Asia And The Pacific 2025
Across the region, repression, inequality and impunity converged, driven by authoritarian practices, systemic discrimination and an entrenched lack of accountability. Authorities increasingly imposed excessive restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, embedding control through legislation, policing and digital surveillance. These measures were mutually reinforcing, shrinking civic space and eroding fundamental freedoms. States normalized suppression of dissent through deadly crackdowns in Nepal and Indonesia, the use of counterterrorism laws in India, a wave of arbitrary detentions ahead of Myanmar’s military-imposed vote in December, and arrests of activists in Hong Kong.
Internationally, there were victories for accountability efforts, including the arrest and transfer to the ICC of Rodrigo Duterte, former president of the Philippines, and ICC warrants for two Taliban leaders for crimes against humanity of gender persecution. Otherwise, impunity remained entrenched, with no additional progress on ICC arrest warrants for officials responsible for international crimes against Rohingya people and no meaningful state action to address crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, China. Domestic accountability mechanisms were further dismantled in Afghanistan and remained largely ineffective to address war-time abuses in Sri Lanka.
States expanded cross-border repression. Thailand deported Uyghurs to China and extradited Montagnard defenders to Viet Nam despite risks of rights violations. Malaysia worked with Thai authorities to target a journalist, while Hong Kong and China used laws to pursue activists abroad, harassing families and friends still in Hong Kong.
Discrimination amplified harm for marginalized and vulnerable groups. Rohingya people faced forced labour in Myanmar and were disproportionately affected by humanitarian aid cuts for refugee camps in Bangladesh. Religious minorities were targeted systemically in Afghanistan, mainland China and Pakistan, while Indigenous Peoples in Australia and Indonesia continued to endure land dispossession. Dalits throughout South Asia were confined to hazardous work.
Gender-based violence persisted across the region, and technology-facilitated abuse made headlines in South Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam.
Human trafficking and forced labour surged in Southeast Asia, with scamming compounds in hotspots like Cambodia and Myanmar enslaving and torturing people.
The climate crisis, vulnerability to other disasters and economic fragility intensified rights deprivation. In Afghanistan, millions were reliant on aid amid deportations from Iran and Pakistan and earthquakes, while floods in Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam caused deaths and widespread displacement, devastated crops and deepened poverty. Climate change and disasters in Bangladesh, Kiribati, Pakistan and Tuvalu continued to displace communities, reinforcing structural inequalities. North Korea’s chronic shortages of basic necessities and Sri Lanka’s austerity-driven welfare cuts highlighted how economic policies compounded vulnerability.
Freedom of expression
Governments across the region continued to enforce restrictive laws and practices that curtailed the right to freedom of expression, alongside censorship, surveillance and reprisals against human rights defenders, journalists, activists and academics. Several countries introduced or retained laws granting sweeping powers to control online content and silence dissent. The government of Fiji rejected UN calls to reform restrictive public order laws. Myanmar’s Cybersecurity Law criminalized dissent with vague provisions, and the Election Law imposed harsh penalties, including life imprisonment and even the death penalty, for election violence. In Nepal, a Social Media Bill was tabled to enable the executive to order content removal and data access without judicial oversight, criminalizing “fake information” and trolling. Amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act by Pakistani authorities expanded powers for censorship and criminalization of online expression. In Sri Lanka, authorities continued using the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act. In India, the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act was enacted to criminalize dissent. Authorities in Malaysia continued to use broad laws such as the Communications and Multimedia Act to restrict freedom of expression; Criminal Code amendments tightening civic space were introduced in Mongolia; Cambodian authorities used citizenship revocation to punish critics; and in the Maldives a punitive media bill was proposed, granting sweeping powers over journalists. In Viet Nam, the Cyber Security Law was amended, allowing police to request internet users’ internet protocol (IP) addresses and requiring providers to take down content within 24 hours, while a draft Press Law was proposed requiring journalists to disclose their sources, raising concerns about privacy and online surveillance.
Governments increasingly targeted digital spaces to silence dissent. Authorities in Singapore used the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act to issue multiple orders against activists, media outlets and opposition figures. Chinese and Hong Kong authorities expanded national security laws to target an even broader range of peaceful activities. In Hong Kong, law-makers expanded national security laws into education, curbing freedom of expression, while courts upheld laws criminalizing calls to abstain from voting. In Nepal, authorities blocked Telegram and 26 other social media platforms, while in Pakistan, YouTube channels and social media accounts critical of the government were banned. Authorities in India ordered X and Instagram to block thousands of accounts, restricted satire, and banned 25 books in Jammu and Kashmir. The North Korean authorities maintained near-total control, jamming broadcasts, inspecting homes, and imposing severe penalties – including execution – for distributing foreign media.
