Human Security Gateway: Brunei

Un portrait des femmes autochtones d'Asie

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:20:26 -0700

Publiée par le Réseau des femmes autochtones d’Asie (Asian Indigenous Women’s Network, AIWN) et l’Alliance des peuples autochtones de l’archipel (AMAN: Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara), de concert avec Droits et Démocratie. Cette trousse d’information met en évidence le travail accompli par les femmes autochtones, qui agissent aux échelons local, national et international afin de faire respecter leurs droits. Cette trousse est une adaptation du document << Femmes autochtones des Amériques >>. SOURCE: Droits et Démocratie

The Growing Prospects for Maritime Security Cooperation in Southeast Asia

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:15 -0700

This article discusses the threats to maritime security in Southeast Asia, describes the factors tending toward strengthened maritime security cooperation, and argues that networks of bilateral relationships may be more fruitful than purely multilateral arrangements. The first section, a historical overview of maritime cooperation in Southeast Asia from the end of the Cold War through December 2004, is followed by a survey of contemporary maritime security threats. The article then discusses five significant factors that now favor improved maritime cooperation. It concludes with the various forms that future cooperation might take and speculation as to which are mostly likely in light of evolving state interests and constraints. SOURCE: Naval War College

Rhetoric vs. Reality: ASEAN's Clouded Future

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:04 -0700

Last October, at the Ninth Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bali, the leaders of the organization formally declared their aim of establishing a security community in Southeast Asia by the year 2020. The declaration serves as a bold statement of the ASEAN members' attempts to rejuvenate an institution at once plagued by internal paralysis and subject #to assault from the forces of Islamic radicalism. Hopes are high within ASEAN. As ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General Wilfrido Villacorta noted: "This security communityxe2x80xa6[will] strengthen national and regional capacity to counter terrorism, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons and transnational crime." This is not mere rhetoric. In early March this year, the ASEAN foreign ministers met in Vietnam's scenic Halong Bay to make headway on initiatives to build a security community. One idea under serious consideration is the establishment of an ASEAN peacekeeping force. An increasing number of scholars and the organization itself argue that ASEAN should strive to realize the goal of a forming a security community. SOURCE:

Spratly Islands

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:42:21 -0700

The South China Sea encompasses a portion of the Pacific Ocean stretching roughly from Singapore and the Strait of Malacca in the southwest, to the Strait of Taiwan (between Taiwan and China) in the northeast. The area includes more than 200 small islands, rocks, and reefs, with the majority located in the Paracel and Spratly Island chains. Many of these islands are partially submerged islets, rocks, and reefs that are little more than shipping hazards not suitable for habitation. The islands are important, however, for strategic and political reasons, because ownership claims to them are used to bolster claims to the surrounding sea and its resources. Military skirmishes have occurred numerous times in the past two decades. The most serious occurred in 1976, when China invaded and captured the Paracel Islands from Vietnam, and in 1988, when Chinese and Vietnamese navies clashed at Johnson Reef in the Spratly Islands, sinking several Vietnamese boats and killing over 70 sailors. SOURCE: Globalsecurity.org

HIV/AIDS in Brunei Darussalam

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:42:05 -0700

SOURCE: HIV InSite Database of Country and Regional Indicators // Center for HIV Information // University of California San Francisco

Brunei: A Human Rights Report on Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:41:37 -0700

SOURCE: Protection Project // School of Advanced International Studies // Johns Hopkins University

Southeast Asian Maritime Security in the Age of Terror: Threats, Opportunity, and Charting the Course Forward

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:40:54 -0700

At the beginning of 2005, Southeast Asian security cooperation is still regarded as inadequate to defend the region against maritime threats. However, structural, economic and normative factors are enabling greater cooperation in the post-9/11 "Age of Terror". This article opens with a brief outline of the history of Southeast Asian maritime security cooperation from 1990 to December 2004, and then discusses the various maritime threats faced by the region. It next describes five factors that are enabling greater maritime security cooperation in the Age of Terror. The potential application of those factors is assessed to anticipate the most likely forms of future regional cooperation. While cooperation will expand on many levels the most fruitful cooperation will result from improved networks of bilateral relationships. Information in this working paper will be of interest to those seeking to understand the cooperation and security dynamics of this important and intensely maritime region. It should be of specific interest to those policymakers seeking to improve international cooperation to combat Southeast Asian transnational maritime threats such as terrorism, piracy and smuggling. SOURCE: Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies // Nanyang Technological University

Rivalry in the China Sea

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:40:42 -0700

Coveted for its hydrocarbon resources and its geographical location on the main international sea routes, the Spratly archipelago is a focus for the ambitions of the southeast Asian countries. By unilaterally asserting its sovereignty over the greater part of the China Sea, in a law adopted in February 1992, China sought to strengthen its great-power credentials and its control of the region. Sources : Virginie and Sonia Raisson, Lépac, Paris. SOURCE: Le Monde Diplomatique