TOPIC

Human rights

Human rights

Latest news, features and analysis on human rights, with a focus on civil liberties in Hong Kong, mainland China and Asia.

A boat with Rohingya refugees attempts to enter Malaysia from Langkawi in this photo released on January 4. Photo: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/AP

Stay or go? Rohingya see no way out of predicament as Myanmar heads to poll

Myanmar’s phased election, set to start on Sunday, is likely to be steered by the same leaders responsible for driving the Rohingya out.

2 hours agovideocam

The Philippines

Philippine court upholds murder verdict in Duterte’s drug war case

25 Dec 2025 - 2:53PMvideocam

Hong Kong society

Opinion | Hong Kong’s new legislators must strengthen child protection laws

25 Dec 2025 - 9:30AM

Algeria brands French colonisation a crime, demands reparations, apology

France’s rule over Algeria from 1830 until 1962 remains a sore spot in relations between the two countries.

25 Dec 2025 - 8:46AM

French troops in Algiers in 1956. The North African nation of Algeria suffered some of the most brutal forms of colonial rule. Photo: AP

Former Singapore lawyer and human rights activist M Ravi dies

The 56-year-old was a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ community and supported the abolition of the death penalty in the city state.

24 Dec 2025 - 2:00PM

Pulled story on Trump immigration crackdown accidentally airs on Canadian app

The ‘60 Minutes’ segment on migrants sent to a notorious El Salvador mega-prison was quickly removed, but copies have spread online.

24 Dec 2025 - 8:04AM

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

US-China relations

‘Missing’ 6-year-old Yuanxin and father reunited, then deported together to China

Activist says separation from son pressured dad to accept deportation so they could be together, despite fear of returning to homeland.

23 Dec 2025 - 5:10AMvideocam

Yuanxin, the six-year-old son of Chinese asylum seeker Fei Zheng, whose separation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in late 2025 sparked national attention and public outcry. Photo: Handout

Trump administration triples ‘self-deport’ stipend to US$3,000

The limited-time offer includes a free flight and requires use of the CBP Home app before the end of the year.

22 Dec 2025 - 10:14PM

Did ‘political’ reasons postpone ‘60 Minutes’ report on El Salvador prison?

CBS delayed its CECOT prison report, where the US has sent hundreds of migrants, citing more reporting and sparking outcry over censorship.

22 Dec 2025 - 9:38PM

Sudan war drags on as drone attack kills 10 in Darfur market

The conflict has split Sudan in two as the army controls the north, east and centre while the UAE-backed RSF dominates Darfur and parts of the south.

21 Dec 2025 - 11:26PM

A Sudanese refugee girl from Darfur rests beside a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tent inside the Touloum refugee camp, on the outskirts of the town of Iriba in Wadi Fira province, eastern Chad, on November 30. Photo: Reuters

31 Malaysians repatriated from Myanmar job scam syndicate

The job scam victims rescued from a Myawaddy job syndicate return home safely after intensive diplomatic negotiations and a 26-hour land journey.

20 Dec 2025 - 10:55PMvideocam

People from China, Vietnam, and Ethiopia – believed trafficked and forced to work in scam centers – sit masked in detention after their February release in Myawaddy, eastern Myanmar. Photo: AP

Israel-Iran conflict

Man executed in Iran for spying for Israel tortured to confess: rights group

The 27-year-old, arrested while taking pictures of a military headquarters, was accused of executing over 200 similar assignments for Mossad.

20 Dec 2025 - 2:57PM

Israel-Gaza war

UN declares Gaza famine over, but ‘situation remains critical’

Meanwhile, Oxfam says hunger in Gaza remains ‘appalling and preventable’, accusing Israel of blocking aid from humanitarian agencies.

19 Dec 2025 - 10:36PM

UN says Sudan’s RSF killed 1,000 civilians in horrific 3-day attack on camp

New report details three days of terror at the Zamzam displacement camp in April, citing mass executions and gang rapes.

