Myanmar refugees in Malaysia face growing uncertainty as a UN refugee agency documentation process is challenged by a new Malaysian initiative during ongoing refugee deportations. In the stairwell of a four-storey building in Kuala Lumpur’s Pudu district, James Bawi Thang Bik, the chairperson of the Alliance of Chin Refugees (ACR), points to a notice stuck on the wall at the entrance of a school classroom. “This is the only protection we have in Malaysia,” James...

Senior officials from the Karen National Union (KNU) and affiliated civil society organisations formally launched a 10-year climate action plan they describe as the region’s first indigenous-led climate plan on Wednesday. “For the Indigenous people of Karen, the forests, the rivers and the lands are our life – our healthcare suppliers,” said Saw Hla Tun, the KNU joint secretary, adding that these resources were under “huge threat”

Myanmar’s strongest earthquake in a century struggled to spur international support in any meaningful way. Nor did it inspire any let up in the military’s violence – and in the second largest city of Mandalay, oppression is only intensifying. What followed March 28 stands as a crystal-clear case study of the military’s priorities — a crucial reminder as it seeks to normalise its rule and gain international legitimacy with end-of-year elections.From a busy tea house on...