Category Archives: east asia

IFEX Asia brief: October and November 2022

‘Environment of fear’, court convictions across Asia, and a new mandate for China’s Xi Jinping. Pakistani journalists attacked in and out of the country, 100 days of media freedom decline in the Philippines, court convictions and harassment across the region, and the human rights implication of Xi Jinping’s re-election as China’s supreme leader. Read more… […]

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IFEX Regional Briefs: July, August, September 2022

July 2022: “Lethal force behind a veil of legality”: Executions, repressive media laws, and protests across Asia. Attacks against the media did not stop even after a change in government in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Meanwhile, the junta in Myanmar has resorted to executing anti-coup activists. August 2022: Women’s rights crisis in Afghanistan, […]

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IFEX Asia Brief: April, May, June 2022

April 2022: Political crises, anti-Muslim violence, and Maria Ressa’s pushback. South Asia’s civic space is on fire: Massive protests in Sri Lanka, rising anti-Muslim violence in India, continuing crackdown in Kashmir, and intensifying political conflict in Pakistan. In the Philippines, Nobel laureate Maria Ressa countered the latest government harassment with a legal pushback. May 2022: […]

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IFEX Regional briefs: January, February, March 2022

January 2022. Winter Olympics in “a sea of repression”, anniversary of a coup, and a new law against workplace harassment. Will there be ‘sportswashing” of China’s human rights situation during the Winter Olympics? Myanmar’s crackdown on journalists and dissenters continues ahead of coup anniversary. Pakistan enacts a new law that aims to protect women from […]

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Affirming solidarity and redefining development during the pandemic

Published by Bulatlat A group of researchers and activists from across Asia gathered during the first week of April in Thailand to discuss the impact of the pandemic on the region’s marginalized communities and how people’s movements are putting forward an alternative model of development. The gathering was organized by the Asia Pacific Research Network […]

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IFEX Regional Brief: October, November, December 2021

October 2021: A Nobel for journalism, a mass release of prisoners, and a raft of repressive new laws. Maria Ressa became the first Filipino Nobel laureate for her work as a journalist and truth crusader. Journalists were among the prisoners released in Myanmar, but 20 are still in detention. Several laws that could undermine freedom […]

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IFEX Asia Regional Briefs: July, August, September 2021

July 2021: #FOEwatch in Malaysia, Hong Kong freedom in ‘tatters’, Kem Ley, and arrests in Vietnam. Artists and activists summoned by Malaysian police, the continuing fight for justice five years after Kem Ley’s death in Cambodia, Hong Kong media freedom in ‘tatters’, alarming arrests and convictions in Vietnam, released journalists share their prison ordeal in […]

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IFEX spotlight: Resisting Asia’s digital authoritarians

Written for IFEX Reflecting on events from the first half of 2021, IFEX’s Asia and Pacific Editor explains how recent massive citizen protests and pushback against Asia’s digital authoritarians can provide lessons on what we need to do to support the region’s pro-democracy movements and human rights campaigns. Read more

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IFEX Asia brief: January, February, March 2021

New year in Asia-Pacific: Crackdown, state of emergency, and harsh prison convictions. Positive developments in the region such as prison releases and the outlawing of the “virginity test” were overshadowed by mass arrests in Hong Kong, an absurdly long prison term handed out to a Thai elderly woman for “insulting” the king, the silencing of […]

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IFEX Regional Briefs: November and December 2020

November 2020: Media killings, zines promoting women’s empowerment, and the dangers of criticizing monarchies. Six journalists were killed in November across the Asia-Pacific. The past month also saw the further erosion of civic space in Thailand and Malaysia where citizens faced persecution for speaking out about the royal family in their respective countries. Opposition legislators […]

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