Forwarded Statement

Pursuant to the following cases (bold items highlighted by Thai Netizen Network) 1. On 13 October 2009, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) brought Nat Sattayapornpisut, 27, who has been charged with lèse majesté, to the Court to request initial detention. The request to the Court revealed that DSI had earlier requested permission from the court […]

Reporters Without Borders was extremely concerned about two rulings clamping down on electronic media that represent a very serious backward step. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has ordered some radio stations not to broadcast BBC Urdu-language news programmes, while Parliament is preparing to ratify drastic censorship dating from the era of General Pervez Musharraf. […]

A situation akin to 1971 is brewing in Balochistan. Radical nationalists advocating a separate state of Balochistan are steadily gaining popularity at the expense of those who continue to look for a solution within the federal framework. The reasons for this surge in separatism are quite apparent. The people of Balochistan have a long list […]

The device known as GT200 has been used by the Thai military to detect explosive materials and has drawn greater controversy with time as serious doubts of its effectiveness amount among human rights organizations, civil society, and the scientific community. GT200 is widely used by the Thai Army throughout the southern border provinces as an […]

Fiji falls furthest, but big advance by Maldives Check your country ranking on: http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html Political power grabs dealt press freedom a great disservice again this year. A military coup caused Fiji (152nd) to fall 73 places. Soldiers moved into Fijian news rooms for several weeks and censored articles before they were published, while foreign journalists were […]

Islamabad/Brussels, 21 October 2009: The military operation in South Waziristan is unlikely to succeed in curbing the spread of religious militancy in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), unless the Pakistan government implements political reforms in that part of the country. Pakistan: Countering Militancy in FATA*, the latest policy report from the International Crisis Group, […]

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM RANKING ASIA-PACIFIC Authoritarianism prevents press freedom progress in much of Asia Fiji falls furthest, but big advance by Maldives Check your country ranking on: http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html Political power grabs dealt press freedom a great disservice again this year. A military coup caused Fiji (152nd) to fall 73 places. Soldiers moved into Fijian news rooms […]

October 1, 2009 – The Lee Myeong-bak administration has begun yet another concentrated crackdown against undocumented migrant workers, which is supposed to go on from October until November. In the past we have seen clearly just how filled with death and injury, violence and human rights abuses these ‘concentrated crackdowns’ are. Migrant workers have fallen […]

A group of representatives from caste-affected communities in Asia recently gave me a piece of brick from the wall of a torn-down latrine. The brick symbolized the global struggle against the degrading practice of making members of a “lower caste” clean public toilets with their bare hands. This practice, which persists in many places despite […]

Today (7th October, 2009) is World Day for Decent Work. On behalf of a network of labour organisations, and in the name of the Working Group to Promote Ratification of ILO C.87 and C.98 (consisting of Labour Congresses, Labour Federations, Area Based Labour Unions, the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation […]

Implementing Islamic Law (Syariat Islam) is not a new thing for the Aceh people. A long time ago before Aceh was given the privilege to implement the law of Islam, the people in Aceh adopted Islamic values in their daily lives. Therefore, when the government of Aceh made a positive law based on law of […]

Extra-judicial killings are on the rise; Supreme Court should ensure human rights and a fair trial of the accused in BDR mutiny case; Concern over the deaths of children after consuming adulterated medicine; Crisis in the ready-made garment sector; Illegal ‘fatwa’ & violence against women continues 1. Odhikar is committed to uphold the civil, political, […]

Reporters Without Borders is shocked and saddened to learn that Janullah Hashimzada, an Afghan journalist based in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, was killed today in an armed attack on the minibus in which he was travelling near the town of Jamrud in the northwestern Khyber Agency. “We offer our condolences to Janullah Hashimzada’s family […]

The recent attacks on Christian communities in the village of Korian in the Toba Tek Singh District of the state of Punjab on July 30 and in nearby Gojra on August 1 are of grave concern to Interfaith Cooperation Forum (ICF), a regional network of young Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist activists, as they once […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: Serious concerns over mass graves, extrajudicial killings, IDPs’ plight in Swat; HRCP A fact-finding mission […]

As Pakistan marks Minorities Day, Amnesty International calls on the government to take meaningful action to protect religious minorities which have increasingly been the target of religiously-motivated attacks and persecution. The rise in attacks against religious minorities comes against a backdrop – and in tandem – with rising religious extremism in the country. Amnesty International […]

Reporters Without Borders condemns the use of physical violence by lawyers against journalists that took place outside a on 6 August in which lawyers were being tried for an earlier case of violence against the press. “These attacks are unacceptable from very standpoint,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Firstly, they are clearly reprisals against journalists who […]

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka out rightly condemn the Sri Lankan government’s decision not to allow independent media representatives to cover the first local elections in two main northern cities, Jaffna and Vavunia – which will be the first since 1998. The head of the government security information centre said on Monday the 3rd, […]

Some multinational companies in Egypt violate workers’ rights after the industrial areas law has been issued to relieve industrial foundations from their legal obligations related to work organization, which has deprived workers in these areas from their rights to safe and decent work. These companies and businessmen don’t care about workers’ rights, as workers are […]

The organizations of migrant workers and advocates for the rights and wellbeing of migrants around the world, urge the Israeli government to reverse its decision to order another massive crackdown on undocumented migrant workers including the deportation of entire families which is set to officially start on August 1st 2009. Even before the said date, […]