Myanmar: Release of prisoners of conscience positive but many still locked up
The release of several prisoners of conscience in Myanmar today is a positive step, but time is running out for the government to keep its promise to release everyone imprisoned for peaceful activism by the year’s end, Amnesty International said.
Myanmar today announced the release of 69 political prisoners, including...
Philippines: Killing of land rights activist Ms. Elisa Lascoña Tulid
The Observatory has been informed by Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) about the killing of Ms. Elisa Lascoña Tulid, a human rights defender in the agrarian reform sector and a leader of the peasant group Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Barangay Tala at Camflora, in Sitio Kumbenyo, Barangay...
Human rights abuses are rampant in Burma
I am a Shan ethnic woman from Burma who has been working for human rights and democracy in my homeland for decades. I had the opportunity this year to spend time at the National Endowment for Democracy as a visiting fellow, researching the role of women in Burma’s democratic...
Japan Should Push Cambodia on Reforms, Human Rights Watch Says
WASHINGTON DC - Human Rights Watch is appealing to Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to use a weekend visit to Cambodia to break a political deadlock and to push harder for human rights.
Opposition and ruling party officials remain at odds over election results from July, when the opposition says...
U.N. criticizes alleged brutality by Cambodian authorities
Recent labor clashes in Cambodia, involving alleged police brutality, must be investigated, a United Nations spokesman said Friday.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, voiced concern over the violent clashes between police and striking garment workers Nov. 12 in the Stung...
Myanmar: From isolation to leader
At the close of the East Asia Summit in Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar officially accepted the chairmanship of ASEAN 2013-2014. Myanmar’s leaders proved to the world that a state’s foreign policy can change an isolated country to an open and democratic country. The transition to a bloc leader requires some...
Why Thailand should lead in promoting the rule of law for sustainable development
The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established in 2000 reach their deadline in 2015, and while several are on track to being achieved, the UN acknowledges progress has been uneven within and across countries. One major problem is that the MDGs overlook the significance of the relationship between...
Muslim countries also pressing Malaysia to do more for human rights, says lawyer
Apart from Western nations, Muslim countries also want Malaysia to protect the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and to do more for freedom of expression and assembly by signing on to more United Nations conventions on human rights, a Malaysian lawyer has revealed.
Bar Council human rights committee member...
U.N. rights council picks defy comprehension
China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Algeria, all of which have refused U.N. investigators’ visits to check on alleged human rights abuses, are now members of the U.N. Human Rights Council charged with monitoring and investigating human rights abuses around the world.
Three of the five – China, Russia and...
Indonesia Executes Pakistani Drug Trafficker
A Pakistani drug trafficker was executed by firing squad at a South Tangerang cemetery early Sunday morning in the fifth death sentence carried out by Indonesian authorities since the government announced a renewed push to execute those convicted of capital offenses.
Muhammad Abdul Hafeez, 44, was executed by members of...
