23rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 3 – “Sri Lanka: Systematic attacks of freedom of expression and the media requires specific attention of the Human Rights Council”
Human Rights Council Twenty-third session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Written statement* submitted by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status The Secretary-General has received the following written statement, which [ Read more ]
23rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 6 – General Debate 10 June 2013, UPR Info
Thank you. The following statement is made on behalf of 77 NGOs. Mr. President, Civil society is deeply concerned by the current attacks on the format of the Working Group report. In this regard, we note with satisfaction the comments made by States earlier this morning on this issue. This document, the Working Group report, [ Read more ]
23rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 4: Human Rights Situations that Require the Council’s Attention – General Debate (Joint Statement)
Statement delivered on behalf of: Human Rights Watch, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Conectas Direitos Humanos, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), International Service for Human Rights and International Commission of Jurists, With the support of: [ Read more ]
23rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 5: Human Rights Bodies and Mechanisms Oral Statement Delivered by Ms. Pooja Patel on Behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Thank you Mr. President. FORUM-ASIA and the ESCR-Net Corporate Accountability Working Group (CAWG) welcome the opportunity to address the report of the annual Forum on Business and Human Rights. Having participated in the first Forum, a joint letter of CSOs working collaboratively through ESCR-Net’s CAWG was sent to the UN Working Group on the issue [ Read more ]
Joint Press Statement 7 June 2013 Singapore: Withdraw Repressive Licensing Regime of Online News Sites
(Bangkok/Kuala Lumpur/Singapore) The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), Southeast Asian Centre for e-Media (SEACeM) and Think Centre register our serious concern at the introduction of a licensing regime to regulate online news sites by the Media Development Authority (MDA), an agency under the Ministry of Communications and [ Read more ]
23rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 3 – “Sri Lanka: Systematic attacks of freedom of expression and the media requires specific attention of the Human Rights Council”
Human Rights Council Twenty-third session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Written statement* submitted by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status The Secretary-General has received the following written statement, which [ Read more ]
23rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 6 – General Debate 10 June 2013, UPR Info
Thank you. The following statement is made on behalf of 77 NGOs. Mr. President, Civil society is deeply concerned by the current attacks on the format of the Working Group report. In this regard, we note with satisfaction the comments made by States earlier this morning on this issue. This document, the Working Group report, [ Read more ]
23rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 4: Human Rights Situations that Require the Council’s Attention – General Debate (Joint Statement)
Statement delivered on behalf of: Human Rights Watch, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Conectas Direitos Humanos, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), International Service for Human Rights and International Commission of Jurists, With the support of: [ Read more ]
Sri Lanka: Stop threats and incitement of violence against human rights defenders who engaged at the UN Human Rights Council
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) received information regarding threats, harassment, intimidation, vilification and incitement to violence against Sri Lankan human rights defenders in connection with their views on accountability issues in Sri Lanka. These threats are part of a hate campaign directed against human rights defenders who have engaged with the 19th regular session of [ Read more ]
Sri Lanka: Appeal to surface two missing human rights defenders
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 ]
Malaysia’s ongoing crackdown against campaigners for electoral reform
(UPDATED 12 July) Monitor this page to be kept informed updates on unfolding events regarding the Malaysian government crackdown to stop the 9 July 2011 rally on electoral reform. Learn more about the background of these events by clicking this link to the Asian Defender Alert on this issue. The contents of this webpage are [ Read more ]
Malaysia: Drop Charges against Activists and Organisers of Post-Elections Rallies, End Crackdown on Freedoms of Expression and Peaceful Assembly
(Bangkok, 28 May 2013): The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) has condemned the charges filed against a number of activists and opposition leaders in Malaysia in relation to their exercise of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly in the past two weeks. The regional human rights group, representing 47 organisations from 16 [ Read more ]
Laos: Five Months On, Demand for Accountability and Action in Sombath Somphone’s Disappearance Intensifies
Bangkok/Manila/Jakarta (15 May 2013) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Focus on the Global South, The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) reiterated their call on the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and ASEAN governments to break the [ Read more ]
Burma: Human Rights Groups Condemn Ongoing Crackdown on Protests and Peaceful Assemblies
Report Highlights Violations of Freedoms of Expression, Peaceful Assembly and Association (Rangoon/Bangkok, 2 May 2013): The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUMASIA), together with its member Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), and Burma Partnership, called on the Burma government to respect the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association. The appeal [ Read more ]
23rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council, 27 May-14 June 2013
The UN Human Rights Council will hold its 23rd regular session (HRC-23) from 27 May to 14 June 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. FORUM-ASIA interventions, statements and events during this session will appear on this page.
Burma/Myanmar: New Forms of Control and Threats to Freedoms of Expression, Assembly and Association amidst Reforms Fanfare
An international fact-finding mission was conducted by Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) on 24-30 October 2012 to assess the situation of freedoms of expression, assembly and association in Burma, against the backdrop of the apparent democratic reforms embarked by the Burma government since 2011, including among others, by releasing over 700 political [ Read more ]
22nd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council 25 February-22 March 2013
The UN Human Rights Council will hold its 22nd regular session (HRC-22) from 25 February to 22 March 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland. FORUM-ASIA interventions, statements and events during this session will appear on this page.
23rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council, 27 May-14 June 2013
The UN Human Rights Council will hold its 23rd regular session (HRC-23) from 27 May to 14 June 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. FORUM-ASIA interventions, statements and events during this session will appear on this page.
Call for Papers – Sur: International Journal on Human Rights
Deadline: June 15, 2013 Conectas Human Rights, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, CIVICUS: Worldwide Alliance for Citizen Participation and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development invite scholars and practitioners to submit articles for Sur Journal’s Issue No. 19, to be published in December 2013, with a focus on Foreign Policy and Human Rights. Sur – [ Read more ]
Women Human Rights Defenders Briefing Points Towards the 57th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Under the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, States have an obligation to protect WHRDs, which includes ensuring gender sensitive protection measures to threats, violence, retaliation and adverse discrimination faced by WHRDs. Primarily, the concern for an enabling and secure environment for WHRDs originates from basic recognition of the significant role of WHRDs in [ Read more ]
Kathmandu Statement 2011
Outcome Document of the Second Sub-Regional Workshop on a Human Rights Mechanism in South Asia, 25-26 July 2011, Kathmandu, Nepal 1. The Second Sub-Regional Workshop on Human Rights Mechanism in South Asia—organized by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and hosted by the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) with participants from non-governmental [ Read more ]
Malaysia’s ongoing crackdown against campaigners for electoral reform
(UPDATED 12 July) Monitor this page to be kept informed updates on unfolding events regarding the Malaysian government crackdown to stop the 9 July 2011 rally on electoral reform. Learn more about the background of these events by clicking this link to the Asian Defender Alert on this issue. The contents of this webpage are [ Read more ]
Silence is not an option! (Petition for immediate action by the United Nations Human Rights Council)
The undersigned organisations urge the Human Rights Council to act urgently to respond to the violent repression of demonstrations currently underway in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. The Human Rights Council cannot be a passive bystander of such events, during which the lives of ordinary citizens have been taken or put at risk [ Read more ]
