CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) are gravely concerned about the escalation of harassment against the NagaWorld union members and further arrests this week by the Phnom Penh police under the pretext of violating a pandemic law. We urge the government to release the detained [ Read more ]

We the undersigned human rights organizations, express our deep concern about the statement issued by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry on February 4, 2022, in which the government denounced testimony given by Ambika Satkunanathan, a leading human rights lawyer, to the European Parliament on January 27. The government statement clearly constitutes an act of harassment [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 10 February 2022) – We, the undersigned organisations, deeply alarmed by the crackdown on peaceful protests organised by the people of Kazakhstan and the violence and human rights violations that ensued thereof, extend our firm solidarity with the Kazakhstani people. The protests, which quickly spilled across the country gathering thousands of civilians, were a [ Read more ]

Joint written statement to the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council The undersigned organisations wish to draw the Human Rights Council’s attention to the escalating human rights violations perpetrated by the Bangladesh government. For decades, torture, ill-treatment, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, along with detention and harassment of human rights defenders (HRDs) and journalists [ Read more ]

(New York, January 20, 2022) – The United Nations Department of Peace Operations should ban Bangladesh’s notoriously abusive paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from UN deployment, 12 organizations said in a letter to Under Secretary General Jean-Pierre Lacroix, made public today. Human rights organizations have documented widespread RAB abuses. UN human rights experts have also [ Read more ]

(Geneva, January 18, 2021) – The Indian government should immediately stop harassing the Centre for Promotion of Social Concerns and its program unit People’s Watch, ten human rights groups said today. The government should stop using the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and other abusive laws to silence civil society in India. The groups are Amnesty [ Read more ]

Jakarta, 14 January 2022 – We, the undersigned civil society organisations in Indonesia, and organisations with presence in Indonesia, express solidarity with the people of Myanmar and condemn the ongoing grave violations committed by the military junta. We reiterate our commitment to call on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the international community [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Kathmandu, 11 January 2022) ‒ The Central Bureau of Investigation’s registration of a case against human rights organisation People’s Watch under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act highlights the worsening situation of shrinking civic space in India, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) said. On 8 January, a team of nearly ten officers [ Read more ]

We, the undersigned, express deep concern over the planned visit of Prime Minister Hun Sen, on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to Myanmar to meet with the junta representative, General Min Aung Hlaing. The visit is scheduled for 7 January 2022. We call on the ASEAN to refrain from further actions [ Read more ]

27 December 2021 Cabinet Ministers of the Royal Thai Government Government House 1 Phitsanulok Road Dusit Bangkok Thailand Cc: Council of State All members of the National Assembly of Thailand National Human Rights Commission of Thailand Re: The Draft Act on the Operations of Not-for-Profit Organizations B.E… Dear Ministers We, the undersigned Thai and international [ Read more ]