MYANMAR, HONG KONG, MONGOLIA
The documentaries listed here are self-produced, that includes producing, reporting, filming and editing.
Self-produced videos 2016-2019:
Myanmar's $40b drug market
Police seizures of yaba and crystal meth across southeast Asia are on track for a record year. And as TRT World's Libby Hogan reports, Myanmar is a big part of the problem.
what the nose knows
In the mountains of southwestern Myanmar, 90-year-old Magaan tribe elder Daw Yaw Shaw is one of the last nose flute players. With an estimated 60 different clans making up the Chin ethnic minority — Shaw says playing the nose flute and the art of facial tattoos, are two traditions that are at risk of disappearing.
Life at the bottom of Myanmar’s jade mines
Three years since the jade trade was revealed to be worth 31 billion dollars, questions still abound about what improvements have been made by Aung San Suu Kyi’s government to share these revenues.
Change brewing in burma's poppy country?
There’s been a steady decline in the cultivation of opium poppy in recent years. From 2015 to 2017, the production of poppy has decreased from 54,000 hectares to 41,000 hectares, so what’s behind this trend?
Chinese Investment in Myanmar Questioned
Myanmar's defacto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is welcoming businesses to invest in Rakhine State, more than a year since thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled.
Mrauk U: tensions, protests and its bid for UNESCO protection
Should tourists still visit Mrauk U? After the deadly protests last month, DVB takes a look at how the community is reacting and how tourism is being affected.
Tazaungdaing: Fire. Balloons. Camera. Action!
Tazaungdaing in Taunggyi is bedlam.
Picture hundreds of homemade fireworks strapped to the basket of a hot-air balloon, let off in the middle of a crowd of tens of thousands. Absolute mayhem.
chin national day hopes
In the background of Chin National Day last month, Ninu, a Chin women’s rights group, launched a report calling for patriarchal customs including inheritance, the division of property and the bride price system to change. DVB met with K’cho Chin Women Organization to learn more..
Chin State, marked by change, looks to hold on to its roots
“Chin people aren’t poor because they are backward, but because of bad policy choices,” Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) Program Director Salai Za Uk Ling says firmly.
Under the previous military regime, land-grabbing robbed families of their agriculture-based livelihoods. Human rights groups have recorded that thousands of acres were seized from farmers. Not only was the land confiscated without compensation, but villagers were also forced to work on the seized land that, in some areas, was converted into tea and jatropha plantations under a government-led program.
Myanmar's forgotten refugees
The future for refugees living along the Thai-Myanmar border is more uncertain than ever.
Some 100,000 refugees living in the nine refugee camps along the border face a difficult decision; to return to fragile peace in Myanmar or continue living in the camps with no citizenship, legal protection, and declining rations.
To further complicate their situation, many can’t be reunited with their families who moved to the United States under a UNHCR mass resettlement program, because all refugee admissions programs have been suspended under President Donald Trump.
Too young to toil: Burma’s child labour epidemic
The government has taken the first step to address the rampant problem of child labour throughout the country by drafting a five-year National Action Plan to eliminate child labour.
There are some 1.3 million child labourers in Burma, according to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, but the real number is estimated to be much higher. In Burma, the minimum legal working age is 14.
In Burma, garment industry booms — and labour unions pay the pricE
Discrimination against workers standing up for their rights in Burma’s garment industry was highlighted this month after a union leader was fired and employees’ overtime pay went neglected for over a year at a factory supplyingfashion brand H&M.
Rangoon trash alley gets a makeover
There’s no hiding Rangoon’s trash problem. The streets of Burma’s biggest city are often the scene of overflowing garbage, but one organisation is changing that.
Karen reggae singer’s message for Burma’s youth? ‘One love’
Reggae singer Saw Phoe Kwar usually performs concerts in stadiums and on grand stages, but recently he has decided to take his music to school grounds across Burma.
Padaung ‘longnecks’ begin their journey home
A handful of emboldened Padaung women, commonly known as “long necks”, are taking the long journey back to their villages in Karreni State, Burma. During the years of hostilities in Burma many fled to Thailand to seek refuge. Now some women want to return to their native villages and set up new tourism ventures.
The long road to rural healthcare reform
Mismanagement and a chronic lack of funding during 50 years of military rule are the main culprits for the poor state of healthcare in Burma today. According to World Health Organisation figures, less than four percent of all government spending goes to healthcare in Burma – trailing behind war-torn countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.
Gambira finally freed from prison
The former monk, who helped to spearhead massive, monk-led protests in 2007 — dubbed the Saffron Revolution — over deteriorating living conditions and the oppressive rule of then-dictator Than Shwe, has been released from prison.
Mexican students continue to fight
Protests in Guerrero, Mexico, have erupted into the streets yet again this week as families demand the return of their missing children. Last September 43 students went missing-allegedly carried out by the police. Official reports have confirmed...
Mercado Corona: Las primeras respuestas después del incendio
A fire destroyed one of Guadalajara's historical building this week. Many shopsellers lost their goods in the fire and are worried about their future. There's also talk that a new Citimart shopping plaza could be built on the site which has caused concern in the community.
Young people with a disability left out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme
The National Disability Insurance Scheme continues to move ahead with NSW and Victoria the latest states to sign on for full roll out starting next year but there is still virtually no funding for disability housing.