ALL EPISODES

This week Just Asia begins with terror attacks in Indonesia. The country’s second largest city of Surabaya saw yet another suicide bombing on Monday morning, at the police station. On Sunday, three churches were attacked, killing at least 11 persons, and injuring 41 persons during Sunday mass. This was one of the worst attacks on […]

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where April 25 marked the third year since the devastating Gorkha-centered earthquake. The 2015 earthquake killed 8,979 people and destroyed around 900,000 homes. It is a tragedy that many victims continue living in tattered makeshift camps and tents. As yet another monsoon nears, people hope that the new […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where an 8-year-old girl from Kashmir was gang-raped and murdered. Her family reported her missing in January this year, and only a week later was her body found. According to the charge sheet filed in April, the girl from the Bakarwal Muslim community was gang-raped and murdered by […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where two journalists face up to 14-years imprisonment under the country’s colonial era secrets act. The two Reuters reporters, U Wa Lone and U Kyaw Soe Oo, brought to light a massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men in Rakhine State’s Inn Din village. They were subsequently arrested in […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where a nationwide strike has resulted in nine deaths so far. The strike was called on Monday, to protest the changes to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes prevention of Atrocities Act by the Supreme Court. The changes will make it difficult to file cases against public servants for caste atrocities. Next, […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where social activist Poipynhun Majaw’s body was found near a bridge in Meghalaya. According to the police, the preliminary inquiry suggests he was hit on the head with a wrench, leading to his death. While the motive for his murder has not been ascertained yet, Majaw had recently […]

This week Just Asia begins with Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, where young girls are being trafficked into prostitution. A BBC News investigation team went to Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, for an undercover investigation, and found that foreigners seeking sex can easily gain access to children who have fled conflict in Burma. The Rohingya refugee crisis […]

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where 18-year-old Radha Chaudhary was mercilessly beaten on witchcraft charges, while the world was celebrating International Women’s Day. Led by Ram Bahadur Chaudhary, a self-professed shaman, the horrific beating can be seen in a widely circulated video. None of the spectators bothered to rescue the innocent girl or […]

This week Just Asia focuses on International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on March 8. The day is an opportunity to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women in the development of their communities. In Indonesia, women rights activists from various civil society organizations […]

This week Just Asia begins with Amnesty International’s annual report, highlighting a worldwide worsening of human rights. Released last Thursday, the report covers 159 countries. It claims that world leaders are increasingly “undermining the rights of millions,” either by turning a blind eye to rights abuses, or by perpetrating them. The ‘epicenter of human tragedy’ […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where 24-year-old Imran Ali has been given four death sentences for raping and murdering a six-year old girl last month. Zainab Ansari’s body was found in a rubbish dump in the city of Kasur on January 9, five days after she went missing. Ali has been linked by police to […]

This week Just Asia begins with Indonesia, where a sword-wielding man attacked a church during Sunday services at St Lidwina Church, Yogyakarata province. The man burst into the church on Java Island, ran toward the choir and attacked German pastor Karl Edmund Prier, who was leading the choir. He then slashed the statues of Jesus […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, with the UN’s human rights chief warning that the government’s persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority has the potential to spark regional conflict. “It is sometimes said that today’s human rights violations will become tomorrow’s conflicts,” Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said on Monday. Also this week, the Associated Press […]

This week Just Asia begins with Thailand, where seven members of the People Go Network and a sociology professor presented themselves at a police station inPathum Thani Province on Wednesday. The activists were accused of breaching Article 12 of NCPO Order No. 3/2015, which prohibits the gathering of five or more people for political purposes, after they organized and participated in a peaceful […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where police shot dead a 24-year-old rickshaw driver while allegedly chasing terrorists. The driver was later found to have nothing to do with any terrorists or gangs. Although the police officers have been arrested, no charges have been filed yet. This is the fourth police killing seen in […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, which has been engulfed by a wave of agitation after the rape and brutal murder of seven-year-old Zainab Ansari in Punjab Province. Zainab’s body was found dumped on a rubbish heap days after she was abducted. Zainab was the 12th victim of child abuse and murder in the […]

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where abusive and racist remarks were hurled last week at Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai after she sentenced police officer Frankly Chu to three months in prison. In response, human rights lawyer Philip Dykes, legal scholar Johannes Chan and four other barristers made a statement saying such “racial […]

This week Just Asia begins with the Philippines, where the police killed two people, including a woman on her way to hospital, after mistaking them for gunmen. The incident occurred on December 28, when police were called to a Manila suburb following an earlier shooting during an argument between residents. The nine policemen involved in the […]

This week Just Asia begins with the Philippines, where extrajudicial killings have been escalating since President Duterte’s declaration of all-out war against government critics. Last week at least 10 persons were killed, including two church leaders, Fr. Tito Paez and Pastor Leovelito Quiniones. Soldiers shot Pastor Leovelito on December 3, accusing him of being a […]

Just Asia completes its 200th episode this week. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)’s news programme was launched on 14 October 2013 as the Weekly Roundup, and provided a platform for the stories of those fighting for human rights throughout the Asian region. On its 100th episode, the news program evolved into Just Asia. Basil Fernando, Director […]