FORUM-ASIA

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
🌏 86 member organisations in 23 countries
📢 Asian solidarity and human rights for all

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

📢[CONSULTANCY OPPORTUNITY]📢

FORUM-ASIA is looking for a trauma-responsive consultant for a pilot project that aims to challenge dominant false narratives about #HumanRightsDefenders (HRDs).

The consultant is expected to:
✅ Design surveys, interviews, and other primary data collection methodologies
✅ Lead primary and secondary data collection and analysis
✅ Develop a burnout and risk audit of the HRDs’ ecosystem
✅ Produce knowledge and advocacy outputs based on the research conducted

Consultancy duration: 1 Aug - 31 Oct 2026
Consultancy fee: Total of USD 7,000

⚠️Application deadline: 24 June 2026, midnight Bangkok time (UTC+7)

Complete job description, ToR, & application portal here: https://t.co/NjdnsgqMrb

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

🚨 Across Asia, communities speaking out about the impacts of #EnergyTransition projects face growing #reprisals.

Our new report, "Financing the Transition, Silencing Defenders," analyzes 12 case studies & calls on #DevelopmentBanks to ensure affected communities can safely speak out.

The report was published in June 2026 by the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, together with its members and partners Aksi! for Gender, Social and Ecological Justice, Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders, Darya-e Swat Bachau Tehreek, FORUM-ASIA, GAIA Asia Pacific, International Accountability Project, Jalaur River for the People’s Movement, NGO Forum on ADB, People Ecology Network, and Rivers & Rights.

🔗 Download here: https://t.co/ngK4h3YJ7n

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

✅[NEW PUBLICATION]

A five-part context mapping series led by the Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC), with support from FORUM-ASIA, sheds light on the lived realities of Harawa-Charawa communities in the Dhanauji Rural Municipality of #Nepal.

Focusing on five vulnerable communities, the research explores land rights, livelihoods, education, and economic access.

🔗Download the reports here: https://t.co/0srDg3brns

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

⏰ 🗓️ EVENT HAPPENING on 10 June 2026, Wednesday, 9am-11:50am at the University of the Philippines campus in Bonifacio Global City

"REIMAGINING THE DIGITAL FRONTIERS: Co-creating Movement Infrastructure and
Common Resources"

FORUM-ASIA will be among the panelists. Join our meaningful discussions on #DigitalRights!

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

#CivicSpace in #Laos is rated as "closed" by the CIVICUS Monitor @CIVICUSalliance.

In Laos, "the fundamental freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly remain severely restricted while impunity persists in cases of enforced disappearance, attacks and extrajudicial killings of human rights defenders and activists."

https://t.co/bkB3S9QNy4

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

WATCH: What role does the #youth play in #SocialMovements?

FORUM-ASIA asked #HumanRightsDefenders from the #Philippines regarding the many contributions young activists make in supporting advocacies, sparking meaningful change, and defending the rights of all. 💡

Here's what they have to say:

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

🚨 On 12 March 2026, Indonesian human rights defender #AndrieYunus was subjected to an acid attack after he recorded a podcast regarding the militarization of civil and political affairs in #Indonesia.

Up to this day, #justice and #accountability are yet to be served.

📢 FORUM-ASIA echoes the calls made by UN human rights experts to thoroughly investigate and prosecute all those behind the attack. The case should be transferred to the civilian justice system.

🔗 READ IN FULL: https://t.co/SYZhmklnen

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

5 June is #WorldEnvironmentDay 💚🌿🌳

We celebrate and commemorate the courageous efforts of #EnvironmentalHumanRghtsDefenders in making sure that everyone can access their right to a safe, healthy, and sustainable environment.

Land, indigenous, community-based, and environmental defenders are among the most targeted groups of human rights defenders in Asia.

For simply protecting both people and planet, they face enormous reprisals. This should stop. Defending the environment is not a crime.

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

⚠️ UPCOMING EVENT: 9 June 2026

We're launching a new report, “Financing the Transition, Silencing Defenders,” that analyzes 12 cases from seven Asian countries, documenting the type of reprisals faced by communities and defenders, their impacts, and who is behind.

The report, focused on the responsibility of #DevelopmentBanks that are funding these projects, presents some practical recommendations on how to ensure affected communities can participate safely and meaningfully in decisions that affect them.

