Asia Archives - PassBlue

Vietnam’s Pivotal Month as Leader of the Security Council and of Asean for 2020

January 8, 2020 by Stéphanie Fillion

With tensions becoming more and more serious in the Middle East and with two crucial leadership roles to play internationally, diplomats in Hanoi are probably working hard to make sure Vietnam’s big diplomatic month of January is a success. Vietnam’s diplomacy has arrived at a critical moment, as it presides over the United Nations Security … Read more Vietnam’s Pivotal Month as Leader of the Security Council and of Asean for 2020

The All-Female Korean Hockey Team That Won the World’s Heart

December 29, 2019December 28, 2019 by Sonah Lee

“A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History,” unfolds like the cinematic story of Disney’s 1992 hit “The Mighty Ducks,” except in Seth Berkman’s debut book this team of hockey players —South Korean, North Korean, American and Canadian, all female and of Korean descent — don’t win a single game. For … Read more The All-Female Korean Hockey Team That Won the World’s Heart

China’s UN Playground & Talking Gender With the UN’s Rosemary DiCarlo: Our Latest Episode

December 23, 2019 by Stéphanie Fillion and Kacie Candela

This year was a big one for China, and 2020 is likely to be much the same — if not more intense, given the range of issues involving the United States and far beyond. For our last episode of the year, UN-Scripted looks at how China’s rise internationally is reflected at the United Nations. To … Read more China’s UN Playground & Talking Gender With the UN’s Rosemary DiCarlo: Our Latest Episode

Myanmar’s Neighbors Must Build Trust Among Rohingya Refugees

November 10, 2019 by Noeleen Heyzer

At the 33d summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore last year, the issue of Myanmar’s Rakhine/Rohingya crisis was high on the agenda. The chairman’s closing statement expressed the group’s readiness to support Myanmar in repatriating refugees by conducting a needs-assessment overview in Rakhine State. The Muslim Rohingya had fled ethnic persecution … Read more Myanmar’s Neighbors Must Build Trust Among Rohingya Refugees

Hillary Clinton on Trump’s Foreign Policy: It’s All About Waiting for His Next Tweet

October 16, 2019 by Dulcie Leimbach

Hillary Clinton glided onto a stage in Manhattan with the luxury of now being a cool-eyed outsider who can sharply question foreign policy decisions being made by the Trump administration on such controversial places as China, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Clinton was the keynote speaker at the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s daylong forum … Read more Hillary Clinton on Trump’s Foreign Policy: It’s All About Waiting for His Next Tweet

Kashmir May Be an Old Crisis at the UN, but the World Is Now Riveted

August 21, 2019August 19, 2019 by Barbara Crossette

A familiar refrain often heard when the burgeoning crisis in Kashmir rises to the top of the news is that this is an old story from long ago; we have moved on. The United Nations is discovering, however, that there is less tolerance for indifference since India’s decrees on Aug. 5-6 to singlehandedly remake the … Read more Kashmir May Be an Old Crisis at the UN, but the World Is Now Riveted

Kashmiri Muslims in Danger as Hindu Politicians Cancel Their Rights

August 13, 2019August 9, 2019 by Barbara Crossette

It has always been relatively easy for Indian governments from both the political left and right to keep Kashmir from the eyes of the world. At no time has this been more obvious than now. Landlocked, under the guns of half a million Indian troops and paramilitaries, cut off sporadically from all modern communications and … Read more Kashmiri Muslims in Danger as Hindu Politicians Cancel Their Rights

Pompeo Retreats on Universal Human Rights as US Looks More Inward

June 6, 2019June 4, 2019 by Barbara Crossette

In an audacious move that could be the capstone of the Trump administration’s campaign to reverse decades of American support for human rights globally, the State Department is creating a separate new commission to advise Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on redefining United States policies, aligned with “natural law and natural rights.” For many human-rights … Read more Pompeo Retreats on Universal Human Rights as US Looks More Inward

Wazhma Frogh Wants Women in the Afghan Peace Talks Now

May 18, 2019May 13, 2019 by Maria Luisa Gambale

Wazhma Frogh is a lifetime campaigner for Afghan women and girls. She co-founded the Women and Peace Studies Organization in Afghanistan in 2011 and is a member of the Afghan Women’s Network. In 2009, the United States State Department granted her the International Women of Courage Award. Frogh recently spoke with PassBlue through a Facebook … Read more Wazhma Frogh Wants Women in the Afghan Peace Talks Now

A New OPCW Team Is Ready to Find the Culprits Behind Chemical Attacks in Syria

May 6, 2019 by Johannes Visser

THE HAGUE — The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is inching closer in trying to determine who instigated the various chemical attacks in Syria last year. In April 2018, gas cylinders filled with chlorine were dropped from a helicopter in the residential areas of Douma, outside the capital of Damascus. At least 70 … Read more A New OPCW Team Is Ready to Find the Culprits Behind Chemical Attacks in Syria

