Elisa was a student activist campaigning for human rights and Timor-Leste’s independence. Today she is Timor-Leste’s Acting Ambassador to Thailand and UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. She has a keen interest in women's rights and has used knowledge on human rights gained from her DTP training in her work as a diplomat.

Lelung is based in Bandarban, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. He's involved with the local NGO MroChet, mainly focusing on the education of Indigenous children. He describes the unique challenges facing Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic and how MroChet is working to help overcome them.

Nirmal Upreti petitioned the Supreme Court over the Nepal government’s exclusion of Nepal’s migrant workers in India from the protection provided in legislation to other migrant workers in ‘foreign employment’. Nepal’s Supreme Court has asked the government to “show cause” and explain.

DTP alumni go to court in Malaysia to defend rights, to protect those speaking up for rights of migrant workers. The working visa of Mohamed Rayhan Kabir has been cancelled following an interview on Al Jazeera critical of the government’s round up of undocumented migrants.

Pratima Gurung, the President of the National Indigenous Disabled Women Association Nepal, has exposed the burning of Indigenous Chepang people's houses in Chitwan national park by park rangers. Chepangs have now become homeless and even more vulnerable during COVID-19 and yearly monsoon rains.

Khokon Suiten Murmu has called on the Bangladesh government to allocate specific and proportional funding for Indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Plains in the national budget and highlighted the need for disaggregated data. Human rights and SDGs reporting requires gathering of disaggregated data so development can target the poor, address discrimination and fund mother tongue education for Indigenous peoples.

VANUATU PIANGO has congratulated Vanuatu on 40 years of independence and for its consistent support for decolonization in the Pacific including in West Papua. READ MORE

INDONESIA FORUM-ASIA and its members have issued a statement calling on the Indonesian government to investigate discrimination and violence against human rights defenders who expose racism and human rights abuses in West Papua. READ MORE

ASIA Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) has renewed its call for a Justice Mechanism for Repatriated Migrant Workers as situation worsens and more migrant workers are left unpaid, unemployed and stranded. READ MORE

PHILIPPINES Human rights defenders Jenelyn Nagrampa and Dan San Andres have been arrested accused of participating in an ambush by the New People’s Army that killed two soldiers despite their clear alibis. TAKE ACTION

DTP's 2019 ANNUAL REPORT

Report is out now.

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One of DTP's strengths is you, our alumni and networks. As we see the Covid-19 pandemic spreading and the different responses of government, business and communities, you have never been more important in communicating impacts, and enabling/driving solidarity, action and accountability. If you have news, opinion pieces, resources or examples of best practice to share, or have questions on human rights and Covid-19, please send them to us at [email protected]. Please stay safe.

Issue #107 July 2020

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We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work, the Bedegal people of the Eora Nation