The Indonesia Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), a FORUM-ASIA member, is urging the government not to ban the Ahmadiyahs’ freedom to practice their own religion and beliefs. The NGO has outlined several recommendations which it says the authorities must follow in order to respect and protect freedom of religion and belief in the [ Read more ]

The Indonesia Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), a FORUM-ASIA member, is urging the government not to ban the Ahmadiyahs’ freedom to practice their own religion and beliefs. The NGO has outlined several recommendations which it says the authorities must follow in order to respect and protect freedom of religion and belief in the [ Read more ]

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), a FORUM-ASIA member, has issued an urgent appeal condemning sedition charges against two Malaysian cyber-activists as a politically motivated violation of their right to freedom of speech and expression aimed at silencing criticism of the government. Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), a FORUM-ASIA member, has issued an urgent appeal condemning the sedition [ Read more ]

FORUM-ASIA has expressed outrage at the callousness of Burma’s State Peace and Development Council in the wake of Cyclone Nargis and its insistence on holding a constitutional referendum despite widespread devastation and suffering, in which up to 100,000 people are reported to have died and more than one-million are thought to be in dire need [ Read more ]

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA), a FORUM-ASIA partner, has called on the Japanese Government to take concrete steps towards the resolution of human rights issues in the country as raised in the Universal Periodic Review, including use of the death penalty and various forms of discrimination. Press release JFBA calls upon the Japanese [ Read more ]

In the past year, there have been more 60 recorded cases of violence against journalists in Indonesia. In a press release issued to coincide with World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI), a FORUM-ASIA member based in Jakarta, has called on law-enforcement agencies to stop their persecution of the media as [ Read more ]

Odhikar, a FORUM-ASIA member in Bangladesh, has expressed concern about the increase in the number of extrajudicial killings during April, in which the death toll was more than double that of the previous month. The NGO also reported alarming increases in incidences of violence against women. In its monthly human rights report, Odhikar, a FORUM-ASIA [ Read more ]

The Abolish ISA Movement (GMI), a coalition of 83 non-governmental organisations, trade unions and political parties, including FORUM-ASIA member, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), and the Human Rights Committee of the Malaysian Bar Council have called on the Malaysian Government to release all persons detained without trial, to repeal all laws which allow for the detention [ Read more ]

A group of Indonesian NGOs have issued a press release to urge the government to eliminate torture practices among the authorities and strengthen laws against cruel, inhumane and degrading acts. The group also called upon the government to be ”open and honest” when discussing the reports on torture when the United Nations Committee Against Torture [ Read more ]

FORUM-ASIA, along with three other international organisations working on racial discrimination, presented a joint statement on the Substantive Session of the Preparatory Committee on the Durban Review Conference in its first session on 24 April, 2008, calling for the ICERD in the “broadest possible way” to deal with multiple and contemporary forms of racism, including [ Read more ]