The UN Security Council’s New President: An Indonesian Economist and ‘Peace Broker’

May 4, 2019May 2, 2019 by Stéphanie Fillion

Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, just held what its top United Nations ambassador, Dian Triansyah Djani, calls the “world’s largest election ever held” for a presidency in such a short period of time. While ballots are still being counted and the next government prepares to take shape in May, Indonesia’s work at the UN … Read more The UN Security Council’s New President: An Indonesian Economist and ‘Peace Broker’

Indians Ask Why 21 Million Women Are Not on Voter Rolls

March 20, 2019March 20, 2019 by Barbara Crossette

Every national election in India is numerically mind-boggling, and this year is no exception. More than 800 million registered voters are expected to participate in an election spanning 39 days from April 11 to May 19. In this huge exercise in democracy, simultaneously organized at national and state levels, the government’s election commission has identified … Read more Indians Ask Why 21 Million Women Are Not on Voter Rolls

Afghan Migrants Flee Iran as US Sanctions Damage Iran’s Economy

February 20, 2019February 18, 2019 by Sonah Lee

After fleeing violence and unemployment in their home country for the relative stability of neighboring Iran, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans are now returning home. The mass reverse migration is taking place just as the United States, eager to withdraw from Afghanistan, holds its most concerted peace talks with the Taliban in years. The … Read more Afghan Migrants Flee Iran as US Sanctions Damage Iran’s Economy

Where Is the Worst Place for a Child to Be Born?

January 8, 2019December 24, 2018 by Kacie Candela

By one measure — the chances of surviving to young adulthood — sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the highest rates of child deaths at every stage of childhood. By contrast, the best place to be born this year was Australia or New Zealand, where only two of every 1,000 babies die in their first … Read more Where Is the Worst Place for a Child to Be Born?

Climate Talks Bypass the Poorest, Who Endure Polluted Homes

January 8, 2019December 18, 2018 by Barbara Crossette

Today and every day around the world, in bleak rural villages and the poorest urban neighborhoods, millions of people are igniting small fires to cook their meager meals, brighten dark homes or scare away intruders at night. The number of people using small fires is not small. Climate scientists estimate that three billion people in … Read more Climate Talks Bypass the Poorest, Who Endure Polluted Homes

With US Leadership Gone, Japan and Europe Can Seize the Day

November 24, 2018November 15, 2018 by Yasuhiro Ueki

We live in an age of uncertainty caused by the shifting structure and dynamics of international politics, economics and social change. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his address to the General Assembly in September that this uncertainty was “a bad case of trust deficit disorder” at three levels. First, within countries, he said, … Read more With US Leadership Gone, Japan and Europe Can Seize the Day

In Cambodia’s Single-Party Politics, Women Are Barely Seen

November 23, 2018October 23, 2018 by Johanna Higgs

Chan Kanha, a member of the Cambodian People’s Party

KAMPOT, Cambodia — Chan Kanha is the deputy mayor for the Cambodian People’s Party in this small port town, which sits along Cambodia’s southern coast and still retains much of its French colonial architecture. The Cambodian People’s Party, or CCP, is led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has run the country for the last … Read more In Cambodia’s Single-Party Politics, Women Are Barely Seen

Kashmir’s Long Tragedy Rears Its Head in the News and at the UN

September 16, 2018September 5, 2018 by Barbara Crossette

In his final months in office as United Nations high commissioner for human rights, the outspoken Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein did what no former holder of that office would or could do: he issued a blistering report on Indian abuses in the disputed territory of Kashmir. It is a story that Indian governments have long tried … Read more Kashmir’s Long Tragedy Rears Its Head in the News and at the UN

Rohingya Refugees Look to Washington and Find a Vacuum

August 9, 2018July 30, 2018 by Tino Calabia

This August marks a year since a military crackdown forced at least 700,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh, joining hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who had already taken refuge there, totaling 1.1 million people encamped in Cox’s Bazar, according to a Bangladesh count done this July. But you would never know from the Trump … Read more Rohingya Refugees Look to Washington and Find a Vacuum

UN to Rohingya: You Can’t Go Home Safely Any Time Soon

July 26, 2018July 15, 2018 by Barbara Crossette

Among refugee advocates there has been a growing concern that recent agreements among regional governments and the United Nations on a framework for mitigating the Rohingya crisis could prompt at least some of the million-plus people who have fled the deadly military pogrom in Myanmar to consider risking a return to try to rebuild their … Read more UN to Rohingya: You Can’t Go Home Safely Any Time Soon