FORUM-ASIA received information that Mr. Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Mr. Kugan Muruganandan have been missing since 9 December 2011. The two HRDs were last seen leaving the house of Mr. Muruganandan in Avarangal, Jaffna, North Sri Lanka. Mr. Lalith Kumar Weeraraj is a prominent human rights defender mainly working on disappearances in the north and [ Read more ]

Subject: Sri Lanka as the host of CHOGM 2013 Dear Commonwealth Heads of Governments, This letter follows an earlier letter on this subject that many of us jointly wrote to Commonwealth Foreign Ministers, prior to their meeting in New York on 22 September 2011. In the absence of any public pronouncement by Foreign Ministers on [ Read more ]

18th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 4: Human Rights Situations that Require the Council’s Attention – General Debate Thank you, Madam President. FORUM-ASIA wishes to sustain this Council’s attention to the distressing situation along the eastern border of Burma/Myanmar as gross violations of human rights are ongoing, particularly land confiscation, forcible [ Read more ]

H.E. Laura Dupuy Lasserre President of the United Nations Human Rights Council Email: [email protected] Fax: +41-(0)22-917-0490 CC: Member States of the Human Rights Council Geneva, 16 September 2011 Your Excellency, The undersigned non-governmental human rights organisations write this letter to you in your capacity as President of the Human Rights Council to appeal for your [ Read more ]

Tuesday, 13 September 2011 – Thank you, Madam President. FORUM‐ASIA welcomes the holding of this important panel discussion which reaffirms the rights of individuals and peoples to publicly express their grievances and aspirations for change. It is our deep concern, however, that many States including those in Asia have often responded to such assemblies through [ Read more ]

Monday, 12 September 2011 – Thank you, Madam President. FORUM-ASIA appreciates the sustained emphasis by the High Commissioner on ending impunity and ensuring accountability. As the High Commissioner noted, it is our lesson that the counter-terrorism measures undertaken by many States have too often led to the erosion of human rights and vicious cycles of violence and [ Read more ]

Subject: The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013 We are gravely concerned about the ongoing discussions on holding the 2013 CHOGM in Sri Lanka. At the 2009 CHOGM, Sri Lanka’s candidature for hosting the meeting was deferred from 2011 to 2013  because  of  concerns  about  human  rights  abuses  by  the  Sri  Lankan  government.  While [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 29 July 2011) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is deeply saddened by the news of the discovery yesterday of a body believed to be that of disappeared Sri Lankan human rights defender, Mr Pattani Razeek. Police found the body in Kavathamunai, Oddamavadi, Valaichenai province after being led to the [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 16 July 2011) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a membership-based regional human rights organization, welcomes the arrest on 8 July 2011 of the chief suspect in relation to the disappearance of Sri Lankan human rights defender, Pattani Razeek. Razeek was Executive Committee member of FORUM-ASIA and Managing Trustee of [ Read more ]

H.E. President Mahinda Rajapakse President of Sri Lanka Fax: +94 11 243 0590 Email: [email protected] 28 June 2011 Your Excellency, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a membership-based regional human rights organization, is gravely concerned with the failure of Your Excellency’s Government on the investigation into the disappearance of Sri Lankan human rights [ Read more ]