7 human rights organizations urgently call on the Singaporean authorities to drop their criminal investigations of human rights defenders Kirsten Han and Rocky Howe and cease harassing them through legal processes for their work. On 24 June 2022, the police interrogated Kirsten Han and Rocky Howe for potential offences under the Public Order Act 2009 [ Read more ]

50th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 2: Interactive dialogue on the oral update of the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan (HRC res. 48/1)   Delivered by Yalda Royan On behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)  15 June 2022   Mr. President, Madam [ Read more ]

 50th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council Panel Discussion on the root causes of violence and discrimination against Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar   Delivered by Tun Khin On behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)  15 June 2022   Mr President, I am a Rohingya from Rakhine State. [ Read more ]

50th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 2: Interactive Dialogue on the Oral Update by the High Commissioner on Myanmar   Delivered by Khin Ohmar On behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)  14 June 2022 Mr. President, Madam High Commissioner, The Myanmar junta is escalating its scorched-earth atrocity [ Read more ]

Seven human rights organizations expressed concerns about the deteriorating health of activist and Delhi University professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba in Nagpur Central Jail, Maharashtra State, and called on the Indian authorities to provide urgent access to health care. G.N. Saibaba was initially arrested in 2014 and accused of links to banned Maoist organisations. In March [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Kathmandu, 20 June 2022) — The United Nations Security Council must impose comprehensive targeted sanctions on the leadership and representatives of the Taliban, including the reinstatement of travel bans against Taliban leaders, said the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA). ‘The Security Council has an opportunity to reinforce the ban on members and [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Kuala Lumpur, 20 June 2022) – We, the undersigned organisations, demand clarity on the supposed delay of the release of 2020 and 2021 Annual Reports of Malaysia’s national human rights institution (NHRI), Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia (SUHAKAM). The long-delayed publication of the 2020 and 2021 Annual Reports could derail the important work that SUHAKAM [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Jakarta, 20 June 2022) FORUM-ASIA is deeply concerned by the ongoing court trial on perjury charges filed by Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the former National Security Adviser in the Cabinet of Rodrigo Duterte, against civil societies, Karapatan the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) and GABRIELA as well as the systematic vilification and smear campaigns against [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Kathmandu, 16 June 2022) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) condemns the excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, and arbitrary demolition of properties of activists and protestors mainly belonging to the Muslim minority community in India. ‘The present crackdown against protestors in India is not just a violation of [ Read more ]

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, FIDH and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Frontline Defenders strictly condemn the arbitrary cancellation of the registration of Odhikar, by the Bangladesh government. The NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB) [ Read more ]