On 3 April 2019, Civil Society Organizations from the ASEAN region formed a coalition to release a statement urging the government of Brunei Darussalam to stop the full implementation of the Sharia Penal Code (SPC). The said law, implemented on that same day, will make same-sex acts and adultery offences punishable by stoning to death. Other crimes will also be severely punished, like theft, now punishable by amputation.

 

The coalition denounces the barbaric aspect of these new measures, violating many international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and many others. The coalition also calls on the government of Brunei to stop targetting vulnerable minorities such as women, the LGBTI community, children, economically disadvantaged people, religious minorities and dissidents.