The Malaysian Bar unanimously passed its resolution on indigenous peoples' rights on 17 March 2009, during its annual general meeting. The resolution calls on the Malaysian government and its agencies to "respect the rights of indigenous peoples pursuant to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples". It further calls on them to establish an independent high-level [ Read more ]

Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, comprised of 18 organisations including FORUM-ASIA, celebrated the courage of women human rights defenders on International Women's Day, 8 March 2009. In a survey by the coalition in 2008, "women human rights defenders identified the most common violations they experienced as:  intimidation and harassment; surveillance and blacklisting; attacks and [ Read more ]

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are intervening in the 10th Session of the Human Rights Council, held from 2-27 March 2009. In a statement, they called on the council to "work towards the effective implementation" of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances. The convention has been ratified by nine states so [ Read more ]

About 70 civil society organisations have signed the "Requirements of a Regional Solution for the Rohingya", issued on 6 March 2009. An abstract of the statement, originally written by members of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN), is provided here. About 70 civil society organisations have signed the "Requirements of a Regional Solution for [ Read more ]

Presenting realities of conflict in seven Southeast Asian countries, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict- Southeast Asia (GPPAC-SEA) called on ASEAN to "immediately establish a dispute prevention and settlement mechanism to address festering intra-state conflicts in the region". Here is an extract from their statement, issued on 19 February 2009. Presenting realities of [ Read more ]

Over 150 civil society organisations worldwide have launched a campaign on 13 February 2009, to collect 888,888 signatures before 24 May 2009, the supposed release date of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. Through this petition, the organisations call on the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to make it his priority to release [ Read more ]

Six human rights organisations held a press briefing on 12 March 2009. In a a statement, they called for high-level UN engagement on Tibet. Six human rights organisations held a press briefing on 12 March 2009. They issued a statement calling for high-level UN engagement on Tibet as below. Tensions remain high in Tibet as Tibetans [ Read more ]

Twelve human rights organisations in India, including a FORUM-ASIA member People's Watch, have issued a statement condemning the police assaults on lawyers and judges in the premises of the Madras High Court, Chennai, on 19 February 2009. The armed police charged baton and pelted stones at the lawyers. The police manhandled them, including women advocates [ Read more ]

More than a hundred indigenous people launched their report entitled "Rampaging the Rainforests" on 21 February 2009, during "Randau Pemansang" meaning "forum on development of indigenous people". The report presents facts of how their native customary right, right to land and right to livelihood have been violated by the palm oil industry and the Malaysian [ Read more ]

Many human rights issues are ready to challenge the new government of the Maldives, after its historic elections in October 2008. The shift from the dictatorial one-party system to this democratically elected parliament brings the government to a new phase: to actively investigate human rights violations, and develop and strengthen its human rights institution. This [ Read more ]