All posts by CPNN Coordinator

About CPNN Coordinator

Dr David Adams is the coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network. He retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, proclaimed for the Year 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.

International Women’s Day 2020

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from UN Women

Women’s rights and gender equality are taking centre stage in 2020.

Twenty-five years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action—a progressive roadmap for gender equality—it’s time to take stock of progress and bridge the gaps that remain through bold, decisive actions.


Video: We are #GenerationEquality

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day (8 March) is, “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights“.

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(Click here for a French version of this article or here for a Spanish version.)

Questions for this article

Does the UN advance equality for women?

Prospects for progress in women’s equality, what are the short and long term prospects?

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The Generation Equality campaign  is bringing together people of every gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion and country, to drive actions that will create the gender-equal world we all deserve.

Together, we want to mobilize to end gender-based violence; we are calling for economic justice and rights for all; bodily autonomy, sexual and reproductive health and rights; and feminist action for climate justice. We want technology and innovation for gender equality; and feminist leadership.

Small actions can have big impacts in making this vision a reality. On International Women’s Day, join #GenerationEquality and become part of the movement.

Statement for International Women’s Day by Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. 
In her statement for International Women’s Day (8 March), UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka highlights 2020 as the year for gender equality and calls on everyone to tackle the persistent barriers against gender equality.

global, United Nations, WOMEN'S EQUALITY,

Ecuador: The culture of peace is presented in an international digital magazine

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Cronica

“Culture and education for peace” is the theme of the third edition of the Culture of Peace Magazine presented, on March 2, by the Unesco Chair of Peace Education and Culture of the Private Technical University of Loja (UTPL). The work presented in digital format has 18 scientific articles and 3 book reviews by authors from Ecuador, Mexico and Spain.


This issue addresses topics such as: anthropology of violence; inclusion of sexual diversity for a culture of peace; violence and conflict in Ecuador in 2019; construction of a culture of peace at the university level; memories of ex-combatant indigenous women of the FARC in Colombia; the symbolic dimension of the Zapatista mask, models of citizen participation and coexistence, among others.

(Review continued in right column)

( Click here for the original version in Spanish.)

Question for this article:

What are the most important books about the culture of peace?

(Review continued from left column)

Santiago Pérez Samaniego, director of the magazine, said that this annual publication has the function of promoting research at local, national and international level, on issues related to peace, education, conflicts and human rights. He stressed that the articles that are part of this edition reflect a rigorous analysis of the different realities, perspectives, good practices or visions of the researchers.

He stressed that since the first edition in 2016 there has been an increased participation of researchers from different countries in the Culture of Peace Magazine, which “fills us with pride.” “It has become a benchmark of research for the promotion of peace in Latin America, attaining an important international position ”

Institutional contribution

Rosario de Rivas Manzano, academic vice chancellor of the UTPL, during the presentation ceremony extended a congratulation to the team that generated the third edition of the magazine, which he said promotes peace through research that seeks to modify attitudes in people to transform the conflicts that can generate violence. He highlighted the contribution of this publication to the UTPL, as a university that builds a fairer world with respect for human beings and society.

-The Culture of Peace magazine is available on the website: revistadeculturadepaz.com

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar praised as ‘accomplished statesman’ who had ‘profound impact’ on the world

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from UN News

Javier Pérez  de Cuéllar, the fifth United Nations Secretary-General, praised for his ability to foster dialogue and for leading the Organization through a turbulent decade, has passed away at the age of 100.  

A veteran Peruvian diplomat, lawyer and professor, he is the first and only Latin American to hold the top UN job so far.  


Video about Perez de Cuellar
.

In a statement Wednesday evening, current UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that he was profoundly saddened  at Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar’s passing and praised the former UN chief as “an accomplished statesman, a committed diplomat and a personal inspiration who left a profound impact on the United Nations and our world.” 

Born in Lima, Peru, on 19 January 1920, he was appointed to lead the UN after 42 years of diplomatic service. 

Distinguished diplomatic career 

“Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar’s life spanned not only a century but also the entire history of the United Nations, dating back to his participation in the first meeting of the General Assembly in 1946,” said Mr. Guterres. 

