Toward a community of solidarity with resilience
Japan is hosting the ASEAN Japan Commemorative Summit in Tokyo. Each head of state or government from all 10 ASEAN member states will convene in Tokyo to commemorate our 40 years of friendship and cooperation, as well as to chart our partnership into the future.
Japan and ASEAN share common...
Myanmar leads ASEAN into 2014
Myanmar’s political transition has found active support in all nations — but the 2011 ASEAN Summit in Bali encouraged the reforms by according Naypyidaw the association’s chairmanship in 2014.
In this period of reform and transition, Myanmar now faces the challenge of leading a region that is working towards prosperity...
Govt to give ASEAN $100 mil
The government plans to pledge an additional $100 million to help build an ASEAN community by 2015, at the special summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations scheduled to begin in Tokyo on Friday evening.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will announce the additional contribution to the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund,...
Lao PDR Prepares an Initial Report under ICCPR
On 12 December 2013, at the International Convention and Training Center (ICTC) in Vientiane, the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Regional Office organized a Workshop on Reporting under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The...
Abe should pursue universal values in diplomacy with ASEAN
It has been 40 years since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan started exchanges for cooperation.
The Japanese government offered official development assistance (ODA) worth about 2 trillion yen ($19.4 billion) on Dec. 14 at a summit in Tokyo to leaders of the 10 member countries. The...
Indonesia: Intimidation of Ahmadis escalates in Singkut, Jambi
According to Padang Legal Aid Institute (LBH Padang) and Ahmad Ilyas from the Indonesian Ahmadi Congregation (JAI), some 250-300 villagers and members of the Indonesian Islamic Student Association (Persatuan Mahasiswa Islam Indonesia, PMII) Sorolangun conducted a ‘protest’ at the office of JAI Singkut at 10:30 a.m. on 4 December...
Transforming the culture of human rights in Myanmar
For nearly two decades, Myanmar was a key case study in the growth of the international human rights movement, a country beset by systematic denial of basic freedoms of assembly, association and expression. It stifled a once-assertive media; suffered a brutal, decades-long civil war; and incarcerated thousands of political...
US ‘deeply concerned’ over Laos activist fate
The United States has said it is "deeply concerned" that the fate of one of Laos' most prominent social activists is still unknown, one year after he was abducted from a police checkpoint in Vientiane.
The abduction of Sombath Somphone, 61, at a busy traffic junction in the Laotian capital...
Lao PDR urged to Increase Investigation Efforts
A group of United Nations human rights experts today urged the Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) to increase its efforts in the investigations into the enforced disappearance on 15 December 2012, of Sombath Somphone, a prominent human right activist working on issues of land confiscation...
Thousands rally for new poll in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH: Thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters on Sunday staged a fresh demonstration against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s hotly disputed July election win, calling for a new poll to settle allegations of vote rigging.
An estimated 10,000 protesters, many waving Cambodian flags and banners, massed in a park in the...
