<p>As the situation in northern Rakhine State remains very tense, Myanmar authorities should ensure full and unfettered humanitarian access to displaced people, and conduct an independent and impartial investigation into recent communal violence, Amnesty International said in a statement today.</p>

<p>Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Dignity International, and Article 19 welcome the first official consultation between ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and civil society organisations (CSOs) on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD), which is due to take place in Kuala Lumpur on June 22, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.</p>

<p><em>Strong arms trade treaty needed as UN Security Council increasingly looks unfit for purpose</em></p> <p>The courage shown by protesters in the past 12 months has been matched by a failure of leadership that makes the UN Security Council seem tired, out of step and increasingly unfit for purpose, Amnesty International said as it launched its 50th global human rights report with a call for a strong global Arms Trade Treaty later this year.</p>

<p>Journalists working in traditional media outlets from Pakistan to Colombia, Mexico to Sudan plus most nations across Eastern Europe and the Middle East faced harassment, attacks, unfair imprisonment or even death just for doing their job.</p>

<p><em>There remain hundreds of prisoners the government denies are political.</em></p> <p>In Burma this week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged foreign countries to lift sanctions. At the same time, it was wise of him to keep pushing Burma to release its remaining political prisoners. The fate of these wrongfully imprisoned people, too often overlooked as we celebrate those who have been released, can tell us much about the Burmese government's intentions with regard to reform.</p>

<p>This is part two of my recent interview with leading Thai historian and academic, the former student leader, Dr. Thongchai Winichakul. Part one can be found <a href="http://bit.ly/HfEW2D">here</a>.</p>

<p>To anyone interested in Thailand&rsquo;s recent history and politics Dr. Thongchai Winichakul needs little introduction. A famed academic and historian, now resident in Singapore and the USA, Dr. Thongchai was a student leader during the terrible Thammasat Massacre of 1976 and spent time in prison following those events.</p>

<p><em>Amnesty International&rsquo;s written statement to the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council (27 February &ndash; 23 March 2012)<br /> </em></p>

<p>Thammasat University&rsquo;s decision to ban from its campus an academic group working on reform of the l&egrave;se majest&eacute; law constitutes a violation of the human rights principle of academic freedom and should be revoked, Amnesty International said today.</p>

<p>The South Korean authorities should immediately release a social media activist accused of helping &quot;the enemy&quot; for re-tweeting messages from North Korea&rsquo;s official government Twitter account, Amnesty International said today.</p>

<p>The Cambodian authorities must immediately release 24 women and six children detained yesterday while peacefully protesting their forced eviction.</p>

<p>A 20-year prison sentence for sending four text messages deemed offensive to the Queen of Thailand is a blow to freedom of expression, Amnesty International said today [23 Nov].</p>