying Bach had refused to return VND 1.3 billion ($54,200) owed in taxes.

Bach had failed to file taxes and to report sponsorship from groups overseas from 2016 to 2020, the indictment against him said.

Speaking to RFA after the hearing, Bach’s wife Tran Phuong Thao said that security forces had barred her from attending her husband’s trial, forcing her to sit instead at the courthouse gate. Lawyers were also prevented from bringing laptop computers or mobile phones into the court, she said.

“I was not surprised by the outcome of the trial and was mentally prepared for whatever would happen,” Thao said. “My husband continues to deny all the charges made against him and still declares his innocence.

“Because my family has not paid the government’s so-called ‘remediation money,’ the court would not consider mitigating circumstances,” she said.

Rights groups and activists have condemned Loi’s, Duong’s and Bach’s jailing, noting their arrests followed their promotion of civil society’s role in monitoring the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which came into force in 2021.

Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Richard Finney.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Gao Feng for RFA Mandarin.

On Tuesday, Fortify Rights released video footage that shows uniformed soldiers dismantling the small footbridge made of bamboo over the Wa Le (also known as the Waw Lay) River, a tributary of the Moei River, at the Thai-Myanmar frontier. The makeshift walkway connected Thailand’s Tak Province with Myanmar’s Karen State, where the junta’s forces have allegedly killed civilians in recent months amid nationwide post-coup turmoil.

In a statement, the Bangkok-based group called on the Thai government “to investigate the recent destruction by its soldiers of a makeshift cross-border footbridge used by refugees fleeing deadly attacks in eastern Myanmar.”

Thai authorities should also “ensure any investigation into the situation on the border is aimed at protecting refugee rights, not further violating them,” said Amy Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights. “Arbitrary arrests and the destruction of this footbridge demand urgent attention.”

The group confirmed that the video was filmed two months ago, adding it had obtained the 16-minute clip filed from the Myanmar side of the border and uploaded a shorter clip to YouTube.

In the video, people speaking a Karen language and a crying infant child can be heard off-camera. In another clip from the video, a soldier asks, “What are you filming, [Expletive]. You want to die?”

The exact date and time for when the footage was filmed were on file with Fortify Rights, the group said. 

“Sources familiar with the bridge and the area told Fortify Rights that Myanmar refugees, especially children and older people, used the bridge to flee violence and persecution and that informal humanitarian workers used it to transport lifesaving aid from Thailand to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar,” it said.

On Wednesday, the Thai army’s regional command, the 3rd Army Area, responded to the allegations made by Fortify Rights and the video, which the group had circulated through social media.

“The video clip depicting Thai soldiers breaking off a cross-border bamboo bridge was taken before the fighting inside of Myanmar flared up, and the bridge was illegal,” the army’s regional command said in a statement.

“The bridge demolition has nothing to do with the migration of displaced persons … it was conducted following an order by the Tak border authorities to prevent illegal groups from doing their criminal activities,” the statement said, without saying what these criminal activities were.

The statement claimed that the bamboo bridge had been illegally constructed and was destroyed before fighting with Karen rebels flared.

“At that time, there was no fighting between Myanmar soldiers and ethnic minority force, and there were no displaced people,” it said.

Long frontier

Thailand shares a long history and 2,400-km (1,500-mile) border with Myanmar. The military said Thailand was delivering humanitarian aid to more than 1,500 Myanmar displaced people in four camps in Um Phang district.

The Karen have been crossing the border since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup when Burmese Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing toppled the country’s democratically elected government, threw its civilian leaders in jail, and then turned military forces and police on his own people who have been protesting the junta’s actions.

The Myanmar military has launched attacks throughout the country, including regions along the Thai frontier.

Government security forces have killed at least 1,821 civilians – many of them pro-democracy protesters – throughout Myanmar since the coup happened, according to a tally compiled by the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Across the border, Thai authorities have been accused of forcing thousands of refugees to return to Myanmar after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha ordered them to prevent “illegal immigration.”

