Southeast Asia’s leaders steer away from democracy — Activists
MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war is part of a worrying assault on human rights and democracy across Southeast Asia, activists said as regional leaders gathered in Manila yesterday.
Duterte has been condemned in the West for the crackdown, which has claimed thousands of lives since he took power last year, but he is expected to enjoy the support of most of his guests as he hosts the heads of the 10member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
This is partly because the leaders of most other countries in the region have few democratic credentials themselves, or have human rights clouds hanging over them, according to Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.
“Human rights is in a precipitous downward spiral in every Asean country except perhaps Myanmar, and that’s only because military rule in that country was so horrible for so long,” Robertson told AFP.
“By just about every measure — freedom of expression and peaceful protest, religious tolerance, non- interference in civil society, respect for democratic principles, fair treatment of refugees and migrants—the region is falling deeper into dictatorship, repression, and rights abuse.”
Amnesty International called on the Asean leaders to consider whether the drug war killings were a ‘ serious breach’ of the provision in the group’s charter to protect human rights. — AFP