Most compelling people of 2024: Year in review

[ad_1] North Korea escapees ending their graduate levels in New York Metropolis. Professional-democracy exiles constructing new lives after fleeing Hong Kong. A teenaged girl soldier on the entrance strains of Myanmar’s civil battle. These are among the folks RFA journalists spoke with in 2024 — and listed below are their compelling tales:

Uyghur Youth Initiative #ofcourse TikTok problem A TikTok video by three Uyghur ladies dwelling in Germany goes viral, mixing humor with human rights abuses and genocide.

“The Uyghur disaster is a really pressing and severe matter,” Muqeddes Memet, 18, one of many ladies within the video, advised RFA Uyghur.

“If we add a bit humor content material, folks will watch it. If we all the time speak about an pressing matter, folks will get drained. If we add some jokes, they are going to pay higher consideration.”

Wang Shujun — historian, activist, convicted Chinese language spy? Wang Shujun, 76, lived for the final 30 years in New York as a scholar working in an insular neighborhood of pro-democracy advocates preventing for change in China.

A sequence of experiences by RFA Investigative reveals a life turned upside-down when the FBI accused Wang of spying for Beijing. He vigorously denied it however in August was discovered responsible on 4 espionage prices. Wang shall be sentenced in January 2025.

Tibetan monks and residents protesting China’s dam venture Police arrested greater than 1,000 Tibetans, together with Buddhist monks, in southwestern China’s Sichuan province on Feb. 23, after they protested the development of a dam anticipated to destroy six monasteries and power the relocation of two villages, two sources from inside Tibet advised Radio Free Asia.

Unique RFA Tibetan video confirmed the protests which started on Feb. 14, and subsequent arrests, prompting international response.

A few of the protesters have been overwhelmed so badly that they required medical consideration, three sources advised Radio Free Asia.

Widespread ‘monk’ Thich Minh Tue worries Vietnamese officers Buddhist monk Thich Minh Tue in Vietnam's Ha Tinh province, Could 17, 2024. A 43-year-old Vietnamese man turned an web hit in Could when a number of influencers started documenting his barefoot pilgrimage throughout Vietnam. He amassed legions of supporters who have been drawn to his easy life-style and humble angle.

However the consideration Tue was getting appeared to fret the authorities, resulting in his detention and prompted worldwide requires his launch.

In November, RFA Vietnamese obtained a replica of a letter purportedly written by Tue renouncing his vow of poverty. Supporters query its authenticity, saying authorities could also be attempting to isolate him from the general public.

Moe Pyae Sone, Karen Nationwide Liberation Military fighter “I’ve gained fight expertise,” she says. “I’ve participated in fairly a number of battles.”

RFA spoke with Moe Pyae Sone, 18, at an internally displaced folks’s camp simply south of Myawaddy, the place ethnic rebels overran army junta positions in April.

Carrying camouflage pants, a tactical vest, braided hair, pink plastic clogs and a large grin, she remembers collaborating in protests in opposition to Myanmar’s army junta after the Feb. 2021 coup earlier than becoming a member of insurgent forces a 12 months later.

Pyongyang to Manhattan: Escaping North Korea for the Huge Apple Brother and sister Lee Hyunseung and Lee Seohyun, who each escaped North Korea, go to Occasions Sq., March 2024. Born right into a rich, elite household, siblings Lee Hyunseung, 38, and Seohyun, 32, fled North Korea a decade in the past with their mother and father.

Earlier than graduating from Columbia College in Could, they witnessed campus demonstrations in opposition to Israel’s army strikes on Gaza.

“The truth that america really respects freedom of expression strikes a chord in my coronary heart,” Hyunseung advised RFA Korean. “In North Korea or China, it’s unimaginable to even take into consideration such issues.”

Ly Chandaravuth, environmental activist, Mom Nature Cambodia Cambodian environmental activist Ly Chandaravuth. Earlier than returning to Cambodia to face trial in Could, Ly Chandaravuth shared a sequence of movies with RFA Khmer.

“At the moment, we live in concern,” he mentioned. “For instance we've got a home however we're afraid of shedding it,” referring to Cambodia’s pure sources. “We now have ore mining however we're nonetheless poor. Those that profit from ore mining are foreigners, overseas firms or highly effective folks.”

Chandaravuth was amongst 10 Mom Nature Cambodia activists who have been handed six-year sentences and brought into custody after being convicted of plotting in opposition to the federal government on July 2.

Hong Kong exiles rebuilding their lives Hong Kong exiles, from left to proper: Amity Chan, Frances Hui, Huen Lam, and Baggio Leung, in Washington, in 2024. 5 years in the past, one million Hong Kong residents took to the streets to protest a plan to extradite Hong Kongers to mainland China.

A crackdown adopted. 1000's have been arrested, information shops have been shut down and civil society teams have been disbanded. In March, the reins have been tightened additional with Hong Kong’s Article 23 safety regulation.

Many Hong Kongers have fled within the years since. RFA spoke with 4 exiles about their outdated lives in Hong Kong and their new ones in america, the issues they miss about house and what they fear about.

Lao content material creators detained for comical pothole fishing video James Famor, left, and Dai James, heart, in an Aug. 29, 2024, social media submit. Graphic artists utilizing the names Dai James and James Famor uploaded an AI-generated video to Fb, exhibiting them fishing in water-filled potholes on a road, surrounded by crocodiles – a video that went viral in Laos. The police got here knocking.