Search Results for: asean

There’s much talk these days about democracy being under threat at home and around the world. Most of this discussion tends to be focused on efforts by autocrats and their supporters to erode the rule of law and the right to vote; their adoption of policies that discriminate against minorities and women; and their use [...]

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) condemned Thailand’s deportation of 40 Uyghur asylum seekers to China on Thursday. The group stated that repeated requests to access the detained Uyghurs and secure assurances against forced returns were ignored, violating domestic and international human rights laws. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk described the [...]

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported Thursday that over 570,000 people are likely displaced in Myanmar’s Rakhine State due to ongoing conflict between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and the rebel Arakan Army, with over 3 million people displaced by conflict and flooding across the country. Adding to the humanitarian [...]

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report on Monday, revealing that Asian crime syndicates have increasingly integrated service-based business models and advanced technologies — including malware, generative artificial intelligence (AI), and deepfakes — into their operations alongside the establishment of new underground markets and cryptocurrency solutions for money laundering. The [...]

The Office of the President of the Philippines released a statement criticizing Chinese maritime forces for repetitive and illegal actions in the South China Sea on Monday. The presidential office’s security forum, the National Security Council of the Philippines, also shared a press statement, describing that a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel, [...]

US and Australian officials met to reaffirm a peaceful alliance within the Indo-Pacific region as part of the thirty-fourth Australia-U.S. Ministerial (AUSMIN) Consultations on Tuesday in Annapolis, Maryland.  The Indo-Pacific region is comprised of twenty-three countries, including Australia, China, India, and Cambodia. The officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, [...]

The ASEAN summit concluded after three days of discussions on Saturday, centring on the violence in Myanmar and tensions in the South China Sea. Laos’ Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith chaired the meeting, which included representatives from the US, Russia, and China. The summit placed significant emphasis on Myanmar’s post-coup humanitarian crisis. ASEAN issued a joint [...]

China Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong accused the US on Sunday of undermining security in the South China Sea, citing the extraterritorial forces led by the United States pushing forward military deployments and operations in the region. After attending a series of senior officials’ meetings on East Asian cooperation, Sun told the reporters that China [...]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers issued a statement on Thursday, expressing deep concern for the wellbeing of civilians in the border regions of Myanmar and Thailand. The statement specifically mentioned the areas of Myawaddy, Kayin State and Rakhine State, and urged an immediate ceasefire in the region. The ASEAN called upon [...]

Two senior UN officials told the UN Security Council on Thursday, during the council’s first meeting about Myanmar since the military seized power from the democratically elected government, that the ongoing fighting in Myanmar since the military takeover in 2021 has deprived local communities of basic needs and access to essential services, which has resulted [...]