29th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 2 and 3: Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Oral Statement Delivered by R. Iniyan Ilango on behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Monday, [ Read more ]

19 JUNE 2015 – In yet another act of judicial over-reach, the Supreme Court has effectively neutered the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) by finding its stakeholder submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) unlawful. It was accompanied by an ominous 11-point guideline which imposes excessive and arbitrary restrictions on the HRCM, particularly [ Read more ]

Thank you, Mr. President. ISHR makes this statement on behalf of AWID, FORUM-ASIA, Just Associates, Nazra for Feminist Studies and the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights – members of the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition. We appreciate that the panelists have already identified that patriarchal structures, discriminatory economic, social and cultural norms, [ Read more ]

Freedom of expression was heavily suppressed under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Journalists, media personnel, freedom of expression advocates and human rights defenders, as well as their families, lived and carried out their work under threats of death, serious injury, arrest, interrogation, intimidation and being discredited publicly. In the period described in this report, at least [ Read more ]

There were obstacles and threats to Freedom of Association and many obstructions to Freedom of Assembly under the rule of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. During the 8th January 2015 elections, President Rajapakse was unseated by the current President Maithripala Sirisena. Since then the freedom of assembly and association has seen some improvement, however, challenges still [ Read more ]

In December 2014, Pakistan faced a shocking terrorist attack that took 126 lives including the lives of over 100 children. In response to this Pakistan formulated a National Action Plan (NAP) to counter terrorism. This plan has serious implications on the human rights situation in the country. From the lifting of moratorium on capital punishment [ Read more ]

29th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Maina Kiai, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, David Kaye Oral Statement Delivered [ Read more ]

29th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 2: Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the Human Rights of Migrants Oral Statement Delivered by R. Iniyan Ilango on behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Monday, 15 June 2015 Thank you Mr. President, FORUM-ASIA expresses concern at the situation of the thousands [ Read more ]

7 May 2015 H.E. Sar Kheng Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Ministry of Interior, 275 Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia Re: Work with civil society to address restrictions in draft Law on Associations, and Non-Governmental Organizations (LANGO) Excellency, We the undersigned international and regional civil society organizations write to express our [ Read more ]

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition is appalled and deeply saddened at the news of the murder of Sabeen Mahmud, Pakistani woman human rights defender. On Friday 24 April in Karachi, Sabeen Mahmud was shot by unidentified gunmen after leaving an event she hosted about the human rights situation in Balochistan. Sabeen’s friends told [ Read more ]