Reprisals for exercising free expression were widespread. In Afghanistan, the Taliban arrested journalists, shut down Radio Nasim, and banned books authored by women and poetry critical of their policies from universities, as well as cutting access to the internet. In China, journalist Zhang Zhan received a second prison term, and in Hong Kong, pro-democracy figure Joshua Wong faced a new charge under national security laws.
In India, harassment of journalists was escalated through police records and arrests, alongside the cancellation of Overseas Citizen of India status for academic Nitasha Kaul.
In Cambodia, journalists and activists faced arrests and long sentences. Malaysia collaborated with Thai authorities to arrest a writer, and in Mongolia police raided an independent media outlet. In Thailand, an academic faced charges for work on civil-military relations. In Viet Nam, a land rights activist was sentenced to 21 years for “opposing the government”.
Governments must repeal or amend repressive laws, ensure effective judicial oversight of content regulation, and protect journalists and activists from harassment and violence.
Freedom of association and assembly
The right to freedom of peaceful assembly remained under severe strain, with governments resorting to repression, preventive detentions and restrictive legal frameworks. Violent crackdowns on protests occurred throughout the year. In Afghanistan, Taliban forces killed at least 10 and wounded 40 during poppy eradication protests in Badakhshan. In Indonesia, there were mass arrests and 4,000 detained, 900 assaulted, and at least 10 killed during nationwide demonstrations. Nepal’s youth-led “Gen-Z” protests against corruption and a social media ban left 76 dead, including protesters and police. Pakistani authorities used internet shutdowns and lethal force against protesters in Balochistan and Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Malaysian authorities used heavy policing and arrests to quell dissent. In the Philippines, hundreds of mostly young people were arrested in anti-corruption protests. In Hong Kong, authorities blocked gatherings and arrested would-be demonstrators; Pride events were cancelled. The Viet Pride parade in Ho Chi Minh City was cancelled for the first time in 13 years, while other pride events in Viet Nam faced censorship or cancellation following harassment by local authorities.
Detentions, denial of permissions and legal actions were common across the region. Indian authorities detained Jamia students, opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, and sanitation workers after denying rally permissions. In the Maldives, women were arrested for peaceful protests outside embassies. South Korean courts sentenced disability rights activists for participating in peaceful protests. Authorities in India and Singapore continued to invoke restrictive laws to declare assemblies unlawful.
Restrictive frameworks deepened control over the rights to peaceful assembly and association. Authorities in Taiwan enforced arbitrary restrictions in sensitive zones and in Hong Kong new “prohibited” zones were established, limiting not just protest but any unauthorized presence. Heavy policing, harassment, arrests and investigations persisted in Malaysia, despite proposed reforms to the Peaceful Assembly Act. In South Korea, however, courts eased restrictions on assemblies. Controls on civic and political organizations also intensified. Sri Lanka continued to mandate NGO registration with the defence ministry, tightening oversight of civil society. In Bangladesh, the Awami League was banned under anti-terror laws, severely undermining the rights to political association and participation.
Governments must stop repression, release those detained for peaceful assemblies, repeal or amend restrictive or repressive laws, and guarantee safe, accessible spaces for protests in line with international standards.
Discrimination
Discrimination persisted in multiple forms – religious, ethnic, descent-based, disability-related, and against Indigenous Peoples – often reinforced by state policies, systemic inequalities and social hostility.
State-sponsored religious discrimination remained widespread. In Afghanistan, Taliban authorities targeted Shia minorities, forcing Ismailis to convert to Sunni Islam, restricting Shia-Hazara rituals, and discriminating in humanitarian aid delivery. Hazara families were also forcibly evicted and faced employment discrimination. In Pakistan, violence and restrictions by private and state actors against Ahmadis escalated, while accountability for the 2023 attack on Christians by private actors remained elusive. In India, discriminatory laws criminalized inter-faith marriages, while hate crimes against Muslims and Kashmiris by private and state actors were documented. In Indonesia, intolerance toward Ahmadiyah and Christian communities continued, with worship restrictions and attacks on prayer houses. The Chinese government interfered in Tibetan Buddhist affairs and detained Christian leaders, while in Fiji Hindu temples were vandalized.
