The topic of human rights in Asia is one that encompasses an immense number of states, international governmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations. All these institutions contribute a variety of services and perspectives towards human rights, covering topics including the enforcement, monitoring, and criticisms of human rights in Asia. There is no single body that covers all of human rights in Asia, as such a diverse and widespread region requires a number of institutions to properly monitor the multitude of elements that fall under the scope of human rights. There have historically been numerous criticisms of human rights in Asia, but a variety of new treaties and conventions now strive to accomplish a level of human rights as they are known on the international stage. Human rights in Asia are monitored by many organizations (both governmental and non-governmental), a few examples being the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and Human Rights Watch. Tolerance of these organizations varies from state to state, with voluntary intergovernmental programs (i.e. ASEAN) often seeing more state-cooperation than neutral non-governmental organizations would typically receive. The number of criticisms towards Asian states has dramatically increased in recent decades, with many human rights advocates calling for increased transparency and greater international pressure upon Asian states to refrain from any human rights infractions. Aforementioned calls for international pressure have gone unanswered, however, as most of the international community finds it increasingly difficult to challenge the actions of the growing Asian powers: particularly China. While states have put forward somewhat muted complaints in recent years, non-governmental organizations continue to 'name and shame' states that have shown themselves to be guilty of human rights infractions.
History of human rights in Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia has historically not adopted the same definition of human rights that could be found in Western European or North American countries. The first sign of human rights recognition came in the form of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) put forward by the United Nations. This declaration, however, was not binding and therefore not enforced. The UDHR had only 51 states worldwide ratify its existence (those who were members of the United Nations); many of the Southeast Asian countries had not yet acquired membership. This primarily Western-based notion of human rights had by no means permeated Southeast Asia; instead, the ideological opposite of human rights was true: there were no expectations of equal treatment based upon socioeconomic, cultural, religious, etc. status.Bell, Daniel A. (2000). East meets West : human rights and democracy in East Asia ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 344.
The Philippines, the first nation in Asia to form a republic, experienced a long struggle for instituting democratic ideals. In the 1970s, it contested the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, which was eventually ousted through a bloodless People Power Revolution in 1986.. Numerous human rights victims suffered under the administration, and in 1983, one of the first Southeast Asian organizations called the Regional Council on Human Rights in Asia formalized the first regional declaration on human rights called the Declaration of the Basic Duties of ASEAN Peoples and Governments. The nongovernment organization was composed of established Southeast Asian human rights lawyers led by the father of Philippine human rights Sen. Jose W. Diokno, who was the founder of the largest human rights law firm called the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG). The declaration was signed on December 9, 1983, in Manila. In the 21st century, the nation faces a war on drugs under the 16th President Rodrigo Duterte, who has threatened to declare martial law, similar to Ferdinand Marcos. Time Person of the Year Maria Ressa of Rappler was later charged with libel for her reports on the Duterte administration.
In Singapore, certain fundamental freedoms are still restricted such as the freedom of assembly. Meetings of any kind are still heavily regulated, requiring a police permit for gatherings of 1 individual or more. Public gatherings for any cause are further restricted by the Singapore government, with many events in recent history being shut down under the pretense of the 'Public Order Act'. Singapore also regularly rejects applications for police permits to gather for assemblies "directed towards a political end". Singapore has retained and employed the death penalty numerous time throughout history, especially in drug related criminal cases. Executions often take place relatively quickly after conviction and almost never have any transparency. Singapore's LGBTQ community has seen heavy restrictions throughout history, such as the long-standing policy of criminalizing same-sex relations – a policy that remained in place until 2022.
Indonesia has a long history of committing numerous human rights infractions that have gone unpunished. Numerous members of the Indonesian security forces have been found responsible for human rights violations including rape, beatings, unlawful detention, etc. but have not been brought to justice. Indonesia's media, while officially deemed 'free press', suffers from intimidation tactics employed by powerful government or business figures. Numerous journalists have been jailed under supposed violations of various criminal and civil defamation laws. Religious freedom has been an issue of Indonesia for numerous years, despite its constitution dictating complete religious freedom/tolerance. Legal restrictions upon any religion except the 6 sanctioned state religions have existed in Indonesia for decades and are not expected to be lifted any time soon. Labor laws in Indonesia continue to be harsh, with hundreds of thousands of girls in Indonesia being subjected to involuntary labor. These children are often prohibited from leaving their places of employment and are often abused physically, psychologically, and sexually. The Human Rights Watch in early May 2020 urged the Indonesian government to immediately release at least 70 Papuan and Moluccan activists. They were arrested during a peaceful protest against the government. HRW also requested the government to ensure freedom of expression in the eastern province of Indonesia in line with the 2018 court ruling.
