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Elaine Pearson

@elainepearson.bsky.social

2.1K followers 490 following 220 posts

Asia Director, Human Rights Watch Author of Chasing Wrongs and Rights

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Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 20h

Read Ali Cook's account in her own words about what happened & the lack of follow up until the press got involved: "On March 4, 2024, I was sexually assaulted by members of a visiting Vietnamese delegation..." www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 20h

Two Vietnamese officials accused of sexual attack evade extradition to New Zealand. I can guarantee that this wont be reported on in Vietnam - as we wrote previously, Vietnam is yet to have a #MeToo reckoning which is why cases like this persist. abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

2 Vietnamese officials accused of sexual attack evade extradition to New Zealand

Two Vietnamese officials accused of sexually assaulting restaurant servers in New Zealand won't return to face charges

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 22h

Is the death penalty a priority issue for Australia or not? Previously they have said it is - so PM Albanese should be urging Singapore to halt an execution scheduled to occur on the day of the Australia-Singapore Annual Leaders meeting in Canberra on October 8. www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

Australia Should Urge Singapore to Halt Execution

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should urge Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to halt an execution scheduled on the day of their meeting in Canberra on October 8 for the Australia-Si...

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 1d

Spoke to @france24.com about China's chilling new ethnic unity bill which could be used to facilitate intensifying ideological controls, target ethnic & religious minorities including by erasing minority language rights & foster control beyond China’s borders.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddws...

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 1d

"UN Human Rights Council members have sent a clear message to victims, their families & all those bravely fighting for justice in Afghanistan that their voices have been heard & that their suffering is neither invisible nor erasable" @hrw.org on new Aghanistan mechanism www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

UN Rights Council Creates Afghanistan Accountability Body

The United Nations Human Rights Council on October 6, 2025, adopted a landmark resolution creating an independent mechanism to investigate past and ongoing rights abuses in Afghanistan.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 1d

Good news - UN Human Rights Council adopts landmark resolution creating an independent mechanism to investigate past and ongoing rights abuses in Afghanistan.

Those responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan now or in the past will one day face justice in court. www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

UN Rights Council Creates Afghanistan Accountability Body

The United Nations Human Rights Council on October 6, 2025, adopted a landmark resolution creating an independent mechanism to investigate past and ongoing rights abuses in Afghanistan.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 5d

See below for @hrw.org response to the life sentence for the Thai gunman who killed Cambodian former opposition MP Lim Kimya in cold blood on a Bangkok street. All those responsible should be brought to justice despite their political connections. 👇 www.bbc.com/news/article...

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 7d

This week marks a grim 60 years since Indonesia’s mass killings. The 1965-66 massacres were among the darkest days in Indonesian history. Marxism & communism remain banned & continue to be applied to target government critics. No one was held to account for the killings. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Indonesia’s Mass Killings 60 Years on Still Demand Justice

The 1965-66 massacres were among the darkest days in Indonesian history. Marxism and communism remain banned in the country and continue to be applied to target critics of the government.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 7d

Afghans were already isolated from the world but with this new internet shut down, now they are completely cut off. The longer the Taliban internet shutdowns continue, the more harmful the consequences for both the people and the country. More from @hrw.org 👇
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

Afghanistan: Internet Shutdowns Imperil Rights

The Taliban’s internet shutdowns are inflicting serious harm on people’s rights and livelihoods throughout Afghanistan.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 8d

Since 2004 transgender people in Japan who wanted to legally change their gender needed to apply to a family court. Now a
court has ruled that the requirement that transgender people alter the appearance of their genitals to change their legal gender is unconstitutional
www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Japan Court Drops Key Legal Hurdle for Transgender People

A court in Japan has ruled that the legal requirement that transgender people alter the appearance of their genitals to change their legal gender is unconstitutional.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 8d

It’s beyond disappointing to see Singapore bending over backwards to please Beijing by rejecting pro-democracy leader Nathan Law at the border.
bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My quote responding to this news below 👇

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 9d

No tolerance for free expression in Vietnam. Activist Trinh Ba Phuong is serving 10 years in prison. Authorities have now added another 11 year prison term, convicting him of "anti-state propaganda" because he made & hid a sign in his cell condemning the Communist party. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Vietnam: Free Prominent Rights Activist

The Vietnamese authorities should immediately release the prominent human rights activist Trinh Ba Phuong and drop all charges against him.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 13d

Cambodian lenders have marketed microfinance loans as a pathway out of poverty, but they have pushed Indigenous families into over-indebtedness. These loans have cost many people their land, their health, and sometimes their lives.
New @hrw.org report www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 13d

Predatory lending by microfinance institutions in Cambodia is driving land dispossession & human rights abuses against Indigenous communities.

