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Tag: amnesty

  • Myanmar’s military government releases more than 6,100 prisoners on independence anniversary

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    Myanmar’s military government granted amnesty to more than 6,100 prisoners and reduced other inmates’ sentences Sunday to mark the 78th anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain.It was not immediately clear whether those released include the thousands of political detainees imprisoned for opposing military rule.The amnesty comes as the military government proceeds with a monthlong, three-stage election process that critics say is designed to add a facade of legitimacy to the status quo.State-run MRTV television reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, pardoned 6,134 prisoners.A separate statement said 52 foreigners will also be released and deported from Myanmar. No comprehensive list of those freed is available.Other prisoners received reduced sentences, except for those convicted of serious charges such as murder and rape or those jailed on charges under various other security acts.The release terms warn that if the freed detainees violate the law again, they will have to serve the remainder of their original sentences in addition to any new sentence.The prisoner releases, common on holidays and other significant occasions in Myanmar, began Sunday and are expected to take several days to complete.At Yangon’s Insein Prison, which is notorious for housing political detainees, relatives of prisoners gathered at the gates early in the morning.However, there was no sign that the prisoner release would include former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in the military takeover in 2021 and has been held virtually incommunicado since then.The takeover was met with massive nonviolent resistance, which has since become a widespread armed struggle.According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent organization that keeps detailed tallies of arrests and casualties linked to the nation’s political conflicts, more than 22,000 political detainees, including Suu Kyi, were in detention as of last Tuesday.Many political detainees had been held on a charge of incitement, a catch-all offense widely used to arrest critics of the government or military and punishable by up to three years in prison.The 80-year-old Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted in what supporters have called politically tinged prosecutions.Myanmar became a British colony in the late 19th century and regained its independence on Jan. 4, 1948.The anniversary was marked in the capital, Naypyitaw, with a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall on Sunday.

    BANGKOK, Bangkok —

    Myanmar’s military government granted amnesty to more than 6,100 prisoners and reduced other inmates’ sentences Sunday to mark the 78th anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain.

    It was not immediately clear whether those released include the thousands of political detainees imprisoned for opposing military rule.

    The amnesty comes as the military government proceeds with a monthlong, three-stage election process that critics say is designed to add a facade of legitimacy to the status quo.

    State-run MRTV television reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, pardoned 6,134 prisoners.

    A separate statement said 52 foreigners will also be released and deported from Myanmar. No comprehensive list of those freed is available.

    Aung Shine Oo

    Myanmar Prime Minister Nyo Saw arrives to attend a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of its Independence Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026.

    Other prisoners received reduced sentences, except for those convicted of serious charges such as murder and rape or those jailed on charges under various other security acts.

    The release terms warn that if the freed detainees violate the law again, they will have to serve the remainder of their original sentences in addition to any new sentence.

    The prisoner releases, common on holidays and other significant occasions in Myanmar, began Sunday and are expected to take several days to complete.

    At Yangon’s Insein Prison, which is notorious for housing political detainees, relatives of prisoners gathered at the gates early in the morning.

    However, there was no sign that the prisoner release would include former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in the military takeover in 2021 and has been held virtually incommunicado since then.

    The takeover was met with massive nonviolent resistance, which has since become a widespread armed struggle.

    According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent organization that keeps detailed tallies of arrests and casualties linked to the nation’s political conflicts, more than 22,000 political detainees, including Suu Kyi, were in detention as of last Tuesday.

    Many political detainees had been held on a charge of incitement, a catch-all offense widely used to arrest critics of the government or military and punishable by up to three years in prison.

    The 80-year-old Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted in what supporters have called politically tinged prosecutions.

    Myanmar became a British colony in the late 19th century and regained its independence on Jan. 4, 1948.

    The anniversary was marked in the capital, Naypyitaw, with a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall on Sunday.

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  • Human Trafficking Victims Caught in Thailand-Cambodia Conflict

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    Posted on: December 20, 2025, 09:49h. 

    Last updated on: December 20, 2025, 09:49h.

    • The Thailand-Cambodia conflict reportedly has innocent civilians in its crossfire
    • Thailand is targeting suspected scam centers where trafficked persons work

    Thousands of people suspected to be human trafficking victims who have been forced to work in slave-like conditions in Cambodia along the Thailand border have been caught in the crossfire of the ongoing conflict.

    human trafficking Cambodia Thailand conflict
    A casino in Cambodia near the Thailand border, suspected to be a scam center, is bombed by Thai F-16 fighter jets. Human trafficking victims are said to be in the conflict’s crossfire. (Image: Royal Thai Military)

    Thailand has targeted border casinos in Cambodia that the Thai army claims have been retrofitted to serve as arsenals and firing positions for the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. Thailand has bombed or struck at least four casinos in Cambodia just across the border.

    The territorial dispute, which has endured for more than a century, escalated into armed conflict earlier this year after Thai soldiers in February prevented Cambodian tourists from singing their national anthem at the Prasat Ta Muen Thom, an ancient temple along the border. The incident resulted in the death of a Cambodian soldier.

