This is an opportunity albeit a grim one for the government to open up access to the province and allow independent monitors, media and human rights organizations in.

The grenade attack and coup changed everything in Cambodian politics, and their consequences are still being felt today. They made it impossible to have serious elections the following year and paved the way for Hun...

Tents are the difference between life and death,

The Security Council has taken up urgent human rights and political problems in more than 20 countries this year. If China moves to block this effort they should explain to Aung San Suu Kyi and...

New laws cannot hide the fact that the constitution has been peremptorily put aside. There is no way out of this crisis but a return to constitutional and representative rule.

It’s his right to choose what religion he believes in. Apostasy is not recognized in international law. People have the right to have freedom of conscience.

There is ample precedent for the Security Council to take up the human rights and political situation in a country with as horrific a record as Burma, especially when suffering spills across borders.

[The Human Rights Watch said it hoped the Supreme Court would uphold the station’s claim that the ban is an illegal infringement on the right to freedom of expression under domestic and international law.] Although...

Clearly the way the judiciary is being used as an instrument against critics now is a real problem. It shows the problems for the trials and the problem for the United Nations to be mixed...

These are welcome moves in the right direction, but not sufficient and do not evidence a change of heart.

The grenade attack sent a message that to oppose those in power is dangerous, even lethal, while those in charge who commit the worst kinds of human rights violations will get away with murder.

They (the critics) shouldn’t be standing on a trap door for the next three years that can be opened on the whim of Hun Sen.

Yet they still remain afraid of their own citizens and the healthy diversity of news and views which defines a modern society .

Independent monitors should be given immediate access to any detainees to make sure they are not being mistreated.

If the purpose of the coup was to end the Maoist insurgency, then it has been a failure. The insurgency shows no signs of abating, and the government’s security forces seem as far from a...

This brazen attack, carried out in broad daylight, ingrained impunity more than any other single act in recent Cambodian history. But that appears to have been one of its purposes.

It is time for China to confront the blood collection scandal,

I’ve been with some pretty decent teams here, … but the difference is we have leadership across the board at all positions, something we lacked in the past.

Indonesia’s trials for crimes in East Timor speak for themselves: The process was a sham.

Governments should have no role in determining what is an appropriate religion or belief for an individual to hold. This is a matter of individual conscience.

It’s time for the Chinese government to give a full account of what has happened to these five men, including any charges against them. Independent doctors and lawyers should be allowed to meet with them...

Discrimination is forcing many people to live as outcasts, and the Chinese government tolerates it instead of combating it,

The United States is setting a terrible example in Afghanistan on detention practices.

China is trying to portray itself as an emerging and responsible global power. But continuing to offer unconditional support to one of the world’s most odious regimes makes it impossible to take such claims seriously....

This is a pretty typical pattern for March.

That local officials continue to deny this incident even took place is typical of efforts to cover up human rights abuses in the region. It is thus vital that the authorities clarify the legal status...

Democracies like the Philippines should be ashamed if they try to block discussion of Burma (Myanmar) at the Security Council, … Burma has embarrassed ASEAN over and over again.

This is sure to make the AIDS crisis worse.

The Burmese people shouldn’t have to wait another generation for the killing to end and democracy to begin, … The generals have ignored all other demands to end the abuse. It is time for the...

We were shocked to find so many credible accounts of torture and severe ill-treatment by police officers.

Beijing should authorize a full and impartial investigation into the involvement of local authorities in the blood scandal and hold those responsible accountable.

These charges are politically motivated and should be dropped. No one in any country should face jail for the peaceful criticism of a country’s leaders. Trials like these are especially dangerous in Cambodia where the...

It’s a dangerous moment in Bangladesh when the government becomes complicit in religious violence.

This report should serve as a wake-up call to the government and donors. This young country can avoid emulating its former colonial master, but only if concerted action is taken now.

Hun Sen has found himself under pressure and he is doing the minimum possible to keep the donors happy.

Hun Sen appears to be following the Burmese model by imprisoning peaceful critics of his increasingly authoritarian government.

The government seems to have gone into fear mode over the last few years. From the outside it just seems absurd. But maybe they know something we don’t know about the fragility of the political...

Freedom of expression is extremely limited. Freedom of assembly is extremely limited. What’s missing from the government’s position is an end-date for all of this. It was always implicitly the argument that Singapore could grow...

Because of the lack of transparency, we don’t know whether the commander is a scapegoat, or if he is only one of many who should be arrested. The investigation must be conducted openly for people...

The message is clear: If you criticize the government, you will be thrown in jail.

The government here has always been paranoid of the risks to stability and having activists link up. Now as [activists] appear to be able to reach across different boundaries and communities, the authorities are particularly...

We want the U.N. Security Council, whether it is under the international threat to peace (measure) or just on the basis of its human-rights mandate, to take up the issue of Burma much more seriously,...

Today’s arrests are an attempt to suppress any vocal opposition to the king, or his attempts to win legitimacy by holding elections. Silencing the leadership, the king hopes, will silence the people. Such actions belie...

Impunity from prosecution for human rights violations is the most important problem in the region, and the most widespread.

The government has cracked down so much that today most of the major activists are already in jail. That means good people who once stayed inside and system and pushed the rules and who could...

It is essential for the public to know that aid is being handled in a non-arbitrary, non-discriminatory manner.

The regulations have not created the space for the free exercise of religion that was promised. Instead, Chinese citizens who engage in the most basic religious activities can still find themselves arrested, in jail, or...

There is compelling evidence suggesting that U.S. personnel have committed acts against detainees amounting to torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment.

The Cambodian government doesn’t seem to understand the sad irony of threatening critics of the prime minister on International Human Rights Day, but the rest of the world does. Cambodia seems to be traveling down...