Articles tagged with: Asia
South Asia urged to protect victims of caste-based discrimination
More than 260 million people across the world are still victims of human rights abuses due to caste-based discrimination, United Nations independent experts warned late May, urging South Asian countries to strengthen legislation to protect them.
Japan warns of reacting with force if China lands on disputed islands
Japan would respond with force if China attempts to land on the disputed Senkaku Islands, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in Parliament late April. Abe was responding to a question about what he was prepared to do if Chinese ships sailing close to the islands – called the Diaoyu Islands by the Chinese – tried to land, a BBC report said.
State of emergency imposed in Burmese town of Meiktila
A state of emergency was imposed in the Burmese town of Meiktila on 22 March following three days of communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims. A statement announcing the decision on behalf of President Thein Sein was broadcast on state television.
Brinkmanship between Japan and China could spiral out of control
Both Koreas soon will be governed by the progeny of Cold War strongmen. China is in the hands of the son of one of Mao Zedong’s revolutionary comrades. The incoming prime minister of Japan is a long-standing hawk and the grandson of one of Japan’s war cabinet leaders. This month, when a two-engine Chinese oceanic administration surveillance plane flew near the disputed islands, Japan responded by scrambling F-15 fighter jets.
Myanmar commits to human rights. UN, US President hail reform process
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, has welcomed the latest commitments from the Government of Myanmar on human rights as significant steps forward in the ongoing reform process, and encouraged the authorities to focus now on their prompt implementation.
China’s rise is an opportunity, not a threat—Xinhua insight
Serious discussions regarding the rise of China and tomorrow’s world are needed now, as China and the United States will soon elect their leaders for the years to come. The U.S. presidential election is scheduled for Nov. 6, just two days before the convening of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), during which a new generation of top leaders will assume their positions.
China and Japan provoke a confrontation at sea
China and Japan are making a mountain of a molehill in their territorial dispute over a group of tiny, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku (in Japan) or the Diaoyu (in China). Whatever their name, they’re basically just a bunch of rocks sticking out of the water; the largest is less than two miles square.
UN HR expert calls on Pakistan, Afghanistan to investigate killings of women
An independent United Nations human rights expert has spoken out against the recent killing of women in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and called on the two countries’ governments to bring the perpetrators to justice.
NATO leaders endorse Obama’s Afghanistan exit plan
NATO leaders, late May, adopted President Barack Obama’s exit strategy from the nearly 11-year-old U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan, cementing an “irreversible” pullout of foreign combat troops that will leave Afghan security forces with the leading role in combat operations by the summer of 2013.
Indonesian women struggling to survive sexual violence
Survivors of sexual violence in Indonesia face an uphill battle in recovery as a result of an inadequate legal system, police inaction, and prevailing societal attitudes that tend to be suspicious of victims, say activists.
