March - April at Manushya: Back with us on the ground!

And we are back with our monthly video recap for March and April!

March was PACKED with many crucial campaigns for justice!

#SaveNittaya worked as Nittaya walked free from the Supreme Court Verdict - But she was still found guilty and sentenced to 3 years of suspended jail term and has to pay 150,000 THB for civil penalties. Our fight is not over, we still need your help to ensure she’s won’t be put in extreme poverty!

#JusticeForPhichit - We conducted our legal empowerment training with Phichit villagers to help them fight back corruption & the injustice they’ve been facing for decades, abused by a gold mining company that has contaminated their land, their blood and destroyed many of their lives!

#SheInspiresUs #IWD2021 - March was also Women Month and we paid tribute to brave Women Human Rights Defenders #WHRDs who inspire us to stand up for what we believe. We also held a webinar on WHRDs in the digital space with WHRDs from ASEAN discussing the challenges they’ve faced such as online bullying and harassment and proposing practical solutions.

#WhatsHappeningInThailand - We continued to monitor and support the pro-democracy movement in Thailand - Our team members joined the march #เดินทะลุฟ้า (Walk Through the Sky) to show support in the fight for equality, justice, and real democracy!

We are also we are very proud we managed to submit 14 Joint UPR Universal Periodic Review Reports with our partners and communities on the ground to the United Nations to let the world know #WhatsHappeningInThailand leading up to the Thai government UN Human Rights review in Geneva on 10 November! The reports document human rights challenges faced by marginalized communities, as well as their practical solutions to hold the government accountable on its international obligations! We hope it will bring changes on the ground.

We denounced Thailand’s new Draft NGO Law on ‘Operation of Non-for-Profits Organizations’ aiming at restricting our civic space with more crackdown on political activists and CSOs by the government! Watch webinars where we denounced how bad this draft Law is for those who like us seek justice and democracy !

April was also a Month of speaking Truth To Power and denouncing injustice in Laos!

#FreeMuay Petition was launched on Change.org to call on the Lao government to release Muay a courageous WHRD from jail, as she did nothing wrong but told the truth about corruption in the country! We need your support in order to pressure the Lao government to release her!

#StopDigitalDictatorship campaign was also ongoing, as we continued to monitor the digital rights situation in SEA, especially regarding freedom of expression and press freedom online. We shared Reporters without Borders' Press Freedom Index 2021 in ASEAN and highlighted the shrinking freedom in the digital space all over the region.

Lastly, we would like to thank everyone for the love and support you have given us. Thank you for supporting our work, for sharing our posts, and for helping us raise awareness and spread information on urgent matters like the cases of Nittaya, Sab Wai villagers and Muay.

Stay tuned for more updates!