The Asia-Pacific Peoples' Partnership on Burma (APPPB) provides daily updates on the situation on the ground in Burma. A note from FORUM-ASIA This is a daily update from the Asia-Pacific Peoples' Partnership on Burma (APPPB). You can access the most up-to-date news on the situation on the ground in Burma at: http://www.apppb.blogspot.com/ For more information, [ Read more ]

122 human rights organisations, representing every sector of civil society, join hands in writing an open letter to Ambassador Doru-Romulus Costea, the President of the Human Rights Council (HRC) calling for the HRC to convene a special session on the human rights situation in Burma. This is one of the largest shows of solidarity to [ Read more ]

Bangladesh began their year with an Emergency declared by President Iajuddin Ahmed on 11 January 2007, only days ahead of elections slated for 22 January 2007. With elections planned for the end of 2008, another full year of Emergency in Bangladesh will only further degrade their human rights situation.  Although the Constitution of Bangladesh had [ Read more ]

People in Burma stood up against the continuous oppression by the government in August. Their revolution has gone on and the military has responded by violence: 800 people are reported to be killed. Burma remains one of the countries in Asia, if not in the world, that has the most oppressive government. The criticism to [ Read more ]

On 13 December the government of Malaysia unleashed the controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) on five organisers of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), which led a peaceful rally calling for ethnic minority rights held in Kuala Lumpur in November. Malaysia has breached two fundamental freedoms: right to freedom of expression and assembly. The Internal [ Read more ]

In a report on 26 November, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary of arbitrary executions, Philip Alston said that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had killed left-wing activists as part of their campaign against communist insurgents and civil society leaders. Although the number of killings decreased, extrajudicial killings still persist. The Philippines [ Read more ]

Dissenting voices in Pakistani politics have been coerced into oppressive silence through arbitrary changes in law and the constitution by President Musharraf since Emergency was declared on 2 November 2007. The lift of the Emergency on 15 December 2007 has done little to improve the human rights situation in Pakistan. President Pervez Musharraf declared a [ Read more ]

As the year comes to a close, the war between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has intensified to levels not seen before it this decades-long conflict. Civilians, particularly the minority Tamil and Muslim communities, continue to bear the brunt of violence. The escalating violence between the government of [ Read more ]

Two important human rights conventions were opened this year for signature: The Convention Against Enforced Disappearances and the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. The first one has not been adopted only by three countries, while the second one is said to be the fastest negotiated treaty. The Convention Against Enforced Disappearances The [ Read more ]

During its Fifth Session in June, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to build an institution that finalises the procedures for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, which opens up a new opportunity for local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to participate in reviewing the human rights performance of their governments. The UPR is one [ Read more ]