Democracy Digest
Democracy Digest
A bite-sized weekly wrap-up of developments
across the region through a human rights and democratic lens
Democracy Digest

September 19, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the global rise in forced marriages; the risks brought about by digital identity systems such as India’s Aadhar; the Southeast Asian country that doesn’t deserve a seat in the UN Human Rights Council; and a ray of hope for foreigners detained in Japan’s immigration centers.

Global
Forced marriages on the rise
“Modern slavery” brings up images of people forced to work against their will, such as domestic helpers and migrant construction workers. Indeed, 28 million of an estimated 50 million people in modern slavery are victims of forced labor, according to the 2021 International Labour Organization (ILO) report Global Estimates of Modern Slavery.

The rest, 22 million, are trapped in marriages made in hell. The report says, “Forced marriage is a human rights violation … that leads to the infliction of physical, mental, or sexual harm or suffering. It … negatively impacts the capacity of individuals to realize their full rights.”

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality target 5.3 “aims to eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early, and forced marriage … by 2030.” But progress has been slow in achieving this goal. Globally, there was a 6.6 million increase in the number of men, women, and children living in a forced marriage between 2016 and 2021, the ILO report says.

Women and girls make up 14.9 million of the total. Forced marriage disproportionately harms girls compared with boys, as it prevents girls from getting an education, increases their risk of abuse, and traps them in poverty.

COVID-19 has led to an increased risk of forced marriage in every region. Nearly two-thirds of all forced marriages, an estimated 14.2 million people, are in Asia and the Pacific. Where data is available, increases in child and forced marriages have been reported in eleven countries including four Asian countries:
  1. In Afghanistan, a report by Amnesty International says that “the rates of child, early, and forced marriage in [the country] appear to have surged” under the Taliban rule.
  2. In Bangladesh, a study conducted by the Center for Participatory Research and Development and its research partners covering 600 families in three districts identified an increase in child marriage, among other basic human rights violations such as child labor in communities displaced by climate change.
  3. In India, forced marriages are considered illegal under the provisions of Article 15 of the Indian Contract Act 1872, reports The Logical Indian. But enforcement of the law is lax.
  4. In Indonesia, a landmark bill passed last April outlaws forced marriage and sexual harassment. The law stipulates nine years in prison for forced marriage. However, activists worry that it won’t be enforced in remote areas, such as the island of Sumba, where bride kidnapping has been a brutal tradition, reports Deutsche Welle.
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India
A helpful — or harmful — digital ID?
UN Sustainable Development Goal 16.9 calls for the provision of legal identity for all, including free birth registrations, by 2030. On Sept. 15, the eve of the proposed International Identity Day, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Saurabh Garg stated that the South Asian country has achieved the UN goal. UIDAI is the custodian of Aadhar, the world’s largest biometric ID system.

However, Privacy International, a global network of civil society organizations, is concerned that technology-driven ID systems such as Aadhar — adopted by a growing number of countries — expose users to the risks of “exclusion and surveillance.” They say that such systems worsen the “insecurity and vulnerability” of the most marginalized communities, reports Al Jazeera.

Problems with Aadhaar have led to people being unable to access vital food security programs and reproductive health care services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of poor children who do not have Aadhar could lose food rations and cooked meals from welfare centers funded by the national government. They risk exclusion from school or benefits programs simply because they do not have the digital ID card, reports the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Aadhar has been repeatedly criticized for data leaks, which violate citizens’ right to privacy. Last June, a security researcher said that an Indian government website was exposing the Aadhaar numbers of many farmers, reports TechCrunch. The publication has reported several security lapses involving millions of Aadhaar numbers.

Civil society organizations and independent researchers and experts have collected much evidence establishing that digital ID systems “regularly have a harmful impact on human rights,” says Access Now, a non-profit organization focused on digital rights. Researchers at NYU Law School highlighted these findings in a recent report on how the World Bank and its Identification for Development Initiative fund a development agenda around digital ID.

In an open letter published earlier this month, Privacy International, Access Now, and other civil society organizations called on the World Bank to cease supporting unchecked digital ID systems that enable surveillance, exclusion, and discrimination.
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Vietnam
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‘A persistent violator of human rights’
A vote on Vietnam’s candidacy to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is expected to take place during the international body’s 51st session from Sept. 12 to Oct. 7. If approved, the Southeast Asian nation will serve as part of the council for its 2023-2025 term.

