This document is the text of a speech given by Ross Daniels, member of AI’s International Executive Committee (IEC) responsible for Asia, at the Manila People’s Forum on APEC (Asia and Pacific Economic Cooperation) in November 1996, and also six illustrative case studies from the APEC region on the subject of human rights and development. While this paper focuses on the consequences of the economic ascendancy of East Asia for APEC countries, these are not confined to the current boundaries of APEC grouping. Trade and investment flows, political links and people movement within and without APEC impact directly on the countries of South Asia and Indo-China, not to mention other parts of the developing and industrialised world.