The next contribution to our series on the human rights impacts of corporate and government practices on the seas and oceans links to a blog entry, “Is Deep-Seabed Mining Compatible with the Human Right to a Healthy Environment?” This is a response to advisory opinions on climate change from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Climate Change, the International Court of Justice, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The authors point to the tendency to treat human rights as a peripheral issue, whereas the AOs should be intrinsically linked to the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. READ MORE

In this issue, we profile DTP alumnus Basim Shamaon, a diaspora community leader in Sydney, provide information about DTP's programs and upcoming webinars, share reports on recent programs and news from alumni, partners and the region, and calls from the UN for your engagement. 

Vale Theo van Boven

DTP joins human rights advocates worldwide in mourning the death on May 9th of Theo van Boven, at the age of 92. As a leader among the generation that built the UN human rights system, and developed understanding of human rights and worked tirelessly for their implementation Theo van Boven received multiple human rights awards, served as a UN Special Rapporteur, and was the co-author of the 'Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law’ - the Boven/Bassiouni Principles.

DTP 2025 Annual Report

DTP’s 2025 Annual Report is available here.  In 2025, DTP provided training to 186 human rights defenders across eight programs in Asia and the Pacific.  We know from our alumni the value of this training, and we see it in their work over decades.

Follow DTP on Social Media

DTP has recently joined Instagram.  Click here to follow our profile to ensure you don't miss any of the latest program updates, webinar details or alumni events.  We are also on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Donate to the Diplomacy Training Program 

We are appealing now for your support to help us fund the training of more human rights defenders - it is an important investment in them, human rights, democracy and peace. Please donate here.

Three DTP alumni have made their mark on the international film circuit this year, with their work screened at prestigious festivals including the Sydney Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival, and the International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival. 

Their films span human rights, environmental justice, and community storytelling. It is a powerful reminder that the skills and confidence alumni develop through DTP find expression in many forms, including cinema and documentary film.

For information about our alumni, click here. If you want to get in contact with any of DTP's alumni, please contact the DTP secretariat at [email protected].

2026: BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS, THE OECD GUIDELINES, AND NATIONAL CONTACT POINTS

Jakarta, Indonesia, 8-12 May 2026: Held in partnership with INFID and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. Twenty-six participants from across Indonesia gathered in Jakarta to share experiences of business impacts on human rights and the environment, with a focus on the potential of the OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct to bring critical change and accountability. READ MORE

2026: SPECIAL ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON CHILD RIGHTS AND DIGITAL RIGHTS, WITH DR VICTOR KARUNAN

DTP was pleased to host eminent human rights activist Victor Karunan in late April. Victor shared with us “The Youth Charter: Advancing the 2030 Global Development Agenda”, the outcome of a meeting of more than 170 young delegates representing over 45 countries convened in Malaysia for the Future Action Summit in November.  READ MORE

2026: HUMAN RIGHTS, CLIMATE CHANGE AND BUSINESS IN THE PACIFIC 

Suva, Fiji, 23-27 March, 2026 in partnership with PIANGO, FCOSS and OHCHR-PRO. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, Professor Surya Deva, was the lead trainer on the program, which hosted 23 participants from 10 countries, including DTP's first-ever participants from Palau and Niue. The program was opened by the Honourable Filimoni Vosarogo, Fiji’s Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources, Regional Pacific Representative of the OHCHR Heike Alefsen, and Emeline Siale Ilolahia, Executive Director of PIANGO. READ MORE

2025: HUMAN RIGHTS DAY WORKSHOP ON ENGAGING WITH UN ANTI-TORTURE MECHANISMS

Sydney, Australia, 10 December, in partnership with STARTTS and the Whitlam Institute. Nineteen refugee and migrant community leaders participated in a capacity-building workshop lead by Steven Caruana on Human Rights Day. Read the program report here.

2025: PACIFIC VOICES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Australia - November 12 - December 3, 2025 in partnership with PIANGO. 15 climate advocates from seven Pacific countries participated in this intense knowledge exchange and capacity building program. They met with academics, climate experts, parliamentarians, government officials and civil society. Australia's Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Matt Thistlethwaite MP was special guest speaker at the Closing Reception hosted by DTP’s Chair, Michael do Rozario at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. The program was funded by DFAT’s Australia Awards Fellowships Program. WATCH DEBRIEF VIDEO FROM VANUATU FELLOWS and READ DRAFT REPORT HERE.

2025: BUILDING RESILIENCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY THROUGH CAPACITY BUILDING

2025: 33rd ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND PEOPLING PROGRAMMES' DIPLOMACY TRAINING PROGRAM

See program highlights short video VIEW HERE

2025: REGIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS EXCHANGE - LEARNING AND TRAINING 2025

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER (HRD) GUIDELINES: A DTP AND FRONT LINE DEFENDERS WEBINAR SERIES

Watch Webinar 1: What are the HRD Guidelines?