But does Vietnam, which has a dismal human rights record, deserve a seat in the council? Most emphatically not, say many human rights, civil society, and non-governmental organizations.

On Sept. 13, Asia Democracy Network and seven rights groups sent a joint open letter to the permanent member states of the U.N. General Assembly, requesting that they refrain from voting on the issue of the country’s inclusion into the council, reports The Vietnamese. The signatories said that “[Vietnam] is a serious and persistent violator of human rights, has not lived up to its past pledges and commitments, has a poor track record of cooperation with the UNHRC, and should not be elected to the [council].”

On the same day, 52 Goldman Environmental Prize laureates from 41 countries wrote to the UNHRC to urge the body to reject Vietnam’s bid for membership. The green activists cited the crackdown on climate activists in the country. Mongabay reports that Nguy Thi Khanh, founder of Hanoi-based GreenID and Vietnam’s first Goldman Prize winner, and Dang Dinh Bach, an environmental lawyer and former director of the Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center, were imprisoned on tax evasion charges.

The U.N. itself has expressed concern over Vietnam’s human rights abuses. Nada Al-Nashif, U.N. Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a Sept. 12 Global Update, “The government’s growing restrictions on civic space and fundamental freedoms, as well as the sentencing of people on charges related to their human rights work and efforts to promote a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment are worrisome.”
Japan
A Silver Lining
A ray of hope for detained foreigners
Foreigners who run afoul of the bureaucracy in Japan may risk a bleak future. The country’s immigration system has been criticized for being “opaque and capricious” and having “nearly unchecked power” over detained foreigners, reports the New York Times. Two recent events suggest that the tide may be turning for them.

On Sept. 16, a court ordered the government to pay ¥1.65 million (US$11,500) in damages to the family of a Cameroonian man who died in 2014 while held at an immigration facility in eastern Japan. The man’s family alleged that immigration officials had failed to send him to a medical institution despite his health issues.

In handing down the judgment, the Mito District Court ruled the immigration bureau should have immediately sent the man to a hospital. The lawyers said the detained Cameroonian was the first to receive a ruling in a lawsuit against the central government among the 17 foreigners who died while in detention since 2007, reports The Asahi Shimbun.

On Sept. 14, a court called on the government to submit part of the video showing the final days of a Sri Lankan woman who also died while in detention because the authorities had not provided her with proper medical care. Wishma Rathnayake, who overstayed her visa, died at the age of 33 in 2021 following a month of medical complaints. During her seven-month detention, she reportedly lost 20kg in detention as her health deteriorated.

In their quest for justice, Wishma’s family demanded to see the closed-circuit video of her final weeks in custody. Wishma’s sisters managed to watch half of an edited two-hour video showing her final two weeks in detention.

But the family demands that the immigration authorities submit the entire video to the court as evidence. The government said it would consider the latest request.

Japan’s Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act allows the indefinite detention of undocumented foreign nationals. Proposed amendments to the law do not include maximum periods of detention and “continued to deny due process to individuals by failing to allow for judicial review of detention orders,” says Amnesty International.
September 19, 2022
September 19, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the global rise in forced marriages; the risks brought about by digital identity systems such as India’s Aadhar; the Southeast Asian country that doesn’t deserve a seat in the UN Human Rights Council; and a ray of hope for foreigners detained in Japan’s immigration centers.

September 12, 2022
September 12, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the alarming spike in house arrests under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rule; the community at risk of genocide in Afghanistan; the millions deprived of the right to read; and Cambodia’s learning gardens.

September 5, 2022
September 5, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: how extreme heat has led to occupational safety lapses worldwide; how North Korea used the coronavirus to increasingly repress the rights of its people; the weaponization of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act against peaceful protesters; and Thailand’s innovative approach to curb teenage pregnancy.

August 29, 2022
August 29, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the real roadblocks to fair COVID-19 vaccine distribution; the first step to ending torture in Pakistan; a bittersweet victory for Singapore’s LGBT activists; and the campaign to combat China’s disinformation in Taiwan.

August 22, 2022
August 22, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: China’s chilling psywar tactic; the lowest-paid workers in Bangladesh; Cambodia’s ground zero for human trafficking; and why FIFA and Qatar owe abused migrant workers US$440 million in reparations.

