I wonder how much progress South Asian countries instead are making

If your basis for taking action on any issue is a dick measuring contest with other nation states, then you are using the same logic as the idiots in the US administration, and it's terribly flawed as a basis for crafting any favorable outcome. So don't do that.

I'll quote myself:

Why should we meet human rights goals that other countries do not? Why drive on this side of the road if another country doesn't? Why have any arbitrary set of standards AT ALL if we can just toss them out because some other asshole demographic decides they want to shit on the world?

Any net improvement affects the global system. Regardless of the actions of ANY other countries, we owe it to our descendants to act in a way that maximizes their survival and quality of life.