Taiwan has been categorized as the only country in Asia that allows civil society to operate without threats or intimidation among 26 countries and regions. That’s according to the People Power Under Attack 2023 report by the Civicus Monitor released on Wednesday.
The Civicus Monitor collaborates with over 20 regional human rights organizations to monitor civic spaces around the world and investigates the freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and expression of 198 countries and territories. These are then categorized as either “closed”, “repressed”, “obstructed”, “narrowed” or “open”. Taiwan is one of the 37 countries listed as open in this year’s report and has been the only country to be categorized as open in Asia since 2019.
In Asia, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, and Timor-Leste were listed as narrow; five countries including Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, and Nepal were listed as restricted; eight countries including Brunei, Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Sri Lanka were listed as repressed. Countries and regions with a closed category were: China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh.