Over the course of his career, in addition to being his country’s Ambassador to Switzerland – as well as the then Soviet Union, Poland and Venezuela – Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar held many high level positions in Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1971.  

During his month presiding over the UN Security Council, in July 1974, he ably-managed the crisis in Cyprus. A year later, he was appointed as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cyprus for two years, then went on to become the UN chief of Political Affairs and Representative of the UN in Afghanistan. 

The Cold War period and the growing role of the UN 

Mr. Guterres said that his predecessor’s tenure as Secretary-General coincided with two distinct eras in international affairs: first, some of the iciest years of the Cold War, and then, with the ideological confrontation at an end, a time when the UN began to play more fully the role envisaged by the founders.

(Article continued in the column on the right)

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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In 1982, his tenure as UN chief started with intense negotiations between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the disputed sovereignty of the Falkland Islands/Malvinas. Persistent through the countless challenges, Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar  produced a now famous phrase, referring to the peace talks: “The patient is in intensive care but still alive.”  

Despite health issues, he agreed to serve for a second term as UN chief. In his acceptance speech in 1986, he referenced the financial crisis that the UN was going through at the time, saying that “to decline in such circumstances would have been tantamount to abandoning a moral duty toward the United Nations.”  

Reiterating his “unshakable faith” in the “permanent validity” of the Organization, he added that the UN’s “difficult situation” provided a “creative opportunity for renewal and reform.”  

“Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar played a crucial role in a number of diplomatic successes — including the independence of Namibia, an end to the Iran-Iraq War, the release of American hostages held in Lebanon, the peace accord in Cambodia and, in his very last days in office, a historic peace agreement in El Salvador,” said the current UN chief. 

His second term was also marked by the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Among others, his team facilitated political stability in Nicaragua .  

In 1987, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for the promotion of Ibero-American co-operation. In 1989, he received the Olof Palme Prize for International Understanding and Common Security, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding. 

Long after his term as Secretary-General ended in 1991, he remained true to the values of the UN, and continued advocating for peace, justice, human rights and human dignity throughout his life. Decorated by some 25 countries, he was also the recipient of several honorary degrees. 

In his speech to the Nobel Committee, which awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to UN Peacekeeping Operations in 1989, he defined the role of inter-governmental organizations like the United Nations as being to “draw the line between struggle and conflict.” Thanks to his unyielding determination, he helped many nations “stay on the right side of that line”.  

“I extend my deepest condolences to Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar’s family, the Peruvian people and so many others around the world whose lives were touched by a remarkable and compassionate global leader who left our world a far better place,” said Mr. Guterres. 

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, United Nations,

International Criminal Court Offers Hope to Afghanistan’s Victims

. HUMAN RIGHTS .

An article by Patricia Gossman from Human Rights Watch (reprinted according to Creative Commons License)

Afghans who are skeptical about whether the US-Taliban agreement  and planned intra-Afghan peace talks  can deliver a better future, now have reason to believe that justice might not be squandered in the process. Today, judges on the International Criminal Court  (ICC) authorized the court’s prosecutor to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan since May 1, 2003. 


Afghan family leaves site of attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, December 22, 2016.  © 2016 Reuters

It was a rocky road to get here. In November 2017, after a more than 10-year analysis of the Afghanistan situation, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the court to approve an investigation  into alleged crimes, including targeted attacks on civilians by the Taliban and other insurgents; torture, rape, and enforced disappearances by Afghan police and security forces; and torture by the United States military and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 

(Article continued in right column.)

Question related to this article:

Can the International Criminal Court provide justice?

(Article continued from left column.)

Despite acknowledging the court’s jurisdiction over the crimes and that Afghanistan was making no effort to seek accountability, an ICC pre-trial chamber rejected the investigation  as not being in the “interests of justice.” In the ruling, the judges noted that “changes within the relevant political landscape” – likely referring to the US-Taliban talks as well as the Trump administration’s public attacks  on the ICC – would make an investigation too difficult. 