Ethnic discrimination persisted in several countries. In Japan, xenophobic rhetoric was evident during election campaigns, while in South Korea there were anti-Chinese rallies. In Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State, the Arakan Army forced internally displaced Rohingya people into labour with reported ill-treatment of those who refused.
Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples was severe and systemic. In China, Uyghurs and Tibetans continued to face systematic discrimination, including restrictions on cultural, linguistic and religious expression. In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples faced worsening inequality, high incarceration rates and deaths in custody. In India, environmental protections were weakened, heightening displacement risks for Indigenous communities. In Indonesia, large-scale projects and nickel mining devastated Indigenous lands, prompting protests and criminalization of activists. The CERD Committee warned the Japanese government about the impact of constructing a US military base in Okinawa, while Indigenous leaders protested against Japanese financing of harmful projects abroad. The Malaysian government considered possible amendments to expand Orang Asli rights, and there were violent clashes over heritage land and a lack of transparency in a development project in Nepal. Bangladeshi authorities continued to detain more than 62 of the 100 Indigenous Bawm People arrested in 2024, amid reports of deaths in custody. The New Zealand parliament passed laws undermining Māori customary rights. In Taiwan, Indigenous Pingpu communities obtained limited protections for cultural rights, but remained concerned about inadequate legal recognition, and systemic discrimination in education continued. Thailand advanced projects threatening Indigenous livelihoods and passed a bill failing to recognize Indigenous status.
Descent-based discrimination continued to affect marginalized communities. In India, caste census plans stalled, leaving structural inequities unaddressed. In Nepal, Dalit communities continued to face entrenched social exclusion and barriers to justice. In Pakistan, entrenched caste and religion-based discrimination continued to confine sanitation workers – mostly Dalit Christians – to hazardous, insecure jobs without legal protection.
Disability-based discrimination remained pervasive. In North Korea, people with disabilities faced systemic exclusion from education, healthcare and employment, with reports of forced institutionalization. Taiwan still lacked a comprehensive anti-discrimination act, leaving protections fragmented and weak. In Japan, while a law compensating victims of forced sterilization marked progress, systemic barriers and limited awareness continued to hinder justice.
Governments must protect Indigenous lands, refrain from engaging in discriminatory speech, counter stereotypes, adopt and enforce effective anti-discrimination laws, and guarantee equal access to education, employment and accountability of justice systems.
Economic, social and cultural rights
Economic, social and cultural rights remained under severe strain from economic crises, climate shocks and discriminatory policies. Food insecurity was acute. In Afghanistan, 22.9 million people relied on aid amid returns, mostly from Iran and Pakistan, following deportations, earthquakes and funding cuts; 90% of children lived in food poverty and 4 million were malnourished. People in North Korea faced chronic food shortages despite weather conditions conducive to growth, as fertilizer scarcity and climate shocks undermined output, while state distribution failures deepened rural hardship. In Pakistan, 44.7% of people lived below the poverty line, IMF constraints reduced social spending, and flooding made more likely by human-induced climate change destroyed major crops. Sri Lanka’s poverty levels stayed above pre-crisis figures despite welfare payments.
Health systems remained fragile. In Afghanistan, rural access to healthcare was limited and Taliban restrictions delayed women’s rescue during earthquakes. In North Korea, hospitals were critically under-resourced, lacking basic medicines and equipment. UNICEF immunized 2 million children, although monitoring remained severely restricted.
Education rights eroded, as Taliban bans excluded 78% of Afghan girls and women from schooling and work. North Korean schools lacked heating and textbooks; in Myanmar learners faced severe disruptions after aid freezes; and China’s bilingual education policies in Tibet threatened minority language rights.
Housing and land insecurity persisted, with authorities in Cambodia halting forced evictions at the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage site after a global outcry but offering no remedy to displaced families. In Mongolia, rural and urban communities affected by development projects lacked mechanisms to address flawed consultations and the undervaluation of property and assets. In India, eviction drives in Assam displaced about 3,800 households, disproportionately affecting Muslims.