Central Asia Human rights in Central Asia have received less attention from media in recent years following the outbreak of conflict with Western powers than previous decades, but that is not to say that they are completely overlooked on the international stage by international governmental organizations or non-governmental organizations. Local interest in the adoption and upholding of human rights has also been relatively minimal, with proposed international governmental organizations (IGOs) such as the Central Asian Union (CAU) choosing to focus on other issues such as security, economic development, and cultural permeation.
Central Asia has many human rights issues that plague the lives of its citizens. For example, Human Rights Watch has compiled numerous reports with aims of drawing attention to the fact that Afghanistan remains in a state of conflict, seeing citizen death tolls either stay high or slowly grow; general safety of citizens is an uncertainty in Afghanistan, with human rights violations including torture, unlawful detainment, etc. by the government and other groups also going unchecked. These human rights violations have existed in Afghanistan throughout recent history and continue to exist today. Furthermore, numerous cases of sexual assault can be found throughout Afghanistan but often receive very little (if any) attention from the government; in fact, the opposite is true: the Afghan government often orders the performance of "virginity checks" upon women which essentially entails governmental sanctioned sexual assault or humiliation.
Looking specifically at Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch reported very few improvements to human rights in 2017 within the state, with the government acknowledging issues such as torture as an issue but doing nothing proactive to combat them. Human rights violations such as torture are considered to be de facto interrogation tools and are likely employed by the government and its police forces. Authorities in Kyrgyzstan registered 199 complaints of torture in 2015, with only 34 cases actually ever being looked into. Other questionable Kyrgyz actions have included the mid-June proposal of a foreign media blackout to avoid bad international coverage; these constitutional amendments were heavily condemned by both domestic and international journalists.
Kazakhstan is another Central Asian country that has had issues in recent history with human rights violations. Human Rights Watch condemned the Kazakhstan government for the detainment and jailing of peaceful protesters in 2016, with other violations such as restriction of movement and torture also being suspected following detention. Land claim protests are of particular prevalence as of late, with peaceful protests resulting in violent conflict between activists and government forces. The Kazakhstan government has justified said violent reactions by pointing to domestic laws striking freedom of association and assembly from their citizens' human rights, but said revocations of rights has been subjected to heavy criticism by the United Nations, European Union, and Human Rights Watch.
Other Central Asian countries share both similar situations regarding human rights violations and a lack of movement to rectify said violations.
South Asia
South Asia includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – each state having varying degrees of effective human rights policies and/or goals. This region of Asia has seen some dramatic improvements regarding human rights in past years but still has room to improve, especially in human rights genres such as children's rights or women's rights. Some improvements in recent years have included a number of pacts and declarations to combat the world's highest children marriage rate in Bangladesh. Numerous cases of stalking, sexual assault, and rape have persisted in Bangladesh in recent years and the number of cases reported have continued to increase annually. Sexual and gender orientation has taken strides forwards in Southern Asia recently, seeing the official recognition of a third gender for Hijras come into effect; policy regarding this third gender, homosexual relationships, etc. has remained somewhat stagnant however, seeing relatively slow implementation of existing goals and the slowing of upcoming rules or regulations. Enforced or involuntary disappearances also continue to be an issue in Southern Asia, with United Nations requests for investigation being continually denied and Human Rights Watch statements simply being ignored.
One of the most prominent and long-lasting issues for Southern Asia, particularly Bangladesh, is the problem of arsenic in drinking water. The World Health Organization (WHO) have stated an estimated 40 million people have been poisoned in Bangladesh alone and that local governments have taken few (if any) steps to rectify the problem. The arsenic is thought to come from water filtering through arsenic-rich rocks and local mining activity; the latter of the reasons is difficult to show, however, due to the refusal of Bangladesh to sanction any kind of investigation into the matter.