Amnesty International released its annual report on human rights in the world. North Korea, Myanmar and Laos are singled for their egregious suppression of freedom of expression.

London (AsiaNews/Agencies) – In its annual report on the state of human rights in the world, Amnesty International reports some progress in Asia has, but large pockets of repression remain with many abuses committed in the name of the "war on terror".

In the 308-page study, Amnesty expressed its concern over the human rights violations in many Asian states.

It singles out frequent human rights abuses in many areas of conflict like Kashmir, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

In the Indonesian province of Aceh, severely hit by the December 26 tsunami, Amnesty noted that the conflict between government forces and separatist rebels showed a pattern of grave abuses of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights".

The report stated that the "Indonesian security forces were primarily responsible for these violations, although the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) also committed serious abuses."

In the case of the Philippines, the study shows how the ceasefire agreement was periodically broken as forces of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) clashed with government forces throughout 2004.

Political dissent and freedom of expression continued to be suppressed in countries like North Korea, Myanmar and Laos.

In China and Vietnam, "new, often draconian, regulations on use of the Internet restricted freedom of expression".

In the three pages on China, the report criticised Beijing for its use of torture, the death penalty, its repression of human rights activists and members of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.

Hong Kong is also defined as a "risk area" in terms of human rights protection because of Beijing's continued interference in how the Territory's Basic Law is interpreted.

Amnesty praised the Hong Kong government for not implementing new security laws and warned the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress against interfering in the Territory's process of political reform, which might lead to the "erosion of human rights in Hong Kong".

The document is also highly critical of the United States for its prison camp in Guantanamo.

As Amnesty's Secretary General Irene Khan said, as the unrivalled political, military and economic hyper-power the USA has an obligation to protect human rights. Instead, it has given new meaning to the words 'abuse' and 'torture'.

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