Labour rights abuses and violations also remained widespread, disproportionately affecting communities that faced marginalization and discrimination. In Pakistan, sanitation workers from lower castes faced systemic discrimination. Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha Tamils remained marginalized, while garment workers endured trade union repression and gender-based violence. In Bangladesh, there was unrest in the garment sector and arrests of union leaders. Workers in the Philippines faced unsafe conditions during disasters, and in Hong Kong migrant domestic workers were denied stronger protections.
Governments must guarantee food, health, housing, education, and labour rights by ending forced evictions, tackling poverty, enhancing social protection, protecting workers, and ensuring equal access to essential services without discrimination.
Arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearances and deaths in custody
Authorities continued to use security laws and discriminatory practices to suppress dissent, disproportionately targeting activists, minorities and political opponents. Arbitrary arrests and detentions were widespread. In Afghanistan, the Taliban detained people for minor infractions such as hairstyles or playing music, enforced harsh decrees through “morality inspectors”, and continued to target former officials, journalists, human rights defenders and critics through arbitrary detention, enforced forced disappearances and torture. More than 100 cases of extrajudicial killings were documented. In Myanmar, there were systematic post-coup detentions, and deaths in custody linked to denial of healthcare and injuries from abusive interrogations. In North Korea, arbitrary detention remained central to regime control, targeting those accused of political offences without allowing fair trials. National security laws in Hong Kong and Macau were used expansively to suppress political expression and arrest activists.
In Pakistan, amendments to anti-terror laws allowed detention without charge for three months, while journalists and Baloch activists faced arrests. In India, misuse of counterterrorism laws to detain human rights defenders and Muslim activists continued, with prolonged pretrial detention.
Torture and other ill-treatment persisted despite legal prohibitions. In Afghanistan, detainees faced electric shocks, waterboarding, tooth and nail extraction, and sexual abuse. Authorities in Myanmar employed beatings, electrocution, sexual assault and “de-nailing” during interrogations. In North Korea, beatings, sleep deprivation and forced labour were used to extract “confessions”, with political prison camps imposing harsh punishments and inadequate food. In Viet Nam, activists endured solitary confinement, shackling and denial of healthcare, with suspicious deaths in custody. In India, police torture led to the death of a 25-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir. In Sri Lanka, there were at least 13 documented cases of custodial deaths and allegations of torture. Courts in Thailand delivered the first convictions under the anti-torture law for the killing of a conscript, marking a rare accountability step.
Enforced disappearances remained a tool of repression. In North Korea, families were denied information about detainees, amounting to enforced disappearance. In China, authorities continued to use “Residential Surveillance at Designated Locations”, a form of secret detention amounting to enforced disappearance, particularly against human rights defenders and lawyers. A Malaysian court confirmed state involvement in past disappearances. In Myanmar, there were patterns of disappearances and deaths following torture. In Pakistan, 125 new cases of enforced disappearance were recorded in early 2025. In Bangladesh, the government-appointed Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances stated that 1,772 complaints were registered for the 2009-2024 period, with 67% linked to state agencies. These practices entrenched impunity and discrimination against vulnerable groups.
Governments must end arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearances, protect the rights of those in detention, and ensure accountability and safeguards against abuse.
Refugees’ and migrants’ rights and human trafficking
Governments intensified restrictive migration policies, further undermining refugee protections and migrants’ rights, exposing vulnerable groups to discrimination and abuse. Mass deportations and refoulement persisted despite international obligations. Pakistan escalated its “Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan”, returning more than 990,000 Afghans. Iran returned 1.8 million Afghans, while Germany, Tajikistan and Türkiye continued to forcibly return Afghans despite Taliban abuses. Women and girls faced systemic rights deprivation upon return to Afghanistan, and dissenters risked arrest and torture. Throughout the year, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh feared being forcibly returned to Myanmar by militants to fight in the conflict. In India, hostility deepened as authorities forcibly deported Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh – along with 300 Muslims suspected to be foreign nationals – while new laws reclassified asylum seekers as irregular migrants, eroding the principle of non-refoulement. Malaysian authorities detained Rohingya refugees and pushed back boats carrying others. Meanwhile, Japan launched its “Zero Plan” to halve the number of overstaying foreigners via fast-tracked deportations, drawing criticism for endangering asylum seekers. The government of Thailand forcibly returned 40 Uyghurs to China despite torture risks.
