This statement was issued by the People's Empowerment Foundation (PE), an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Bangkok, Thailand. PE has been working on the Rohingya boat people issue since their first immigration to Thailand in 2006 and have collaborated with local networks for the past three years to monitor their displacement. This statement was [ Read more ]

The ASEAN Peoples' Forum (APF) and the 4th ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC), are now confirmed to be held between 20-22 February 2009 in Chulalangkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. This conference is a people's and civil society's process to mirror the annual ASEAN Summit. The  14th ASEAN Summit will be held in Hua Hin, from 27 [ Read more ]

FORUM-ASIA, together with the Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacy Task Force on ASEAN and Human Rights (SAPA TFAHR), is organizing a series of national workshops for civil society representatives to comment on the first draft of  Terms of Reference (TOR) of the ASEAN Human Rights Body (AHRB). The AHRB is the first regional mechanism on [ Read more ]

FORUM-ASIA's Third Regional Human Rights Defenders Forum, was successfully held from 18-20 January 2009, after its postponement in December due to Thailand's political crisis.The Forum met its objectives of promoting a strong partnership between human rights defenders in Asia and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. About 100 over participants [ Read more ]

The ASEAN Peoples' Forum (APF) and the 4th ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC), are now confirmed to be held between 20-22 February 2009 in Chulalangkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. This conference is a people's and civil society's process to mirror the annual ASEAN Summit. The  14th ASEAN Summit will be held in Hua Hin, from 27 [ Read more ]

This is an abstract of an open letter issued by FORUM-ASIA to the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on 7 January. The letter raises the issue of excessive force used by Indonesian Police to evict the Sakal indigenous people from their tanah ulayat in Suluk Bongkal, Riau Province. This is an abstract of an [ Read more ]

ESCR-Net hosted the first international workshop on economic, social and cultural rights called "Bridging Trade, Investment, Finance and Human Rights: Pilot Project on the Agricultural Sector" in Bangkok, from 26-30 January 2009. The five-day workshop focused on human rights and economic policies, with particular emphasis on the agricultural sector. Fifteen participants from Latin America, Africa, [ Read more ]

This statement was released by People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), FORUM-ASIA's member in Seoul on 20 January 2009, as a response to the death of at least four people and 17 seriously injured due to police violence due to their resistance against forced demolition of a building. PSPD wants Kim, Suk-Gi, Seoul Police superintendent [ Read more ]

SUARA RAKYAT MALAYSIA (SUARAM), FORUM-ASIA's member based in Malaysia has issued this press statement on 23 January 2009, to urge for the release of Iban land activists who were detained under the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969 for suspected gang robbery, while struggling for their land rights. SUARAM also called on [ Read more ]

United Nation's special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari will visit Burma again from 31 January to 3 February 2009. According to Mizzima News,an independent newspaper on Burma issues, Gambari is expected to meet senior members of the military government, opposition leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi's who is currently under house-arrest in Rangoon, and representatives of the [ Read more ]