August 15, 2022
August 15, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: Indonesia’s repressive hijab rules; the plight of Seoul’s basement dwellers; the Afghan evacuees trapped by red tape; and the crucial role of Indigenous women as keepers of knowledge.

August 8, 2022
August 8, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a setback in Malaysian mothers’ campaign against an unequal citizenship law; Japan’s flawed program that has become a breeding ground for abuse; the heavy toll of water scarcity in Bangladesh; and the women who eat last and least.

August 1, 2022
August 1, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a discriminatory lockdown in Taiwan; the endless wait for justice for victims of wartime atrocities in Nepal; a new law that is a betrayal of public health in the Philippines; and alarming news about the other deadly virus.

July 25, 2022
July 25, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a “zero click” Trojan horse attacking the phones of Thai activists; the heavy-handed tactics of Sri Lanka’s new government; the bleak picture for freedom of expression in Asia; and the fresh hell inflicted by Pyongyang on harried North Koreans.

July 18, 2022
July 18, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: an app update that may increase state control in Hong Kong; the serious risk to Myanmar’s democracy activists; the depressing news in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report for 2022; and Afghanistan’s secret schools for girls.

July 11, 2022
July 11, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a landmark ruling against modern slavery; a massive data breach that exposed the personal data of 1 billion Chinese; a faint glimmer of hope for Pakistan’s victims of enforced disappearances; and a contentious Indonesian draft law that would promote — not prevent — rights violations.

July 4, 2022
July 4, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: India’s travel bans on journalists; South Korea’s bad bosses; Asia’s worst countries for workers in 2022; and a promising uptick in financial inclusion worldwide.

June 27, 2022
June 27, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a historic wage hike for garment workers in Pakistan’s Sindh province; the U.S. law which bans the import of goods made with forced labor from China’s Xinjiang region; the Asian countries that keep their citizens in the dark; and Vietnam’s environmental activists under attack.

June 20, 2022
June 20, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the twin victory of South Korean truckers; the spotty observance of the right of due process in the Philippines; the growing problem of elder abuse; and the burning issue of global warming — and the tools to cool down cities.

June 13, 2022
June 13, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: how Mongolia brought digital rights to many citizens’ fingertips; a hidden lockdown for migrant workers in Singapore; the cross-cutting issue of food safety; and Bangladesh’s arbitrary cancellation of the license of a key human rights NGO.

June 6, 2022
June 6, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a landmark settlement for sacked Thai garment workers; an ongoing battle for marriage equality in Taiwan; how attacks on schools worldwide jeopardize the future of children; period poverty and pain.

May 30, 2022
May 30, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the palm oil that is tainted by corporate greed; a law that restricts rape victims in Nepal in their quest for justice; Japan’s controversial training of the Tamadaw; and the shroud of secrecy veiling Asia’s executing countries.

May 23, 2022
May 23, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a shadow pandemic in Thailand; the Taliban’s dissolution of a key human rights body in Afghanistan; the doubtful outcome of the UN rights chief’s Xinjiang visit; and an invasive technology that may turn a lifeline app into a surveillance tool.

May 16, 2022
May 16, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the decades-long struggle for disability rights in South Korea; a minimum wage law that excludes domestic helpers in Malaysia; India’s antiquated and arbitrary sedition law; and the glaring gaps in alcohol marketing regulations that put young people and heavy drinkers at risk.

May 9, 2022
May 9, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the gloomy picture of press freedom in Asia; a heartbreaking polio outbreak in Pakistan; the turning of the tide for a prisoner of conscience in the Philippines; and North Korea’s fashion police.

May 2, 2022
May 2, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the latest setback for a fallen democracy icon in Myanmar; hard-won progress for worker safety in Bangladesh; another nail in the coffin of press freedom in Hong Kong; and the human and environmental costs of sand mining.

April 25, 2022
April 25, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a landmark legal victory for gay soldiers in South Korea; an assault on education and an ethnic community in Afghanistan; the return of an independence leader in Timor-Leste; and ASEAN’s failed five-point consensus on the Myanmar crisis.

April 18, 2022
April 18, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a landmark victory for Indonesian women; Hong Kong’s forgotten elderly; a proposed law that raises fears of a surveillance state in India; and the freedom that is at risk worldwide.

April 11, 2022
April 11, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the Filipina politician who is in the crosshairs of trolls and haters; Sri Lanka’s heavy-handed tactics; a horrifying new discovery about forced organ harvesting in China; and the major global problem of toxic air.