Arbitrary and indefinite detention also persisted across the region. Malaysian authorities held more than 20,000 people in immigration facilities, including more than 2,000 children. The Australian government maintained “offshore processing” of asylum seekers, with 90 people still awaiting processing on Nauru and more than 30 in Papua New Guinea after 11 years, while new laws stripped asylum seekers of procedural rights. In Sri Lanka, 116 Rohingya refugees, including children, were detained in military facilities without UNHCR access. In Japan and Taiwan, governments continued to permit indefinite immigration detention under opaque systems, criticized for poor conditions and lack of legal safeguards. Conditions in Bangladesh worsened dramatically. Cox’s Bazar – the world’s largest refugee camp accommodating more than 1 million Rohingya – faced severe aid cuts and 150,000 new arrivals, risking the collapse of essential services given limited donor pledges despite urgent UN appeals.
Human trafficking and forced labour surged across the region. In Cambodia, over 50 scamming compounds trafficked foreign nationals for use in online fraud, with crackdowns lacking transparency. Myanmar remained a trafficking hotspot, with scam compounds detaining 100,000 people and armed groups using forced labour and recruitment. Despite sanctions on perpetrators, abuses persisted.
Governments must end refoulement, arbitrary detention, and trafficking, ensure safe asylum procedures, release those held unlawfully, and guarantee protection and dignity for refugees and migrants in line with international standards.
Right to a healthy environment
Climate change deepened social inequalities. In Bangladesh, extreme weather exacerbated gender and caste-based discrimination, trapping sanitation workers in cycles of vulnerability. Rising seas in Tuvalu and Kiribati continued to force displacement, threatening the rights to housing, health and cultural identity. In Pakistan, catastrophic floods killed more than 1,000 and displaced millions, while heatwaves reached 49°C, exposing gaps in disaster response. People in India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka also faced deadly floods and landslides due to cyclones, disproportionately affecting rural communities with limited access to relief, raising questions about climate-related disaster preparedness. According to official data, in October and November, the Indian capital, New Delhi, ranked as the world’s most polluted city.
The implementation of fossil fuel expansion policies and energy transition projects continued to violate Indigenous rights. Indonesian authorities arrested 27 Indigenous activists opposing nickel mining in East Halmahera, highlighting risks to customary lands. The government of Japan promoted liquefied natural gas projects overseas, including deals with the USA and Canada, drawing criticism for harming Indigenous Gwich’in and Wet’suwet’en Nations. In Australia, the dismissal of the Torres Strait Islanders’ climate case undermined efforts to secure justice for communities facing existential threats.
Weak governance perpetuated vulnerability. The Maldives launched an ambitious climate plan but omitted strong human rights safeguards and blocked climate litigation, undermining cultural and livelihood rights. Lawmakers in Malaysia delayed a climate bill to prioritize industry consultations, while the South Korean government retained insufficient emission targets and failed to outline a just transition. In China, tight restrictions on public participation in environmental decision-making were maintained, limiting accountability.
Discriminatory migration policies compounded climate injustice. The New Zealand government failed to provide adequate pathways for climate-displaced Pacific Peoples, reinforcing inequalities, leaving families separated, violating children’s rights, and increasing the vulnerability of migrants.
Governments must uphold climate justice, end fossil fuel expansion, protect Indigenous and marginalized communities, ensure rights-based climate policies, and guarantee safe migration pathways for those displaced by climate impacts.
Death penalty
The death penalty remained entrenched in the majority of countries in the region and was frequently used in violation of international human rights law and standards.
Two countries carried out their first executions after a hiatus. In Japan, the hanging of Takahiro Shiraishi – the first execution in three years – was condemned for secrecy, undermining abolition efforts. In Taiwan, Huang Lin-kai was executed in January, in the first death penalty execution since 2020, despite pending appeals and concerns about the state of his mental health.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban carried out public executions. Reports indicated that the North Korean government continued executions for acts that were not internationally recognizable offences, such as sharing foreign media content, and offences far below the “most serious crimes” threshold set out under international law and standards, with public executions used as a tool of control.
Chinese authorities continued to use the death penalty to sentence individuals charged with bribery, fraud and trafficking crimes; at least one case of mass sentencing raised concerns about violations of the right to a fair trial. In Bangladesh, among other death sentences, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and other government officials were sentenced to hang by a special tribunal in their absence following the 2024 protest crackdown. The Maldives government expanded the scope of the death penalty to include drug offences, removed the possibility of commuting such sentences through clemency and barred plea agreements in these cases.
