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Asian Nations Reject UN Vote Against Death Penalty

11 Asia-Pacific Governments Oppose 120 States on Capital Punishment Moratorium

(Bangkok) – Eleven countries from the Asia-Pacific region were among the small minority that voted against a United Nations resolution opposing the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 17, 120 UN member states voted in favor of a…
A view of the United Nations General Assembly, at UN headquarters, October 1, 2018.
News

Letter to Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne

Re: Protecting Human Rights in Australia’s Foreign Policy

Dear Minister Payne, Congratulations on your reappointment as foreign minister. Human Rights Watch looks forward to working with you to make protection of human rights a strong pillar of Australia’s foreign policy. We attach a…
201906asia_australia_marise_payne
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Australia: Protect Human Rights in Foreign Policy

Human Rights Council Seat Demands Greater Leadership

(Sydney) – The Australian government should make the protection of human rights a central focus of its foreign policy, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the recently reappointed Foreign Minister Marise Payne that was released today. …
201906asia_australia_marise_payne
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Brunei: New Report on Abusive Penal Code

Law Retains Death Penalty for Private Consensual Sex

Brunei should immediately repeal its newly enacted penal code, which violates a range of human rights, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to the sultan of Brunei and a report, “Brunei’s Pernicious New Penal Code.” …
The Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah listens during the first executive session of the CHOGM summit at Lancaster House in London, Thursday, April 19, 2018.
News

Brunei’s Pernicious New Penal Code

Brunei’s Syariah Penal Code (2013) went into effect on April 3, 2019.[1] The new code poses grave threats to fundamental human rights and discriminates against the country’s most vulnerable groups, including children, women, and religious and sexual…
News

Don’t Go Easy on Brunei at UN Rights Review

Death Penalty, Whipping, and Amputation Remain on Statute Books

Brunei will appear before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on May 10 as part of its Universal Periodic Review, slated every four years. The review comes shortly after Brunei put into effect a new Sharia penal code that contains…
The Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah listens during the first executive session of the CHOGM summit at Lancaster House in London, Thursday, April 19, 2018.
News

Brunei: New Penal Code Imposes Maiming, Stoning

Immediately Suspend Highly Abusive Law

(Kuala Lumpur) – The Brunei government’s introduction of a new Sharia penal code poses grave threats to basic rights, especially for the country’s most vulnerable people, Human Rights Watch said today. The penal code, which goes into effect…
The Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah listens during the first executive session of the CHOGM summit at Lancaster House in London, Thursday, April 19, 2018.
News

Human Rights Shouldn't be Sidelined at ASEAN Summit

When US President Barack Obama first articulated his administration’s goal of a diplomatic rebalance to Asia, he outlined three areas in which the US government would focus its attentions: increased strategic and military ties, better…
U.S. President Barack Obama passes in front of ASEAN members flags as he arrives for the Plenary session of the 21st ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summits in Phnom Penh
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US/ASEAN: Rights Should Top Sunnylands Agenda

Obama Should Press Leaders to End Repression

(Washington, D.C.) – United States President Barack Obama should make human rights a central and public focus of the upcoming summit of Southeast Asian leaders in the United States, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report on human…
Prime Ministers Hun Sen and Prayut
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Trans-Pacific Partnership: Serious Rights Concerns

Q&A Addresses Labor, Health and Online Expression

(Washington, DC) – The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) economic and trade agreement raises numerous human rights concerns despite unprecedented efforts to address labor issues, Human Rights Watch said today in a new Q & A. The TPP’s rights…
TPP Leaders
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Sure, TPP Is 'Win-Win'... Unless You Care About Human Rights

To hear the Obama Administration tell it, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a win-win and cure-all. It will create jobs in the U.S., improve labor and environmental protections, improve business transparency internationally, and help consummate a…
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Civil Society Denounces Adoption of Flawed ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

AHRD falls far below international standards

Disregarding the deep concerns expressed by senior United Nations officials, human rights experts and hundreds of civil society and grassroots organisations at the national, regional and international levels, ASEAN leaders nonetheless adopted  yesterday…
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ASEAN’s road to nowhere?

Subverting standards within the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

In July, the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh will receive one of the most important documents drafted since the adoption five years ago of the ASEAN Charter. The ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights supposedly rings in a “new ASEAN” that is “…
News

ASEAN: Reject Burma as Regional Group’s Chair

Southeast Asian Leaders Should Endorse International Commission of Inquiry

(New York) - Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should reject Burma's request to chair the regional grouping in 2014 until the Burmese government takes genuine steps towards improving human rights, including the release of more…
News

Iran: Deepening Crisis on Rights

Huge Spike in Executions; Lawyers Targeted for Championing Freedoms

(New York) - The Iranian government's high rate of executions and targeting of rights defenders, particularly lawyers, in 2010 and early 2011 highlights a deepening of the human rights crisis that gripped the country following the disputed June 2009…
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US/ASEAN: Obama Should Press Asian Leaders on Rights

Prioritize Burma, Free Speech, and Accountability at ASEAN-US Summit

(New York) - 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, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on Obama, in his meetings…
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Letter to ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong

The ASEAN Charter

H.E. Ong Keng Yong Secretary General The ASEAN Secretariat 70A, Jalan Sisingamangaraja Jakarta 12110 Indonesia Re: ASEAN Charter Dear Secretary General: Congratulations on the impending signing of the new ASEAN Charter at the 13th ASEAN Summit in…