Based on the publicly available official records of the regular sessions of the Council in its first ten years, the Working Paper Series 2 ‘Perspectives on a Decade of Asian Foreign Policy at the UN Human Rights Council‘ looks at the positions of Asian States on resolutions on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, protection of human rights defenders as well as country-specific human rights situations. It is expected that this report will shed some light in to how Asian States have influenced the international debates on these fundamental human rights through the UN Human Rights Council. Asian peoples and civil society are often removed from international debates on human rights. Secrecy around foreign policy decisions in almost all Asian States mean citizens are usually not aware of the positions taken by their own governments at international platforms – allowing governments to often behave in manners that contradict their international positions. Alleviating such information deficit is one important aim of this paper.

The FORUM-ASIA Working Paper Series is an effort to strengthen international research, knowledge, action and advocacy towards ensuring human rights and development for all. This working paper series aims to inform human rights and development practitioners about the latest trends and perspectives on human rights and development through regular research and analyses. It also seeks to build Asian perspectives on international human rights landscapes and open new vistas for discussion, debate, research and advocacy on a range of cross-cutting topics that touch on Asia, human rights and international political architectures.

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