Myanmar/Burma: Sustained EU Engagement at UN Critical to Support Human Rights Reforms

Amnesty International, FIDH (the International Federation for Human Rights), and its member organization, the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma) today call on the European Union (EU) and its member states to ensure continued international engagement on the human rights situation in Burma by again introducing a resolution on the country at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in October 2014. A failure to retain a robust UNGA resolution on Burma would endanger progress on human rights, which has increasingly come under threat this year […]

Rights Groups Call for an End to Enforced Disappearances in ASEAN

Today, on the occasion of International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we, the undersigned organizations, urge ASEAN member states to end acts of enforced disappearances in Southeast Asia.
Cases of enforced disappearances continue to occur in the region. Victims include human rights defenders as well as ordinary citizens. Enforced disappearances also continue to target vulnerable groups, such as children. Three new cases of enforced disappearance that took place over the past year clearly illustrate this worrying pattern […]

Burma: Increased Number of Political Prisoners Calls for Renewed International Pressure

Without genuine legislative reform and sustained international pressure, the number of Burma’s political prisoners is set to steadily rise, FIDH and its member organization, the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma), warned today […]

Burma: Four Reporters Sentenced to Lengthy Prison Terms

Paris, Bangkok: The conviction of four reporters to lengthy prison terms is the clearest sign of Burma’s backsliding on press freedom, FIDH and its member organization, the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma), said today. On 10 July, a court in Pakokku, Magwe Division, sentenced all four Unity Weekly reporters Lu Maw Naing, Yarzar Oo, Paing Thet Kyaw, and Sithu Soe and the Unity Weekly CEO Tint San to 10 years in prison with hard labor under the 1923 Official Secrets Act […]

Burma: End the Prosecution of Rohingya Human Rights Defender Kyaw Hla Aung

Bangkok-Geneva-Paris-Rangoon. The Burmese Government must end the prosecution of Rohingya human rights defender Kyaw Hla Aung and immediately release him, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT joint programme, and the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma) said today […]

State of the Word’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2014

Hate crime towards minorities and indigenous peoples is a daily reality across Asia but is often ignored by the governments of the region, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) warns in its annual report. This year’s flagship report, State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2014, is themed around ‘Freedom from Hate’ and shows that a worrying trend of vilification and hostility towards minorities and indigenous peoples has spread across the region.

A key aspect of hate crime and hate speech is its invisibility, especially when governments or societies overlook or tolerate entrenched patterns of discrimination against particular communities, says MRG. Across Asia, governments have failed to provide adequate protection to its minority and indigenous populations.

“Hate crimes have been able to flourish in Asia largely as a result of the complicity or support of politicians who stand to gain from the persecution of minorities,” says Mark Lattimer, MRG’s Executive Director. “Hate speech goes unchallenged and crimes are often under-acknowledged and under-reported, enabling perpetrators to operate with impunity.” […]

Burma: Killing of Mr. San Tun

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Burma […]

Burma: Open Letter to President Thein Sein on the Abolition of the Death Penalty

FIDH and its member organization, the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma), urge you to take bold steps to abolish the death penalty in Burma. Burma has not carried out an execution since 1988. As a result, it is among the world’s de facto abolitionist countries. However, during the Universal Periodic Review […]

Burma: A Aribute to Win Tin, Burma’s Voice of Reason

Paris, Bangkok: With the death of Win Tin, Burma loses its voice of reason and an extraordinary example of dedication, perseverance, and courage in the face of tyranny and oppression, FIDH and its member organization ALTSEAN-Burma said today. Veteran journalist, senior NLD leader, and Burma’s longest-held political prisoner, Win Tin died at Rangoon General Hospital on 21 April. He spent over 19 years in jail until his release from Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison on 23 September 2008, at the age of 78 […]

Largest-ever ASEAN Civil Society Conference Urges Regional Governments to Establish Human Rights Protection Mechanisms

Paris, Rangoon, 25 March 2014: ASEAN leaders must listen to the voices of civil society and grassroots organizations in the region, FIDH and its member organization ALTSEAN-Burma said at the conclusion of the 10th ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (ACSC/APF), which was held in Rangoon from 21 to 23 March 2014 […]