But in today’s decision, the appeals chamber overruled the lower court’s interpretation of the court’s founding treaty – which had been widely criticized, including by Human Rights Watch  – and allowed the investigation to go ahead. 

Coming amidst genuine movement toward peace talks, the ruling is an important reminder of the costs of impunity. The Bonn Agreement, signed in December 2001 after the defeat of the Taliban government, failed to provide justice for rights violations by all sides and fueled further atrocities by allowing serious human rights abusers to maintain official and unofficial positions of power. 

Today’s decision reaffirms the ICC’s role as an institution that might change these dynamics by challenging entrenched impunity. It has offered Afghans who have long sought justice hope that they may one day see it realized.  

global, HUMAN RIGHTS, South Asia,

English bulletin March 1, 2020

. CITIES TAKE THE LEAD . .

Nuclear disarmament. New York City is becoming the most recent city to plan for divestment of their funds from the nuclear weapons industry. Public hearings in the city on January 28 heard from a wide range of speakers in favor of this action. Speakers included the global campaign, Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, Mayors for Peace, young peope from Peace Boat and a representrative from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Participants at the hearing expressed their love of the city and strong unwillingness to see New York, or any other place on the Earth, to be exposed to the threat of irreversible destruction that nuclear weapons poses.

Hundreds of cities have joined the cities appeal of ICAN calling for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. The appeal states: “Our city/town is deeply concerned about the grave threat that nuclear weapons pose to communities throughout the world. We firmly believe that our residents have the right to live in a world free from this Threat. Any use of nuclear weapons, whether deliberate or accidental, would have catastrophic, far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for people and the environment. Therefore, we warmly welcome the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by the United Nations in 2017, and we call on our national government to join it.”

The Appeal is also supported by Mayors for Peace with its network of 7675 cities in 163 countries around the world. The most recent city to support the appeal, on January 27, was Oxford in the UK.

Sustainable development. UN Habitat recently sponsored the Tenth World Urban Forum to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by world leaders in 2015. At the meeting, which took place in Abu Dhabi from 8-13 February, the 13,000 participants  recognized that “an increasingly urbanized world is a ‘transformative force’ that can be harnessed and steered to boost sustainable development.” Among the organizations of cities taking part in the Forum was ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability), a network of cities in over 100 countries, with global experts in 22 offices.

At the World Urban Forum, the Global Parliament of Mayors presented a project called the Virtual Parliament, an online tool to connect with Mayors around the world, to debate and vote on political issues and to exchange experiences. For example, it has supported an action of the US congress of Mayors against gun violence.

Reducing international tensions. The organization of International Cities of Peace reports that the first City of Peace on the Korean peninsula was established February 5 near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Pocheon. A major celebration was held at City Hall where Mayor Park signed a Proclamation as a crowd of media, dignitaries, and over 100 citizens packed the hall. Pocheon has the potential to help make the dream of Reunification of South and North Korea come true in order to benefit citizens of both countries.

Urban violence. A new initiative, the Strong Cities Network (SCN), is working with a broad coalition to reduce urban violence. According to the SCN, “Today, 83% of deadly violence occurs outside of conflict zones, with the majority of this violence concentrated in cities.” Their report highlights successful initiatives in Glasgow (Scotland), Oakland (California), and cities in Ecuador.

Tackling urban violence is also the priority of the World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace, which is a project of the United Cities and Local Governments. Previous forums were held in Madrid in 2017 and 2018. The next one will take place this coming October in Mexico City to construct “solutions that promote urban environments capable of eliminating expressions of violence.”

According to the Strong Cities Network,”Nation states have dominated the global political arena for centuries, but with more than half of the world’s population today residing in cities, it may be time to rethink who should be at the table when it comes to decisions on how we can reduce violence.” The same could be said with regard to nuclear disarmament, sustainable development and the reduction of international tensions.

