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NORTHEAST ASIA

A fresh appeal to recalcitrant China
It was just two years ago when the U.N. warned China of potential crimes against humanity in the northwest Xinjiang region. The warning stemmed from the landmark August 2022 report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), which showed that several Uyghurs had gone missing or were being detained in “reeducation camps” under the pretext of countering extremism in the special administrative region.
On Aug. 27, the U.N. human rights chief, along with rights groups, renewed calls for a full investigation of alleged torture and abuses against Uyghur Muslims that were highlighted in the report.
OHCHR specifically asked the Chinese government to “undertake a full review, from the human rights perspective, of the legal framework governing national security and counterterrorism and to strengthen the protection of minorities against discrimination.”
FAST FACTS
- The reeducation camps are part of the Chinese government’s “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism” launched in Xinjiang in 2014 ostensibly to curb religious extremism. Since then, authorities have regularly raided Uyghur households and imposed new restrictions on their culture and language, in what rights groups call an ethnocide.
- In 2021, the Human Rights Watch issued a groundbreaking report arguing that China’s arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearances of at least 1 million Uyghurs, as well as reports of enslavement, rape, and enforced sterilization, were tantamount to crimes against humanity.
- The 2022 U.N. report, which affirmed the HRW’s findings, indicated that China’s arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance of Uyghurs and the separation of children from their families constituted “genocide and possibly crimes against humanity.” China, however, has called the U.N. report a “farce” and repeatedly refused to address the U.N.’s recommendations.
Succeeding U.N. actions on Xinjiang
Date | Action | China’s response |
Nov. 24, 2022 | The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued an unprecedented Urgent Action procedure calling for a probe into Xinjiang rights violations. | Submitted opposing remarks |
March 22, 2023 | The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights issued its concluding observations calling for an “immediate [end]” to abuses in Xinjiang | No action |
Jan. 23, 2024 | The Universal Periodic Review by the U.N. Human Rights Council called on China to, among others, allow envoys in Xinjiang and Tibet, and to end detention camps in these regions. | Recommendations on Xinjiang were ignored or rejected |
ACTIONS SOUGHT
- The U.N. reiterated its calls for a full investigation on all allegations of human rights violations.
- It also appealed for the release of all individuals arbitrarily detained and to “clarify the status and whereabouts” of the missing.
- The ISHR also called on the UNHRC to establish a monitoring and reporting mechanism on China’s human rights situation and to continually release reports and public updates about it.
SOUTHEAST ASIA

Standing up against state censorship
The banning of a documentary about the case of a long-lost activist – which implicated incumbent high-ranking officials – highlighted the continuing suppression of freedom of expression in the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
In a three-page appeal to the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, filmmaker JL Burgos asked the regulatory body to conduct a second review of its “X” rating for “Alipato at Muog (The Ember and the Fortress),” supposedly for “undermin(ing) the faith and confidence of the people in their government.” An X rating means a ban on public viewing and television broadcast.
“Our documentary is not fiction. It is a story of a family searching for their missing loved one. It is about human rights and the pursuit for justice,” Burgos said in his letter.
FAST FACTS
- Burgos is the brother of Jonas Burgos, an activist who was forcibly disappeared 17 years ago allegedly by the army’s security group then led by Eduardo Ano, now the country’s top security advisor.
- “Alipato at Muog” focuses on the Burgos family’s search for Jonas since 2007, when he was taken by unknown men from a mall in Quezon City. The film presents compelling documentary evidence, along with interviews from activists, legal experts, and journalists, implicating the military in Jonas’ disappearance.
- The Concerned Artists of the Philippines, in a statement, also slammed the rating as a “blatant act of state censorship” and argued that “what truly erodes public trust in the government is not this documentary, but the unchecked actions of state officials.”
- This also isn’t the first time the Board imposed a similar rating on a film deemed “subversive” by the government, following Kip Oebanda’s “Liway” (2018), Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan’s “Blue Room” (2022), and Dustin Celestino’s “Ang Duyan ng Magiting” (2023).
- It also raises broader questions about freedom of expression under the Marcos administration, as the X rating followed the cancellation “due to security concerns” of a public showing of the “Los Sabungeros” documentary about people involved in cockfighting who went missing.
ACTIONS SOUGHT
- The Burgos family is calling for the lifting of the X rating on their documentary and on the public to help amplify their calls so the government can see there is demand for such films.
- Human Rights Watch called on the Marcos administration to not wait for the formal appeals process but to overturn the board’s rating and allow the film’s screening.
SOUTH ASIA

