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NORTHEAST ASIA

Securing a safe haven for fleeing Chinese
Chinese nationals who have escaped to liberal Japan may have realized, much to their chagrin, that being in a liberal country like Japan does not necessarily shield them from the long arm of Beijing.
Harassment of these nationals, including their kin, at the hands of Chinese authorities is apparently intended to force them to discontinue their advocacy work overseas.
Human Rights Watch, whose latest report shows this finding, has urged Japan to establish a system to protect Chinese nationals from transnational repression. Such a system, HRW said, should allow residents to report incidents, ensure privacy, and facilitate investigations. Japan should also coordinate with other governments and U.N. bodies to address the issue.
“Chinese authorities appear to have few scruples about silencing people from China living in Japan who criticize Beijing’s abuses,” said Teppei Kasai, HRW Asia program officer. “The Japanese government should make clear to Beijing it won’t tolerate the long arm of China’s transnational repression in Japan.”
FAST FACTS
- China has long been accused of perpetrating transnational repression – or extending its reach beyond her borders to silence dissent – against Chinese diaspora, especially those from regions like Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia.
- Freedom House once described China as having the “most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world.” Since 2014, the human rights group has covered 214 cases from China, which far exceeded those of any other country, with the campaign possibly affecting millions of Chinese and minority populations in at least 36 host countries.
- Twenty-five individuals interviewed by HRW for its report – who came from Hong Kong and mainland China, including from Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia – were engaged in peaceful activities like public awareness campaigns and reading clubs, which are considered threats by the Chinese Communist Party.
- Chinese authorities have employed various methods to harass these individuals including by contacting them or their kin directly. Many of them have avoided seeking help from Japanese authorities due to fears of reprisal from China authorities and potentially ineffective response from their host government.
- Despite being vocal about China’s human rights abuses against its diaspora, including by raising the issue with Chinese officials and passing relevant parliamentary resolutions, the Japanese government’s actions have been deemed inadequate. HRW’s attempts to engage with both the Chinese embassy and the Japanese government on this matter have been met with silence.
ACTIONS SOUGHT
HRW urged the Japanese government to take several actions, including:
- Establishing a system for residents to report incidents of harassment;
- Setting up support mechanisms for those who have been targeted by China like offering legal advice and assistance in accessing asylum;
- Urging the Chinese government to end its surveillance and threats against its nationals in Japan; and
- Coordinating with other governments and U.N. bodies to protect those at risk from China’s transnational repression of Chinese nationals critical of their state.
SOUTHEAST ASIA

Stepping up campaign against child labor
Despite seeing an economic boom in recent years, Asia remains the region with the highest number of working children globally. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that at least 122 million children aged 5-14 are forced into labor in various sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, and domestic service.
Noting the scale of the problem, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) urged its member-states to strengthen their policies and legal frameworks to raise public awareness of, and eradicate, forced labor within their borders.
The bloc made the declaration during the 44th and 45th ASEAN summit held in Vientiane, Laos (Oct. 8-11). In their joint statement, the member states said they were “mindful that successfully eliminating child labour and building a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient future for all children and their families require strengthened efforts, multi-sectoral collaboration, as well as engagement from multiple stakeholders at all levels.”
FAST FACTS
- ASEAN has issued various declarations on child labor, including the 2013 ASEAN Declaration on the Prevention of Child Labor and ASEAN Roadmap on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2025, These contain specific measures to prevent child labor and eliminate its worst forms, such as hazardous work. All ASEAN members have ratified ILO Convention 138, which sets the minimum age for employment at 15, provided the child has completed compulsory education prior to employment.
- These declarations have not made a dent in eradicating child labor in the region. Cambodia, for example, still employs children in garment and brick kiln factories. In the Philippines, child labor is not uncommon in farming, fishing, and domestic work.
- Child labor is often intertwined with violations of other basic labor rights, as children who work are often denied access to education and exposed to exploitative work hours and low wages. Climate change, conflict, disaster, and poverty have made the problem worse, putting them at greater risk and limiting their opportunities.
- More than one in five children are engaged in child labor in the world’s poorest countries, according to UNICEF.
Global child labor at a glance (as of July 2024)
The declaration urges ASEAN states to:
- Implement effective measures to prevent and combat child labor in line with international and regional standards;
- Tackle poverty, economic vulnerability, and inequality that contribute to child labor;
- Encourage businesses to adopt responsible practices and prevent child labor in their operations; and
- Provide social safety nets and support for vulnerable children and their families.
SOUTH ASIA

