Across Southeast Asia, governments are sounding the alarm over declining birth rates and an impending “demographic crisis”. But let’s not pretend the crisis is that young people are having fewer children. Just look at the world they’ve inherited: climate collapse, rising authoritarianism, unaffordable housing, stagnant wages, unpaid care burdens, and deepening inequality. ⚠️ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵 �

We respond to the preliminary report of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. To say this report was a disappointment is an understatement. It gathers damning evidence that AI capital is concentrated in the hands of tech corporations, whilst vulnerable users are harmed by business models built to extract attention, labour, data and natural resources. But instead of confronting ownership and Big Tech power, the report retreats into th

On 11 June 2026, the Court of Appeal ruled that ISOC (Internal Security Operations Command) is liable for a smear campaign that targeted human rights defenders Angkhana Neelapaijit and Anchana Heemmina for years. It found ISOC had the authority to manage the website where the false content was published, and ordered it to pay 120,000 baht to Angkhana and 90,000 baht to Anchana, plus removal of the offending content. ISOC was ordered to pay compensation to both women and remov

On 6 July, peaceful protesters were met with police violence in Chiang Mai, as they called out toxic run-off from Chinese-backed mining operations in Myanmar. Members of the People's Network for the Protection of the Kok, Sai, Ruak, and Mekong Rivers gathered to deliver a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, demanding accountability for transboundary pollution destroying Northern Thailand’s rivers and the livelihoods of more than 70,000 households. But before they could re

On World Rural Development Day, we stand with the Sab Wai Villagers, Isaan forest-dependent communities from Chaiyaphum who have lived, farmed, and cared for the forest since the 1970s, long before their lands were declared part of Sai Thong National Park. A “green” policy that evicts rural communities and forest guardians is NOT development. It’s a false climate solution 🙅🏽‍♀️ 🇹🇭🌳 Under Thailand's Forest Reclamation Policy, 14 villagers, including nine Isaan women, were

On 29 June, we convened a panel of human rights defenders, lawyers, and digital rights experts to unpack how the UN Cybercrime Treaty is advancing transnational repression across the region – from Cambodia to Indonesia to stateless communities like the Rohingya. The surveillance industry behaves like any market under competition. Voluntary frameworks like the UN Guiding Principles carry zero consequences for companies, which is exactly why they get cited so often. The Cybercr

Justice delayed is justice denied. 🇰🇭 On 2 July 2024, Cambodia unjustly convicted Mother Nature Cambodia activists for their peaceful environmental advocacy. Five of them, Long Kunthea, Yim Leanghy, Thun Ratha, Phuon Keoraksmey, and Ly Chandaravuth, remain behind bars, serving six to eight years for “plotting” against the government. They appealed their convictions on 22 July 2024. Yet nearly two years later, their appeal hearing has been delayed, once again, with no new da

At the UN Expert Consultation on Technology and Right to Freedom of Association held in May, Manushya Foundation’s Digital Rights Advisor, Dr Jean Linis-Dinco, named the elephant in the room that many in the so-called digital rights movement refuse to acknowledge: the struggle for digital rights has been pulled into the orbit of the very corporations that profit from repression. The consultation will inform the UN Human Rights Committee’s development of General Comment No. 38

Trans rights activist Sylvia Rivera warned us decades ago: Pride without liberation become a market. As we close Pride Month 2026, we call out the corporations and elite institutions wrapping themselves in rainbows while refusing to confront the systems that keep LGBTIQ+ people unsafe, unheard, and exploited. No wonder over 37% of LGBTIQ+ people surveyed by dating app Taimi (2026) said Pride has become a “commercial event” that lost its true meaning. Yes, we celebrate Marriag

Thailand’s own law promises: No torture, no forced returns. So why does it keep sending people back to danger? On the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we expose how Thailand is violating Section 13 of its 2023 Anti-Torture Act and enabling acts of transnational repression. ⚖️ Refoulement means forcing someone back to a country where they face real risk of torture, violence, or persecution. Thai and international law explicitly prohibit this. Yet Thailand co

Governments across Southeast Asia are using cybersecurity as cover to surveil critics, police borders, and protect the interests of those in power. 🇺🇳 The UN Cybercrime Treaty expands state-to-state cooperation, lowers evidentiary standards, and defines ‘cybercrime’ so broadly that activists, journalists, and organisers fall within reach. Tech companies are part of the problem too, as they profit from our data and then hand it to the governments pursuing us. The people who

94 years since the Siamese Revolution, when Siam ended absolute monarchy and became Thailand with a constitutional monarchy. 📍 But is Thailand a REAL democracy now? 🙅🏽‍♀️ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗯𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗡𝗢. Thailand has become a SLAPPs hub, where people who criticise the monarchy's political role and its obstruction of the democratic process end up being expelled or even arrested on Lèse-Majesté charges. A country cannot call itself democratic while people a

#StopTransnationalRepression ✊ On 20 June, Manushya Foundation joined Na Projects at Bangkok 1899 for Living, Waiting, and Hoping | Refugees Among Us: Stories, Challenges, and Hope in Thailand to honour World Refugee Day. We’re immensely grateful to hear directly from refugees, raise awareness on transnational repression, share food & stories, and connect with allies including Asylum Access Thailand, Sati Foundation, Parami University, and Hear & Found. 🤝 Thailand is home to

On 20 June, we marked World Refugee Day, a moment for the world to pause and truly listen to the voices of those forced to flee their homeland. This year, we use this platform to uplift the voices of Lao political refugees, and to recount the stories of activists in exile who face unimaginable consequences simply for speaking out. They are subject to threats, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, and assassinations. These injustices happen not only inside Laos, but across bo

Manushya Foundation stands in solidarity with our feminist sisters at the Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network (RMCN) against the coordinated hate speech targeting Rohingya refugees and women human rights defenders. Over the last few days, hundreds of racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic comments flooded our social media posts on our solidarity with the Rohingya refugees and survivors. 👉 Check the photos to see the hate narratives we documented, and why we refuse to st