On 12 October, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs announced that the country had won its bid for a seat in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). This is despite the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) having earlier campaigned for other countries to oppose the Philippines’ candidacy.

A genocide against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims is still continuing, United Nations (UN) investigators said Wednesday as they presented a report to the Security Council, calling for the issue to be referred to an international tribunal.Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, said that beyond mass killings, the conflict included the ostracization of the population, prevention of births, and widespread displacement in camps."It is an ongoing genocide,"

Brunei is one of the most prosperous nations in ASEAN by far, with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of US$26,935 in 2017 according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The story of Malaysia’s general elections has been recounted numerous times by various local and international media outlets. Many of them rightfully highlighted the miraculous result – an unlikely victory by an alliance cobbled together three years before the country’s elections - led by two former political foes, Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, defeating a coalition that has been in power for 60 years.

An overhaul of global trade is urgently needed, 13 trade ministers representing all regions of the world said Thursday, following two days of talks in Ottawa aimed at setting objectives to reform the troubled system.The group made a veiled appeal to the United States (US) to stop blocking appointments to World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution panels, warning the system will otherwise collapse soon.Leaders also said a rethink is needed on the differential treatment of developing nat

Over the past five years, issues in the South China Sea have only grown more complex. Claiming a historical right over most of the South China Sea and disregarding the Philippines’ victory against its claims at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, China’s presence in these disputed waters has become more prominent.

Former Indonesian general and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto intends to review infrastructure projects that the country has signed up to as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). His brother and campaign leader, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, explained that while there were some good projects under the initiative, there were also unnecessary ones. One such project is the US$4.5 billion high-speed railway currently being built to connect Jakarta and the city of Bandung.

Malaysia's new leader Mahathir Mohamad met his Thai counterpart on Wednesday in his first visit to his northern neighbour, pledging his help to bring peace in Thailand's violence-scarred south.Thailand's mainly Muslim southern region bordering Malaysia has been in the grips of a low-level but bloody insurgency for more than a decade, as ethnic Malay militants battle the Buddhist-majority state for greater autonomy.The insurgency has seen almost 7,000 people - mostly civilians -

Last week, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha launched a new Facebook page, new Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a new website. The move has been met with mixed reactions on social media with some praising and others criticising him. Prayut explained that it was all to “come into closer contact with the public.” Politicians, however, believe he has taken unfair advantage of the situation in the run-up to the general election expected in late February.

Defence ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to share intelligence in order to combat future threats of terrorism, radicalism, violent extremism, and other non-traditional threats in the region. They were present in Singapore over the weekend for the 12th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM) and 5th ADMM-Plus.