Cambodia: A Tale of Two HIV Outbreaks

Published on Feb 8, 2015 by Luke Hunt

The HIV outbreak in a small village in the Cambodian countryside continues to grow. But the plight of the victims and their families has gone largely ignored with this country’s leaders doing little to help 226 people inflicted so far with the virus that causes AIDS.The international media and NGO workers have also been relatively silent, particularly when compared with the world health response to the Ebola outbreak in Africa where experimental vaccines are going on trial.Read more from Luke Hunt in The Diplomat..

Laos’ Holiday Crackdown

Published on Jan 11, 2015 by Luke Hunt

Governments have a long and dubious history of hiding behind the skirts of religious festivities once decisions are made to carry out undesirable jobs, particularly among the less savory countries where personal freedoms are considered a luxury for the politically connected.Read more from Luke Hunt in The Diplomat..

Bangkok tourists caught up in shakedown

Published on Dec 14, 2014 by Luke Hunt

Foreign tourists are calling it the shakedown. A growing number are being stopped, searched and harassed in the main tourist precinct of the Thai capital.  Sometimes they are led to a service station toilet and asked to provide a urine sample, supposedly to determine whether they have consumed any illicit drugs.Read more from Lindsay Murdoch in The Age..

Maguindanao Victims Still Await Justice

Published on Dec 14, 2014 by Luke Hunt

It was perhaps the greatest crime in the history of journalism. Five years ago 58 people, 32 of them employed in the media, were horribly tortured and executed by gunmen who took their orders from a grimy, precocious warlord named Andal Ampatuan and his bullying son.Read more from Luke Hunt in The Diplomat. .

Australian Senator Slams Cambodia refugee plan

Published on Nov 23, 2014 by Luke Hunt

Australian Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, says she has hardened her opposition to the Abbott government’s resettlement of refugees in Cambodia after touring slums in the riverside capital Phnom Penh, declaring the plan “madness, absolute madness”.Read more from Luke Hunt and Lindsay Murdoch in The Age..