In an uneven year for democracy and rights globally, the Asia-Pacific region saw some encouraging signs, Human Rights Watch said in its letter. world report 2025Released today.
The organization has also reported on civil action by Indian voters against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, student protests to topple Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and people’s protests against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to weaken political opponents using martial law. Cited.
However, at the same time, the people of Myanmar continued to jail and bomb their opponents, nearly four years after seizing power from the elected government; The Taliban in Afghanistan rolled back years of gains on women’s rights; And China continued repression under President Xi Jinping, the New York-based group said in the report.
According to HRW Executive Director Tirana Hassan, the overall message is clear.
“When rights are secured, humanity flourishes,” he said in his introductory essay.
“When they are rejected, the cost is measured not in abstract principles but in human lives. This is the challenge – and opportunity – of our time,” he said.
bangladesh
Hasina was ousted in August amid student-led protests after 15 years of repressive rule in Bangladesh and she fled the country.
HRW reports that supporters of his Awami League party and police initially attacked a peaceful demonstration of students aimed at a government job quota scheme. The crackdown included an internet blackout and curfew along with “shoot at sight” orders.
“Nearly 1,000 people, including more than 100 children, were reportedly killed in the violence in July and in reprisal violence following Hasina’s ouster,” the report said.
Since Hasina fled, the interim government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has released thousands of people detained during protests, restoring order and putting the country back on the path to democratic elections, the report said. Gave.
HRW pointed out that accountability is at the heart of Yunus’s efforts, inviting the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to send a fact-finding team to investigate abuses during the protests and their root causes.
India and South Korea
Another example of what it called “meaningful democratic resistance” occurred in neighboring India in June, the rights organization said, as voters turned away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s populist and often anti-Muslim rhetoric, which cost him an electoral majority. Not found.
“This shows that even in the face of systemic challenges, democracies can still hold power,” Hassan said.
As the year ended, South Korean President Yoon shocked the world by declaring martial law to stem growing discontent with his administration, but the move backfired as thousands of people marched on the National Assembly, leading to some This order was reversed hours later. The ghost of the coup soon disappeared.
“These resistance movements highlight an important reality,” Hassan said.
“The fight for rights is often driven by ordinary people fed up with injustice and corruption, who bring their collective power to force governments to uphold basic rights and serve the people rather than their own interests.”
China and Hong Kong
Xi’s China took the opposite turn in 2024, according to HRW, which said the declining economy had seen “an increase in repression across the country”, ranging from the jailing of hundreds of thousands of Uighurs to a decline in civil liberties in Hong Kong .
“There is no independent civil society, no freedom of expression, association, assembly or religion, and human rights defenders and other alleged critics of the government are persecuted,” the report said.
As China’s economy loses momentum, Xi has stepped up his crackdown on dissent, including arbitrarily detaining economists, artists and civil society leaders, the study said.
HRW said Hong Kong’s elected judiciary has tightened controls, leading to the holding of an unofficial primary election in 2020 and jailing 14 activists and former lawmakers for four to 10 years for “conspiracy to subvert”.
Media freedom has been further dealt a blow with the trial of outspoken 76-year-old tycoon Jimmy Lai under national security laws and the jailing of two journalists in September for 21 and 11 months respectively on alleged treason charges.
“Although foreign governments recognize the Chinese government’s deteriorating rights record, they have not confronted Beijing,” the report said.
afghanistan
Women and girls were stripped of their rights in Afghanistan last year, as the resurgent Taliban banned secondary and university education and restricted women’s employment and free movement.
An August law promoting “virtue and preventing vices” banned women from traveling or using public transportation without a male companion.
“Under the law, women and girls are required to cover their faces in public and are not allowed to sing in public or make their voices heard outside the home,” the report said. New dress code.
Myanmar and Singapore
Meanwhile, in Myanmar, the junta continued to use airstrikes and artillery on civilian areas and jail opponents, while it forced young conscripts to join the army after facing heavy losses across the country.
HRW noted the issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for junta leader Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity committed in the 2017 crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. But enforcing ICC warrants is “a current obstacle” to the ICC’s “continued support”. member countries, [which] “It is important to achieve justice, which is almost always a long game,” the report said.
Across Southeast Asia, HRW highlighted the continued use of the death penalty primarily for drug crimes in Singapore, and Thailand after the Move Forward party, which won the 2023 elections, was dissolved by the courts in August. Also underlined the limits of democracy.
“Prime Minister Patongtaran Shinawatra has done little to improve respect for fundamental freedoms and resolve outstanding human rights problems,” the report said. step.”