• Right to information: While many parts of the world have seen a strong growth in the adoption of access to information legislation, early Asian developments in some countries have tapered off and the region is now falling behind.

• Defamation: Criminal defamation remains prevalent in Asia, and civil defamation laws fail to meet international standards, particularly in relation to the size of damage awards and defences. At the same time, there is movement on this issue in a number of countries, with the battle lines drawn in others. Cambodia has recently done away with imprisonment for defamation, a division on the issue has opened up in Indonesia, renewed attacks on the media through defamation are taking place in thei Philippines and there is a possibility of reform in Thailand.

• Conflict: A number of South and Southeast Asian countries are embroiled in some kind of internal or inter-State conflict. This has serious implications for freedom of expression as national security is abused as a reason to limit freedom of expression and as the flow of information from and into conflict zones is limited.

The Asia Programme conducts research, publishes reports, and organises workshops and training on these principal areas of work. It also undertakes legal work and engages in advocacy for change. In planning and implementing these activities, we work with a wide range of local organisations in order to optimise impact, to build capacity and to transfer knowledge. After a period of decline in the size of the programme, we are once again seeking to build the volume of work.
 
For information on our current activities, please see the Asia Activities page
 
For information on our local partners, please go to the Asia Partners page