IN THE NEWS: 1 year after the Trump administration’s funding cuts, critical journalists across Southeast Asia are left without protection.

In a Devex article by Rebecca L. Root, Manushya’s Founder & Executive Director Emilie Palamy Pradichit reveals how the cuts gutted life-saving protection systems for the growing number of repressed activists and citizen journalists.

“When the USAID funding cuts came in, it became a question of life or death. There were several activists, including citizen journalists, who we were not able to protect right away,” Emilie Palamy said.

At Manushya, the suspension of US funding forced nine safe houses to shut down, leaving endangered activists without protection.

Today, without this support, dissenting voices are at growing risk of enforced disappearance, exile, and assassination, such as Mr. Khaen, a Lao citizen journalist assassinated in February after Laos’ national elections.

Emilie Palamy added: “It’s the tragic reality of citizen journalists living in closed countries, that the price of telling the truth is that you may die at any moment.”

In Southeast Asia, repression does not stop at borders. Journalists, activists, and dissidents are forced into exile, tracked across countries, and punished for exposing state violence. For citizen journalists in closed countries like Laos, the price of truth can be disappearance or death.

🔗 Read the full article: https://www.devex.com/news/in-exile-and-at-risk-journalists-navigate-life-after-us-funding-cuts-112191.

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