US President Barack Obama should urge Asian leaders at the first ASEAN-US summit to unite in addressing the region’s most pressing human rights concerns.

In January, Australians saw shocking photos of young, emaciated men washing up on the shores of Sumatra. Australian television showed these Rohingyas, members of a Muslim ethnic minority systematically mistreated by Burma’s military regime, describing how Thai authorities beat them and pushed them back out to sea. Video footage captured the Thai navy appearing to tow the men out to sea in their rickety boats. The world was horrified.

I am writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch to call for the removal of provisions in the new criminal bylaws passed by the Aceh Provincial House of Representatives on September 14, 2009, which seek to punish a range of sexual conduct with stoning and flogging, and which would dramatically reduce sexual violence victims' ability to seek redress through the criminal justice system.

A new criminal bylaw passed by the provincial parliament of Aceh imposes torture, violates basic rights to privacy, and fails to protect victims of sexual violence.

Indonesian police should strengthen efforts to find those responsible for the 2004 murder of a leading human rights lawyer instead of pursuing criminal defamation allegations against one of his fellow activists.

Indonesia’s recently re-elected president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, should undertake comprehensive measures to address persistent human rights problems.

At Human Rights Watch's invitation, Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng writes on the situation of child domestic workers in Indonesia.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia should demonstrate his stated support for differing political viewpoints by dropping politically motivated criminal charges against activists from Papua province and ordering their release.