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: THE OECD GUIDELINES ON RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS CONDUCT AND THE NATIONAL CONTACT POINTS (NCP) WEBINAR SERIES

Watch Webinar 1: Introduction to the Australian NCP

Watch Webinar 2: Promoting Human Rights through the Supply Chain

Watch Webinar 3: Free, Prior and Informed Consent

INDONESIAN ALUMNI WEBINAR SERIES: HUMAN RIGHTS, CLIMATE CHANGE, BUSINESS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: INDONESIA'S FOOD ESTATE IN WEST PAPUA AND ITS IMPACTS 

Watch Webinar 1: Community Impacts of the Food Estate

Watch Webinar 2: Impacts on Community and Climate

Watch Webinar 3: Merauke and Indonesia's Climate Bomb

WEBINAR SERIES - HUMAN RIGHTS, DIGITAL RIGHTS AND AI An Introduction to Governing Digital Rights and Children's Online Rights

WEBINAR SERIES – Ending Impunity for Violators of Human Rights - The Magnitsky Acts and Australia in partnership with STARTTS. WATCH HERE 

HUMAN RIGHTS WEBINAR SERIES - UN Human Rights Accountability Mechanisms in partnership with STARTTS. WATCH HERE

GENOCIDE WEBINAR SERIES - three webinars on Genocide and the Genocide Convention in partnership with STARTTS. WATCH HERE

UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (UNDRIP) WEBINAR SERIES NOW AVAILABLE HERE.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA Joseph Benedict shares the latest CIVICUS PNG Civic Space Update which focuses on the arrest of anti-corruption campaigner John Endemongo Kua, and the assault by correctional officers of senior journalist Rebecca Kuku for her exposure of human rights abuses in PNG prisons READ MORE

MIGRANT WORKERS MIGRANT FORUM IN ASIA shares a song, We Resist by Sherinorth, written as an anthem for migrant workers and migrant rights activists READ MORE   

CAMBODIA FORUM-ASIA joins CIVICUS and Front Line Defenders in calling for the overturning the conviction of the five Mother Nature environmental defenders whose sentenced was confirmed by the Supreme Court READ THE STATEMENT

AUSTRALIA STARTTS and CiCT, in collaboration with the Whitlam Institute, launched the report on the DTP & STARTTS Training Workshop on Engaging with UN Anti-Torture Mechanisms at the 2026 CiCT Forum. The workshop was led by DTP alumnus Steven Caruana, the Detention Monitoring and Torture Prevention Treaty Coordinator at the Commonwealth Ombudsman READ THE REPORT

The International Service for Human Rights responded to the UN Secretary General’s call for input with a report, “Ending Intimidation and Reprisals Against Those who Cooperate with the UN in the Field of Human Rights” and identifying 24 countries responsible for such intimidation and reprisals READ MORE

The Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants calls for input to inform an upcoming report to be presented to the General Assembly at its 81st session, deadline 15 June 2026 READ MORE

The Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons calls for input on "Autonomy, dignity and human rights in situations of dependency in older age", deadline 17 June 2026 READ MORE

The ILO has succeeded in obtaining an advisory opinion from the ICJ that the 1948 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention safeguards workers' right to strike READ MORE

OHCHR Call for contributions to an analytical study on protection gaps in access to medicines, vaccines and other health products, deadline 16 June 2026 READ MORE

OHCHR and the University of Peace invite registrations for an E-learning course, “Mainstreaming the Right to Development in Voluntary National Review Reporting”, application deadline 8 August 2026 APPLY HERE

The University of Peace invites registrations for an E-learning course “Operationalising the Right to Development in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals”, application deadline 11 July 2026 APPLY HERE

The theme of the UN Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum for Asia-Pacific this year is Building Resilience, Advancing Rights and will be held in person in Bangkok 15-17 September 2026 as well as live-streamed READ MORE

ASIA DEMOCRACY NETWORK publishes “Signals from the Streets: Civic Resistance and Democratic Trajectories in Asia” highlighting cases from Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Mongolia, and the Philippines, showing the ways in which young people organise across digital and physical spaces, and how movements emerge and engage with political systems that are often resistant or slow to respond READ MORE

International and Canadian Child Rights Partnership is convening a roundtable on June 20, focusing on the theme of children's rights to mental health and well-being. The roundtable will be held on Zoom and will include children and young people. READ MORE

The UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples invites applications from Indigenous individuals and representatives to support participation in upcoming UN processes. To attend Treaty Bodies, 63rd Human Rights Council, UPR Pre-Sessions, by 21 June REGISTER HERE To attend COP31 (Antalya, 9–20 Nov); BHR Forum (Geneva, 23–25 Nov) REGISTER HERE by 28 June

BRAZILIAN INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS, with the support of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, has published “UPR: A Practical Guide for Civil Society Coalitions to Engage in Implementation Mechanisms”, a practical tool for national coalitions working within the UPR mechanism READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION: “Collective Voices: Back to Basics” is a series of podcasts of around 20 minutes each, on international labour standards and workers’ rights READ MORE  

Het Actie Fonds (The Action Fund) is seeking grant applications from frontline grassroots movements, including for their Climate Justice Grant program. Grants of up to €2,500 per year per group are available for projects that enable movement building and the development of radical strategies toward climate justice READ MORE

The Lighthouse Global Protection Fund delivers emergency assistance to human rights defenders and civil society organisations operating in high-risk environments worldwide.  Grants are available to eligible groups READ MORE

Tifa invites applications from civil society organisations, grassroots groups, and informal collectives from East and Southeast Asia for the Re-D Fund.  The fund provides microgrants to civil society groups using digital technologies to expand civic participation, advance rights-based reforms, and strengthen organisational resilience in the digital era. Deadline 5 June 2026 READ MORE

DTP acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we work, the Bedegal people of the Eora Nation. We recognise their lands were never ceded, and we acknowledge their struggles for recognition and rights and pay our respects to the Elders – past, present – and the youth who are working towards a brighter tomorrow. This continent always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

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