April 4, 2022
April 4, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: “delayed” justice for street sleepers in Hong Kong; a problematic draft law that could shut down Thailand’s vibrant civil society; India’s appalling apathy toward Rohingya refugees; and the “crucial weakness” in the governance of global health organizations.

March 28, 2022
March 28, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a watershed moment for lesbian and bisexual women everywhere; the other devastating pandemic; a victory for young voters in Taiwan; and Vietnam’s repressive Article 88.

March 21, 2022
March 21, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a baby step forward for women’s rights in Bangladesh; Singapore’s addiction to the death penalty; China’s unsafe food and how it threatens the ruling party; and the Qatari dream that has become the migrant workers’ nightmare.

March 14, 2022
March 14, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: South Korea’s “anti-feminist” president-elect; the tiny Southeast Asian country that is standing up to Russia; a call to end the Taliban’s crackdown on Afghan women’s rights; and the prescription for a full pandemic recovery.

March 7, 2022
March 7, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: ASEAN’s fence-sitting on the Ukraine crisis; the “shocking abuses” against indigenous Papuans; scant support for the backbone of Hong Kong’s economy; and lessons from an adaptation role model.

February 28, 2022
February 28, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the misleading marketing of formula milk to women worldwide; the guilty verdict that should be a watershed moment for Pakistan’s women; North Korea’s Supreme Leader’s focus on launching missiles over administering COVID-19 vaccines; and “a historic win” for grassroots activists.

February 21, 2022
February 21, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the pernicious practice of “red-tagging” in the Philippines; firewall fears in Hong Kong; a crackdown against journalists in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir; and a harmful and unnecessary rite of passage for girls.

February 14, 2022
February 14, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a horrifying hijab ban in India; an alarming spate of custodial deaths in Malaysia; the bullies hiding behind keyboards in South Korea; and the high toll of Japan’s strict entry ban.

February 7, 2022
February 7, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the “burner phone Olympics” in Beijing; Myanmar’s annus horribilis; the steep price Sri Lankans are paying for botched schemes; and the mountain of pandemic-induced medical waste that threatens health and the environment.

January 31, 2022
January 31, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a report that shows how, across the globe, corruption and human rights violations go hand in hand; a “shamelessly scandalous” scheme that threatens media freedom in the Philippines; the living hell of the Afghan LGBT community under Taliban rule; and the “positive endings” Chinese censors impose on Hollywood movies and even a local show.

January 24, 2022
January 24, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: an anti-poor “no vaccination, no ride” policy in the Philippines; a “sportswashing opportunity” for China; the bogus charges against a Cambodian opposition leader; and two rays of hope for Pakistan’s women.

January 17, 2022
January 17, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a cautiously positive report from Human Rights Watch; the math of misogyny in Indonesia; India’s draconian anti-terror law; how Cambodia keeps a lid on dissent; and the fight for the rights of migrant workers in Taiwan.

January 10, 2022
January 10, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: Cambodia’s strongman playing “rogue diplomat”; a welcome ban on child marriage in the Philippines; North Korea’s “boomerang defector”; and the weaponization of technology against Muslim women.

January 3, 2022
January 3, 2022

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a wave of hate speech and violence against India’s religious minorities; press freedom in tatters in Hong Kong; a horrifying Christmas massacre in Myanmar; and how the Taliban have revoked Afghan women’s hard-won rights.

December 27, 2021
December 27, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: Myanmar’s blood gemstones; Hong Kong’s “selection”; the failed talks on killer bots; and the need for safe, legal migration options for workers.

December 20, 2021
December 20, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the seamy side of a Chinese ultra-fast fashion leader; the “silencing of a Laotian son”; Kim Jong Un’s decade of abusive rule; and calls for change in a country where sexual violence regularly goes unpunished

December 13, 2021
December 13, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: the widespread condemnation following Aung San Suu Kyi’s conviction; the Nagaland killings that have revived debate about a controversial decades-old law; the other global infection; and Pakistan’s deadly blasphemy laws.

December 6, 2021
December 6, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: a high point for China’s struggling #MeToo movement; confusion over a perplexing court ruling in Indonesia; growing awareness of the rights of the hijra in Bangladesh; and the price Pakistan’s children pay for dirty needles.

