Former ASEAN Leaders Issue Letter on Myanmar Intolerance

Kuala Lumpur, Wednesday: Former ASEAN leaders have sent a joint letter to their current ASEAN colleagues, calling for stepped up engagement to address rising intolerance in Myanmar, including proposed discriminatory legislation […]

Open Letter to ASEAN Heads of State

We write as Members of Parliament representing several ASEAN nations to express our grave concern about the plight of Rohingya Muslims, the high risk of atrocities in Myanmar, and the dangers these crises represent, not only for Myanmar, but for the entire ASEAN region […]

The Rohingya Crisis and the Risk of Atrocities in Myanmar: An ASEAN Challenge and Call to Action

Executive Summary

The longstanding persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar has led to the highest outflow of asylum seekers by sea since the U.S. war in Vietnam. Human rights violations against Rohingya have resulted in a regional human trafficking epidemic, and there have been further abuses against Rohingya upon their arrival in other Southeast Asian countries […]

Parliamentarians Call on ASEAN Leaders to Address the Rohingya Crisis and the Escalating Risk of Atrocity Crimes in Myanmar

KUALA LUMPUR — ASEAN leaders must urgently respond to the escalating crisis situation for Rohingya Muslims and other vulnerable minorities in Myanmar, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today in a public call on regional governments on the eve of the 26th ASEAN Summit […]

ASEAN Urged to Strengthen Civil Society’s Role in Regional Peace and Human Security

‘As the ASEAN heads towards developing its Post-2015 vision of a people-centered and peaceful ASEAN, key members of civil society organizations (CSO) see the crucial task for the regional bloc to strengthen the role of the CSOs in addressing the issues of regional peace and human security that continue to challenge the entire regional community.’ […]

Statement: Asean Needs to Adress Rising Intolerance in Myanmar

HUMANiTi Malaysia, in partnership with the OIC, KAICIID and ALTSEAN-Burma,convened a roundtable ‘Tolerance in a People-Centred ASEAN’ on 6-7 April 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event brought together diverse stakeholders from the ASEAN region, including representatives of more than 20 national, regional and international non- governmental organisations, to discuss key trends, issues of concern and share approaches to promote tolerance in ASEAN […]

Reclaiming the ASEAN Community for The People – CSO Statement

1. PREAMBLE

1.1 This ASEAN Civil Society Conference and ASEAN People’s Forum marks the 10th anniversary since the first regional gathering of civil society in Malaysia. We, the civil society in Southeast Asia[1], welcome the commitment of ASEAN in the years since to establish a people-centric ASEAN and a peaceful, prosperous community. With deep regret and concern, the people’s recommendations submitted to ASEAN member states since 2005 have been neither implemented nor adopted in any meaningful way […]

Myanmar’s Proposed Race and Religion Laws are Discriminatory and should be Scrapped

BANGKOK — Southeast Asian lawmakers today called on Myanmar to scrap a package of discriminatory laws to be submitted for review by the parliament, saying they violate international human rights laws and threaten to destabilize the county in its transition to democracy. […]

Launch of International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief

OSLO — APHR members joined together with fellow parliamentarians from across the world in Oslo this weekend to launch the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, tasked with working towards eradicating belief-based persecution across the globe. […]

Ethnic Cleansing of the Rohingya: Obama’s Duty is ASEAN’s Shame

KUALA LUMPUR — With Barack Obama gracing the halls of Naypyidaw this week, the world has quite rightly been calling loudly for the President of the United States of America to raise concerns regarding the backslide in human rights and democracy in Myanmar, not least of which being the institutionalized persecution and ethnic cleansing of the country’s Rohingya minority. […]