<p>International human rights organisations are calling on the Government of Thailand to observe international human rights laws and standards ahead of a planned protest expected to attract tens of thousands to Bangkok this weekend.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://edit.hrw.org/asia/myanmar-burma&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599125955550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGbT1Kpp_30zhnvOCHOtpNTq8IFog" href="https://edit.hrw.org/asia/myanmar-burma" target="_blank">Myanmar</a>&nbsp;authorities should immediately drop the charge against the free-speech activist and poet Maung Saungkha, seven international human rights organizations said today (2 September).</p>

<p>The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) strongly condemns the killing of 28-year-old journalist Shantanu Bhowmik on 21 September 2017. At the time of his murder, he was working for Din Raat, a local television channel in Tripura. He was covering a protest and roadblock by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) in Mandai village near Agartala in West Tripura.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Fortify Rights, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), and Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), acting as international observers of the Bersih 5 rallies and related events, are calling on the Malaysian authorities to drop all charges against the Bersih organizers and activists. The authorities should return all items confiscated from the Bersih offices and stop making further arbitrary arrests in connection with these events.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is deeply saddened by the death of Nam-gi Baek, a 70-year old activist farmer. Baek had been unconscious after being hit by a police water cannon during a peaceful protest in Seoul on 14 November 2015. FORUM-ASIA strongly condemns the failure of the Government of South Korea to conduct a thorough, impartial, and independent investigation into the excessive use of force by the police, especially the lethal use of a water cannon.</p>

<p>After its international accreditation was degraded from A to B, Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) faces another round of criticism from an Asian civil society network on human rights over its inaction and partiality.</p> <p>The Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) on 29 August 2016 issued a statement criticising the NHRC, saying that the NHRC is inactive and partisan. &nbsp;</p>

<p>ARTICLE 19, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), and Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister of Cambodia to protest the recent arrest of Mam Sonando, the director of Beehive Radio, a Cambodian independent radio station.</p>

<p>(Bangkok, 3 February 2010) The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a membership-based organisation representing 46 human rights NGOs across Asia, expresses its grave concern over the present political repression and human rights abuse in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the presidential elections. All political actors in the country must take immediate steps to ensure due process and respect for democratic norms and human rights in Sri Lanka.</p>