ALTSEAN-Burma (Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma) was formed in October 1996 by a diverse network of organizations and individuals at the Alternative ASEAN Meeting on Burma, held in Bangkok. Our mission is to develop and strengthen strategic relationships among key networks and organizations from Burma, Southeast Asia, and the international community; to support cooperation and partnership among activists, particularly women, youth, ethnic groups, LGBTQ+, displaced people, migrants, and other marginalized communities; to implement innovative strategies that are responsive to emerging needs and urgent developments; and to produce practical resources for these purposes.
ALTSEAN has pursued its mission through advocacy, training and collaboration from its office in Bangkok, focusing on women’s participation and leadership, business and human rights, atrocity prevention, and broader human rights and democracy issues. ALTSEAN supports grassroots activists by ensuring local voices are heard at international strategy forums, including delivering their robust analysis and policy recommendations.
Launched in November 2016, the Asia Pacific Partnership for Atrocity Prevention (APPAP) is a network of organizations that aims to contribute to the prevention of atrocities and protection of vulnerable communities in the region. The Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (APR2P), based at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, serves as the
APPAP Secretariat.
APPAP’s goal is to facilitate coherent and comprehensive action to prevent atrocities by mobilizing the capacities of local, regional, and global actors. APPAP’s founding members endorsed six key principles to guide their action:
1) the full implementation of the Responsibility to Protect principle as agreed by all governments at the 2005 World Summit, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations;
2) the full implementation of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, especially,
• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
• Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Second Optional Protocol thereto (1989)
• International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
• Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
• Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol thereto
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Arms Trade Treaty
3) full respect for the principle of inclusivity;
4) recognition and respect for cultural diversity;
5) recognition of the need for gender sensitive approaches to all aspects of work; and
6) recognition of the value of the rule of law, the principle of legal accountability and the need to end impunity.
Beyond Borders Malaysia was founded by Mahi Ramakrishnan, a multiple award-winning investigative filmmaker and journalist. She is also a human rights activist.
Beyond Borders Malaysia works to promote and protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons and migrant workers.
Our aim is to uphold the principle of the universality of rights – without discrimination and prejudice against anyone – with justice and transparency as the backdrop of our organisation.
We create various platforms such as The Refugee Festival (first of its kind in Malaysia), capacity building workshops, for refugee voices to be heard by connecting them with the Malaysian society. And in doing so strive to lobby against the rising xenophobia and hate in the country.
Beyond Borders Malaysia has also started livelihood initiatives and continues to work towards a comprehensive policy that gives refugees the right to work, affordable healthcare and structured education.
Pluralistic Society (Formerly The Seagull) was founded in 2014, by prominent human rights and peace activists and religious leaders in Mandalay, to develop a peaceful and harmonious society which fully respects human rights and democratic values and promotes dialogue. It has earned a good reputation for its innovative interfaith approach to stemming communal violence in Mandalay and Upper Myanmar. Moreover, the organization has been recognized by local community members, government authorities, religious leaders, and the international community for its awareness-raising education, campaigns, and documentation to reduce public concerns about communal and religious violence, which has occurred across Myanmar. Pluralistic Society has been deeply involved in the movement for inter-religious reconciliation and promoting religious pluralism in Myanmar.
