The recently released Newsletter from Focus on the Global South draws attention to the alarming escalation of violence against communities, criminalization of dissent, and the systemic impunity that allows this to happen. Ten articles reflect on and alert about the difficult and violent situation that land and human rights defenders in Thailand, Laos, Philippines, Cambodia and India confront. As the introductory article states: “Threats, intimidation, violence and abuse of power are not new to the majority of the people in Asia, nor is impunity a novel issue. Over the past two decades however, these have escalated to alarming levels because of a powerful nexus of political and business interests, and increasingly regressive laws that criminalise those who resist or even speak out against land grabbing, deforestation, mining, dams, human rights violations and social-economic injustice.”
Read the newsletter in English here: http://focusweb.org/sites/www.focusweb.org/files/FGS_Newsletter_Vol3_No4_Aug16_1.pdf
