A rare interview with Kim Bok-dong, a 90-year-old South Korean woman who was taken from her home village and abused as a ‘comfort woman’ by the Japanese Army during World War II. ‘

Ten years ago today, Thailand witnessed one of the deadliest government crackdowns in the country’s history. While protest leaders and demonstrators have faced criminal prosecutions, no justice, truth or reparation has been served to families of those killed during the violence. The Thai government must now bring to justice those suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes committed during the May 2010 unrest.

The Cambodian government’s three-year long “war on drugs” campaign has fuelled a rising tide of human rights abuses, dangerously overfilled detention facilities and led to an alarming public health situation – even more so as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds – while failing in its stated objective of curbing drug use, a new investigative report by Amnesty International published today reveals. The new 78-page report, Substance abuses: The human cost of Cambodia’s anti-drug campaign, documents how the authorities prey on poor and marginalized people, arbitrarily carry out arrests, routinely subject suspects to torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and dispatch those who can’t buy their freedom to severely overcrowded prisons and pseudo “rehabilitation centres” in which detainees are denied healthcare and are subjected to severe abuse.

The COVID-19 pandemic is stretching healthcare systems around the world to breaking point. As a result, many people are finding it harder than ever to access abortion and contraception.

Responding to news that the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease-and-desist order effectively stopping the operations of ABS-CBN, one of the country’s largest broadcast media companies, Amnesty International Philippines Section Director Butch Olano said:

Ever since the 2014 coup d’état by the NCPO, there have been relentless efforts to silence critics. Human rights defenders, activists, journalists, opposition politicians, and online users have faced ‘lawfare’ where the government brought criminal charges against them to stop criticism. 

 Several fishing trawlers carrying hundreds of women, men and children – believed to be Rohingya – are currently stranded at sea, after being pushed away by governments invoking COVID-19 pandemic related restrictions to deny them permission to disembark. Amnesty International urges governments in the region to work together and take immediate action to protect people whose lives are at risk. Any national and regional measures must meet governments’ responsibilities under international law and respect the human rights of migrants and asylum seekers. Governments must also adopt measures to address the root causes of the current situation.

The Thai authorities are prosecuting social media users who criticize the government and monarchy in a systematic campaign to crush dissent which is being exacerbated by new COVID-19 restrictions, Amnesty International said in a new briefing released today.

Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people in 2019, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide, Amnesty International said in its 2019 global review of the death penalty published today. The Saudi authorities put 184 people to death last year, the highest number Amnesty has ever recorded in a single year in the country. 

With much of the world on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, many of us are relying on our phones, laptops and other devices to stay connected. While cyber-surveillance is a longstanding threat to human rights defenders and others, this new normal means options for using physical security alternatives (like simply communicating sensitive information in person rather than online) are seriously diminished. This raises the human rights stakes. It can mean everyone has more exposure to cyber-attacks and scammers who are seeking to exploit the outbreak. Here are six top tips on how to keep safe online.

Southeast Asian governments must immediately launch search and rescue operations for likely hundreds of Rohingya languishing at sea, amid mounting reports of vessels attempting dangerous trips in search of safety, said Amnesty International today. 

The family of Pholachi “Billy” Rakchongcharoen, a Karen human rights defender, last saw him six years ago. A few days later on 17 April 2014, he disappeared o after being taken into state custody by National Park officials in Kaeng Krachan National Park.