19 Dec 2025 - 3:11PM

Fire and smoke at Zamzam camp near the besieged Darfur city of El-Fasher in April, where Sudan’s RSF carried out an attack that killed hundreds. Photo: Maxar Technologies via AFP

Are Myanmar hospital air strikes a bid to ‘intimidate’ voters ahead of poll?

The junta has been emboldened to strike as China, Russia and the US are looking the other way to serve their own interests, analysts say.

19 Dec 2025 - 5:31PMvideocam

People check a hospital that was hit by a military air strike in Mrauk-U in Myanmar earlier this month. Photo: AP

Accidents and disasters in China

How will Jimmy Lai’s conviction affect China-UK ties, Starmer’s planned visit?

Outcome of ex-media tycoon’s Hong Kong trial poses stern test for Labour government’s balancing act with Beijing, observers say.

17 Dec 2025 - 11:17PMvideocam

War and conflict

War-torn Sudan tops global humanitarian crisis watch list for third year

International Rescue Committee highlights a stark concentration of human suffering in a small number of countries in latest rankings.

17 Dec 2025 - 1:42PM

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Singapore court dismisses challenge to mandatory death penalty for drugs

Singapore’s High Court rejects first constitutional challenge in 15 years to decades-old law as executions rise; activists may appeal.

16 Dec 2025 - 7:10PM

People gather next to the Merlion statue at the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade in Singapore. Officials say Singapore’s death penalty helps keep the city among the world’s safest. Photo: AFP

Aid cuts causing millions of refugees ‘unnecessary pain’: UN

‘The sudden, drastic, irresponsible and short-sighted collapse of foreign assistance’ has inflicted ‘so much unnecessary pain in its wake’.

15 Dec 2025 - 11:58PMvideocam

No contact with Iran Nobel winner laureate arrest, supporters say

Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Peace Prize laureate, was detained on Friday alongside dozens of activists and may face national security charges.

15 Dec 2025 - 10:06AM

Security or freedom? Japan’s proposed anti-spy laws raise human rights concerns

Prime Minister Takaichi’s plans to tighten spying and secrecy rules could be used to stifle free speech and media freedom, analysts say.

14 Dec 2025 - 10:01AMvideocam

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to the media in Tokyo on Monday. Photo: Kyodo/Reuters

6 UN peacekeepers killed in Sudan drone strike blamed on RSF paramilitary group

The victims were all Bangladeshi nationals working at a United Nations logistics base in Kadugli.

14 Dec 2025 - 5:46AM

Protesters take part in a rally in support of the Sudanese Army and against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Merowe on Saturday. Photo: EPA

Belarus frees 123 prisoners in exchange for US sanctions relief

Peace prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova and 121 others have been released by one of Russia’s key allies.

13 Dec 2025 - 10:38PM

Israel-Gaza war

‘My future is paralysed’: Gaza amputees desperate to walk again

The World Health Organization estimates there are some 5,000 to 6,000 amputees from the Israel-Gaza war, 25 per cent of them children.

13 Dec 2025 - 3:08PMvideocam

Iran detains Nobel Prize winner Narges Mohammadi in ‘brutal’ arrest

The activist’s brother says she was beaten on the legs, held by her hair and ‘dragged down’ by security forces personnel.

13 Dec 2025 - 4:18AM

Narges Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars. Photo: Narges Mohammadi Foundation via AFP

US judge blocks ICE from re-detaining Abrego Garcia

The order comes less than a day after Kilmar Abrego Garcia, previously wrongfully deported to El Salvador, was released from immigration detention.

12 Dec 2025 - 10:29PM

Kilmar Abrego Garcia (centre) arrives for a rally prior to his check in at an ICE field office in Baltimore on Friday. Photo: EPA

Judge orders release of Salvadorean who was wrongfully deported by Trump admin

The case has highlighted the president’s hardline immigration stance, with officials saying Abrego Garcia will never again be free in the US.

12 Dec 2025 - 7:15AMvideocam

Opinion | Australia’s social media ban offers a path between excess and inaction

For policymakers elsewhere, Canberra’s approach to children’s social media use isn’t a model to copy but one to learn from.

11 Dec 2025 - 5:30AMvideocam

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement