Human Rights
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Escapees detail North Korean human rights abuses to United Nations General Assembly
The Associated Press Eunju Kim, who escaped starvation in North Korea in 1999, was sent back from China and fled a second time, told the United Nations that the country’s leader must be held accountable for gross human rights violations. Gyuri Kang, whose family faced persecution for her grandmother’s religious beliefs, escaped the North during the COVID-19 pandemic. She told…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
U.S. sanctions CCP, Hong Kong officials over transnational repression
FORUM Staff Human rights advocates welcomed United States sanctions on officials in China and Hong Kong who used draconian security laws to intimidate and harass pro-democracy activists. The March 2025 sanctions freeze U.S. assets owned by six senior Beijing and Hong Kong security officials and block U.S. entities from conducting financial transactions with the sanctioned individuals. They include the chief…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Report exposes CCP human rights abuses throughout 2024
FORUM Staff A prominent Chinese economist disappeared after privately criticizing the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) weakening economy, The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported in September 2024. In mid-December, a Tibetan village chief died three days after his release from prison on charges of “endangering state security.” His crime, according to the Central Tibetan Administration, was championing preservation of the…
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Global Commons
Philippines fortifies cyber defense, partnering with Japan, U.S. and others
FORUM Staff Across the Philippines’ Armed Forces, government agencies and civil society, organizations are strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity capabilities and resilience. The initiatives combine with multinational cooperation to ensure regional and global stability. Since 2023, Manila has detected People’s Republic of China (PRC)-linked cyberattacks targeting the Philippine Coast Guard, the president’s office, and environmental and agriculture departments, Philippine media company…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Hong Kong’s academic freedom suffers under security regime, report says
Voice of America Hong Kong’s national security law, enacted in July 2020, has eroded academic freedom in the former United Kingdom colony, according to a report released in late September 2024. The report, by the international group Human Rights Watch and the United States-based advocacy organization Hong Kong Democracy Council, said university authorities have imposed greater control and limitations on…
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Conflicts - Tensions
PRC pushes propaganda, manipulated information about human rights abuses
Voice of America The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is using new propaganda campaigns to obscure its human rights abuses against Tibetans and Uyghurs. The PRC recently invited foreign bloggers to Xinjiang in northwest China, home to millions of Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority. It also inaugurated a communication center to produce content spreading PRC-favored information about Tibet, which…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Human rights advocates, investigators document CCP’s transnational repression
FORUM Staff Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked intimidation, harassment and violence during CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco, California, sought to silence criticism of Beijing’s repressive policies. CCP supporters appeared to coordinate actions that ranged from stealing protest signs to beating demonstrators, according to investigations by The Washington Post newspaper, and the Hong Kong Democracy Council and Students…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
China’s human rights record draws sharp rebuke at U.N.
Agence France-Presse The People’s Republic of China (PRC) met stinging criticism in early July 2024 from United Nations member countries and organizations over its human rights record. All 193 U.N. member states must undergo a review every four to five years, followed by a report on the recommendations the country is willing to accept. During the PRC review in January,…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Survey of escapees indicates worsening quality of life in North Korea
Radio Free Asia A survey of more than 6,300 North Korean escapees paints a bleak picture of life in the isolated country: Food has grown scarcer amid a weakening economy and rampant corruption. Women play a more elevated role in families and society — not because of a heightened sense of equality but out of economic necessity, interviewees said. The…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Experts: PRC, Russia uphold North Korea’s human rights violations
FORUM Staff Japan, South Korea and the United States are aligned on improving human rights in North Korea, experts say. Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia are exacerbating conditions for a beleaguered North Korean population. “China and Russia are really helping to facilitate a worsening of the North Korean human rights situation,” Victor Cha, an Asia expert…
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