In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

The Asia Foundation’s new study, “The Contested Corners of Asia,” highlights the growing importance of conflicts that occur within rather than between countries. In recent years, subnational conflicts between national governments and local rebel groups have killed more people than all other forms of conflict in Asia. Typically located in remote border areas far from the capital city, and often intensified by ethnic or religious differences, these confrontations often continue for many decades. The research highlights that subnational conflicts do not necessarily diminish as countries develop. They affect middle-income countries such as Thailand as well as poorer countries like Laos or Nepal. This creates a dilemma for international development agencies.

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Aceh – Indonesia’s western-most province which endured three decades of a secessionist civil war that left at least 15,000 dead – is frequently cited as the best recent example in Asia of a successful peace process. However, eight years after the Helsinki accord brought an end to the conflict, new forms of localized violence are now emerging.

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The Asia Foundation just launched a major new study on development and subnational conflict in Asia. “The Contested Corners of Asia” argues that subnational conflict is the most widespread, deadly, and enduring form of conflict in Asia, and that increasing development and expanding state capacity do not make these conflicts any easier to resolve. A product of a three-year research effort, the study involved nearly 100 researchers, leading subnational conflict experts…

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The Asia Foundation’s third annual Lotus Leadership Awards luncheon takes place this week on June 6 at New York’s Boathouse in Central Park, and In Asia sat down with Lotus Circle founding member and advisor, Masako Shinn, who joined the Foundation’s board in 2012

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Ahead of The Asia Foundation’s third annual Lotus Leadership Awards luncheon on June 6 in New York, which highlights work to end human trafficking in Asia, In Asia editor Alma Freeman caught up with counter-trafficking expert Nandita Baruah from her office in Nepal.

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Cambodian migrant workers sent home $256 million in remittances in 2012, 1.8 percent of the country’s GDP and the fourth highest percentage in Southeast Asia, according to a new report from the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

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Fourteen million girls under the age of 18 are married every year – one every three seconds. The rates are highest in South Asia, where 46 percent of girls marry before they reach 18. Child marriage can be one of the most devastating forms of violence and discrimination against women.

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Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mr. Chong-Moon Lee was awarded the Lotus Leadership Award at the annual luncheon June 6 in New York. Mr. Lee, who is being honored for his commitment to improving the lives of women and girls in Asia, just announced a major new multi-country initiative to combat trafficking in Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. [...]

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The future of “traditional” aid is increasingly and rather suddenly in question. Why? Several reasons: rapid transformations in the global economic and political order, the growth and diversification of private financial flows to developing countries…

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In Asia editor Alma Freeman caught up with David Carden, the first resident U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN based in Jakarta, on a recent visit to The Asia Foundation in San Francisco, to discuss ASEAN connectivity, U.S.-ASEAN relations…

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