Pressure on for Sri Lanka’s truth project
Three years ago, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights established the Sri Lanka Accountability Project to collect information on gross human rights violations – and eventually support future prosecutions – committed during its two-and-a-half-decade civil war.
On Oct. 12, the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution extending its mandate by another year – a move welcomed nonetheless by Amnesty International, which had proposed a two-year extension. The U.K.-headquartered rights group urged the new Sri Lankan administration to break free from the previous governments’ stance of noncooperation.
“Sri Lanka must fully cooperate with U.N. human rights mechanisms including the Accountability Project and demonstrate its commitment towards all victims and survivors who have been waiting for justice and accountability,” said Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International-South Asia’s deputy regional director.
FAST FACTS
- The Sri Lanka Accountability Project was established in 2021 via Resolution 46/1 to document and preserve evidence of human rights violations in the island-country. Its mandate has since been extended to include investigations of a wide range of abuses, from the country’s civil war from 1983 to 2009, to more recent incidents like the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
- The HRC resolution was adopted in Geneva last week despite opposition from Sri Lanka. The government said it wanted to give the new government led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake time to resolve the issue through domestic mechanisms.
- The extension will require an estimated US$3.8 million and staff travel across Europe, North America, and Sri Lanka for “information collection” and “consultations with victims,” Tamil Guardian reported.
- The International Truth and Justice Project noted that since 1956, Sri Lanka has established 36 truth commissions to probe gross human rights violations. A third of these never made their reports public.
- A draft National Unity and Reconciliation Bill seeking to establish another truth commission lacks transparency regarding the consultation process and acceptance by victim communities, said the International Court of Justice.
ACTIONS SOUGHT
Amnesty International is calling for:
- Sri Lanka to fully cooperate with the U.N. mechanism and demonstrate its commitment to victims and survivors of human rights violations; and
- The international community to step up its engagement with the new Sri Lankan government in the pursuit of justice for human rights victims.
GLOBAL / REGIONAL

Rooting out the scourge of sexual abuse
A groundbreaking UNICEF report has revealed the alarming scale of sexual violence against young girls worldwide. The report provides the first-ever global and regional estimates on child sexual abuse – a staggering more than 370 million girls and women – or one in eight – victims of rape or sexual assault before the age of 18.
The data, published on Oct. 10, highlights the urgent need for intensified global action to combat this pervasive issue, particularly for adolescent girls who are disproportionately affected.
“Sexual violence against children is a stain on our moral conscience,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “It inflicts deep and lasting trauma, often by someone the child knows and trusts, in places where they should feel safe.”
FAST FACTS
- In 2015, the global community committed to ending all forms of violence against children through the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SGD 16.2. This was then followed by the creation of global standards and operational definitions of violence against children in a bid to better quantify this problem.
- UNICEF said previous attempts to quantify sexual violence against girls were challenging because of stigma, children unwilling to report their cases, and limitations in data collection. Its latest report, which compiled country-level data, ran into the same problems. Yet it managed to collect data that covered the entire childhood period1 and covered 81% of the global female population.
- The report, which was published ahead of the International Day of the Girl (Oct. 11), noted that if the statistics include even noncontact violence (like verbal or online abuse), the numbers would skyrocket to 650 million, or one in five girls and women. Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, and Central and Southern Asia have the highest rates of rape and sexual assault against children.
- Young boys are not exempt from abuse. Between 240 and 310 million boys and men – or one in 11 – have experienced rape or sexual assault during childhood.
- Previous studies have shown children who experience sexual violence are more likely to be abused again. Survivors often carry this trauma into adulthood, and bear a serious impact on their physical and mental health.
ACTIONS SOUGHT
Ahead of the inaugural Global Ministerial Conference on Violence Against Children on Nov. 7-8 in Bogota, Colombia, UNICEF called on governments to:
- Enhance laws and regulations to protect children from sexual violence;
- Improve data collection on sexual violence against children;
- Ensure access to justice, healing services, and protection for child victims; and
- Empower children with age-appropriate information to help them identify and report abuse.
1Meaning, the report asks whether a person has encountered some form of sexual abuse/violence throughout their childhood. It is distinct from other previous reports that show sexual abuse/violence at a given moment in time (e.g., sexual violence cases in 2020).