[OPEN LETTER– URGENT] Việt Nam: Halt the arbitrary execution of death row prisoner Nguyễn Văn Chưởng Your Excellency, We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our deep concern over the apparently impending execution of death row prisoner Mr. Nguyễn Văn Chưởng. We request that you and the responsible authorities ensure the execution is halted [ Read more ]

Võ Văn Thưởng President No 2, Hùng Vương, Ba Đình District Hà Nội Việt Nam 11 April 2023   10 Organisations Demand The Dropping Of Charges Against Journalist Nguyen Lan Thang And The Guarantee Of The Right To A Fair Trial By Admitting The Press And Public To Observe The Trial     Dear President Võ Văn [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Jakarta, 9 March 2022) – ‘The Government of Vietnam must immediately release environmental rights activist Dang Dinh Bach and unconditionally drop all charges against him,’ said the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) in a joint statement today. ’We are deeply concerned with the repression and harassment faced by human rights advocates, journalists, [ Read more ]

Ahead of her upcoming trial on 4 November, the undersigned 28 human rights and freedom of expression organizations today condemn the ongoing arbitrary detention of independent journalist and woman human rights defender Pham Doan Trang. We call on the Vietnamese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release and drop all charges against her. The persecution of [ Read more ]

Date: Friday, 15 October 2021 Time: 1.00 – 2.15 PM (GMT+7) Register here: l.forum-asia.org/ACSCAPF21 Live via: Zoom   This year’s ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN Peoples’ Forum eclipses a challenging era for the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) as it deals with the spillover effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worsening crisis in Myanmar. Eight [ Read more ]

Executive Summary On August 9 and 10, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) conducted the Human Rights in the Time of COVID-19: Addressing the Crisis in Southeast Asia, which was graced by over 75 participants from the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of [ Read more ]

COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc throughout Southeast Asia. The health crisis has also catalysed the rise of authoritarianism, the over-securitisation of societies, and systemic efforts to suppress democracy, human rights, and fundamental freedoms in the region. Hence, it is critical to activate, strengthen and protect spaces and mechanisms for civil society to defend human rights [ Read more ]

Ahead of Vietnam’s National Assembly and People’s Council elections set for Sunday, 23 May 2021, FORUM-ASIA Executive Director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu said: Elections in Vietnam have only served to reinforce the one-party rule of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and perpetuate its systemic assault on fundamental freedoms. Genuine democratic reform can only begin once [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 27 August 2020) – FORUM-ASIA and the 18 undersigned civil society organisations condemn the ongoing intimidation against human rights defender and prominent blogger Huynh Thuc Vy and urge the government, as the Chair of ASEAN, to end the practice of using judicial harassment to intimidate human rights defenders. Huynh Thuc Vy, a prominent Vietnamese [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Jakarta, 15 January 2020) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) welcomes Vietnam as the Chair of the Association of South East Asians Nations (ASEAN) in 2020. FORUM-ASIA calls on the association and its Member States to prioritise addressing the struggles of its people, particularly the most marginalised and oppressed, and to [ Read more ]