Open letter to Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States to the UN Human Rights Council 1 June 2022 Re: Call for Urgent Debate on the women’s rights crisis in Afghanistan at the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council Excellencies, We, the undersigned civil society organisations, urge you to call for and support [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 26 May 2022) — The Asian NGOs Network on National Human Rights I­­nstitutions (ANNI) and Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN) condemn the dissolution of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on 17 May by the De Facto Regime of Taliban. The dissolution demonstrates the Taliban’s continued disregard of the rule of [ Read more ]

Civic space is under attack in South Asia. Across the region, increasingly authoritarian governments are relying on a wide range of repressive laws and other tactics to silence criticism, a trend that only intensified in 2021. While the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is the starkest example of this, almost all other countries saw alarming restrictions [ Read more ]

Date: Tuesday, 9 November 2021 Time: 10.00 – 11.30 AM (GMT+7), 12.00 – 1.30 PM (GMT+9) Register here: l.forum-asia.org/AfghanSpecialSession Live via: Zoom Asia Democracy Network (ADN) and FORUM-ASIA have been closely monitoring the situation in Afghanistan since the takeover of the government by the Taliban regime. In just over two months, the twenty years of effort to [ Read more ]

 48th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 2: General Debate on the High Commissioner’s oral updates on Sri Lanka and Afghanistan Delivered by Ahmed Adam On behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) 14 September 2021     Madam President, The situation in Sri Lanka has further deteriorated since [ Read more ]

We, the undersigned organisations, write to urge UN Member States to ensure the adoption of a robust resolution to establish a Fact-Finding Mission or similar independent investigative mechanism on Afghanistan as a matter of priority at the upcoming 48th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). We express our profound regret at the [ Read more ]

(Kathmandu, 8 September 2021) ‒ Afghans are braving Taliban-controlled streets to demand respect of their fundamental rights, despite rapidly deteriorating peace and stability in the country. Amid growing dissent and protests across Afghanistan, the Taliban announced its interim government, which included members of the Haqqani network, but excluded women and representatives from the toppled government.[1] [ Read more ]

FORUM-ASIA ’s Position Statement on Afghanistan Last updated: 31 August 2021 FORUM-ASIA stands in solidarity with all civilians of Afghanistan, especially, women, children, minorities as well as human rights defenders, journalists, civil society activists, academics, judges and lawyers and their families who are at heightened risk of violence, reprisals and persecution following the seizure of [ Read more ]

31st Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on the serious human rights concerns and situation in Afghanistan Delivered by Ahmed Adam On behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) 24 August 2021   Madam President, The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban over the past week has dramatically escalated the [ Read more ]

17 August 2021 The undersigned organizations express their concern about the rapidly unfolding developments occurring in Afghanistan, including the entrance of Taliban troops in the capital Kabul on 15 August in violation of their February 2020 agreement with the government of the United States of America, the exile of President Ashraf Ghani, and growing numbers [ Read more ]