HARASSMENT OF ACTIVISTS AND JOURNALISTS

In at least 23 countries in the region the harassment of activists, journalists and critics was reported.

In China, the harassment of activists escalated to silence dissent ahead of the country hosting the Winter Olympics in February 2022. HRDs and some academics had their WeChat messaging app accounts restricted, with some unable to use their accounts entirely and forced to re-register. Around the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in June 2022, the authorities ramped up surveillance of dissidents and placed dozens of democracy activists under house arrest or forced them temporarily to leave Beijing. Human rights groups also exposed how authorities are sending activists to psychiatric wards for medically unnecessary compulsory treatment or using the ‘residential surveillance in a designated location’ procedure – a form of enforced disappearance – to detain activists.

In the Philippines, activists continue to be red-tagged – accused of being communists – and then arrested on fabricated charges. People who have been red-tagged include community doctor Maria Natividad Castro and environmental activist Vertudez ‘Daisy’ Macapanpan. The authorities also brought perjury charges against 10 HRDs from the human rights group Karapatan, women’s rights organisation Gabriela and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in retaliation for their human rights work.

In Malaysia, the police brought scores of protesters, including activists and opposition politicians, in for questioning for holding spontaneous demonstrations related to corruption and price hikes and in opposition to the death penalty. Journalists and whistleblowers also faced harassment for their reporting. Activists and lawyers in Singapore faced police harassment for their activism against the death penalty and the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act continued to be used to curtail freedom of expression. In Indonesia, activists were subjected to hacking and intimidation via WhatsApp in July 2022 after they held a Twitter Space discussion on the blocking of multiple websites.

In 2022, the Bangladesh authorities coerced and intimidated families of victims of enforced disappearances to silence them and targeted families of journalists and activists in exile. They also vilified leading human rights group Odhikar and arbitrarily revoked its registration. In India, the government sought to block activists and journalists from travelling abroad including the chair of Amnesty International India, Aakar Patel, journalist Rana Ayyub and Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad.

In the Pacific, the CIVICUS Monitor documented the harassment of the media in Solomon Islands and the suspension of judges in Kiribati.

COUNTRIES OF CONCERN: BANGLADESH AND CAMBODIA

There are serious concerns about the regression of civic space in Bangladesh in recent years, including judicial harassment of and threats and attacks on HRDs, journalists and the political opposition. The Digital Security Act has been used to silence online dissent and target critics and journalists, including those in exile. The police have also cracked down on protests and there have been allegations of torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearances committed by the security forces, including the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite anti-terrorism unit. CSOs have been targeted, with the government arbitrarily revoking the registration of leading human rights group Odhikar and intensified its smear campaign against them. There has also been a sustained attack on the opposition in the lead up to the 2024 elections.

Another country of concern is Cambodia where repressive laws are routinely used to restrict civic freedoms and criminalise HRDs, trade unionists, youth activists, journalists and other critical voices. Prime Minister Hun Sen continued to use a draconian state of emergency law to severely restrict fundamental freedoms. The 2015 Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations continues to restrict the right to freedom of association due to its onerous registration requirements, reporting obligations and broad grounds for denial of registration and deregistration. Independent media outlets have been silenced and Hun Sen has intensified his crackdown on the political opposition ahead of elections in July 2023.