Full Coverage: South East Asia

30.09.2005 Write to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urging him to support a move for the UN Security Council to intervene in Myanmar (Burma) in support of democracy and the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience.

30.09.2005 Dr. David Nabarro has been appointmented as the United Nations system coordinator for the bird flu virus, which is presently decimating poultry stocks in Asia and could cross over to humans to deadly effect.

29.09.2005 Peasant farmer families in Tanah Awuk, Indonesia, who gathered on September 18 to air their longstanding grievances over the proposed construction of an airport on their farm lands, were violently dispersed by Indonesian police forces, and their planned discussion with local and international land rights groups prevented.

29.09.2005 Activists from Botswana, Canada, Malaysia and Mexico have won this year's Right Livelihood Award - the "alternative Nobel Peace Prize".

29.09.2005 A seminar entitled “Towards the Incorporation of Vocational Technical Education in the Future Secondary School Curriculum” in Brunei Darussalam has highlighted the “vital role” of incorporating vocational and technological education in the school curriculum.

28.09.2005 From 24 October to 2 December 2005 the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) will hold an internet discussion forum on open course content. The forum will explore the concept of open course content, its context, current initiatives, and issues and implications of its use.

27.09.2005 The UNESCO “ICT in Education Toolkit Training Workshop”, held between 5 and 10 September 2005 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, successfully introduced a newly-developed policy-makers’ toolkit, which is designed to assist in improving decision-making with regard to the integration of ICT in education.

27.09.2005 APDIP's Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance initiative zooms in on the Internet governance issues, priorities and challenges faced by five countries in Asia.The report results are drawn from extensive consultations and a survey involving all stakeholders (government, the private sector and civil society), and region-wide research undertaken over the past year, as part of the Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance (ORDIG).

23.09.2005 A new process will allow mosquito nets to be treated with insecticide en masse in the factory, keeping the nets effective against malaria for over 20 washes. Most importantly, the process can be reproduced by other companies that make long-lasting insecticide treated nets, which are in short supply in Africa.

21.09.2005 The Indian Ocean tsunami is nearly nine months gone, and other natural disasters have seized the media's attention since, but "for many people, the extent of the catastrophe quite simply remains unbearable," says Renato Souza, a psychiatrist who has been counseling traumatized survivors in Indonesia.

20.09.2005 The newly-launched East Timor-Indonesian Commission for Truth and Friendship is flawed because it does not allow for the legal prosecution of those responsible for human rights abuses, say civil society groups.

19.09.2005 Janitor Han Lin is a democracy activist who fled from Burma, lived in the jungle for 6 years, and finally found refuge in the U.S. He talks about his experiences, his determined attempts to raise awareness about the atrocities in his homeland, and U.N. false promises.

13.09.2005 The Philippine Constitution sets the framework of the State's responsibility to make the country ready to employ the potentials of ICT. It also unequivocally champions the equality between men and women in all areas of human activity. This paper seeks to recommend a policy framework that will address the goal of mobilising ICT to advance gender equality and women's empowerment, presenting ICT as a potential tool to bridge the gender gap when it comes to freedom of expression, provide women access to opportunities for income and employment, and to open up spaces and networks where women can organize themselves, and participate and launch actions towards nation-building.

12.09.2005 Thyda looks like any other young girl – but she has lived through trauma most of us could never imagine. Karoline Kemp exposes how many young girls and women are tricked into working in the sex trade to provide money for their families.

12.09.2005 Ethnic minorities in Burma (Myanmar) are being forced by the military to build roads and perform other labour, hand over their food and land, and procure alcohol and young women for the entertainment of troops, according to a new Amnesty report.

07.09.2005 The ambitious e-literacy project, “Akshaya”, operating in the southern Indian State of Kerala, has been selected for the Prix Ars Electronica “Digital Community” award.

06.09.2005 UNESCO in cooperation with Japanese-Funds-In-Trust (JFIT),inaugurated a 6-day ICT in education training workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 5 September 2005.

06.09.2005 The Houkeng Timber-Arched Corridor Bridge in Qingyuan County, Zhejiang Province, China and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai, India have both been honoured with Awards of Excellence in the UNESCO 2005 Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation.

02.09.2005 Some of Asia, America, Africa and Europe's top government IT policymakers are set to gather at the PSTM Government Technology Forum 2005 on 5th October 2005, at The Fullerton, Singapore.

01.09.2005 The Philippines Board of Investments has launched a round-the-clock, toll-free call centre for investment inquiries to make investing in the country easier.