Although FORUM-ASIA welcomes the release of human rights defender and prisoner of conscience Kim Ji Tae in South Korea, his release does not negate the fact that the police have failed in their obligation to protect Kim as a human rights defender. He was arrested after spearheading an ongoing call to protect the rights of [ Read more ]

Three human rights organisations – Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), and Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) – have jointly submitted a written statement to ASEAN governments to appeal for the ratification and implementation of the UN Treaties and ILO Conventions. The statement highlights ASEAN member states [ Read more ]

FORUM-ASIA strongly condemns the attack on four staff members of the National Peace Council on December 15, 2006 when they had gone to Hingurakgoda in the Polonnaruwa district to conduct a training workshop on peace and a political solution to the ethnic conflict. FORUM-ASIA strongly condemns the attack on four staff members of the National [ Read more ]

Yesterday, the Indonesian Constitutional Court voted seven to one to officially abolish the Law No 27/2004 on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has reiterated that democratic governance and the rule of law will be his administrative priority, especially when Indonesia has also been elected to the United Nations Human Rights [ Read more ]

On the international day for migrants, FORUM-ASIA pays tribute to the millions of Asian migrants and takes this opportunity to urge Asian governments to put in place legislative and administrative mechanisms of protection and promotion of the human rights of all migrants. In this statement, FORUM-ASIA also urged all Asian governments to ratify and implement [ Read more ]

FORUM-ASIA expressed serious concern about that the latest emergency regulations in Sri Lanka could be used to suppress independent voices and the work of civil society and media organizations. It called on the Sri Lankan government to reformulate the emergency regulations to guarantee the independence and autonomy of civil society, protect the rights of civilians, [ Read more ]

On Human Rights Day this year, we remind all governments that almost sixty years ago in 1948, world governments adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which articulated and codified the rights f all individuals, with the fundamental message that every person is born free and equal with inalienable human rights, simply because he or [ Read more ]

FORUM-ASIA and the Centre for Organisation Research and Education have expressed its disappointment with the 61st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) decision for a non-action motion on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A resolution put forward by the Namibian delegation to the UNGA which called for the deferment of [ Read more ]

Nearly a hundred Southeast Asian human rights defenders came together for the 1st Southeast Asia Human Rights Defenders Forum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 14-18 November. Two major themes that emerged from the week-long event were natural resource management and the lack of fundamental freedoms such as those of assembly, association, movement, expression and access [ Read more ]

Seventeen Sri Lankan civil society groups, including FORUM-ASIA members INFORM and Law and Society Trust issued a statement yesterday calling on parties engaged in violence to immediately declare cessation of hostilities, guarantee access to all conflict affected areas by opening up humanitarian corridors and to accept international monitoring of the human rights and humanitarian situation. [ Read more ]