Network Calls For Myanmar and Thailand Governments to Acknowledge Responsibility and Address Significant Problems in Dawei SEZ Before New Concessions are Granted

Ahead of the 25th ASEAN Summit, the Dawei Development Association (DDA) and affected communities call ontheMyanmar and Thailand governments to acknowledge their responsibilities to address the significant problems caused by the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ)and related projects;to guarantee transparency, disclosing any information relating to the project and to Italian-Thai Development Plc. […]

Key Messages to World Leaders, International Governments and the UN Concerns and Requests Related to Humanitarian Situation in Kachin and Northern Shan States, Myanmar

The 25th ASEAN Summit is commencing from 11 to 13 November 2014, hosted by Myanmar in its capital, NaypyiTaw. Most prominent world leaders are gathering and discussing important matters affecting the ASEAN countries and, inevitably, the interconnected global arena. On this occasion, Joint Strategy Team for Kachin Humanitarian Response would like to urge the world leaders, international governments and the UN to pay attention to the following concerns and take immediate actions to fulfill the requests. We firmly believe that the world leaders, international governments and the UN will strongly support the protection of dignity and rights of the internally displaced persons. […]

President Obama’s Burma Visit Offers Opportunity to Push for Improvement on Human Rights

NEW YORK – During his trip to Burma this week, President Obama should demand progress on a range of human rights issues, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today […]

Displaced Communities Await Political Dialogue in Myanmar

Bangkok/Yangon – As Myanmar’s government prepares to host the ASEAN Summit next week, conflict-affected communities are wondering if and how the peace process can get back on track. Negotiations for a nationwide ceasefire agreement are stumbling and national elections are due at the end of 2015. However, political dialogue to address ethnic conflict is essential to promote national reconciliation according to a new report from a consortium of relief and development agencies. […]

Fortify Rights Briefing and Recommendations: November 6, 2014

In ongoing fighting in Kachin State and northern Shan State, the Myanmar Army has targeted and attacked civilians and non-military targets, and killed civilians with impunity.

For instance, in October 2011, the Myanmar Army entered Hka Wan Bang village, Kachin State following nearby clashes with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Soldiers detained and tortured three local men suspected of involvement with the KIA, two of whom spoke to Fortify Rights. Myanmar Army soldiers detained “Doi Seng,” a 27-year-old Kachin man, along with two other Kachin men and then shot and killed an unarmed Shan civilian man on a motorbike […]

Burmese Government Urged to Investigate the Enforced Disappearance of Sumlut Roi Ja

On the third anniversary of the abduction of Sumlut Roi Ja, an ethnic Kachin woman from Burma, we, the undersigned organizations, call on the Burmese government to thoroughly investigate her enforced disappearance and hold the perpetrators accountable […]

Dispatches: A Scathing Verdict on Burma’s Stalled Reforms

A remarkable set of meetings took place this week in Rangoon, with more than 650 representatives from Burmese civil society groups gathering to discuss the status of the country’s reform process […]

Solidarity for Asian Peoples’ Advocacies (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN Calls on ASEAN to Uphold Human Rights and Investigate Cases of Enforced Disappearances

August 30 marked the International Day of the Victims of Enforced
Disappearance. In solidarity with the victims and families of those
who have been disappeared, the SAPA Working Group on ASEAN urges ASEAN governments to bring an immediate end to enforced disappearances and ensure justice for the victims and their families […]

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 […]

ASEAN Civil Society 2015 – ACSC/APF National Organizing Committee (NOC), Accelerating a People-Centered Region: Introspection of the Envisioned ASEAN Community in 2015

Kuala Lumpur – As Malaysia will be chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2015, the next ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples Forum (ACSC/APF)i Kuala Lumpur in March/April 2015, parallel to the ASEAN Summit. We are proud to say that it was the Malaysian government, under Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister, which initiated the first ASEAN civil society conference in 2005. Thus, the ACSC/APF 2015 marks a full circle since the meaningful initiative by Malaysia 10 years ago […]