Asia Times

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Tuesday (March 11) morning, after the government received the official warrant for his arrest by the International Criminal Court. The bombshell arrest comes after months of rumors the ICC was about to move on Duterte, despite …

Last week, the Taliban announced it was withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), rejecting the court’s authority and accusing it of political bias.In a public statement, the Taliban claimed it had no obligation to the ICC because it was incompatible with the regime’s interpretation of Islam, and that it …

Afghanistan’s Taliban faces growing opposition to its three-year post-conflict rule, rising threats that are gnawing at the stability the one-time insurgent group has sought to impose on the nation.The Islamist regime appeared to be riding high just recently in celebrating the third anniversary of its second time in power with …

The wheels have turned slowly, but international justice is finally apparently coming for former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte for his alleged lead role in rights abuses and crimes against humanity perpetrated during the previous government’s deadly war on drugs campaign.Duterte has repeatedly denied any culpability for the killing spree that …

It has been three years since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan and the group is flying high, facing no legitimate challenge to its rule and courted by much of the international community. The Taliban’s confidence was on full show celebrating the anniversary with a military parade that included fighter …

As Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr enters his third year in office, the country’s infamous “war on drugs” shows no sign of ending. The extrajudicial killings have continued despite several promises from the president and his administration, including a 2022 election promise that he would take a more holistic approach …

India’s six-week election campaign came to an end on Tuesday, with 640 million people voting in the world’s largest poll. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to cruise to victory and win a third term off the back of his widespread popularity. Instead, voters largely rejected his and his Bharatiya …

The President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., named Major General Rommel Francisco Marbil as the country’s new police chief last week. Marbil replaces General Benjamin Acorda Jr., who retired at the start of April, only three months after his term had been extended by the president. The appointment has …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stepped up attacks on minority groups in the lead-up to India’s general election, sparking fears Muslims will be targeted as the two-term leader seeks to divide Indians and stoke tensions for his and his ruling party’s political gain. This coincides with this week’s rollout of …

History is repeating in Southeast Asia. Filipinos and now Indonesians have elected leaders with links to their countries dark pasts, raising questions about whether strongman politics is back in the region and whether it is here to stay. Its return could risk hard-won progress on democracy and human rights. When …

The Taliban have brought in the new year by stepping up their campaign against women and girls in Afghanistan. Having already banned women from education and employment, the regime is now targeting women on the streets for their appearance. This is a dangerous new phase in the Taliban’s attempts to …

Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, will go to the polls next month. The country’s 200 million voters, and 1.75 million members of the Indonesian diaspora, will vote to elect a new president and vice-president. The stakes are high. President Joko Widodo will leave office with a flawed but positive legacy …

Last week, an international meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan, along with United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, met in Doha to discuss the dire situation in Afghanistan. Representatives from 25 countries, including the United States, China, Russia and Pakistan, as well as major European aid donors, attended the two-day …

Last month, the Indonesian government made a firm commitment to the United Nations to improve the human-rights situation in the country. This comes as the UN Human Rights Council adopted Indonesia’s Fourth Cycle Universal Periodic Review Report at its meeting in Geneva on March 27. As part of the review, …

One consequence of living on the other side of the Pacific is that, because of the extreme time difference, news from America hits these shores at odd times of the day (or night). This is especially true with school shootings. I’m usually fast asleep when they go down, which makes …

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s refusal to fund local elections sets a dangerous precedent that puts Sri Lankan democracy at risk. If the government is serious about political reform, voters need to have their voices heard. The National Election Commission informed the Sri Lankan Supreme Court last week that local elections planned …

This week’s acquittal of Maria Ressa is the latest in a string of court decisions suggesting that the Philippine judicial system is starting to back human rights in defiance of the government. This comes at a pivotal time, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr accused of attacking press freedom and continuing …

The killing of Mursal Nabizada is the latest body blow to women’s rights in Afghanistan. Nabizada, 32, was a member of parliament in the former government and an outspoken critic of the Taliban. Her death is the first documented killing of an MP of the former government since the Taliban’s …

Now well into their second stint in power as the rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban continue to attack the fundamental human rights of Afghans. Afghanistan’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, has publicly ordered judges to fully enforce Islamic law. This reportedly includes public executions, stonings and the amputation of limbs for …

The Marcos family is back in power after 36 years. Its return is a dangerous moment for democracy in the Philippines. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr was elected in a landslide victory in May, gathering more than 30.8 million votes and winning almost 60% of the vote. This was the Philippines’ …

The Afghan Taliban’s apparent decision to allow women and girls a right to go to school and work is a positive development. But it should be welcomed cautiously by the international community until there is evidence of meaningful change. After all, the Taliban have made such promises before. Taliban officials …

The outlook for Vietnam’s drive toward climate-change adaptation initiatives are being tested in Hanoi, as the government mulls over plans to rebalance the energy mix between renewables and coal-fired electricity plants. Despite the emerging role of civil society, disagreements on the 10-year Power Development Plan drafts are impeding clean-energy development …

The Taliban have shown that they are both uninterested in and incapable of rebuilding their poverty-stricken country. If Afghanistan is to recover it will be despite the Taliban, not because of them. This comes as Afghanistan witnesses the first anniversary of the Taliban’s rule since the fall of Kabul on …

The heatwave effecting the subcontinent has brought climate change to the forefront of the minds of South Asian countries. In a part of the world that is already politically unstable, a changing climate presents an existential threat that the entire region will need to deal with to prevent a humanitarian …

When Covid-19 swept the globe in the first few months of 2020, much of the world looked to New Zealand as an example of how to handle the crisis. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was already an international darling, and the swift and proactive measures her government put in place early …

One of the more fascinating things about Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House is that those four years of outrage, tumult, and perpetual prevarication made us forget just how awful the previous Republican administration had been. While the media was busy amplifying and kvetching over Trump’s non-stop effrontery, the …

After 36 years in power, is Hun Sen plotting a safe departure from politics?

Laws on divorce vary in different countries, intimately bound with women’s rights and access to justice. In many countries where Muslim communities are the minority, there is gaping inequality between men and women in their access to divorce and release from marriage. “These discriminatory divorce laws don’t come from the …

What a difference a trip around the sun can make. Just a year ago I sat here on the rocky shores of Korea in a kind of smug expat cocoon, gazing toward the USA and counting my lucky kimchi leaves that I was here instead of there. After all, the …

When I first moved from the US to Korea, some friends and family asked me if it was “safe there.” I assured them that it was, and despite a few flare-ups between the North and South, this peninsula has proved to be one of the most danger-free places I could …