    A leaked phone call between Paetongtarn Shinawatra, then the prime minister of Thailand, and Hun Sen, the most powerful person in Cambodia, recorded the prime minister blaming her own army for the February incident. The informal conversation that was made public led to Shinawatra’s impeachment and intensified tensions between the two sides.

    Casino Scam Centers

    While there are many casinos on the Cambodia side of the Thai-Cambodia border, the United Nations says the casinos have also served as scam centers where an estimated 100,000 victims of human trafficking have been forced to perpetrate online scams in what’s believed to be a multibillion-dollar industry.  

    Amnesty International, an international human rights organization based in London, says the Cambodian government has allowed slavery and torture to “flourish inside hellish scamming compounds.” The organization has managed to visit 52 scamming compounds in Cambodia, with many of the buildings previously serving as casinos and hotels that were repurposed by criminal gangs from China.

    Most victims had been lured to Cambodia by deceptive job advertisements posted on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. After being trafficked, survivors said they were forced to contact people using social media platforms and begin conversations aimed at defrauding them. These included fake romances or investment opportunities, selling products that would never be delivered, or building trust with victims before financially exploiting them, known as ‘pig-butchering,’” Amnesty reports.

    “Our findings reveal a pattern of state failures that have allowed criminality to flourish and raise questions about the government’s motivations,” said Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director Montse Ferrer.

    UN Advisory

    The United Nations confirmed this week that civilians and human trafficking victims in Cambodia remain at risk, and some have likely been killed in the Thailand-Cambodia conflict.

    Casino complexes and suspected scam centers in Cambodia have reportedly been hit,” the UN advised.

    “I am alarmed by reports that areas around villages and cultural sites are being struck by fighter jets, drones, and artillery. “Under international humanitarian law, it is very clear that protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure is paramount,” added Volker Türk, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights.  

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    Devin O’Connor

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  • Dairy farmers petition for more visa workers through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act; opponents call Act extreme amnesty bill

    Dairy farmers petition for more visa workers through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act; opponents call Act extreme amnesty bill

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    MONROE (WKOW) — Wisconsin’s dairy farmers are calling on the U.S. Senate to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act; it was already approved by the House of Representatives in 2021.

    Proponents say this bill would streamline citizenship for migrant visa workers and lower food prices, but opponents say this is an extreme amnesty bill.

    Wisconsin’s agricultural industry generates over 104 billion dollars a year. Nearly half of that, 45 billion, comes from the dairy industry and a worker shortage is threatening America’s Dairyland.

    “Farmers are being forced to go out of business because they don’t have the help they need on the farm,” said Mykel Bickham, Associate Director of Government Affairs with Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative.

    So dairy farmers are calling on the Senate to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act allowing them to hire H-2a visa workers. Proponents like Bickham said would keep dairy production consistent and lessen the pressure on consumer wallets.

    “It has a huge impact on your grocery store shelves. It also has an impact on inflation,” said Bickham.

    The problem is the dairy industry is excluded from the H-2a visa program and dairy farmers say this is hurting their business.

    “Getting people to fill different positions, whether we’re talking milking cows or feeding animals. I think is a huge issue,” said Dan Wegmueller with Wegmueller Dairy Farm & “The Dairy” Farm Stay.”

    “As input costs continue to go up and it’s tougher for farmers to get their products out onto the market and harvested. Those prices do go up on the grocery store shelves,” Bickham said.

    A Texas A&M study links more H-2A workers with lower inflation and consumer prices.

    Some key findings of that report:

    1. More migrant and H-2A workers are associated with lower inflation
    2. More denied naturalization petitions are associated with larger consumer prices and higher inflation

    Opponents like Daren Bakst, an expert with the Heritage Foundation, described the Farm Workforce Modernization Act as an amnesty bill for illegal workers with short-term benefits for farmers. He said workers who get this H-2A visa will almost certainly move off the farm. In his full statement, Bakst said: 

    “This is an amnesty bill for agricultural workers who are illegally in the country. And the bill makes no pretense otherwise. The legislation gives a special pathway to citizenship for illegal workers, with some workers being able to get a green card in as little as four years. To stress, it isn’t giving these illegal workers a way to become a part of the H-2A guest worker program, but instead, it goes way beyond that and creates a pathway to citizenship. It allows illegal aliens to stay in the country while they are provided an easy pathway to citizenship, rewarding lawbreakers and punishing legal aliens who abide by the rules to become citizens.

    For those saying it will help farmers, at best it would provide a short-term benefit to farmers who have employed illegal workers. Many of the illegal agricultural workers who get this new pathway will almost certainly move off the farm. That movement away from the farm is precisely what happened when the United States granted amnesty to more than 1 million agricultural workers in 1986.

    It’s one thing for Congress to reform legal pathways, but it’s quite another to reward illegal agricultural workers and agricultural employers who have ignored the law altogether.

    When considering immigration in agriculture, it isn’t a binary choice between doing nothing and creating this extreme amnesty bill. There should be a thoughtful dialogue regarding how to improve the legal immigration system without simultaneously undermining its legitimacy.”

    The Farm Workforce Modernization Act is still pending in the U.S. Senate; whether or not the Senate will vote on this act remains uncertain.

    This act would cap worker visas at 20,000 and dairy farmers want that cap lifted, which is one reason this act is stalled.

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