The next contribution to our series on the human rights and environmental impacts of corporate and government practices on the seas and oceans concerns a pastoral statement from the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific issued on 10 August 2026, which warned that imminent deep-sea mining leases across the Pacific seabed risk irreversible harm given how little is understood about the deep ocean, and called for caution in the interest of Pacific peoples and future generations. READ THE STATEMENT

In this issue, we profile DTP alumna Tanaykorn (Yves) Thippayapokin of Asylum Access Thailand, provide information about DTP's programs and webinars, news from DTP alumni, partners, and the region, and calls from the UN for your engagement.

New DTP Workshops on Business and Human Rights and Human Rights Education/Training

DTP is organising two new human rights workshops with its regional partners. The first, to be held in Bangkok in September (13-18), around the UN Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights, will shape a new regional capacity-building strategy on Business and Human Rights in Asia.  If you are planning to be in Bangkok, then please register your interest here.

The second workshop will focus on sharing experiences and lessons learned in human rights education and training in Asia, with the aim of fostering greater collaboration among organisations and movements at this critical time for human rights movements. If you are interested in learning more and taking part in the background survey, please register here.

DTP Webinars

The recording of the webinar, Human Rights Defenders and Diplomats: Reflections from Practice is now online.  This webinar series is a collaboration between DTP and Frontline Defenders.  WATCH THE WEBINAR.

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.

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: REGIONAL CONSULTATION AND CONSULTATION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S RIGHTS CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMS

Chiang Mai, Thailand, 25-27 June 2026:  Held in partnership with the Asia Indigenous People's Pact (AIPP). The consultation brought together representatives of Indigenous People's organisations and networks from across Asia to reflect on over 20 years of DTP's capacity building programs, and to set future directions for DTP's Indigenous People's programs. READ MORE

2026: HUMAN RIGHTS AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES IN INDONESIA, AN INDONESIAN DIASPORA FORUM

UNSW Sydney, Australia, 18 June 2026: Held in collaboration with Gerakan Sydney Untuk Bersuara (GUSAR). The event featured Saurlin Siagian (Commissioner of KomnasHAM), Herlambang P. Wiratraman (Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadijah Mada), and Gita Putri Damayana.  Drawing on their respective areas of expertise, the speakers examined the challenges facing democratic governance, civic participation, and human rights protection in contemporary Indonesia. READ MORE

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 how business impacts human rights and the environment, with a focus on the potential of the OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct to drive 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 2025, 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 capacit- 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 M, was a special guest speaker at the Closing Reception hosted by DTP’s Chair, Michael do Rozario,o 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

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

Watch Webinar 1: What are the HRD Guidelines?

Watch Webinar 2: HRDs and Diplomats - Reflections from Practice 

OPTIMISING UPR STAKEHOLDER REPORTS WEBINAR - 8 July 2026 - DTP and UNPR INFO co-hosted a webinar and training session on the UPR with Timorese NGOs.  Joshua Cooper facilitated the session to assist NGOs in Timor-Leste in preparing submissions for the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR).  La'o Hamutuk Institute shared their submission covering the rights to adequate food, water, health and education. READ MORE

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.

The ASIA INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S PACT marked the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples with a statement honouring Indigenous midwives and health caregivers, calling on Asian states to legally recognise Indigenous Peoples' collective rights, protect Indigenous health systems from extractive industries and land grabbing, and end the militarisation and criminalisation of Indigenous defenders across the region. READ MORE

FORUM-ASIA calls for global solidarity and urgent accountability action five years after the Taliban takeover, citing systematic repression of women and girls, persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, and arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings, and urged states to strengthen protections for Afghans facing persecution and halt forced returns. READ MORE

The BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE reports that protestors at a Jantar Mantar demonstration allege Delhi police used AI-powered surveillance, facial recognition, and Meta smart glasses to monitor them, in what they say breaches their rights to privacy and peaceful assembly, while the government maintains that photography and videography are routine policing measures. READ MORE

The BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE reports that as fashion brands push suppliers to decarbonise, they are failing to factor the cost of that transition into their prices, squeezing already limited margins and leaving garment workers exposed to continued low pay and job insecurity. READ MORE

FORUM-ASIA and civil society partners urged the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions to conduct an urgent special review of Bangladesh's National Human Rights Commission, warning that a proposed 2026 bill reverses 2025 reforms by weakening the Commission's independence, stripping its power to investigate security forces, and narrowing its mandate. READ MORE

FORUM-ASIA and 146 civil society organisations urged the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum to deny the junta-controlled Myanmar National Human Rights Commission the 2027 Chairship, warning it would undermine the Forum's credibility given the Commission lost its international accreditation in 2024 for non-compliance with the Paris Principles and complicity in the junta's atrocities. READ MORE

FORUM-ASIA and ANNI called on Thai authorities to protect Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit, MP Romadon Panjor, and human rights defender Anchana Heemmina following online threats and death threats linked to their advocacy work in Thailand's Deep South, noting that one hundred and thirty-three cases of threats against women human rights defenders have been recorded in the country since 2021. READ MORE

