Rodrigo Duterte Condemned for Rape Comments

Published on Apr 19, 2016 by Luke Hunt

The frontrunner to be elected president of the Philippines has joked about an Australian missionary who was raped and had her throat slashed during a jail siege. The comments by tough-talking mayor Rodrigo Duterte​ – a self confessed womaniser – provoked immediate condemnation only three weeks before Filipinos go to the polls in an election seen as crucial to the nation’s future.Read more from Lindsay Murdoch in The Age.

Detained Christians in Thailand: ASEAN’s Latest Refugee Issue

Published on Mar 8, 2016 by Luke Hunt

Southeast Asia, with its ten countries squeezed into an area half the size of China and a volatile mix of politics and old-fashioned hatreds, has no shortage of issues with refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), asylum seekers, illegal immigrants, smugglers, and traffickers.Its porous borders and overstretched police mean there is no shortage of people prepared to try their luck in search of a safer, and perhaps more prosperous, life, as witnessed by the exodus of Rohingya Muslims out of Myanmar last year which left thousands stranded at sea.Their story holds a familiar ring. BBC News has detailed the plight of thousands of Christian refugees from Pakistan, arrested and detained in Thailand after fleeing persecution in their own home. Some were....

Laos in the Spotlight Over Human Rights

Published on Oct 10, 2015 by Luke Hunt

Human rights violations are again an issue in Laos – and a thorn in the side of a government more concerned with centrally-planned economic policies – following the death 61-year-old Tiang Kwentianthong.Tiang was originally arrested for praying for a sick woman without government approval. Reports say he was denied medicine for diabetes. He was jailed nine months ago, released in March after his condition had deteriorated substantially, and died on September 17.Read more from Luke Hunt in The Diplomat..

Myanmar's Purge a Blow to Reform

Published on Aug 24, 2015 by Luke Hunt

Persistent attempts by Naypyidaw to convince a skeptical world that its attitudes have changed and Myanmar stands ready to join the ranks of democratic nations has taken another self-inflicted blow with an internal purge of the ruling party.The ousting of Thura Shwe Mann as chairman of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was widely interpreted as an assault by conservatives on its ranks of important reformists.Read more from Luke Hunt in The Diplomat..

The Trouble with the US Human Trafficking Report

Published on Aug 2, 2015 by Luke Hunt

In a world of statistics and records the human desire to rank anything that moves – whether it’s in sports, war, education, medicine, the weather or crime – is often overwhelming and taken to absurd and unnecessary levels. This was highlighted by the United States this week and the release of its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which ranks all countries on one of four levels – Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watchlist and the dreaded Tier 3 – on their ability to combat the scourge.Read more from Luke Hunt in The Diplomat..