BANGKOK, Thailand (10 June 2025) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) urges ASEAN and its member states to prioritize robust human rights protection in the implementation of its new 2045 Vision.
Likewise, we call on ASEAN to fully commit to expanding its obligations to respect, protect, and promote human rights across Southeast Asia.
“To realize this new vision, ASEAN should not be detached from the realities on the ground. It should resolve past and ongoing human rights violations across the region, while also striving to prevent any form of recurrence. ASEAN leaders must fully commit to respecting and protecting human rights for all. To do that, they must end the culture of impunity in their respective countries,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.
ASEAN 2045 Vision: What is it?
Following the conclusion of the ASEAN Summit on 26-27 May 2025, ASEAN leaders adopted the ASEAN Community Vision 2045.
The Vision expects ASEAN to be responsive and relevant in addressing economic, socio-cultural, regional peace and security challenges in the region. It was adopted alongside the ASEAN Political-Security Community Strategic Plan, which aims to actualize the Vision by 2045.
The Vision’s effective implementation is contingent upon ASEAN’s swift and effective actions to address the region’s worsening human rights situation.
Under Paragraph 8 of the Vision, ASEAN leaders committed to make its institution more agile, resilient, adaptive, and responsive in terms of its decision making processes. Meanwhile, Paragraph 10 highlighted the need for ASEAN to make timely decisions, especially during urgent and specific situations.
Under Paragraph 15 of the Vision, ASEAN is expected to be an “inclusive and cohesive Community that respects political, social, religious, cultural, ethnic diversities, which upholds the principles of democracy, rule of law and good governance, and respects fundamental freedoms, promotes and protects human rights, and promotes social justice.”
Whilst the new vision reflects ASEAN’s commitment to do better, realities on the ground reflect the opposite and are awaiting an intervention.
Silencing dissent
Since the 2021 attempted coup in Myanmar, the military junta has been committing intensifying atrocities against the civilian population.
In 2025, the junta further expanded its forced conscription order to include women and other vulnerable groups. The junta has also been reportedly pressuring the Myanmar youth into military conscription. Those who refuse the order are told that their family members would be conscripted in their stead. Meanwhile, the junta continued to launch air and ground attacks in civilian areas across multiple states and regions—including Magway, Sagaing, Chin, Kachin, Mandalay, and Bago—causing widespread death, destruction, and displacement. Following the March earthquake disaster, the military also obstructed relief efforts as leverage to gain control over territories under resistance control.
In Indonesia, ever since President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka assumed office, there have been multiple reports of violence and reprisals against peaceful protesters. Hundreds of protesters across major cities have been reportedly beaten, harassed, arbitrarily arrested, and detained by the police. Meanwhile, journalists covering protests and political issues have been on the receiving end of death threats and attacks.
Police brutality was observed during peaceful protests concerning the following issues: increased Value Added Tax rates, the National Budget Efficiency Order, problematic amendments to the Military Law, the May Day commemoration, and the 27th anniversary of the country’s reform against military dictatorship.
In Papua, large-scale deforestation has taken place as palm oil plantations continue to expand. The Indonesian military has been instructed to support the latter, thereby creating a climate of fear among affected indigenous communities.
In Malaysia, peaceful demonstrators face arrests and intimidation as seen in the case of those staging a hunger strike in protest of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA). SOSMA was meant to address national security and public order, however, it has been used as a repressive tool to give unfettered power to the authorities to criminalize and arbitrarily detain civil society actors. Despite continuous calls from civil society to reform SOSMA, its strict enforcement continues.
Communities in Thailand’s Dan Khun Thot District are being targeted following peaceful campaigns and protests against potash mining projects, which not only damage the environment but also disrupt local livelihoods.
Amidst such a repressive climate across the region, ASEAN has unfortunately maintained its silence and has long hidden behind its non-interference principle. Instead, it ought to be more proactive in fulfilling its agenda to protect human rights. Hence, the progressive realization of ASEAN’s 2045 Vision can only be meaningful and measurable if it is observed vis-a-vis the realities on the ground.
Call to action
FORUM-ASIA calls on ASEAN leaders to reflect on the region’s increasingly alarming record of human rights abuses and to commit to addressing past and ongoing human rights violations across the region.
ASEAN must concretely promote and protect people’s fundamental rights and freedoms by upholding the principles of impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity, non-discrimination, non-confrontation, and avoidance of double standards and politicization as stated in its 2045 Vision.
As a regional bloc, it must ensure inclusivity and people’s participation as well as the need for accountability.
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The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a network of 90 member organisations across 23 countries, mainly in Asia. Founded in 1991, FORUM-ASIA works to strengthen movements for human rights and sustainable development through research, advocacy, capacity development and solidarity actions in Asia and beyond. It has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and consultative relationship with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. The FORUM-ASIA Secretariat is based in Bangkok, with offices in Jakarta, Geneva and Kathmandu. www.forum-asia.org
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