          

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION



Strong Cities Network: Reducing violence is not impossible, and cities are proving this

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION



Peace promotion in the Sahel: The best award-winning radio productions

HUMAN RIGHTS




Amnesty International: New generation of young activists lead fight against worsening repression in Asia

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY



New York City hearings pave the way for nuclear weapons divestment

EDUCATION FOR PEACE



For Bob Marley’s 75th Birthday, Ziggy Marley Reflects On His Father’s Legacy

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT



The Wet’suwet’en Fight Against New Pipeline Spreads Across Canada with Blockades & Occupations

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY


Switzerland: Lutheran World Federation marks World Interfaith Harmony Week

WOMEN’S EQUALITY



Devoted to discovery: seven women scientists who have shaped our world
d-democratic, d-disarmament, d-sustainable

Angola promotes the role of African women in government

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from Prensa Latina

Angola will continue to promote the empowerment of women and their participation in the government, said the Minister of State for the Social Area, Carolina Cerqueira, at a meeting of the Pan-African Women’s Organization (PAWO) held today [Feb 28] in Windhoek, Namibia.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original Spanish version)

Question for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

(Article continued from left column)

As the vice president of the PAWO, she also stressed that Angola encourages the role of women in promoting the culture of peace in the region, whether through institutional or civil society initiatives, as well as the creation of mechanisms to guarantee financial resources for the empowerment of the female sector.

According to the source, she also confirmed the solidarity and friendship that unite Angola and Namibia; a relationship, she said, of close ties throughout the history of the struggle for independence and economic and social development.

Angola’s presence in this congress, with a delegation composed of women from different sectors, including the diaspora, reflects the appreciation of Namibia and the importance that the country attaches to the PAWO, she said.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the five regions of the African continent and was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
 

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

New York City, April 24-26: World Conference & Mobilization – Abolish Nuclear Weapons; Resist and Reverse the Climate Crisis

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Conference call from World Conference 2020

(note: Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, the conference has been canceled.)

Boston/Berlin/Tokyo: Leading nuclear disarmament, peace, climate and justice organizations announced plans today for The World Conference and international mobilization in New York City, April 24-26, 2020. The Conference and related events urging nuclear disarmament and action for climate sustainability and justice will be held on the eve of the critically important Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference and the 75th anniversary of the United States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


Image from Conference flyer: aftermath of Hiroshima

The Conference (April 24 & 25,) will bring together leaders, activists and A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha), from across the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Global South. It will be held at the prestigious Riverside Church, the site of Martin Luther King Jr’s seminal 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” speech. Plenary speakers will include leading international disarmament, peace, climate and justice movement leaders, and activists, scholars and diplomats from around the world.

On April 26, thousands will rally in Manhattan and march to the United Nations, where more than 10 million petition signatures urging the fulfilment of the NPT’s promise of the complete elimination of nuclear weapons will be presented to UN and NPT Review officials. The march will be led by Japanese and Korean Hibakusha, as well as by leaders of the assembled movements who understand the interconnected nature of their concerns and the imperative of building multi-issue movements.

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Question(s) related to this article:

Global meetings, conferences, assemblies, What is the best way for delegates to interact afterwards?

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Conference organizers stressed the urgent need to counter the increasing existential dangers of nuclear weapons/nuclear war, with many urging grassroots action to press the nuclear weapons states, as well as their own governments to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The conference will also provide a venue for movement building to reverse the climate crisis, and to challenge the deadly and debilitating consequences of rising income inequality, racism, nationalism and xenophobia.

Their Conference Call (see attached) states: “The World Conference will provide a unique opportunity for the world’s nuclear disarmament campaigns, allied movements and organizations, and diplomats committed to banning and eliminating nuclear weapons to amplify our abolition demands to the Review Conference. Making links to climate and social and economic justice movements offers a new opportunity to develop the alliances and intersectional movements we need to prevail.”


Initiating organization include: American Friends Service Committee, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK), Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security, Gensuikin (Japan Congress against A- & H- Bombs,) Gensuikyo (Japan Council against A- & H- Bombs), International Peace Bureau, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- & H- Bomb Sufferers’ Organizations), Peace Action, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – New York Office, and Western States Legal Foundation.

