Group tells Asean: Uphold human rights

NONTHABURI, Thailand — Leaders of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should stop sweeping the region’s “human rights disaster” under the rug, especially during its annual summit, an international human rights group said.

“[The leaders] always say they are for the people of Asean, but a core issue in the region is the abuse of human rights,” Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Asia, said in a phone interview with the Inquirer on Sunday.

Robertson said among the current issues involving human rights violations in the region were the brutal campaign against illegal drugs in the Philippines, the displacement and genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, the enforced disappearances in Laos and the rising numbers of political prisoners in Cambodia and Vietnam.

The International Criminal Court is currently looking into rights violations in the Philippines and in Myanmar, particularly the war on drugs and the violence against the Rohingya.