The recent strong series of earthquakes affecting vast areas in Myanmar, Japan, and Ecuador have raised global concerns.
Pray for Victims of Recent Earthquakes
Libya – Political Chaos and Health Crisis
Libya has been beset by chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew the long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi 2011. Since then the country fell into chaos from civil wars.
Oppressions beyond Poverty: Child Sacrifice in Uganda
Candidates and their supporters would campaign for themselves when election days approach, often in the form of local campaigns, stations, and internet propagandas. Child sacrifice for the sake of election is unheard of in Hong Kong, but might not be so uncommon in Uganda, Africa.
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Myanmar’s Long Road of Peace and Reconciliation
More than 5,000 civilians in Myanmar – over 3,000 ethnic Shan and more than 2,000 Ta’Ang – have been displaced last month by heavy fighting between two ethnic armies, one of which signed a recent national ceasefire accord while the other was excluded.
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Human Rights Should be Mainstreamed in USA – ASEAN Engagement
On February 15-16, 2016, US President Obama hosted 10 government leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a summit in California.
For decades, the US has continued to forge closer ties with ASEAN. However, most of ASEAN’s members have extraordinarily poor human rights records. Problems include lack of basic freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, failures on women’s rights, the political use of courts, high-level corruption, lack of protection of refugees and asylum seekers, and human trafficking.
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New Government and Challenges to Myanmar
The first freely elected parliament of Myanmar in 50 years has held its opening session. Hundreds of new members of parliament (MPs) had taken their seats from November’s historic election. 80% of them are from the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and the rest are occupied by smaller parties. But a quarter of all seats are reserved for the military which also retains control of key ministries.