Launch Event of ANNI 2019 Report

19:00-21:00, Thursday 14 November 2019

Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand,

Free Admission & Food will be served before and after the panel discussion

The event will also be live-streamed on FORUM-ASIA’s Facebook page

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Civic space is under threat across Asia. Restrictive laws; authoritarian regimes; and attacks and harassment of human rights defenders: are some of the serious challenges undermining civic space. Among the many stakeholders attempting to defend or uphold civic space are supposedly National Human Rights Institutions. However, the reality is that this mandate is often not realised.

This year’s report of the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) reviews the role of National Human Rights Institutions in the region in upholding civic space. You find the full report here.

During this launch event of ANNI’s 2019 report, speakers will reflect on specific country cases, including Hong Kong and Thailand, as well as reviewing regional trends. During the discussion, panellists will focus on examples of how National Human Rights Institutions have taken up or have failed to realise their mandate related to protecting civic space, including instances where lack of an established National Human Rights Institution might have left protesters and activists more at risk.

Panellists

Angkhana Neelapaijit, Former Commissioner of National Human Rights Commission of Thailand,

Claudia Yip, Spokesperson of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, and

 Shanna Priangka Ramadhanti, Programme Associate of FORUM-ASIA’s National Human Institutions Programme.

Media contacts in Bangkok

For more information or if you want to set up an interview with any of the panelists , please contact Marte Hellema, Programme Manager Communication and Media for FORUM-ASIA at [email protected].

About the organisers:

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a network of human rights organisations across Asia. FORUM-ASIA works to promote and protect human rights, including the right to development, through collaboration and cooperation among human rights organisations and defenders in Asia and beyond. www.forum-asia.org

FORUM-ASIA holds the Secretariat of the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI), a network of Asian non-governmental organisations and human rights defenders working on issues related to National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). ANNI currently has 33 member organisations from 21 countries or territories.

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For a PDF version of this invitation, click here.