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Vietnamese dissident jailed for 7 years on espionage charges
31-Dec-2003
Since 2001, at least 10 people have been arrested for exchanging e-mails with overseas Vietnamese, posting articles critical of the government on the Internet and expressing dissent

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: Overconfidence can be lethal in foreign affairs
08-Jan-2004
Gone is the year of extravaganzas that saw Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra playing the fiddle on the roof almost every night, as a series of summits and regional initiatives kept him basking in the limelight.

ASEAN Dodging the Tough Issues, says Downer
25-Jul-2001
Australia has risked a backlash from the Association of South-East Asian Nations by attacking the effectiveness of the forum on the eve of its key annual meeting of foreign ministers.

ACEH: Japanese Citizens' Statement on Collapse of Peace Talk
20-Jun-2003
We, 16 NGOs in Japan, have just submitted the following statement to the ministry of foreign affairs of Japan on 16 June.

VIETNAM: 13 years in prison for democracy article on website
20-Jun-2003
Reporters Without Borders voiced outage at the action of a Hanoi court today in convicting a cyber-dissident of "spying"² and sentencing him to 13 years in prison followed by three years of house arrest.

ICC:US-Thai immunity pact 'flouts sovereignty'
05-Jun-2003
The USA has opposed the international criminal court [ICC], fearing it will be used to prosecute members of its military, civilian contractors and former officials

S’pore-M’sia tensions more fundamental than water
05-Aug-2003
My goodness! Someone finally has the courage to tell it like it is (‘S’pore - a ‘nation of shopkeepers’). Now stand by for the salvoes and rebuttals from the Singaporeans.

Indonesia-Singapore gap more than just numbers
15-Jul-2003
INDONESIAN Industry and Trade Minister Rini M S Soewandi has opened up a Pandora's box with Singapore, the country's sixth-largest trading partner.

Indonesia: New Prisoners of Conscience in the Post-Suharto Era
31-Jul-2003
In separate reports,Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called for the release of all prisoners of conscience in Indonesia and for the repeal of legislation used to prosecute and imprison activists engaged in peaceful political _expression.

THE TRIAL OF IRENE FERNANDEZ
12-Oct-2003
THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT HAS COME - fast-tracking the seven year trial. Irene Fernandez, Director of Tenaganita has been going through a trial for the last seven and half years for exposing the dehumanised conditions in Immigration detention camps.

Malaysia: Deporting Asylum Seekers
06-Sep-2003
Amnesty International is gravely concerned for the safety of more than 200 asylum seekers from the war-torn Indonesian Province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) who have been detained since their arrests on 19 and 26 August 2003.

Viet Nam: Prisoners of conscience
06-Sep-2003
Amnesty International today wrote to the Vietnamese government expressing its concerns about prisoners of conscience Nguyen Thi Hoa, Nguyen Vu Viet and Nguyen Truc Cuong.

Myanmar's human rights situation has regressed
23-Nov-2003
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar said today that when he compared the observations he made in March with those he noted in November, he saw "significant setbacks" in the country's human rights situation.

M’sia and S’pore to settle dispute via independent experts
23-Nov-2003
On Oct 8, the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea told Malaysia and Singapore to resolve dispute themselves, with the help of experts. Both countries were told to pay legal costs.

South Korea: Legless trade unionist jailed
26-Oct-2003
Eight years ago, Lee Sung Woo lost both his legs and an arm due to a tragic accident at work. Today, he is a the president of his local trade union in Daejeon, South Korea.

Burma: UN envoy's visit heralds nearing of judgement day
09-Nov-2003
By returning to Burma this week, a UN human rights envoy has set the stage for a political drama that could end up putting the strongest external pressure so far on Rangoon's military government.

VIETNAM: Commute Death Sentence for 7 prisoners
09-Nov-2003
7 prisoners on death row in Vietnam have had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment by the president, Tran Duc Luong.

Malaysia: Shame on you
22-Feb-2004
The decision was: there are no special circumstances for this court to grant bail and therefore the application is dismissed. That was it. Not a single ground mentioned orally in court.

Philippines - executions suspended
22-Feb-2004
The Supreme Court suspended the executions of Roberto Lara and Roderick Licayan on 19 February, and granted the men a retrial.