OHCHR's Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity calls for contributions on role of faith-based and humanist organisations in promoting international solidarity, to inform a report to be presented to the 65th session of the Human Rights Council. Deadline 16 October 2026. READ MORE

OHCHR calls for contributions from human rights defenders on the topic of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment to inform a thematic report to the 64th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Deadline 21 August 2026. READ MORE

The OHCHR Special Rapporteur on Climate Change calls for contributions from human rights defenders on technologies related to climate change and their impacts on human rights, to assist in drafting a 2026 Report to the UNGA and a 2027 Report to the Human Rights Council. Deadline 30 September 2026. READ MORE

OHCHR calls for contributions from human rights defenders to assist the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development study on 'Peace and Security and the Right to Development.' Deadline 15 September 2026. READ MORE

OHCHR calls for human rights defender input into the annual thematic study on the rights of persons with disabilities on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the CRPD. DEADLINE: 1 September 2026. READ MORE

The UN Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum for Asia-Pacific will be held in Bangkok between 15 and 17 September 2026. The forum's theme will be Building Resilience, Advancing Rights. READ MORES and REGISTER HERE

CHILD RIGHTS: Civil society organisations are invited to participate in the second session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group exploring a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to be held from thirty-one August to two September 2026, with registration on Indico open until 5:00pm Geneva time on thirty August. READ MORE

REFUGEES: UNSW's Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention with a resource hub examining its continuing relevance, arguing the treaty remains legally sound but faces growing political challenges as states, including the United States under the current administration, cut resettlement and international aid. READ MORE

ENERGY: The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) released a report offering businesses a practical framework for applying distributive justice to energy transition decisions, drawing on stakeholder consultations in South Africa to help companies identify where the costs and benefits of moving to low-carbon energy systems are unevenly shared. READ MORE

MINING AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES: IHRB's Gulf Sustain initiative published a report finding that major infrastructure projects in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are driving sand demand that outpaces governance oversight, exposing migrant workers to exploitation, silica dust, and extreme heat across the supply chain, and recommending companies adopt due diligence tools such as digital product passports to trace high-risk suppliers. READ MORE

BANGLADESH: The University of Queensland has released the report Preventing Atrocity Crimes in Bangladesh: Eight Strategic Priorities for a Fragile Democracy.  The report sets out priority strategies for strengthening atrocity prevention, spanning security sector accountability, youth and gender-centred deradicalisation, democratic and judicial reform, minority protections, media resilience, and trauma-informed approaches to social cohesion. READ MORE

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS: The International Service for Human Rights has launched a free online course, "Advocacy for Environmental Human Rights Defenders: A Pathway," on the ISHR Academy, offering a conceptual, legal and strategic resource to help environmental human rights defenders and their allies turn local environmental struggles into coordinated international and regional advocacy. READ MORE

UPR MECHANISMS: The 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

WORKER'S RIGHTS AND LABOUR: The International Trade Union Conference has released a series of podcasts of around 20 minutes each, “Collective Voices: Back to Basics”, on international labour standards and workers’ rights READ MORE  

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 decades-long work for human rights across Asia and the Pacific.

The Avery Dennison Foundation offers year-round grants of $50,000 to $100,000 to nonprofits working in education access, environmental sustainability, or secure livelihoods, with roughly 90% of funded projects based outside the United States and a focus on communities of highest need. READ MORE

CIVICUS's Crisis Response Fund and Digital Democracy Initiative are offering rapid-response digital resiliency grants of up to ten thousand US dollars for a single organisation or twenty thousand for joint applications, for civil society groups in the Global South facing imminent civic space threats, with applications accepted year-round on a rolling basis. READ MORE

Rainforest Trust offers Feasibility Awards and Protected or Conserved Area Creation Awards to legally registered NGOs working to create or expand protected areas that benefit endangered species, climate mitigation, or Indigenous and local communities, with concept notes accepted year-round and larger awards with deadlines on the 1st of March, July, and October each year. READ MORE

The Better Politics Fund's Resilient Futures Call is offering Ideation Grants of $10,000 - $20,000 and nomination-only Incubation Grants of up to $50,000, for non-partisan initiatives linking democratic political leadership with climate resilience, with priority countries in Asia including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Applications for Ideation Grants due 4 September 2026. READ MORE

Perspective Fund is offering grants of $25,000 to $150,000 to documentary filmmakers whose work engages complex social, cultural, or political issues, covering production, impact strategy, distribution, and participant compensation, with a focus on projects led by people closest to the issues they address. READ MORE

The Conservation, Food & Health Foundation offers grants, typically between 25,000 and 50,000 a year, to local and regional organisations in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East working on conservation, food security, or public health, with applications reviewed twice yearly in spring and autumn. READ MORE 

The GEF Small Grants Program CSO Challenge, supported by the Global Environment Facility and led by IUCN, offers grants of up to $300,000 over 24 months to civil society organisations scaling proven environmental solutions, alongside capacity-building and technical support. 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

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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