By John J. Brandon

While emerging diseases like H1N1, also known as swine flu, dominate headlines, dengue fever is quietly exacting a far more devastating toll on public health than the swine flu. While there have been more than 525,000 swine flu cases worldwide in 2009 leading to 9,800 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 50 million people were infected by the dengue virus in 2009, and approximately 25,000 of them died.
Read more »

By Scott Snyder

For a country that appears to be so isolated from the outside world, North Korea seems to have been on edge for months regarding the possible impact of swine flu (H1N1) on its population. These rumors of North Korean anxiety have been underscored by an unusual admission last week of nine confirmed cases of swine flu in Pyongyang and Sinuiju (the WHO has reported that all nine have recovered), but these cases may be the tip of the iceberg.
Read more »

By Gretchen Kunze

Vientiane has never looked so good. As host to the 25th Southeast Asian Games, the city has been spruced up and polished. The 10 ASEAN countries, plus Timor-Leste, are competing in 25 sporting events, ranging from soccer, badminton, and taekwondo to more regionally-specific sports such as sepak takraw and poomsae. Vientiane’s charm and beauty are well known, and even contributed to making Laos the number one country to visit on a recent New York Times’ hot destination list. At that time, Vientiane’s somewhat tattered edges – the holes in the sidewalk, crumbling buildings, and riverside food stalls with folding tables and plastic chairs – helped create the image of a sleepy, backwater post-colonial capital. But in preparation for the games, the government and business community have gone all-out to present Vientiane as a modern city on the rise.
Read more »

By Steven Rood

Early this month marked the official beginning of a hopeful end to decades of armed conflict between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in southern Philippines. The announcement in November of the formation of the International Contact Group (ICG) made up of select countries and four international NGOs, including The Asia Foundation, to support negotiations between the two sides marked a huge step forward in the region’s history. On December 8-9, all parties gathered in Kuala Lumpur for the first stage of renewed peace talks.
Read more »

By Meloney Lindberg and Joshua Friedman

With the signing of a landmark investment agreement in October, Mongolia is about to undergo a mining boom. The country has several world-class mineral deposits that remain undeveloped today. As the Mongolian government prepares to sign more deals to begin developing these deposits, protecting the country’s environment and water resources is critically important. Climate change is also becoming an increasingly significant issue facing Mongolian herders and the nation’s fragile ecosystems.
Read more »

By Nirjan Rai

Our dramatic topography here in Nepal provides a front-row seat to many of the disastrous effects of climate change, including rapid glacier melt, receding snowcaps, landslides, etc., so we are listening eagerly this week to hear what will come out of the Copenhagen climate conference. You may recall – as it was reported here in this blog–just prior to the start of the Copenhagen summit, Nepal’s top politicians held their own cabinet meeting at the base of Mt. Everest – over three miles up – to raise awareness of the danger global warming has on glaciers. Despite the very present threats, awareness of climate change among Nepali citizens remains low, according to a July Gallup poll.
Read more »

By guest blogger Lian Ramos

The November 23 massacre in Maguindanao, on Mindanao in the southern Philippines that killed over nearly 60 people, has catapulted the dire human rights situation in the Philippines to the global stage. Unfortunately, communities in this region have a long history of such conflict and human rights abuses.

In October, an initiative called “KaSaMa” (Filipino for “together”) was born to explore alternative approaches to addressing such pressing human rights challenges in the Philippines. The initiative is comprised of five embassies and the European Union, with support from The Asia Foundation.
Read more »

Royal Danish Ambassador to Indonesia Børge Petersen announced Monday a $10 million grant from the Danish government to promote good governance and reduce corruption in Indonesia. The Asia Foundation is one of four organizations that will carry out the work over the next three years. At a ceremony in Jakarta, (see photo) the Ambassador signed agreements with The Asia Foundation and each of the three other organizations.

Royal Danish Ambassador to Indonesia Borge Petersen (second left) with Transparency International Indonesia Secretary General Teten Masduki (left), The Asia Foundation's Country Representative in Indonesia Robin Bush (second right) and Kemitraan (Partnership for Governance Reform) Executive Director Wicaksono Sarosa (right) during a ceremony held at his residence.

The Foundation will partner with 12 local NGOs to launch a new project to work with religious and other community leaders, the police, civil servants, and religious courts to promote human rights and civic values.

Read more in The Jakarta Post.

By Carol Mercado

At the 15th ASEAN summit, held this past October, ASEAN inaugurated its Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).  The announcement was met with criticism from some quarters, but ASEAN called it a “historic milestone” in its 42-year history of community-building in the region.

During the summit’s concluding statement, ASEAN said that the AICHR “gives concrete expression to the implementation of Article 14 of the ASEAN Charter and ASEAN’s commitment to pursue forward-looking strategies to strengthen regional cooperation on human rights.” The Commission is mandated to support and protect human rights by promoting public awareness and education, and providing advice and capacity-building to government agencies and ASEAN bodies, among other things.
Read more »

By Scott Snyder

Every North Korean seems to have been mobilized for an all-out push to mark their country’s arrival as a “strong and powerful nation” in 2012, which marks the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth, Kim Jong Il’s 70th birthday, and the 30th birthday of Kim Jong Il’s third son and reported successor, Kim Jong-Eun. Pyongyang citizens have cleaned up the city during a 150-day labor campaign, followed by a second 100-day campaign now underway. The Ryugyong Hotel in the middle of Pyongyang, unfinished for over two decades, has been given a facelift courtesy of the Egyptian telecommunications firm Orascom, which expects to have 100,000 mobile phone customers in Pyongyang by the end of the year. But it is still difficult to shake the feeling in Pyongyang that one has walked onto a movie set in between takes. Or that the used car looks good on the outside, but you really don’t know what you might find if you were able to look under the hood or give it a test-drive.
Read more »