Speaking for the coalition, Joseph Gerson said: “It is a privilege to be working with such a diverse and international coalition to hammer home the need for disarmament, peace, and climate, economic, and racial justice,” says Joseph Gerson, conference organizer and disarmament coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee. “With increasing threats of war, rising tension between world powers, new arms races, rising seas of the climate crisis, and continued violence against people of color, we are organizing to create the foundation for real security for future generations.”

Read our call to action here.

Download our event flyer here.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, North America,

Articles from 2019

Now displaying CPNN news in English during 2019.
Click on the numbered pages below to see all.
For articles from other years, click 2024 or 2023 or 2022 or 2021 or 2020 or 2018 or 2017 or 2016 or 2015 or prior to 2015.
For English articles by category or region, click Read on the menu above.

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Uncategorized

Nobel Women’s Initiative: A strategic approach to climate action

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

A strategic paper by the Nobel Women’s Initiative

Canada can be the global leader in promoting environmental and climate change action and gender equality. By taking a more integrated, feminist approach, the results of these related efforts can be amplified. This strategic approach has the potential to become a key pillar in addressing gender, climate and environmental priorities:

• There is a clear link between women’s rights and how women experience climate change. When women lack full and equal rights, they suffer disproportionately from negative climate change impacts. In turn, climate change negatively impacts women and their rights.

• Often, climate change policies and programs treat women as either victims or environmental saviours, rather than potent agents of change. This approach reinforces gender inequality by disregarding women’s agency or adding to their already heavy workloads.

• Local-level, women-led initiatives are having significant positive impacts on climate change action, and gender equality. Yet, global climate finance flows are being directed elsewhere. Even when donors fund local-level climate change projects, they rarely take gender equality issues into account. Funding that targets women’s rights and gender equality, meanwhile, tends to overlook women’s climate change adaptation efforts.

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Questions for this article

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

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• Canada can bolster its leadership in environmental and climate action and gender equality, by strengthening its feminist approach. Canada should:

Fund:

Increase the proportion of climate change funding directed to projects led by women’s organizations. Prioritize partnerships with local women’s rights actors in calls for proposals for climate change projects. Provide core funding for women’s rights organizations and movements that address climate change impacts. Establish a dedicated Women’s Fund for Climate Adaptation.

Listen:

Facilitate, fund and support the participation of grassroots women’s organizations in climate policy and finance discussions. Advocate at international climate fora for the meaningful inclusion of women who are directly affected by climate change.

Build:

Strengthen the capacity of grassroots women leaders and their organizations to participate substantively in climate change fora and negotiations. Invest in movement-building of women’s rights actors on climate change. Fund consortiums that build the collective power of women’s rights and environmental justice movements.

Influence:

Advocate for a deeper understanding of climate change as a critical human rights issue at international fora. Socialize the importance of taking a feminist approach to tackling climate change with other governments and stakeholders. Use Canada’s influence to advocate for a more inclusive Green Climate Fund1.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

North America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Amnesty International: New generation of young activists lead fight against worsening repression in Asia

… . HUMAN RIGHTS … .

An article from Amnesty International

A wave of youth-led protests across Asia is defying escalating repression and a continent-wide crackdown on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual report on human rights in the region.

‘Human Rights in Asia-Pacific: A review of 2019’, which includes a detailed analysis of human rights developments in 25 countries and territories, describes how a new generation of activists are fighting back against brutal crackdowns on dissent, poisonous social media operations and widespread political censorship.

“2019 was a year of repression in Asia, but also of resistance. As governments across the continent attempt to uproot fundamental freedoms, people are fighting back – and young people are at the forefront of the struggle,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and South-East Asia and the Pacific.

“From students in Hong Kong leading a mass movement against growing Chinese encroachment, to students in India protesting against anti-Muslim policies; from Thailand’s young voters flocking to a new opposition party to Taiwan’s pro LGBTI-equality demonstrators. Online and offline, youth-led popular protests are challenging the established order.” 

Hong Kong’s defiance echoes across the world

China and India, Asia’s two largest powers, set the tone for repression across the region with their overt rejection of human rights. Beijing’s backing of an Extradition Bill for Hong Kong, giving the local government the power to extradite suspects to the mainland, ignited mass protests in the territory on an unprecedented scale.

