30th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff and the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances Joint oral statement by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Pax Romana, [ Read more ]

11 September 2015 – Joint Statement Today marks 1,000 days since prominent Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone “disappeared” at a police checkpoint on a busy street in Vientiane. We, the undersigned organizations, reiterate our call for the Lao government to intensify its efforts to conduct a prompt, impartial, and effective investigation into Sombath’s apparent [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 3 September 2015) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) welcomes the verdict of Phuket Provincial Court on Tuesday, clearing Phuketwan journalists, Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian, of defamation charges under articles 326 (defamation) and 328 (libel) of the Thai Criminal Code in conjunction with article 14(1) of the 2007 Computer [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 31 August 2015) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) expresses its solidarity with the people of Malaysia for the organisation of “Bersih 4.0”. The two-day peaceful gathering, which took place on 29-30 August 2015 in three cities in Malaysia, as well as in different places across the world, called for: [ Read more ]

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition calls on the Indian authorities to end the judicial harassment of Indian woman human rights defender, Teesta Setalvad. Teesta Setalvad is a journalist and founder of Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP). Sabrang Trust works to promote conflict resolution and support peace building. CJP provides [ Read more ]

We, the undersigned civil society organizations from across Asia and the Pacific call on the government of Cambodia to immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Mr Ny Chakrya, which are an attack on his lawful activities as a human rights defender. We further call on the government to guarantee in all circumstances the right [ Read more ]

29th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 10: Technical assistance and capacity building Oral Statement Delivered by R. Iniyan Ilango On behalf of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Wednesday, 01 July 2015 Thank you Mr. President, FORUM-ASIA recognises the valuable role played by OHCHR country offices and UN [ Read more ]

29th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 8: Follow up and Implementation of the VDPA Oral Statement Delivered by R. Iniyan Ilango On behalf of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Monday, 29 June 2015 Mr. President, the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action (VDPA) makes several references to [ Read more ]

29th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 6: Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Plenary on Lao People’s Democratic Republic Oral Statement Delivered by R. Iniyan Ilango On behalf of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Thursday, 25 June 2015 Thank you, Mr. President. We welcome recommendations made to the Lao [ Read more ]

29th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 4: Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Oral Statement Delivered by R. Iniyan Ilango On behalf of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Wednesday, 24 June 2015 Mr President, FORUM-ASIA expresses concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in several [ Read more ]