Monat: April 2015

Papua New Guinea is the second largest island in the world. It is inhabited by diverse tribes that depend on nature to provide them with food and medicine. In ecological terms, the island has a rich array of botanical and animal species. Yet, as in the other parts of the world, global industry has started to penetrate remote areas of Papua New Guinea. Many critics believe deforestation, industrial agriculture, mining and other mineral exploitation are major threats to the rich biodiversity in Papua New Guinea.

Photojournalist Michael Eko Hardianto traveled to the island in late 2014 and early 2015 to conduct research along the Bird’s Head Peninsula, specifically the South Sorong Regency in the West Papua province of Indonesia. There, much of the natural biodiversity remains. (By Nicole Crowder)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2015/04/08/deforestation-amid-papuas-fragile-ecosystem/

Michael Eko is a documentary photographer from Jakarta, Indonesia who studied Journalism at Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta. His work was shown in magazines such as National Geographic Traveler Indonesia, Asian Geographic and South East Asia Globe and he is a founding member of Cephas Photo Forum, a discussion forum about photography in Yogyakarta. 

As April 30 approaches, marking 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War, people in Vietnam with severe mental and physical disabilities still feel the lingering effects of Agent Orange.

Respiratory cancer and birth defects amongst both Vietnamese and U.S. veterans have been linked to exposure to the defoliant. The U.S. military sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange onto Vietnam’s jungles during the conflict to expose northern communist troops.

Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj travelled through Vietnam to meet the people affected, four decades on.

http://widerimage.reuters.com/story/legacy-of-agent-orange

Published on The Wider Image Reuters – This immersive app for iPad reimagines news photography to bring images and information to life.

Damir Sagolj is a Bangkok-based award-winning photographer who is the senior Reuters staff photographer covering Asia – and anywhere else where news is breaking. He spent ten years covering the Middle East including the intifada, and the Iran/Iraq conflict along with the more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and also documented the conflict in the Balkans. His work has been widely published and exhibited including at the presigious photo-journalism festival, Visa pour L’image in Perpignan. 

Hong Kong has 300,000 migrant domestic workers, half of whom come from Indonesia. The vast majority are young women employed by families as caregivers to children and the elderly. Many face exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous recruitment agencies, loan companies and employers. Despite a wealth of evidence from the UN, ILO and human rights organisations, the Government of Hong Kong refuses to acknowledge the scale of the problem and its role in exasperating the situation. In response, Indonesian migrant domestic workers have organised themselves to fight for their rights through forming trade unions and protest. Much of this work is done during the one statutory day-off they receive, and takes place in and around Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island. (by Robert Godden)

http://www.rightsexposureproject.com/indonesia-migrant-domestic-workers

Robert Godden is a photographer and human rights activist. Formerly with Amnesty International, he is the founder of the Rights Exposure Project which brings together a range of audio-visual professionals with local knowledge and international experience. Their region of specialization is Asia, with thematic expertise in migrant workers rights & trafficking for labour exploitation and forced labour.