Since June, Hong Kongers have regularly taken to the streets to demand accountability in the face of abusive policing tactics that have included the wanton use of tear gas, arbitrary arrests, physical assaults and abuses in detention. This struggle against the established order has been repeated all over the continent.

In India, millions decried a new law that discriminates against Muslims in a swell of peaceful demonstrations. In Indonesia, people rallied against parliament’s enactment of several laws that threatened public freedoms. In Afghanistan, marchers risked their safety to demand an end to the country’s long-running conflict. In Pakistan, the non-violent Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement defied state repression to mobilize against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

Dissent met with crackdown

Peaceful protests and dissent were frequently met with retribution by the authorities.

Protesters faced arrest and jail in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand as repressive governments across South-East Asia took severe steps to silence their opponents and muzzle the media.

In Indonesia, several people were killed as police clamped down on protests with excessive force. Yet few steps were taken to hold anyone to account for the deaths; no police were arrested nor were any suspects identified. 

In Pakistan and Bangladesh, activists and journalists alike were targeted by draconian laws that restrict freedom of expression and punish dissent online.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for a Spanish version of this article or here for a French version.)

Question(s) related to this article:

What is the state of human rights in the world today?

(Article continued from left column)

And in Hong Kong, police deployed reckless and indiscriminate tactics to quell peaceful protests, including torture in detention. Demands for a proper investigation into the conduct of the security forces have yet to be met.

“The authorities’ attempts to crush any form of criticism and suppress freedom of expression were as ruthless as they were predictable, with those daring to speak out against repressive governments often paying a high price,” said Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director.

“Asians are told their aspirations for fairer societies are fantasies; that economic disparities can’t be addressed; that global warming is inexorable and natural catastrophes unavoidable. Most emphatically of all, they are told that challenging this narrative will not be tolerated,” said Biraj Patnaik.

Minorities feel the weight of intolerant nationalism

In India and China, the mere risk of insubordination in nominally autonomous areas has been enough to trigger the full force of the state, with minorities conveniently deemed a threat to “national security.”

In the Chinese province of Xinjiang, up to a million Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities have been forcibly detained in “de-radicalization” camps. 
 
Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, saw its special autonomous status revoked as authorities imposed a curfew, cut access to all communications and detained political leaders.

In Sri Lanka, where anti-Muslim violence erupted in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings, the election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dimmed hopes of human rights progress. Another self-styled strongman, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, continued his murderous “war on drugs.”

Governments have tried to justify repression by demonizing their critics as pawns of “foreign forces” and to bolster that repression through sophisticated social media operations. Neither ASEAN nor SAARC, the two main regional bodies, tried to hold their members to account, even in the case of gross human rights violations.

It has been left to the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military in Rakhine State against the Rohingya in 2017. The court is also looking into the thousands of killings carried out by police in the Philippines, and hearing an appeal on its decision not to authorize an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Australia’s egregious offshore detention policies left refugees and asylum-seekers languishing in deteriorating physical and mental condition on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus, Papua New Guinea.

Progress against the odds

People speaking out against these atrocities were routinely punished, but their standing up made a difference. There were many examples where efforts to achieve human rights progress in Asia paid off.

In Taiwan, same-sex marriage became legal following tireless campaigning by activists. In Sri Lanka, lawyers and activists successfully campaigned against the resumption of executions.

Brunei was forced to backtrack on enforcing laws to make adultery and sex between men punishable by stoning, while former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak took the stand on corruption charges for the first time.  

The Pakistani government pledged to tackle climate change and air pollution, and two women were appointed as judges on the Maldivian Supreme Court for the first time.

And in Hong Kong, the power of protest forced the government to withdraw the Extradition Bill. Yet, with no accountability for months of abuses against demonstrators, the fight goes on.

“Protesters across Asia in 2019 were bloodied, but not broken. They were stifled, but not silenced. And together, they sent a message of defiance to the governments who continue to violate human rights in pursuit of tightening their grip on power,” said Nicholas Bequelin.

East Asia, HUMAN RIGHTS, South Asia,