Asia

Poetry is an important form of expression for everyday and social issues in Cambodia, providing an important voice in increasingly shrinking spaces. The award-winning poem by Chhoy Phanith gives insights into the aspirations and hopes of young Cambodians.

Gender-based violence, participation in political and social processes and shrinking spaces: How do women's rights activists work under increasingly constrained circumstances in Cambodia?

While political and social avenues for free speech are limited and prohibited, Cambodian visual artists find limitless forms of creative expression to critically examine many complex urban, social and environmental concerns.

No Single Pathway. Southeast Asian countries’ targets and wish lists toward carbon neutrality are like individual recipes that use different ingredients in various ways, to produce the same dish (hopefully).

Starting from October 2021, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will begin using a newly revised but still problematic environmental and social framework. This framework contains the right words and appears to tick all the boxes, but it includes too many loopholes and caveats that undermine early disclosure of environmental and social risks.

Mr Rayyan Hassan, Executive Director of the NGO Forum, urged the ADB to take the coal moratorium ahead and move towards a full transition to renewable energy finance as soon as possible. In this interview, he shares what happened next and what still needs to be done.

The Taliban takeover in Kabul, the frantic evacuation efforts of foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans, and the fear among those left behind of being targeted by the new regime are shining a spotlight on the double-edged nature of government data collection as well as digital communication tools in times of crisis.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in recent days has brought new dimensions of  human suffering and political crisis to what is arguably the most protracted refugee crisis of modern times.

The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will kick off in October 2021 in Kunming, China. What is the importance of biodiversity in China and what are the Chinese government's goals for COP 15? Lili Fuhr, Head of the International Environmental Policy Division, spoke with our Beijing Office Director, Paul Kohlenberg.

This short sentence is all you need to understand why the German government committed an error of judgment concerning Afghanistan. An error of judgment that kills people every day – and democracy throughout the world as well, by the way.