Overview

The regional overview summarizes the human rights situation and developments in the region throughout 2017.

The human rights landscape of the Asia-Pacific region was mostly characterized by government failures. However, these frequently contrasted with an inspiring and growing movement of human rights defenders and activists.

Many countries saw a shrinking space for civil society. Human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and others found themselves the target of state repression – from an unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression in China to sweeping intolerance of dissent in Cambodia and Thailand and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

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