Article 19, which is lending expertise and resource support to this program, has made available online baseline studies on the legal environment for media in Southeast Asia. Click on the links below to download PDF files of the studies on Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia.
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/cambodia-baseline-study.pdf
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/malaysia-baseline-study.pdf
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/philippines-baseline-study.pdf
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/singapore-baseline-study.pdf
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/thailand-baseline-study.pdf
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/indonesia-baseline-study.pdf
August 23, 2006 at 6:30 pm
[...] As a vital first step for this project, legal luminaries from around Southeast Asian have been invited to a two-day planning meeting at the Royal Princess Hotel in Larn Luang, Bangkok in the last week of August. These national experts from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Singapore, will be joined by international law experts from PCMLP, Hong Kong University, the Open Society Institute, and Article 19, to map out curricula and the activities for a regional training seminar to be held Hong Kong in March 2007. To facilitate the process, Article 19 has compiled a series of baseline studies on the legal environment for media in Southeast Asia, digital files of which are downloadable here. In that seminar — scheduled over three-days in March — the convenors will hold workshops on national law and court practice relating to media freedom and canvass international and comparative freedom of expression law. There will also be a series of skills-building exercises. [...]
April 25, 2007 at 3:26 am
I am glad that Article 19 will hold a legal defense program for the Southeast Asia region; yet, I am also disappointed that the program does not include countries like Vietnam and Myanmar. Vietnam, Myanmar, and China are three countries that need this kind of program. Please reconsider to extend your work to these countries; otherwise, needless to say, our supporters would view that you are not serious in promoting your just cause. Thank you
April 25, 2007 at 5:04 am
Recently, three lawyers and many democratic activists have been arrested in Vietnam because of fighting for freedom of speech. This should be a serious concern to an organisation such as A legal defense Program for southeast asia also. I agree with what Hieu Van Ngo says above.
April 27, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Dear Hieu Van Ngo and Viet Hanoi
Thanks for your suggestions. Please rest assured that we are aware that press freedom in Vietnam is a serious issue and that much work remains to ensure it is respected. In this regard I have forwarded your information about the three arrests to our Asia department and urged them to take action.
On a practical level, I would suggest that you email the conference organisers with your request regarding participation, and ask that in future years at least, the training will be opened to a wider audience, including from Vietnam (ARTICLE 19 is not among the organisers of this meeting, we are just providing legal support and resources). If you click on one of the links under ‘Organizers’, on the right, you’ll get some email addresses of people to get in touch with.
With best wishes
Peter Noorlander
Senior Legal Officer, ARTICLE 19
http://www.article19.org