Additional video

Fortify Rights said it obtained other video footage from Jan. 25, before the Thai soldiers allegedly destroyed the footbridge. The video shows at least 45 people, including women and children using the footbridge or lining up to cross the river.

The group also alleged that Thai authorities had arbitrarily arrested and extorted refugees in the border town of Mae Sot. Fortify Rights described how refugees were forced to pay officials to avoid being arrested.

“Since February 2022, Fortify Rights interviewed 15 Myanmar refugees on the Thailand-Myanmar border, including seven women, as well as three U.N. officials and four humanitarian aid workers in Thailand,” the statement said.

“[F]irsthand testimonies collected by Fortify Rights reveal how Thai authorities have arbitrarily arrested, detained, and allegedly extorted money from Myanmar refugees within the last year.”

It also noted that on April 8, the Associated Press reported that “police cards” were sold in Mae Sot through middlemen for an average monthly cost of 350 baht (U.S. $10). The refugees made the purchases under the belief the cards would “help them avoid arrest.”

“The Thai government should create a formal nationwide system to issue identification cards to refugees that provide genuine protection,” Smith said in the release. “Such a process would help prevent extortion and other abuses and provide critical information on new arrivals to Thailand.”

On Wednesday, Thai government authorities did not immediately respond to BenarNews’ request for comment – but Thai police announced last month that they would investigate the scheme.

Activists’ concerns

Activists, meanwhile, said Thailand should treat the refugees with respect.

The Thai military should be more responsible for the refugees, said the person who coordinates the Burma Concern Project at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand.

“I feel bad that the military is giving a terrible reason like this. We have seen this happen again and again,” said Thanawat, who goes by one name.

“Even though we see some attempt to aid the refugees, behind the scenes, they are also pushing them back the refugees by not welcoming them like this.”

According to another activist, the Thai government did not implement United Nations-supported procedures to deal with the refugees.

“They have always let the security agencies take care of the refugees by pushing them back,” said Pornsuk Kerdsawang of the Friends without Borders Foundation.

He said the government should allow the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to assist the refugees instead of letting the security forces take charge.

“The fear that the refugees will stay in the country permanently should not be an issue because the refugees will figure their own way,” he told BenarNews.

Kunnawut Boonreak in Chiang Mai, Thailand, contributed to this report by for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Nontarat Phaicharoen and Subel Rai Bhandari for BenarNews.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s government is seeking to pass a controversial bill regulating not-for-profit organizations in Thailand, including prohibiting groups from engaging in all activities that he says could be detrimental to national security or social harmony. 

Local and international NGOs have opposed it, saying it threatens civil society work and hampers free speech.

In their letters to the Thai and U.S. governments, Sen. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Sen. Jeffrey A. Merkley of Oregon said the draft, if enacted, “will represent one of the most restrictive NGO laws in Asia and will have an irreversible effect on civil society in Thailand.” 

They urged the Thai government to “revoke harmful provisions” of the draft, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

The legislation also “threatens to eliminate what could soon be the last available place for Burmese civil society organizations to operate,” Markey and Merkley said.

“We, therefore, call for an urgent, coordinated, whole-of-government approach to pressure the Thai government to drop all consideration of this dangerous law,” the senators said in their letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and USAID Administrator Samantha Power.

In January, Prayuth’s cabinet approved the draft bill in principle.

A government ministry then launched a public survey of the bill as required by the constitution. That survey ends this week and the bill will be returned to the cabinet before being forwarded to the parliament for deliberation.

The survey “shows 70 percent of the respondents favor the bill. However, most of them are government agencies-related people. NGOs are not supporting this draft law,” Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, a Thai parliamentarian with the progressive Move Forward Party, told BenarNews on Wednesday. 

Nattacha said the parliament’s house committee on political development, mass media and civil participation, which he chairs, had invited relevant ministries and officials in November to answer concerns about how the bill would affect freedom and rights.

“The Office of Council of State said it aims to counter money-laundering … but we recommended that they use the existing anti-money laundering act and not issue a blanket law like that,” Nattacha said.

The foreign ministry “admitted that many countries had expressed concerns regarding this bill,” he said. “But the government still failed to convince us why this law is needed.”

