In The News

Indonesia Nabs Ship Believed to Carry Slave-Caught Fish

Margie Mason August 18, 2015
It’s a challenge for national governments to monitor activities of fishing vessels operating in open stretches of the ocean commons. “A massive refrigerated cargo ship believed to be loaded with slave-caught fish was seized by Indonesia's navy and brought to shore Thursday, after The Associated Press informed authorities it had entered the country's waters,” reports Margie Mason for the...

Myanmar Ousts Rising Political Star

Bertil Lintner August 18, 2015
The West celebrated the promise of democratic reforms for Myanmar after a new government was installed in 2011. The military signaled its desire to restore relations with the West, ending crippling sanctions while reducing excessive reliance on neighboring China. Observers in the West had pointed to the speaker of the Lower House of Myanmar’s bicameral parliament as a “bridge” linking Myanmar’s...

US-Malaysia Relations: Strategic Imperatives Over Human Rights – Analysis

David Han Guo Xiong August 5, 2015
The US Congress passed legislation prohibiting fast-track trade negotiations with countries ranking low on compliance and efforts to stop human trafficking. The US State Department proceeded to upgrade Malaysia’s ranking, suggesting the country is making an effort, to ease negotiations for the Trans-Pacific-Partnership trade pact. David Han Guo Xiong, writing for RSIS Commentaries, argues the...

China Tightens Its Two-Systems Approach for Hong Kong

Michael C. Davis August 4, 2015
A one-country, two-systems model describes China’s relationship with Hong Kong. Observers naturally can’t help but weigh the pros and cons of each system, regarding one better than the other. China is tightening controls on the mainland for human-rights advocates, educators and internet users while also denying the “high degree of autonomy” once promised to the citizens of Hong Kong as a special...

Be Honest: You Don't Care If Your Pretty Dress Was Made by Child Slaves

Julia Hartley-Brewer July 30, 2015
Global consumers regard child labor, human trafficking and slavery as despicable yet most do not stop to consider the source and low prices of high-fashion clothes with intricate details. Julia Hartley-Brewer, writing for the Telegraph, contends that “when it comes to modern-day slavery, we are modern-day hypocrites.” Clothing manufacturers locate factories in countries with low wages, like...

Fair Trade for the Global Garment Industry

David Welsh May 22, 2015
Profits and fast-changing styles in the global garment industry depend on low wages, long hours and dangerous workplaces in countries like Cambodia. Writing for the New York Times, David Welsh, country director of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center in Cambodia writes: “the big brands reap billions of dollars chasing the lowest production costs they can find, moving from one country to another when...

UN Credibility on Trial in Cambodia

John D. Ciorciari May 14, 2015
The Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, killing more than two million, displacing and ruining the lives of millions more. A hybrid tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, organized by the United Nations, was established for trying those most responsible for atrocities committed during the China-backed Pol Pot era. Cambodia's Hun Sen embraced the hybrid...