Varied Challenges to Civil Liberties Persist in ASEAN; Vietnamese Debate Human Rights and State Progress

Civil Liberties in Southeast Asia are under threat from government policies and actions, according to civil society participants of the “Challenges to Civil Liberties in the ASEAN Region” workshop on the 2nd day of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN People’s Forum 2011 […]

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Message to ASEAN Civil Society at ACSC/APF 2011

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi addresses civil society and people’s movements at the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia […]

First US Ambassador to Asean Expected to Press Burma

David Lee Carden, a former attorney who has been named the first US ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), will attend the Asean Summit in Indonesia next week, where he will have the opportunity to push Burma to change and discuss with Asean members whether Burma chair the organization in 2014, claim Burma activists […]

Burma Seeking to be the Chairman of Asean in 2014

Can Burma have its cake and eat it too? The answer rests with Asean. Right after the new civilian government was installed at the end of March in Naypyidaw, one of the first important tasks President Thein Sein did was to submit a letter to the Asean Secretariat stating Burma’s readiness to take up the grouping’s chair in 2014 […]

ASEAN Urged to Speed up Talks on Migrant Worker Protection

Organizations gathered under the Taskforce on ASEAN Migrant Workers (TFAMW) group urged leaders in the region to address the issue of migrant workers by forming a regional framework this year that was legally binding on all ASEAN member states […]

ASEAN Negotiating Rules to Protect Migrant Workers

ASEAN member states are negotiating a set of regulations to protect and promote the rights of migrant workers at the 4th meeting of the ASEAN Committee for Migrant Workers (ACMW) here on April 11-12 […]

Burma Looks for a Space in ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA)

The new government of Burma is attempting to join the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), by sending its representatives to Cambodia, who will host the 32nd ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA 32) in September […]

UN says Burma ‘a regional burden’

Increasing numbers of Burmese asylum-seekers in Southeast Asian states is evidence that Burma’s domestic crises are having a negative impact on the region, a top UN official has said […]

Open Letter to ASEAN Nations: Widespread Human Rights Violations In Burma Ignored by ASEAN UPR Delegates

Your Excellencies,

We are writing to you to express our dismay at the statements by ASEAN Member States during the Interactive Dialogue of the Universal Periodic Review of Burma.

On 27 January 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council examined Burma’s human rights record during the country’s first Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This review provided a vital opportunity to highlight the widespread human rights violations in Burma and engage with the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on ways to improve its human rights record […]

ASEAN’s new approach to Myanmar is nothing new

ASEAN’s foreign ministers just completed their two-day retreat in Lombok on Jan. 17, wherein Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa outlined the nation’s agenda and priorities for ASEAN as it assumes the association’s rotating chair […]