The report is produced by the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, together with its members and partners Aksi! for Gender, Social and Ecological Justice, Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders, Darya-e Swat Bachau Tehreek, FORUM-ASIA, GAIA Asia Pacific, International Accountability Project, Jalaur River for the People’s Movement, NGO Forum on ADB, People Ecology Network, and Rivers & Rights.

🔗 Join us online, see details below!

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

UN experts urged a public civilian trial in the acid attack case against Indonesian human rights defender #AndrieYunus, warning that military proceedings risk undermining accountability, independence, & transparency.

https://t.co/0yGkZ9DVra

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

Watch our EXPLAINER on the proposed #HRD (human rights defenders) Bill in the #Philippines.

And learn why there is need for a law to protect the rights of HRDs.

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

.@forum_asia is among the organizations supporting this call to immediately release the #MotherNatureCambodia5 environmental defenders.

[Phil Robertson @Reaproy]

Five leading Mother Nature Cambodia activists are unjustly imprisoned in #Cambodia! 70 international and Cambodian NGOs are calling today on PM @Dr_Hunmanet_PM to immediately release the #MNC5. Almost 2 years on from their wrongful conviction, still no appeals trial hearing. Free the MNC5 now!

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

June is #Pride Month.

Pride has always been & will always be a protest. We are in solidarity with all SOGI rights defenders & LGBTQIA+ activists peacefully pushing back against gender-based discrimination.

Beyond June, let us celebrate Pride by amplifying calls for laws that recognize the fundamental rights and freedoms of all persons regardless of one's sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression. At the same time, we support global calls to abolish laws that reinforce gender-based discrimination, stigma, and hate.

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

🚨 CIVICUS, FORUM-ASIA, and Front Line Defenders call on the Cambodian Appeals Court to overturn the conviction of five environmental defenders Long Kunthea, Ly Chandaravuth, Phuon Keoraksmey, Thun Ratha, and Yim Leanghy.

The five are part of #MotherNatureCambodia, a youth-led movement of environmental and civic activists. They were sentenced to 6-8 years in prison for “plotting against the state."

The conviction and imprisonment of Mother Nature Cambodia activists silences activism. We call on the Court to overturn their unjust convictions. All five must released immediately and unconditionally.

🔗 READ OUR JOINT STATEMENT IN FULL: https://t.co/NaOl9dMCM2

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

A landmark win for #WorkersRights!

The International Court of Justice has just affirmed something workers and #TradeUnions have long fought for – the right to strike is protected under international law.

In a historic advisory opinion issued on 21 May 2026, the UN’s highest court clarified that the #RightToStrike is part of the fundamental freedom of association.

Why this matters:
✅ The ruling strengthens global labor standards
✅ It gives workers a stronger legal footing to challenge repression
✅ It could influence laws, courts, and corporate practices worldwide

This decision is a powerful tool, but the struggle for #LaborRights & #LaborJustice continues.

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

A Joint Statement on the International Week of the Disappeared 2026

We, the undersigned organizations, urge the Government of #Bangladesh to ensure truth, justice, and reparation for victims and their families and guarantees of non-recurrence of enforced disappearances in observance of #IWD2026.

To date, many families continue to live in uncertainty, while many survivors who have returned face ongoing harassment through fabricated legal cases and prolonged court proceedings.

🔗 READ THE JOINT STATEMENT HERE: https://t.co/YXyN3n5R0J

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

The EU Parliament is watching, #Indonesia.

A landmark resolution calls for swift, transparent, and independent investigations into attacks on human rights defender #AndrieYunus of @KontraS and environmental human right defender #MuhammadRosidi.

Justice cannot wait.

https://t.co/9BLND9ZTQM

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

🚨The targeting of humanitarian missions must never be normalized.

Silence in the face of such violations is complicity.

Here are our calls to action:

🔗Read our statement in full: https://t.co/nA2M4UzlIb

[FORUM-ASIA @forum_asia]

FORUM-ASIA urges Israeli authorities to immediately and unconditionally release and protect all those aboard the #GlobalSumudFlotilla, including Indonesian journalists alongside humanitarian workers, activists, volunteers, and healthcare workers coming from approx. 40 countries.

The flotilla was set to deliver #HumanitarianAid, including food and medicine, to Gaza while drawing international attention to the Israeli blockade and its devastating consequences.

We support the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), our Indonesian member organization, in stressing that the detention of journalists covering conflict and humanitarian crises is an attack against #PressFreedom as well as people’s right to information.

FORUM-ASIA is in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle for freedom, dignity, and justice.