Vietnam: Child Prostitution
09-Dec-2003
Hello and welcome to Inside Vietnam, an RSI series looking at some of the social problems facing Vietnam today. In this program, the focus is on Child Prostitution inside Vietnam, I’m Ariel Wee.

Cambodian unionist killed
01-Feb-2004
Thousands of mourners turned out Sunday [25 Jan 2004] for the funeral of Chea Vichea, who was both the leader of Cambodia's textile workers and a prominent political foe of the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. He was only 36 years old.

Malaysia: Two cops charged with raping a 13 year old to get back job
01-Feb-2004
The two cops charged with raping a 13-year-old girl inside a Sabah detention centre - during the controversial mass expulsion of illegal migrants in 2002 - were yesterday acquitted by the Sessions Court in Kota Kinabalu without even their defence being called.

MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE TIES
06-Mar-2004
THE EMERGENCE OF Temasek Holdings, the embodiment of Singapore Inc., as a strategic stakeholder in Malaysia's largest listed company could mark a watershed in often-strained relations between the neighbours.

Hun Sen’s Nephew Convicted of Unintentional Murder
16-Mar-2004
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew was found guilty today of unintentional murder for fatally shooting two people following a car race on the streets of the Cambodian capital last October, a judge said.

Thailand: End Crackdown on Burmese Fleeing Abuses
16-Mar-2004
Thailand must end its crackdown on Burmese fleeing rights abuses in their military-ruled homeland, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on 25 February 2004.

Malaysia: Stop Deportations of Acehnese Refugees
09-Apr-2004
The Malaysian government is forcibly returning refugees from the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh back to Indonesia, where their safety is at risk, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today [1 April 2004].

Thailand - Disappearance of Human Rights Lawyer
09-Apr-2004
In a press release, the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers of the ICJ urged the Thai Government to conduct an urgent investigation into the disappearance of a well-known human rights lawyer.

Australia 'bullying' East Timor over oil revenue
20-Apr-2004
The Australian government was today accused of bullying impoverished East Timor, as the two countries began talks to establish a permanent maritime boundary in the oil-rich Timor Sea.

Thailand: Activists speak out over death
29-Jun-2004
Charoeon Wat-aksorn, a environmental activist and leader of Bonok villagers, was shot on 22 June 2004, on his way home from testifying to a parliamentary anti-corruption committee.

Indonesia says EU to blame if Asia-Europe summit collapses over Myanmar
30-Jun-2004
The European Union would be to blame if a scheduled summit with East Asian countries collapsed over concerns about the rule of Myanmar's military junta, a senior Indonesian diplomat said Monday.

China:Singapore could ruin bilateral ties
19-Jul-2004
There is an old saying, "let sleeping dogs lie." Red Faced Singapore government officials would do well to heed these words. Singapore's next Prime Minister seemed to have gone out of his way to awake a sleeping giant. And there will be repersussions from such diplomatic bungles.

EU allows Asia summit to go ahead
12-Sep-2004
European Union foreign ministers have reached an agreement that will allow next month's summit with Asian countries to go ahead as planned.

Mass Killings: At least 84 death in Thailand
27-Oct-2004
As details emerge about what happened in Narathiwat province of southern Thailand this October 25, extremely serious questions must now be asked. The first key question is how is it possible that so many persons could have died from suffocation in army vehicles? According to Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, deputy director of the Forensic Science Institute, most of the 78 persons who died were packed into the front of army trucks and had no serious injuries.

Asian summit moves to create single market
01-Dec-2004
VIENTIANE : Southeast Asian countries moved a step closer to forging their own European-style single market, and also signed deals with China towards creating the world's largest free-trade area by 2010.

Behind the Taiwan-Singapore spat
10-Oct-2004
Taiwan's Foreign Minister Mark Chen, speaking to a pro-Taiwan independence group from the central city of Taichung this week, lashed out at Singapore's denunciation of what it interprets as Taiwan's moves toward independence.

Peace laureate's detention tests the world
16-Oct-2004
Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, won 82 percent of the seats in Myanmar's 1990 election. The generals in power refuse to honor the express wishes of a nation.

Thai Government To Deport Pregnant Foreign Workers
27-Dec-2004
December 2004, more then 9,300 pregnant migrant women from Burma, Cambodia and Laos face deportation. Pregnancy has become a crime and is forcing migrant women to abort their babies.

