Asia

Dr. Soraya Sobhrang, one of the most prominent Human and Women's Rights defenders in Afghanistan, was awarded the sixth Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk in Dublin in 2010.

Organizations for women’s rights in Afghanistan can be proud: While in the beginning the government considered to have only 20 women among the delegates, now more than 340 women joined the National Consultative Peace Jirga. This is due not only to lobbying of activists but more importantly to a long-term effort that started ahead of the London conference.

The conflict in Thailand between "Red Shirts" protesters and the government turned violent in May with over 80 people killed. The Thai NGO networks "Coordination Network of NGOs" and the "Anti Civil War Network" condemn the violence and propose solutions to the conflict.

Developing countries are strongly affected by the consequences of climate change. So what can they do to protect themselves? How to act if those responsible for environmental pollution and climate change do not.

On Wednesday, June 2, the long-announced Peace Jirga starts in Kabul. 1600 delegates from all over Afghanistan will come together to discuss whether and how peace can be achieved. People are unsure what to expect from a gathering on which even a day before it is happening neither participants nor agenda have been made public. More easy than to know who will be attending the Jirga is to know who will not be there: The armed opposition has not been invited, the political opposition declares its boycott and women have only reluctantly been included.  

Dynamic growth due to the global fight against climate change has made China the world's number one producer of solar cells. 98 per centof all solar cells were exported. Not even 1 per cent was used in China itself. But Wang Sicheng of the Energy Research Institute is convinced that the focus of the Chinese solar energy industry will gradually shift from foreign to domestic markets.

Interview with Supinya Klangnarong, Media-rights advocate and researcher, about the crisis in Thailand, the polarisation of Thai society and the mistakes of government, and protesters.

The aim of our projects in Asia is to support the democratisation of the region and promote the recognition of human rights. Our work also focuses on promoting environmental sustainability and social justice.

Political scientist Dariha Erketaeva works for the Danish humanitarian organization DanChurchAid and lives in Bishkek at the moment. For boell.de she answered some questions via e-mail about the present situation in Kyrgyzstan, the interim government and the differences between north and south of the central asian country.

In February, one day before the end of the Afghan parliament’s winter break President Karzai passed a presidential decree that limited the role of the international community in the upcoming elections to being a sponsor and also brought a number of other changes to the electoral process. Now the representatives of the people defied his blunt attempt to change the rules of political participation without any consultation.