Freeing the last of Bhutan’s political prisoners
In a country hailed as the “happiest in the world,” a stark contrast emerges, as a Bhutanese civil society group called for greater international attention to human rights abuses in their country, particularly against political prisoners, and the need to resolve the refugee crisis.
The Global Campaign for the Release of Political Prisoners in Bhutan (GPPB), has brought its concerns to the United Nations in an effort to drum up global support for its cause, which has gone unheard by the Bhutanese government despite repeated calls.
The group has specifically called for the release of the remaining political prisoners in Bhutanese prisons, the repatriation of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, and the establishment of an independent rights body to help monitor human rights abuses in the Himalayan kingdom.
FAST FACTS
- The group’s main coordinator, Ram Karki, presented these issues during the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva this November.
- At least 34 political prisoners who are mostly members of the Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa community, who have faced discrimination and persecution in Bhutan.
- During the 1990s, the Bhutanese government implemented policies that forced many Lhotshampa to leave the country. From 1991, one-sixth of the country’s entire population sought asylum in neighboring countries, and now groups estimate that over 105,000 Bhutanese live in refugee camps in Nepal, unable to go home.
- Those who resisted or were suspected of disloyalty were arrested and imprisoned. They later faced poor conditions in jail, limited access to medical care, and restrictions on their rights, according to Human Rights Watch.
- CIVICUS rated Bhutan’s civic space “obstructed” amid the ongoing detention of political prisoners and the lack of a national human rights body to monitor these issues.
ACTIONS SOUGHT
- GCRPPB urged the grant of amnesty and reparations to the remaining political prisoners; and to invite the International Committee of the Red Cross to monitor prison conditions and facilitate family visits.
- The global initiative, which is based in The Hague, has also appealed to the international community to recommend that Bhutan develop a process for repatriating all Bhutanese refugees who wish to return under the supervision of the U.N. Refugee Agency.
GLOBAL / REGIONAL

Transforming ASEAN education landscape
The Philippines’ education minister has called on his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to prioritize digital education reforms to prepare Southeast Asia’s youth for a rapidly evolving world.
In his message at the 13th ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting in Thailand last Aug. 26, Education Secretary Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said they had a duty “to ensure that our students are not merely passive recipients of knowledge but active citizens capable of shaping their futures and contributing to the growth of their communities and the entire ASEAN region.”
FAST FACTS
- Angara’s call comes in the wake of studies that technology is reshaping the education landscape in Southeast Asia, fast-tracked in part by the large-scale school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Despite its touted benefits, the digital divide remains a significant challenge in ASEAN. The 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report by UNESCO and the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), for example, showed that three in five students in Southeast Asia have some form of internet at home – but in countries like Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, only about one in four students have internet.
- The ASEAN’s 2022 Declaration on Digital Transformation of Education Systems also acknowledges access and equity issues in digital transformation, and called on its member-states to “develop and promote access to quality digital learning resources in consultation with educators that support in-class use and remote learning, that are open-access, free-to-use, have clear entry points for learners, teachers, and caregivers in support of lifelong learning.”
- The same report also emphasized the need for appropriate government regulation to guide the use of technology in education, particularly on artificial intelligence. Currently, only Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam have integrated AI into their national teaching plans.
- Educational technology, or EdTech, is also seeing a rapid growth in the region, as alternative and hybrid learning methods are now becoming a standard.
ACTIONS SOUGHT
- Apart from his appeal for digital education reforms in the region, Angara also called on his fellow education ministers to keep education “a human endeavor” that requires “strong institutions, evidence-based policies, competent civil servants, and an engaged network of stakeholders.”