NEW @hrw report "Debt Traps" released today 👇 www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Cambodia: Microfinance Lending Harming Indigenous Groups

Predatory lending by microfinance institutions in Cambodia is driving land dispossession and human rights abuses against Indigenous communities.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 14d

When EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič visits Vietnam this week he should use his meetings with officials to address Vietnam’s violations of the 2020 EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement & its broken pledges to the EU on human rights, including labor rights. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

EU-Vietnam Trade Agreement Has Failed to Promote Rights

When European Union Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič visits Vietnam this week, he should use his meetings with officials to address Vietnam’s violations of the 2020 EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (E...

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 15d

Utter disregard for the laws of war in Sri Lanka's civil war costing tens of thousands of civilian lives is held up today by some Israeli military strategists as a campaign to be emulated. That is only possible because there were no consequences for atrocities committed. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Sri Lanka is on the Front Line of the Battle for Accountability

Victims’ families and human rights defenders at Chemmani, and throughout Sri Lanka, hope that the remains will be identified, the truth will be revealed, and those responsible held to account.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 15d

Chinese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Zhang Yadi, an advocate for Tibetan rights who had been studying in France. She could face 5 - 15 years if convicted of offenses related to "undermining national unity." www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

China: Free Student Advocate for Tibetan Rights

Chinese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Zhang Yadi, an advocate for Tibetan rights who had been an international student in France.

Reposted by Elaine Pearson

Juliane Kippenberg @jkippenberg.bsky.social · 16d

Illicit gold trade funds abusive armed groups in Venezuela & other conflicts.

A new gold industry requirement by the London Bullion Market Assiciation for global gold refiners could help shed light on these illicit trade routes, a first step towards ending them.

www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

New Industry Requirements Could Disrupt Abusive Armed Groups’ Trade in Gold

Deep in the forest in Venezuela’s Bolivar state, residents live in fear of horrific violence at the hands of armed groups involved in the illicit gold trade.

Reposted by Elaine Pearson

Jan Kooy @kooyjan.bsky.social · 16d

🚨Did you know that predatory lending by #microfinance institutions in Cambodia is driving land dispossession and human rights abuses against Indigenous communities?

New HRW report, going out on Thursday September 25.

Reporters can DM me for embargoed report, interview requests etc.

Reposted by Elaine Pearson

Claudio Francavilla @claudiofrancavilla.bsky.social · 19d

#EU: new #India strategy, same old silence on repression

EU leaders should reflect on long-term cost of overlooking #Modi's authoritarian drift, link closer ties to rights progress: hrw.org/news/2025/09... #EUIndia

@vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu @kajakallas.bsky.social

EU’s New India Strategy Overlooks Modi’s Repression

The European Union unveiled its “New Strategic EU-India Agenda” this week, setting out a range of areas for closer bilateral cooperation. Unfortunately it deliberately overlooks India’s deepening righ...

Reposted by Elaine Pearson

Kartik Raj @kartikraj.bsky.social · 19d

Germany’s government is set to make major social security cuts, and replace the only recently-created “Citizen’s Income” with a more punitive “New Income for Jobseekers”.

These plans will increase poverty.

Human rights can help guide the debate back to what matters.

www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

A single mother in low-wage work shows her monthly household budget to Human Rights Watch during an interview, Baden-Württemberg, February 2023.
© 2023 Kartik Raj/ Human Rights Watch

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 20d

It's now 4 years since the Taliban banned secondary education for girls in Afghanistan. The ban is cruel, harmful & unlawful as @hrw.org's @saharfetrat.bsky.social explains here👇https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/17/taliban-deny-afghan-girls-their-education-and-future

Taliban Deny Afghan Girls’ Their Education and Future

September 17 marks four years since the Taliban banned secondary education for girls in Afghanistan. It is a devastating anniversary that should make everyone angry – furious even.

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 20d

New UN report finds pervasive surveillance, repression, threats, hunger & pain define the daily lives of millions of North Koreans. This report should be a wake-up call for governments everywhere to refocus attention on one of the world’s worst human rights crises. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

North Korea: ‘Lost Decade’ of Rights Abuses

A new United Nations report finds that the North Korean government has increased the use of surveillance, forced labor, and severe punishments over the past decade, maintaining “total control” over it...

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 21d

Human rights and the UN itself are in the crosshairs of powerful governments to an unprecedented extent. World leaders gathering at the UN General Assembly next week should pledge action & resources to protect human rights & stop escalating atrocities. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

UN: World Leaders Should Commit to Human Rights, International Justice

World leaders gathering at the United Nations General Assembly on September 23-29 should commit to protecting the UN from powerful governments seeking to defund and undermine the organization’s capaci...

Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · Aug 30

Indian authorities have expelled scores of ethnic Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh and Myanmar without rights protections since May 2025. The authorities have arbitrarily detained several hundred more, mistreating some of them. New from @hrw.org
www.hrw.org/news/2025/08...

India: Scores of Rohingya Refugees Expelled

Indian authorities have expelled scores of ethnic Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh and Myanmar without rights protections since May 2025.