human rights – Tom Vater

Bangkok photo exhibit portrays plight of Myanmar refugees, in Nikkei Asia

October 20, 2022October 20, 2022tom

My latest story in Nikkei Asia is about ‘Endless Escape’, an exhibition currently at BACC in Bangkok, documenting the plight of refugees trying to flee fighting and government repression in Myanmar by crossing into Thailand and getting trapped, pushed back or killed along the border. BANGKOK — “If you exhibit a photo like this (of […]

Hard choices in the Andaman Islands in The Nikkei Asian Review

February 6, 2019March 19, 2019tomLeave a Comment

My latest for The Nikkei Asian Review on the plight of the indigenous people of the Andaman Islands in India – The world should reconsider forced assimilation of isolated communities. In late November, an American missionary attempted to bring Christianity to the Sentinelese people, a remote community in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an Indian […]

Roy Harper interviewed at Noir on the Radio

March 13, 2017tomLeave a Comment

“Being an outlaw is about freedom, it sets you loose from the boundaries of society, the boundaries of law, and the things that hold you back. The limits of where you can and can’t go and what you can and can’t do. If you have no boundaries there, then that’s the freedom that it gives […]

Democracy in Southeast Asia – A Story Untold

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015tomLeave a Comment

I was recently commissioned by a Thai English language magazine to write a short satirical piece abut Democracy in SE Asia. After much back and forth, the publication decided not to go ahead with the article, apparently due to the current political climate in Thailand. In the West – by which I generally mean the […]

Thailand: Murder in the Land of Smiles in The Diplomat

October 11, 2014October 12, 2014tomLeave a Comment

The country’s tourism sector is taking a hit following a high-profile murder case and a bungled police response. My report in last week’s The Diplomat.

The Life of the Others – Thailand’s Minorities Under Threat

January 17, 2013January 17, 2013tomLeave a Comment

Thailand’s minorities are having a hard time, not least because of the nefarious activities of powerful and ruthless missionaries. The original story this feature is based on was published in German and ran to 2.500 words. This is a seriously cut edit. The German article on the same subject was published in MERIAN and Spiegel […]

Andaman minority turned into tourist circus for rich Indians! Again.

January 11, 2012January 11, 2012tomLeave a Comment

British newspaper The Guardian reports that the Jarawa, a tribe of Andaman Islanders who number just a few hundred, have been coerced by Indian police to dance naked for tourist ‘safaris’. Unfortunately, this has been going on for many, many years. When I visited the Andamans in 1997 and 2000, Indian VIPs, speak politicians and […]