Reports and stories from the field
For years, prisoners in Thailand suffering from HIV and AIDS were unable to access medical treatment. Many died behind bars, even though treatment was widely available outside. For the past five years, Medecins Sans Frontieres, known as MSF, has been coordinating ARV therapy and HIV/AIDS treatment programs in three Bangkok area prisons. In a few days, the Thai government will assume responsibility for all HIV/AIDS programs inside Thai prisons.
Link to my feature for VOA News:
Canada’s woodland caribou, also known as reindeer, are threatened by global warming and industrial expansion in the north.
I made this short video feature for Associated Press Television News. It is posted on National Geographic’s website:
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/081209-caribou-video-ap.html
While anti-government protestors occupied Bangkok’s main airport, I reported on the chaos for CNN and AFPTV (Agence France Press Television).
One of my reports for CNN:
www.video.aol.com/partner/cnn/chaos-in-bangkok/world:2008:11:26:bpr:thai:airport:blast:goodman
Many of my video stories these days are about the environment and endangered animals for Associated Press Television News and National Geographic’s website.
Watch my piece about street elephants in Thailand that are given a shot at a better life at a resort in northern Thailand:
US Department of State staff writer Eric Green touches on my reporting in his 22 October 2008 article:
www.america.gov/st/freepress-english/2008/October/200810221626221xeneerg0.7904627.html?CP.rss=true
Thailand plans to boost domestic rice production to deal with the global food crisis and also increase biofuel production:
Read my article for IRIN News, the UN’s humanitarian information service:
Half of all injection drug users in Thailand are thought to be HIV-positive. However, AIDS activists say the country’s war on illegal drug use and discrimination against drug users make it harder for many to get lifesaving treatment.
Link to my article for VOA News (13 August 2008):
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has confirmed he will not return to Bangkok to face corruption charges. The Thai courts have issued warrants for the arrest of Mr. Thaksin and his wife.
Link to my radio story and article for VOA News (11 August 2008):
Thailand’s treatment of refugees has come under scrutiny for confining 140,000 refugees to camps along the Thai/Myanmar border, and refusing them the right to work and study.
The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) in June ranked Thailand as one of the 10 worst places for refugees.
USCRI and others have also criticised the Thai military for returning 800 Hmong asylum-seekers to Laos in early July.
Some 8,000 Hmong have been living in the Huai Nam Khao camp in Thailand’s Petchabun Province since 2004. The Hmong claim they fled harassment and persecution in their homeland because of ties to the CIA-backed force that fought the communists in the 1960s and 70s.
Read my article for IRIN (irinnews.org) (the UN’s humanitarian information service):
www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79227
International donors have poured millions of dollars of relief aid into Myanmar, hoping to help more than two million people affected by Cyclone Nargis.
In this feature article for Reuters AlertNet (19 June 2008), I explore whether corruption by Myanmar’s junta could tarnish efforts to help those who need it most:
www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/1264/2008/05/19-172226-1.htm