Drug-related executions continued unabated in Singapore, where, among others, Malaysian national Pannir Selvam was executed despite international outcry. Positive reforms emerged in Viet Nam, with the death penalty abolished for eight crimes, including drug transportation. However, a lack of due process in capital proceedings and secrecy surrounding the use of the death penalty continued to raise concerns. In Malaysia, the government announced a study on the death penalty and its abolition, following the 2023 repeal of the mandatory death penalty.
Overall, these developments reflected stark contrasts: incremental reforms in some states, alongside entrenched practices marked by secrecy, discrimination and political instrumentalization in some others.
Governments retaining the death penalty must take urgent steps to abolish it and, in the meantime, establish an official moratorium on executions.
Impunity and the right to justice, truth and reparation
Systemic weaknesses in legal and oversight institutions continued to obstruct justice for victims of grave human rights violations. In Afghanistan, the Taliban dismantled judicial structures and enforced discriminatory sharia law, leaving fair trials nearly impossible. Oversight bodies such as the national human rights institution remained defunct. In Nepal, appointments to transitional justice commissions were criticized as opaque and politically influenced, prompting victims’ groups to boycott. In Sri Lanka, there were persistent obstacles, including the Attorney General’s perceived lack of independence and flawed exhumation processes for mass graves that remained insufficiently investigated despite recent discoveries. Bangladesh prosecutors secured the first charges against military officers for enforced disappearances, although concerns over due process persisted, including in the trial against Sheikh Hasina that resulted in a death sentence.
International accountability efforts advanced in some cases. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Taliban leaders for gender-based persecution, and the UN created an investigative mechanism for Afghanistan. The former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested and transferred to the ICC for the crime against humanity of murder, marking a historic step.
Truth-seeking and reparations remained inadequate. Sri Lanka announced a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and expanded the Office on Missing Persons, yet progress was slow. Meanwhile, drug-related killings and harassment of activists in the Philippines and surveillance of Tamil communities in Sri Lanka underscored ongoing impunity.
Governments must strengthen efforts to fight impunity by undertaking prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into crimes under international law and other serious human rights abuses, bringing suspected perpetrators to justice in fair trials, and ensuring effective remedy for victims.
Women’s and girls’ rights
Gender and sexual rights faced systemic setbacks across the region. In Afghanistan, Taliban decrees banned women from education, work and free movement, enforced mahram (male chaperone) rules, and fuelled gender-based violence and child marriage. In Bangladesh, there were mass protests against reforms for equal inheritance and marital rape criminalization. In Fiji, Nepal and Pakistan, surging violence against women was reported, including – in Nepal and Pakistan – coerced settlements in legal cases against perpetrators. Harmful practices like chhaupadi – a custom forcing menstruating women into isolation, often in unsafe huts – persisted in Nepal. Technology-facilitated gender-based violence – such as online harassment, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, and deepfake sexual content – persisted in South Korea, despite legal reforms. Institutional progress was uneven: the Sri Lankan government announced the setting up of the first Women’s Commission, while abortion reform stalled in South Korea.
LGBTI people’s rights
LGBTI people’s rights faced hostility: in Japan, courts advanced marriage equality unevenly; in Pakistan, there were recorded killings of transgender people; state pressure caused the cancellation of the Pride parade in Viet Nam; mainland China tightened censorship of LGBTI-related content; and lawmakers in Hong Kong failed to enact partnership laws that would have provided some legal recognition and protections for same-sex couples.
Governments must end discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression, enforce effective protections, and guarantee substantive equality in law, policy and daily life.
Violations of international humanitarian law
Civilians faced grave risks from unlawful attacks. In Afghanistan, suicide bombings, armed groups’ explosive ordnance, and cross-border shelling by Pakistan killed and injured civilians. In Myanmar, aerial strikes surged, targeting schools and villages; “paramotor” attacks killed dozens, including children; and aid was blocked to resistance-held areas. In the Cambodia-Thailand conflict, border clashes damaged hospitals, homes and pagodas, with indiscriminate attacks reported on both sides. Displacement and humanitarian crises worsened as misinformation fuelled tensions and ceasefire violations continued.
Governments must stop unlawful attacks, protect civilians, allow humanitarian aid and uphold international humanitarian law.