EU, ASEAN parliamentarians call for release of Southeast Asian rights activists
Parliamentarians from ASEAN and the European Union called for the immediate release of three Vietnamese, one Indonesian, and four Lao prisoners of conscience ahead of Wednesday’s Inaugural EU-ASEAN summit in Brussels. In an open letter addressing the summit, the five European and five Southeast Asian current and former parliamentarians recommended human rights cooperation between the two regional blocs and highlighted several ways that countries in ASEAN are not living up to international standards, particularly in ensuring the safety of human rights defenders. The letter requested that ASEAN take steps to protect rights defenders, including by immediately releasing and dropping charges