November 29, 2021
November 29, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: three women journalists who have held those in power to account and have paid a high price; why Thailand is no Land of Smiles for refugees; the plight of the “marriage migrants” in Taiwan; and another victory for Mother Nature Cambodia.

November 22, 2021
November 22, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: Modi’s volte-face on India’s contentious farm laws; the wealthy country where hunger hides behind closed doors; Pakistan’s “living ghosts”; and the life-saving importance of the porcelain throne.

November 15, 2021
November 15, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the following: how China’s “gray zone” strategy seems to be backfiring in Taiwan; the Asian countries clinging to capital punishment; the lethal weapons still claiming thousands of victims, often long after hostilities have ceased; and the “unconstitutional” calls for royal reform in Thailand.

November 8, 2021
November 8, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the possible end of China’s relentless 996 work hours, the killing and chilling of journalists, the urgent need to stamp out child labor in Asian farms, and the Burmese military’s history of arson attacks.

November 1, 2021
November 1, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about a lifeline for Afghan female students, the end of an unconstitutional ban in the Philippines, the plight of North Korean defectors in the South, and India’s cool roofs.

October 25, 2021
October 25, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about China’s continuing crackdown on peaceful religious practice, a small step for LGBTI people in India, the closure of a human rights watchdog’s operations in Hong Kong, and how the Greater Mekong Subregion and India offer a glimmer of hope for malaria elimination.

October 18, 2021
October 18, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about a simple yet powerful tool that is beyond the reach of many, Asia’s starving millions, the urgent need to revise Japan’s regressive transgender law, and a low-cost, low-input, and climate-resilient type of farming in India.

October 11, 2021
October 11, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the early impact of an offshore data tsunami, why girl children deserve a better normal, the Asian gig workers fighting for their rights, and the rain harvesters in a Nepalese town.

October 4, 2021
October 4, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the right to information laws across the region, Malaysia’s youth power, Filipino advocates pushing back against a proposed road to ruin, and the Indian lawyer who won the “alternative Nobel Prize.”

September 27, 2021
September 27, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the resiliency of LQBTQ activists in South Korea and Taiwan, the gatecrashing Cambodian prime minister, the Malaysian mothers fighting for their children’s citizenship rights, and China’s shadowy solar industry.

September 20, 2021
September 20, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the urgent need for safe childbirth, the dangers of “kinetic impact projectiles,” the never-ending battle for democracy and human rights, and a game-changing procurement system.

September 13, 2021
September 13, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about “the anaconda in the chandelier,” a spyware scandal, a dangerous place to stand up for the environment, and how people power scored a win for a Malaysian forest.

September 6, 2021
September 6, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the other global health threat that cuts life expectancies in the Asian region, the forgotten Afghan refugees in Indonesia, period poverty, and a study that shows how better pay for truck drivers in South Korea made the drivers — and the general public — safer.

August 30, 2021
August 30, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the pursuit of justice for the forcibly disappeared in Asia, the Rohingya’s quest for safe havens, lawbreaking law enforcers, and a doctor-entrepreneur who is retelling the story of health in Pakistan.

August 23, 2021
August 23, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the South Asian countries where children face extreme risk from climate change, how arbitrary detentions have fueled COVID-19 surges in Myanmar and Thai jails, China’s problematic family planning policies, and the Afghan women fighting the return to the dark days of harsh limits on their freedoms.

August 16, 2021
August 16, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the trail of rights violations that follows China’s Belt and Road projects, the two South Asian countries that are failing their daughters, how the Rohingya risk being left behind in the global COVID-19 vaccination race, and the raft of repressive measures that are keeping journalists in the region from their doing their jobs.

August 10, 2021
August 10, 2021

As the Delta variant spreads like wildfire in parts of Asia, we highlight news about Afghanistan’s swift descent into catastrophe, ASEAN Special Envoy Erywan Yusof’s tough assignment in defusing the Myanmar crisis, the severe challenges faced by indigenous peoples, a rare legal victory for online freedom in Thailand, the refusal of Taiwanese Olympians to use a name that exists on no map, and the Asian women athletes who are changing the game.

August 3, 2021
August 3, 2021

In this edition, we highlight news about the slogan that landed a Hong Kong protester in jail, the attacks and arrests Myanmar’s doctors face amid the pandemic, the factory fire that spotlights child labor and safety lapses in Bangladesh, and the marginalized Indian girls who are fighting child marriage.

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