Asia Pacific – Catalyst

Rape as a Weapon of Genocide: Systematic Sexual Abuse Within China’s Internment Camps

March 2, 2021March 2, 20217 min read Jemima Maycock

If there is no meaningful action taken, China risks becoming another country on a list that remains too long to begin with. The costs of this failure will, most likely, be borne by first and foremost by Uighur women.

How the International Community Has Failed the Uighur Minority

February 21, 2021March 4, 20217 min read Melanie Baume

According to Hu Lianhe, a Communist Party official, this ‘re-education’ campaign only targets petty criminals that are assigned to “vocational education facilities for rehabilitation and reintegration” . Yet, testimonies from individuals who have worked or been detained in the camps as well as leaked information report cases of human rights violations.

Grounding the Coup: Narratives of Praetorianism and Democracy in Myanmar

February 1, 2021March 6, 20217 min read Kai Scott

Myanmar’s rapid change of political fortunes as of yesterday might easily come as woven at the centre of two narratives that seem to have defined Myanmar in the eyes of many: on the one hand, a crashing end to a story of hope and democratic change; on the other, the soft, yet inescapable, thump of a history of military despotism reasserting itself once more.

Revisiting Myanmar’s Humanitarian Crisis

January 20, 2021January 19, 20216 min read Ruolan Ma

By dodging her entrusted responsibility to protect innocent Rohingya civilians, Aung San Suu Kyi renders her promise to protect human rights a falsehood. While the brutal killing of Hindus and other chaos created by ARSA are condemnable and should not be ignored by the world, what many don’t see are the thousands of Rohingya who have lost their lives and homes in this endless battle, clear victims of crimes against humanity.

Myanmar Following the 2020 General Elections: An Interview with Professor Kuhonta

December 20, 2020February 16, 20211 min read Kai Scott

On November 11, 2020, Managing Editor Kai Scott sat down with Prof. Erik Martinez Kuhonta, Associate Professor in the department of Political Science at McGill University, to discuss the results of the 2020 general election in Myanmar, and what these mean for democratization in the country.

A Glimpse of Myanmar’s 2020 Elections: A Hard Road to Democracy

December 19, 2020December 29, 20206 min read Ruolan Ma

In general, Myanmar’s 2020 elections are worth the attention of people around the world, providing us with insights into how this critical transformation of ideology has taken place in the country. A future of a fully democratized Myanmar might still be distant, but with politicians like Aung San Suu Kyi, gradually improving of economic competitiveness, improved civil rights protections, and a growing civic consciousness, Myanmar’s road to democracy is by no means out of reach.

Buddhism: At the Crossroads between Philosophy and Religion

December 7, 2020December 29, 20206 min read Santhindu Wijesooriya

The growing appeal of Buddhism in the West has had led to an effort to recategorize and reconsider much of this sizeable belief system. But is that even a possibility? Is Buddhism a religion? A philosophy? Or does it stand in its own class: an anomaly that encapsulates over 530 million people?

After 4 Years of Trumponomics, America Still Needs Globalization

December 5, 2020December 29, 20205 min read Mehak Balwani

Trump has long claimed to be a successful businessman and promised time and again to rejuvenate the US economy. However, Trumponomics has ignored possible treatments for the US economy – investments into education, job creation, and upskilling – and laid the blame for the erosion of the American middle class on the globalization of labor markets

The Triumph of Jacinda Ardern

November 29, 2020December 29, 20204 min read Mehak Balwani

Whether it is a pandemic or terrorist attack, Ardern has distinguished herself both by her decisiveness when it comes to policy as well as through the warmth of her messaging. While her policy accomplishments in the past term can be described as modest, where Arden has been transformative is in her individual, often intuitive, conduct, and her COVID-19 crisis management suggests that she has all the tools to change the politics of the global north.

Authority, Liberty, and COVID-19 in the World’s Greatest Democracy

November 13, 2020December 29, 20207 min read Santhindu Wijesooriya

The United States, with its decentralized government, has completely lost the battle against the novel coronavirus. China, Canada, and Sri Lanka, however, with their greater executive authority, have collectively demonstrated that the United States had no excuse for their malpractice. The three nations and their adherence to executive jurisdiction, demonstrated noteworthy abilities to combat an unanticipated crisis, leaving humanity to observe the capital of individual liberty and freedom in utter dismay.