ILO losing patience with Myanmar's forced labour
03-Apr-2005
Forced or compulsory labour has been used in different countries at different times, especially in modern or early modern history. It took various forms and was used for different purposes.

112th Inter-Parliamentary Union conference opens in Manila
04-Apr-2005
Myanmar is under fire from its neighbors for various issues, including the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, andthe failure to draft a Constitution on parliamentary democracy.

The Last Nail in the Coffin of Constructive Engagement
24-Jun-2005
ASEAN core leaders finally discovered that they will lose formidable trading partners of the Western countries. Parliamentary Committee on Burma has been formed in the core ASEAN countries of Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and S'pore have joined the bandwagon.

THAILAND: Reforms on Libel Laws
03-Feb-2005
Thai legal and media experts working to hammer out common reform package on libel laws.

Myanmar reopens democracy talks
16-Feb-2005
Military-ruled Myanmar's constitution-drafting National Convention is restarting after a monsoon break during which human rights and democracy groups say its shaky credibility has been eroded further.

AICHR: Selecting the Singapore representative
17-Sep-2009
The Singapore Working Group on ASEAN (SWGA), a civil society group led by Think Centre, make recommendations on the national process of selecting the representative for the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.

Asean leaders and civil society groups: Gap Widens
13-Oct-2009
At the first interface in February 2009, the CSO called on the Asean leaders to treat them as partners and institutionalise the interface to ensure the full implementation of the Asean Charter and people-oriented community

ASEAN Human Rights Body Launched Amid Controversy
23-Oct-2009
At 11.30 pm on Thursday night, Thai foreign ministry officials informed the delegates–– elected at a meeting of the Asean People's Forum over Oct. 18-20––that the governments of Burma, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines had vetoed the chosen NGO representatives.

Five CSO Reps rejected from interface with ASEAN leaders
25-Oct-2009
ASEAN civil society groups feel strongly that the rejection of their democratically-selected representatives is a rejection of both civil society and the democratic process. CSO Reps were selected to meet the ASEAN leaders from over 500 CSO representatives, during the 3-day APF-ACSC, 18-20 October 2009.

Rafendi Djamin: Indonesian member of the AICHR
26-Oct-2009
This commission belongs to all nations of ASEAN; it belongs to the people. But if governments show disrespect that affects the dignity and authority and the functioning of this commission, then it will backfire on those who are doing it.

Thailand: Temporary closure of two websites critical of the government
24-Jun-2005
Thailand's cyber policing agency, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT), has ordered a temporary closure of two websites whose contents the ministry deemed highly critical of the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Remember how you trampled on human rights Tun Mahathir?
09-Sep-2005
Tun Dr Mahathir's response to the protest by some 30 NGOs that he should not have been invited by Suhakam to speak on human rights is pathetic. He reportedly asked, “Are they denying me my human rights?”

ASEAN should integrate. How?
30-Sep-2005
Within ASEAN there are wide gaps in economic development, cultural diversity and differing political systems. How could ASEAN move towards becoming a regional integrated community? There are no regional human rights framework or commission.

TOWARDS THE HARMONY, DYNAMISM AND INTEGRATION OF ASEAN
30-Sep-2005
The Vientiane, Joint Communique of the 38th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting calls for the regional integration of ASEAN, the establishment of the ASEAN Charter, and to strengthen the promotion of human rights.

S'pore courts friends, wins enemies
09-Apr-2006
Singapore's hard-nosed brand of free-wheeling, free-market capitalism, and what critics see as a concomitant lack of concern for democratic rights and civil liberties, has caused controversy before.

Singapore Inc on the nose
09-Apr-2006
Singapore's Temasek is rich, powerful and on the prowl. But it didn't count on the latest backlash from Thailand, Eric Ellis reports.

UN Envoy Criticizes Rainsy Verdict
30-Dec-2005
Space for political discourse and public debate is being increasingly challenged, including through the courts. This deeply worrying trend is a serious threat to freedom of expression and political pluralism in Cambodia.

Asean Must Confront Rights Issue
30-Dec-2005
Human rights issues are “essential features of human development” and have been the main agenda of all freedom fighters in the region. We must never be deluded by some of these demagogues who believe that issues of freedom and democracy are somehow alien to our culture.

Maybe It’s the Same Old Asean
25-Jan-2006
On the surface, it seems Asean has adopted a tougher policy towards fellow member Burma. But the grouping’s history, and the West’s new pressure for change in Rangoon, suggest otherwise.

