VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews.id, Jakarta: Indonesia supports the priority issues brought up by Brazil in its 2024 G20 Presidency, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs stated on Tuesday (12/12/2023).

VOInews, Jakarta: Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has called on all countries in the world to renew their commitment to the advancement of human rights.

"I emphasize that anyone who is committed to being a human rights defender must not be silent and must not stop to continue fighting for justice and humanity for Palestine," Foreign Minister Retno said while attending the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Tuesday (12/12/2023) at the UN Human Rights Council Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.

Retno Marsudi also said that Indonesia was very disappointed with the failure of the UN Security Council to pass a ceasefire resolution in Gaza.

"I also convey that Indonesia deeply regrets the failure of the UN Security Council to pass the humanitarian ceasefire resolution. This reflects the failure of the outdated multilateral system," she said.

She also invited the world to reject the application of double standards in human rights enforcement.

"The application of double standards is the biggest problem in the implementation of human rights," she continued.

Foreign Minister Retno also regretted that those who always voice human rights are the ones who allow Israel to violate human rights. For this reason, she emphasized that various human rights violations must be stopped immediately.

"The parties that often dictate us about human rights are the ones who now allow Israel to violate human rights. I emphasize that various human rights violations must be stopped immediately," Retno said.

People cross a street in the city centre following further easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney, Australia on Dec 10, 2020. (File photo: Reuters/Loren Elliott) - 

SYDNEY: Australia on Monday (Dec 11) said it would tighten visa rules for international students and low-skilled workers that could halve its migrant intake over the next two years as the government looks to overhaul what it said was a "broken" migration system.

The decision comes after net immigration was expected to have peaked at a record 510,000 in 2022 to 2023. Official data showed it was forecast to fall to about a quarter of a million in 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026, roughly in line with pre-COVID levels.

"We've worked around the clock to strike the best balance in Australia's migration system," Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said in a statement ahead of the formal release of the government's new migration strategy later on Monday.

"The government's targeted reforms are already putting downward pressure on net overseas migration, and will further contribute to this expected decline," O'Neil said.

O'Neil said the increase in net overseas migration from 2022 to 2023 was mostly driven by international students.

Australia boosted its annual migration numbers last year to help key businesses recruit staff to fill shortages after the COVID-19 pandemic brought tighter border controls, and kept foreign students and workers out of the country for nearly two years.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the weekend said Australia's migration numbers needed to be wound back to a "sustainable level", adding that "the system is broken".

Long reliant on immigration to supply what is now one of the tightest labour markets in the world, Australia's Labor government has pushed to speed up the entry of highly skilled workers and smooth their path to permanent residency.

Under the new policies, international students would need higher ratings on English tests. It will also end settings that allow students to prolong their stay in Australia.

A new specialist visa for highly skilled workers will be set up with the processing time cut to one week, helping businesses recruit top migrants amid tough competition with other developed economies//CNA-VOI

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (R) pose at the Central Office of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hanoi on Dec 12, 2023. (Photo: AFP/MINH HOANG) - 

HANOI: China and Vietnam, at odds over claims in the South China Sea, agreed on Tuesday (Dec 12) to boost ties and build a community with a "shared future", three months after Hanoi upgraded its formal relations with the United States.

On Chinese President Xi Jinping's first visit to Hanoi in six years, the two countries announced 37 deals, including on diplomatic ties, railways and telecommunications.

As China and the United States vie for influence in the strategic nation, the agreements mark an achievement of Vietnam's "Bamboo diplomacy", although analysts and diplomats said the improvement in relations could be more symbolic than real.

Vietnam agreed to "support the initiative of building a community of shared future for humankind", according to a joint statement shown to reporters on Tuesday, after sources said China had been pushing for it. The joint statement is expected to be formally signed on Wednesday.

The countries' diplomats had debated the "shared future" phrase for months, following Hanoi's initial reluctance to use it, say officials and diplomats.

The Chinese term literally means "common destiny", but its translation in English and Vietnamese is "common future", which may be seen as less demanding.

"One declaration, many translations," said a diplomat based in the Vietnamese capital, commenting on the interpretation of the term.

In diplomatic ties, the upgrade is symbolic, Le Hong Hiep, a specialist in Vietnamese strategic and political issues at Singapore's Iseas–Yusof Ishak Institute, said.

"Vietnam's mistrust of China runs deep, and from the Vietnamese people's viewpoint, there is little to no 'shared destiny' between the two countries, as long as China continues to claim most of the South China Sea," he said.

Despite close economic ties, the neighbours have been at odds over boundaries in the South China Sea and have a millennia-long history of conflict.

In a sign of possible de-escalation, however, they signed two cooperation agreements for joint patrols in the Tonkin Gulf in the South China Sea and to establish a hotline to handle fisheries incidents, according to one of the agreements.

Apart from taking ties to a level Beijing may consider above those with the United States, the upgraded status came with the announcement of 36 cooperation deals, according to a list of documents seen by Reuters, and the joint statement on diplomatic ties.

That was short of the 45 initially proposed, according to one Vietnamese official, and missed agreements on critical minerals and rare earths on which Xi had urged more cooperation in an opinion piece published on Tuesday in a Vietnamese state newspaper//CNA-VOI