03/08/2016
Under: Laos, Power and Democracy, Publications

Gloria Capitan, anti-coal activist from the Philippines; Mr. Kem Ley, social/political analyst from Cambodia; Melon Barcia, peasant leader from the Philippines. All felled by an assassin’s gun.

Den Kamlae, land rights activist from Thailand; Sombath Somphone, development worker from Laos; Jonas Burgos, farmer and political activist from the Philippines. All forcibly disappeared.

Apung Tony and Ka Rolly, peasant leaders. Incarcerated because of their advocacies.

Muslims and dalits in India, brutally attacked, often fatally, because of state support for generations of entrenched discrimination and bigotry.

These are just a few recent cases in the growing list of environmental activists, land rights defenders, peasant and fisherfolk leaders and development workers assassinated, disappeared, assaulted and criminalized.

This edition of the Focus newsletter provides an overview of the different faces of impunity that allow these acts of violence against human rights defenders and ordinary people to continue across Asia.

Contents:

When Murder and Abuse Become Systemic by Alina Carrillo and Shalmali Guttal, p.1

Land Rights Defenders Under the Military Rule in Thailand by Niabdulghafar Tohming, p.5

Impunity: Legal, Social/Political, Personal by Clarissa V. Militante, p.7

Criminalizing the Struggle for Land: A Tale of Two Farmers by Raphael Baladad, p.8

Glory to the Captain: A Photo Essay on Gloria Capitan and the Anti-Coal Movement in Bataan by Galileo de Guzman Castillo and Carmina Flores-Obanil, p.10  

Struggling on Dangerous Ground by Val De Guzman, p.12

Impunity Unlimited: Human Rights, Freedom of Expression in Shambles by Afsar Jafri and Mansi Sharma, p.13

Kashmir, Before and After Burhan Wani by Seema Mustafa, p.15

Culture of Impunity in Cambodia: 20 Years, No Justice by Ros Sokunthy, p.17

Human Rights Under President Duterte by Walden Bello, p.20