Civil society and ASEAN: The ASEAN Charter
31-Jul-2006
The task of pursuing the ASEAN ideal of ONE VISION, ONE IDENTITY and ONE COMMUNITY will eventually pass on and fall upon the shoulders of the next generation. We should always keep in mind that we are crafting an ASEAN Charter not so much for our generation as for the next

Asean Works On Catalysts For Human Rights Mechanism
31-Jul-2006
The Vientiane Action Programme adopted in 2004 enumerated programmes on human rights, including the commission on women and children and the elaboration of an Asean instrument on the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers.

Placing Human Rights at the Forefront of ASEAN Chair
07-Jan-2011
Having branded as a democratic country with respect for human rights within national and international communities, there is a high expectation on Indonesia towards its Chairmanship of ASEAN this year.

CHALLENGES 2007: SE ASIA TORN BETWEEN DEMOCRACY, REPRESSION
26-Dec-2006
Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia end 2006 with a growing list of questions about their claims to be functioning democracies.

Making ASEAN relevant
15-Jan-2007
Over the weekend (January 13 and 14, 2007) the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held its 12th Summit in Cebu City, after a controversial postponement in December last year.

Limited time to salvage the Asean Charter
11-Jun-2007
The Asean Charter has failed to take into account the aspirations of all Asean citizens after three months of drafting.

Asean drafters meet civil society groups
08-Apr-2007
The drafting of the Asean charter kicked off this week following the Asean CSO dialogue. ASEAN leaders will sign the Charter at the 19 to 21 November summit in Singapore.

Southeast Asian Civil Society and the ASEAN Charter: The Way Forward
08-Apr-2007
ASEAN is well-known for its elitist tendencies, and for how few of its policies correspond to the needs of Southeast Asian people. It could also be argued that ASEAN has become this way due to the lack of pressure from civil society groups on the Association.

New Asean charter: Avoiding 'illiberal' pitfalls is key
10-Apr-2007
To ensure that there is sufficient input from the CSOs, Asean members that respect non-government actors are conducting their own brainstorming sessions to come up with more initiatives as part of their nation's input.

ASEAN Charter and Human Rights Body
22-Nov-2008
KUALA LUMPUR: A dialogue session was held with Prof Kevin Boyle on regional human rights mechanisms on 11 November 2008. It was jointly organized by Suaram and the Bar Council Human Rights Committee.

ASEAN human rights body still being fine-tuned
16-Dec-2008
On the mandate and functions of the ASEAN Human Rights body, report say many support the idea that functions of the body must include assisting national efforts on matters related to human rights.

Asean is working to promote and protect human rights
27-Dec-2008
THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations has attracted a great deal of public attention with its new commitment to enhance regional cooperation on human rights with the establishment of an Asean human rights body. These articles are intended to provide some background information that could enable interested readers to develop a better understanding of this significant initiative. A good starting point is in 1993.

Asean charter is a new commitment to rights
27-Dec-2008
The Asean Charter was signed by the 10 heads of state/government during the 13th Asean Summit in Singapore in November 2007. The Charter has now been fully ratified by all Asean member states and entered into force on 15 December 2008.

THE ASEAN CHARTER: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
12-Aug-2007
The ASEAN Charter will set the framework and lay the legal foundation for ASEAN to restructure its existing mechanisms. The Charter is expected to be completed in time for the 13th ASEAN Summit in November 2007 in Singapore.

Why is draft of ASEAN charter being kept from public?
08-Nov-2007
WHY is a document like the proposed charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) being kept from the citizens of the countries that consist the regional organization?

Analysis of the ASEAN Charter
18-Nov-2007
The ASEAN Charter is a disappointment. Its neither daring nor visionary. The people are not involved in the so-called "people-centre ASEAN Charter". Are the Asean governments there to serve the needs and interests of people?

BLOODY HANDS ON CHARTER, SHAME!
20-Nov-2007
ASEAN can do much more to put pressure on the Burmese military junta, but the final draft of the Charter lacks the mechanisms to do so!

THE FAILURE OF ASEAN WAY: WASHING OFF THE BLOODY HANDS OFF BURMA
20-Nov-2007
ASEAN is shameful because it washes its hands off Burma, and passed on the burden of dealing with Burma to the UN. If ASEAN governments act against the wishes of the people, refusing to listen to the voices of the people, will ASEAN be legitimate in the eyes of the people?

ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint Only for the ASEAN Elites
21-Nov-2007
Will ASEAN economic intergration lead to harmonizing of the labour laws to International Core Labour Standards to deny the exploitation of workers especially migrant workers? Will it provide for decent working and living conditions?

ASEAN to create toothless human rights body
22-Nov-2007
Its shameful and disgraceful ASEAN plans to create a toothless body with no power to prevent and stop any gross human rights violations of the people. Its an instrument to further prolong the suffering of the victims of human rights violations with no remedies in sight!

Creating ASEAN rights body not easy: Singapore
13-Jul-2008
Rights activists fear ASEAN could end up establishing a toothless mechanism.

Asean must move on Human Rights
20-Jul-2008
The Asean human rights body now in its formative stages should not be merely a window dressing mechanism; it should be able to carry out significant monitoring, investigation, and protection work, and should be empowered to conduct fact-finding missions and access human rights victims.

CSO demand ASEAN to set up ASEAN Convention on Human Rights
16-Aug-2008
7 August 2008, Jakarta, sixty-nine civil society organizations representing human rights, women, children, migrant workers and indigenous rights movement in the region end the three-day consultation and agree to call for ASEAN to create a human rights mechanism that can fully promote, protect and fulfill human rights.

Toothless: ASEAN has no provision to expel Myanmar
04-Jun-2009
ASEAN issued a rare statement expressing its grave concern over the move by the country's military junta to try Suu Kyi, and reminded the Myanmar government that ASEAN leaders had called for her immediate release.

ASEAN should establish a human rights body that is not below international standards
20-Jun-2009
NGOs are not rejecting ASEAN’s plan to promote human rights but stressed that the AHRB should be empowered to carry out protection work to address human rights violations in the region.

200 civil societies demand for an ASEAN human rights body with protection mandates
23-Jun-2009
Without the protection mandate and the independent experts, the ASEAN human rights body will be a toothless tiger. ASEAN peoples deserve a better regional human rights mechanism.

ASEAN Human Rights Body Dismissed as Toothless
28-Jun-2009
Most troubling for the activists is the lack of power for this regional entity to investigate rights violations among member countries and the absence of independent human rights experts to be on the body. Only officials are involved in the drafting process that lacks legitimacy and lacks people’s participation.

CSO pressure forcing AHRB into a 'make or break' period
29-Jun-2009
The Asean-based civil society organisations (CSO) are working day and night urging the drafters to include provisions to protect the human rights of 575 million Asean citizens.

U.N rights chief disappointed on new ASEAN body
22-Jul-2009
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday welcomed the endorsement by ASEAN Foreign Ministers of the terms of reference for the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights but at the same time voiced regret the new commission had no clear mandate to protect victims of abuses in the region.

Asean offers to help Burma
25-Jul-2009
'Promote democracy, rights, well-being'

ASEAN People's Centre launched in Jakarta to advance civil society advocacy
22-Jan-2009
The ASEAN People's Centre (APC)to promote engagement between civil society and governments was launched by Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacy (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN.

ASEAN Must Ensure Independence and Effectiveness of the body
03-Mar-2009
Civil society welcomes the commitment made by the ASEAN during its 14th Summit in Hua Hin to establish an ASEAN human rights body that is credible and realistic.

ASEAN Dialogue: Heads of Government and Civil Society
07-Mar-2009
The 30-minute dialogue between Asean leaders and representatives of Asean civil groups. The meeting included a briefing from representatives of civil groups followed by an informal exchange between the two.

Advancing a Peoples’ ASEAN
09-Mar-2009
Advancing a Peoples’ ASEAN, the Thai ACSC's three-day deliberations underscored challenges ASEAN must focus on for the association to be truly significant, meaningful and effective. This statement was deliver to the ASEAN leader at the first civil Society interface at ASEAN Summit, 28 Feb 2009, Hua Hin.

Indonesia Pushing to Steer the Course In Asean Single Market Transformation
07-Mar-2011
The 10 Asean countries are aspiring to build a single market and production base in a bid to build a highly competitive economic region.

Vietnam takes the helm
20-Feb-2010
Asean has committed to building a people-centred community. Vietnam will work with other members on appropriate modalities for communication and engagement with the civil society.