We, the undersigned international human rights organizations, are concerned that the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) has yet to take the necessary steps to ensure that the process of drafting the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) is transparent and fully consultative with civil society organizations in the ASEAN region.

In a joint statement released on April 8th (full text below), over 130 local, national and regional civil society organizations across the ASEAN region called on AICHR to implement the following steps:

Freedom of expression and Information actors' engagement with the UPR in Uganda

Best practices and lessons; a stakeholder's perspective

Introduction to the UN mechanism of the Universal Periodic review The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new state-led mechanism, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council (HRC). The opening set of reviews occurred in 2008 whereby all 192 UN member states were reviewed in the preceding to which Uganda fell in 2011.

The Honorable Mr. Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

For the fourth consecutive year, global declines in freedom outweighed gains in 2009, as measured by Freedom House's annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2010. This represents the longest continuous period of decline for global freedom in the nearly 40-year history of the report.

In a year marked by intensified repression against human rights defenders and civic activists, declines for freedom were registered in 40 countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East,