FORUM-ASIA organised its second Global Advocacy Learning Programme (GALP) on Human Rights and Development in Thailand on 27 October – 2 November 2018. Below is a case study written by one of the participants of the GALP in 2018. Information on the upcoming GALP, to be held in 2020, will be announced soon. Disclaimer: The [ Read more ]

5 August 2019, Bangkok – Manushya Foundation, CIVICUS and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) call on the Government of Lao PDR to remove all unwarranted restrictions on civic space in the country ahead of its human rights review to be held at the United Nations (UN) in January-February 2020. The review [ Read more ]

Panel discussion – Sombath Somphone, 6 years on Disappeared in Laos but not forgotten in ASEAN 10:30am, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 Bangkok Art and Culture Center (BACC), Bangkok Friends of BACC room, 6th floor Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone disappeared on the evening of 15 December 2012, after being stopped at a police checkpoint [ Read more ]

H.E. Mr. Thongloun Sisoulith Prime Minister Prime Minister’s Office, Vientiane Lao People’s Democratic Republic   H.E. Mr. Bounnhang Vorachith President President’s Office, Vientiane Lao People’s Democratic Republic   H.E. Mr. Xaysi Santivong Minister of Justice Ministry of Justice, Vientiane Lao People’s Democratic Republic   13 December 2017   Dear    H.E. Mr. Thongloun Sisoulith, H.E. [ Read more ]

32nd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 2: Thematic reports by the High Commissioner – General Debate Oral Statement Delivered by Rosanna Ocampo On behalf of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Tuesday, 21 June 2016 Mr. President, FORUM-ASIA welcomes the High Commissioner’s practical recommendations for the creation and [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 15 December 2015) – ‘Three years since the disappearance of leading Lao civil society activist Sombath Somphone, authorities in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic have failed to initiate a credible investigation to determine his whereabouts and the truth around his enforced disappearance,’ the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) said today. Sombath [ 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 ]

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 ]

By Marte Hellema ‘I stand before you humble and a little sad that it is I who is here to receive this Special Award for Human Rights’, said Shui Meng Ng, wife of Sombath Somphone upon accepting the 2015 Gwangju Special Award for Human Rights in Gwangju, South Korea last Monday on the 18th May. [ Read more ]

30 August 2014 Today, on the occasion of International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we, the undersigned organizations, urge ASEAN member states to end acts of enforced disappearances in Southeast Asia. Cases of enforced disappearances continue to occur in the region. Victims include human rights defenders as well as ordinary citizens. Enforced disappearances [ Read more ]