Thai authorities did not respond immediately to BenarNews’ request for comment. Previously, government officials had said the new bill would make NGOs more transparent.

Tight leash on NGOs

According to the draft bill viewed by BenarNews, NGOs are prohibited from operating in ways that “affect the government’s security,” affect “economic security,” or “relations between countries,” “affect public order, or people’s good morals, or cause divisions within society,” “affect the public interest, including public safety,” or “affect the happy, normal existence of other persons.” 

Critics said those terms could be interpreted to mean any activity by any organization. Close to 1,870 NGOs issued a statement earlier this year opposing the draft, saying the administration is trying to regulate their charity work.

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law said the draft contains “heavy-handed provisions to control” the NGOs’ activities and threatens “to violate numerous aspects of international law.”

The bill would regulate not only NGOs based in the country but others including from Myanmar. A military coup last year forced many organizations and activists to flee the country and take refuge in Thailand.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said the draft would have a “severe negative impact” on efforts to support vulnerable communities in Thailand, including thousands fleeing Myanmar.

“In the hands of Prime Minister Prayuth and his quasi-military government, this law would amount to Armageddon for civil society groups and NGOs who stand up for human rights, political reform, anti-human trafficking and protection of the rights and interests of the most vulnerable groups in society,” he told BenarNews on Wednesday.

The two U.S. senators also called on the governments in Washington and Bangkok to do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar and offer support to those fleeing violence.

“Cross-border assistance provides a critical lifeline for these vulnerable populations, and we urge your government to work with the international community to allow for its increased flow from Thailand into Burma, including in areas not controlled by the regime’s military,” they wrote to Don Pramudwinai, Thailand’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister.

The Thai government should also “allow unimpeded humanitarian access” for civil society groups and the United Nations to visit the refugees in Thailand, Markey and Merkley said, adding Bangkok should use its “voice as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN] to press for a resolution” in Myanmar. 

‘No more critical NGOs’

Bangkok political activist Sombat Boonngamanong said the draft bill “results from Prayuth’s discontent with NGOs’ frequent criticism of him.”

“The goal of the new draft law is to take control of the NGOs. If it is enacted, there will only be government-friendly NGOs left,” Sombat, president of the Mirror Foundation, an NGO based in northern Thailand, told BenarNews.

“There will be no more critical NGOs to help improve the country or offer critical views of the government.”

Robertson said the “passage of the law would usher in a massive, systematic crackdown on freedom of association, expression and other core civil and political rights in a way that we’ve not seen in Thailand in decades.”

He said even those who are not forced to cease operations would have to operate in fear, as “one complaint, one issue, or one tweet could start an investigation to shut them down.

“The U.S. senators are right to assess this draft law as a potential game-changer that could alter the political, economic and social development landscape of Thailand for the worse,” he said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Nontarat Phaicharoen and Subel Rai Bhandari for BenarNews.

The independent, nonprofit schools were established by Japan Relief for Cambodia and World Assistance for Cambodia (JRfC-WAfC). They provided English classes and computer training to rural students from low-income families, the network said on its website.

Local news outlet CamboJA reported that a Feb. 2 letter from Cambodia’s Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron, shared by teachers this week on Facebook, ordered the organization to cease operations.

The minister told RFA’s Khmer Service Thursday that the Education Ministry asked JRfC-WAfC to stop operating the schools because it is affiliated with the Cambodia Daily, an English language newspaper that often criticized the government of Hun Sen and was shuttered in Cambodia in 2017 on allegations that it hadn’t paid millions of U.S. dollars in back taxes.

The Cambodia Daily continues to operate online and broadcasts in the Khmer language from a location in the U.S.

Even though JRfC-WAfC may no longer operate out of Cambodia, the schools that built by the NGO are still allowed to remain open since they were donated to the government after construction, the minister said.

The programs provided by the NGO will no longer be available, however, a fact that Ouk Chhayavy, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, lamented.

“We are sad about the closure because the NGO helped many poor students,” she said. 

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.