For Immediate Release Bangladesh: Hold Security Forces Accountable for Torture Rights Groups Call for Decisive Action on International Day for Victims (New York, June 26, 2021) – The Bangladesh government has failed to address widespread allegations of torture and ill-treatment by its security forces, ten rights groups said on the International Day in Support of [ Read more ]

(24 June 2021, Bangkok) ‒ The Government of Cambodia must drop the charges against Mother Nature Cambodia (MNC) environmental defenders and immediately release them, said human rights groups Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Asia Democracy Network (ADN), CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Earth Rights International (ERI), and Front Line Defenders. On [ Read more ]

47th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 2: Interactive Dialogue with the High Commissioner Joint oral statement delivered by Sarah M Brooks On behalf of several NGOs, including Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Tuesday, 22 June 2021    Madame High Commissioner, As you must be aware, the human rights [ Read more ]

(15 June 2021, Bangkok) – Thousands of people who have fallen victim to the ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines are now a step closer to justice should a recommendation for a full investigation into suspected crimes against humanity by International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda be accepted by the court’s judges. ‘The ICC [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 14 June 2021) – The Government of Sri Lanka and factory owners must heed calls from civil society organisations (CSOs) and trade unions urging the protection of Free Trade Zone (FTZ) workers from COVID-19 amid a surge of infections. ‘In line with its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 11 June 2021) ‒ The new appointments to the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRCI), especially Justice Arun Kumar Mishra as the Chairperson, raises serious concerns on the independence and credibility of the country’s human rights body, said the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI), an initiative by the Asian [ Read more ]

Hong Kong: Hong Kongers’ defiance against authoritarianism an inspiration for democracy, two years on (Bangkok, 11 June 2021) – Two years since the protests against proposed extradition laws, Hong Kongers have continued to relentlessly advocate for their fundamental freedoms, amidst systematic repression from an authoritarian regime, said the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development [ Read more ]

(7 June 2021, Jakarta) ‒ ASEAN’s continuous engagement with the brutal and illegitimate Myanmar military junta, while refusing to hold dialogues with the true representatives of the Myanmar people, is an affront to its own five-point consensus, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Progressive Voice and ALTSEAN-Burma said today. The right groups, [ Read more ]

(3 June 2021, Bangkok) ‒ The nine ASEAN Member States that seek to block a UN General Assembly draft resolution calling for a global arms embargo on Myanmar’s military junta are betraying the regional bloc’s commitment to the cessation of violence in Myanmar, said the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Progressive Voice and [ Read more ]

(25 May 2021) ‒ We, the undersigned international human rights organisations, call on the Cambodian government to immediately stop its assault on freedom of expression in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent months, the government has warned against public criticism of its actions, prevented independent journalists from reporting on the pandemic, prosecuted individuals [ Read more ]