Over 3,000 people from the ASEAN region gathered together from March 21–23 for the ASEAN Civil Society Conference and ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (ACSC/APF). The conference in Yangon was the largest ACSC/APF event since its inception in 2005, as well as the largest of its kind in Myanmar’s recent history.
Entitled “Advancing ASEAN People’s Solidarity Toward Sustainable Peace, Development, Justice and Democratization,” the conference included plenaries and 35 workshops under four clusters: Peace, Development, Justice and Human Rights, and Democratization.
Continue reading “Participants at APF in Yangon speak out for Sombath”
States and non-state actors continue to commit violations with impunity, including police brutality, torture and enforced disappearances, against civil society activists. For example, the lack of immediate and transparent investigation into the case of Sombath Somphone by ASEAN governments, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), or any other human rights mechanisms in the region. Human rights defenders continue to be persecuted under oppressive laws, including laws against activities as “injuring the national unity”, “propaganda against the State“, “abusing democratic freedoms” and sedition laws, which deny the people safe and constructive political space.
