Human Rights

In 2018, religious freedom conditions in Laos trended the same as in 2017. It continued to be difficult to obtain and confirm details about religious freedom violations due to heavy govern-ment censorship and restrictions on freedom of information. Lao officials seek to control all perceived challenges to state authority and often characterize religious and ethnic […]

A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld jail terms for three human rights campaigners convicted on charges of conducting anti-state activities after producing and distributing videos which were critical of the country’s ruling Communist party and its leaders. Vu Quang Thuan, Nguyen Van Dien and Tran Hoang Phuc were convicted in a one-day trial at […]

Massive but orderly protests across the country hint at the beginning of the end of Communist Party rule “You can jail a revolutionary, but you can’t jail the revolution.” —Huey Newton, American activist and communist revolutionary On June 7, a group of about 300 ordinary Vietnamese in Phan Ri Cua City of Binh Thuan province […]

An increasing number of poor urban North Koreans are abandoning their homes and moving to remote mountains to avoid forced mass mobilizations and mandatory contributions to the regime of leader Kim Jong Un, sources inside the country said. “There is an increasing number of people who have recently abandoned their homes and are living deep […]

PHNOM PENH – A new report by the international rights group Human Rights Watch links two of Cambodia’s highest military figures contesting seats in next month’s legislative election to murders, tortures, rapes, kidnappings and land grabbing. The report, titled “Cambodia’s Dirty Dozen,” documents the past of 12 senior military and police leaders who form what […]

South Korean rights group the National Council of Churches (NCC) on Friday awarded its Asian Human Rights Peace Prize to the jailed president of Cambodia’s now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Kem Sokha, citing his devotion to democracy and human rights in the country. In a ceremony in the South Korean city of Gwangju, […]

Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu on Friday struggled to contain growing protests by at least 1,000 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) veterans enraged at the beating of a fellow veteran earlier this week. Hundreds of former armed forces personnel clad in military-style clothing gathered on a major road in Jiangsu’s Zhenjiang city, shouting […]

TAIPEI — The spread of street protests in Vietnam this month shows a latent fear of China, worries about freedom of speech and distrust of the lawmaking process, analysts say. Demonstrations with occasional violence reached 10 cities, including Vietnam’s largest, and attracted about 30,000 people June 9 and 10, London-based rights group Amnesty International said. […]

ST. PETERSBURG — In November 1969, at a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, Air Force Capt. James White and his wife Sharon enjoyed their last night out together, dining on hotel room service with family friends Neil and Janet Armstrong. It was four months after Armstrong took the first walk on the moon. On a whirlwind […]

HANOI — An American student held in Vietnam for “causing public disorder” at violent protests this month has appeared on state television to say he regrets breaking the law and will stay away from future rallies. William Nguyen was detained on June 10 in Ho Chi Minh City after attending mass demonstrations against proposed special […]