Human Rights Against Populism: A Progressive Response to the Politics of Duterte and Mahathir Article As the world celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 2018–2019, the region of Southeast Asia highlights two compelling political phenomena: the emergent ‘authoritarian populism’ of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines and the return to the ‘Asian Values’ of Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia. By Bonn Juego
Authoritarian Turn and Human Rights Crisis in the Philippines Background Since winning the presidency in 2016, Rodrigo Duterte’s regime has enacted policies of fear and repression that have eroded democratic norms and endorsed violations of fundamental rights. By Joshua Makalintal
Messages in the Social Media Bottle Article In the Southeast Asian region, the Philippines tops the list as the highest in terms of remittances from their exported labor. In 2015, the country received more than US$30 billion in remittances — which makes it the third highest in the entire world. While many of the emerging economies as well as industrialized nations rely on these remittances and foreign workers, many stories filter out from certain nations of exploitation and abuse inflicted upon these migrant workers. By Jose Santos P. Ardivilla
Eroding Institutions and Exploiting Resentments: Populism in the Philippines and Southeast Asia In recent years, voters have increasingly chosen populist leaders from the left and from the right. An increasing number of elected populist leaders can be found in countries with long democratic traditions and history. It might be less surprising to find populist leaders in countries that are purportedly democratic but without necessarily having strong liberal democratic traditions. By Cleo Calimbahin
Natural resource struggles: Shrinking spaces for civil society Study Governments and corporations are driving the demand for water, land and organic resources of all kinds as never before. Citizens are fighting for their rights and working to preserve their livelihoods. Our study "Tricky Business" shows how the mechanisms of expropriation work.
Duterte's Rise to Power in the Philippines: Domestic and Regional Implications President Duterte is the most controversial figure in the Philippines today, and arguably in the ASEAN region. He is now President of the Philippines, which chairs ASEAN in 2017. What is in store for the Philippines and for the chairmanship of ASEAN? By Segundo J. E. Romero, Jr.
Region’s human rights watchdogs lack bite Are Southeast Asia’s national human rights institutions protecting anyone? A report by James Gomez and Robin Ramcharan gives a bleak assessment. By James Gomez and Robin Ramcharan
